, . : WISCONSIN.

'I give thefe Boots: % -¦'¦
j for. the founding of a. College in. this. Colony"

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE
PERKINS FUND
1902.

THE

BENCH AND BAR

WISCONSIN.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY,

WITH PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATIONS,

PARKER MCCOBB REED.

MILWAUKEE:
P M. REED, Publisher.
1882.

INTRODUCTORY.

WHATEVER else may be said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be
denied that members of the bar have been more prominent actors
in public affairs than any other class of the community. This is but the
natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation.
The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify
him in many respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his
profession and which touch the general interests of society.
The education of the lawyer should include a thorough culture in
literature as well as law. The broader the scope of his studies and the
ampler his resources, the more certain is he, other things being equal,
to achieve eminence in his profession. Rarely is a cause of so little con
sequence tried that the lawyer will not find an advantage in being able
to draw illustration, and incident, and it may be anecdote, from a well
furnished storehouse. Addressing a jury in a court in Maine, the famous
John Holmes surprised and delighted all who heard him with a lucid
description of the mechanism of a clock ; he captured jury as well as
spectators and won his case.
The advocate is necessarily an orator. Public speaking is promi
nence and power. Study of the principles of jurisprudence qualify one
above everything else for useful membership of law-making bodies. The
leaders in congress and in our state legislatures are usually lawyers. Of
the presidents of the United States, Jefferson, the two Adamses, Madison,
Monroe, Van Buren, Polk, Tyler, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln,
Hayes and Garfield were lawyers. During the late war no one class of
people went earlier to the front, served their country more devotedly,
or won greater distinction, than lawyers ; and of the men who remained
at home during that contest, no class of citizens took a more active part
in sustaining, by voice and act, the soldiers in the field.
Without undue partiality it may be said that in every age members of
the bar have shown themselves patriots. An eloquent writer says :

INTRODUCTORY.

" What could we have accomplished in our revolution without the aid
of such patriots as Adams, Otis, Ames, Hamilton, King, Marshall, Henry,
Lee, Jefferson, Livingston, Rutledge, Pinckney, Clinton, Granger, Gal
latin, and hundreds of others who belonged to the legal profession ?
Not only did they kindle the fires of the revolution by their fervid elo
quence, but they tendered to their country their property and their lives.
The declaration of independence alone — one of the ablest state papers
that ever emanated from human thought — was from the pen of a
lawyer, and did more than everything else to satisfy the civilized world
of the justice of our cause, and to secure our recognition as an indepen
dent government. The fact is, the legal mind has been, and ever will be,
arrayed on the side of order, good morals and good government. A law
yer's experience in dealing with the affairs of men, his habits of thought,
reading and reflection, all tend in that direction ; hence it is that he be
comes the recipient of the most responsible judiciary trusts, and his
influence for good is wide-spread and unlimited. Notwithstanding this
he is allotted but a little space in biographical literature."
Fully impressed with the prominent part that members of the bar
have taken in public affairs, the weight of influence they have, as a class,
exerted in the community, and the dignity they have imparted to the
profession, it is the purpose of this volume to place on permanent record
the lives of those men who have been chiefly instrumental in making the
history of the bench and bar of Wisconsin. Their history is largely the
history of the state.
The names of some have been omitted, from the fact that it has been
impossible to obtain any reliable information respecting their lives. In
other instances the omission has resulted from the apathy and indiffer
ence of those who promised but failed to impart the desired informa
tion. Others have refused to have their lives written and published
while living; while not a few have taken no interest whatever in the
work. To those who have kindly consented to appear in this book,
endeavor has been made to accord to each the delineation of life and
character his merits and prominence deserve, " naught to extenuate nor
aught set down in malice." That all who honor this work with its peru
sal will be pleased is not expected, but the records made in it have been
sought to be verified with infinite diligence and research.
To place this volume before the law fraternity of this state the author
has labored long and assiduously. Before going into the hands of the

INTRODUCTORY. 0
printers, the matter that composes the book has been submitted to
the reading and approval of competent and impartial gentlemen of
the bar, that nothing shall appear in the work that goo.d judgment
would consider incorrect or improper. In speaking of men, the
author has had no favorites to please, nor enemies to slight ; and, in
asmuch as in him lies, has avoided indiscriminate eulogy of the dead
and overdrawn praise of the living. While not expecting to avoid criti
cism in this department of the book, no pains have been spared to real
ize the happy mean. This has been particularly desirable in view of the
fact that the author has resided in the state for nearly a score of years,
and expects to continue to live and end his days in it. The author has
moreover had a friendly and pleasant acquaintance with the larger por
tion of those who sit upon the bench and practice at the bar, as well as
with those who have retired from either, and would grieve to know he
had done aught to forfeit their good opinion. Lucre has not been the
chief incentive to the undertaking and completion of the enterprise.
That it may be a fitting and lasting memento to his fidelity, as well as to
the virtues of those whose names and deeds go down to posterity on its
pages, is his most hoped for reward.

The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin.

HISTORY.

FROM the published accounts of the earliest settlement of Wiscon
sin up to 1823 it is evident that the true status of judicial authority
among the settlers was of a very uncertain character. It seems to have
been divided between the commanders of military posts and inferior
local magistrates, the military predominating. The first judicial func
tionary that made an advent in the territory of Wisconsin appears to
have been Pierre Grignon, who was living at Green Bay as early as
1815, and commissioned justice of the peace by Colonel Robert Mc
Donald, the British commander of the military post at Mackinac. Sub
sequently James Porlier, a Frenchman, was appointed a justice of the
peace for Green Bay under the British authority, the date of which is
not given. The same magistrate was made chief justice of Brown
county in 1820, and judge of probate in 1822. That he might be better
enabled to fulfill the. duties of these offices it is stated that he translated
the statutes of Michigan territory into his native French language, thus
showing that he must have been a magistrate worthy of the trust.
In 1821 the Michigan authorities appointed Robert Irwin, Jr., justice
of the peace at Green Bay.
The first jury trial in Wisconsin was had at about this time at Green
Bay before Justice Irwin. Ebenezer Child was plaintiff in the case, and
a French-Canadian defendant. James H. Lockwood, who was inci
dentally at the Bay, appeared as attorney for Mr. Child. Mr. Lock-
wood had arrived at Green Bay, July 16, 18 16, and subsequently settled
at Prairie du Chien, but there is no record that he entered into the regular
practice of law at either place. In fact he read law for a time before
coming to Wisconsin, but never was admitted to the bar. It appears,
however, that he became a justice of the peace. It would seem that

8 » THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
other business, at that day, was more lucrative to a man smart enough
to be a successful practitioner of law.
Henry Monroe Fisher was justice of the peace at Prairie du Chien
before the war of 1812, his commission having been issued by the gov
ernor of Illinois territory, of which Wisconsin then formed a part. Mr.
Fisher was the father of Mrs. H. S. Baird, which notable and venerable
lady is yet living in the city of Green Bay. Of the acts of this early
magistrate in the performance of his judicial duties no account has been
preserved. "Previous to the war of 181 2 two men at Prairie du Chien became
involved in a law suit about a heifer of the value of about eight dollars.
The parties were obliged to take a bundle of beaver skins to St. Louis
and sell them to pay the expenses of the suit ; and the lawyers were dis
posed to oblige the parties by putting over the case from time to time.
The case was continued in this manner until it had cost each of them
fifteen hundred dollars, when they took it out of court and settled it."
The early magistrates are supposed to not have been profoundly
learned in the law. In fact, few law books were brought to those ancient
settlements, and possibly not very extensive legal acquirements were
needed. Causes seem to have been decided upon general principles of
equity, modified, not infrequently, by the caprice, self-interest, or preju
dice of the magistrate. However absurd or irregular or illegal many of
these decisions may have been, they appear to have commanded general
acquiescence. The most noted tribunal for the administration of justice at this early
period at Green Bay of which there is any account, was by Judge
Charles Reaume, whose advent at that point seems to have been coinci
dent with that of the first American inhabitants upon Wisconsin soil, and
was about the year 1790.
His judicial career commenced before the beginning of the present
century and ended only with his decease. Unquestioned through all
these long years, his authority, however obscure its claim to legality, was,
however, recognized, respected and obeyed. It is certain that he was
his own law-maker as well as law-giver. His original and ludicrous de
cisions have made him notable to this day. So far as known the holding
of his courts was confined to Green Bay.
Writers of early reminiscences say of him :
" There was an old Frenchman at Green Bay of the name of Charles

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 9
Reaume, who could read and write a little, and acted as justice of the
peace. He had had a commission under George III when Great Britain
held jurisdiction over the country, and after it was given up to the
American government and attached to Indiana he had been commis
sioned by Governor Harrison of that territory, which then took in Wis
consin. The laws under which he acted were those of France, and the
customs of the Indian traders at Green Bay. He was very arbitrary in
his decisions. He was born about the year 1752, at La Prairie, nearly
opposite Montreal, of a prominent and respectable family. We early
find him at Detroit, and in the service of the British Indian department
as a captain ; was among the prisoners taken by the gallant Colonel
George Rogers Clark at the capture of Vincennes, in February, 1779;
and, taking the oath of neutrality, was permitted to return to Detroit.
In 1790 he settled at Green Bay, and appears to have been engaged in a
small way, in the Indian trade. His first commission of justice of the
peace he probably derived from the British authorities at Detroit,
before the surrender of that post to the American government in
1796, and he subsequently received a commission from Governor
Harrison, of the territory of Indiana. In 1816 and 1817 his home
was with John Lowe at Green Bay; and in 1818 he was appointed by
Governor Cass, of Michigan territory, one of the associate judges of the
court for Brown county ; and the same year he removed to Little Kan-
kalin, about ten miles above Green Bay, and there sold liquor to the
Indians, not infrequently drinking freely with them and sharing in their
frays as well as blackened eyes and bruises. There he died in the spring
of 1832, for he was found dead alone in his cabin. He was about sev
enty years of age. His friends at Green Bay had his remains conveyed
there and buried in the old Catholic burial place, which was in the pres
ent plat of Astor; but the bodies interred there were subsequently
removed to the present burial ground. No tablet marks his grave.
He was never married.''
Several anecdotes illustrating Judge Reaume's primitive mode of
administering justice have been recorded, one of which is : " There was
an old Frenchman at the Bay named Reaume, excessively ignorant and
grasping, although otherwise tolerably good-natured. This man was
appointed justice of the peace. Two men once appeared before him,
the one as plaintiff, the other as defendant. The justice listened patiently
to the complaint of the one and the defense of the other ; then rising

10 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
with dignity, pronounced his decision : ' You are both wrong. You,
Boisvert,' to the plaintiff, 'you bring me a load of hay; and you, Crely,'
to the defendant, ' you bring me a load of wood, and now the matter is
settled.' It does not appear that any exceptions were taken to this ver
dict." " The county seat, which was Detroit, was so distant and difficult of
access, that if a litigant in his court felt himself aggrieved he preferred
suffering injustice to going to the trouble and expense of an appeal ; so
that, practically, Reaume's court was the supreme court of the country.
He took care not to decide against any of the traders who were able to
bear the expense of an appeal ; in fact, the traders made use of him to
hold their men in subjection, but never submitted to him the adjustment
of any difficulty between themselves. These were left to the arbitration
of other traders. It was said of him that a bottle of spirits was the most
potent witness that could be brought into his court. At one time at
Green Bay a boatman had left his employer and engaged himself to an
American concerned in suttling for the troops at Fort Howard, and
Judge Reaume was applied to, asking what the law was in the case and
what could be done. He answered, in broken English, ' I'11-make-de-
man-go-back-to-his-duty.' The inquiry was reiterated, ' Judge Reaume,
is there no law on the subject ? ' With a feeling of conscious dignity he
replied : ' We-are-accustomed-to-make-de-men-go-back-to-their-bour-
geois.' "
Many amusing incidents are related of the quaint old judge, and of
the nature of his judgments. In one case a man was sued by a French
man on an account, and summoned to appear before Judge Reaume.
The summons was returnable at two o'clock in the afternoon, but the
defendant forgot the hour. Four o'clock arrived, when he bethought
himself of his remissness. He immediately repaired to the hall of jus
tice, first taking the precaution, however, to slip into his overcoat pocket
a bottle of good old whisky. On entering the presence chamber he
found the cause decided against him, the plaintiff exulting in his success
and the judge rigid and dignified — the defendant had defied his author
ity and disobeyed his mandate ! In vain did the delinquent attempt to
thaw the ice of the judge's cold reserve and obtain a rehearing. Fail
ing in all his efforts, the defendant rose from his seat, and approaching
the door of an inner apartment invited the judge to follow. This he
did reluctantly. When safely out of sight of the other party, the defend-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 11
ant slowly drew from his pocket the aforesaid black bottle and placed it
on the table, where were already glasses and water. The stern features
of, the judge suddenly relaxed. It was an easy matter to prevail upon
him to taste the tempting beverage ; it was, indeed, so good, that he re
peated the dose, and like many other great men before him, lost his
resentment in his love for good liquor. The judge and the defendant
soon re-entered the justice hall, and the plaintiff, who was still present,
was required to appear, when he was informed that the court had decided
to grant a re-hearing of the case. This was accordingly done, and after
a brief examination the former judgment was revoked and judgment
was entered against the plaintiff. The latter remonstrated in vain,
stoutly contending that the judge had already decided the cause in his
favor. All was cut short by the judge declaring that " his first decision
was only that the plaintiff should win to lose ! "
Upon the whole the administration of justice by the venerable judge
was mild and lenient. No cruel or oppressive punishments were inflicted,
and in the whole course of his career it is not alleged that he ever exer
cised that prerogative of judicial power so abhorrent to the feelings of
modern reformers and philanthropists, the infliction of the death penalty.
Another early judicial decision is thus related: — It was by an old
pioneer settler, a Frenchman, who in character and manners was a per
fect gentleman, but was better acquainted with the principles of honesty
and fair dealing than with the subtleties and technicalities of the law.
According to the laws of the United States, for the government of the
land and naval service, "no person who has been enlisted as a soldier
shall be liable to arrest or imprisonment for any debt contracted by him
during the term of his enlistment." A non-commissioned officer had
contracted a considerable debt of a trader, which he refused to pay.
Some days before the expiration of his term of service he applied to his
commanding officer for a furlough for his unexpired time, which was
granted ; and, shielded by this, together with his regular discharge, he
left the garrison, defied his creditors, and was about to leave the country
forever. In those days it was lawful to arrest dishonest debtors and im
prison them until they paid their debt or were otherwise discharged.
The creditor in this case applied to the old justice for a warrant ; it was
granted ; the soldier was arrested and brought before the magistrate.
The accused readily admitted the justness of the debt, but pleaded the
law of the United States, which protected him as a soldier from arrest.

12 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
After patiently hearing his defense, the justice proceeded to give judg
ment in favor of the plaintiff for his debt and costs. The plaintiff imme
diately demanded execution against the body of the defendant. This
too was granted. The soldier remonstrated with the justice, saying he
was a soldier of the United States army, and as such was exempted by
law from arrest for debt, and concluded by assuring the justice that " he
did not understand him." The phlegmatic justice, who did not speak
very plain English, thus emphatically explained his meaning: " You-do-
go-to-de-jail-and-stay-there-until-you-pay-de-debt, and-you-will-under-
stand-me-very-well ! " The result was that the defendant rather than go
to the place mentioned, pulled out his purse, paid his debt, and went on
his way — not rejoicing. The upright old magistrate would not admit
the reasoning that required an honest citizen to pay his debts and a
hard case, because a soldier, go scot free.
In another case he had decided for the plaintiff when an influential
man humorously suggested to him that the verdict, in justice, belonged
to the defendant. The judge calling the plaintiff back and asked him
how he understood the decision. " I won," he replied. " Yes," said
the justice, " you won to pay the costs ! "
There was a noted case brought before him by a young lady for seduc
tion and breach of promise. After hearing the testimony the honorable
court rendered judgment that the seducer was to purchase a calico dress
for the injured lady, and two dresses for the baby, and the constable to
pay the costs by splitting a thousand rails for the judge. The decision
was complied with ; the judge agreeing to board the constable while
doing the work.
" Old Judge Charles Reaume was a man of great importance at ' the
Bay.' " When he held his courts he would dress in his British uniform,
red coat and cocked hat, and put on an air of pompous dignity. The
veritable coat is preserved among the ancient mementos in the archives
of the State Historical Society at Madison.
"The Bay at this time was unblessed with anything in the nature or
calling of a priest, but it did rejoice in the possession of a magistrate,
who had enjoyed the office of judge time beyond the memory of the old
est inhabitant ; and long had all the business of the colony been regu
lated and kept in order by the awe-inspiring authority and portly person
of Judge Reaume. No person there could tell when his official duties
first devolved upon him, nor from whence his authority was derived.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 13
It was sufficient that it existed, and no one disputed his authority or
appealed from his decision ; for, in truth, there was no power above
him. Before him all complaints were brought, all wrongs redressed,
marriages celebrated, and for doing which he had fixed fees. In the
case of marriages — of which it was discovered he kept some kind of a
record — if the parties had remained in cohabitation beyond the stipu
lated time he would send for the man, order the engagement renewed,
or punish him by fine for contumacy, thus securing an additional fee for
his own pocket, as well as enforcing a proper respect for the laws and
customs of the country, and deference to his magisterial dignity."
At one time a vagabond French desperado was arrested for an act of
violence to a half breed Indian girl. The case was rather broadly made
out against him, which excited the ire of the good judge to such a de
gree that he sentenced the fellow to buy the girl a new frock — it having
been proven that her own had been torn in the scuffle -— and to work one
week in the judge's garden !
It was- reported, but it was not known with what truth, that his
library was enriched with two odd volumes of Blackstone, but whether
in French or English was not learned.
A gentleman had a dispute with a troublesome fellow on some trifling
matter, and upon application of the man, Reaume sent a summons to
the gentleman, which, instead of being on paper with name and seal, the
constable exhibited the well known large jack-knife belonging to the
judge, which had long been made to serve that purpose. On the day
set for appearance the defendant broke ground for the judge, and
stopping at a store on the way, bought some cheap article. On approach
ing the office he found the judge at the door, who at once exclaimed to
him in his broken English, " You-may-go-away — go-away, I have given
judgment against ye."- ' " Good morning, judge." " Good morning ; I has
given judgment against ye." " Coming along by Burgan's store I saw this
small coffee-pot hanging out, and I bought it to present to you, judge,
will you do me the pleasure to accept it ? " " O-yes-tank-ye-tank-ye-
kindly, very much 'bliged to ye." "Judge, I don't owe that fellow any
thing." " You don't ? " " No, I have really overpaid him." " The ras
cal ; I reverse my judgment, and he shall pay de costs."
Now, it must not be imagined by this that Judge Reaume was a bad
man. He was the reverse of that, but followed the temper of the times,
and bowed to the current of the customs of the county, rather than un-

14 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
dertake the labor of changing or rising above them. The quiet acqui
escence of the people in his authority for so long a time, and the suffer
ance of his rule and sway under successive British and American
supremacy, and possibly under French too — for he may not have sur
rendered until after Montcalm and Cornwallis did — is an argument, at
least in favor of the mildness of his administration. Nor was he defi
cient in intelligence, and he possessed much of the natural politeness of
the better class of the rural French."
Green Bay and Prairie du Chien having been nearly contemporaneous
in settlement, and the two earliest settlements of the state, the judicial
history of both of them, notwithstanding their distance apart, is, to a con
siderable extent, intimately related.
Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, was garrisoned in 1816, and, " al
though in a time of peace, the officers of the army treated the inhabi
tants as a conquered people, and the commanders assumed all the
authority of government of a conquered country, arraigning and trying
the citizens by court-martial and sentencing them to ignominious pun
ishments. Some of these arbitrary acts were often at the instigation of
favorite under-officers."
At both posts courts were held by the military, who dealt promptly
with offenders, and their decrees were rigorously and summarily executed.
The proceedings may have been arbitrary, and possibly not invariably
just, but they were probably adapted to governing the mixed population
of English, French, Canadians, Indians, and half breeds, who at that
early day composed the inhabitants of that wild region, and it may
readily be inferred that they were neither very sensitive nor scrupulous.
In litigation, however, between parties that were in no way connected
with the military, a fair trial of the causes was undoubtedly instituted,
and, in general, substantial justice was, probably, realized as nearly as
those rude times permitted.
It was said, that about 1809 or 1810, a trader, an Irishman by birth,
of the name of Campbell, was appointed by the governor of the territory
of Illinois a justice of the peace at Prairie du Chien. The currency at
that time was flour, and Campbell charged a man for performing the mar
riage ceremony one hundred pounds of flour, and afterward for dis
solving the union two hundred pounds, alleging that when people wanted
to get unmarried they would willingly give" double what they would
originally to form the matrimonial connection.

THK BENCH AND BAR OK WISCONSIN. 15
Nicholas Boilvin, a Canadian of French extraction, was clothed with
the dignified office of justice of the peace at Prairie du Chien. He had
about the same amount of education as Judge Reaume, of Green Bay,
and about the same idea of justice, and was nearly as arbitrary. His
law library consisted of a single volume of old statutes of the Northwest
ern territory, one of that of Illinois, and one of Missouri territory; but
in deciding cases he paid no attention to the statutes, deciding accord
ing to his idea of right and wrong.
Colonel Boilvin 's two volumes probably formed the first law library
in Wisconsin, except, perhaps, Judge Reaume's single volume of Black
stone. One of Boilvin's volumes is now, by the courtesy of Judge
Lockwood, among the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
He did not probably often consult them, judging from his off-hand
manner of administering justice.
Colonel Boilvin's office was just without the. walls of the fort at
Prairie du Chien, and it was much the habit among the officers of the
garrison to lounge in there of a morning, to find sport for an hour, and
to take a glsss of brandy and water with the old gentleman, which he
termed taking a little "quelque-chose." A soldier, named Fry, had
been accused of stealing and killing a calf belonging to M. Rolette, and
Bell, a constable, had been dispatched to arrest the culprit and bring
him to trial. While the military gentlemen were making, that morning,
their customary visit to the justice, a noise was heard in the entry, and
a knock at the door. "Come in," cried the old gentleman, rising and
walking toward the door. Bell — "Here, sir, I have brought Fry to you
as you ordered." Justice — " Fry, you great rascal! what for you kill
M. Rolette's calf?" Fry — "I did not kill M. Rolette's calf." Justice
— shaking his fist — "You lie, you great rascal ! Bell, take him to jail.
Come, gentlemen, come, let us take a leetle quelque-chose."
J. H. Rockwood went to Prairie du Chien to reside in 1816, and was
a justice of the peace there.
When Wisconsin was divided into Brown and Crawford counties, in
1818, Boilvin was commissioned by Governor Lewis Cass, of Michigan,
to administer the oath to the officers of Crawford county.
The territory comprising Wisconsin was added to Michigan in 1818,
when the counties of Brown and Crawford were organized, the former
comprising the eastern and the latter the western half of its territory.
At the same time a judicial system seems to have been provided, for in

16 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the same year Mathew Irwin was appointed, by the president, chief jus
tice, and Charles Reaume and Benjamin Chittenden, associate justices.
Of this array of judicial functionaries no record or tradition exists,
showing that any court of the kind was organized.
"From 1816 to 1824, although Wisconsin was a part of Michigan
territory and nominally under the protection of the flag of the Union,
but little of parental care was bestowed upon her citizens in civil life
by the general government. The rule that bore sway was essentially
military. No courts were organized, and criminal offenders against the
laws were either sent to Detroit for trial or, more usually perhaps,
allowed to escape punishment. The. civil code was limited and but
sparingly administered. But the militaay code, such as it was, more
than supplied the deficiencies of the civil. While this state of things
continued it occasionally happened that some military genius, possessed
of more tinsel than discretion, became the commanding officer, and, to
mark the era of his reign, would exercise his little brief authority in an
arbitrary manner, and thus contrive to render the condition of the citi
zen as uncomfortable as possible. Instances of high-handed oppression
and injustice were in the early days of our history frequently committed
by some military martinet upon the persons, liberty or property of those
whom they were sent to protect."
"An affair of this character occurred at Green Bay, where two citi
zens were arrested by the sentinel in open day and marched to the fort,
charged with having dared to land on the fort side of the river without
permission from the commanding officer. In this instance the military
was compelled to succumb to the civil authority ; the officer by whose
orders the' parties were arrested was prosecuted for the outrage, and
considered himself fortunate in escaping with a fine."
"It has been remarked that during the period of eight years prior to
1824 — the year of the advent of Judge Doty — the country was principally
subjected to military rule. It was not, however, entirely so, as there
was a species of civil authority exercised in the parts of the country
where there were white inhabitants, and which in many respects was
quite unique and amusing."
While minor causes continued up to 1824 to be arbitrated by the
military and local courts, such as they were, appeals of the more im
portant litigations had to be taken to Detroit; the capital of the territory.
The formidable undertaking of parties in suit with their witnesses to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 17
make the journey all the way from these remote settlements to Detroit
may be readily imagined. It would be accounted a hardship even at
this day of steamships and railways. Then it could be made only
during the season of navigation in canoes and vessels. The inability
of those who could not accomplish this journey of four hundred miles
from Green Bay, and eight hundred from Prairie du Chien, and the
greater difficulty in getting witnesses there, virtually deprived them of
their right to be heard by the territorial supreme court.
" Wisconsin formed at that period in name, but scarcely in affinity,
a part of the territory of Michigan. The laws then in force were crude
and ill advised, some of which were really disgraceful to those who
enacted them — -such, for instance, as public whipping and selling
offenders into servitude for a period not exceeding three months, simply
for the commission of mere petty offenses. These laws were enacted
by a legislative board, consisting of the governor and judges of the ter
ritory, who received their appointments from the general government
and were in no way amenable to the people who were to be governed
by their enactments." '
"At the period alluded to, imprisonment for debt was the law; but
the territorial legislature generously enacted that no person should be
imprisoned when the debt or damages in the execution did not exceed
the sum of five dollars. Jurors knowing anything relative to the matter
in dispute were required to disown the same in open court. The fees
of counsel and attorneys in the supreme court in civil suits was five
dollars, and, if settled out of court, one-third of that. sum. The salary
of the attorney-general was twenty-five dollars per annum."
"In the year 1816 a small book of one hundred and forty pages was
published, containing at length a part of the laws then in force, and
only the titles to the larger number, the funds of the .territory not being
sufficient to print a complete copy of all the laws."
"The territorial government was very'much restricted in its powers
and was treated by the federal government as a colony rather than as a.
separate political organization. All territorial officers were appointed
by the President, and all laws enacted by the legislative council, if dis
approved by congress, became null and void, and until 1823 the gover
nor had no pardoning power."
As Wisconsin was a part of Michigan from 18 r 8 to 1836 it may be
of interest to refer to the state of the judicature of the territorial gov-
2

18 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ernment of that long period. On the organization of the Michigan
territorial government the judiciary appointed by the President was
composed of three judges whose terms of office were during good
behavior until March 3, 1823, when the term was made four years.
Singularly enough, the framing of the laws was placed in the hands, con
jointly, of the governor and judges, subject to disapproval by congress.
The three judges formed the supreme court, and were invested with both
civil and military jurisdiction, ft is a part of the history of those days
that the members of this august court did not affiliate any too well, and,
as a consequence, often failed of unanimity in their decisions. This
want of harmony was more marked when these legal sages were in
council as legislators than when sitting on the bench.
Lawyers of those early days were often shrewd and unscrupulous,
and when any of them desired to be sure of winning a particular case
would frame a bill to meet his wants and lobby it through the legislative
body, which might not have been a very formidable undertaking, inas
much as the council consisted of only four persons. Lawyers received
the magnificent fee of five dollars for trying a case, and when the case
was settled before going into court the fee was one-third that amount.
But then a little money went a great ways in the simplicity of those
times. The laws then in vogue were in keeping with the old English laws :
there was imprisonment for debt that exceeded five dollars; whipping
was used for offenses of inferior character, or the delinquent hired out
by the constable for a specified time for the highest wages then prevail
ing, to be applied to the benefit of the poor that were a charge on the
county. The Puritan laws were imitated in providing for the punish
ment of witchcraft by fine or imprisonment; yet another law enacted
that those practicing that and kindred mysterious and mischievous arts
should not be prosecuted ; an inconsistency that cannot readily be
accounted for.
That slavery formed a feature of that enlightened civilization, inas
much as a mulatto, negro, or Indian slave could be doomed for mis
demeanors to corporal punishment short of imperiling life or limb. A
commendable enactment, however, abolished appeal for murder and
taking the "benefit of clergy."
"In January, 1823, an act of congress provided for the appointment
of an additional judge of Michigan, his jurisdiction to comprise the coun-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 1§
ties of Brown, Crawford and Mackinac. The court had concurrent
civil and criminal jurisdiction with the supreme court of the territory,
subject, however, to have its decisions taken to the supreme court by
writ of error, but no jurisdiction in admiralty and maritime cases, nor
in specified cases in which the United States should be plaintiff."
James Duane Doty became this judge, January 30, 1823.
"The terms of the court were to be held annually at Prairie du
Chien in May, Green Bay in June, and Mackinac in July. Judge Doty
did not arrive in the district until midsummer of 1823, and no regular
court was held that year. A special term of the court was appointed to
be held for trial of criminals at Green Bay."
The next year the term of office of judge of the district was ex
tended to four years, and Judge Doty was reappointed February 28,
1824, to fill out the extended time. The first term of his court for
Green Bay was set for June 20, 1824. The judge failed to appear at
the designated time, and the clerk adjourned the court from day to day
for ten days, when he finally adjourned it to October 4, succeeding.
In the meantime the judge received his commission from President
Monroe, and' on the day for opening the court produced it, was sworn
in, and took his seat upon the bench.
' At that time Henry S. Baird was quite a young man, residing at
Mackinac. He appeared at this term of court at Green Bay. and was
admitted to the bar as an attorney by Judge Doty, who then appointed
him district attorney — the first to hold that office in Wisconsin. The
same year Mr. Baird moved to Green Bay, and was the first regular
lawyer to settle down to practice on Wisconsin territory.
Singularly enough the advent of this court gave offense to the old
settlers, as seeming to enproach upon their old customs and habits, and
as, perhaps, placing .them under restraint, to which their free mode of
life in that wild country had made them strangers. They called it an
infringement on their magna charta.
At the first term of this cburt at Green Bay the first grand jury in
Wisconsin was impaneled. A large amount of business was brought
before it. Forty-five indictments were found and presented to the
court — one for murder, on which there was a conviction ; some for
assault and battery, larceny, selling spirituous liquors to the Indians,
and last, but not least, twenty-eight cases for cohabitation without the
marriage rite of civilization.

20 THE BENCH AND BAR OF .WISCONSIN.
At an early day a class of settlers adopted the Indian custom of tak
ing squaws for wives without the marriage ceremony usual in civilized
communities. Upon the advent of Judge Doty to magisterial authority
at Green Bay, twenty-eight of the men holding domestic relations of this
undefined character were summoned to answer to the charge of illegiti
mate domestic relations, were commanded to submit to marriage rites
and then to be let off with a nominal fine of one dollar and costs, or be
fined fifty dollars, and all but two of them obeyed the mandate and mar
ried their Indian women.
One case of this kind excited considerable amusement in court. A
party, who had been indicted at the first term, had refused to marry, and
paid a fine of fifty dollars — yet continuing to live on in the same style
of connubial felicity, was indicted at a subsequent term. Before the
grand jury made the presentment to the court the delinquent was in
formed of the finding of the bill, and advised to marry before the open
ing of the court the next day. This he concluded to do, and early in
the morning he called on a justice of the peace and had the ceremony
duly performed. At the opening of the court he appeared and presented
the marriage certificate, saying, " There now, I suppose you are satisfied
as I have married the squaw." He was permitted to "go without day."
According to the rulings of courts of later years, had these cases ob
tained at the present day, those marriages of affinity would probably
have been adjudged legally binding upon the parties.
By the law of the state of New York a man and woman who are
competent to marry each other, without going before a minister or mag
istrate, without previous public notice given, with no form of ceremony,
civil or religious, and with no record or written evidence of the act kept,
and merely by words of present contract between them, may take upon
themselves relation of husband and wife, and be bound to themselves,
to the state and society as such. And if after that the marriage is de
nied, proof of actual cohabitation as husband and wife, acknowledgment
and recognition of each other to friends and acquaintances and the pub
lic as such, and the general reputation thereof, will enable a court to
presume that a bona fide marriage.
The court for Crawford county was held at Prairie du Chien. To
reach that place from Green Bay the passage was made in bark canoes
by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Annual journeys were un
dertaken between the two points from 1825 to 1828 by the judge and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 21
district attorney in one canoe. It was manned by seven Indians, and
the trip each way occupied about seven days. Mr. Baird, who was the
district attorney, usually took his family along. Mrs. Baird, who is now-
living, relates that the journey was rendered very enjoyable by its socia
bility and novelty. It was through a wilderness country, on wild waters,
and no. white inhabitant found along its entire course.
In 1829 Morgan L. Martin came to Green Bay and subsequently ^
was admitted to the bar by the court, and in May of the same year, he
and Judge Doty and H. S. Baird, with a Menominee Indian for a guide,
traveled on horseback from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien and back.
They were the first white people to make the journey by land. It took
them seven days, during which they saw no white person. Their way
led through an unexplored country and their course. took them through
what is now Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Madison, Blue Mounds and
Dodgeville, crossing the Wisconsin river six miles above its confluence
with the Mississippi. At those early days courts were held in rooms in
log dwellings, log school-houses and barns in an emergency, as was
the case at its term at Prairie du Chien in May, 1826, when the site of
the town was inundated -by a rise of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers.
" It will naturally be imagined that, under such circumstances, court
could not be held. But not so — a large barn, situated on dry ground,
was fitted up for the occasion. The judge and attorneys occupied the
extensive threshing floor, and the jurors, the mows. When the latter
retired to make up a verdict, they were conducted by an officer to an
other barn or stable."
Upon the discovery and development of lead mines in the south
western portion of the state, settlements were made there, and becoming
of importance that section was set off from Crawford and constituted
Iowa county, Mineral Point made the county seat, and courts were held
there as well as at Prairie du Chien and Green Bay.
In 1832 Judge Doty resigned his seat on the territorial bench.
Judge Doty was succeeded as territorial judge by David Irvin, of Vir
ginia, who continued in the office until the organization of the territory
of Wisconsin, when he became one of the associate judges of the terri
torial supreme court.

22 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
THE TERRITORIAL COURTS.
The territory of Wisconsin was established by act of congress, April
20, 1836, and went into effect July 3, 1836.' It comprised what is now
the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, and the portion of Minnesota lying west
of the Mississippi river. The judiciary of the territory was vested in a
supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and justices of the peace.
The supreme court was composed of a chief justice and two asso
ciate justices, appointed by, the President, and the first of these officers
were: Charles Dunn, chief justice; David Irvin and William C. Fra
zer, associate justices. They were' inaugurated into these offices con
jointly with the new governor and secretary of the territory, at Mineral
Point, July 4, 1836, that place having become the chief point of popula
tion and business in the new territory.
" A question arose as to the residence of Judge Irvin, who, it seems,
resided in Ohio or Virginia, excepting when holding courts in the terri
tory. The people of Green Bay deemed the office vacant on account
of the non-residence of Irvin, and petitioned the President to appoint a
judge in his stead, and Mr. Burnett's name was presented to the Presi
dent to fill the vacancy. But the vacancy was not recognized, and, of
course, no appointment made."
It appears that Judge Frazer held his first court in Milwaukee and
his last at Green Bay, in October, 1838, when he g6t dead drunk, was
put on board a vessel bound for Milwaukee ; on its arrival at the latter
port the judge was landed and taken by a friend to his house, where
he shortly after died from the effects of his debauch, and was buried
neglected by his legal brethren.
Judge Frazer first arrived in the village of Milwaukee upon a pleas
ant Sunday evening in June, 1837. He put up at the Cottage Inn, kept
by Levi Vail, and then looked around for something social. He fell in
with a party of his old Kentucky friends, among whom was Colonel
Morton, who was then register of the land office. The judge eagerly
accepted an invitation from the colonel for a game of poker. At first
a small sum of money was staked, then larger; the excitement ran high;
game after game followed ; the small hours of Monday morning were
rapidly becoming larger. Judge Frazer finally arose and apologized,
remarking that the grand jury were to meet at 10 o'clock, that he had a
charge to make to them, and would have to go. He then took break-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 23
fast, and entering the court room opened court in a style that did not
favorably impress the members of the bar present. He was finely
dressed, was very tall, with large head, red face, and a voice rough and
unpleasant. It became his duty then and there, as district judge, to
read to the jury the laws leveled against gambling. He not only read
it, but edged on, perhaps, by his bad luck in cards since coming to Mil
waukee, he not only read the law, but added some remarks to the end
that ' a gambler is unfit for earth, heaven or hell, and God would shud
der at the sight of one.' This was but the commencement of a course
which aroused to a man the members of the bar practicing in his court.
Being in a new and undeveloped country, he seemed to delight in set
ting at defiance not only the bar, but the plainest principles of law.
A number of important criminal cases were tried before him at this
term of court, and among those who were employed in them were the
distinguished Jonathan E. Arnold, on the defense, and Horatio N. Wells,
prosecuting attorney.
The district courts exercised the like jurisdiction as that of the
circuit and district courts of the United States, and a marshal of the
territory was appointed by the President. The government of the terri
tory was organized July 4, 1836. Until the ensuing legislature provided
laws on the goverment of the territory, the courts administered the laws
of Michigan, and when sitting as United States circuit and district
courts they were governed by the laws of congress in all criminal as well
as civil causes.
As before named the territory was divided into three judicial dis
tricts, and each district court was to be held by one of the judges of
the supreme court. These same judges composed the supreme court,
and the anomaly was presented of judges sitting as a supreme court to
act upon appeals from their own decisions as district judges. The su
preme and the district courts possessed both chancery and common law
jurisdiction, and appeals could be made to the supreme court of the
United States when the amount in litigation exceeded one thousand dol
lars. At the first session of the territorial legislature the counties of
the territory were formed into three judicial districts. To Judge Dunn
was assigned Crawford and Iowa counties for the first district ; to Judge
Irvin, Dubuque and Des Moines for the second; and Brown and Mil
waukee to Judge Frazer for the third. Sitting as a supreme court, the
first term held by these judges was at Belmont, commencing December

24 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
8, 1836. The chief justice and Judge Irvin only appeared on the
bench. John Catlin was installed as clerk. The first act of this court
was to administer the oath of office to H. S. Baird, who had been
appointed the territorial attorney-general. The court having now fully
organized, the only business of the term was the admission of H. S.
Baird, John S. Horner, Parley Eaton, James Nagle, Jairies H. Lockwood,
William R. Smith, Hans Crocker, William N. Gardner, Joseph Yeas,
Thomas P. Burnett, James B. Dallam, Barlow Shackelford, Lyman J.
Daniels, William W. Chapman, James Duane Doty, David G. Fenton,
and Peter Hill Engle, as attorneys. Madison, the new capital of the
territory, having been designated as the place in which to hold annual
sessions of the supreme court, the court adjourned to meet at Madison
in July, 1837. In that year, there being no business to come before it,
no session was held.
The succeeding year the annual term of the court was held in July,
at Madison, in which city all the terms of this court have since been
holden. At this term Chief Justice Dunn and Judge Frazer only were
present, and they admitted Jonanthan E. Arnold, H. N. Wells, Francis
J. Dunn, F. H. Lovell and William H. Banks. The rules of this court
numbering one, two and three were adopted, and some motions argued,
when the court adjourned.
During the latter part of the summer of 1835 James D. Doty and
Morgan L. Martin were sent to Detroit as territorial delegates, and
when they returned they brought with them a commission to Albert
Fowler as justice of the peace. It was signed by Steven G. Mason,
governor of the territory of Michigan, and was the first paper of the
kind issued outside of Brown and Crawford counties.
Justice Fowler's jurisdiction extended over nearly one-half of the
present state, comprising all the territory east of the Rock river; but
history fails to record that his justice business was brisk.
July 4, 1836, N. F. Hyer was commissioned by Governor Dodge
justice of the peace and judge of probate at Madison. At the same
time Daniel Wells, jr., was also commissioned justice of the peace for
Milwaukee. The first case tried before Justice Wells was one in which a culprit
was fined five dollars and costs, one half of which were the fees of the
justice, and the other half was to go to the county treasurer, and the
humor of it was, the same justice was the county treasurer.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 25
The territory comprising Iowa was separated from Wisconsin, July 4,
1838, and on July 15, Moses M. Strong was commissioned United States
district attorney for the territory of Wisconsin, as successor to Mr.
Chapman. February 8, 1839, Chauney H. Peak was commissioned by Gover
nor Henry Dodge a justice of the peace £or the county of Milwaukee.
On November 19, 1838, Andrew G. Miller, of Pennsylvania, was
appointed by President Van Buren to fill the vacant place on the bench
of the supreme court, and he took the oath of office December 10, fol
lowing. He made his residence in Milwaukee, where he was "sworn
in " by J. S. Rockwell, a justice of the peace.
In July, 1839, the annual session of the supreme court was held for
the first time with a full bench. Heretofore all documents issued by
this court requiring a seal received only the stamp of the clerk, im
pressed upon a wafer or upon sealing-wax. Consequently the court at
this time provided for a seal for its use.
H. S. Baird, the attorney-genera), failing to be present, F. J. Munger,
by request of the court, performed the duties of that office for the ses
sion. Attorneys appeared and argued some few cases and decisions
rendered thereon. F. J. Munger, W. N. Seymour, John Catlin, and N.
F. Hyer were admitted to the bar. John Catlin resigned his office of
clerk, and Simeon Mills was appointed, and La Fayette Kellogg deputy
clerk ; and rules number five and six were added to the code of prac
tice. Mr. Mills resigned at the July term of 1840, and Mr. Kellogg was
promoted to the office of chief clerk, and held the office during the
existence of the territory.
At this sitting the court adopted rules numbering from seven to six
teen, and number seventeen was added, in 1843, which completed the
rules governing the practice in the court until its last term, in August,
1847. Rules of practice for the district courts were instituted by this court
at its regular term in July, 1840, and were such as the profession cheer
fully approved, and which subsequently became substantially the rules
governing the United States district courts for the state of Wisconsin.
These rules proved by their simplicity very useful to the practitioner, in
relieving him from the production in court of elaborate papers in his
cases, and confining him to the more satisfactory rule of preparing
briefs.

26 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
»
On July 4, 1838, the territory of Iowa was organized, leaving to Wis
consin the territory east of the Mississippi river. Accordingly, a new
division of counties into judicial districts was made for Wisconsin, in
1839, by the legislature. The first district was composed of Crawford,
Grant, and Iowa, and assigned to Judge Dunn ; Rock, Green, Dane,
Jefferson, and Walworth, the ^second district, was assigned to Judge
Irvin ; and Milwaukee, Racine, and Brown, the third district, and
assigned to Judge Miller. For judicial purposes unorganized territory
was attached to contiguous counties in these districts.
The legislature of 1838 appointed A. L. Collins, M. L. Martin, and
Marshall M. Strong, of the council, and Whitbn, Shackelford, and Story,
of the house, a committee to revise the laws of the territory, which duty
was performed by them during the recess of the legislature, their revi
sion accepted by the succeeding legislature, and became the territorial
statutes on July 4, 1839. The volume in which they were published
was enhanced in value by the marginal notes prepared by Judge Whiton,
of the committee, to whom the duty was entrusted, in connection with his
supervision of printing of the work and making the index. With inci
dental changes from year to year by the legislature, these statutes were
in operation ten years, when the organization of the state necessitated a
new code.
The territorial laws were mainly abstracts from the statutes of Ohio,
Massachusetts, and, chiefly, New York. Previous to their adoption by
constituted authority the usual claim laws of squatters and minors then
in vogue necessarily became inoperative, and the regularly constituted
enactments succeeding them proved well adapted to the condition and
wants of all classes of the early settlers in the wild and expansive coun
try they inhabited.
" Before lands were brought into market by the president's proclama
tion, the settlers had adopted a system for their mutual protection. The
settler who first entered on a quarter section of land, or. a fraction of
a section, was protected in his possession against jumpers of his claim.
By the settlers' code the jumper was summoned before their committee,
who summarily disposed of the case. If the complainant was found to
be an actual settler and entitled to his claim, the jumper was made to
surrender without delay. There was no resisting the judgment of the
committee, for the whole town formed a posse to enforce the decision.
This was, under the circumstances, a wise and humane provision for the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 27
early settlement and improvement of the country ; and in many in
stances prevented personal quarrels.
" In the early days of the territory, immigrants from Eastern states
purchased of the settlers claims on government lands, and for a portion
of the consideration gave them personal obligations. A great number
of actions were brought on those contracts, which were defended against
on the ground that the settler being a trespasser on the lands the con
tract was void. The courts held such contracts valid, notwithstanding
the settler may be considered strictly in the light of a trespasser on gov
ernment lands. Where the government had not dispossessed either the
original settler or the purchaser, and the settler had made some im
provements or done some work on the land, possession was secured to
the occupant, by the settlers' rules, until the land was sold by the gov
ernment. The miner who had prospected and discovered mineral,
claimed a right to work the mine subject to a certain royalty. The
action of ejectment and trespass under the revised statutes, superseded
those primitive systems."
The statute laws of the new territory were framed in conformity to
the constitution of the United States, establishing grand juries ; speedy
and impartial trials by juries for accusations of crime, and for juries in
civil cases.
To meet these requirements grand and petit juries were summoned
to meet every term of the territorial district courts. They were paid for
their services and travel by the general government for the first week of
the term ; for the remainder of the term by the county in which the
court was held. Causes in which the United States was a party took
precedence of all other cases, and were usually heard during the first
week of the term.
It is stated that these territorial courts adhered strictly to the techni
calities of common law and equity practice, their rulings duly modified
by ensuing amendments; and that "many valuable precedents and
principles were established by the territorial supreme court." The office
of judge during territorial government was no sinecure. "Contracts
necessarily made in opening up and improving of the country gave rise
to a great amount of litigation. The district courts, especially of the
first and third districts, were open a large portion, of the year after 1842."
In the third district eight thousand cases were disposed of from the last
named date to the closing up of the territorial government. During the

28 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
existence of the territory the counties of Washington, Fond du Lac,
Winnebago, Sheboygan, Dodge, Manitowoc and Waukesha had been
organized and added to the third judicial district, and several other coun
ties were formed and added to the other districts.
, The official duties of the judges of these courts were greatly en
hanced by the enactment by congress of the bankrupt law of 1841, the
administration of which devolved upon them. The onerous labors thus
imposed may be understood by the fact that the supreme court adjudi
cated three hundred and fifteen bankrupt cases. Out of this number all
but fifteen received a discharge from their old debts.
These debts were chiefly contracted in the eastern states, where they
failed in business, consequent upon the bursting of the speculation bub
ble of 1836. The discharge of the three thousand bankrupts from their
financial obligations covered an estimate of two millions of dollars. By
the act the judges established their own rules of procedure and bill
fees. That they were modest in the latter may rightly be inferred from
the fact that the fees in each case averaged less than twenty dollars.
The courts of bankruptcy were held in Madison, its sessions ending in
thirteen months, the act having been repealed in March, 1843.
During the existence of the territorial courts arraignment of crimi
nals were not numerous, which is creditable to the character of the pop
ulation, as crimes of various kinds would naturally be expected in a
country so new, extensive and sparsely settled.
" The members of the territorial bar, coming from different states, in
which diverse and peculiar rules of practice had prevailed, brought with
them, and imparted in a great degree to the practice in the territory, the
rules and course of procedure to which they had been accustomed, thus
introducing confusion and uncertainty, in a degree unavoidable, into the
proceedings of the courts. It was thus fortunate for the people of those
territorial times that the judges who administered the law were educated,
intelligent, learned in the law, of undoubted integrity, and diligent and
faithful to their trusts. As supreme judges they sought to arrive at cor
rect result's more than to write elaborate opinions. Aided by a bar
which was constantly increasing in numbers, very many of whom, in
point of intellectual power and legal learning, would have occupied high
positions at the bar of any state, the record of their rulings may be re
garded by the people and profession with satisfaction and with pride."
There were annual sessions of the supreme court at Madison from

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 29
1840 to 1847, but the district courts continued until Wisconsin became
a state, May 29, 1848, when their functions ceased, and their places
became filled by the organization of courts under the constitution of
the state.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND ADMISSION OF THE
STATE.
For the transfer of the territorial government to that of state gov
ernment, a convention for the formation of a constitution for the new
state was held at Madison in 1846, and the articles then framed, on
being submitted to a vote of the people, were rejected. A succeeding
constitutional convention, held the next year, submitted to the people a
constitution that was accepted, and the state admitted into the Union
May 29, 1848.
THE SUPREME COURT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.
When Wisconsin was admitted into the Union the legislature divided
the state into five judicial circuits, and caused a judge to be elected for
each circuit by the voters of the circuit. The first election was in
August, 1848.
Edward V. Whiton was elected for the first circuit; Levi Hubbell
for the second; Charles H. Larrabee for the third; Alexander W.
Stow for the fourth; Mortimer M. Jackson for the fifth.
The tenure of office of these judges was so adjusted that the term
of one of them should cease at the end of two years and one each
succeeding year; the full term to be six years.
The several terms of the first judges were determined by lot. The
first and short term fell to Judge Stow, who became chief justice; the
second to Judge Hubbell; the third to Judge Whiton ; the fourth to
Judge Larrabee, and the fifth to Judge Jackson.
Besides holding these circuits these five judges were to sit together
as a supreme court for the term of five years, and longer unless other
wise provided by the legislature. One session was to be held annually
at the capital, and at such other places and at such times as the legisla
ture should direct.
Causes could be appealed from the circuit courts to the supreme
bench. Thus was seen the anomaly of judges, sitting as a higher court,
deciding upon cases brought up from their own courts below. This

30 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
may have been a doubtful improvement upon the appeal of the defeated
Roman, from Caesar drunk to Caesar sober.
At the session of 1850 the legislature provided for a sixth circuit,
and in July following Wiram Knowlton was elected its judge. In
December he took his seat upon the bench of the supreme court.
At the expiration of the term of two years of Judge Stow he
declined re-election, and Timothy O. Howe, of Green Bay, was elected
in January, 1851, to succeed him in the fourth circuit. Judge Howe
•took his seat on the supreme bench at the June term of 1851.
The term of Judge Hubbell was the second to expire, and he was
re-elected in January, 1852.
At the expiration of the term of Judge Stow as chief justice, Judge
Jackson became chief justice, January 3, 1852, but resigned the same
day, when Judge Whiton was chosen to the position. From this time
on all the judges on the supreme bench held their places until the court
was re-organized in 1853. No sitting was held by these judges after the
December term of 1852.
The first clerk of this court was J. R. Brigham, of Milwaukee, who
subsequently resigned, and on December 12, 1849, S. W. Beall was
appointed to the place, and Lafayette Kellogg, deputy ; D. H. Chandler
was reporter, and published four volumes of the Wisconsin Reports.
THE REORGANIZED SUPREME COURT.
The constitution had provided for the formation of a " separate
supreme court" at the end of five years, if the legislature should so
determine. During these five years the population and consequent
business interests of the state had so greatly increased, it was found
that the judges were unable to rightly perform the double duty devolv
ing upon them. Consequently the legislature of 1852 provided for the
election by the people of a chief justice and two associate justices, who
should compose a supreme bench distinct from the functions of circuit
judges. A full term was for six years, and only one of them go out
of office at the same time. The former judges were to continue their
functions in their respective circuits as circuit judges.
In September, 1852, the election of judges of the supreme court was
held, and Edward V. Whiton, of Janesville, was ele'cted chief justice.
A. D. Smith, of Milwaukee, and Samuel Crawford, of Mineral Point,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 31
associate justices. Their respective terms were determined by drawing
lots. The full term of six years fell to Judge Smith, the four years' term
to Chief Justice Whiton, and the two years' term to Judge Crawford.
They took their seats at the term commencing June i, 1853. La
Fayette Kellogg was appointed clerk. Judge A. D. Smith reported the
decisions, and the first eleven volumes of the reports of this court were
published by him.
The term of two years, for which Judge Crawford was chosen, having
terminated, Orsamus Cole, of Platteville, succeeded him on June 1, •
1856, and he was re-elected in 1861, in 1867, in 1873, and in 1879. The
term of Chief Justice Whiton expired May 31, 1855, and he was re
elected. His death occurred in April, 1859, and Luther S. Dixon, of
Portage, was appointed his successor, April 19, [859, and was elected to
the office in r86o, re-elected in 1866, and resigned in 1874.
The term of Judge Smith expiring May 31, 1858, Byron Paine, of
Milwaukee, was chosen in his place, and was re-elected in April, 1864.
On November n, 1864, Judge Paine resigned to enter the Union army,
and Jason Downer, of Milwaukee, received the appointment. Judge
Downer resigned September n, 1867, and Byron Paine succeeded him,
and was re-elected in 1870. Judge Paine died in February, 187 1, and
William Penn Lyon was appointed by the Governor; was elected to the
office in April following, and re-elected in 1876. On June 17, 1874,
Chief Justice Dixon resigned, and Edward G. Ryan, of Milwaukee,
was appointed his successor, June 16, 1874; was elected in 1875, and
died before the expiration of his term, which would have been January
1, 1882. He was succeeded by Judge Orsamus Cole.
For many years the business brought before this court had been
increasing so largely that the judges were overworked, and the senti
ment generally prevailed that more judges should be added. Accord
ingly an amendment to the constitution, adopted in 1877, provided for
two additional associate justices, and making ten years a full term for
all the judges chosen after the passage of the act.
For the new judges to be elected the term of one of them is to
expire on the first Monday in January, 1886, and the other the same
date in 1888.
In selecting candidates to be voted for by the people for the two
new judges the question arose whether the dominant party in the state,
which was republican, should elect two republicans or accord one can-

32 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
didate to the minority party, which was democratic. It was finally
decided to divide the honors. Thereupon Harlow S. Orton and David
Taylor were elected in April, 1878, without opposition. The term of
Judge Taylor was designated to expire in 1886, and that of Judge Orton
is to continue for the full term of ten years ending in 1888. As Chief
Justice Ryan was a democrat, who had been appointed by a democratic
governor, and Judge Orton is a democrat, the supreme court was repre
sented about proportionate to the relative strength of both of these
political parties in the state. At this the people and the legal fraternity
were content. The republicans the more so in the selection of Judge
Orton for the democratic member of the bench, inasmuch as he was
considered more of an independent or conservative in his political
views than as strictly a partisan, and moreover as eminently fitted for
the position.
In October, 1880, Judge Ryan died, and the question again came'
up whether a democrat should be placed on the bench. This time it
was decided that, the republicans being in power, the new judge should
be a republican. Thereupon Judge Cole was promoted to the seat of
chief justice, and John B. Cassoday appointed to fill his place as asso
ciate justice. The unexpired term of Judge Ryan, which Judge Cole
was appointed to fill out, terminating in 1882, Judge Cole was elected
for the full term of ten years, chief justice, from January 1, 1882. As
the terms of these judges now stand, that of Chief Justice Cole will ter
minate in January, 1892; Judge Lyon in 1883; Judge Taylor in 1886;
Judge Orton in 1888, and Judge Cassoday in 1890.
Clarence Kellogg is clerk of the court, having received the appoint
ment on June 11, 1878, succeeding his father, who died June 4, 1878.
Phillip L. Spooner was reporter from 1861 to 1864, when he resigned,
and O. M. Conover succeeded him and still holds the position.
The volumes twelve to fifteen were prepared by Judge Spooner, and
fifty-two volumes in all have been published, the larger portion of them
prepared by Mr. Conover. In 1872 the supreme court, by authority of
the legislature of 1870, appointed S. U. Pinney, of Madison, to collect
and publish the decisions of the supreme court under the territorial or
ganization, extending from 1836 to 1852. The difficult task resulted in
three volumes, and the labor was performed to the satisfaction of the
court and the bar.
The decisions of the territorial court to the close of the term of 1840

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 33
were prepared by T. P. Burnett, and published in 1-841, and the deci
sions of 1842 and 1843 were also published by him in 1844, but the
matter of these books was absorbed in the volumes of Mr. Pinney.
No better illustration can be given of the accredited ability that
does now and always has occupied the supreme bench of this state than
the fact that decisions emanating therefrom are authority the country
over, and the Wisconsin Reports sought for as standard works of equal
value to those of New York, which have ever ranked high with the
legal fraternity.
The supreme court has been in existence twenty-nine years. During
the time twelve judges have occupied seats upon its bench. Of these,
seven are living — Judges Cole, Downer, Dixon, Lyon, Orton, Taylor, and
Cassoday. The remaining'five have deceased — Whiton, Crawford, Smith,
Paine, and Ryan. Judges Cole, Lyon, Orton, Taylor and Cassoday are now
on the bench. Judges Downer and Dixon have retired by resignation,
and, in the practice of the law, Downer in Milwaukee, and Dixon in
Denver. THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS.
Upon the admission of Wisconsin into the Union on May 29, r848,
the state was constituted one district with one judge for holding United
States courts. The term of the judge was to be during good behavior,
and his salary fifteen hundred dollars a year. This sum was increased
in 1858 to two thousand five hundred dollars, and has since been raised
to three thousand five hundred dollars, at which amount it now remains.
This salary would seem to be entirely inadequate to the high position
and to the duties and responsibilities of the office. To a man of family
it affords scarcely a respectable living in the capital or metropolis where
the courts are chiefly held. The redeeming advantages are that the-
appointment is for life, with the privilege to retire at the age of seventy
on full pay. On the other hand, when the judge dies what has he been
enabled to lay up for his family ? With this view of the case it does:
not appear that the government is exceedingly liberal for a great and!
wealthy nation.
The act creating the district established stated terms of court to be
held at Madison and Milwaukee, the former on the first Monday of
July and the latter on the first Monday in January yearly; the judge
could also hold special terms at either place in his discretion. Andrew
3

34 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
G. Miller, of Milwaukee — heretofore one of the territorial judges of the
¦supreme court — was appointed by the President judge of the United
States district court on June 12, 1848. Judge Miller held this office
until January r, 1874, when he voluntarily retired.
On June 27, 1864, the time for holding these courts was changed to
the first Monday in January for Madison, and the second Monday in
April and in September for Milwaukee.
By an act of congress of June 30, 1870, the state was equally divided
into two judicial districts. One comprised the eastern half of the state,
was denominated the eastern district, and was assigned to Judge Miller.
The other half of the state composed the western district, to which
James C. Hopkins, of Madison, was appointed judge. The regular an
nual courts for the eastern district were to be holden at Milwaukee on
the first Monday in January and October, and at Oshkosh on the first
Monday in July; for the western district, at Madison the first Monday
in June, and at La Crosse the first Monday in September. On May 9,
1872, congress changed the annual term at La Crosse to the third Tues
day in September.
Upon the retirement of Judge Miller in 1874, James H. Howe was
appointed. He resigned in 1874, and Charles E. Dyer, of Racine, was
appointed judge for the eastern district February 10, 1875, and now holds
the office. Judge Hopkins having died on September 4, 1877, Romanzo
Bunn, of Sparta, became his successor October 13, 1877, in the western
district, having left the bench of the seventh circuit to accept the office.
THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURTS.
On July 15, 1862, the states of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were
constituted by congress a judicial circuit. The terms of this court were
to be held at the same time and place as those of the district courts.
The previous circuit court jurisdiction held by the district courts was
transferred to the circuit court. The district judge was empowered to
sit with the judge of the circuit court, and, in his absence, to sit alone.
February 9, 1863, Wisconsin became included in the ninth circuit,
and is now comprised in the seventh circuit. The judge is Thomas
Drummond, of Chicago. When on the bench of the United States
supreme court David Davis held courts at Madison and Milwaukee, and
John M. Harlan, of that bench, now holds courts in this state.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 35
EARLY JUSTICES' COURTS.
As incident to new countries much of the litigation during the early
settlement of Wisconsin was had before the primitive courts of justices
of the peace. The sitting justice was often not learned in the law, nor
could it be said that he was up in any branch of learning. It is more
than probable his " huge paws " never handled a statute-book, or any
law-book whatever, before his appointment to the judicial office. It
was an advanced justice who could command more than one volume of
statute law. The semblance of equity, not law, was the rule in reach
ing decisions. A lawsuit was an event- in which all the community took
part, and each party to the litigation had his respective friends. They
numerously attended the trial, and took an earnest interest in the pro
ceedings. The popular side was likely to carry court and jury with it.
The lawyers addressed themselves to the multitude as much as to the
court or jury, if there were a jury. While some of the lawyers of those
days were not notable for either learning, ability or legal acumen, there
were those who were men of thorough education and sound legal attain
ments. Such as the latter naturally fell into the rough ways of the day.
The dignity and refinement that usually follows literary culture would
have been out of place in the pioneer life of western wilds. Their mis
sion was to win. Addresses to the court or jury were apt to be mere
harangues, more vociferous than logical, — appeals to prejudice and pas
sion, and disquisitions upon the personal traits and characters of the
litigants, and their witnesses. Mr. Whisky was a prime factor in the
proceedings. Few escaped an influence so powerful and ready at hand.
The anti-treating law had not then been enacted. As an instance in
point the following has been related as the actual^facts in a murder
trial — the case of The State againstS^rndt/- for shooting-^ineyarVl in
the assembly hall of the old capitol in territorial times :
When the leading counsel for the defense addressed the jury he
made a flaming harangue, never once alluding to the case, fn fact he
had no case. The killing of Arndt was self-evident murder. The elo
quent pleader soon became thirsty and sent out for drink, which was
brought in a pitcher. The orator drank, and seeing that the jury
had the appearance of being thirsty also passed the pitcher to the fore
man, who drank and passed it to the other jurymen. After a time the
pleader, in the way of illustrating a point, alluded to the pitcher as hav-

36 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ing a handle all on one side, which led him to take it up, in doing which
he again drank, and, not to be selfish, handed it over to the foreman,
who likewise passed it to his companions. After a while allusion to the
pitcher was repeated, and the same round of imbibing its contents was
indulged in, and thus it went on till the drink and the address were both
exhausted. The verdict was acquittal. To the knowing ones it subse
quently transpired that the pitcher contained whisky.
A few anecdotes concerning the earlier courts may not be out of
place here. We begin with the district court of the territory. Judge
Irvin was on the bench, .and a murder trial was pending, and G. T.
Long, familiarly known as " Lucy " Long, was under-sheriff. The diffi
culty seemed to be in getting a jury which knew nothing about the facts
of the case. The regulan panel had been exhausted in this effort, and a
special venire had been issued, and was finally returned. "Well," said
his honor, "have you at last secured a sufficient number of jurymen,
Mr. Long, who know nothing about this case?" "Yes, sir," replied
the polite officer, " six of them know nothing about this case, and the
other six know nothing at all."
Afterward, when the state was organized, and Judge Hubbell was
circuit judge and holding court in Dane county, an indictment had
been obtained against some one for a criminal offense, and by some
oversight of the prosecuting attorney the indictment neglected to state
where the crime was committed. Col. Botkin and several other attor
neys had been retained for the defense, and after mutual consultation
they had concluded to move to quash the indictment, but none of them
had discovered the real and fatal defect in the indictment. Hours were
spent in argument on other points, all of which were overruled by the
court, who then added, " But the indictment has a fatal defect, which
counsel seem to have overlooked, and that is that it does not state in
what place or county this crime was committed." "Yes, your honor,"
exclaimed Col. Botkin, springing up; "ahem! certainly, your honor, but
we had concluded to reserve that point for a subsequent motion in
arrest of judgment," and he sat down, while his astonished associates
smiled incredulously.
And now comes one more in relation to the circuit court of Dane
county. Our distinguished fellow-citizen, the late Judge L. B. Vilas,
had brought suit against a railroad company for the value of a lot, and
demanded judgment for one thousand dollars. The company admitted the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 37
purchase of the lot, but claimed that the Judge had agreed to take his
pay in railroad stock. The latter admitted this to be true on condition
that the stock should be delivered to his agent within a certain lim
ited time, but claimed that the railroad had neglected to comply
so long beyond the time that the stock had become worthless. All
this was clearly proved, and it was also proved that the stock was
left with the Judge's agent, long after the time had elapsed, however.
The court charged the jury that if they found this to be so they must
find a verdict for the plaintiff. The jury retired, and everybody sup
posed that they would return an immediate verdict for plaintiff, but to the
surprise of the court and bar they were out for hours. When one of the
jurymen was asked the reason of this strange delay in so plain a case,
he said that they had balloted a great many times, and each time it
stood eleven for plaintiff and one for defendant, and at last they had
discovered who the one was, and demanded his reason. "Bedad,"
said he, " I would just like to know what was done with them cattle that
was delivered, for didn't they prove that they paid him in stock." It
took some time to explain this thing away to the obstinate juryman.
For many years the "old politicianer," as he was called, was justice
of the peace of Dane county. Whether he deserved it or not he had
gained the reputation of being an excellent plaintiff's magistrate, deem
ing it his duty to decide cases in favor of those who brought them.
One case in illustration of this rule of his will suffice. The defendant
in this case had utterly exploded the plaintiff's claim, and had made a
clear and conclusive defense by overwhelming evidence, but to the
utter amazement of all the justice still rendered judgment for the plain
tiff. " How could you decide thus?" demanded the defendant after
ward. "Had to," was the reply; "but,'' continued he," you just appeal
it, and you will knock that judgment higher than a kite."
The late Major Geo. P. Thompson told the writer the following
about a justice in his town. The major had been sued on his note
given for twenty dollars, but it turned out on the trial that the note was
not then due. The justice was about to dismiss the suit when the major said
that he had been dragged into court without cause, and he wanted com
pensation as damages. " True," said his honor, " I forgot that ; you are
right," and then turning to the plaintiff, with a stern aspect, he said :
"Young man, stand up and hear the sentence of the court. You have
done a great wrong; in fact it comes very near a tort, and I sentence
you to pay the defendant twenty dollars alimony."

38 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
One more about our "old politicianer." Two lawyers got to quar
reling before him in the trial of a cause. Words led to blows, and a
regular pitched battle ensued. They tumbled over chairs, fell under
the table and pummeled each other for several minutes, while the court
looked on quietly, and smoked his clay pipe. After the battle was over
both asked the justice how much was to pay ? " For what ? " demanded
he. "For contempt of court," was the reply. "There was no con
tempt of court," said he, "it's all right; go on with the case, call the
next witness."

BIOGRAPHY.

JUDGES TERRITORIAL COURTS.
James Duane Doty, Menasha, was a native of Salem, Washing
ton county, New York, where he was born in 1799. In the year 1818
he settled in Detroit, Michigan ; and, a young lawyer of good repute,
he was next year admitted to the supreme court of that territory, and
was the same year appointed secretary of the legislative council and
the clerk of the court. In the winter of 1823 congress jDassed an act
to provide for the appointment of an additional judge for the Michigan
territory. From the numerous applicants for the place President Mon
roe selected James D. Doty, of Detroit, for the new judge for what is
now Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
Judge Doty lost no time in entering on his duties as judge and law
giver to a country sufficient in extent for an empire. He repaired forth
with to Prairie du Chien, organized the judiciary of Crawford county
and opened court. He made a permanent residence at Green Bay,
where he made his home for twenty years. The judge proceeded to
organize courts in Michilimackinac and Brown counties. He continued
to discharge his onerous duties for nine years, and until succeeded by
Judge Irwin in 1832.
In 1830 congress made an appropriation for surveying and locating
a military road from Green Bay to Chicago and to Prairie du Chien.
The people of the district of Michigan, west of the lake, elected him
to the legislative council in 1834, in which he served with marked ability
for two years. Returning from the legislative council he became an
active operator in the public land sales, which were opened at Green
Bay in 1835-6.
Wisconsin, as an organized territory, had George W. Jones as its
delegate in congress. Judge Doty succeeded Mr. Jones in 1838, and
served till 1841, when he was appointed governor of Wisconsin by Presi
dent Tyler, serving nearly three years. He was a member of the

40 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
first constitutional convention in 1846 ; was elected to congress from
the third district under the state organization of 1848; was reelected in
185 1, and procured, by his industry and influence, important legislation
for the state and his immediate constituency.
fn 1853 he retired once more to private life, to be recalled by Presi
dent Lincoln in i86r, first as superintendent of Indian affairs, and
subsequently as governor of Utah, holding this last place at the time of
his death, June 13, 1865. Governor Doty's last residence in Wisconsin
was at Menasha, on Doty's Island, — one of the many villages that
sprung up under his influence. He had two sons and one daughter.
The people of Wisconsin are under lasting obligations to the memory
of Governor Doty for having been instrumental in fixing the location of
the capital at the beautiful city of Madison.
Charles Dunn, Belmont, was born December 28, 1799, at Bullett's
Old Lick, Bullett county, Kentucky, which is about sixteen miles east
from Louisville. He was the eldest of a family of five sons and four
daughters, and at the age of nine years was sent to school at Louisville
for about nine years, when he was called home and sent on a business
tour to Virginia, Maryland and Washington. Upon his return home he
read law a short time with Worden Pope, a distinguished lawyer of
Louisville ; and afterward he proceeded to Frankfort and continued his
law reading for about two years with the eminent John Pope, then
secretary of state, and who was the first law professor in the Transyl
vania University at Lexington.
He then went to Illinois and arrived at Kankakee, then the capital
of the state, in May 1819, where he completed his studies under the
direction of Nathaniel Pope, district judge of the United States for the
district of Illinois. In 1820 he was admitted to the bar, Sidney Breese
being admitted at the same time. He then commenced practice at
Jonesboro, Union county, Illinois. In 1821 he married Miss Mary E.
Shrader, daughter of Judge Ostro Shrader, who had been a United
States judge in Missouri territory. He remained in practice at Jones
boro for several years, and then removed to Golconda, Pope county,
Illinois. For two years he was engrossing clerk for two sessions for the House
of Representatives of the fllinois legislature, and for five years chief
clerk of the House. In 1829 he was appointed, by Governor Ninian

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 41
Edwards, acting commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and
with his associates on the commission, Edward Roberts and Dr. Jane,
surveyed and platted the first town of Chicago.
The first town lots of this embryo metropolis were sold by the com
missioners in behalf of the state in the latter part of 1829, and the
sales continued in 1830 and 1831, during which years the survey of a
canal and railway line was made and reported. In the early part of
1832 Indian troubles commenced, and a requisition was made upon the
state authorities for troops to engage in service against the hostile
Indians led by Black Hawk. Three brigades of volunteers responded
to the call, and Mr. Dunn entered the service as captain of a company
which he raised in Pope county, where he then resided.
His company was assigned to the second regiment, which was com
manded by Colonel John Ewing, and attached to the first brigade, which
was commanded by General Alexander Posey.
Soon after an engagement with the Indians, Captain Dunn became
the victim of a blundering mistake on the part of a sentinel, in what is
now the town of Dunn, in Dane county, by which he was severely, and
at first it was thought mortally, wounded. On approaching the
sentinel, by Captain Dunn, the sargeant of the guard and the relief
sentinel, the sentinel on duty, instead of hailing them as he should have
done, became alarmed and fired at the group at the distance of about
ten paces, severely wounding Captain Dunn in his right groin. He was
taken back to Fort Dixon, where he was confined by his wound until
after the war was ended by the battle of Bad Axe.
As soon as he was sufficiently recovered he returned to his home,
and in the spring of 1833 acted as assistant paymaster in paying off the
first brigade, and during that year resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1835 he was elected a member of the house of representatives of
the state legislature from Polk county, and was chairman of the com
mittee on the judiciary during the session. Upon the recommendation
of the Illinois delegation in congress, and the delegate for the territory
of Wisconsin, George W. Jones, he was appointed by President Jackson,
in the spring of 1836, chief justice of Wisconsin. He arrived at Min
eral Point July 4, 1836; was then and there sworn into office, which he
held until the organization of the state judiciary. The last term of his
court was held at Mineral Point in October 1848. He was a member
of the second constitutional convention from La Fayette county, was

42 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
chairman of the committee on the judiciary of that body, and took a
leading part in framing the constitution of the state, which was
adopted by the people. Subsequently he was elected state senator for
the district composed of the county of La Fayette, and served in that
capacity during the sessions of that body in 1852 and 1853, and was
chairman of the committee on the judiciary during both of those years.
On the expiration of his term of office as chief justice he returned to the
practice of the law in La Fayette and adjoining counties. Judge Dunn
was regarded one of the most eminent among those who have been
in the profession of the law in Wisconsin. While chief justice his judi
cial studies were especially onorous, as, during the greater time he was
on the bench, his district, as circuit judge, was the most populous and
important in the territory, and produced, it is believed, the greatest
amount of litigation. His judicial and official duties were performed
with rare ability, fidelity and integrity; and during his residence of
thirty-five years in Wisconsin, always commanded, both in public and
private life, the confidence and esteem of all classes of people. To
near the time of his death in 1872, at the advanced age of seventy-two,
he continued in vigorous practice of his profession at Belmont, and
was at that time the oldest lawyer in the state.
David Irvin, Texas, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, in
1794, and was of blended Scotch and Irish parentage. His father was
a Presbyterian minister, and a teacher of the ancient languages of much
local reputation. David Irvin was educated for a lawyer, and started in
life in the Shenandoah valley, in Virginia, in which, in after life, he
located many marvelous incidents and anecdotes that it was his de
light to relate. As he did not meet with wondrous success as a lawyer
in the valley, he applied to his old schoolmate, William C. Rives, who
was at that time in high favor with President Jackson, to get him an
office, and Mr. Rives suggested the propriety of giving him a judgeship.
The term of office of Judge Doty as judge of the additional district for
Michigan territory having expired in 1832, that position was tendered
him and accepted. Upon the organization of the territory of Wiscon
sin he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court by President
Jackson. Being a bachelor his residence was not necessarily confined to any
particular locality. He always preferred southern society, and as soon

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 43
as the term of his last office was ended he went to St. Louis, where he
remained some length of time, and subsequently went to Texas, where,
with the economical accumulations of the principal and interest of his
salary as judge, he made large investments in wild cotton lands, which
has made him a man of wealth. During the rebellion he espoused the
cause of the South, and is still living in Texas.
William C. Frazer, Pennsylvania, was appointed associate justice
of the supreme court of the territory of Wisconsin at its organization in
1836, and performed the duties of the office until his death, which
occurred in Milwaukee, October r8, 1838, when he was sixty-two years
of age. His career in Wisconsin was so brief and unimportant that
little is now remembered of it, and that merely traditional. The only
written opinion given by him in the discharge of his judicial duties of
which there is any trace is found in the report of the case of an Indian
who was indicted, and tried and convicted before him at Green Bay, for
the murder of Pierre Parquette, the interpreter of the Winnebago fn-
dians. At the time of his appointment he was considerably advanced
in years, and his intemperate habits rendered him unfit for the position,
yet it has been said that he had been a lawyer of average learning and
ability. Judge Catlin says of him : " Judge Frazer was a very able judge when
not under the influence of liquor, and was remarkable for his ability,
-memory and knowledge of law. The judge came on from Pennsylvania
to hold the term of the supreme court in 1838, but the other judges did
not attend. Judge Frazer insisted upon opening the court and holding
the term as the law required. I informed him that there was no busi
ness, and no lawyers in attendance. He said that made no difference;
it was necessary to adopt rules, and accordingly the court was opened.
The judge dictated and f wrote the rules, but they were not adopted by
the other judges. The climate of Madison, however, at that day, did
not suit the judge, as 'the critter' or 'O be joyful' was not there,
except some Chinese cordial in the store of James Morrison, which Mr.
Bird had charge of in the absence of Morrison. This cordial was put
up in a very handsome and expensive set of Chinamen representing
mandarins, and by the liberality of Mr. Bird the whole set of a dozen
bottles was emptied by the judge while holding the term. When the
cordial had all leaked out the judge took his departure, and never held
another term in Madison."

44 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
As the law required the. presence of two judges to constitute a de
facto court it is to be inferred that Judge Frazer did not presume to
inaugurate any legal business as a supreme court.
Andrew G. Miller, Milwaukee. At the early settlement of this
country the ancestors of Andrew G. Miller came to America and settled
in Pennsylvania. They were Presbyterians from the north of Ireland,
and of that people commonly termed Scotch-Irish descent. His mother
was a Galbraith, from England, and both families occupied land pur
chased of William Penn during the early years of his historical colony.
Members of both his father's and mother's families participated in the
perils and triumphs of the revolutionary war, held commissions and per
formed honorable service in the continental army, as also did his father
in the Pennsylvania militia in the Niagara campaign of 1814.
Andrew Galbraith Miller was born near the present city of Carlisle)
Pennsylvania, September 18, 1801. Commencing his education in the
academy in his native town, he prepared for college at the same institu
tion, and was admitted to Dickinson College at Carlisle in 1815, being
subsequently transferred to Washington College, Washington, Pennsyl
vania, where he was graduated in 1819. Choosing the profession of
law for a vocation, in October of the same year he became a student in
the office of Andrew Caruthus, at Carlisle, and was admitted to the
Cumberland county bar in 1822. His practice was begun in the same
county, and continued with success for sixteen years, within which period
he held the office of Attorney General, resigning the same at the end of
three years' service.
Upon entering his life work, he wisely resolved to accept no office
not connected with his profession, and this determination was adhered
to throughout his long life, which unquestionably added much to the
success of his long and distinguished career.
Andrew G. Miller was the eldest son of ten children, and his father
dying soon after the son came to the bar, he became the responsible
head of the large family made somewhat dependent by the depreciation
of property after the war of 1812. These filial duties were cheerfully
assumed and faithfully borne, exhibiting at that early period of his life
the noble and self-abnegating qualities that distinguished him through
his subsequent years. On February 7, 1827, he married Caroline E.
Kurtz, daughter of Benjamin Kurtz, one of the founders of the Lutheran

THE MILWAUKEE LITH S. ENG -GO.

i^sU^eg^y

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 45
church in America. Mrs. Miller still survives to enjoy the respect and
esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
After his marriage Judge Miller pursued his profession in Pennsyl
vania till 1838, at which time he was appointed, by President Van Buren,
judge of the territory of Wisconsin, and the field of his labors was trans
ferred to the then wilds of the west. Having accepted the commission
November 8, 1838, Judge Miller, with that promptness which always dis
tinguished hirn, immediately proceeded to the scene of his future duties.
Arriving at Milwaukee, after a month's journey, he took the oath of
office December 10, 1838. His family followed him to Milwaukee the
next spring, where they have continued to reside.
At that time the eastern territorial judicial district comprised the line
of territory bordering on Lake Michigan and extending from Green Bay,
including Milwaukee, to the southern territorial borders. This was the
most rapidly growing portion of the territory in settlements and in com
merce. To this important district Judge Miller was assigned. Owing
to the prostration of all kinds of business, following the panic of 1836,
litigation was greatly multiplied, and when the judge opened his court
in the spring of 1839 he found twelve hundred cases awaiting trial.
The judiciary of the territory consisted of a chief justice and two asso
ciate judges; the three sitting together annually formed the supreme
court. By this arrangement Judge Miller's labors were greatly aug
mented. At the same time the eastern section of the state increased to
such an extent that new counties swelled the number to nine, in each of
which Judge Miller was compelled to hold two terms a year, increasing
to three in Milwaukee county; the terms occupying six weeks each.
His vacations never exceeded three weeks of any year.
It will thus be seen that the office of district judge was no sinecure
in those days, but demanded devotion to its duties, and a hardy consti
tution such as Judge Miller possessed in an eminent degree. Some
estimate of the magnitude of these labors can be formed from the fact
that during his nine years' term of service as territorial judge he ad
judged seven thousand and five hundred court cases, and ordered three
hundred discharges in bankruptcy. His labors in accomplishing this
vast amount of judicial work were greatly enhanced by the crude lan
guage and uncertain meaning of the statute law, and he was indefatiga
ble in endeavor to unravel the mysteries of these unintelligible enact
ments.

46 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
When Wisconsin was admitted as a state in 1848 it was made to
comprise one United States judicial district, and Judge Miller was ap
pointed by President Polk, July 12, 1848, to that bench. In view of the
eminent services he had rendered in his previous judicial capacity, this
appointment was a natural sequence, and gave satisfaction to the Wis
consin bar. The court was organized on the first Monday of July, 1848,
and Judge Miller entered upon his new duties that continued to near
the end of his life.
This single district for the whole state continued until 1870, when it
was divided into an eastern and a western district. Judge Miller was
assigned to the eastern district, with court at Milwaukee.
In the long judicial service of Judge Miller it is a notable feature
that, in appeals from his decisions to the supreme court of the United
States, his judgments were almost universally sustained. No higher
compliment could be paid to impartial application of sound legal knowl
edge and intellectual ability. " In equity and admiralty jurisprudence,
the accuracy and abundance of Judge Miller's learning have long dis
tinguished him. In admiralty law he was foremost in western authority,
and his decisions and judgments in admiralty cases are received with
respect by the most eminent jurists of the day."
On the nth of November, 1873, Judge Miller made the follawing
announcement :
"Two years ago, then of the age when federal judges are allowed to
resign on a continuance of their salaries, I was inclined to accept the
terms of the law ; but being blessed with good health, and not iiaving
the plea of infirmity, in response to the expressed wishes of numerous
highly respectable and influential gentlemen of all parties and profes
sions, to retain my place, and not believing it to be proper to retire
immediately upon arriving at the specified age, I concluded to continue
in office until the expiration of thirty-five years from the dale of my first
commission. " The time set for my resigning has arrived, and I make the announce
ment to the President of the Bar Association that this day I resign the
office of district judge of the United States for the district of Wisconsin,
to take effect on the first day of January next. An earlier day for my
retiring would be agreeable to me, and should have been set, but for an
amount of business pending, or submitted and not disposed of, which
requires my attention in the meantime.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 47
" I am the oldest federal judge in commission, and the sole surviving
judge who administered the bankrupt act of 1841. As judge of the terri
torial supreme court, I attended its annual terms at Madison, and held
the district courts in the third district of the territory, which before the
admission of the state into the Union was composed of nine counties,
and also the terms of the district court as judge of the United States,
without missing a term from sickness or any other cause.
" Although the infirmities of age cannot be pleaded as an excuse for
my resigning, yet, after passing fifty-four years of my life in the law, as
a student in a law office, as a member of the bar, and as a judge thirty-
five years of the time in public service, I hope that the members of the
bar and my fellow citizens generally may approve of my retiring from
official duty in the evening of my days.
" I love the legal profession, and esteem the worthy practitioner as
holding the most honorable position in this country. And I shall retire
with thankfulness to the bar for the aid they rendered me by their briefs
and arguments in my judicial investigations, and with my best wishes
for their prosperity and happiness."
After the retirement of Judge Miller, at the age of about seventy-
two years, he continued in his usual good health ; and when, Septem
ber 30, 1874, while at his usual domestic avocations, at his home in
Milwaukee, he suddenly departed this life, the announcement was a
shock to the entire community. A great and good man had gone the
way of all mankind, but it was felt to be the end of a life full of years,
usefulness and honor.
Judge Miller came into what is now the State of Wisconsin when
the practice and administration of law was in a crude and chaotic con
dition. Law books were few, and what the lawyers of that day lacked
in legal lore was made up by shrewdness, tact and vehemence. Judge
Miller changed all this. His native dignity, legal learning and decorous
bearing taught the uncouth practitioner that trickery, rant and irrele
vancy were out of place in his court and positive injury to a cause. It
was a saying of the old members of the Milwaukee bar, that Judge
Miller first gave dignity and character to the bench of eastern Wiscon
sin. He had great respect for the sanctity of the jury system, and
aimed to secure the purity of the jury box. He brought to the perform
ance of his arduous judicial duties a hardy constitution and a stalwart
physique that stood him in good stead in the new and rough country
in which lay his work.

48 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
The field he occupied extended over a large territory, and, to reach
the places in which he held his courts at that early day* he was com
pelled to ride for days on horseback, often through a wilderness inhab
ited by Indians, with here and there a solitary settler. He would thus
make regular journeys from Milwaukee to Green Bay, encountering
hardships that would test severely the perseverance and physical
endurance of any man. In this connection Mr. J. W. Cary says : "His
duties were before him, he had engaged to perform them, and he never
faltered nor turned back. In all these years, against these difficulties
and hardships, this faithful public officer never, in a single instance, on
account of illness or for other cause, failed to be present at a term of
court appointed by law at the designated hour, and never failed to hold
a term open until the business that was ready was disposed of; and all
agree who have practiced at his court, that in the history of our country
no man ever discharged a high judicial trust more faithfully, or more
richly earned the right to retire in the evening of his days to the quiet
of private life."
Judge Drummond said on the occasion of his death : " Endowed
with a retentive memory, having great experience in the various branches
of the law, and always a diligent student, his knowledge of the profession
and particularly of federal laws and adjudications, including admiralty
law, was uncommon. He was a man of decisive opinions and strong
feelings, but it can be said with truth, that in all cases that we have
heard together, his main desire seemed to be to decide according to the
justice and right of the cause and in conformity with law."
Presiding in the court, Judge Miller was notable for the dignity of
his bearing. His ideas of the authority and importance of a high court
of law were of the most elevated character. He gave tone to the er
mine in the new rough country into which he had come to administer
the sacred requirements of the law. This may have been irksome to the
practitioner of that day who had been accustomed to more freedom of
the bench. The dignified and urbane presence of Judge Miller never
failed to preserve the utmost decorum in his courts. His rules of prac
tice were simple but were rigidly enforced, and at the same time no
judge was ever more courteous to the practitioners before his courts, and
to young lawyers his demeanor was unfailingly kind and considerate.
It can but be conceded that Judge Miller possessed one of the first
requisites of a judge in his eminent decision of character. With due

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 49
deference to the ability and legal learning of counsel, he was inflexible
in taking the responsibility of his decisions in accordance (with his convic
tions and inflexibly adhering to them. His judgments were never im
pulsive nor immature; they were invariably given after full consideration
and examination. His application was unremitted in the study of the
law bearing upon the causes before him. When not in court he was in
his law library. Law was the idol of his life, and to a judge who loved
it so well it could not otherwise be than that he sought for truth and
justice for truth and justice's sake. It would seem that in the considera
tion of his cases he fully isolated himself from extraneous circumstances
and surroundings. It was evident that no personal influence nor preju
dice had any weight in his judicial decisions. Hence practitioners
learned in the law, and opinionated withal, naturally would feel aggrieved
that adverse opinions held by them did not measurably sway the course
of the bench. All judges may err, but Judge Miller was fully capable
of assuming the responsibility which rightly belonged to him, and no
one hesitated to accord to him the strictest integrity in his judicial as
well as his social life. He was the soul of honor. The late Chief
Justice Ryan said on the occasion of his death : " From whatever point
of view we look back upon Judge Miller's professional career in Wiscon
sin, it must be conceded that for the greatness of his office, for the re
markable length of his official life, for the public importance of his
administration, for the vast aggregate of his judicial labors, few judges
have higher claims to eminence. Think what men may of his adminis
tration, there was something grand in the lonely self-reliance and stead
fastness of the man which none could fail to admire. Regardless of all
outcry he held his way, and so he appeared to others arbitrary when he
was only true to his own sense of the duty and dignity of his office.
And I am happy to be a witness to my own belief, founded, I think, on
thorough knowledge of the man and his administration, that Judge Miller
¦left the bench without a sense of willful wrong done upon it."
Judge Miller was notable in strength of character, persistent and im
movable in what he believed to be the right; nothing was suffered to
ruffle his passive and equitable temperament. Sentiment did not enter
into his law decisions; he did not find it in the books. His mission was
to execute the statutes; his hand was not in their making. " He upheld
and enforced the law," and no higher praise can be accorded to any
judge who has occupied the bench. In times of excitement he adhered
4

50 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
to the law without regard to results. He made decisions which were
contrary to a strong anti-slavery sentiment of the times, but in all of
these he was sustained by the supreme court of the United States. His
decisions are the law of the State of Wisconsin to-day, and he has done
much toward settling the policy of the state.
Judge Miller was a lifelong member of the Episcopal church, and was
ever constant and devoted. He lived the life of a christian ; upright,
pure and honorable in his daily walk. Blessed with an interesting and
devoted family, his delight was in his well ordered home. With feelings
ever deep and true, the austerity of the bench relaxed in the social en
joyment of family and friends. To those who had the privilege of know
ing him in his private life, he was a model of excellence in all his family
relations. Eminent as he was as a jurist, his memory is more cherished
by his numerous descendants for his domestic goodness and virtues.
No citizen commanded more respect in the community where he was so
long and so well known. He has left behind him a kindred whose lives
bear the impress which his character and life made upon them.
In business matters Judge Miller was the exact, prompt and conscien
tious man, doing unto others as he would have others do unto him.
In reviewing the career of Judge Miller, it would seem that his placid
and conservative character was eminently fitted to mould into better
harmony the new and crude elements with which his judicial life was
intermingled, and to potently aid in shaping the character and elevating
the tone of the higher class of society in which he moved. His life had
been long, useful and impressive, and he was called to leave it before
time had at all dimmed the lustre of his intellect or impaired the vigor
of his constitution. CHIEF JUSTICES STATE SUPREME COURT.
Alexander Wolcott Stow was born in Middletown, Connecticut,
in 1804. But little can be learned of his early life excepting that he
was a college graduate, after which he traveled extensively in Europe ;
that he studied law, and after his admission to the bar practiced the
profession at Rochester, New York. In 1845 he came to Wisconsin,
and settled at Fond du Lac, near which city he purchased a farm, but
did not become a farmer. His time was divided between Fond du Lac
and Milwaukee, at which latter city he had a law office, but not much
business. He was soon, however, brought into official life. He became

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 51
known as a man of learning, culture, and profound in the law, espe
cially in decisions. Consequently, on the establishment of the first
courts under the state organization, he was elected judge of the fourth
circuit, in virtue of which he was also a member of the supreme court,
and as such was chosen chief justice by his associates. As the terms of
the respective judges were determined by lot, the full term being six
years, the shortest term fell to Judge Stow, and his term ended January
i, 185 1. Retiring to private life he continued to reside nominally on
his farm, was never married, and died in Milwaukee September 14, 1854.
Mortimer M. Jackson was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county,
New York; studied law in the city of New York; came to Wisconsin in
1838; was appointed attorney-general of the territory in 1841. and held
the office until 1845. On the organization of the state government in
1848 he was elected judge of the fifth judicial circuit, by virtue of which
he was also a member of the supreme court. On the expiration of the
term of Judge Stow as chief justice, Judge Jackson was chosen by his
colleagues thief justice, but declined to serve, and his term as judge
expired in 1852. In 1861 he was appointed United States consul at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 1880 was promoted to consul-general of
the United States for the British maritime provinces, in which capacity
he is now acting, with his residence at Halifax.
Edward V. Whiton, Janesville. Edward Vernon Whiton was the
son of General Joseph Whiton, of Massachusetts, a soldier of the revo
lution and of the war of 181 2, and was born at South Lee, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, on the 2d of June 1805. During the first
thirty years of his life he continued to reside in his native town, whence
he at. length removed to the then territory of Wisconsin, to take part in
the great and glorious battle of life in that new field of development —
the great West. He settled there when the present site of Janesville
and its neighborhood was almost a wilderness, and lived for some time
the life of a pioneer in a cabin on the broad prairie. He was elected a
member of the house of representatives for the first session of the
legislative assembly at Madison. At the next subsequent session he
was elected speaker of the house. During those sessions he was a fre
quent participant in debate, and took an active part in enacting the
first territorial code. Up to that time the laws of Wisconsin consisted
of the territorial statutes of Michigan and the laws of the Wisconsin

52 THE BENCH AND BAR OB WISCONSIN.
legislature, passed at the sessions at Belmont and Burlington. The
revised statutes, which became of force on the 4th of July, 1839, were
published under his supervision. In 1847 he was a member of the
constitutional convention which framed the constitution of .the state.
On the organization of the state government in 1849 he was elected a
circuit judge, and, under the then system, became a judge of the
supreme court. He occupied this position until 1853, when the "sepa
rate supreme court " was established, when he was elected chief justice,
and reelected in 1857, and continued to hold the office until he was
compelled to leave it by the disease of which he died.
"Chief Justice Whiton was thoroughly identified with almost every
prominent event in the history of Wisconsin, both as a territory and as
a state. Throughout the whole period of his residence in Wisconsin
his life was a public life, and he filled political and judicial stations suc
cessively with such ability and integrity that the people exalted him
from place to place, until he had received the highest honors in their
gift ; and the positions with which he was honored were ennobled by
the lustre of his conduct and character. Amid all the conflicts of party
— both in the means by which he attained and the manner in which he
discharged the duties of office — the purity of his character was ever
unsullied by the slightest breath of reproach or even suspicion.
In the early, part of the year 1859 his health began to fail, and it
became manifest to his associates upon the bench that his system was
suffering from some malady which it was hoped would be but temporary
in its effects, and would yield to the invigorating influences of relaxation
and home exercises, where the cares and anxieties of official responsi
bility would not intrude. Accordingly his associates upon the bench,
after much persuasion, induced him to retire, as all hoped, for a short
season only, in order to recruit his energies for the approaching term,
as well as to complete the unfinished former business still remaining.
He left the bench, as was supposed, in the confident expectation of
returning to it again after a short respite at home. Insidious disease,^,
however, had obtained too strong and deep a hold in his system, and
about noon on the 12th of April, 1859, he died at his residence in
Janesville, in the house of his own construction, loved and mourned as
to few men it has been vouchsafed to be loved and mourned.
Among those officially and professionally connected with him, as
well as in his private circle, his death called forth the deepest

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISC6NSIN. 53
expressions of sincere regret and sorrow. At the meetings of the bar
of the supreme court, and of the Milwaukee bar, as well as those held
at the county seats of the several counties of the state, resolutions were
adopted indicative of the great general loss felt by the people, as well
as the exalted estimation in which the deceased judge was most deserv
edly held by bench and bar. The president of the Milwaukee bar, in
the course of a touching tribute to his virtues and ability, said of him :
" Were I to name any one sphere of action in his life in which he was
most eminently distinguished, and for which he had a peculiar adapta
tion, I should say that it was as a legislator. His varied information,
strict integrity, eminent conservatism, and finely balanced mind, all
combined to make him a ready debater and a high-minded and patri
otic legislator. But it is useless to name any one sphere, when all the
positions he ever occupied were filled so ably and perfectly." And
another of his intimate associates said: "On this melancholy occasion
I can hardly trust myself to speak. For years Judge Whiton has been
to me as it were an elder brother. Our relations have been so harmo
nious, so uniformly genial, so entirely fraternal, that we have scarcely
thought of official relation. During our long association, in deliberation
upon matters of the gravest concernment, while discussion has been
most free and unrestrained, never an unkind word, nay, not even a
petulant expression, has been uttered. All through his official career
he preserved a strictness of propriety which can scarcely be equaled, a
conscientiousness which never wavered, a depth of thought and com
prehensiveness of the subject-matter ever present ; commanding without
force, controlling without intrusion; clear and unassuming in his high
office ; great when he least thought of greatness, but great only wherein
man can be truly great — because he was wise and good."
Luther S. Dixon, Milwaukee, was a native of Chittenden county,
Vermont, born June 17, 1825, was educated at an academy and Nor
wich Military University, read law with the distinguished Judge L. P.
Poland, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. Coming west the same
year he located at Portage City, commenced practice, and was district
attorney from 1852 to 1856. While serving in this capacity he was
prosecuting attorney in the famous murder trial of John B. Du Bay,
which was removed to Dane county on change of venue in 1856. Pitted
against him were Moses M. Strong and Harlon S. Orton, two as able

54 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
lawyers as there were in the state, and the marked ability with which he
conducted the prosecution, singly and alone, brought him, for the first
time, into prominence, and he was yet young. In 1858 Governor Ran
dall appointed him judge* of the ninth circuit, and during the year he
served held two terms of court in each county. On the death of Chief
Justice Whiton, in 1859, he was appointed by Governor Randall to fill
the vacancy, taking his seat April 19, 1859. He was four times re
elected, and on June 17, 1874, resigned and moved to Milwaukee, where
he resumed the practice of law. In this city he was immediately en
gaged in important cases, among which was counsel for the United
States in the notable whisky trials of 1875 ; for the state in the memo
rable granger cases of 1874, 1875 and 1876, testing the control of the
state over railroad corporations chartered by the legislature, and was
retained for the Atchison, Santa Fe & Topeka Railroad Company in its
famous litigation with the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company for
possession of the grand canon of the Arkansas in Colorado. The latter
case took him to Colorado for three months in 1879. This has led to a
decision to make Denver his future home, for the reason that the cli
mate of the shore of Lake Michigan brought on bronchial and asth
matic troubles of which the atmosphere of Colorado proved curative.
He leaves behind a splendid practice, but the promise of satisfactory
business awaits him in his new field of labor. Through his decisions as
chief justice, as well as otherwise, he is quite as well known in Colorado
among the legal profession as a jurist as he is in Wisconsin. The Wis
consin Reports are standard the country over.
Devoting himself entirely to the law the judge has never allowed
himself to be drawn into partisan politics. It is well known that during
the memorable contest for the United States senatorship, during the
legislative session of the winter of 1875, and a third man was demanded,
judge Dixon could have had the election by simply saying yes. The
writer of this sketch said to him casually, "Why not be senator,
Judge ? " " I cannot afford it," was quickly replied. The writer was
also present in a republican state convention when the name of Judge
Dixon was proposed for renomination. His competitor was powerful.
Ex-Governor Salomon championed his cause, and in his speech, of
remarkable power, presenting the name of the judge, he made a turning
point by saying that the unselfish motive of his decisions had been
notably illustrated in the fact that he decided against the claims of the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 55
thousands of farmers in the celebrated and long contested farm mort
gages cases, when, if he sought popularity in view of the approaching
election of a chief justice, he had an excellent opportunity to reach the
good-will of a large body of voters, but, on the contrary, chose to risk
his reelection on right and justice; and this won.
Before leaving the city for Colorado the bar of Milwaukee tendered
Judge Dixon a parting banquet. This he respectfully declined, prefer
ring a letter of acknowledgment of the compliment. The truth is, one
of the most conspicuous traits of the judge's character is his unconquer
able distaste of notoriety in any form.
So recently leaving a state where he has, for so long a period, been
at the head of the bench and bar, it may not be an impropriety to say
that the estimation in which he is held by all who personally know him
is that in person, intellect, moral character and professional worth, the
subject of this record is, in every phase of life, a man, than which there
can be no higher eulogy.
Edward G. Ryan, Madison, thus wrote of his early life in response
to request of the author of this book :
"I was born at Newcastle House, my father's residence, near the vil
lage of Enfield, in the county of Meath, November 13, 1810. My
father, Edward Ryan, was a younger son of the family of Ryan, of Bal-
linakill. He had married Abby, eldest daughter of John Keogh, of Mt.
Jerome, the chairman of the famous Catholic committee. At the time
of my birth my father was a prosperous man, the owner of lands pur
chased in part with the fortune which he received with my mother.
Between the peace of 1815 and the passage of the corn laws he was
¦ruined, as were almost all others who owed money upon land. He then
removed to Blackhall, in the county of Kildare, which he rented, and
where he lived till near his death.
" My mother's father was a very wealthy man, who died while I was a
youngster. He left an annuity to my mother for the purpose of edu
cating her children. There were ten of us, and we all received an
excellent education. I received mine at Clongowes Wood College,
where I remained for seven years, from 1820 to 1827.
I was always destined for the law, in the study of which I was nom
inally engaged in 1828 and 1829. But I was an expensive and improvi
dent youth, and a great burden to my father.

SfJ THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
I had exaggerated notions of the ease with which men got on in this
country, and I finally obtained my father's consent to come here. So I
came in 1830. I did not know then, but have long since known, that
my father expected me to fail and to return to Ireland. I was too
proud to do so. I studied law in New York as I could, supporting my
self by teaching. I was admitted in 1836, and came that year to Chi
cago. Up to that time I had never known what sickness was. But I
was peculiarly subject to miasmatic disease, and was in very poor health
during the whole time I was in Chicago. In 1842 I was married to
Mary, eldest daughter of Captain Hugh Graham, and immediately re
moved to Racine. I lost my first wife in 1847, and as soon as I rallied
from the blow prepared to move to Milwaukee, and moved there in
December 1848. When I first went to Racine it seemed doubtful which
would be the larger place. That doubt was settled long before I moved.
In 1850 I was married to Caroline Willard, daughter of  Pierce, of
Newburyport, Massachusetts."
In Milwaukee Judge Ryan was successively associated in the prac
tice of law with Mathew H. Carpenter, James G. Jenkins, Joshua Stark
and J. J. Orton, as also, at one time, a quasi connection with the firm of
Smith & Salomon. In that city he was in contact with some of the
greatest lawyers and advocates that have practiced in Wisconsin, A. D.
Smith, N. K. Wells, Jonathan E. Arnold, now gone, having been among
the brilliant number.
Judge Ryan was brought into prominence on his connection with
the noted Radcliff, Anna Wheeler and some other celebrated murder
trials, and the Glover rescue slave case. But what first gave him a
national reputation and placed him at the head of the profession in this
state was his masterly arguments in the celebrated Hubbell impeach
ment trial before the state senate in 1854. Alone he conducted the
trial on behalf of the managers appointed by the assembly, and opposed
to him were the eloquent Janathan E. 'Arnold and the learned James B.
Knowlton. The senators were some of the most eminent men in the
state sitting as a court. Although the accused was acquitted it was
conceded to be no fault of Judge Ryan representing the prosecution.
The case was mixed up with politics, and Judge Hubbell belonged to
the dominant party in the state, and its representatives in the senate
predominated in that body. He acquired not only reputation but like
wise personal honor as one of the leading counsel in the Barstow-Bash-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 57
ford case before the supreme court, at which time, although a political
sympathizer with the Barstow side of the issue," he took strong grounds
against the counting of illegal election returns that would alone make
Barstow governor.
It was not only as a lawyer and jurist, but as an editor, a statesman
and a politician, that Judge Ryan was conspicuous. He was one of
the early journalists of Chicago. He was the editor of the Tribune,
which was published in Chicago in 1839, and was probably the first
newspaper of the name in the country, antedating Horace Greeley's
prolific progenitor by several years. The selection of the name shows
the classic tone of its editor. It was started in 1839, and closed its
career in 1841, having a brief existence, like many of the early as well
as the later journals of Chicago. It was published by H61comb & Com
pany. Holcomb was the printer, and E. G. Ryan the Company and the
editor. It was not a small sheet for the time, but a seven-column
paper, as large as any in the city, and as large as could be conveniently
handled and pulled on a hand-press. It was printed eight years before
any power-presses were used in Chicago. It was decidedly the hand
somest-printed, sheet then in the city, — Holcomb & Company assuming
to raise the standard of printing, then in its primitive stages.
The first newspaper of Chicago was the Chicago Democrat, started
by John Calhoun in 1833 ; the second was the Chicago American, started
by T. O. Davis in 1835 ; the third, the Commercial Advertiser, in 1837,
by Hooper Warren ; and the fourth, the Tribune, in 1839, edited by
E. G. Ryan, the late jurist. The professional editors in Chicago pre
vious were John Calhoun, John Wentworth (his successor), Thomas O.
Davis, Hooper Warren, William Stuart ; then follows E. G. Ryan. There
were some unprofessional editors who used to lend them a hand at the
quill in those days on the political journals, as Dr. Brainard, J. F. Bal-
lister and others.
The Tribune was started as a democratic paper. It was really a
competitor of Long John's Democrat. The Democrat was an intense
partisan paper, moulded after the school of Isaac Hill. It was con
ducted upon the level of the people who were to make up the mass
of the votes of the democratic party. The Tribune had no respect
for so low a level of humanity. It was designed to reach the intellec
tual and cultivated class. Mr. Ryan wrote long and able editorials, and
not always on the popular topic of the hour. The editor gave subjects

58 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
to his readers to think about which were really worthy of their thoughts,
and the articles were not only profitable reading for the day but would
be equally profitable for any other day in the coming years. It is a pity
there are not enough seekers for such style of editorial writing. These
productions in literary merit were worthy to be placed by the side of
the essays and allegories in Addison's Spectator. The Chicago Demo
crat, with its laudations of Andrew Jackson, and its sharp criticisms
on the policy of the whigs, and its intense personalities, had readers
in all the log-cabins in the West. The Tribune found a few apprecia
tive readers among the cultivated class, but aroused little enthusiasm
and brought in but limited patronage, and its life was therefore short.
These were the printers on the Tribune in 1840: Abial Smith,
the pressman, now at Lockport ; E. F. Ellithorp, James Kelly and Rob
ert Fergus, all now of this city ; William Ellis, Carver Butterfield, and
others who have since died. The office had been bought of Rudd &
Childs, and was a good establishment for the times, and fitted up as a
book and job office. In this office was printed the first volumes of
Scammon's Illinois Reports, the first book printed in Chicago. K. K.
Jones, now living near Quincy, was a devil in the office, and he said
he was a devil of a devil. S. W. Wilcox, of the West Park board,
was another devil in the office. K. K. Jones has given some pleasant
reminiscences of his devilship in this office. Carver Butterfield, who
was a kind-hearted man, and a good writer and greater reader, be<-
friended the boy who rolled behind the press, and won his everlasting
gratitude. Carver Butterfield was an appreciator of Ryan as an editor
and writer. Kile, who was the paper-carrier, as well as the roller-boy,
wanted a New Year's address, and he appealed to Butterfield to help
him out. Butterfield said to him, " Go to Mr. Ryan ; he is a sensible
man, and the best writer in Chicago, and if he will write you an address
it will be one worth having." And Ryan came now most cheerfully in
his dignity, and wrote the boy an address.
Ryan came seldom into the office except when he had something to
say about copy or proof. He was very irascible, and the printers would
sometimes catch it. He had no compromise with jocoseness or foolish
ness. His dignity led him rather to contest his points with the foreman
or his partner, Holcomb. Holcomb's habits were not good, and it was
said that it was a quarrel with him that led to the breaking up of the
establishment.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 59
As a statesman, we find him representing Racine in the first conven
tion to frame a constitution for the embryo state. Judge Ryan took a
prominent part in the deliberations and debates, and his ideas were
stamped upon some of the important provisions of that instrument. It
was, however, rejected by a vote of the people. This was the only
political position he ever held, and it was not supposed that he had
aspirations for office that would be purely political.
In political belief he was always a democrat of the straightest kind.
During the war of the rebellion he sided with the Union cause, while
condemning some of the radical war measures of the administration,
particularly in the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and he ac
quired no small amount of notoriety as the writer of the celebrated
address, which was adopted at a democratic state convention in 1862, and
which severely condemned the course pursued by the United States
authorities in its prosecution of the war. This document has a place in
the political history of the state as the Ryan address.
The great ambition of Judge Ryan was a seat upon the bench of
the supreme court as chief justice. At length the fruition of these
hopes was realized. In 1874 Chief Justice L. S. Dixon resigned, and
the democratic governor, W. R. Taylor, appointed Judge Ryan to the
position. Of acknowledged eminent fitness for this high office, the selec
tion was in accord with the sentiments of the people irrespective of
party, and especially gratifying to the entire bench and bar of the state.
Having served out the unexpired term of Judge Dixon he was
elected to the place for the full term in 1875.
Removing his residence from Milwaukee to Madison while serving
on the supreme bench, he died in the latter city, October 19, 1880,
and was buried in the Forest Home Cemetery at Milwaukee.
Two of his sons have adopted the profession of their father. Hugh
Ryan is in law practice in Milwaukee, and the youngest son, -Lester *
Ryan, is preparing for the bar in Milwaukee. Mrs. Ryan lives in Boston,
Massachusetts. The bar association of Milwaukee has honored the memory of Judge
Ryan by placing a portrait of him, done in oil, in the supreme court
room at Madison, and James G. Jenkins, of Milwaukee, has had pre
pared a fine crayon likeness of the chief justice, which, as a personal
tribute to the memory of the eminent jurist, he has caused to be hung up
in the circuit-court room in Milwaukee, which was done with proper

60 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ceremonies in the presence of the circuit judge and a large concourse
of the city bar.
Reminiscences : A Mr. T. G. Turner gives an account of Mr. Ryan
during his residence, in his youth, in New York city, the only reminis
cence regarding him extending so far into the past that has been made pub
lic. He says : " In 1834 I was a boy merely, and a clerk in an importing
house. I boarded at Mrs. Ballard's, on Pearl street, a quite celebrated
house of entertainment at that day. The late Chief Justice Ryan, of
Wisconsin, some seven years my senior, boarded at the same house. I
remember him as a genial, witty, able young man, addicted to ' Irish
bulls,' easily imposed upon by his joke-cracking associates, but by all
respected and held in high esteem. Boarding at the same house at the
time mentioned was Mr. Preston, author of a book of interest tables!
quite celebrated at that day ; and also Gould Brown, author of the best
grammar of the English language with which I am acquainted. Mr.
Brown was a Quaker, a scholar, and a gentleman ; and his grammar will
be held as authority when the names of a hundred pretenders have
vanished from the list. I remember divers skirmishes between Mr.
Brown and Mr. Ryan, the conclusion of all of which seemed to be that
the grammarian conceded to the late chief justice the honor of using
the Irish idiom correctly, but claimed that his knowledge of the English
tongue was imperfect, if not ridiculous. Both contestants are now at
rest. One died a great grammarian, the other a great jurist.
In 1842 he removed from Chicago to Racine, where he continued
the practice of his profession with such a moderate degree of success
as was practicable where there were several lawyers and but few law
suits, and in 1846 he was elected a member of the first constitutional con
vention, and entered upon public life in this state. His most conspicuous
colleagues from Racine county were Marshall M. Strong and Frederick
Lovell, while among the delegates from other counties were Henry S.
Baird, John Y. Smith, George B. Smith, Wm. M. Dennis, Stoddard
Judd, Hiram Barber, Warren Chase, J. Allen Barber, James R. Vine
yard, William R. Smith, Moses M. Strong, Ninian E. Whitesides, Theo
dore Prentiss, George Hyer, Samuel W. Beall, Don A. J. Upham, John
Crawford, John H. Tweedy, A. Hyatt Smith, David Noggle, Andrew E.
Elmore, George Reed, A. W. Randall and James Duane Doty, with
many others, forming the ablest body of men by far that ever met in
the state.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 61
He was much younger in appearance than his real age, which" was
thirty-six, and he was poorly clad, his pantaloons especially being of un
couth brevity ; he was awkward in manner, and a stranger to nearly all the
able and brilliant men with whom he came in contact. But among and
above them all, he at once took rank, by his forensic ability, his acuteness
in argument and repartee, the amplitude of his learhing and his profound
knowledge of the principles of law and government, while in energy,
industry and eloquence he was without a rival. He advocated all the
radical provisions of that constitution, both in the convention and on
the stump, and, notwithstanding, it was defeated by the vote of the
people, and brought some unpopularity to its framers. Mr. Ryan was
universally recognized as among the very leading men of the state.
His prominence was such that in 1848 he was chosen a delegate from
Wisconsin to the national democratic convention, which met in Balti
more in May of that year. He was an applicant to the Polk adminis
tration for an appointment as governor of one of the new territories,
naming Oregon as , the place of his choice. Being unsuccessful in
securing any office, he afterward in the same year removed to Milwau
kee, and became a member of its very able bar. Among the practicing
attorneys of the city at that time were Jonathan E. Arnold, H. N. Wells,
John H. Tweedy, A. D. Smith, Hans Crocker, Francis Randall, Levi
Hubbell, Emmons & Van Dyke, W. W. Graham, Jason Downer, H. S.
Orton, James B. Cross, A. R. R. Butler, and others, many still living
and some deceased, who would have been ornaments to their profession
in any city of the Union.
Mr. Ryan first came to Milwaukee in the winter of 1847-8. He
rode from Racine on horseback, on one of the' coldest days in. that sea
son, in search of money and employment. He was hired by Asahel
Finch, of the firm of Finch & Lynde to work in their office during the
absence of Mr. Lynde, then a member of congress. He remained in
the employ of Finch & Lynde about a year. His office associates at
that time, besides Mr. Finch, were Gabe Bouck, John C. Starkweather
and E. P. Smith.
Mr. Ryan was a man of profound religious emotions. He always
attended church. Mr. Asahel Finch learned at Chicago from some of
his intimates, that he was designed for the Catholic priesthood by his
parents, when they planned his education. He, worshiped at the Epis
copal churches while Hying in Milwaukee. He was for some years a

62 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
communicant of St. John's Church. In later years he attended Christ
Church, on Fourth street. He always kneeled as he entered church,
and assumed all the pious forms of worship. At times, he read the
service at Christ Church, in the absence of the rector. When the Rev.
E. R. Ward took charge of Christ Church, he was an attendant there,
but he took offense at some event which occurred, and that ended his
connection with Christ Church.
He frequently conversed on religious subjects. He expressed great
admiration of the apostle Peter, as a man of more energy and higher
character, and greater brain than the balance of the apostolic fraternity.
He once took a part in one of the excited discussions in which parson
Richmond was conspicuous, and was on the side of that pugnacious
clergyman. " I never so much esteem my Divine Master," he said in
debate, " I never feel such a nearness to the Nazarene, as when I read
that in his exalted and righteous anger he scourged the money-changers
with cords and drove them from the temple."
He was once arguing a case in the old supreme court room, at Mad-
son, a trivial case, with only the judges, a half dozen lawyers, the state
librarian and a few loungers about, "audience fit though few." Some
allusion in the discussion led him to refer to the Lord's prayer, and he
at once launched into a most beautiful, eloquent and affecting eulogy of
that form of devotion, the divine sweetness of which he described, and
in radiant terms extolling the loveliness of its Author. Above all, he eu
logized that portion of the prayer which asks "lead us not into tempta
tion," which he paraphrased in all the pathetic forms of which language
was capable, and which he said was commended to us as a form of peti
tion by one who knew the frailties of our nature, the attractions of guilty
delight and the strength of the impulses that lead to wrong. The few
hearers listened spell bound to his matchless eloquence till the episode
closed, when he resumed the argument of some stupid points in the dry
case before him.
John W. Cary thus rightly portrays the traits of character of Judge
Ryan : It is becoming that court, bar and suitors should pause for a
moment to contemplate the character of the great lawyer who has so
often appeared at our bar, and by his great learning, matchless power
and thrilling eloquence, held all entranced by the strength and force of
his arguments, and one, who, when transferred from the bar to the highest
judicial position of the state, adorned the place, not only with the most

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 63
accurate and extensive learning, but with all the qualities of a great,
upright and honest judge.
Milwaukee was his home, and in it transpired the principal events of
his professional career and of his life. We were proud to claim him as
a citizen, but his reputation is the property of the whole state.
Possessed of a brilliant intellect, and a cultivated mind, richly stored
with the learning of the law, well versed in philosophy and science, with
an intimate acquaintance with the ancient and modern classics, he was
well fitted by nature and education to grapple with the most difficult
problems of the law, and successfully meet any opponent in the legal
forum. Possessed of powers and learning far superior to most of his breth
ren of the profession, his brilliant and powerful efforts were often
crowned with great success ; yet it can hardly be said that he was suc
cessful as a lawyer in general practice. He was at no time possessed of
a large amount of general business. His clients were not numerous, but
strongly attached to and great admirers of him and his powers and ac
quirements. The peculiarities of his disposition and temper doubtless restrained
many from seeking his counsel who would otherwise have done so. It
is not likely that he desired a great number of clients. To devote his
time to a few important causes and questions, was much more to his
taste. His peculiarities of temper which proved so serious an impediment
to his business success as a lawyer, while at the bar, would, it was greatly
feared when he was raised to the bench, impair his usefulness as a judge.
Advancing age had no doubt somewhat subdued the ardent spirit that
in early life brooked no control. Whatever doubts of this kind had
been entertained were soon removed.
As a judge he was always patient, painstaking and industrious, listen
ing attentively to counsel, and frequently putting to them questions,
tending to elucidate points in discussion, and by his friendly and quiet
manner, encouraging the younger members of the profession to present
their views upon all points suggested. On the bench no ill temper was
ever manifested by him, to check or freeze out counsel, from fully pre
senting their points and arguing their cases.
His demeanor toward, and treatment of the bar, was always dignified,
and becoming the exalted station he occupied. His opinions are models

64 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
of fine English, beautifully and forcibly expressed, and as legal docu
ments, may be profitably studied by all the profession.
The life of the late chief justice was mainly devoted to his profes
sion. He, however, always took a lively interest in political questions,
and often an active part in political discussions. He firmly believed in
the doctrines of the democratic party, and in his connection with poli
tics, some of the nobler and more striking elements of his character
were exhibited, and when occasion required, he could rise far above all
party trammels, and soar aloft in the pure atmosphere of statesmanship
and patriotism.
A most remarkable and praiseworthy example of this characteristic
was exhibited in his course and action, in the celebrated case of Bash-
ford against Barstow, in 1856. He, with many others of his party, were
indignant that one not elected should be installed in the office of gov
ernor by his party associates. As the most distinguished counsel and
eloquent advocate of the party, he stepped boldly to the front, denounced
the wrong and outrage in the most scathing invective, and successfully
conducted the legal proceedings, necessary to right the wrong and vin7
dicate the constitution, and the rights of the people of the state.
His action resulted in placing a political opponent in the chief exec
utive chair of the state. But it was a triumph of truth and right over
an attempted fraud, and a vindication of the right of the people to have
their voice respected. This was his chief reward. He was at all times
loyal to the constitution of the United States. When the people of
this state were roused to the highest pitch of excitement over the fugi
tive slave law, and the questions growing out of the Glover rescue, and
our supreme court denied the constitutionality of that law, and the juris
diction and authority of this court, and refused to recognize the appel
late jurisdiction of the supreme court, he did not fail to denounce in the
strongest terms the heresy that had seized our people and our courts,
and in bold and manly argument maintained the constitution as the
supreme law, and the rights and authority of the courts established
under it.
Again in 1862, when all had changed, and war was upon us, military
arrests frequent, and the writ of habeas corpus, if not suspended, at least
disregarded, Edward G. Ryan presented to a convention of his party,
assembled in this city, the famous Ryan address, which, while denounc
ing in the severest terms secession, and sustaining the war for the sup-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 65
pression of the rebellion, attacked in the most scathing manner the
arbitrary acts of the administration, in violation of the rights of the citi
zen and of the constitution.
Public opinion was loud in its denunciation of the propriety and
policy of his course at that time, although no one attempted to contro
vert the truth of his positions.
In these, as in all other of the great events of his life, he was content
to abide the judgment of history. To the last he stood firmly by his
convictions, and, as expressive of his feelings, could truly say with the
poet, " What is writ is writ." His life's work is now done. The learned
lawyer, the eloquent advocate and great chief justice, united in his
person, sleep quietly in yonder beautiful cemetery, and we trust will
awake to a brighter and happier life in the world to come.
Orsamus Cole, Madison, comes of revolutionary stock, both of his
grandfathers having served in the patriot army when the colonies re
volted against British rule. He was born at Cazenovia, Madison county,
New York, on the 23d of August 1819. His father was Hymeneus
Cole, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Salisbury. Orsamus
completed his literary education at Union College, Schenectady, gradu
ating with the class of 1843. Having prepared himself for the practice
of the law he moved to Chicago, but after a few months in that then
unpromising field he proceeded to Potosi, in Grant county, the thriving
center of an extensive lead-mining district. There, in the year 1845, he
established himself in the practice of law in partnership with William R.
Biddlecome. Two years later he was elected a member of the second
constitutional convention of Wisconsin, which body he entered as a
young and comparatively unknown man, but speedily assumed a lead
ing position in its debates and deliberations. When the convention
had closed its labors the esteem and respect in which he was held was
not bounded by party lines, and it required no special gift to foresee
the brilliant career he would achieve in the history of Wisconsin.
In 1848 Mr. Cole was made the candidate of the whig party for rep
resentative in congress from the second district, comprising the whole of
the western portion of the state, and perhaps the largest district in area
in the Union. The democratic candidate was A. Hyatt Smith, and the
free-soilers supported George W. Crabbe. The result was the election
of Mr. Cole, who became a member of the thirty-first congress coinci-
5

66 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
dently with the inauguration of Zachary Taylor as President of the
United States. His service in the national legislature was such as
he can look back upon with eminent satisfaction. He was a whig of
the whigs, and had never allied himself with the distinctively anti-
slavery party, which, as we have seen, had opposed his election.
Many whigs, under the magnetic influence of Henry Clay, the revered
leader of the party, supported measures of compromise on this issue ;
but Mr. Cole was not a man to yield to any influence that would
move him to- compromise with wrong, ft involves no partisanship to
say at this day that his recorded vote against the fugitive slave law
stands to his enduring honor.
At the close of a single term in congress Mr. Cole resumed the prac
tice of the law at Potosi. In 1853 the whig party, already moribund,
held a state convention, and nominated the late Henry S. Baird for
governor, and Mr. Cole for attorney-general. Subsequently all the can
didates excepting Mr. Baird withdrew their names to enable the disaf
fected elements and others to combine and nominate a new ticket which
would better unite the opposition to the democratic Barstow ticket.
With E. D. Holton for governor, Mr. Cole was put on the new ticket
for attorney-general, although he did not attend either convention, nor
did he desire the nomination. This new movement eventuated in the
formation of the republican party the succeeding year. The entire
ticket suffered defeat.
When the supreme court was first organized to consist of a chief
justice and two associate justices, those positions were filled by the elec
tion of E. V. Whiton, A. D. Smith and Samuel Crawford. Judge Craw
ford drew the short term, which expired in 1855. In the spring of that
year he was nominated by the democrats for reelection, and Mr. Cole
was made the candidate of the young republican party. The result was
the election of the latter. He has been a member of that tribunal ever
since, having been four times reelected associate justice, the last time,
in 1879, by 33,000 majority.
In November, 1880, the position of chief justice was vacated by the
death of E. G. Ryan. Judge Cole had served under E. V. Whiton,
Luther S. Dixon and the deceased, and had been senior associate jus
tice for over twenty years. There was a very general sentiment that he
should be placed at the head of the court, and Governor Smith gave
effect to this feeling by appointing him chief justice. At the election in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 67
April, 1881, this choice was enthusiastically ratified by the people. It
should be added that so far from seeking the promotion Judge Cole was
with difficulty induced to accept it.
Judge Cole's leading characteristics are a temper of singular equa
bility, a strong and well-balanced mind, and a conscientiousness extend
ing to every detail of duty. Add to these exhaustive learning and an
almost instinctive apprehension of the principles of law and equity, and
it is not clear what is wanting for the equipment of a perfect judge. A
man of unaffected diffidence and the reverse of combative, he has yet,
in a remarkable degree, the courage of his convictions. Early in his
career upon the bench there came before the supreme court a question
in which his views separated him from a large wing of his own party
and antagonized a heated popular sentiment, but he asserted them with
out hesitation or equivocation. At the election that soon followed he
was opposed in consequence by an independent republican candidate
in the person of James H. Knowlton, and it is probable that his election
was due to democratic support, but it need not be pointed out how
complete is his vindication in the present attitude of the party that he
then offended. ASSOCIATE JUSTICES.
Levi Hubbell, Milwaukee, the youngest son of Abijah Hubbell,
was born at Ballston, New York, on the 15th of April 1808. The
young man commenced his education in his native town, and afterward
attended school at an academy in Canandaigua, New York. Subse
quently he was sent as a student to Union College, and in the year 1827
was graduated from that institution. He chose the profession of the
law, in due course of time was admitted to the bar, and practiced sev
eral years with his brother Walter at Canandaigua, New York. He was
for a time editor of the Ontario Messenger. In January, 1833, he
was appointed by Governor Marcy to the office of adjutant-general of
New York, and held the position until November 1836. In the same
year he located at Ithaca, New York, and was elected a democratic
member of the state assembly from Tompkins county.
He came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in June 1844, and from that"
time onward was a resident of that city. He then resumed the practice
of law, and formed a partnership with Asahel Finch and William Pitt
Lynde. Four years afterward he was appointed a delegate to the na
tional democratic convention at Baltimore, in 1848, where he gave his

68 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
support to General Cass. In July of the same year he was elected one
of the judges of the supreme and circuit courts of the state, which were
then one and the same, his circuit embracing the counties of Milwau
kee, Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane. His term of office expired in 1851,
at which time he was reelected for the term of six years. He continued
to act in the capacity of judge until 1856, when, a separate supreme
court being established, he resigned his position on account of the in
adequacy of the salary, which was only fifteen hundred dollars, and once
more resumed his practice of law at Milwaukee. In the year 1863 he
represented Milwaukee county in the state legislature. In 1870 Presi
dent Grant appointed him United States district attorney for the eastern
district of Wisconsin, which office he retained until 1875.
His career as a circuit judge was marked by an instance curious as
a matter of history. In the year 1853 an attempt was made to convict
him by impeachment in the legislative bodies for misdemeanors in his
office. It is unnecessary to say that the trial ended in his entire acquit
tal of the charges by the senate, before which he was arraigned.
Judge Hubbell died in Milwaukee.
Charles H. Larrabee, Oregon, was bom at Rome, Oneida county,
New York, on the 9th of November, r82o. Having received an
academic education, he moved to Chicago, and was city attorney of
that city in 1846.
On the 10th of March, 1847, he settled in Dodge county, Wisconsin,
and in the fall of the same year was elected a member of the second
constitutional convention. He performed a prominent part in the labors
and debates of that body, and the present constitution of the state is in
some of its most important provisions the work of his hand. Thirty
years later we find him appearing again in the role of a state-maker, as
member of the convention convened in 1878, to frame a constitution
for what is now the territory of Washington, in anticipation of its admis
sion into the Union.
Upon the organization of the judiciary for the new State of Wiscon
sin in 1849, Mr. Larrabee was elected judge of the third circuit, and
acted in that capacity for ten years. He was elected by the democrats
as representative in the thirty-sixth congress, and was a candidate for
reelection, but was defeated by A. Scott Sloan. Upon the break
ing out of the war Judge Larrabee promptly enlisted as a private in the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 69
First Wisconsin regiment. He was subsequently commissioned major
of the Fifth, and served with distinction in McClellan's campaign on
the peninsula. In August, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the
Twenty-fourth Wisconsin, which regiment he organized and commanded
during its brilliant campaign with Rosecranz in Tennessee.
The western impulse seems to have been the governing motive of
Col. Larrabee's character. Nothing but the Pacific ocean could stop
him, and soon after the close of the war he removed to the far west,
which he still makes his home and practices his profession. Judge Lar
rabee thus writes of his career :
" My father was Major Charles Larrabee, of the United States infantry,
and was at the time of my birth under orders to Fort Howard, Green
Bay. Mother and I had to be left behind, and did not join father till
1825, when he was ordered to Chillicothe, Ohio. I had only academic
education at Granville and at Springfield, Ohio. At the former was
schoolmate of Lyman C. Draper. The best work I ever did for Wis
consin was to induce Draper to remove from Baltimore to Wisconsin. I
procured the first appropriation for a small salary for Draper as secretary
of the Historical Society, and took an active part in its reorganization with
Wm. R. Smith, Moses Strong, and Whiton. Whiton and I were judges
of the supreme court then. I first brought Draper to the attention of
Farwell, governor then, who aided me substantially and cordially. I
read law with General Samson Mason at Springfield, Ohio, and was
admitted to the bar in September 1841. To become a candidate for
congress I resigned my seat on the bench at the urgent solicitation of
Mr. Douglass, who wanted to show his anti-Lecomptian strength in the
northwest, in viewof the Charleston convention of i860. I overcame
2500 republican majority in the district, and was elected by 1200 ma
jority, but was swept under with Douglass in i860. I left the army
broken down in health, and took a sea voyage as a last resort ; came to
the Pacific Coast, recovered health, and have never regretted the
change for a moment. When I left the bench, my bar, in their reso
lutions, said, I had been an industrious, capable and honest judge. I
knew I had been industrious and honest, but doubted the other. The
Lord has denied me any love of money whatever, so I am what they
call a poor man. Being born in the army, I never had a particle of
state pride. All the states seem to me like so many counties. Neither
have I love of locality. Cities I hate. I am happiest in building up

70 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
new homes, introducing new fruits, plants, and other light productions
of the soil.
Wiram Knowlton, Prairie du Chien, was born in Chenango county,
New York, January 24, 1816. He was brother of James H. Knowlton,
who was one of Wisconsin's eminent lawyers. In May, 1837, he came
with his father's family to Wisconsin, locating at Janesville. Commenc
ing the study of law he subsequently completed it with Parley Eaton at
Mineral Point, was admitted to the bar, entered upon practice at Platte-
ville, and afterward removed to Prairie du Chien. Here he raised a
company of volunteers, was appointed its captain, and mustered into the
United States service to serve in the war with Mexico. The company
was put on duty at Fort Winnebago, the regular troops stationed there
being detailed for service in the field.
July 1, 1850, he was elected circuit judge of the sixth district, then
just formed, and was sworn in in August of the same year, and held the
office the full term of six years, three of which he acted as a judge of
the supreme court, the circuit judges' office acting as such until the year
1853, when a "separate supreme court" was organized, and separate
judges elected. He died in June 1863, when only forty-seven years of
age. Samuel Crawford, Mineral Point, was born in Baltibay, Monahan
county, Ireland, April n, 1820; received an excellent academic educa
tion ; came to this country and commenced the study of law, pursuing
it one year at Warwick, Orange county, New York, and coming west in
1841 completed his course with J. M. Douglass, a distinguished lawyer,
at Galena, Illinois; was admitted to the bar in 1844; began practice at
New Diggings, Wisconsin ; removed to Mineral Point in December of
the same year, and formed a partnership with F. J. Dunn, and the firm
of Dunn & Crawford acquired a large practice in that portion of the
state. At the reorganization of the supreme court of the state, in 1852,
he was elected one of the associate justices, took his seat in June 1853,
and on the expiration of his "short term," in 1855, Orsamus Cole was
elected to his place. Returning to Mineral Point he again entered into
practice alone. In 1856 he was the candidate for member of congress
of the democratic party against C. C. Washburn, who was elected.
Judge Crawford removed to Madison to practice his profession in 1858;

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 71
was the unsuccessful democratic candidate for attorney-general in 1859 ;
returned to Mineral Point, where he resumed his residence and practice,
and died there February 28, 1861, while yet in the vigor of life and use
fulness. Abram D. Smith, Milwaukee, came from the state of New York to
the territory of Wisconsin in 1842. He practiced law in Milwaukee
from that time until the establishment of the supreme court under the
constitution, when he was elected one of the associate justices in Sep
tember 1852. After the expiration of his term of six years he resumed
for several years the practice of his profession in Milwaukee. Soon
after the breaking out of the late civil war he accepted from the gov
ernment an official appointment in South Carolina. Residence in that
climate and severe labors in the performance of his official duties so
impaired his health that he returned north, and on his arrival at New
York he died June 3, 1865. He was subsequently buried in Milwaukee
under the auspices of the Freemasons and the Milwaukee Bar Associa
tion. Of him Judge H. S. Orton says : Judge Smith was a lawyer of abil
ity, learning and eloquence ; always kind, courteous and obliging. As
a judge he was urbane, dignified and attentive, and appreciated the
place he so nobly filled on the bench. He was always a generous,
genial and hospitable gentleman.
Byron Paine, Madison, was born in Painesville, Ohio, October 10,
1827. In the autumn of 1847 ne removed to Milwaukee with his father,
James H. Paine, with whom he studied law in that city. He was ad
mitted to the bar in 1849 ; was clerk of the senate of Wisconsin in 1856 ;
was appointed by the governor county judge of Milwaukee county in
1856 ; was elected to the same in 1857, and held that office until the 1st
of June 1859, when he took his seat as one of the associate justices of
the supreme court of this state, to which position he had been chosen at
the previous spring election, for the full term of six years, to fill the
vacancy created by the expiration of the term of A. D. Smith. On the
10th of August 1864, for the purpose of entering the military service of
the United States, he tendered his resignation of his judicial office, to
take effect on the 15th of November following. He was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the 43d regiment of Wisconsin volunteer infantry,

72 m ' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and continued in the service until May 1865. He then resumed the
practice of the law in Milwaukee, but on the 10th of September, 1867, he
returned to his former seat on the supreme bench, having been ap
pointed by the governor upon the resignation of Justice Downer. At
the following spring election, in 1868, he was elected for the residue ot
the term, which would expire on the 1st of June 1871. He appeared
in the consultation-room for the last time on the 22d of November
1870, from which time he was confined to his home in Madison by a
severe attack of erysipelas, until his death on January 13, 1871. He
left a wife and four sons, who continue to reside in Madison. Spending
his business life mainly in the public service on a meager salary, Judge
Paine had few opportunities or inclination to accumulate much property.
It was no small compliment to Judge Paine that he was elected to
the position of county judge for Milwaukee county by a constituency
two thirds of whom were his political opponents, and as a judge he was
universally popular with all who had business with his court.
The portrait of Judge Paine adorns the supreme court room at
Madison. Jason Downer, Milwaukee, was born in Sharon, Vermont, Sep
tember 9, 1813. His father was Solomon Downer, a descendant of
the family of that name who emigrated to this country from Salisbury,
England, and settled at or near Hartford, Connecticut. His mother's
maiden name was Martha Huntington. His father was a farmer. Jason
Downer worked with his father till nineteen years of age, when he
entered Kimball Union Academy at Plainfield, New Hampshire. In
1834 he entered Dartmouth College, and was graduated from that col
lege in 1838. Soon after he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he
read law, was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law.
In November, 1842, he came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and began
the practice of his profession, where he has ever since remained.
In November, 1864, he was appointed by the Governor of Wisconsin
associate justice of the supreme court, and in April following was elected
to that office for the term of six years; but in September, 1867, he
resigned and returned to the practice of the law.
While he was upon the bench several questions were brought before
that tribunal arising out of the state constitution and laws passed during
our civil war. One of these questions, which were at the time of large

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 73
public interest, and in which Mr. Justice Downer delivered the opinion
of the court, was involved in the case of Gillespie against Palmer and
others, in which it was decided that the act of March 22, 1849, submit
ting to a vote of the people the question of extending the right of suf
frage to colored persons became a law when approved by a majority of
the votes cast upon that subject at the general election next after the
passage of the act, instead of a majority of all the votes cast at that
election, as had been contended.
Another such question was involved in the case Druecker against
Salomon. This was a suit against Governor Salomon for damages in
having arrested the plaintiff, and held him in custody for resisting the
draft and engaging in insurrection in Ozaukee county. The court, in its
opinion delivered by Judge Downer, held that the rules and regulations
under which the draft was held were valid, that persons who conspired
to resist the draft were guilty of levying war against the United States,
and that the governor, not having exceeded the discretionary power
conferred upon him in arresting plaintiff, was not therefore liable in an
action for damages.
Judge Downer was the first editor of the Milwaukee Daily Senti
nel, the first daily paper published in Milwaukee. He commenced in
that capacity March 1, 1845, and closed his connection with the paper
September 19 of the same year, having sold his interest in the establish
ment to John S. Fillmore for Rufus King, who then became the editor.
In years past he has taken great interest in promoting the welfare of
the Wisconsin Female College, Fox Lake, acting as trustee of the insti
tution and contributing largely to its maintenance and to the erection of
additional buildings. To Judge Downer is due to some extent the con
tinued existence of this excellent seminary.
William Penn Lyon, Madison, was born October 28, 1822, at
Chatham, Columbia county, New York. His parents were members of
the religious Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, and he was
brought up in that faith and still clings to its cardinal doctrines. He
attended an ordinary country district school until eleven years of age,
when he was taken from school and placed as a clerk in a small store kept
by his father in his native town. After this he attended select schools
at intervals, a few terms, amounting in all to about one year. These
were the only school advantages he ever enjoyed. But with these, and

74 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
a reasonable use of his leisure time, he acquired, for those days, a fair
English education, including a limited knowledge of algebra, geometry,
Latin and natural philosophy.
At the age of fifteen years he taught a district school with indifferent
success in his own estimation. He freely admits that school teaching
was not his forte. From fifteen to eighteen years of age he was mainly
employed as a clerk in a grocery store in the city of Albany. During
that time he spent most of his leisure hours in attendance upon the
courts and the legislature — his tastes leading him strongly in those di
rections — and eagerly listened to arguments and speeches made by such
men as Erastus Root, Samuel Young, Judge Peckham, Judge Harris,
Ambrose L. Jordan, and numerous others whose names have since
become famous. He was always greatly impressed with the candor,
dignity and impartiality of Luther Bradish, then the lieutenant governor
of the state and president of the senate.
fn 1841, when in his nineteenth year, he emigrated with his father
and family to Wisconsin and settled in what is now the town of
Lyons, Walworth county, where he resided until 1850. With the
exception of two terms of school teaching he worked on a farm
until the spring of 1844, when he entered the office of the late Judge
George Gale, then a practicing lawyer at Elkhorn, as a law student.
But before this he had read Blackstone's and Kent's commentaries quite
thoroughly. He remained a few months with Judge Gale, but return
ing home to work through harvest. He was soon after attacked with
acute inflammation of the eyes, and was thereby incapacitated to read or
teach for nearly a year. That year he worked on the mill at Lyons,
then in process of erection, and in the races leading to and from the
same, at twelve dollars per month, earning one hundred dollars. In
the fall of 1845 lle entered the law office of the late Judge Charles M.
Baker, at Geneva, as a student, and remained there until the spring of
1846, when he was admitted by the district court of Walworth county
as an attorney. Having been chosen one of the justices of the peace
of the town of Hudson, now Lyons, he at once opened an office at the
village of Lyons and commenced the practice of the law, but in a very
small way. His receipts for professional and official business the first
year were sixty dollars; the second, one hundred and eighty dollars;
the third, four hundred dollars, and the fourth, five hundred dollars.
His income had increased so largely that during the second year, which

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 75
was 1847, ne married and thus became the head of a family. But rent,
fuel and provisions were cheaper in those days than they now are, and
his income proved quite ample for their support.
In 1850 he formed a partnership with the late C. P. Barns, of Burling
ton, in Racine county, and removed to that place where he remained until
the spring of 1855, when he removed to the city of Racine, where he con
tinued in the active practice of his profession until the breaking out of
the war in 1861. He was district attorney of Racine county from 1855
to 1858 inclusive. He was chosen a member of the lower house of the
Wisconsin legislature of 1859, and was made speaker. It is a very
unusual proceeding for one who has never been a member of a legis
lative body to be thus called to the delicate duties of presiding
officer, but in this case the choice was abundantly justified by the con
spicuously capable manner in which the duties wer«; iischarged. He
was reelected a member of the assembly the following year, and was
again chosen speaker without a contest in the caucus of republican
members. He retired from his second term in that position at the age
of thirty-eight, with the warm friendship of the members without dis
tinction of party, with an enviable reputation throughout the state, and
with the promise, which has been fully realized, of a useful and honora
ble public career.
Judge Lyon is peculiarly one for whom the "pomp, pride and cir
cumstance of glorious war" could have had no seductions; but when
the callof patriotic duty reached him it fell upon no dull ear. One
hundred splendid citizen-soldiers enlisted under him, and he was com
missioned captain of Company K of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry. Enter
ing the military service in September 1861, he remained therein four
years, having been, at the close of the war, mustered out in Texas in
September 1865. He had served one year as captain of Company K,
8th Wisconsin, and the remainder of the time as colonel of the 13th
Wisconsin, and at the close of the war was breveted a brigadier-general.
His military career, he thinks, was not particularly brilliant, but he claims
to have discharged his duty with reasonable fidelity..
In the summer following the close of the war there was a splendid
pageant at Madison on the occasion of the formal presentation to the
state of the battle flags of the several regiments that Wisconsin had sent
into the field. General Lyon was chosen to deliver the address and
pronounced an oration of impressive eloquence.

76' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Before General Lyon had been mustered out of the military service
he was chosen judge of the first judicial circuit, comprising the coun
ties of Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Rock and Green. He entered
upon the duties of that position on December i, 1865, and served for
five years with a degree of ability that won unqualified commendation
from all. In 1870 he was made the republican candidate for congress
in the fourth district of Wisconsin, but was defeated at the polls by
Alexander Mitchell.
The death of Byron Paine having created a vacancy on the bench
of the supreme court of Wisconsin in January 1871, Judge Lyon was
appointed, by Governor Fairchild, associate justice. In the April fol
lowing he was elected for the unexpired term and for the full term
succeeding. In 1877 he was reelected without opposition for a term
which expires in 1884.
The people of Wisconsin have been almost uniformly happy in the
constitution of their highest judicial tribunal. And there have been
none more deserving of confidence than he who now sits as senior
associate justice. His knowledge of law is thorough, and his instinct of
equity perfect, his mind has an equipoise that the scales of the blind
folded goddess cannot surpass, and his integrity is such as to class him
with those into whose presence corruptionists dare not venture.
His wife is Adelia C, daughter of the late Dr. E. E. Duncomb,
of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. They have two surviving children :
Clara, born in 1857. and William Penn, Jr., born in 1861.
Harlow S. Orton, Madison, is a native of the State of New York,
where he was born in the year 181 7. He was educated at Hamilton
Academy and Madison University in that state, subsequently teaching
school and devoting himself during such time as he could spare for the
purpose, to the study of the law.
About 1837 he removed to La Porte, fndiana, and a year later was
admitted to the bar. In 1843, at the age of twnty-six, he was chosen
probate judge. In 1847 he removed to Wisconsin, and practiced law
at Milwaukee for four years.
Upon the accession of Leonard J. Farwell to the office of Governor
of Wisconsin, in January 1852, Mr. Orton was appointed his private sec
retary, and thereupon took up his residence at Madison. In 1854, and
again in 1859 and 187 1, he served as a member of the Wisconsin assem-

^^r/^r.A(^l^7r

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 77
bly. In 1859 he was chosen to succeed Luther S. Dixon as judge of
the circuit court for the ninth judicial district, and he served in that
capacity until 1865, when he refused a reelection.
In 1876 Judge Orton was the unsuccessful candidate of his party
for representative in congress for the second district. In the spring of
1877 he was chosen mayor of Madisdn, and during the same year was
appointed one of the revisers of the statutes. Upon the increase of the
supreme court from three to five judges, in 1878, he was chosen associ
ate justice, in which position he is still serving. The election was in
the hands of a republican majority, but, although, a pronounced demo
crat, Judge Orton was chosen without opposition on the same ticket
with Judge David Taylor, a republican.
From 1869 to 1874 Judge Orton was dean of the law faculty of the
Wisconsin university, and lecturer on the law of real and personal
property, insurance, bailment, agency, mercantile, and some other
branches, and during the term he received from the university the
degree of LL.D. It may not be an impropriety to add that the law stu
dents in his classes were highly appreciative of the teachings of their
learned instructor, and that the judge was equally so of their attention
and esteem.
This brief sketch conveys a very inadequate idea of the character
and career of one of the foremost members of the Wisconsin bar. As a
legislator Judge Orton, during his three years' service as a member of
the assembly, displayed talent of a high order. As a judge at nisi prius
he was prompt, able and impartial, and enjoyed the respect and regard
of the profession and laity in the circuit over which he presided for six
years, to a rare degree. So also as a member of the court of last resort,
he has already exhibited eminent fitness for his high duties, and the
opinions from his pen are notable for close reasoning and elegant dic
tion. Nevertheless, it must be the verdict of those who have known
him in all the relations in which he has served that it was as an -advo
cate that he excelled. He is an orator of great power, earnest, magnetic
and convincing. His effect upon a jury was notable, and in the charac
teristic art and mystery of his profession — that of winning verdicts —
he has had few equals.
It is the cold-blooded function of this volume to recite facts ; but
it may be forgiven for expressing the regret that more than one must
feel that, possessing as he does great popularity, commanding eloquence,

78 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
eminent ability and unspotted and sensitive integrity, Harlow S. Orton
has not been summoned to dedicate his peculiar talent for public use
fulness to the national arena.
Judge Orton 's power as an advocate lay in his impressive methods of
speech, his skill in modes of expression, and his success in presenting
his side of the case to the mind of a juror as the natural and rightful
side — as the position, the claim, or the act which would have been the
juror's own had he been in the place of the party whose acts were in
question. He was (for he seldom addresses the public since his eleva
tion to the bench) extremely felicitous in expressions which would con
tain the concentrated strength and force of an entire argument. In an
argument before a legislative committee, in opposition to a bill giving a
railroad company a grant of power, he exclaimed with terrific energy:
" It is true that the state has been ' gridironed with railroads,' and the
people have been broiled and roasted upon them." His political ad
dresses before he retired from the party arena, were ablaze with such
sparkles of wit and eloquence, that bristled with these points in every
part. David Taylor, Madison, was born in Carlisle, Schoharie county,
New York, March n, 1818. He graduated at Union College, in
that state, in 1841, and five years later having qualified himself
for the practice of the law, removed to Wisconsin and settled at She
boygan. While pursuing his profession he filled various minor offices
from time to time, at the solicitation of his fellow citizens, and
served one term as district attorney of the county. In 1853 he
was elected to the assembly, and in 1855 and 1856 was a member of
the senate. In the contest for a seat in the United States senate in
1857, he was mentioned as one deserving of that honor, and in the
election by the legislature he received the vote of the venerable Wyman
Spooner, notwithstanding the choice of the republican caucus had fallen
upon James R. Doolittle. The following year he was chosen judge
of the fourth circuit and served in that position until January 1,
1869. Previous to the expiration of his second term he was elected to
the state senate, and this fact was made the ground for contesting his
seat. His right, however, was affirmed by that body on the ground that
his senatorial term did not commence until after his judicial term of
office had expired, and he served for the term of 1869 and 1870. Soon

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 79
after he removed to Fond du Lac and formed a law partnership with
J. M. Gillett.
Judge Taylor has won a fine reputation as a codifier. When the law
was passed in 1876 for the revision of the statutes, he was appointed by
the supreme court one of the revisors, and devoted his great ability
and conscientious and painstaking industry to that work. Upon the
enlargement of the supreme court he was chosen without opposition as
one of the additional associate justices, and is now serving in that
capacity. For a judge at nisi prius, Judge Taylor was conceded to
possess qualifications of an unusually high order, and thus far his service
in the appellate court has abundantly justified his selection and secured
to that tribunal a judge of great ability and unquestionable probity.
John B. Cassoday, Madison, associate justice of the supreme court,
was born in Herkimer county, New York, July 7, 1830. About three
years after, his father died, and he and his mother moved with her
parents to Tioga county, Pennsylvania. He began life as poor as the
poorest of boys, but the same industry, good judgment and well-directed
ambition which made him one of the foremost lawyers in Wisconsin
carried him successfully through his early struggles. Besides occasionally
attending district school for a few months, working for his board, he
attended one term at the village school at Tioga and one term at the
Wellsboro academy before he was seventeen. For the next four years
he was engaged in various kinds of manual labor, and occasionally
teaching winters. Afterward he spent two terms at the academy of
Knoxville, Pennsylvania, and two years at Alfred academy, New York,
from which he was graduated. He was then one year at Michigan uni
versity, taking a select course, which was supplemented by a short time
at the Albany law school, and reading in a law office at Wellsboro, Penn
sylvania. *
In July, 1857, Judge Cassoday settled in Janesville, entering the office
of Judge H. S. Conger, and pursued his legal studies until November,
1858, when he became a member of the firm of Bennett, Cassoday &
Gibbs, which continued over seven years. Then he was alone two
years, when the firm of Cassoday & Merrill was formed, which lasted
five years. That firm was succeeded by Cassoday & Carpenter, and
continued until Judge Cassoday's promotion to the supreme bench.
Judge Cassoday has been a republican ever since the party was organ-

80 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ized. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Baltimore convention whicti
renominated Lincoln, and was placed upon what was that year the most
important committee, that of credentials. In 1864 he was elected to
the assembly, and again in 1876, and was then chosen speaker of that
body, serving with distinguished ability. In 1880 he was a delegate at
large to the national republican convention at Chicago, and was chair
man of the delegation. He presented to the convention the name of
E. B. Washburne -as a candidate for President, in a speech worthy
the man and the occasion, and later announced the vote of the Wisconsin
delegation for James A. Garfield, which broke the dead-lock and re
sulted in the nomination of that gentleman. He took an active part in
the campaign, making telling speeches, as he had in almost every presi
dential election since the organization of the republican party. On No
vember 11, 1880, he was appointed associated justice on the supreme
bench, to fill the vacancy caused by the promotion of Justice Cole to
the office made vacant by the death of Chief Justice Ryan, to which
offices Judges Cole and Cassoday were elected upon calls of the bar and
people without regard to party, and excepting a few scattering ballots
received the entire vote of the state, Judge Cole having 177,522, and
Judge Cassoday, 177,553.
As a lawyer, Judge Cassoday was one of the brightest and most
successful in the state. From the very outset of his career he showed
a clear, analytical mind, well balanced, cool and cautious ; but the suc
cess he obtained could only come of downright study and hard work.
While in the practice he was earnest and laborious ; intensely devoted
to his profession ; thorough and methodical in the preparation of his
cases, and skillful and judicious in their management ; always true to
his client and equally true to himself and the court; intensely anxious
to succeed, but always just and courteous to his opponents. He took
nothing for granted, but went to the bottom of every question, and the
members of the bar who attempted to " rake after him," found but
scanty gleaning. In his arguments, his earnest and clever manner of
presenting each particular case, and his complete mastery of the ques
tions involved, gave him a rare power, and caused him to be listened to
by court, jury and the bar, with the utmost attention and the sincerest
respect. As a politician he was sagacious but unflinching in his fidelity to the
interests of the people and the fundamental principles of the republican

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 83
party. He is an American and a republican of the broadest and the
best sort, and coupled with this is a thorough comprehension of all the
great fundamental and political questions of the time, which combined
to make him a clear, accurate thinker, and most effective in statement
and argument.
As .a man he is exemplary in all the walks of business and public
life as well as in the most private relations. He is a Christian gentle
man and an honest man. He has an educated conscience, a large
heart, and a practical sympathy and tender regard for young men who
are striving for an education and a higher life. He is a rare man, and
with his untiring industry and a continuation of his present good health,
must exercise a marked influence in moulding and building up the juris
prudence of the state.
JUDGES OF UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS.
James C. Hopkins, Madison, was born in Pawlet, Vermont, April
27, 1819, being in his fifty-ninth year when death claimed him as his
own. Early in life his father's family moved to Hebron, Washington
county, New York, afterward to Granville in the same county. His
father was a farmer, and in this independent, invigorating pursuit James
C. Hopkins passed his boyhood, leaving the farm to engage in the study
of law at Sand Hill with James McCall when he had attained his ma
jority. Being peculiarly fitted by a naturally logical and comprehensive
intellect for- the profession which he had wisely chosen, Mr. Hopkins
made brilliant headway, until he rose to an enviable distinction as a
lawyer, and shadowed forth a life of great usefulness. He was appointed
postmaster at Granville by President Fillmore, and in 1853 was elected
a member of the New York state senate, serving the term of two years
with credit to himself, his ability being recognized in the body of which
he was a member by being placed upon the judiciary committee. He
was a candidate for reelection in 1833, but was defeated by the Know-
nothing movement. In 1856 he moved to Madison, entering zealously,
at once, upon the labors of his profession. It did not require much
time for him to gain an honorable position at the bar of Wisconsin.
He soon associated himself with Harlow S. Orton, under the firm of
Orton & Hopkins. The succeeding firms of which he became a partner
were Orton, Hopkins & Firmin, Hopkins & Johnson, and Hopkins &
Foot. He continued in the practice of the law until 1870, when the
6

84 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
office of the western judicial district of the United States court for
Wisconsin having been established, he was appointed judge by Presi
dent Grant. Since that time he has been called upon to hear and de
cide a great number of important cases. It is but simple justice to say
that he performed that duty impartially and well.
He was a careful and learned jurist, who leaves behind him a. record
of three-fold honor, inasmuch as he was learned in his profession of the
law, just and impartial as a judge, honest and upright as a man.
Judge Hopkins, in his social no less than in his public life, gathered
about him a host of friends and retained them always. His brothers
and sisters are well known, having spent a great deal of time at the
judge's home. Two of his sisters, Mrs. A. S. Frank and Mrs. Horace
Rublee, have long been intimately connected with the history of Madi
son. The judge was twice married. His first wife died in 1856, leaving
two children, Geo. B. and Jennie, now Mrs. B. F. Ayers, of Chicago.
In 1857 he was married to Miss Cornelia Bradley, of Beloit, who, with
her six children, survive the husband and father. The bench has lost
an eminent jurist, the bar an able member, the state a good and noble
citizen; but all these losses, great as they are, do not compare with the
sad affliction that has come like an impenetrable shadow over the home
where loving wife and children will look in vain for the face and form
of him whose life has gone out forever.
In the ordinary course of human events Judge Hopkins might have
been expected to live a score of years in which he would have filled
out and perfected an earnest and useful life. He was called hence in
the very prime of a matured judgment and keen activities. But he has
left no work poorly done. He made the utmost of the too short mea
sure of his years : and as the great record book of his life is closed and
put away, all who know the entries of that book are satisfied that they
bear the impress of a noble character, the tracings of a brilliant genius
and the perfection of a grand life work.
James H. Howe, Kenosha, was born in Turner, Maine, December
5, 1827, and was educated at academies in that state. His study of law
was with Bradley & Eastman at Saco, Maine, and Timothy O. Howe
at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and he was admitted to the bar at Green Bay
in 1848. His practice has been in company with T. O. Howe, and
W. H. Norris at Green Bay, and as general soiicitor for the Chicago &
Northwestern railway at Chicago. He has been attorney-general of the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 85
State of Wisconsin, and judge of the' United States district court for
the eastern district of Wisconsin. During the late war of the rebellion
he served as colonel in the thirty-second regiment of the Wisconsin
volunteer infantry.
Charles E. Dyer, Racine, was born in Cicero, Onondaga county,
New York, October 5, 1834, and is the son of Dr. Edward G. and Ann
Eliza Morse Dyer. His father, in 1839, removed from the State of
Ohio to Burlington, in this state, where he yet resides, having several
years ago retired from the active practice of his profession, which was
that of a physician. Mrs. Dyer, the wife of Dr. Dyer, died in 1880.
Judge Dyer was educated in a country school, and by himself, with
the aid of such private instruction as he from time to time obtained.
He studied the common branches ; received also some instruction in
the higher mathematics and in the languages, and was always a diligent
student and reader of history and general literature. He left his home
in 1850 at the age of sixteen years, and went to Chicago to learn the
trade of a printer, engaging as an apprentice in the office of the " Western
Citizen," an anti-slavery paper then published by Z. Eastman. He con
tinued in this employment about a year, but not developing a fondness
for the. business he abandoned it. Meantime he had commenced the
study of short-hand writing, which he afterward pursued, and became
proficient in reporting.
Tn 185 1 he removed to Sandusky, Ohio, where he entered the office
of Rice Harper, who was clerk of the court of common pleas of Erie
county, and a family friend, whose kindness and assistance will never be
forgotten. Here he pursued with assiduity a course of reading and
study, taking private instruction in the classics and the higher mathe
matics during spare hours.
He had a strong taste for historical reading, and is perhaps as familiar
as any other man of his years with the historical events of nations and
states and with their causes and effects, and the lives and actions of
distinguished men. He also took a deep interest in the political events
then transpiring, and stored his mind with facts pertaining to the issues
of the times, which have proved of the utmost importance to him in
later years. While in this office he became acquainted with Ebenezer
Lane, then an eminent lawyer residing in Sandusky, and previously one
of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio. Judge Lane took a deep

80 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
interest in his welfare and prospects, advised him to prepare for the
legal profession, and admitted him to the free use of his large and well-
selected library. He commenced his legal studies in the office of this
excellent gentleman by copying briefs and other legal instruments, and
was soon after received as a student in the office of the firm of Lane,
Stone & Lane, of which Judge Lane was the head. He pursued a course
of law-reading under the special guidance and instruction of W. G.
Lane, son of Ebenezer Lane, then one of the members of the firm, and
afterward judge of the court of common pleas of Erie county, Ohio,
and now deceased ; and after a thorough course of preparation, covering
a period of three years, he was admitted to the bar in 1857. He at once
entered into partnership with Walter F. Stone, since one of the judges
of the supreme court of Ohio, and began the practice of the law at
Sandusky, where he remained till December 1858. But being ambitious
to establish himself independently in his profession, he came to Wis
consin, in January 1859, and located at Racine, where he has since resided.
He opened an office and was at once admitted to practice' in the supreme
court of the state. He soon secured an excellent business and con
tinued to practice alone for several years, until he formed a copartner
ship with Henry T. Fuller, which continued until January 1875.
He held the office of city attorney of Racine during the years i860
and 1861; was member of the state legislature from Racine county in
1867 and 1868, and, February 10, 1875, he was appointed judge of the
United States district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, which
position he now holds.
As assistant clerk of the court at Sandusky, Ohio, he early attracted
the notice of the judge and bar by his fine taste and talent as a reader,
for he not only wrote but read the journals of the court, and from the
very outset developed an aptitude for the business and an acquaintance
with every detail of the records that was considered extraordinary.
Judge L. B. Otis, who was then presiding in the Sandusky court, pre
dicted a brilliant and honorable future for him, and every step of his
after life has tended to prove the correctness of those early portends.
As a student he takes in the science of jurisprudence by intuition, and
instead of plodding his way to success by years of perseverance, he
seemed to ripen into a matured barrister in a day. Nor thus early were
his high moral character, good habits and integrity less conspicuous.
Every one who knew him placed in him implicit confidence. His word

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 87
was beyond question, and no business was considered too momentous or
intricate to intrust to his care, even at that early age.
As an advocate, during his career at the bar of Wisconsin, he was
recognized as both able and accomplished, familiar with the rules of
equity and common law pleading, and in all places and under all circum
stances faithful alike to his profession and his clients ; and at the time
of his promotion to the bench his professional prospects were of the
most flattering character. Yielding to the earnest solicitation of his
brethren of the bar, he went upon the bench, with a degree of hesitation
as to his fitness for the place which disclosed that conscientiousness in
the discharge of duty which is one of his leading characteristics.
Bringing to the discharge of judicial duties the learning, ability and
laborious habits to which he was largely indebted for his success at the
bar, he has exhibited patience, impartiality, and an equable temper, em
inently befitting the bench. No man ever held a judicial office in Wis
consin in whose integrity the bar and the people have had greater con
fidence, and it is safe to say that no man of Judge Dyer's age ever
earned a better reputation in so short a time for judicial fairness and
ability. His decisions command respectf for they are always the result
of careful study and profound knowledge. Few men can perform more
labor, for few have trained their minds to better methods of both reading
and thinking.
He is, moreover, a man of pure mind and purity of taste. His lan
guage is always appropriate, ornate, and even classic in construction.
There is nothing turgid or labored about his style ; his logic is clear,
pointed and indubitable. On the bench his industry is proverbial ;
every question, important or otherwise, receives the most thorough in
vestigation, and is disposed of with an honesty and conscientiousness
which commands the respect that such qualities deserve.
As a citizen he is self-sacrificing and public spirited, always lending
a helping hand to whatever tends to promote temperance, education and
prosperity. He served his fellow-citizens in the legislature so efficiently
and ably that they sought to secure his services in other and more promi
nent public positions, but he felt it necessary to decline. With little
taste for public life he feels that it is not necessary to be conspicuous to
be useful, and that it would not be propriety for a judicial officer to be
come a candidate for political preferments.
He was married on April 6, 1859, to Miss Sarah E. Root, daughter of

00 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
J. M. Root, of Sandusky, Ohio, who in his time was a distinguished
lawyer and citizen of that state, and for several years was a prominent
member of congress.
Romanzo Bunn, Madison, was born in South Hastwick, Otsego,
New York, September 24, 1829. In September, 1832, he thence re
moved with his father's family to the town of Mansfield, Cattaraugus
county, New York, which was then a wilderness, and where he resided,
working on his father's farm summers, and attending the district school
winters, until seventeen years old. In the fall of 1846 he entered
Springville Academy, at Springville, Erie county, New York, which he
attended during the summer and fall terms for three years, teaching a
district school winters to get means. Beginning teaching in this way
when seventeen years old, he continued it while attending the academy,
and afterward while studying law, until twenty-four years old. He
began the study of law at Elyria, Ohio, in the spring of 1849, in the
office of Mc Acheron & Myers, in company with Charles C. Willson, an
old friend and classmate, and now a leading member of the Minnesota
bar at Rochester; and afterward continued it at Elliottville, New York,
in the office of Harmon & Wood, until September 1853, when he was
admitted to the bar, and immediately went in company with William H.
Wood, a member of the firm with whom he studied, and so continued
until the fall of 1854, In August, 1854, he was married to Miss Sarah
Purdy, of Mansfield, and in September of that year removed to Wiscon
sin, where he stopped during the winter of 1854-5 with friends at
Sparta, and in the spring of 1855 settled at Galesville, the county seat
of Trempealeau county. The country was very new, and he had not
much use for the few law books he brought with him. He worked on
a farm some, and did what law and other business came along, until the
spring of 186 1, when he removed to Sparta and entered on the practice
of law there. During the winter of i860 he served a term in the legis
lature, representing the assembly district then composed of Trempea
leau, Jackson and Buffalo counties. He continued the practice of law
at Sparta until the spring of 1868, when he was elected circuit judge of
the sixth circuit ; was reelected in the spring of 1874. and held the posi
tion until October 1877, when he was appointed by President Hayes
United States district judge of the western district of Wisconsin. This
appointment made it necessary for him to remove to Madison, which he

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 89
did with his family in the summer of 1879, where he still resides. In
1878 Judge Bunn was elected one of the professors of the law class in
the University of Wisconsin.
JUDGE UNITED STATES SUPREME AND CIRCUIT COURTS.
David Davis, Bloomington, Illinois, is descended from Welsh
ancestors, who had resided in this country more than a century at the
time of his birth, March 19, 1815.
The home of his childhood was in Cecil county, Maryland, where
he pursued his early education until he went to an academy in Dela
ware to prepare for a regular classical course.
Mr. Davis went from the academic school in Delaware to Kenyon
College, Ohio, entering that institution in the autumn of 1828. Ohio
was then a comparative wilderness, and for a boy student only thirteen
years of age, without a relative to welcome him, the prospect was lonely
and uninviting. But there was something of the heroic in the native
energy of character and firmness of purpose which revealed the man of
after life.. In 1832, when seventeen, he graduated, and soon afterward
chose the law for his profession. The advantages for its study were
few in the west at that time, and he started on a long and difficult jour
ney east, reaching at length the old town of Lenox, Massachusetts, to
prosecute his studies in the office of the distinguished lawyer, Judge H.
W. Bishop. After two years spent in that office he went to the law
school at New Haven, Connecticut, then under the direction of Judges
Daggett and Hitchcock, both of whom were known as eminent jurists.
Here Mr. Davis enjoyed the excellent legal discipline which' had the
effect to mould his character into that of a lawyer of clear and accurate
knowledge of legal principles and precedents which has since given
him his merited prominence. Upon his admission to practice he turned
his face again toward the Great West, settling in Pekin, Tazewell
county, Illinois. This was in the fall of 1835. Pekin was selected
because of its geographical position upon the Illinois river giving prom
ise of rapid growth. The prevalence of fever and ague there compelled
him to leave the place at the end of a year, and he removed to the
town which is now the pleasant city of Bloomington, his present resi
dence. Here he began in earnest to lay the foundation of his future
success by hard work, which he ever regarded as a better dependence

90 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
than genius. Shortly after his settlement in Bloomington he married
Miss Sarah Walker, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who died in November
1879. Mrs. Davis was a fit companion for him, and left many pleasant
memories of charity and kindness.
The proceeds of a considerable fortune were devoted by her to the
alleviation of human suffering, and she contributed very much to the
success of her husband's life. Mr. Davis was an ardent whig of the
Henry Clay school, but had no taste for political life. Without solicita
tion he was nominated for the legislature of Illinois, and elected, in
1844, and to the constitutional convention in 1847. In both positions,
especially the latter, he took a leading part. Upon the adoption of the
new constitution, in 1848, a new judiciary had to be elected in the
entire state. The circuit in which he lived was largely democratic, but
Mr. Davis was not a bitter partisan, and by the common consent of the
bar and people of his circuit he was chosen judge. Abraham Lincoln
was then in the full tide of successful practice, and visited Judge Davis'
circuit, forming with him a life-long friendship. The judge saw from
the beginning evidence of inborn greatness in his afterward famous
friend. Judge Davis' circuit embraced fourteen of the largest and most
wealthy counties of the state. It was before the day of railroads, yet
neither rough traveling nor bad weather prevented him from always
being in his place ready to proceed with the public business. Soon
after his settlement in Illinois he began investing in prairie lands, and
laid the foundation of that fortune which he now dispenses in acts of
unostentatious charity. In 1858, when Abraham Lincoln was a candi
date against Stephen A. Douglas for the United States senate, Judge
Davis supported Mr. Lincoln with great earnestness. Recognized as
Lincoln's confidential friend, he was selected delegate at large to the re
publican national convention at Chicago, in i860, where his management
as a leader was very successful. In i860 and 1861 he counselled a moder
ate and conservative course, in the hope that war might be averted. He
formed one of the presidential party to Washington, but after the inaugura
tion resumed his duties on the bench which he performed until selected,
with General Holt and Mr. Campbell, of St. Louis, to investigate the
administration of the department of St. Louis, then under the command
of General Fremont and Major McKinstry, during a period of the war of
the rebellion. In the summer of 1862 a vacancy occurred on the bench
of the supreme court of the United States, and Judge Davis was

jyTZ^Jt^ttAV

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 93
selected in the fall of 1862 associate justice. At that time Judge Taney
was chief justice, and between the two there commenced a friendship
which continued until the latter's death. Judge Davis served on the
bench of the supreme court until February 1877, when he resigned to
accept the office of United States senator from the State of Illinois.
He met with no opposition to his reelection as judge of the state
court, the bar and people both being satisfied with the prompt, impar
tial and honest discharge of his duty. His labors in the federal and
state courts extended through a period of twenty-nine years, during
which time he adjudicated questions of the highest importance affect
ing life, liberty and property. His opinion in the celebrated Milligan
case is regarded by the profession as one of the ablest expositions of
the rights of civil liberty ever announced by a court. It was criticised
unfavorably by some, but by the lawyer and the jurist it will ever be
regarded as a sound constitutional recognition of the personal and indi
vidual rights of the citizen. During the first four years of President
Grant's administration much dissatisfaction arose in the republican
party, and, as an outgrowth, the liberal movement was organized which
assumed form in the Cincinnati convention. A considerable portion of
the democratic party and a large number in the liberal cause regarded
Judge Davis as a proper candidate for the presidency, he having been
nominated by the labor reform party in January 1872. His friends
presented his name at Cincinnati, but, owing to certain combinations, he
was defeated, and Mr. Greeley became the nominee in the remarkable
campaign of 1872. In the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1876 the bal
ance of power was with the independent party, friendly to Judge Davis ;
and after a protracted contest by a combination of the democratic party
with the independents he received a majority and was elected. His term
as senator commenced on the 4th of March, 1877, with President
Hayes' administration.
Elected by a combination of parties, he has identified himself with
none, but has maintained independence, voting for or against measures
without reference to party lines. On account of his ability as judge he
was selected member of the judiciary committee, in which for more than
four years he has been a great worker in the advancement of the public
interests. His speech on the Geneva Award bill reported by the com
mittee was regarded as a very able exposition of the law in favor of
the underwriters. Judge Davis is not a speech maker, but does a great

94 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
deal of work in the committee room and' in the business detail of the
senate. His disposition is to deal with practical questions of legisla
tion, leaving the discussion of mere party politics to others. Upon the
reconstruction of the senate at the inauguration of President Garfield's
administration, he was tendered the chairmanship of the judiciary com
mittee, which he declined, giving his reasons in a speech worthy .the
better days of the republic. After the death of President Garfield, Judge
Davis was elected president of the senate, without having in any way
sought that high honor. In accepting it he informed the senate that if
the least party obligation had been made a condition, directly or indi
rectly, he would have declined the compliment.
Independent in thought and in action, Judge Davis has never favored
the arts of the politician, nor sought to gain any object by devious courses.
Upright and straightforward, he has always moved openly on a given line
of conduct, and boldly proclaimed his convictions on public questions;
hence the universal confidence in his integrity of character. Although
now over sixty years of age, his mind and body are unimpaired in vigor
and health. He resides on one of the most highly cultivated farms of
the state, adjoining the city of Bloomington, in a mansion of great ele
gance and taste. His life has been a great success, financially and
officially. " How blest is he who crowns in shades like these,
A youth of labor with an age of ease."
John Marshall Harlan, Louisville, Kentucky, was born in Boyle
county, near Danville, Kentucky, June i, 1833, and is a son of James
Harlan, who was a prominent lawyer of the state. He graduated
at Centre College, under the presidency of John C. Young, D.D., LL.D. ;
studied law with his father; graduated in 1853 in the law department of
Transylvania University, at Lexington, under Chief Justices Thomas A.
Marshall and George Robertson, and entered upon the practice of his
profession at Frankfort, in his natjve state.
In 1858 he was elected county judge of Franklin county, and held
the office one year, fn 1859, when but twenty-five years of age, he was
the whig candidate for congress in the strongly democratic district of
Ashland, and came within sixty-seven votes of an election. In the
spring of 1861 he moved to Louisville, when he became associated with
Hon. W. F. Bullock and practiced with great success. The civil war
breaking out soon after, he relinquished practice and recruited and

X

2?^-__ ^£t- ^^xZ^tfa

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 95
organized the Tenth Kentucky Union regiment, which served under
General Thomas. Having served for some length of time in com
mand of a brigade, his nomination for brigadier-general was made by
President Lincoln, but at that auspicious period in his military career
the death of his venerable father necessitated him to forego the flattering
promotion, resign his commission, and return to civil life.
In the fall of 1863 he was nominated by the Union party as their
candidate for attorney-general ; was elected by an immense majority,
and occupied the office until 1867, when, as the candidate of the same
party, he failed of an election, whereupon he returned to Louisville and
resumed practice, with much success. In 187 1 he was unanimously
nominated, against his desire, as the republican candidate for governor ;
and, although there had been considerable falling off in the republican
ranks in the North in 1874, he largely increased the party vote over
that of the previous election of chief magistrate of the state. In 1875
he was again the republican candidate for governor. In 1877 Colonel
Harlan was appointed by President Hayes one of the Louisiana com
mission, on the part of the government, to bring about an amicable plan
for adjusting the unfortunate political status of that state ; and the result
of the wise and temperate course of the commission was a matter of
congratulation throughout the country. In 1877 he was appointed by
President Hayes an associate justice of the United States supreme
court, which office he is still filling. In this capacity Justice Harlan has
annually held courts in Wisconsin as part of his circuit, and is accounted
by the bar of this state as not only a very able, but also an exceedingly
impartial, honest dispenser of justice.
Thomas Drummond, Chicago, was bom at Bristol Mills, Lincoln
county, Maine, October 16, 1809. His paternal grandfather emi
grated from Scotland about the year 1760, and settled in Bristol
before the breaking out of the revolutionary war. The mother of
Thomas Drummond was a daughter of Henry Little, of New Castle,
Maine, who descended from the early settlers of New England. His
father was James Drummond, who was a farmer, but followed the
sea for a considerable period of his life, and for some years represented
his native town and county in the legislature of Maine.
Living on the sea coast, the son of a seaman, surrounded by mari
time associations, it is not wonderful that the subject of this sketch

96. THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
early wished to become a sailor. His father was peremptory in his re
fusal to gratify the boyish longing, and the son was several times sorely
tempted to run away, as so many lads had done before him. His sense
of filial duty, however, was stronger than his love of adventure; but
those mental experiences left their furrows in his heart, implanting a
never-failing attachment to the profession, which has since shown itself
in his complete mastery of all the leading points involved in maritime
law, and caused his decisions in admiralty to be regarded as indisputable,
and seldom appealed from or reversed.
He received his first instruction in the little school-house of his
native village, and the structure is still standing on the same spot as that
on which he learned his alphabet more than sixty years since. During
his boyhood, he attended academies in -Maine, at New Castle, Mon
mouth, Farmington and Gorham. He entered Bowdoin College at
Brunswick, Maine, in 1826, and graduated in regular course at the insti
tution in 1830. His business training commenced immediately there
after. Leaving Maine in September, 1830, for Philadelphia, he com
menced the study of law in that city in the office of W. T. Dwight,
who was a son of President Dwight, of Yale College, and subsequently
he was in the office of T. Bradford, in the same city, where he remained
until March 1833.
In May, 1835, Mr. Drummond left Philadelphia to come to Illinois,
and settled in Galena, where he was soon recognized as a lawyer of
unusual and solid attainments, great perseverance and untiring industry.
For fifteen years he practiced his profession at Galena with success, and
was engaged in many important causes. On the death of Judge Pope
he was appointed, in February 1850, by President Taylor, to succeed
him in the office of judge of the United States district court for the
district of Illinois. In 1854 Judge Drummond removed to Chicago,
and held the office of district judge of the United States for the northern
district of Illinois until December 22, 1869, when he was appointed
judge of the seventh circuit of the United States, which comprises the
States of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Judge Drummond has not mingled to any great extent in party poli
tics, and has held political office but once. Formerly a whig, he subse
quently became a republican, to which party affiliation he still adheres.
The office above alluded to was that of member of the United States
house of representatives for 1840 and 1841, representing the counties

<?mon**4 (7VWt44i^>i-0

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 99
of northern Illinois, comprising what has been known as the Galena
district. He was married at Willow Springs, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, to
Delia A., second daughter of J. P. Sheldon, of that place, and has two
sons and four daughters. Judge Drummond, together with his family,
belong to the congregation of St. James' Episcopal church, Chicago.
By a long and laborious career on the federal bench, Judge Drum-
mond's fame as a jurist is completely established. None know him
but to respect him for his learning and to love him for his noble quali
ties of mind and heart. For over thirty years he has held a place on
the bench. Throughout that long period his career has been signalized
by unremitting and arduous labor. His ambition and aim have been to
conscientiously and justly perform the duties of his high position, and
that he has attained the rank of a great and good judge is the tribute
universally paid to him by the bar. His judicial opinions have always
been distinguished for their strength of expression, and vigor of
reasoning, and are part of the jurisprudence of the country. En
dowed with a vigorous and rugged intellect, prompted always in his
judicial and personal action by the strongest convictions of duty, Judge
Drummond has never failed to put the stamp of his individuality upon
whatever work he has had to do. His expositions of the law in all its
branches are universally accepted as learned, able and authoritative,
and by the bench and bar of the country he is recognized as one of the
veterans in the federal judiciary. His inherent sense of justice is one of
his strongest characteristics. When dealing with legal questions, in
words that are always significant and weighty, he summarily brushes
away the chaff that may have accumulated in discussion, and grasps the
great or essential point upon which a decision of the question or case
must turn. Every litigant is assured of impartial and patient considera
tion of his case when he enters Judge Drummond's court. Patience and
kindness and courtesy characterize his demeanor on the bench, and the
most painstaking care and deliberation characterize his investigation of
every cause brought before him for judgment. Fearless in the discharge
of every duty, upright in every act and purpose, he has maintained in
flexibly the judicial character in its highest dignity and purest quality.
Venerated by the bar and beloved by his brethren of the bench, it is
their hope and wish that many years of health and happiness may yet be
added to his long and honorable life.

100* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES.
Montgomery M. Cothren, Mineral Point, was born at Jerusalem,
Yates county, New York, September 18, 1819. His father was Nathaniel
Cothren, and his mother Clarina Weed, who died at the age of eighty-
two years. Mr. Cothren was educated in New York, and subsequently
studied law at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Having removed to Mineral
Point, he was admitted to the bar of the United States district court in
1843 by his honor Charles Dunn, since which time he has been in the
active practice of his profession or upon the bench.
He was a member of the last territorial legislature of Wisconsin, and
served in the state senate in 1849 and 1850. In the presidential elec
tion of 1852 he was one of the electors for the state at large, and cast
his vote for Franklin Pierce and William R. King for president and
vice-president. During the same year he was elected judge of the cir
cuit court, and served in that capacity for twelve years. At the close
of his second term as circuit judge he declined a reelection, and for the
twelve years ensuing engaged in the practice of the law; but in 1876,
after a notable triangular contest against two members of the bar of
great eminence and popularity, he was again chosen judge of the circuit
court, which office he still holds. In 1879 he was nominated for associate
justice of the supreme court by a caucus of the democratic members of
the legislature, but the nomination was not confirmed at the polls.
In the campaign of 1880 he was the democratic candidate for mem
ber of congress in the third district, but was defeated by Hon. George
C. Hazelton. The bar of southern Wisconsin has been graced by many lawyers of
commanding ability, and a moment's reflection will summon to the mind
the names of Dunn, Hamilton, Mills, Knowlton, Washburn, Strong, Cole,
Crawford, Barber and others ; second to none in this eminent list the
name of Montgomery M. Cothren will take its place in the history of
the state.
Egbert B. Bundy, Menomonee, was born at Windsor, New York,
February 8, 1830; was educated at Windsor Academy, studied law with
F. G. Wheeler at Windsor, and Wheeler & Morse, Depoint, New York,
and was admitted to the bar at Cortland, New York, in January 1850.
Subsequently coming to Wisconsin he practiced law in Dunn county,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 103
was elected county judge, and is now serving on the bench of the circuit
court. Henry Danforth Barron, Saint Croix Falls, was born at Wilton,
Saratoga county, New York, April 10, 1833. His education was in the
common schools, after completing which he entered the law school of
Ballston Spa, New York, and graduated in due course, which admitted
him to practice in the courts of that state.
In 185 1, at the early age of nineteen, an enterprising spirit and
sound judgment summoned him to the west, and he took up his resi
dence at Waukesha, Wisconsin. Becoming editor of the Waukesha
" Democrat," he changed its name to the " Chronotype," and conducted
it successfully for several years. In 1853 he was appointed, by Presi
dent Pierce, postmaster of Waukesha.
In 1857 he changed his residence to Pepin, where he entered upon
the practice of his profession, which he pursued until July i860, when
he was appointed, by Gov. Randall, judge of the eighth judicial circuit,
comprising the northwestern counties of the state, and a circuit of large
area and great importance. Soon afterward Judge Barron moved to St.
Croix Falls, and in 1862 was unanimously elected member of the assem
bly from the counties of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Barron, Douglas
and Polk, and was reelected in 1863, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, 187 1 and
1872. He was speaker of the assembly for the session of 1866, and again
for 1873. As one of the republican presidential electors-at-large in
1868 he was president of the electoral college of that year, and per
formed the same duties for the same party in 1872. Having been
elected, by joint ballot of the legislature, a regent of the Wisconsin State
University in February, 1863, he has continued in that office until his
election as circuit judge, in 1876. He. was for many years one of the
vice-presidents of the State Historical Society.
President Grant nominated Judge Barron, in March 1869, for chief
justice of the Territory of Dakota, which honor was declined by the
judge, when, in April following, the President appointed him fifth audi
tor of the United States treasury, which was accepted ; and serving in
that capacity until January 1, 1872, he resigned the office to take a seat
in the assembly, to which he had been elected by his former constitu
ents. In May, 187 1, he was appointed by Governor Fairchild a trustee

104 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
for Wisconsin of the Antietam Cemetery Association. He was elected
to the senate in 1873 ; reelected in 1875 ; was president pro tern, for the
last named session, and resigned his seat before the expiration of his
term to enter upon the duties of circuit judge of the eleventh judicial
circuit, to which he had been elected.
Judge Barron died at his home at St. Croix Falls, January 23, 1882,
and was buried at Waukesha, where his relatives reside. .
Judge Barron had long been a conspicuous figure in the politics of
this state, and, in various public capacities, had done the commonwealth
valuable service. As a judge he was credited with singleness of purpose,
upright and impartial. As a man he was true to his friends and his con
victions, of great force and decision of character, frank and open- in
speech and act, independent and incorruptible.
Ganem W. Washburn, Oshkosh, a cousin of the notable Washburn
brothers, was born at Livermore, Maine, October 29, 1823. He was
the son of Kenel and Delia K. Washburn. After thorough preparation
he was sent as student to Bowdoin College, Maine, at which institu
tion he completed the regular course of four years, and graduated in
the year 1845.
The young man having determined to follow the profession of the
law, commenced his studies in his father's office, at Livermore, and
afterward continued them with Israel Washburn, Orano, Maine, who
was subsequently governor of that state. In the year 1847 ne was
admitted to the bar at Paris, Oxford county, Maine.
Coming west and settling in Oshkosh, Mr. Washburn at first com
menced the practice of law alone, but afterward became associated with
Gabriel Bouck, and continued the partnership from 1850 to 1857.
Mr. Washburn has been state senator, county judge of Winnebago
county, and circuit judge of the tenth circuit.
Charles A. Hamilton, Milwaukee, was born in Saratoga Springs,
New York, July 23, 1826, and is the grandson of the celebrated Alex
ander Hamilton. He was educated and read law in New York city,
where he was admitted to the bar, September 2, 1847. He came to
Milwaukee in May 185 1, and entered into a copartnership with the late
Johathan E. Arnold, under the firm of Arnold and Hamilton. In 1858
he became a member of the firm of Emmons, Van Dyke & Hamil-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 105
ton. For many years a large part of the admiralty suits arising on
the lakes and the Mississippi river were brought in the United States
district court at Milwaukee, then presided over by Judge Andrew G.
Miller. During these years the firm obtained wide celebrity as com
mercial lawyers by its thorough knowledge of the admiralty law and
by its success in cases put in its charge, and ranked as one of the first
of the admiralty law firms, both in the extent and in the importance of
the business intrusted to its charge.
In August, 1861, Colonel Hamilton entered the army major of the
Seventh Wisconsin, which left for Washington, September 21, and early
in October joined what subsequently became the famous Iron Brigade.
Upon the promotion of Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson to colonel, Major
Hamilton was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. During
the summer of 1862 he participated in the arduous service of General
Pope's campaign in Virginia, and commanded the regiment in the battle
of Gainesville, in which he was severely wounded, but continued in the
field until the close of the day's fighting. After his wound became par
tially healed he rejoined his regiment and took part in the engagements of
General Burnside, fought with him at Fredericksburg, and went through
the celebrated Mud campaign of that general. The wound he received
at Gainesville reopening unfitted him for active duty in the field, when
he returned home and was mustered out in March 1863, as perma
nently disabled. He returned to his law practice, retaining his con
nection with his old law partners until the dissolution of the firm, since
which time he has been alone in practice.
In 1877 Judge Hamilton was elected a member of the assembly,
and served in the ensuing session of 1878 on the committee on the
judiciary; was'for several years one of the regents of the state uni
versity, and in the fall of 1880 was elected judge of the circuit court of
the Milwaukee district in place of Judge D. N. Small, his term commenc
ing January 1, 1882.
A. L. Collins, Appleton, was born in Watertown, New York, March
17, 1812. Having had an academic education he began teaching school
at the age of sixteen in Clinton, New York. Three years later he began
the study of law at Whitesboro, in his native state, with Messrs. Storrs
& White, and completed his study at Cleveland, Ohio, with John W.
Allen, whose partner he became after admission to the bar at the age of
7

106 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
twenty-three. In 1842 he came to Wisconsin and formed a partnership
at Madison with Thomas W. Sutherland, then United States district
attorney for Wisconsin. He was afterward associated with the late
George B. Smith, and later became a member of the firm of Collins,
Smith & Keyes.
He was a member of the territorial council of Wisconsin during its
last three sessions ; was nominated by acclamation by the whigs of the
second congressional district as their candidate for congress against
Morton C. Darling, democrat, in 1848, and the next year was nominated
by the same party for governor against Nelson Dewey, but the demo
crats being strongly in the majority he was defeated. Later he was
generously supported by the whig party with Chief Justice Whiton
against Governor Dodge and I. P. Walker for the United States senate.
The interval from 1842 to 1855 was devoted to the practice of law,
at the end of which time he was elected judge of the ninth judicial cir
cuit, which office he held four years, when impaired health induced his
resignation. He then became a partner of Governor Doty, at that time
living in retirement on Doty's island, in his business affairs generally,
and soon after removed to Winnebago county for the better manage
ment of the business. He subsequently began the practice of the law
in Chicago, Illinois, but v/as soon after obliged to abandon it on account
of serious rheumatic difficulties. He spent some time in agricultural
pursuits and then returned again to the practice of law, settling down in
Appleton. In politics he had been a whig, afterward a republican of anti-
slavery type, and has always taken a deep interest in the political
questions of the day without having a taste for political life or seeking
political preferment.
Judge Collins has acted a conspicuous part in the judicial history
of this state, his associations having been, and still are, with all the
eminent jurists contemporary with his long life at the bar and on the
bench ; among whom could be reckoned E. G. Ryan, James H. Craw
ford, M. M. Strong, Levi Hubbell, W. P. Lynde, S. U. Pinney, Orsamus
Cole, and, in fine, all of the leading members of the bar and bench in
and out of Madison.
Although past the allotted three-score years and ten, the jud.ge, hale
and well preserved, is still in active practice at Appleton, with the
apparent prospect of many years of work yet before him. Blessed with

^,^0^w

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 109
a competence, he seems to cling to the duties of the profession for the
love of it, and will be likely to die in the harness, like unto many a
lawyer devoted to his profession.
Gilbert L. Park, Stevens Point, was born in the town of Scipio,
Cayuga county, New York, August 31, 1824. He read law at Kalama
zoo, Michigan, and was admitted to the bar there. He came to Wis
consin and located at Grand Rapids in 1851; resided there one year,
and then removed to Plover where he remained three years, at the end
of which time he changed his place of residence to Stevens Point,
where he has continued to live to the present time. For several years
he was district attorney of Portage county, before Wood county was set
off from it.
During the war of the rebellion he was in the military service.
Entering the army in November, 1861, he served as adjutant of the
Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and was in all of the engagements in
which that regiment participated from the battle of Shiloh to the time
it was mustered out in March 1865. On returning home he resumed
the practice of law, and early in the year of 1875 was appointed circuit
judge of the seventh judicial district, was elected to the office in April
of the same year, reelected in 1879, and is still serving. In February,
1856, Judge Park married Mary M. Beach, of Climax, Michigan, and
they have three children.
David W. Small, Oconomowoc, was born at Frankfort, Philadelphia
county, Pennsylvania, December 18, 1827. His parents belonged to the
Society of Friends, and were farmers. He lived on the farm until he
was sixteen years old, and attended the public schools during the winter
months. He was a student in the Moravian College at Nazareth for
two years. At eighteen years of age he began teaching, and reading
law under the instruction of George Lear, of Doylestown, Bucks county,
Pennsylvania. In April, 1850, he was admitted to the bar at Doylestown.
The following month he came to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. At first his
law business was not very prosperous, and he combined the duties of a
surveyor with his profession until 1851. By this time his business had
increased to such an extent as to occupy his entire time. In 1862 he
was elected district attorney for Waukesha county, on the democratic
ticket, to which office he was subsequently reelected twice. In 1869 he

110 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
was elected judge of the second judicial circuit. In 1875 he was re
elected by a large majority. Judge Small resides upon and cultivates a
small farm riear the village of Oconomowoc. Judge Small was born
and brought up in the Society of Friends, and still believes in their
fundamental principles.
His wife's maiden name was Susannah Ely. They have three
children. Alfred William Newman, Trempealeau, was born at Durham,
Greene county, New York, April 5, 1834. His father was a farmer.
He graduated at Hamilton College, New York, in 1857 ; studied law at
the law department of the same college, and afterward with John Olney,
of Windham Centre, Greene county, New York ; was admitted to prac
tice at Albany, New York, in December 1857, and located at Trempea
leau in March 1858. In April, i860, he was appointed county judge,
and held the office until January 1867; was district attorney from Jan
uary 1867 to June 1876, with the exception of the years 187 1 and 1872 ;
was member of the assembly in 1863; was state senator in the years
1868 and 1869; and in April 1876 was elected circuit judge for the
sixth judicial district.
Coming to Wisconsin, and settling at what was then an early day for
that section of the state, it will be seen by the record of his life that his
career was progressive and honorable, with official and important trusts
placed in his keeping, in all of which he has proved faithful, discharging
the duties appertaining to them in a manner that has evinced ability,
uprightness and usefulness.
Charles M. Baker, Geneva, was born in New York city, October
18, 1804. His father soon after removed to Addison county, Vermont,
where the subject of this sketch attended a neighboring school until he
became twelve years of age. He was a hard student, and in 1822
entered Middleburg College, but was compelled to relinquish his studies
before the close of the first term on account of failing health caused by
too severe application. After several months rest, his health being in a
measure restored in the fall of 1823, he accepted the position of assistant
teacher in a young ladies' school at Philadelphia, where he remained
two years. In 1826, he commenced the study of law in the office of S.
G. Huntington, at Troy, New York, where he remained three years, and

£.<fa. /3*^

C&*

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 113
was then admitted to the bar. Forming a partnership with Henry W.,
a brother of Marshall M. Strong, of Racine, in the spring of 1830, he
removed to Serleca Falls, New York, where he engaged in the practice
of his profession until 1834, when his health being again affected by too
close application, he relinquished his practice and returned to Vermont,
with little hope of surviving. A change to mercantile business improv
ing his health, he moved West in 1838, and located at Geneva Lake,
Walworth county, Wisconsin. In 1839, he was appointed district-
attorney of the county, and was a member of the territorial council for
the counties of Walworth and Rock for four years, commencing 1842,
and was a delegate to the first constitutional convention in 1846.
He was appointed by the Governor in 1848, one of the three com
missioners to revise and codify the statutes of Wisconsin, and in March
1849, was elected by the legislature to superintend the printing of the
volume in Albany, New York. On the resignation of Judge J. R.
Doolittle in 1856, he was appointed to the bench of the circuit court,
but declined to become a candidate for re-election upon the expiration
of the term. During the late war, he was Judge Advocate under Pro
vost Marshal I. N. Bean, in the first district of Wisconsin. Judge
Baker died at Geneva, Wisconsin, in January, 1873, leaving the follow
ing surviving children :
Edward L. Baker, of Redwing, Minnesota; Charles H. Baker, of
San Francisco, California; Mary, wife of George H. Browne, of
Providence, Rhode Island, and Robert H. Baker, of Racine, a member
of the well-known firm of J. I. Case & Company.
John R. Bennett, Janesville, was born in Rodman, Jefferson county,
New York, November 1, 1820; was educated in that county, and
read law at Sackett's Harbor with Dyre N. Barnham. He was admitted
to practice in the courts of New York, May 8, 1848, and in the month
of October of the same year came to Janesville, Rock county, Wiscon
sin, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Bennett is over six feet in
height, is well proportioned, and has great physical strength and endur
ance. In personal appearance it is said he strongly resembles Lincoln,
and in the opinion of the writer of this sketch, has many of the men
tal characteristics that made the latter so great and beloved. From
the outset Mr. Bennett took front rank at the bar in Rock county, a
position he has ever since easily retained ; and when it is remembered

114 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
that Whiton, Carpenter, Noggle, Knowlton and Jorden were then
among its members, his abilities will best be understood. As a lawyer
and advocate he has few if any superiors at the bar ifi this state, and
his professional life has been in consequence a busy one in his office
and in the courts, fn addressing court or jury he always commands
attention and respect by reason of his learning, ability and force. His
resources in the trial of cases are wonderful, and however great his
disappointment with the rulings of the court or by the evidence, he is
generally able to surmount all embarrassment, and conduct his case to a
successful issue. Litigants soon learned his great worth as a trial lawyer,
and have kept him steadily employed in his profession. Scarcely has there
been a case of importance tried in Rock or any of the adjoining counties
but he has been employed either as attorney or counsel. He is espe
cially able and acute as a cross-examiner, and his triumphs as such have
been many and marked. His commanding presence and great abilities
have given him many clients in the southern part of the state, and his
eloquence, when occasion has demanded it, has always insured him
audiences to be instructed and delighted by his utterances. It may be
truthfully said of Mr. Bennett that he is a giant in his profession. He
is still in the meridian of his abilities and power, and gives promise of
years of future activity and usefulness in his profession.
Since the above was written Mr. Bennett has been elected judge of
the circuit court, as successor of Judge H. L. Congar. His elevation
to the office was the spontaneous wish of the bar and people of the dis
trict, and was without an opposing candidate, April 1882.
George W. Cate, Stevens Point, was born in Montpelier, Vermont,
September 17, 1824, and was educated in the public schools, studied
law, and was admitted to the bar at Montpelier in 1845. The same
year he came to Wisconsin, and settled at Plover, where he engaged in
the practice of his profession. In 1852 he was elected member of the
assembly, and again in 1853. In April, 1854, he was elected judge of the
seventh judicial circuit, and served in that capacity until he resigned on
March 4, 1875, to take his seat in the national house of representatives,
to which he had been elected as a liberal reformer in November, 1875,
by a majority vote of two, over A. S. McDill, who was then holding the
position as a straight republican. Having served out his term in con
gress Judge Cate was again a candidate, but, in the meantime, the re-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 115
publican party had become strong enough in his district to elect one of
its members. It is but due to Judge Cate to record that his course in
congress was eminently clear and honorable.
While in congress he strenuously opposed the formation of the elec
toral commission to settle the presidential question between Tilden
and Hayes, and was one of the seventeen members who voted against
the act creating the commission.
Upon returning to private life he entered upon the practice of law
at Stevens Point, where he speedily became a leading attorney, engaged
in the most important legal causes, and has the reputation among the
law fraternity of a profound lawyer and successful advocate.
Joseph T. Mills, Lancaster, was born in Crane Ridge, Bourbon
county, Kentucky, December 18, 1812. He acquired an academic edu
cation, studied law, was admitted to the bar, came to the west, and
located in Bond county, Illinois, in 183 1, moved to Wisconsin and per
manently settled at Lancaster in 1843, when he entered into the practice
of the law; was elected circuit judge for the fifth circuit, and served
from 1865 to 1877, and was a member of the assembly in 1856, 1857,
1862 and 1879.
Judge Mills has ever been prominent in the public and judicial
affairs of the state ; no man stands higher in Wisconsin for profoundness
in legal lore, and for general information ; his wit and humor is not sur
passed, if equaled, by any of his contemporaries, and the course of his
long life has been one of unalloyed purity. Although now nearly
three score years and ten his mental vigor remains unimpaired.
David Noggle, Janesville, was born in Franklin, Franklin Gounty,
Pennsylvania, October 19, 1809. He had no opportunities for educa
tion beyond what, was furnished by the common schools, and his time
spent even in these rudimentary institutions was very limited ; notwith
standing which, by almost unaided efforts and tireless perseverance, he
overcame the difficulties of his surroundings sufficiently to fit himself
as a teacher. His general occupation prior to 1838 was farming, but
by diligent Use of his time he fitted himself for the bar, to which he
was admitted by the supreme court of Illinois, and at once took a high
and commanding position in the profession. He married Miss Anna
M. Lewis, of Milan, Ohio, October 15, 1834. In 1839 he located at

116 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Beloit, in the practice of his profession. In 1846 he was elected a
member of the first constitutional convention from the county of Rock,
and was selected by that body chairman of the committee on corpora
tions, other than banking and municipal, and he became prominent as
one of the leading men of the convention.
In 1854 he was elected member of the assembly from the city of
Janesville, to which place he had removed in 1850, and was reelected
to the same position in 1857. He was subsequently elected judge of the
first judicial district to fill the unexpired term of Judge Keep, and was
reelected to the same position for the succeeding term. In i860 he
was appointed chief justice of the territory of Idaho, and having served
for five years, was compelled to resign on account of failing health, and
the growing infirmities of age, that incapacitated him for further active
life. He died at Janesville in 1879.
GOVERNORS.
Nathaniel P. Talmadge was a. native of Chatham, Columbia
county, New York, where he was born, February 8, 1795. He received
a good early education, and was a graduate of Union College. Direct
ing his attention then to the study of the legal profession, he was admitted
to the bar in 1818.
In 1828 he was elected to the assembly of New York. He held the
office of State senator from 1830 to 1833, when he was elected to the
United States senate from New York, which position he occupied until
1844, having been once reelected. He was appointed Governor of
Wisconsin territory by President Tyler, June 21, 1844, whereupon he
removed to Wisconsin and entered upon the duties of his office, succeed
ing James D. Doty, thus becoming the third territorial executive. He
held that position a little less than a year ; a change in the national
administration having occurred. Henry Dodge was appointed his suc
cessor by President Polk, April 8, 1845.
The ex-governor, upon his retirement, made his residence at Fond du
Lac, and applied himself to the practice of his profession. He was a
man of excellent character and acknowledged ability. His death oc
curred November 2, 1864, at Battle Creek, Michigan.
Nelson Dewey, Cassville, the first Governor of Wisconsin after it
became a state, is a native of Connecticut. He became an early settler
of Cassville, Grant county, Wisconsin, and practiced law. On the organi-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 117
zation of that county, in 1837, he was chosen register of deeds. He
was a representative from Grant county in the second legislative assembly
of Wisconsin territory, chosen in 1838 ; was speaker of the House dur
ing the fourth, or extra session of twelve days in August, 1840, and the
latter year he was reelected. In 1842 he was elected a member of the
council, and during its fourth session of thirty days' duration, was its
president. On May 8, 1848, he was elected governor of Wisconsin by
the democratic party, and was sworn into office June 7, following. He
was installed on the first day of January, 1850, retiring on the fifth day
of January 1852. He has been one of the board of directors for the
state prison. Governor Dewey early gave up the practice of law to
enter upon official duties, from which he has now retired.
Coles Bashford, T-usftan, was a native of Wayne county, New
York, and was born in the year 1817.
After receiving an early education, such as the schools of those days
afforded, he studied law at Lyons, in his native county, where he was
admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession.
Soon, however, he was attracted to the west, and settled at Algoma,
now a part of the city of Oshkosh. In 1852 he was elected to the state
senate, was reelected in 1854, and subsequently resigned to occupy the
executive chair. He became a republican on the organization of that
party, and in 1855 was nominated in its convention for governor, in
opposition to William A. Barstow. This memorable campaign resulted
in the issuance of the certificate of election to Barstow, by the state
canvassers. His right to the seat was contested before the supreme
court resulting in the resignation of Barstow and the seating of Mr.
Bashford. On the expiration of his term in 1858, he resumed the practice of
law at Oshkosh. In 1863 he removed to Tuscan, Arizona, where he
died in 1880.
During the year 1864 and the year following he was a member of
the council of that territory, attorney-general in 1866, then delegate in
congress for two years, and soon after secretary of the territory, which
office he resigned in 1876, in order to devote his attention wholly to a
large law practice.

118 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Alexander W. Randall was born in Cooperstown, New York,
about the year 1819. After passing through his school days he read
law. Soon after his admission to the bar he emigrated to Wisconsin,
locating at Prairieville, now Waukesha. He commenced the practice
of his profession with a fair show of success; but his love of political
life was so great, and he devoted so much time to politics, that it inter
fered considerably with his legal practice. Mr. Randall was originally a
democrat. He was always zealous in the cause he espoused, and a
working member of the party in which he acted. His first office was
that of a member of the first constitutional convention in 1846.
He took a prominent position in that party. In 1848, when the
free soil movement was inaugurated, Mr. Randall was prominent there
in. He did not, however, long harmonize with that party, but soon fell
back into the regular ranks of the democracy. In the fall of 1854 he
was ele'cted as an independent democrat to the assembly of the state.
He became afterward a recognized republican, and in 1855 ran on the
state ticket of that party for attorney-general, but was defeated. In the
gubernatorial contest between Barstow and Bashford, he acted as one
of the attorneys for the successful contestant, Coles Bashford. In 1856,
Bashford appointed Randall judge of the second judicial circuit, com
posed of the counties Milwaukee and Waukesha. His judicial career
was brief; for in 1857 he was nominated as the republican candidate
for governor, and elected. He entered upon his duties January 1, 1858,
and discharged them so satisfactory to the people that he was reelected
in 1859. His second term carried him through the year 1861, — the
first year of the war. He proved himself a very able war governor.
The ability, energy, and boldness with which he labored for the service
gave him a national reputation.
In 1861, Governor Randall was a candidate for United States senator,
but was not elected. At the end of his second term as governor, Lincoln
appointed him minister to Rome. In 1865 he was appointed assistant
postmaster-general. He afterward, upon the resignation of William
Dennison as postmaster-general, was placed at the head of the post-
office department, which position he held until the close of Johnson's
administration. This was his last official position. He died at his
residence at Elmira, New York, July 26, 1872.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 119
Edward Salomon, New York, was born in the year 1828, near the
city of Halberstadt, in Prussia. His father was Christoph Salomon,
who had served with distinction in the Prussian army, and afterward was
an officer in the civil service of Prussia, and his mother was named
Dorothea. They were Lutheran Protestant in religion, and he was edu
cated in that faith. He received his school education at a college in
Halberstadt, and was afterward a student in the university of Berlin.
He came to Wisconsin in 1849, and he lived in Manitowoc in this state
until the latter part of the year 1852, when he came to Milwaukee to
read law, having meanwhile given great attention to the study of the
English language, with which he became so familiar as to read, speak
and write it with ease, correctness and fluency. In the city of Milwau
kee he entered the office of E. G. Ryan, late chief justice of the su
preme court of Wisconsin, and there studied diligently until he was
admitted to practice upon thorough examination by the judges of the
supreme court in Madison. This was in the year 1855. He was then
a young man of extremely fine appearance and prepossessing manners.
Tall, well-formed, graceful, with black hair and dark blue eyes, speak
ing English extremely well but with a slight foreign accent, elegant and
courteous, he attracted the attention of all, and he rapidly rose to high
estimation, not only among Germans, but among all classes of his fellow
citizens. He was introduced by Mr. Ryan to Mr. Winfield Smith, who
had then lately commenced to practice in Milwaukee, and they formed
a partnership in November 1855, which continued until November 1869,
when Mr. Salomon left to take up his residence in the city of New
York, where he has ever since remained. He had been a diligent and
thorough student, and his habits of close and careful investigation con
tinued and contributed to his reputation as a well-read and accurate
lawyer. He is possessed' of sound sense, good practical judgment, a
good knowledge of men and things, and that capacity for seizing the
strong points in every case, and for presenting them forcibly to the court
and jury which is so necessary to success in that profession. He became
a favorite with judges and juries, and the business of his firm increased
with rapidity, and its members rose to a high standing in their profession.
Mr. Salomon was a democrat, but gradually came to adopt the ideas
of the republican party between the presidential elections of Buchanan
and Lincoln, and in i860 distinctly avowed his adhesion to that organi
zation.

120 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Without his knowledge he was nominated lieutenant governor by an
independent convention of supporters of the war held in Madison in the
fall of 1861, and was elected, Mr. Louis B. Harvey being elected gov
ernor at the same time. The death of Governor Harvey in April, 1862,
cast upon Mr. Salomon the duties of the gubernatorial position. His
comparative youth, and supposed unfamiliarity with political matters
caused some apprehension to many of his own party, but these were
allayed within a very short time after he assumed the chair. He re
mained governor until January 1, 1864, and it is certain that during his
time the labors of that office were more arduous than ever before or
since. The duties of carrying out within this state the war measures of
the national government, of organizing the regiments furnished by the
state during that time, and of the selection of officers, of overseeing their
equipment and maintenance, which were afterward transferred to federal
officers, devolved during that time chiefly upon the governor. His zeal
was untiring, and his industry unceasing. For weeks in succession he
was found in the executive office at Madison at all hours from eight in
the morning until twelve at night; and no labor was deemed by him too
arduous, no fatigue too great in order to ensure success in the great
work which he took upon himself. His activity necessarily brought
upon him the hostility of many of the opposite party, and especially of
those individuals upon whom the war seemed to impose special hard
ships. The vigorous measures by which he promptly subdued the in
surrection against the draft in Ozaukee and Washington counties were
the occasion of much praise, and upon the other hand of the bitterest
censure. He caused a number of persons who were arrested for partici
pating in riotous proceedings to be brought to Madison, and there con
fined in camp for some weeks, until, partly by the intervention of writs
of habeas corpus, and partly by the voluntary-act of the governor under
authority of the general government, they were discharged, the danger
of resistance to the draft having then entirely passed away. Gov. Salo
mon's official acts are part of the history of the state, but among them
may be named the calling of an extra session of the legislature in the
year 1862, for the purpose of conferring the right upon the soldiers to
take part in the elections, and for the purpose of empowering the mu
nicipalities of the state to raise money for the payment of bounties to
volunteers. During his term of office nearly all the troops who saw
active service in the field were sent from the state, and each regiment

^^^o^Z^ %/tvw-tit^

^5

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 121
and each company carried with them the evidences of the conscientious
care and the earnest forethought of Governor Salomon. He visited the
army during his term of office, and was a great favorite among the Wis
consin troops wherever he met them. He spared no pains to contribute
to their welfare, and among the old veterans there will always exist the
warmest remembrance of their great war governor, Edward Salomon.
At the breaking out of the war he was one of a few gentlemen who
by reason of previous associations, of similarity of feeling, and of
equality of years, formed a close companionship ; Carl Schurz, Halbert
E. Paine, Winfield Smith and Byron Paine were the other members of
that circle. Their friendship so cemented has remained unbroken, save
by the untimely death of Byron Paine, then one of the most able mem
bers of the supreme court of Wisconsin.
Governor Salomon was warmly urged by his friends to be a candi
date for the nomination of governor in the fall of 1863, but declined
persistently, until at the request of friends in the army, who made it a
point of duty with him, he reluctantly consented, but so late in the
campaign that James T. Lewis, then secretary of state, had become
conspicuous as a candidate, and as Governor Salomon would make no
efforts for his own success, he barely failed of the nomination in the
convention. He was afterward warmly supported by many friends for
the office of senator of the United States, to succeed Mr. Doolittle, but
Mr. Carpenter, lately deceased, was elected at that time. Having
received most flattering offers from friends in the City of New York he
concluded to remove there, and has since that time been steadily
engaged in the practice of his profession.
He is counsel for the German Empire, and among his clients are
some of the best and wealthiest German business houses in New York.
His departure from Wisconsin was felt to be a great loss to the people,
and especially to the republican party. His strong character, his excel
lent sense, his singularly high and refined sentiments, the honorable
course which he ever in all circumstances and amid any temptations
steadily pursued, won for him many friends and great influence, and had
he been willing to remain, Wisconsin would have laid her highest honors
at his feet.
He was married in 1858 to an estimable lady of Belgian birth, who
was prominently active during the war in rendering succor and assis
tance to our sick and wounded soldiers, and she graced the executive

122 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
mansion as well as she has his private house by her high qualities and
accomplishments. They have no children.
James T. Lewis, Columbus, is a native of Clarendon, New York,
was born on the 30th day of October 1819, and is the son of Shubael and
Eleanor Robertson Lewis. His grandfather, Samuel Lewis, lived in Brim-
field, Massachusetts. His father was a native of New England, and his
mother was of Scotch descent. James T., the third son, after receiving a
common school education, completed a course of English and classical
study in Clarkson Academy and Clinton Seminary in New York, and in
1842 began the study of law with Governor Selden, of Clarkson. He
afterward came to Wisconsin, and in 1845 was admitted to the bar of
the United States district court, and subsequently to the supreme court
of the state.
Declining the gift of an eligible law office offered him by influential
friends if he would settle in Clinton, New York, he decided more
wisely, came west and established 'himself in Columbus, his present
home. After settling at Columbus, he devoted his time to the active practice
of the law from .1845 to 1855, and was for a time the only lawyer in
Columbia county. He met at the bar some of the ablest practitioners
of that day, notably among whom was Judge A. L. 'Collins, and before
Mr. Lewis ceased practice, Mr. Collins had become judge of the circuit
court. In his cases Mr. Lewis was remarkably successful, and, liking
the profession, was reluctantly drawn into politics, and eventually away
from his thrifty law business. Yet he can but be consoled with the
result of a successful official career, honorable to himself and advan
tageous to the state.
At the age of twenty-six he was married to Miss Orlina M. Sturges,
daughter of a prominent and successful merchant of Clarendon, New
York, and by her has four children. Entering into politics in this state, Mr.
Lewis rapidly rose to the successive position of district attorney, county
judge, member of the constitutional convention which formed the or
ganic law of the state, member of the general assembly, state senator,
member of the court of impeachment in the case of Judge Levi Hubbell,
lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and governor. As secretary of
state it was truly said of him, that " he has been prompt, methodical
and systematic in all the departments of his office; a true man in every

s-mt

m

GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN 16 64- -6 5

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 125
sense of the word, kind and gentlemanly in his deportment and possess
ing great executive ability." When elected to this office he received
every vote cast in the city of his residence, and when elected governor
in 1863, received a majority of twenty-five thousand, by far the largest
majority ever accorded any candidate up to that time for that office.
The nation at this time being engaged in civil war, Governor Lewis
felt that for the time political divisions should cease; that all loyal men,
forgetting party strifes, should rally around our country's flag and save
it from dishonor; that rebellion should be crushed by hearty cooperation
and earnest sacrifice, and that peace should be restored. Sincerely
impressed with this belief, he severed party ties and proclaimed, " he
who is not a faithful friend to the government of his country in this try
ing hour, is no friend of mine," and spared neither time, talent nor
money in sending troops to save the national capitol. Especially was
his attention engaged in caring for the needs of the sick. He re
peatedly visited camps and hospitals, making long and careful tours,
and finally secured a special order from the surgeon-general of the
United States, for the transfer of all the sick and wounded soldiers
from Wisconsin to hospitals within their own state, a privilege never
before granted.
Under his administration hospitals were established, a soldiers'
orphans' home was founded, and families of soldiers provided for. It is
but justice to add that the administration of Gov. Lewis occurring dur
ing the height of the war added greatly to the difficulties and responsi
bilities of the office. It is a matter of history that he left it with a clean
record and the credit of having administered its requirements ably,
faithfully and concisely.
In 1865, against the wishes of his state, he declined a renomination,
preferring the retirement of private/ life to public honors and emolu
ments. Finding him firm in his determination, the union nominating
convention expressed in resolutions their regret at his decision, their
cordial approbation of his administration, and their gratitude for his
zeal, fidelity and generous work in behalf of others.
In 1864 Lawrence University conferred on him the degree of
LL.D., an honor which was justly bestowed and has been worthily
worn. That Gov. Lewis takes a lively interest in the promotion of educa
tion is, in a measure, demonstrated in bestowing a prize upon the state

126 » THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
university student furnishing the best commencement piece. It consists
of an invested fund the income from which is thus annually applied and
now yields twenty dollars. The first distribution was in 1875.
At the close of his term as governor, he visited Washington, at which
time President Lincoln, learning that the governor was going to Europe,
asked him if he would select and take a foreign mission, which he
declined, preferring to travel at his leisure. After his return from
Europe, Pres. Grant tendered him the office of commissioner of in
ternal revenue, which the governor likewise declined, preferring to
devote his attention to his growing family and his private business.
Although continuing to take an interest in political affairs he secluded
himself from active participation in party movements until 1875, when
he became a delegate to the republican state convention of that year,
and was made its presiding officer. He was also a delegate to the
republican national convention of 1876 that nominated Rutherford B.
Hayes for President.
In the warm contest at the session of the legislature of 1875, for the
United States senatorship, the name of Gov. Lewis, without his knowl
edge, was presented by the republican " bolters " as one of the three from
whom one was to be selected by the democrats, and voted for by the
combination opposed to the reelection of senator Carpenter, resulting
in the selection and election of Angus Cameron.
Ex-Gov. Lewis now lives in quiet and elegant retirement in the
pleasant city of Columbus, with an ample competence, and enjoying
the esteem of all who know him.
Lucius Fairchild, Madison, is the son of Jairus C. Fairchild, and
was born in the town of Kent, Portage county, Ohio, December 27,
1830. He received a common school education, and subsequently was
admitted to the bar, but his early entrance and long continuance in
public life have prevented his practicing it. He came to Wisconsin in
1846 with his parents, who settled at Madison. He was clerk of county
court for Dane county in 1859 and i860. In the spring of 1861, after
the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr. Fairchild promptly enlisted at Madi
son, in the Governor's Guard, which was the first company in Wisconsin
to tender its services to the government under the President's call for
three-months men, and he was elected captain.
In August, 1861, President Lincoln appointed F"airchild captain in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 127
the Sixteenth regulars; and, about the same time, he received from
Governor Randall a commission as major in the Second Wisconsin
regiment. Shortly after he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the
same regiment, having declined the colonelcy of another. Soon after
ward he was made colonel of the Second regiment, and commanded it
in the battle of South Mountain on the 14th of September 1862.
At Gettysburg, as the iron brigade, early on the first day of the
battle, engaged in the desperate conflict on Seminary Ridge, the Second
Wisconsin regiment in advance lost, in less than half an hour, one
hundred and sixteen men of the three hundred engaged. There Colonel
Fairchild fell with his left arm shattered, and amputation near the shoul
der became necessary. By the tenderest care and nursing he recovered
sufficiently to return home.
While recruiting his health in Madison, the Union convention of
Wisconsin in 1863 nominated him, with great unanimity, as a candidate
for secretary of state. He accepted the nomination and was elected.
In 1865 Mr. Fairchild was elected governor of the state, and was re
elected in 1867 and 1869, and is the only person who has held that office
for three terms. He was appointed consul of the United States to
Liverpool in 1872; consul general at Paris in 1879, and minister to
Spain in 1880, which position he resigned in 1881 in order to fulfill a
wish long cherished to return home. Governor Fairchild is a very
popular man both personally and politically, and has filled the many
high positions to which he has been called with distinguished ability.
Cadwallader C. Washburn, Madison, was born in the town of
Livermore, Maine, April 22, 1818. With an academic education, he en
tered upon the study of law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1842 he
came to Wisconsin, and settled at Mineral Point in the practice of his
profession. In 1854 he was elected to congress as a republican from the
second district, and reelected in 1856 and 1858. He entered the Union
service as colonel of the Second Wisconsin regiment in 1861, and went
to the front. In June, 1862, he was appointed brigadier general, and, in
November of the same year, major general. He resigned June 6, 1865,
made his residence at La Crosse, and in the following year was elected
to congress from the La Crosse district, receiving a reelection in 1868, and
was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1871, and served for the years 1872

128 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and 1873. He is president of the board of regents of the University of
Wisconsin, and also president of the State Historical Society.
With great business capacity he has become very wealthy. During
his term as governor he removed his residence to Madison, making pur
chase of a fine estate and mansion near the city. This he has since
donated for educational purposes. He has also built and equipped for
the use of the State University, one of the largest and finest observato
ries in the country, which is known as the Washburn observatory. No
man in the state is more highly esteemed than is General Washburn,
and is the soul of probity and honor. He died in May, 1882, since the
above sketch was written. LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS.
Samuel W. Beall, Montana, was born in Montgomery, Prince
George county, Maryland, in 1807 ; was educated at Union College,
New York; read law at Litchfield, Connecticut ; was admitted to the
bar at Green Bay in 1829; was appointed receiver of public moneys at
Green Bay in 1834; removed to Tychorca in 1841, and to Taycheedah
in 1847 ; was Indian agent with the Stockbridge and other tribes; was
a member of both constitutional conventions ; was elected lieutenant-
governor in 1850; went to Denver to reside in 1859; returned to Wis
consin in 1861 ; was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Eighteenth
Wisconsin regiment in 1861; was badly wounded at Shiloh; after the
close of the war he went to Helena, Montana Territory, where he was
shot in an altercation and lost his life.
Arthur Mac Arthur, Washington, D. C, was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, January 26, 1815, and came to this country when a child with
his parents. His father and mother were both MacArthurs, and came
from the vicinity of Loch Katrine in the western highlands — so cele
brated in Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake.
He was educated at Uxbridge and Amherst Academies, Massachu
setts, and the Wesleyan University, Connecticut. He studied law in the
city of New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1841, when Samuel
Nelson was chief justice of the supreme court, and Reuben H. Wal
worth the chancellor. He commenced practice in Springfield, Massa
chusetts, and in 1843 was appointed public administrator of the county
of Hampden, and judge advocate for the western division of the militia.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 129
Having a turn for public speaking he was frequently called upon to
address public meetings and to deliver lectures before literary societies.
In 1845 he returned to the city of New York to practice his profession,
where he remained until 1849, when he removed to Milwaukee, Wiscon
sin. Here he was successful in the way of business, and in 1851 was
elected city attorney of that city, in which office he served one term.
In 1855, at the general election, he was elected lieutenant governor
of the state, and served a part of his term as governor, during a vacancy
created by the resignation-of Governor Barstow.
In 1857 he was elected judge of the second judicial circuit, com
posed of the counties of Milwaukee and Waukesha. Judge Hubbell's
resignation had created a vacancy, and the election was to fill it, as
also for the term succeeding it. He was reelected in 1863, to the same
position the second time. He was appointed a commissioner on the part
of the United States, to the universal exhibition held at Paris in 1867.
He resigned the office of circuit judge in the fall of 1869, after a
judicial service of thirteen years. The business of the circuit court in
Milwaukee, for several years after his accession to the bench, was nota
ble for its magnitude and variety, and for the application of legal princi
ples in the more important cases. This was owing in great part to the
condition of property and the effect upon individuals by the pressure of
the times. On his retirement, the bar of Milwaukee manifested their
kindly sympathy and feeling, by presenting him, at a meeting called for
that purpose, with a complete set of United States Annual Digest, Mr.
Lynde making the address of presentation.
In 1876 he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of
the District of Columbia, which position he still occupies. He has pub
lished three volumes of reports, containing the decisions of the court,
and is also the author of a work now nearly ready for publication, on
the subject of industrial education.
In addition to these labors he is much engaged in the benevolent and
social enterprises of the capital. He is president of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Children, and occupies the same
position in his district of the associated charities. He is also most ear
nestly engaged in building up the national university at Washington.
He is president of the board of regents, and the design is to foster at the
capital of the nation a great educational institution, which will organize
the highest culture of the country in the cause of American scholarship.

130 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
He married young, and is now living with his third wife, the widow
of B. F. Hopkins, formerly of Madison. He has two sons living, and is ^
perhaps younger in his feelings than either of them. His health is un
impaired, and he is about as young an old man as any one of his years.
Judge MacArthur is exceedingly well preserved for a gentleman
of sixty-seven years, and is beyond question the handsomest and young
est looking man of his age in Washington. With social qualities of the
highest order, he is full of wit, anecdote, poetry, reminiscence, cheer
fulness, good cheer; is a good diner out, and a brilliant table companion.
Literary pursuits are congenial to his tastes, and he writes for newspa
pers and magazines copiously. He burns the midnight oil.
Among his contributions to the press are four volumes of district
court reports, which is solely a labor of love. He is president of the
board of regents of the National University, devotes much time to the
promotion of the interests of benevolent institutions, and is foremost in
all affairs that are designed to benefit the community in which he lives,
moves, and has his being.
Wyman Spooner, Elkhorn, was born at Hardwick, Worcester county,
Massachusetts, July 2, 1795. His father was a farmer, and he lived at
home, attending school winters, until he was fourteen years of age. He
then went to Vermont and became an apprentice in a printing office.
When about twenty-one he commenced the publication of a weekly
newspaper, which he continued about twelve years. He then began
the study of law, and was admitted to its practice in 1833. From his
long continuance in, and his associations with, Vermont, he claims, with
out repudiating the paternity of his native state, to be a Green Mountain
boy. In 1842 he removed to Wisconsin, and in 1843 he settled in Elk-
horn, Walworth county, where he ever after resided. In 1846 he was
elected judge of probate, which office he held until the probate was
merged into the county court.
In 1853 he was appointed circuit judge, which position he held
until the election of Judge Doolittle. He was elected to the assembly
in 1850, 1851, 1857 and 1861. fn 1857 he was elected speaker of the
assembly. He was elected state senator for the term comprising 1862-3.
In the last session he was chosen president of the senate, and became
lieutenant-governor, when Mr. Solomon succeeded to the executive
chair. In 1863, 1865 and 1867 he was elected lieutenant-governor,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 131
and by virtue of his office presided over the senate six consecutive
years. He was a member of the first board of trustees for the deaf and
dumb, at Delaware. Judge Spooner was a man of constant diligence
and energy. He died at Elkhorn at an advanced age.
James M. Bingham, Chippewa Falls, was a native of Wyoming
county, New York, and was born at Perry, February 3, 1828. His
father being a farmer, James spent the greater portion of his early life
in the capacity of a farm laborer, with such intermission as his attendance
at the common in connection with an academy school necessitated.
When he had reached his twentieth year he engaged in the occupation
of teaching, pursuing at the same time studies in Latin, Greek, French
and mathematics, corresponding with the course adopted in college.
In this employment he continued some twelve years at the East, when
in 1853 he came to the West and resumed the same occupation near
Detroit. Choosing law for a profession, he commenced its study in the office
of F. P. Bissel, at Leroy, New York, and continued the same for two
years, and after his removal to Wisconsin continued the study two years
longer at Palrnyra.
Having thus prepared himself for entering the ranks of the profes
sion, he was admitted to the bar in 1856, and commenced practice at
Palmyra, where he remained until he removed- to Chippewa Falls in
1870. At the latter place he entered into partnership with J. J. Jenkins,
and the firm of Bingham & Jenkins continued until 1876, when Judge
Jenkins having accepted the appointment of United States attorney for
the territory of Wyoming, H. H. Pierce beqame his partner and the
firm is now Bingham & Pierce. The legal business of this well known
firm consists chiefly in first class cases.
In the year 1864 Mr. Bingham obeyed the call of his country and
enlisted as major of the Fortieth Infantry and went to the war.
He has also done good service to the state as a member of the gen
eral assembly of Wisconsin. He represented his district during five
sessions of the legislature, during the years 1863, 1864, 1870, 1871 and
1874. He has served as a member of the judiciary committee during
each of these years, and- was once its chairman. For the session of
1870 he was speaker of the house, which position he occupied with
much credit.

132 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
In politics he is closely identified with the republican party. He is
a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is now high priest of the
chapter at Chippewa Falls, and has served in that capacity several years.
At the state election of 1877 Major Bingham was chosen lieutenant-
governor, after having been nominated against his expressed wishes, and
was reelected to the same office in 1879, and presides over the delib
erations of the senate with dignity, impartiality and ability.
UNITED STATES SENATORS.
Isaac P. Walker. Milwaukee, was a native of Virginia, and was
born in the year 1813. The early part of his life was passed in Illinois.
In 1841 he emigrated to Wisconsin, and began the active practice of his
profession of the law. It was not long before he was called to fill posi
tions of marked political distinction. He was a member of the territorial
legislature in 1847 and 1848. In the latter year, when the state was ad
mitted into the Union, he — in company with General Henry Dodge —
was sent to the United States senate, for the short term, which expired
the next year; but he was reelected, and served till the year 1855, when
he was succeeded by Charles Durkee.
He died quite suddenly, of a stroke of apoplexy, on the evening of
March 29, 1872, in the city of Milwaukee. He bore the reputation of
having been a brilliant and impressive public speaker, and a man of
superior presence, and most attractive personal endowments.
Charles Durkee, Kenosha, was born at Royalton, Vermont, De
cember 10, 1805. A few months of schooling in the winter season, and
a term or two at an academy, was all the education he ever received.
Farming first attracted his attention ; and, after a few years, with the
little gains he had made, he embarked' in mercantile pursuits.
In May, 1836, Mr. Durkee left New England, and made the long and
tedious journey to Wisconsin, and located at'Kenosha.
He took an active interest in promoting the growth of the then rising
village, erecting a number of fine buildings himself, and being an exten
sive land owner, contributing largely by exchanging lands at cheap rates
for labor and material in the erection of stores and dwellings.
fn the meantime he had served the people of Wisconsin territory,
then including Iowa, as member of the legislature on several occasions.
After the organization of Wisconsin as a state, in 1849, Mr. Durkee

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 133
was elected a member of congress from the first congressional district,
and again reelected in 185 1 for a second term. In 1850 he was chosen
by the friends of the measure, a delegate to the world's peace conven
tion, held at Paris, and on his way home attended the great national fair,
held at London, the first ever inaugurated in the interest of mankind.
In February, 1855, Mr. Durkee was elected for a full term of six
years to the United States senate. After the expiration of this term, he
retired for three or four years to the beautiful residence he had erected
on the lake shore, in the southern portion of the village of Kenosha.
At this period he began to feel the strain occasioned by severe brain
work in the various public offices he had held. His physicians recom
mended a change of climate. About this time J. D. Doty, governor of
Utah, having died, President Johnson, without any solicitation on the
part of Mr. Durkee, appointed him as Governor Doty's successor.
This office he held up to the time of his death, which occurred January
14, 1870.
Mr. Durkee was a man hardly of medium height, rather thick-set, of
broad depth of brain, black hair, dark-grey eyes, and a countenance
beaming with thoughts of benevolence and kindness.
James R. Doolittle, Racine, was born in Hampton, New York,
January 3, 1815, was a graduate of Geneva College, New York, afterward
studied law, was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of New
York in 1837, entered upon its practice in that state, and was several
years district attorney of the county of Wyoming. In 1851 he came to
Wisconsin and settled at Racine in the practice of his . profession, was
elected judge of the first judicial circuit in 1853, which office he resigned
in 1856. In 1857 he was elected United States senator for a full term,
in which body he served on the committee on foreign affairs, commerce,
military affairs, and was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs.
He was a member of the peace congress of 1861, was reelected to the
senate in 1863, his term ending in 1869. During the summer recess of
1865, as a member of a special committee of the senate he visited the
Indian tribes west of the Mississippi. He was a delegate to the
national union convention held at Philadelphia in 1866, was its presi
dent, and took an active part in its proceedings. At the close of his
career in the senate of the United States, Judge Doolittle resumed the
practice of the law in Chicago, where he continues it to the present

134 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
time, while continuing his residence at Racine. During the war Judge
Doolittle did much in sustaining the government by acts and addresses ;
since the close of that contest has been a prominent and active member
of the democratic party, and in 187 1 was its candidate for governor, but
his party was too largely in the minority to effect his election.
Timothy O. Howe, Green Bay, was born in Oxford county, Maine,
February 24, 1816. At the age of twelve he took large interest in poli
tics, being fully persuaded that the salvation of the nation depended on
the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency. He used to
debate the point sharply with his neighbors, whose political knowledge
was as profound as his own.
At sixteen he had fully determined on a professional course, and
spent two seasons at grammar school. At eighteen he went to the
Maine Wesleyan Seminary, and at twenty was prepared to enter college.
His father at this time decided against a college course, and the young
man at once commenced his law studies in the office of Samuel P. Ben
son, of Winthrop, and subsequently with Judge Robinson, of Ellsworth.
At twenty-three he moved to Readfield and commenced law practice
side by side with Lot. M. Morrill, afterward his compeer in the United
States senate.
In 1841, at the ripe age of twenty-five, he was married to Miss L.
A. Haynes, a true down-east girl then, and a most estimable and agree
able woman through all her subsequent career in life.
In 1842 Mr. Howe expressed a willingness to take the office of clerk
of the court in his county, with the three thousand dollar emoluments
attached, ft happened that one Mr. Kingsbury, an older resident, was
of the same mind also, and obtained the nomination against him in the
convention, but not the coveted office at election. The year following
Mr. Howe received the nomination squarely against his former rival,
and on election day carried the towns on the west side of the county by
the largest whig majority ever cast, but the Kingsbury defection in the
eastern towns lost him the election. So as his subsequent career turned
out this defeat was the very best providence that could have happened
to him. The next fall his friends of the west towns showed him their
regard by electing him to the state legislature, where he took a promi
nent part as a debater beside of the late William Pitt Fessenden, the
recognized leader of the house.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 135
At this period his health failed him and his father and friends ad
vised him to try Mr. Greeley's panacea for young men and go west.
Accordingly he set sail in the fall of 1845 and landed at the harbor of
Green Bay on the 6th of October. He stopped here because he had
seen one man from the Bay the previous summer, and he did not know
anybody else in the western country. He came with no fixed notion of
staying, but the charming weather of that fall worked favorably to his
health, attached him to the place and he remained there.
Green Bay at that time, though the oldest town in the state, gave
little hope or signs of promise ; there was no industry exhibited, no
enterprise, no business, except the small fur trade with the Indians.
The people were bankrupt and the country desolate. Notwithstanding
these discouraging signs Mr. Howe opened a law office, his whole pos
sessions consisting of a few law books, a little furniture, and the unpur-
chasable stores of his brain, and these last have since stood him well in
hand. Mr. Howe was soon favorably heard of in all parts of the terri
tory, and upon its admission as a state in the Union in 1848 he received,
much to his surprise, the whig nomination for congress. There was no
show for any whig candidate in those days. In 1850 he was elected
circuit judge, his district taking in Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and all the
country north. At that time circuit judges served also as judges of the
supreme court. In 1855 he resigned his judgeship for the simple reason
that he couldn't afford to give his time and labors to the state and bear
all his expenses out of a fifteen hundred dollar salary.
While on the bench he took no active part in politics further than
to write a letter expressing his approbation of the organization of the
republican party at Madison in 1854. After his resignation he entered
into the fall campaign of 1855, strongly supporting Mr. Bashford, the
republican candidate for governor, against Mr. Barstow. In the winter
following, Mr. Howe took part in that most extraordinary trial which
resulted in ousting William A. Barstow from the office of governor, and
putting Coles Bashford in his place. Judge Howe was associated in
this case with E. G. Ryan, J. H. Knowlton and Alexander W. Randall,
on the side of Mr. Bashford. Johnathan E. Arnold, Harlow S. Orton
and Matt. H. Carpenter were enlisted for Mr. Barstow. These were
all eminent practitioners of that day. Judge Howe made the closing
argument for the Bashford side of the case. During the early part of
the trial, Mr. Ryan switched off from the case, and his place was

136 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
assigned to Mr. Howe. Mr. Ryan was in political sympathy with Mr.
Barstow, but he knew that the canvass of the gubernatorial votes
was a fraud.
The canvass for the office of United States senator, in place of Henry
Dodge, opened with the meeting of the legislature in 1857. Mr. Howe
appeared to be the leading candidate at first, but James R. Doolittle
was finally chosen after a protracted contest. The next senatorial elec
tion was held in the winter of 1861. Mr. Howe had not much confidence
in his nomination, but he was nominated and elected by the republicans
of the legislature.
The election of Mr. Howe to the United States senate at this time,
was a just tribute to noble fidelity and stout-hearted independence,
while the secession movements then going on at the South furnished
practical information of the iniquity and folly of the ultra state-rights
doctrines he had opposed. Never was fidelity more justly honored in
our state, never was political wisdom more truly vindicated.
Mr. Howe's course in the senate needs no setting forth in this sketch.
He went to the capitol at the most critical history of our government,
when secession clouds filled the whole heavens. Amid the distraction
of opinion, Mr. Howe made his first speech. He told the Southern
gentlemen that whether the President's- message meant peace or war;
depended upon themselves, upon the course they should pursue. These
were just the words needed to be said, and had marked effect. All
through, during the progress of the war, Judge Howe was strongly on
the side of the administration and its measures for the vigorous prosecu
tion of the war. He favored legal-tender issues, and made a speech on
the subject. And so, on all the great questions of states-rights, finance
and reconstruction after the war, has the political wisdom of the great
senator been made manifest.
Judge Howe was on the committee on finance, his first term in the
senate, and was eight years chairman of the committee on claims. In
the winter of 1867 Judge Howe was reelected to the United States
senate, and again in 1873, both times without opposition. In 1875
Senator Howe was appointed, by President Grant, one of the commis
sioners to treat with the Indians, relative to the purchase of the Black
Hills territory.
During the last term of President Grant, a vacancy happening in the
bench of the United States supreme court, Senator Howe was tendered

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 137
the appointment. The office was the height of his ambition, but a
higher sense of honor forbade the acceptance ; the opposition was in
power in his state, and if he should make a vacancy in the senatorship,
it would be filled by a democrat. This act of self-denial and loyalty to
the party who had confided in him, was, in the highest sense, com
mendable. Upon the accession of Hayes to the presidency, Senator Howe was
one of those in congress who disapproved of the new President's south
ern policy, and .was outspoken against it, continuing, notwithstanding,
on good terms with the administration. At the close of his last term in
the senate Judge Howe was a candidate for renomination, and failed of
receiving it solely on account of advanced age, and that public senti
ment was against long continuance in office, while younger men desired
to share the honors of the high position.
Senator Howe's senatorial career having terminated simultaneously
with the inauguration of President Garfield, his name was mentioned in
connection with a cabinet appointment, but his claims were not pressed,
and he subsequently was appointed, by the President, commissioner
to the international money conference, held in Paris in the summer of
1881. He accordingly crossed the ocean in company with the other
members of the commission. At the sessions of this body Judge Howe
took a prominent part. Before the final closing of the conference he
was called home to his sick wife, who soon after died at Washington,
in July 1881.
Judge Howe was always a conspicuous member of the senate, and of
the republican party. In congress he was a statesman more than a par-
tizan. No man has come out of congressional life with a clearer record ;
no senator ever had a more universal approval by his constituents of his
course in the body of which he was for so long a. period of years a
member. Judge Howe was appointed by President Arthur postmaster-
general, and entered upon the duties January 5, 1882.
Judge Howe is a good public speaker, of a logical turn of mind, and
on suitable occasions is capable of gratifying an audience with a rich
vein of humor inimitably expressed. Although having seen many
years of public service of high responsibilities, he is now, when nearly
at the allotted age of man, as vigorous as in more youthful years.
Tall and commanding in personal appearance, modest and retiring
almost to a fault, true to his friends, just to all, no citizen of this state is

138 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the recipient of more genuine respect and hearty esteem than Timothy
O. Howe. We have here given but a bare skeleton of our quaint sena
tor, devoid of the flesh and blood that make up the private and social
life of the man. But nothing more needs to be said. His conduct in
office and his standing before the country, more than any words that
can be framed, attest his public and private worth.
Mathew H. Carpenter, Milwaukee. On the 22d of December,
1824, at Moretown, Washington county, Vermont, a son. was born to the
wife of an eminent lawyer and citizen of prominence, and the parents,
as if the spirit of prophesy were upon them, named the child after the
great English jurist, Mathew Hale Carpenter. When the boy had
reached the age of eleven years his mother died, and Paul Dillingham,
afterward governor of the state, having charged himself with his educa
tion, Mathew became a member of his family at Waterbury.
In 1843 John Mattocks, being then the representative to congress
from that district, procured for young Carpenter an appointment as
cadet in the military academy at West Point. It opens a curious field
for speculation to reflect what might have been his career if he had per
severed in the profession thus chosen for him. He was a classmate in
the academy of General Fitzjohn Porter and others who attained promi
nence in the war of the rebellion, and it is not inconceivable that he
might have proved to have the making of a great captain in him ; but it
is not altogether easy to think of him as leading a fierce onset at Chick-
amauga or storming an angle of the entrenchments in the wilderness.
At all events the possibility of that spectacle was denied us by a weak
ness of the eyes, which made it necessary for him to resign his cadetship
at the expiration of his second year.
Returning to Waterbury in the summer of 1845, he entered upon
the study of the law in the office of Mr. Dillingham, and two years later
was admitted to the bar at Montpelier. Soon after he removed to
Boston and finished his studies in the office of Rufus Choate. It is
known that he enjoyed in a peculiar degree the intimacy of Mr. Choate.
and the formative influence of that incomparable lawyer upon his
admiring disciple is by no means difficult to discern.
In the spring of 1848 Mr. Carpenter was admitted to practice by the
supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, and the same year removed to
Beloit, Wisconsin, where he opened an office. He was almost wholly

HON MATTHEW H CARPENTER

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 139
destitute of means, and the beginning of his professional career was fur
ther embarrassed by a recurrence of the disease of his eyes, which
became so serious as to make it necessary for him to go to New York
for treatment. For over a year he was almost wholly blind.
In 1852 Mr. Carpenter was the candidate for district attorney of
Rock county. The election was contested, and the case was taken to
the supreme court, where it was decided in his favor. The case is a
leading one in the reports, and Mr. Carpenter himself had occasion to
cite it when he was arguing the cause of the state Bashford against
Barstow. The appearance of Mr. Carpenter in this important cause,
involving no less a question than the possession of the governorship of
the state, is an evidence of the standing that he had attained when he
had barely closed the third decade of his life. He was associated with
eminent counsel, but it seems to have been left to him to project, and
mainly deferred the principle upon which Governor Barstow resisted
the writ of quo warranto filed in behalf of the contestant Bashford.
His position was that the three branches of the state government are
coordinate, and that it is not competent for the supreme court to pass
upon the lawfulness of the incumbency of the executive office. The
decision of the court was adverse, but Mr. Carpenter's argument will
none the less impress the professional reader as ingenious and powerful.
Mr. Carpenter removed to Milwaukee in 1856. He was for a num
ber of years engaged in the intricate and embarrassing litigation arising
out of the construction and consolidation of certain railroads in Wis
consin, and maintained the rights of his clients with great ability and per
sistency. His practice was now large, and as lucrative as his rather easy
financial habits could make it ; and his fame was rapidly extending.
When a case arose that involved the determination, by the supreme court
of the United States, of the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts,
Secretary Stanton retained him as one of the counsel for the govern
ment. His argument won for him general recognition as one of the
foremost constitutional lawyers of his time, and it is scarcely extravagant
to say that the civil governments existing to-day in eleven states of the
Union rest upon the principle enunciated and supported by him on that
occasion. In 1876, for the first time, happily, in the history of the republic, a
cabinet minister, in the person of W. W. Belknap, secretary of war, was
impeached before the senate of the United States for high crimes and

140 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
misdemeanors in office. The respondent retained for his defense
Jeremiah S. Black, ex-attorney general ; Montgomery M. Blair, ex-post
master general, and Mr. Carpenter. There could have been no higher
compliment to Mr. Carpenter than the fact that his associates who had
stood for years in the very front rank of the American bar, resigned to
him the entire management of the case, which he conducted to a suc
cessful issue.
The trial of the title to the presidency of the United States before
the electoral commission, erected for the purpose by special act of con
gress, was another occasion that enlisted the best professional talent in
the Union. Mr. Carpenter was retained by Mr. Tilden to submit an
argument in favor of counting the votes of the democratic candidates
for electors in Louisiana, and he performed the duty with the ability
that he has never failed to bring to bear upon questions of this impor
tant and delicate character.
We have thus sketched imperfectly some of the most conspicuous
appearances of Mr. Carpenter in the character of a lawyer strictly.
They by no means fairly represent the character or extent of his pro
fessional labors. From 1870 to his decease, though maintaining a
residence at Milwaukee, he kept an office at Washington, and practiced
mainly before the supreme court of the United States ; and his services
were retained in very many of the most important cases that have been
heard before that tribunal.
Mr. Carpenter had been a democrat from the time that he attained
his majority, and, in the election of i860, supported Douglas for the
presidency. Upon the attempt of the South to destroy the Union,
without formally dissociating himself from that party, he gave his
support to the war policy of the administration, and delivered a series
of addresses in that behalf that were characterized by great eloquence
and patriotic fervor. Subsequently he publicly affiliated with the repub
lican party, and in 1869 was chosen to succeed James R. Doolittle in
the senate of the United States.
It is not proposed to dwell upon his political career. It should be
mentioned, however, that he was the author of the acts reconstructing
in some respects the federal courts, and enlarging their jurisdiction to
the limits prescribed by the Constitution. He was twice chosen presi
dent pro tempore of the senate, and presided over that body during
several sessions, in discharging which duty he exhibited thorough learn
ing and aptitude as a parliamentary lawyer.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 141
At the expiration of his term, Mr. Carpenter was nominated by the
caucus of republican members of the legislature for reelection, but was
defeated by a combination of certain republican members with the
democrats, In 1879 he was chosen to succeed Timothy O. Howe in
the United States senate, and took his seat again in that body after an
interval of four years, ft may be worthy of remark, in this connection,
that his celebrated " Janesville speech " was the great cause of his defeat
in 1875 ; yet he considered that the best speech he ever made, and care
fully preserved a printed copy of it.
His return to Washington after his reelection to the senate was
signalized by a popular demonstration that illustrated forcibly the
enthusiastic feeling, for which admiration is a cold term, in which he
was held, among those who had come to know him even by casual
contact. His most conspicuous effort during his second senatorial term was,
perhaps, his argument in the case of General Fitzjohn Porter. Senator
Logan, in a long and laborious speech, had reviewed the facts. Mr.
Carpenter confined himself to the questions of law. With the impreg
nable logic and irresistible aptness of illustration that characterized
him in dealing with legal issues, he combated the pending bill. The ¦
result was notable. The friends of the bill had a clear majority when
the debate opened. After Senator Carpenter's argument they put for
ward their two ablest champions to reply. Both failed, and they did
not deem it expedient to press the measure to a vote. The instances
are rare in the history of legislation where a measure having the undi
vided support in its inception of the members of the majority party
reinforced by some members of the minority has been thus baulked
by a single speech.
In June, 1880, Senator Carpenter attended the republican national
convention at Chicago, though not as a delegate, and addressed an
open-air mass meeting that was called to promote the nomination of
General Grant. But his health was greatly impaired, and he was not
able to remain in Chicago to the close of the convention. In the cam
paign that followed his condition made it impossible for him to partici
pate. When congress assembled in December, he was in his seat ; but
his attendance was irregular, and it was evident that the inexorable
disease from which he was suffering was advancing rapidly to its dread
consummation. The final scene was sketched with great power and

142 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
pathos by Honorable Arthur MacArthur, in an address before the
Wisconsin association at Washington.
His death occurred on the 24th day of February, 1881. The grief
that it inspired knew no boundaries in geography or partisanship, and
the rush of events incident to the approaching incoming of a new
national administration could not benumb the deep sense of bereave
ment that reached the remotest confines of the republic. At the next
meeting of the judiciary committee of the senate of the United States,
the following resolution was adopted :
" During a period of nearly eight years' service on this committee,
Senator Carpenter's great intellectual ability, profound legal learning,
and remarkable industry, commanded the admiration of all who served
with him, while his uniformly courteous, kind and agreeable manners won
and retained their affection."
The bar of the supreme court of the United States assembled on the
8th of March. Allan G. Thurman was chosen to preside, and in taking
the chair, delivered an address of high, if discriminating, eulogy, in the
course of which he used this language, which could be justified on few
occasions of like character : " I am well aware of the proneness to ex
travagance that has too often characterized eulogies of the dead, whether
delivered from the pulpit, in the forum, or in the senate-house. But I
feel a strong conviction that, however exalted may be the praise spoken
here to-day, it will not transcend the merits of its object, or offend the
taste of the most scrupulous and truth-loving critic.
Mr. Carpenter's whole career was honorable and brilliant. He was
the architect of his own fortune and fame. He possessed the advan
tages of inherited poverty, and was thus in his youth thrown upon his
own resources. He learned early the useful lesson of self-reliance, and
the necessity of industrious self-exertion, receiving only such aid as his
genial manners and bright and active mind gained from those generous
friends who perceived in his youth the germs which promised future
distinction, and who were willing to extend a helping hand to struggling
genius. He was a close student, and loved books.
Mr. Carpenter possessed a fine person, was social, pleasant and win
ning in his manners. As a speaker he was fluent, logical and eloquent,
and possessed in a high degree the charm of manner and magnetic
power over his hearers, which are essential elements of popular oratory.
He delighted and captivated popular audiences ; but his oratory was not

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 143
of the flowery and superficial kind. He was a man of learning and of
thought. He not only pleased by his style and manner, but his reason
ing convinced his hearers. His independence of thought and character
sometimes led him to advocate that side of questions which was unpop
ular with the people or with his party ; and he was fearless in support
ing any cause which he undertook to advocate. He defended credit
mobilier and back pay. He acted as one of the leading counsel for
general Belknap on his impeachment and trial before the United States
senate; and he appeared as one of the leading counsel for Mr. Tilden
in the great contest for the presidential office before the electoral com
mission. His nature was genial, kindly and generous; he had no malice
in his composition ; and he did not excel in that lowest order of intel
lectual ability which impels its possessor to the use of invective and
vituperation. The taste for such displays of his intellectual power was
wholly foreign to his nature, and perhaps fortunately beyond his ability.
But in his whole public career, in the courts, in the senate, and in the
popular discussion of political questions, he was animated in a large
degree with a spirit of chivalry, tempered by the elevating culture of
" modern civilization, which throws a halo of honor and fame around the
physical warfare of those knights of the middle ages' who became famous
for their prowess in battle and for their generous forbearance in the
hour of victory."
The remarks of Mr. Jeremiah S. Black are given in full, not only on
account of the standing of the speaker at the bar, but because of his
peculiar intimacy with Mr. Carpenter and his sympathetic and accurate
knowledge of his ability and character :
" The American bar has not often suffered so great a misfortune as
the death of Mr. Carpenter. He was cut off when he was rising as
rapidly as at any previous period. In the noontide of his labors the
night came wherein no man can work. To what height his career
might have reached if he had lived and kept his health another score of
years, can now be only a speculative question. But when we think of
his great wisdom and his wonderful skill in the forensic use of it, to
gether with his other qualities of mind and heart, we cannot doubt that
in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and abundant honor,
if only length of days had been given to his right. As it was, he dis
tanced his contemporaries and became the peer of the greatest among
those who had started long before him.
9

144 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
The intellectual character of no professional man is harder to ana
lyze than his. He was gifted with an eloquence peculiar to himself. It
consisted of free and fearless thought wreaked upon expression power
ful and perfect. It was not' fine rhetoric, for he seldom resorted to
poetic illustration ; nor did he make a parade of clenching his facts.
He often warmed with feeling, but no bursts of passion deformed the
symmetry of his argument. The flow of his speech was steady and
strong as the current of a great river. Every sentence was perfect ;
every word was fitly spoken ; each apple of gold was set in its picture of
silver. This singular faculty of saying everything just as it ought to be
said was not displayed only in the senate and in the courts ; everywhere,
in public and private, on his legs, in his chair, and even lying on his
bed, he always " talked like a book."
I have sometimes wondered how he got this curious felicity of dic
tion. He knew no language but his mother-tongue. The Latin and
Greek which he learned in boyhood faded entirely out of his memory
before he became a full-grown man. At West Point he was taught
French and spoke it fluently ; in a few years afterward he forgot every
word of it. But perhaps it was not lost ; a language, for any kind of
literature, though forgotten, enriches the mind as a crop of clover
ploughed down fertilizes the soil.
His youth and early manhood was full of the severest trials. After
leaving the military academy he studied law in Vermont, and was admit
ted, but conscientiously refused to practice without further preparation.
He went to Boston, where he was most generously taken into the office
of Mr. Choate. He soon won not only the good opinion of that very
great man, but his unqualified admiration and unbounded confidence.
With the beneficence of an elder brother, Choate paid his way through
the years of his toilsome study, and afterward supplied him with the
means of starting in the west. The bright prospect which opened before
him in Wisconsin was suddenly overshadowed by an appalling calamity.
His eyes gave way, and trusting to the treatment of a quack, his sight
was wholly extinguished. For three years he was stone-blind, "the
world by one sense quite shut out." Totally disabled and compassed
round with impenetrable darkness, he lost everything except his courage,
his hope, and the never-failing friendship of his illustrious preceptor.
Supported by these he was taken to an infirmary at New York, where,
after a long time, his vision was restored. Subsequent to these events,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 145
and still under the auspices of Mr. Choate, he returned to Wisconsin
and fairly began his professional life.
It would be interesting to know what effect upon his mental charac
ter was produced by his blindness. I believe it elevated, refined and ¦
strengthened all his faculties. Before that time much reading had made
him a very full man ; when reading became impossible, reflection
digested his knowledge into practical wisdom. He perfectly arranged
his store-house of facts and cases, and pondered intently upon the first
principles of jurisprudence. Thinking with all his might, and always
thinking in English, he forgot his French, and acquired that surprising
vigor and accuracy of English expression which compel us to admit that
if he was not a classical scholar, he was himself a classic of most original
type. He was not merely a brilliant advocate, learned in the law, and
deeply skilled in its dialectics ; in the less showy walks of the profession
he was uncommonly powerful. Whether drudging at the business of his
office as a common-law attorney and equity pleader, or shining as leader
in a great nisi prius cause, he was equally admirable, ever ready and
perfectly suited to the place he was filling. This capacity for work of
all kinds was the remarkable part of his character. With his hands full
of a most multifarious practice he met political duties of great magni
tude. As a senator and party leader he had burdens .and responsibili
ties under which, without more, a strong man might have sunk. , .But
this man's shoulders seemed to feel no weight that was even inconven
ient. If Lord Brougham did half as much labor in quantity and variety,
he deserved all the admiration he won for versatility and patience.
Mr. Carpenter's notions of professional ethics were pure and high
toned. He never acted upon motives of lucre or malice. He would
take what might be called a bad case, because he thought that every
man should have a fair trial ; but he would use no falsehood to gain it ;
he was true to the court as well as to the client. He was the least mer
cenary of all lawyers ; a large proportion of his business was done for
nothing. Outside of his family he seldom spoke of his religious opinions. He
was ^not accustomed to give in his experience- — -never at all to me. He
firmly believed in the morality of the New Testament, and in no other
system. If you ask whether he practiced it perfectly, I ask in return :
Who has ? Certainly not you or I. He was a gentle censor of our faults :

146 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
let us not be rigid with his. One thing is certain, his faith in his own
future was strong enough to meet death as calmly as he would expect
the visit of a friend. Upwards of a year since his physicians told him
that he would certainly die in a few months; and he knew they were
right ; but with that inevitable doom coming visibly nearer every day,
he went about his business with a spirit as cheerful as if he had a long
lease of life before him.
I think for certain reasons that my personal loss is greater than the
rest of you have suffered. But that is a " fee grief due to my particular
breast." It is enough to say for myself, that I did love the man in his
life-time, and do honor his memory, now that he is dead."
Two of the speakers referred in felicitous terms to the occasion in
1876 when Mr. Carpenter presided over the meeting of the bar of the
supreme court on the occasion of the death of Reverdy Johnson, and
applied to the deceased the language which he then used with respect
to a great jurist of Maryland.
The obsequies consequent upon the death of Senator Carpenter at
Washington, and subsequently at Milwaukee, were grand and imposing,
at the latter city almost the entire population were out on the occasion.
Among the distinguished members of the committee of the senate who
escorted the body to Wisconsin was Roscoe Conklin, upon whom it
devolved to formally transmit the sacred trust to the charge of the authori
ties who assumed the charge. On the occasion that distinguished gentle
man made use of the following beautiful sentiment, addressing Governor
William E. Smith : " Deputed by the senate of the United States, we
bring back the ashes of Wisconsin's illustrious son, and tenderly return
them to the great commonwealth he served so faithfully and loved so
well. To Wisconsin this pale and sacred clay belongs, but the memory,
the services, and the fame of Mathew Hale Carpenter are the nation's
treasures, and long will the sister states mourn the bereavement which
bows all hearts to-day." To this Governor Smith appropriately and hap
pily responded. Mr. Carpenter was buried in the beautiful Forest Home
Cemetery in the suburb of Milwaukee, and a monument is to be erected
over the spot by the spontaneous offering of his friends and admirers
throughout the state.
His family consisting of Mrs. Carpenter, daughter Lillian and son
Paul, reside at the family mansion in Milwaukee, and ample means were
left by Mr. Carpenter to insure the comfort of his family for life.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 147
The writer who shall attempt to analyze the life, talents and charac
ter of Matt. H. Carpenter will perhaps find a key in the proposition that
he was above all else a lawyer. This fact formed his mental habits,
shaped his convictions, and in no slight degree molded his moral constitu
tion. It accounts for some of the most notable achievements and some of
the errors that his more elaborate biographer will be called upon to record.
His best speeches in the senate have been delivered when he had to
deal with legal questions and such as called for the essentially lawyer
like method of discussion. When the occasion arose for a broader
grasp, and for a manner of treatment that may-be called statesman-like,
in contradistinction to lawyer-like, he was sometimes disappointing.
Moreover, he seems at times to have expended less effort in keeping his
party right than in showing how ingeniously it could be defended when
it was wrong.
Mr. Carpenter's brilliant success at the bar and his conspicuous
services in the arena of national legislation won for him a more than
continental reputation, and attracted to him in a high degree the atten
tion of his fellow countrymen, so that in his day he was one of the most
conspicuous of Americans. It is the fate of all who occupy so promi
nent a place in the public eye to-be the subject of some popular delu
sions, and Mr. Carpenter did not escape. One of these is deserving of
correction for the benefit of younger members of the profession. This
impression assumes him to have been a gifted man of indolent habits,
and his most eloquent utterances and most profound arguments to have
been the easy products of something which it is common to call genius.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In his case, as it may be
suspected, in most cases, genius is the capacity and willingness to work
sixteen hours out of twenty-four to win his proud position at the bar.
Mr. Carpenter did not fail to comply with the conditions prescribed by
the great Roman lawyer, and dedicated twenty years to nocturnal
studies. He was an indefatigable worker ; and notwithstanding the
thoroughness of his equipment and the readiness with which he com
manded the best weapons in his arsenal, he devoted labored preparation
to every cause in which he enlisted. It is to be wished that this may
have some influence in impressing upon the young lawyers of Wisconsin
that the profession reserves its highest rewards for those who " scorn
delights and spend laborious days."
Among the many notable public efforts made by Mr. Carpenter, he

148 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
considered his celebrated Janesville speech the best he ever made ; yet
it is none the less true that the effect of this very speech, which was
published at the time, was the means of defeating his reelection to the
senate in 1875.
As an evidence of the foresight of Mr. Carpenter it may, in justice
to his memory, be said that he was one of the earliest to prognosticate
the railroad monopoly that is now upon the country, and delivered an
address upon that subject at the state fair at Madison, ten years or
more since, attracting, however, little attention to what the subject
demanded. Politically he had been a democrat. Although seeking and holding
no office, except for one term as district attorney of Rock county, he
gained distinction in advocating the measures of the democratic party.
He took an active part as a political speaker in the presidential cam
paigns of 1856 and i860. In the latter he was a staunch adherent and
ardent admirer of Stephen A. Douglass. He saw with regret the suc
cess of Mr. Lincoln, and his inauguration as president. But when the
southern states assumed the attitude of rebellion against the laws and
just authority of the government of the United States, he sprang with
uncalculating patriotism to the defense of the lawful government of his
country. With the foresight and ability of a statesman, he defended its
right to maintain by force of arms the national existence. He trampled
under his feet all narrow party prejudices, and supported with unre
served zeal all the measures of Mr. Lincoln's administration which were
adopted to defeat the armed enemies of the Union, until the rebellion
was finally suppressed. His patriotic appeals and stirring eloquence
did much to keep alive the fires of patriotism in the hearts of his former
political associates in this state, while his unselfish devotion to his coun
try and its lawful government kept him wholly clear of the rocks of a
halting support and the quicksands of a qualified and half-hearted
upholding of the government, on which the reputations of so many
prominent politicians were stranded, or in which they were sunk.
Angus Cameron, La Crosse, was born in the town of Caledonia,
Livingston county, New York, on the 4th day of July, 1826. His father's
name was Duncan Angus Cameron, and his mother's name before her
marriage was Sarah Mac Call. His father was the son of Angus Cam
eron and Katharine MacPherspn. He was born in Inverness-shire,

-^!>-atiMiy„,,,2F,lv>"s'Mr

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 149
Scotland, in 1784, and came to America with his parents in the year
1800. They settled in Caledonia in 1803. The county was then a
wilderness. His mother was the daughter of Hugh Mac Call and Mary
Campbell, and was born in Argyleshire,, Scotland, in 1788. She came
to America with her father's family in 1809. Angus Cameron's father
attended the parish school of his native parish until he emigrated to
America. He possessed a quick and strong natural intellect, and
acquired education rapidly. He was well educated in the branches
then taught. He was an industrious reader all his life, and was thor
oughly versed in history and religious subjects. He frequently held
local offices. His judgment was excellent as far as his knowledge or
information extended. He was often consulted by his neighbors on
business matters, and his advice was highly regarded by his acquaint
ances. He very frequently made wise remarks, that are quoted to this
day in the neighborhood. His mother was also well educated, for the
time in which she lived. She possessed strong natural sense. His
mother died at Caledonia in 1864, and his father in 1872. His parents
and their ancestors, as far back as the days of John Knox, were rigid
Presbyterians. He began attending the district school when he was five years of
age. He attended school winters and worked on his father's farm sum
mers until he was thirteen years of age. His father then sent him to
the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, Livingston county, New
York. This was an institution of high grade for its class. He attended
this seminary three years. He also attended an academy at Geneseo,
Livingston county, one year. He taught school when he was fifteen
years of age, and continued to teach winters until he was twenty-two
years of age. He taught one year in the seminary at Lima. He was a
good Latin scholar; was also good in mathematics and in moral and
natural science.
He entered the law office of Wadsworth & Cameron, at Buffalo, New
York, in April, 1850, as a law student. He swept and dusted the office,
copied and served papers, and made himself generally useful. He was
so useful that he was paid a salary of two hundred dollars the second
year. He graduated at the National Law School at Ballston Spa, Sara
toga county, in March 1853, and was admitted to the bar at Albany,
New York, in April 1853. After he was admitted he returned to the
office of Wadsworth & Cameron, and continued there until the spring of

150 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
1856. In April, 1856. he formed a copartnership with Frederick H. Wing,
in the banking business, under the firm of Cameron & Wing, and was
engaged in banking at Buffalo until the spring of 1857.
He was married at the town of Urbana, Steuben county, New
York, to Mary Baker, on the 21st day of February, 1856. She is a
daughter of William Baker, and a granddaughter of Samuel Baker, a
revolutionary soldier, who settled in that town in 1790. Her mother
was of Holland Dutch descent. Her grandmother was a first cousin of
Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States. He re
moved with his wife from Buffalo to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in the month
of September, 1857, and they have ever since resided at La Crosse.
His wife is still living. They have no children.
He formed a law partnership on his arrival at La Crosse with Alonzo
Johnson, under the firm of Johnson & Cameron. This firm continued
until the death of Mr. Johnson, in May i860. On the first day of De
cember, 1861, he formed a law partnership with Joseph W. Losey, under
the firm of Cameron & Losey. Mr. Losey and he are still law partners.
Charles W. Bunn became a partner with them on the 1st of September,
1875, and the firm has since been Cameron, Losey & Bunn. He was a
member of the Wisconsin state senate two terms of two years each —
1863 and 1864, also 187 1 and 1872. He was a member of the assembly
of Wisconsin two years — 1866 and 1867. He was speaker in 1867. He
was a delegate to the Baltimore republican convention in 1864. He
was one of the regents of the University of Wisconsin for nine years —
from 1866 to 1875. He was elected to the senate of the United States
in January 1875, and was reelected in March 1881. He was an anti-
slavery whig in politics until the formation of the republican party, when
he attached himself to that party. He has always been regarded as a
radical. Senator Cameron has been a republican of the straightest kind
since the formation of that party ; an ardent worker in the cause, never
an office-seeker, and has proved in every station in which he has been
placed a most reliable, consistent and useful public servant.
In the United States senate his career has not been conspicuous as
a speaker, but few members have acquired more influence than he has
as a worker, and of unselfish statesmanship. He has occupied member
ship of some of the most important committees, and also has been
placed on important select committees, one of which was the investiga
tion of alleged frauds in South Carolina at the presidential election of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 151
1876, and, as chairman of it, made a report which was considered able
and exhaustive, and attracted general public attention. It may truth
fully be said that there is no man in public life of more sturdy upright
ness, and who possesses to a greater degree the confidence of the
country than Senator Cameron. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
Morgan L. Martin, Green Bay, was born in Martinsburg, Lewis
county, New York, March 31, 1805. He completed the common school
course earlier than usual. Entering Hamilton College he, graduated in
1824 at the age of nineteen. He pursued legal studies for two years in
v the office of Collins & Parish, at Lowville, New York. At the end of
this time he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he continued the
study of law in the office of H. S. Cole, and was admitted to the bar in
01827. H-e removed to Green Bay in May of the same year, and became
the legal adviser of the place. In July 1833 he visited the mouth of the
Milwaukee river and there found Peter and Soloman Juneau's cabin, and
in September of the same year he again visited the place and entered
into a verbal contract with Soloman Juneau for the undivided half of his
claim, composing the territory upon which the city of Milwaukee now
stands. He together with Juneau made the first plat of the city, and put
it upon record in 1835. To Morgan L. Martin, as well as to Soloman
Juneau, belongs the- honor of founding the city of Milwaukee. In 185 1
he became identified with the Fox River improvements, and gave it his
attention until 1858. In this enterprise he lost much of his fortune
but preserved his integrity. In 1861 he entered the United States ser
vice as paymaster. He retained this position until 1865, when he re
signed and returned to Green Bay, where he resumed his legal practice.
In 1 83 1 he was chosen a member of the territorial legislature of
Michigan, and served in that body until Michigan became a state.
After the organization of Wisconsin territory he served in her assembly
from 1838 to 1844, after which he declined a reelection. In the follow
ing year he was elected to congress and served one term. He was
president of the second constitutional convention of Wisconsin in 1848,
and member of the state legislature during the sessions of 1855, 1858,
1859 and 1874. After the latter date he withdrew from politics. In
1875 he was chosen county judge of Brown county, where he still serves.
Judge Martin is one of the pioneers of Wisconsin, both in citizenship
and in the practice of the law, as well as law maker.

152 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
John H. Tweedy, Milwaukee. This early practitioner of the Mil
waukee bar was a native of Connecticut, having been born at Danbury
in that state November 9, 1814. His early education prepared him for
college which he entered, and became a graduate at Yale in 1834. De
ciding to enter the profession of law, he commenced its study with
Reuben Booth, of Danbury, completed his course at the Yale Law
School, and was admitted to the bar at New Haven in July 1836. In
October of the same year he came to Milwaukee and entered into prac
tice, which he conducted until November 1847, and after the year of
1844 a partnership with Hans Crocker was formed under the firm of
Tweedy & Crocker. During the years of 1839, 1840 and 1841 Mr.
Tweedy held the office of commissioner and receiver of canal lands.
In 1842 he represented Milwaukee county in the territorial council; in
1846 was a member of the first constitutional convention for the forma
tion of a state government ; in 1845 was candidate for mayor at the first
city election of Milwaukee ; in 1847 was elected delegate to congress;
in May, 1848, he drafted and procured the passage of the enactment admit
ting the state of Wisconsin into the Union ; was the whig candidate for
governor at the first election of state officers; in 1850 was nominated
for member of congress by the whig party for first congressional district,
which he declined; in 1848 was appointed postmaster of Milwaukee,
which office he resigned after serving a few months; in 1852 he repre
sented the first ward of Milwaukee in the legislative assembly ; was one
of the first directors of the Milwaukee & Mississippi railroad, which
was the pioneer railroad of Milwaukee, and served as director until in
August 1853, when he resigned and was an organizer and one of the
directors of the Milwaukee & Watertown railroad, now a part of the
main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway.
Mr. Tweedy was a pioneer in inaugurating the railway system of the
state, and for many years gave his active personal attention to starting
and extending railroad lines. He was an early settler in Milwaukee,
has always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and intimately
identified with city improvements. After eleven years' practice of his
profession ill health compelled him to relinquish the business, possessing
ample means to enable him to do so.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 153
William Pitt Lynde, Milwaukee, was born at Sherburne, New
York, December 16, 1817, and is the son of Telly and Elizabeth Warner
Lynde, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts and removed to
Sherburne in 1800, where the father was engaged in mercantile busi
ness. William Pitt Lynde was named after that eminent English states
man of whom the father was an enthusiastic admirer. His preparatory
education was at Hamilton Academy, Hamilton, New York, and at
Homer, Cortland county, New York. He entered Hamilton College
in 1834 when, after remaining two terms in that institution, he entered
the sophomore class of Yale College, from which he graduated with the
highest honors in 1848, on which occasion he was chosen by the class
to deliver the valedictory. While in college he excelled in the ancient
languages and was also an especially proficient Greek scholar. Upon
leaving college he entered the law department of the New York
University, then presided over by the distinguished Benjamin F.
Benter, who was attorney-general under President Van Buren,
and Judges David Graham and Kent were of the faculty. Here he
remained one year, when he entered the Harvard Law School, then
under the direction of Judges Story and Greenleaf. Graduating in the
spring of 1841, he was admitted to the bar of New York at the May
term of the same year of the supreme court in company with Judge
.Field. Chief Justice Nelson presided on the occasion.
In the autumn of 1841 he came to Milwaukee, and early in the follow
ing year formed a law partnership with Mr. Asahel Finch, which con
tinues to the present time. In 1857 Mr. B. K. Miller, son of Judge A. G.
Miller, of the United States district court, and Mr. H. M. Finch, nephew
of the senior partner, became members of the firm which has since been
widely known as Finches, Lynde & Miller.
In 1844 Mr. Lynde was appointed attorney-general of the territory
of Wisconsin, which office he resigned in 1845 to accept that of United
States district attorney for the district of Wisconsin. Upon the admis
sion of Wisconsin as a state into the Union, he was elected to represent
the first district in congress, and served from December, 1847, to March,
1849. In i860 he was elected mayor of Milwaukee, and held the office
two years. In 1866 he was elected a member of the assembly, and in
1868 was elected member of the state, senate. In 1874 he was again
elected member of congress, and during his term was a member of the
committee on the judiciary of the house of representatives. He was

154 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
also one of the managers appointed by the house to conduct the Belknap
impeachment trial before the senate. In 1876 he was reelected to con
gress by a very large majority.
Mr. Lynde has always been a conservative democrat, but was instinc
tively opposed to slavery, was fully in accord with the measures for its
abolition, and with the constitutional amendments securing the political
and civil rights of the blacks. In 1867 he made a six months' tour of
Europe, visiting Great Britian and continental cities. In the varied and
very extensive law practice of his firm, Mr Lynde makes a specialty of ad
miralty and patent causes, and is considered to be more familiar with cur
rent decisions on questions of commercial and admiralty law not
surpassed by any practitioner in the Northwest, and is also thoroughly
read in general law. While forcible before a jury his best efforts are
before the bench. Mr. Lynde is one of the most finished scholars and
linguists of the day, is a diligent student of ancient and modern litera
ture, and a regular reader of French and German journals and periodi
cals. He is a gentleman of blended urbanity and dignity, and a much
respected citizen.
A few days after his admission to the bar he married Miss Mary E.
Blanchard, May 24, 1841, at Truxton, Cortland county, New York.
Mrs. Lynde is a gifted and a highly accomplished lady and a graduate
of the Albany Female Academy, where she took the first prize in compo
sition, her essay having been read before the faculty by William H.
Seward. Of active mind and benevolent disposition she is foremost in
every enterprise, whether public or private, the object of which is the
benefit of the community. She was appointed by Governor Fairchild a
member of the first board of directors of the state charitable institutions
and held the office four years ; was one of the founders of the Protestant
Orphan Asylum, of Milwaukee, and has been a member of its board of
directors since its organization ; was the prime mover in founding the
Industrial School for Girls in Milwaukee, and is president of its board
of directors ; and has been for many years a member of the Social
Science Association of the United States, to the publications of which
she is a frequent and valued contributor ; she, as well as her husband,
is a prominent and active member of the Emmanuel Society of the
Presbyterian church in Milwaukee. They have six children living, the
two younger sons being graduates of Yale College and now members of
the bar.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 155
A. Scott Sloan, Beaver Dam, was born at Morrisville, Madison
county, New York, on June 12, 1820. His father, Andrew S. Sloan,
was a lawyer; his mother was Mehetabel Conkey. Pie had common
school and academic education, and on leaving school he commenced
studying law with A. L. Foster, who represented the Madison and Onon
daga district in congress in 1838. He studied a year with J. Whip
ple Jenkins, of Verdon, New York; was admitted to practice in 1842,
and practiced at De Ruyter, New York, from 1844 t0 I847, and from
1850 to 1854.
He moved to Wisconsin in 1854, and settled at Beaver Dam, and
has resided there ever since. He has always practiced law, except when
occupied with official duties. He was married January, 1841, at Caze-
novia, New York, to Angeline M. Dodge, daughter of Reverend John
R. Dodge, a presbyterian clergyman. They have six living children.
His only brother living is I. C. Sloan, who is distinguished as a lawyer
and statesman. There is a remarkable coincidence in the lives and
characters of the two brothers. Judge Sloan was a Henry Clay whig,
and a republican from the organization of the party till 1872, when he
supported Horace Greeley for the presidency, and is now a liberal. He
was county clerk of Madison county, New York, from 1847 to 1849 in
clusive ; a member of the assembly of Wisconsin in 1857; mayor of
Beaver Dam in 1858 ; circuit judge from September, 1858, to June, 1859 ;
a member of congress from 1861 to 1863 ; clerk of the United States
district court from 1864 to 1866; county judge of Dodge county from
1868 to January 1, 1874; was attorney-general from 1874 to 1878, and
was elected judge of the new thirteenth circuit, which was created by
the legislature of 1881.
The duties of the office of attorney-general during a portion of the
term in which Mr. Sloan served was unusually arduous and laborious.
After the passage of the act relating to railroads, known as the
Granger law, the railroad companies employed Messrs. Curtiss, Evarts
and Hoar, among the most eminent lawyers of the country, who in their
opinions, elaborately written, pronounced the law unconstitutional and
void. The attorney-general on the other hand, held that the law was con
stitutional, and a legitimate exercise of legislative power. Subsequently
cases involving the constitutionality of this law were discussed in the
United States circuit court, and in the supreme court of the state, and
the positions taken by the attorney-general were fully sustained, and his

156 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
course of reasoning vindicated. Having completed his two terms as
attorney-general, to the entire satisfaction of the people of the state,
Judge Sloan returned to his law practice at Beaver Dam, and entered
upon the duties of circuit judge January 1882.
fTHAMAH C. Sloan, Madison, was born in Morrisville, Madison
county, New York, May 9, 1822, and received a common school and
academic education, after which he entered upon the study of law with
Timothy Jenkins, a distinguished lawyer at Oneida, New York; was
admitted to the bar as an attorney, at Ithaca, in 1848, at the second term of
the supreme court of that district after the adoption of the code of pro
cedure in New York, by which the forms of action and practice as
established by the common law were abolished, and the code of pro
cedure the same as now prevails in Wisconsin was established. From
the time of his admission until 1854 he practiced law at Oneida, during
which year he came to Wisconsin and located at Janesville in the busi
ness of his profession. In 1858 he was elected district attorney of Rock
county, and was again elected to the same office in i860. Two years
later he was elected, by the republican party, member of congress, and
reelected in 1864. During his service in the house of representatives
he was a member of the committee on public lands, on claims, and on
expenses of the war department committee, that were of the first import
ance at that period of the war of the rebellion. The caieer of Mr.
Sloan while in congress was alike honorable and useful, and he came.
out of public life at Washington with an absolutely clean record. His
further continuing in congress was precluded by the then iron-clad rule
in his district that a representative should serve only two terms. Re
turning to his law practice at Janesville, it was continued there with
eminent success until 1875, when he removed to Madison, and became
assistant attorney-general for a time under his brother, A. Scott Sloan,
who was attorney-general. While acting in this capacity, and afterward,
he was engaged in prosecuting the granger law in behalf of the state
against the railroads violating it in Wisconsin, and which resulted in a
complete triumph for the state. For many years Mr. Sloan has been in
active practice of law in Madison, and is accounted one of the most
eminent lawyers of the state. For profundity in matters of law, his
reputation is high and well-founded. He is a close student, and the
merits of the causes he undertakes are fully sifted to the bottom. As

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 157
an advocate, few men have the like happy faculty of presenting the
points of his cases in an equally terse, concise, clear and forcible man
ner, while his style is courteous, dignified and convincing.
In private life, no citizen is more upright, courteous and public
spirited. For several years he has been one of the faculty of the law
department of the State University.
Amasa Cobb, Lincoln, Nebraska, is a native of the State of Illinois,
having been born in Crawford county in that state, September 27, 1823,
and there received a common school education, fn 1842 he came to
Wisconsin territory, and engaged in lead mining. During the Mexican
war he served as a private in the United States army. Having entered
upon the study of law, he was subsequently admitted to the bar, and
commenced practice at Mineral Point, fn 1850 he was elected district
attorney, and, reelected, served in that office until 1854. Entering poli
tics, he was elected a member of the state senate for the term of 1855-
1856, within which time he was appointed adjutant-general of the state,
and filled the office from 1855 to 1858. He was elected member of the
assembly in 1859 and the subsequent year, and was speaker of that
body for the session of 1861, giving his voice and vote to the support of
the early war measures. At the close of the session he raised the men
for the fifth Wisconsin regiment, became its colonel, and went to the
war. While in the service he was elected member of congress in 1862,
and consequently resigned his military commission. During the recess
of congress in 1864, he raised another regiment, the Forty-third Wis
consin Infantry, and served as its colonel until the close of the war,
when, on the recommendation of Major-General Hancock, his old bri
gade commander, he was, for special gallantry at the battle of Williams
burg, brevetted brigadier-general of United States volunteers. He was
reelected to congress in 1864, 1866 and 1868.
Retiring from congress in 187 1, the subject of this sketch removed
to Nebraska. Locating at Lincoln, the capital of the state, he entered
upon the practice of his profession, and was interested in banking. In
1878, upon the death of Chief Justice Gault, and the consequent eleva
tion of associate Judge Maxwell to the office of chief justice, thus
leaving the office of associate judge vacant, General Cobb was appointed
by the governor of the state to fill the vacancy until the next election.
At the next election he was chosen to fill the unexpired term of one
year, and at its termination reelected for the full period of six years.

158 . THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Charles A. Eldredge, Fond du Lac, was born in Bridgeport, Ver
mont, February 27, 1821, and went when young with his parents to New
York, where he was educated, studied law, and was admitted to the bar.
In 1848 he came to Wisconsin and located at Fond du Lac, in the prac
tice of law. He was a member of the state senate for the term of 1854
and 1855. Subsequently he was elected to the thirty-eighth, thirty-
ninth, fortieth, forty-first and forty-fifth congresses by the democratic
party, of which he has been a consistent, prominent and stalwart member.
Halbert E. Paine, Washington, D. C, was born in Chardon,
Geauga county, Ohio, February 4, 1826, received a classical education,
graduating at the Western Reserve College in 1845. He then entered
upon the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and com
menced practice at Cleveland, Ohio. In 1857 he came to Wiscon
sin and located at Milwaukee. On the breaking out of the war of
the rebellion he entered the Union Army in May, 1861, as colonel of
the third Wisconsin regiment. Immediately taking his command to
the front he served with a distinction that promoted him to the
rank of brigadier-general in January 1863. commanding the third
division of the Nineteenth Corps, and at the last assault on Port
Hudson lost a leg. In March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general
and resigned in May of the same year. Returning home he was elected
representative to the thirty-ninth congress on the republican ticket,
was reelected to the fortieth congress, and again reelected to the
forty-first congress, and served from December 4, 1865, to March 3,
1 87 1. When in congress he served on the committee on reconstruc
tion, that on soldiers' and sailors' bounties, and as chairman of the
committee on the militia.
In 1866 he was a delegate to the loyalist convention that was held
at Philadelphia. Under the administration of President Grant General
Paine was appointed commissioner of patents, and served several years,
when he resigned the office. Retiring from public life he made his
residence in Washington, where he resumed the practice, of law and
still continues in his profession at the capital city, where he meets with
eminent success.
Distinguished alike at the bar, in the field and in public civil life,
the record of General Paine is one of which the people of Wisconsin are
proud. In this State, and especially in Milwaukee, he has untold num-

¦^ diy GEPerin.fi

CXAa^JO

HON HALBERT E PAINE,
MPHESEWATTO PROM WISCONSIN

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 161
bers of warm personal friends. Brave in war, able in every phase of
life, with utmost purity of character, urbane in deportment, true to
friends and every public or private trust, few men have left the state
more regretted, carrying with him the good wishes of all who know him.
Charles G Williams, Janesville, was born in Royalton, Niagara
county, New York, October 18, 1829. He is of New England parentage,
his father, Deodat Williams being a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and
his mother, Mary Wright, of Shoreham, Vermont. After the marriage
of the father of Mr. Williams, he engaged for a time in mercantile busi
ness at Shoreham, Vermont, from whence he removed to Niagara
county, New York, where he took up land on the Holland purchase, and
during the remainder of his life was engaged in farming.
Charles G. was the youngest of a family of ten children. His early
educational opportunities were such only as a district school afforded,
and these were much interrupted by poor health. When quite young
he developed a fondness as well as an aptness for public speaking. He
was instrumental in organizing debating schools in his neighborhood,
and took great interest and pleasure in attending and taking part in the
discussions at these schools, and in later life has often remarked that
among his truest and most esteemed friends are the farmers he used to
meet at these schools. When Mr. Williams was about fifteen years old
he conceived the idea of reading law, and very soon thereafter his de
termination to become a lawyer became fixed and unalterable. He
encountered sore disappointments, and at times what seemed to his
friends insurmountable obstacles, but he never waivered in his purpose.
At first his father did not encourage his son's ambition, but observing
how resolutely he held to his purpose, he entered into sympathy with
his wishes, and determined to give him a thorough education, prepara
tory to his entering upon the study of the profession he had chosen,
when suddenly death came to the father, and at the age of sixteen
Charles was left not only without the counsel and sympathy of a father,
but thrown upon his own resources for the future. Soon after this event
Jie engaged in teaching and working at day labor during vacations, by
which means and with some aid which his two older brothers, E. W.
and M. B. Williams were able to render him, he succeeded in complet
ing a thorough academic course at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, of
Lima, New York. 10

162 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
He commenced the study of the law in the office of Judge L. F. &
George Brewer, of Lockport, New York, teaching a part of the time in
the high school of that place. In 1852, he removed to Rochester, New
York, where he completed his law studies, and was admitted to the bar
in 1855. He entered at once into the practice of his profession, fully
intending to make Rochester his permanent home. Soon after Mr.
Williams was admitted to the bar he was married to Miss Harriet Gregg,
daughter of Benjamin Gregg, Esq:, and after having practiced one year
at Rochester he received a very liberal offer from the late Judge David
Noggle, of Janesville, to come to that place and take charge of his legal
business, as the judge at that time contemplated retiring from practice.
The elevation of Judge Noggle to the bench soon after the arrival of
Mr. Williams atjanesville gave him the opportunity of entering at once
into a good legal practice. In about two months after the arrival of Mr.
Williams in Janesville he buried his wife. He afterward married Mary
A., eldest daughter of Judge Noggle, with whom he is now living, and
by whom be has two children, Kittie A. and Ward D. In politics Mr.
Williams is a thorough republican, and his power as a campaign speaker
very soon became known and appreciated by the people of his adopted
state, and from the very first year he came to Wisconsin to the present
time no important political campaign has occurred in which large drafts
have not been made upon him to which he has responded with an ear
nest power and eloquence, that has placed him in the very front rank of
political speakers. Notwithstanding the arduous labor performed by
him in this direction, he had a large, successful and constantly increas
ing legal business in both civil and criminal cases in Rock and adjoining
counties, and was always able to maintain his position in the front rank
of his profession. As a lawyer, Mr. Williams possesses great power in
discussing questions of fact to a jury, but does not lack in ability to pre
sent the law of a case to the court in a clear, forcible and convincing
manner. He never entered upon the trial of an important case without
careful, painstaking and studious preparation.
In the year 1868 Mr. Williams was a republican presidential elector,
and the same year was elected to the state senate. He was reelected to.
the state senate in 1870, and was made president pro tempore and chair
man of the judiciary committee of that body. During his term of service
in the state senate he took and held a frbnt rank among its leaders. He
was nominated by acclamation, and elected to the forty-third congress

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 163
in 1872, and has been four times since renominated almost without op
position, and elected by majorities, ranging from four to six thousand.
No member of congress ever enjoyed in a higher degree the respect,
confidence and affection of his constituency. They feel a just pride in
his record and in that marked ability which has given him a position
among the ablest and most, eminent statesmen in congress. After his
election to congress he felt that his constituents were justly entitled to
his best services,' and hence gave up his law practice entirely, and has
devoted his whole time to his congressional duties. His reputation and
influence in congress have been constantly growing. He entered upon
his congressional career with becoming modesty and reserve, and his
every act and word has been characterized by sound practical judgment.
After careful study and preparation he has taken part in the discus
sion of nearly every important question that has come before the house
during his term of service, among which may be mentioned inter-state
commerce, centennial exposition, civil rights, force bill, specie payments,
Chinese immigration, electoral count, election laws, army and other appro
priations. Some of his speeches have been extensively circulated
through the south, as well as in the north. During the last presidential
campaign he was called upon to speak in Maine, Ohio, New York, Indi
ana and Minnesota. Perhaps one of his best efforts was his oration
delivered at Arlington Heights on May 30, 1878, the occasion being
the decoration of the soldiers' graves in the national cemetery there.
Mr. Williams is emphatically a man of the people, and never hesitates to
espouse their cause without regard to personal consequences. He is a
man of great decision and firmness of character, thoroughly honest and
consistent, and no spot or blemish has ever stained the purity of his life.
Joel Allen Barber, Lancaster, was a native of Vermont, and was
born January 17, 1809. He worked at farming until his eighteenth
year, when he entered the Georgia Academy, and fitted for college ;
entered the university of Vermont in the summer of 1829; left at the
end of two and a half years ; read law with George P. Marsh, of Bur
lington, and was admitted to the bar of Prince George county, Mary
land, in 1834. He returned to Vermont and practiced at Fairfield
until 1837, settling, in September of that year, at Lancaster, Wisconsin.
Here he was in practice for over forty years, at times mingling land
operations with law business, but not enough to interfere with his pro-

164 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
fession. His knowledge of law was sound and extensive; he had a
high standing as a criminal lawyer, and in all respects had long been an
honor to the profession. During the forty odd years that Mr. Barber
was a resident of Grant county he held some official position two-
thirds of the time; was district attorney three terms; three times a
member of the lower house of the legislature ; one term in the state
senate, and a member of the forty-second and forty-third congress.
Originally Mr. Barber was a. whig of free-soil tendencies, and naturally
identified himself with the republican party, to which he steadfastly
adhered. He died in the fall of 1881.
Gerry W. Hazelton, Milwaukee, was born at Chester, New Hamp
shire, in 1829. His ancestors, among the early settlers of New Hamp
shire, were on the side of his father of English, and of his mother' of
Scotch, origin.
After a course of study in the common school he entered Pinkerton
Academy, in Derry, New Hampshire, and was also a pupil for some
time of Mr. Crosby, a distinguished teacher for nearly a half century at
Nashua, New Hampshire. In 1848 he went to Amsterdam, New York,
where he commenced the study of law with his kinsman, the late Hon.
Clark B. Cochrane, at the same time pursuing his classical studies with
a private tutor. Admitted to the bar in 1852, he shortly after formed a
partnership with. Hon. S. P. Heath, which continued till 1856, at which
time he came west and located at Columbus, Wisconsin.
In i860 he was elected to the state senate, and served as a member
of the judiciary committee, and chairman of the committee on benevo
lent institutions. Was elected president pro tern, of the senate, and
reelected to the same office at the extra session following the death of
Governor Harvey. At the second regular session Mr. Hazelton was
made chairman of the committee on federal relations, and again elected
to the position of president pro tem. of the senate. He was also ap
pointed at the same session chairman of several important special
committees. Declining to be a candidate for reelection to the senate, Mr. Hazel
ton resumed the practice of his profession, and was elected prosecuting
attorney for Columbia county in 1864, and before the expiration of his
term of office, in March 1866, was tendered and accepted the position
of collector of internal revenue for the second collection district. De-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 167
clining to follow President Johnson in the reconstruction policy he
attempted to pursue, Mr. Hazelton was removed in less than a year to
make room for a successor who sympathized with the policy of the
President. In 1869 he was appointed United States attorney for the district of
Wisconsin, then embracing the entire state, and acted in that capacity
until January i, 1871, at which time he filed his resignation, having
been elected to the forty-second congress from the second district at
the preceding election. In this congress he served as a member of the
committee on privileges and elections, and also of the committee on
expenditures in the navy department.
In the appointment following the census of 1870 the second congres
sional district was changed, by the substitution of Sauk county in place
of Rock, but Mr. Hazelton. was nominated for a second term by accla
mation, and reelected by a large and gratifying majority.
In the forty-third congress he served on the committee on privileges
and elections, and also as the second member of a new committee —
that of war claims — then organized for the first time. He was also
appointed by speaker Blaine one of the regents of the Smithsonian
University. The subject of improving the Fox and Wisconsin rivers being much
agitated by the people of the state, and especially those along the line
of these rivers, he presented the subject to the house of representatives
in March 1872 in a carefully prepared speech, which was widely pub
lished in the newspapers interested in the enterprise.
Mr. Hazelton also interested himself in the attempt to repeal the
bankrupt law, believing the same to be as administered unfortunate for
both the debtor and the creditor, depleting the fund which might be ap
plied to liquidate honest liabilities to pay fees to attorneys, registers and
assignees. The bill introduced by him passed the house of representa
tives by a vote of more than two-thirds of the members, but failed to
pass in the senate. The attempt, however, and the debate which it
occasioned, resulted in a modification of the law, and a large reduction
of the fees and costs.
In the forty-third congress Mr'. Hazelton took an active interest in
the subject of transportation between the east and the west, supporting
his views by a speech on the floor of the house of representatives which
was reproduced by the press of the state.

10b THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
It was during the first session of this congress that he came promi
nently into notice in connection with two contested election cases from
West Virginia. " He differed from the chairman and other members of
the committee in regard to the legality of what was known as the August
election. Believing firmly in the correctness of his position, he prepared
a minority report, sustained by only one other member of the committee
of eleven. The discussion which ensued occupied two days, and was
participated in by many of the ablest lawyers in the house of representa
tives. The positions assumed by Mr. Hazelton were indorsed by a
large majority, and the persons elected at the August election — one a
republican 'and the other a democrat — were both accorded their seats
in the house of representatives.
Mr. Hazelton made a strenuous effort during his second term to get
the so-called iron-clad claims, amounting to a million and a half of dol
lars, taken out of the lobby of congress and sent to the court of claims,
where the government could make proper investigations and present
counter-proofs, and where the justness of the claims might be subjected
to a close and careful. judicial inquiry, which could not be done by a
committee of congress on ex parte evidence. He, however, failed in
his purpose.
Evidence having been lodged with the committee on privileges and
elections that George Q. Cannon, delegate for the Territory of Utah,
had openly and defiantly upheld the system of polygamy prevailing in
that territory, and had brought himself within the provisions of the act
of July i, 1862, which provides that every person having a husband or
wife living who shall marry any other person, whether married or single,
in a territory of the United States, or other place over which the United
States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall be adjudged guilty of bigamy,
and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding
five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five
years. Mr. Hazelton introduced and secured the adoption of a resolu
tion, instructing the said committee to investigate such charge, and
report the result to the house, and recommend such action on the part
of the house as shall seem meet and proper in the premises. The object
of the resolution was, as its terms indicate, to raise the question of the
fitness of the delegate to occupy a seat in the house of representatives,
and to secure his expulsion if the charges against him should be sus
tained by competent proof. The passage of the resolution created a

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 169
genuine sensation among the friends of the delegate, and when the
matter was called up in committee a motion to postpone consideration
of the subject until the following December was carried by one majority,
and the object of the resolution thus defeated.
Mr. Hazelton also introduced a bill defining the hours of labor in
certain cases, designed to protect the street car conductors of the street
railroads of Washington from the unreasonable demands of their em
ployers, who exacted fourteen hours as a day's labor. The bill passed
the house of representatives, and after reaching the senate was sent to
the judiciary committee, but never heard of afterward.
At the end of his second term in congress, not having been a candi
date for renomination, Mr. Hazelton resolved to return at once to the
practice of his profession. About the same time he was offered the
position of United States attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin.
This offer, though unsolicited and unexpected, he concluded to accept.
Removing to Milwaukee in August 1875, he entered upon the duties of
that office, and is holding the same at the present time.
No member of congress ever came out of his term of service with a
cleaner record than did Mr. Hazelton, and during his entire labors in
the house of representatives his course met the unqualified approbation
of his constituents.
Although .holding many public offices during his residence in the
state, some of them making heavy demands on his time and attention,
he has never at any time wholly given up his law practice. Since
assuming the duties of his present position he has devoted himself en
tirely to professional pursuits.
Mr. Hazelton ranks among the ablest of lawyers in a city where
ability among the fraternity is by no means the exception. Eminently
successful, he brings to the consideration of every case extensive learn
ing, sound common sense and unwearied industry. These make him a
safe and wise counselor, and coupled with great powers of analysis and
a most persuasive eloquence, enable him to command from ^courts and
juries that respectful attention, and to exercise over their deliberations
that influence, which are the reward of a thorough training in, and
adaptation for, his profession.
During his entire residence in Wisconsin, Mr. Hazelton has been
identified' with public interests, and has responded to various calls from
all parts of his state for addresses and lectures. As a speaker he is

170 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
easy, eloquent and effective, and has the happy faculty of impressing
his auditors with the thoughts that inspire his own mind, and is justly
esteemed by all who know him as an upright and honorable citizen.
Lucien B. Caswell, Fort Atkinson, the son of Beal and Betsey
Caswell, was born at Swanton, Vermont, on the 27th of November,
1827. When he had reached the age of nine years, his parents removed
to Wisconsin, being among the earliest settlers of what was then a ter
ritory and a remote frontier. He attended Milton Academy and subse
quently took a partial course of instruction at Beloit College. His legal
studies were begun in the office of Mathew H. Carpenter, at Beloit, and
he was admitted to the bar in October 185 1, by the circuit court for
Jefferson county, which was at that term presided over by Timothy O.
Howe. He entered upon the practice of law at Fort Atkinson, where
he still resides. He has recently associated with himself, his son, Ches
ter A. Caswell, but has never before had a partner in his professional
labors. In addition to his legal business, Mr. Caswell has interested him
self in banks and manufactories, in which he has exercised energy and
excellent judgment.
Mr. Caswell was chosen district-attorney of Jefferson county in 1854.
In 1863, and in 1872 and 1874, he served as a member of the legislative
assembly, in which body he was at once recognized as the leader of his
party, and a legislator of eminent capacity. In September, 1863, he was
appointed commissioner of the board of enrollment, for the second dis
trict of Wisconsin, and during the drafts that followed to reinforce the
army of the Union, he discharged the delicate and trying duties of his
position with great ability and unswerving fidelity. He was a delegate
to the republican national convention at Chicago, in 1868, which placed
General Grant in nomination.
In 1874 Mr. Caswell was nominated by the republicans of his district
for congress. This was a year in which his party suffered serious re
verses all over the country, which cost them their majority in the house,
and his election in a democratic district was a personal rather than a
partisan triumph. But it has been Mr. Caswell's fortune to enjoy, in a
rare degree, the esteem of his fellow-citizens, of whatever political con
victions, and in his immediate neighborhood the returns always afford
conclusive proof of his popularity.
He was reelected in 1876, in 1878 and in 1880. He has served on the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 171
committee of patents, and as a member of the important committee on
Pacific railroads, and in that position, has taken a broad national view
of these schemes of trans-continental communication. He is an effective
speaker, impressing his hearers, more by the abundance of his informa
tion and the sincerity of his views, than by the tricks of rhetoric.
Henry S. Magoon, Darlington, was born in the present township of
La Fayette county, Wisconsin, January 31, 1832. His parents were
Richard H., and Elizabeth Kinney Magoon. Henry S. commenced his
education when five years of age, by attending a boarding school at
Gratiot's Grove Village, in his native county, and at eight years of age
had made some progress in Latin, and other studies, and became famil
iar with the outlines of Biblical English and American history, the life
of Napoleon and Plutarch's Lives. Excessive devotion to study under
mined his health, and, at that early stage of his life, he was taken from
school, and put to outdoor employments, until he was sixteen, when he
was placed in Mount Morris'Seminary, Illinois, where he was prepared
for entering college. Leaving that institution in 185 1 he entered the
Western Military College at Kentucky, where he graduated June 23,
1853, with the highest honors of his class. In 1854 he attended the
law school at Frankfort, Kentucky, and in 1855 and 1856 he was pro
fessor of languages in the Nashville university in Tennessee. Returning
to La Fayette county, Wisconsin, in 1857, he commenced the practice of
law at Shullsburg in the summer of that year, and built up a good busi
ness in a brief time. In 1859 and i860 he was district attorney for
La Fayette county, and was a member of the state senate in 187 1 and
1872. In that body he was chairman of the committee on general laws,
and chairman of the special select joint committee of investigation on
the noted Dalles bill. He was member of the national house of rep
resentatives in 1875 and 1876, where he served on the committee on
education and labor. Mr. Magoon is an ardent and working republican,
a Royal Arch Mason, and his religious predilections are toward the
Methodist Episcopal church.
In October, 1 871, he married Miss Isabella L. Smith, at Buckingham,
Iowa, and they have two sons and two daughters.
When serving in the state senate Mr. Magoon gave close and con
scientious attention to the business before it ; was one of the best
debaters in that bod'y, and unsurpassed in logical and classical diction.

172 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
The same diligence and exactness in the performance of duties marked
his career in congress. With four clerks and himself constantly em
ployed, he did an amount of work during his two years' term, rarely
exceeded by even an old member of congress. He is the first native of
Wisconsin who has represented the state at the national capitol. He
made no effort for a second term, but issued a masterly address to his
district declining to contest for a second nomination. Possessed with
ample means, built up by his own life-long labor, Mr. Magoon has gathered
together a well selected law and literary library, comprising over four
thousand volumes. Of eminently scholarly tastes, his time, not devoted
to business, is employed in literary pursuits, and it is understood is pre
paring a history of Southwestern Wisconsin, which he is capable of
making of great value and interest. Few of the prominent and public
men in this state unite the amiability of disposition and quiet and
courteous demeanor with the energy of character that mark the leading
traits of the subject of this brief sketch.
Herman L. Humphrey, Hudson, was born at Candor, Tioga
county, New York, March 14, 1830. His education was in the public
schools with the addition of one year in Cortland Academy. At the
early age of sixteen he commenced the business of life as a merchant's
clerk, in Ithaca, New York, where he remained in that employment
several years. Developing, with maturer years, a preference for pro
fessional life, he left mercantile pursuits, and entered upon the study of
law in the office of Walbridge & Finch, at Ithaca, where he remained
until he was admitted to the bar in July, 1854. Wisely concluding
that the new western country offered the better field for a youthful
practitioner, he wended his way to the flourishing State of Wisconsin,
and selecting Hudson for a location, settled down there, and where he
has ever since remained. Here he commenced the practice of the law
in January, 1855, and soon entered upon the tide of successful business.
Not long after this auspicious beginning, a vacancy occurred in the
office of district attorney for that county, and Mr. Humphrey received
an appointment to the position, holding this office during such vacancy.
In the fall of i860 he was appointed by the governor county judge for
St. Croix county, to fill a vacancy, and was elected to the same office at
the regular election the ensuing spring, for the full term of four years,
commencing January 1, 1862. In the meantime, ' having been elected

THE bench AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 175
state senator in the fall of the last named year, he resigned his office of
county judge in February, 1862, having taken his seat in the senate.
This was right in the height of the war, and Senator Humphrey was
found conspicuously acting with those who, with voice and v,°te, were
active in maintaining the Union soldiers in the field and upholding the
hands of the president. After the fall of Fort Donelson, a bill was intro
duced and passed the assembly, to repeal the law of 1861 that gave three
dollars a month to the wives of soldiers who enlisted in the infantry.
The bill, on going to the senate immediately passed to a third reading.
At this juncture, Senator Humphrey, although a new member, was the
first to come forward with the strong objections to the bill, that such
action would be an unjust violation of good faith, and drive the men
of this state to enlist in states holding out better inducements, and
enforcing these views with such pointed language, that the question
resulted in increasing the amount to five dollars per month, and to
include every arm of the service. To meet the payment of the large
sum of money this bill would call for, the use of the school fund was
resorted to. Objections to so using these funds were made by demo
crats, in that the state might, at some future time, repudiate the debt.
Senator Humphrey took the floor, and among other things, said, " Let
her repudiate," adding that, as trustee of the school fund, the state
would be compelled to make the fund good in any contingency, and
that this measure would make the war bonds of the state good; which
proved true. He also introduced an amendment to the state constitu
tion to add, after the word "state," occurring in section seven, article
eight, "and the United States," so that no further discredit could be
brought on the bonds on the ground that they had been issued to
defend the United States, and not the state in time of war, the adoption
of which would have saved the state much trouble in providing for its
bonds in 1865. The senator, likewise, made a speech in favor of the
proposition to permit soldiers in the field to vote, which received high
commendation at the time, both by those who heard it and the press.
In 1865 Judge Humphrey was elected and served one year as mayor
of Hudson, and in the spring of 1866 was chosen judge of the eighth
judicial circuit, to which he was reelected in 1872, and resigned in
March, 1877, having served in the office from January, 1867, to March,
1877. Although not strictly a politician, the judge always has taken a
lively and well informed interest in the political affairs of the country,

176 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and has wielded a large and healthful influence in the republican party;
consequently, when a successor to congressman J. M. Rusk was to be
chosen in 1876, the republicans of the seventh congressional district-
with notable unanimity called upon Judge Humphrey to accept a
nomination for member of congress. Never a seeker for this or any
other political promotion, the judge deferred, however, to the compli
mentary call, accepted the nomination, and was elected by a handsome
majority. Having served with satisfaction to his constituents for one
term, he was readily reelected to the second, at the close of which he
expected to return to private life, wisely giving opportunity for others,
aspiring to the honors of the office, to win them. But his many friends,
otherwise disposed, kept his name in the field, and, on the assembling
of the congressional convention in 1880, he was nominated on the first
ballot, notwithstanding two very strong competitors were candidates for
the nomination. His reelection resulted by a majority larger than has
ever been given to any member of congress in this state. Unobtrusive
and conservative in his ways of life, the purity of character of Judge
Humphrey is justly appreciated by those who know him. The sound
ness of his political views has made him a reliable and valued member
of the republican party, while the irreproachable moral principle, and
wide statesmanship range of thought, that are his characteristics as a
public man, has rendered his career in the councils of the nation of
enduring benefit to the country, reflecting honor upon his immediate
constituents and enduring credit to his public career.
George Cochrane Hazelton, Boscobel, the subject of this brief
biography, prominent among the leading self-made men of Wisconsin,
is a native of Chester, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, where he
was born January 3, 1833, the son of William and Mercy J. Cochrane
Hazelton. His father traced his ancestry back through many genera
tions of sturdy Englishmen, and in his own life exemplified many of
those traits of sterling manhood which have characterized the active
career of his son. After many years of mercantile life he turned his
attention to agricultural pursuits, settling on the homestead which had
been in the family name for three generations, and there reared a fam
ily of six children, of whom George was the fifth. He was a man of
firm convictions, and took a decided stand against every form of oppres
sion, and sternly maintained what he regarded as the right. In politics,

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 177
he was formerly a Henry Clay whig; but upon the formation of the
republican party warmly espoused the principles of that cause and
cherished them until his death. The mother of our subject is descended
from an old and noted Scotch family, and is a woman of rare intelli
gence and womanly virtues, and to her influence and training is to be
attributed much of that nobleness of character which pervaded her new
England home, and which showed itself in the lives of her children.
Always taking an active interest in current topics, she entered
heartily into the discussion of political and other questions, around her
own fireside ; and even now, at the advanced age of more than four
score years, she is in the full possession of all her faculties, and keeps
herself well-informed on the public issues of the day.
Under the influence of such a home and such training, George
passed the first sixteen years of his life, spending his summers in hard
work on his father's farm, and during the winters attending the district
school. Here his character was formed; and here was instilled into
him that independence of thought, that firmness and decision, that
strong belief in the equal rights of all men, and that fearlessness of
expression which have characterized all his doings. He learned by
experience the lessons of hard necessity, and being thrown upon his
own resources for means to gain that education after which his ambition
reached, he cultivated, early in life, a spirit of self-reliance which
revealed to him the strength of his own powers and enabled him to
stand on his own independence.
At the age of sixteen years, with the purpose of preparing for col
lege, he entered an academy at Derry, New Hampshire, and afterward
continued his academical studies at Dummer academy, in Oldtown, near
Newburyport, Massachusetts, under the instruction of Professor Hen-
shaw, who was afterward a noted teacher in Rutgers College, New
Jersey. During the years of his preparatory study he devoted a portion
of his time to teaching in the country districts, being thus enabled to
defray his expenses and secure means sufficient to enable him to enter
upon his collegiate course. He was a thorough and close student, and
such had been his diligence and application, that he was prepared to
enter the sophomore class of Union College, at Schenectady, New
York. During his college training he was under the instruction of the
venerable and celebrated president Nott. In college he maintained a
high standing of scholarship, paying his expenses by his own work, and

178 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
in 1858 graduated with honor, and during the same year was admitted
to the bar at M alone, New York.
During the following five years, until the fall of 1863, with the excep
tion of a few months spent in the treasury department at Washington,
D.C., he was actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Am
sterdam and Schenectady, New York, and there laid the foundations of
his succeeding professional career. Prior to this time, his elder brothers,
William and Gerry W. Hazelton, the latter of whom is at present United
States district attorney at Milwaukee, had settled in Wisconsin. This
fact, together with his desire for a wider field for the employment of his
talents, decided him to remove to the west. He was now thirty years of
age ; and having decided where his future home was to be, although
possessed of but small means, with a firm faith in his own merit and
ability, he wedded Miss Ellen Van Antwert, of Schenectady, a lady of
fine accomplishments and attainments, and with her settled at Boscobel
in Grant county, Wisconsin, where he still resides. Life with all its
opportunities was now before him, and with a mind richly stored by his
years of study, he was prepared to enter with vigor into his work, and
make for himself a position aud name. In early life he had taken an
active part in debating societies and the college lyceum, and having a
native talent for oratorical display, he became known for his power in
that direction. These gifts were now brought into full play, and gained
for him a marked success as an advocate, and soon secured to him an
extensive and lucrative law practice.
In November, 1864, one year after settling in his new home, he was
elected district attorney for Grant county, and two years later reelected
for a second term. In 1867 he received an election to the state senate,
and was chosen president pro tempore of that body, and in 1869 was
reelected to the same office. His ambition, however, was to gain a rep
utation as an able lawyer, and with a view to establishing himself more
firmly in his profession, he devoted the next five years to close and dili
gent practice in the state and United States courts. His success was
most marked.
During all his life he had been a close observer of men and events,
and kept himself well informed on all questions of both local and
national interest. And being by nature a leader, with his varied attain
ments and rich experience, it was but natural, when his fellow-citizens
were seeking a man to represent them in the national legislature, that

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 179
they should look to him He was first elected to that body in Novem
ber, 1876. At this time the majority of congress was democratic, and
Mr. Hazelton, being a staunch republican, found few opportunities to
test either his ability to work, his knowledge of politics, or his skill in
debate. Notwithstanding these adverse circumstances at the opening
of his public life, he stood firm with the minority, and whenever oppor
tunity offered, by his readiness and ability, and force in stating a point,
soon began to command the attention of the house. In 1878, when he
received a renomination, the leading question in his district, the third
Wisconsin, was finance.
Was the nation to have an honest dollar and keep faith with its
creditors, or was it to enter upon another era of paper inflation ? Upon
this question Mr. Hazelton had clear convictions and took a decided
stand for a speedy return to specie payment as the only sure road to
future national prosperity. With a majority of his district against him,
he took his stand upon the republican financial platform ; and although
democrats and greenbackers combined to defeat him, he overcame the
majority by his persuasive arguments, and was elected to the forty-sixth
congress. During this congress, in February, 1879, he delivered a mas
terly speech on the Powers of Government, and in it showed a thorough
knowledge of the political phases of the question, and exhibited a bold
ness of thought that showed that he had been a careful student of politi
cal history. His greatest effort, however, and that which ranked him
among the best orators of the house, was on the subject of national
banks. It was a speech in favor of honest money and national good faith,
and was widely published at the time and commented upon by the daily
press. During the fall of 1879, at the time of the congressional canvas
in California, he went thither in response to an earnest invitation and
assisted in the campaign, and- to the efforts of no man outside the state,
more than his, was due the republican victory that followed. In 1880
he delivered a famous address at Arlington cemetery on Decoration day,
and there took a bold stand that endeared him to the assembled veterans,
and proved to them that they would find in him a warm friend, who
would leave undone nothing that could be done to secure justice to those
who had risked their lives for the union. During this same year he was
re-nominated for a third term to congress and elected by a majority
ranking among the highest ever given any man in that district since the
close of the rebellion. In social life Mr. Hazelton is a most genial com-

180 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
panion, and by his many estimable qualities has attracted to himself a
host of warm friends. Of four children who have been born to him,
two are now living.
Frank and outspoken, and firm in his own convictions of the right,
he is ready always to maintain what he believes; and at the same time
no man is readier to acknowledge a fault or make amends for a wrong.
Mr. Hazelton is a fair example of perseverance, industry and self-reliance,
and now, in the very prime of his powers, well illustrates what may be
accomplished by hard work and a faithful adherence to an honest purpose.
Edward S. Bragg, Fond du Lac, was born at Unadilla, Otsego
county, New York, February 20, 1827, and is the son of Joel and Mar-
garetta Kohl Bragg. He was prepared for college at Delaware
academy, Delhi, and entered college at Geneva. In 1848 he com
menced the study of law, was admitted to the bar at Norwich, Chenango
county, and removed to Fond du Lac in 1850. He entered the army
as captain of Company E, Sixth Wisconsin regiment ; was promoted to
major ; to lieutenant-colonel ; to colonel ; to brigadier-general, in com
mand of the celebrated Iron brigade, and he was mustered out in
October, 1865. He resumed the practice of law at Fond du Lac; was
elected district attorney; was chosen state senator; was appointed post
master, and was elected member of congress in 1878 and again in 1880.
Gabriel Bouck, Oshkosh, was born at Fulton, Schoharie county,
New York, December 16, 1828. He was a son of the late William C.
Bouck, a man of great prominence among the former generation of New
York statesmen, and for one term governor of the state. Gabriel
graduated from Union college in 1847, and began his legal studies in
the office of Daniel S. Dickinson, at Binghamton. Removing to Mil
waukee in 1848, he studied for some time with Messrs. Finch and
Lynde, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. Soon after he removed to
Oshkosh and opened an office. In 1857 he was nominated over E. S.
Bragg as the democratic candidate for attorney-general, and was suc
cessful at the election. His term included the years 1858 and 1859. In
i860 he was chosen a member of the assembly, and again in 1874, serv
ing as speaker during the latter year.
The first notes of the war of the rebellion summoned Mr. Bouck to
the service of his country. In a very few days he organized a fine

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 181
company, and tendered its services to the governor. It became the
color company of the Second regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, and he
served as its captain during the early campaigns of our army on the Poto
mac. After the battle of Shiloh, where Colonel James S. Alban, of the
Eighteenth Wisconsin, was killed, he was commissioned to succeed him
and to reorganize the regiment which had suffered severe losses. He
performed this task with great vigor, and continued to command the
regiment during the two succeeding years. In this capacity, or as
often in command of a brigade, he fought in the siege and battle of
Corinth, the battles of Jackson, Champion Hills and Black River, the
siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Missionary Ridge. Colonel Bouck
was an unsuccessful candidate for congress by the nomination of the
democratic party in 1864 and again in 1874. In 1876 he was elected
a member of the forty-fifth congress, and two years later was reelected.
He was again the nominee of his party in 1880, but was defeated by
Richard S. Guenther. ATTORNEY-GENERALS.
Henry S. Baird, Green Bay, was born in Dublin, Ireland, May 16,
1800. His father, with Thomas Emmet and other exiles, came to
America in 1804. Mr. Baird's early education was obtained in the com
mon schools before the age of fifteen. He was an attentive student.
At the age of eighteen he entered a law office in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
and was afterward a law student at Cleveland, in the office of the late
Governer Wood, of Ohio. Mr. Baird was admitted to the practice of
law by Judge Doty, in June, 1823. In July, 1824, he came to Green
Bay and attended the first term of court held there. He subsequently
attended the first term of court held in Crawford county, at Prairie du
Chien. He may, therefore, be claimed to have been the oldest attorney,
professionally, in Wisconsin, and the father of the Wisconsin bar.
August 12, 1824, he returned to Mackinac, where he was married to
Elizabeth L. Fisher. They returned in September of that year, and
located where the Green Bay settlement then existed. He was presi
dent of the first legislative council of the Territory of Wisconsin, which
was held at Belmont in 1836. Upon the organization of the territorial
government he was appointed attorney-general by Governor Dodge.
In 1847 he was a member of the first convention to form a state consti
tution, which met at Madison.
11

182 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Among services of a public nature he was called upon to render,
was frequent and prominent participation in treaties between the United
States government and the Indian tribes, of whom he was the steadfast
friend. He was president of the village board in 1853, and mayor of
the city in 1861 and 1862. He was secretary to Governor Dodge at the
great treaty made at Cedar Rapids in 1836, wherein the Menomonees
ceded some four million acres of their country to the government of the
United States. He continued in the active practice of his profession
until about the year i860; when, having secured a competence and having
other business on his hands, he practically retired from practice, although
retaining his connection with the bar, serving in former and later years as
the honored president of the bar association of Green Bay. His death
occurred April 28, 1875. He had supervision of the Astor property in
Green Bay, his services as agent dating from about 1862. He was
scrupulous and exact in business relations, and maintained an unim
peachable reputation for probity and faithful stewardship.
In politics he became, after the dissolution of the whig party, a re
publican, of which organization he always remained an ardent and active
supporter. For many years he had been connected with the Masonic
fraternity; and, for a period embracing a number of years, one of the
most instrumental in contributing to its prosperity.
Perhaps it will not be irrelevant to the present purpose to go back
to the year 1824, when Fort Howard was garrisoned by four companies
of the third United States infantry. The officers and their families
were educated and accomplished people, with few sources of recreation,
and no social attachments outside their immediate military circle.
Naturally, they readily formed acquaintance with the few families
who sought a home at this their isolated place. The result was a mutual
cultivation of social qualities; and to this military post, maybe indi
rectly traced much of the politeness and affability of manner visible in
the remnant of early settlers in the locality of the old fort. Among
these officers and their families Mr. Baird and his young wife became
great favorites, and so remained till the post was broken up in about
1852. The generous hospitality, rare politeness, and refinement of their
home, has been as familiar as a household word. Senator Howe said at
their golden wedding anniversary, that in coming to Green Bay they
"brought the best style of Christian civilization with them and have
cherished it ever since." There are two daughters who survive Mr.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 183
Baird. Mrs. John A. Baker, of Green Bay, and Mrs. Dr. John Favill, of
Madison. The State Historical Society made him vice-president of it
since its organization. The memory of this just and good man will be
preserved fresh and fragrant.
A. Hyatt Smith, Janesville, was born in New York city, February
5, 1814, and is the son of Maurice and May Reynolds Smith, who were
natives of Westchester county, New York. The ancestors of Mr. Smith
were among the first settlers of Long Island. His father dying while his
son was yet young, he entered, in his early life, the law office of his
guardian, James Smith, and devoted himself to the study of law seven
years. At the same time he pursued his literary studies in the private
academy of Boreland and Forest, then the first classical school in New
York city, and completed his education at Mount Pleasant seminary,
which was under the management of Reverend Samuel J. Prince. Hav
ing completed his law studies Mr. Smith was admitted to practice in the
city courts of New York in the summer of 1835, and to the supreme
court of the state in 1836, under rules of very strict requirement now
largely abolished. He immediately entered upon a large and lucrative
practice, in partnership with his former preceptors, one of whom, James
Smith, retiring from the firm on account of failing health. Working un
remittingly for six years so impaired his health that his physicians
advised a change of climate, and accordingly he came to Wisconsin,
arriving at Janesville on November 22, 1842. Here Mr. Smith at once
invested in real estate, and in companies to improve the excellent water
power at that place, which laid the basis of the future prosperity of this
fine inland city.
In the summer of 1846 Mr. Smith, a democrat, was elected, in a
whig district, to the first constitutional convention, and in 1847 he was
appointed by Governor William Dodge, attorney general of the territory,
and held the office until the state was admitted into the Union. In 1848
he was appointed United States attorney by President James K. Polk,
and held the office until General Z. Taylor became President. He was
the first mayor of the new city of Janesville in 1853, and again in 1857.
For many years he was a regent of the State University. Mr. Smith is
widely known as closely, identified with plank road and railroad projects
of early days in the state, in which he sank a fortune, and made innu
merable enemies, but has lived to see his early railroad plans mainly

184 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
brought to fruition by other men at a later date. Subsequently he built
the Hyatt House, a large hotel at Janesville, which was, eventually,
burned January 1866, as did his mill in 187 1. He then moved his busi
ness to Chicago, opened a law office with a valuable library, only to
meet destruction in the great conflagration in that city of 187 1, together
with all his valuable papers, of which his safe was no protection.
Mr. Smith was made a Mason at Janesville in 1847, has been master
of the lodge, assisted in organizing a chapter of Royal Arch Mason, at
Janesville, and elected to the order of Knights Templar, but not wished
to be installed. He also aided in organizing a Temple of Honor at
Janesville, has always been an Episcopalian and a democrat. He mar
ried Miss Ann Margaret Cooper Kelley in New York, on April 4, 1838,
and has five surviving children. Mr. Smith has passed a long life of
surpassing activity, enterprise and indomitable energy, has been a man
of mark, clean moral character, and, in his declining years, still hale,
hearty and cheerful.
James S. Brown, Milwaukee, was born in Hampton, Maine, Febru
ary, 1824, and came to Milwaukee in 1844, where he commenc prac
tice. In June, 1848, he was elected the first attorney-general of the
state, and served to January 1, 1850. In 1861 he was mayor of Mil
waukee, and in 1862 was elected member of congress, and served one
term. He died in Milwaukee, April 16, 1878.
Squire Park Coon, Chicago, was born in Alexander, New York,
about 1820. He was educated at the Alexander Academy, and Nor
wich University, Vermont. He early settled as a lawyer in Milwaukee,
and in the autumn of 1849 was chosen attorney-general on the ticket
with Governor Dewey, serving during 1850 and 185 1. In 1861 he was
appointed, by Governor Randall, colonel of the Second Wisconsin regi
ment ; but owing to some misunderstanding, he soon retired from his
command. At Bull Run battle, Colonel Coon served with distinction
as a volunteer aid to one of.the generals on the field.
Experience Estabrook, Omaha, was born in Lebanon, New
Hampshire, April 30, 1813; studied law, and was admitted to the bar;
came to Wisconsin, and located at Geneva; was member of the second
constitutional convention; was attorney-general of the state during the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 185
years 1852 and 1853; removed to the territory of Nebraska, from
whence he was delegate to congress, and is now a resident of Omaha.
George B. Smith, Madison, was born at Parma Corners, Monroe
county, New York, May 22, 1823. His mother died while he was yet
an infant, and in the year 1825 he removed with his father to Ohio,
where most of the time, until the year 1843, he lived in Medina. In
the latter year he came with his father to Kenosha, in this state, then
known as Southport. He had pursued the study of the law at Medina
and Cleveland in Ohio, and on July 4, 1843, was admitted to practice
at Racine, in the United States district court, A. G. Miller presiding.
August 29, 1844, he married Miss Eugenia Weed, and settled in Madi
son, where he resided and practiced law until his death, which occurred
September 18, 1879, leaving a wife, a son and daughter. He was attor
ney general of the state for 1854 and 1855.
" Though a young man when he came to this state, he at once
took a leading prominent part in public affairs, which he continued
to take through all of his active life, holding many offices of honor in
the state. He was a member of the first constitutional convention,
attorney-general of the state, four times mayor of the capital city, many
times represented his district in the state assembly, and was twice a
member of national conventions. He twice received the support of his
party for representative to congress, and once as a candidate for the
United States senate, only failing in each case because his party was in
the minority." "Politically he was strongly attached to the demo
cratic party, and clung to its fortunes through good and through
evil report, with all the strength of his strong nature. In all contests
he was a conspicuous champion and a conspicuous target. He was
singularly free from personal ill feeling, and at the close of a busy and
somewhat turbulent life, he died with malice toward none, with charity
for all. It may be said of him that he did not possess in the highest
degree the power of close analytical reasoning, or the severe logic which
the discussions of dry questions of law sometimes require. But he was
fluent and pursuasive, and sometimes truly eloquent. His general
intelligence was of a high order, but he was not distinguished for close
logical power. His reading was discursive. He could not properly be
called a scholar even in his profession. His arguments in court were
not always remarkable for their learning; but he discussed no subject
in or out of court on which his great intelligence did not throw great

186 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
light. He was essentially an orator, always self-possessed, always self-
reliant. His mental resources were great, and were always at com
mand. Altogether he was an admirable advocate, with not many
equals, with few superiors among the great advocates of our profession."
William Rudolph Smith, Mineral Point, the eldest son of William
Moore Smith, was born at La Trappe in Montgomery county, Pennsyl
vania, on the 31st day of August, 1787. The family removing to Phila
delphia in 1792, he was placed at school under the tuition of Mr.
James Little and his ushers, this being at that time the largest and best
preparatory school in the city. In 1799 he was placed in the Latin
school of the Reverend James McCrea, but soon afterward the whole
care of his education was assumed by his grandfather, William Smith,
D.D., who received him into the old family residence at the Falls of
Schuylkill, where he remained under a rigid course of instruction until
April 1803, when, as private secretary, he accompanied his father to
England, the latter being one of the commissioners, under the sixth arti
cle of the Jay treaty, to adjust and settle the demands of the British
claimants. During their protracted residence in England the father
and son traveled much together at various times, journeying along the
south coast from Dover to Falmouth, visiting all points of interest in the
interior of the south and west, and making frequent and extended jour
neys into other parts of the kingdom. In London, their time was agreea
bly spent at the houses of many friends, and particularly at the house of
Charles Dilly, Queen's square, so often mentioned by Boswell, in his
Life of Johnson. Mr. Dilly took great satisfaction in showing to his
guests the arm chair in which Dr. Johnson always sat at his table, and
where he enjoyed himself, perhaps, more than at any other house in
London, ft was at this hospitable table that Dr. Johnson met with,
and learned to tolerate, the great radical leader John Wilkes. In Mr.
Dilly's house, the young secretary had the gratification to meet with the
venerable Pascal Paoli, with Richard Cumberland, with a brother of
James Boswell, and with many of the literary celebrities, and other
notarieties of the day. Benjamin West, the president of the Royal
Society, in his friendly attentions to the father and son, did much to re
pay the obligations which, in his early life, he owed to his friend and
patron Dr. William Smith. In the house of Mr. West, in Great New
man street, and in the picture gallery, young William R. Smith met and

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 187
formed friendships with many of the great painters and artists of England,
as well as of the continent, for in those stirring times London was the
city of refuge for all classes of emigres and refugees, seeking safety from
the whirlwind of strife then sweeping over every country in Europe.
George Cadondal, the great Vendean chief, and General Pichegron, both
afterward concerned in the attempt to assassinate Napoleon, were
among the acquaintances thus formed. These London days, teeming
with recollections of Sarah Siddons, John and Stephen Kemble, of
George III, the crazy old king, to whom he had been presented at court,
of the Prince of Wales, and Beau Brummel, and of the soldiers and
statesmen who were then shaping the destiny of the civilized world,
formed the solace of many an hour in after years, and incidents of this
period, remembered and related in his inimitable manner, were the de
light of three successive generations of listening friends.
His father intending him for the bar, young William R. Smith, during
his residence in England, commenced a preparatory course of study
under the direction of Thomas Kearsley, of the Middle Temple, and
from this period until the autumn of 1808 he was a diligent student of
the law; for the first two years after his return to America, under the
direction of his father, and afterward, in the office of James Milnor in
Philadelphia. In after years, Mr. Milnor removed to New York, and,
having taken orders, became a distinguished minister of the Episcopal
church. In 1808 Mr. Smith was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia,
his examiners being Richard Rush, Thomas Ross and Peter A. Browne;
the judge was Jacob Rush. The following year he removed to Hunting
don, Pennsylvania, a town laid out by his grandfather, and named in
honor of his friend Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.
Having entered. into the practice of his profession, and feeling there
fore settled in life, Mr. Smith was, on the 17th of March, 1809, married
to Eliza Anthony, of Philadelphia, who was descended on the father's
side from the Rhode Island family of that name, and on the mother's
side from Michael Hillegas, the treasurer of the United States during
the revolution. For the ensuing eleven years Mr. Smith led a busy
life, assuming at once a leadership in his profession, and becoming ex
tensively known as one of the profoundest lawyers in the state. In
181 1 he was appointed, under Walter Franklin, deputy attorney-general
for Cambria county; was reappointed to the same office by Richard
Rush, and in 181 2 was again reappointed by Jared Ingersol, the

188 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
attorney-general. A boy's preference for a military career had impelled
Mr. Smith in early life to connect himself with the third troop of Phila
delphia Light Horse, and whilst a member of that troop had the satis
faction of riding the same horse which had carried his father when a
member of this same ..company in the expedition to suppress the cele
brated whisky insurrection. This taste for military affairs strengthened
with advancing years, and caused Mr. Smith to make a careful study ot
the national defenses and the organization of the state militia forces ;
he devoted a large pertion of his time to the study of field tactics, and
was energetic and active in the organization and drilling of the Penn
sylvania militia in which he served, in various grades, up to the rank of
Major General, fn the war of 1812-15 with England, he was colonel
of the sixty-second regiment of the Pennsylvania reserves, and com
manded that regiment when it was ordered to Erie to support General
Scott in the movement on Canada which resulted in the victory at
Lundy's Lane. General Smith was in Baltimore during the siege of that
city, and he witnessed the disaster at Bladensburg, and the burning of
Washington by the British. In civil life General Smith filled with dis
tinguished ability the various offices to which he was at intervals either
elected or appointed. He served in both branches of the legislature of
Pennsylvania, held many offices of civil trust and honor, and in January
1836 was admitted counsellor of the supreme court of the United States
at Washington. In January, 1820, General Smith lost his wife, her death occurring
suddenly after a brief illness of a few hours only. Three years afterward
he married again; his second wife being Mary Hamilton Van Dyke,
whose family, originally from Delaware, had removed to and settled in
the State of Tennessee. In 1828 General Smith removed from Hunt
ingdon to Bedford county, where he resided until the year of 1837, when
he was appointed commissioner of the United States in conjunction with
Governor Henry Dodge to treat with the Chippewa Indians for the pur
chase of their pineries on the Mississippi river and its tributaries. The
journey into the northwest, in the fulfillment of this trust, forms an im
portant epoch in the life of General Smith. The wonderful resources of
the country in everything that serves to make a nation happy, rich and
great, impressed him profoundly. He saw with the prophetic vision of
a statesman that the scepter of empire must surely pass from the East,
to be seized upon with firmness and permanently held by the mighty

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 189
West. Instantly, almost, he resolved to be one of that earnest band of
pioneers who, turning heroically from the ease and comfort of their
eastern homes, willingly encountered all the hardships of a frontier life
in order to contribute the treasures of their learning and experience to
the great work of formulating the legislation and shaping the destiny of
these new states of such glorious promise. His letters to his brother,
Richard Penn Smith, afterward published in Philadelphia under the title
of Observations on Wisconsin Territory, are filled with glowing de
scriptions of this paradise for farmers. That the magic beauty of the
scenery deeply touched his poetic nature, may be witnessed by the
following lines dashed off in a moment of tender recollection:
All hail Wisconsin! prairie land,
In summer decked with flowers,
As scattered by some fairy hand,
'Mid sylvan shades and bowers.
Thy soil abundant harvests yields,
Thy rocks give mineral wealth,
And every breeze that sweeps thy fields
Comes redolent of health.
Perennial springs and inland seas
Give other beauties zest,
Long may thy dwellers live in ease,
Gem of the fertile West !
Returning to Pennsylvania, General Smith, in 1838, removed his
family to Wisconsin and settled in Iowa county, at Mineral Point. In
1839 he was appointed adjutant-general of the territory of Wisconsin
by Governor Dodge, which office he held under successive administra
tions for about twelve years. He also received from Governor Dodge
the civil appointment of district attorney of Iowa county, retaining this
office also for many years. In 1840 he presided over the first demo
crat convention that assembled at the seat of government of Wisconsin
territory, and he drafted the address sent forth by that body to the
people. He was elected secretary to the legislative council of Wiscon
sin, and in 1846 was elected delegate to the convention to form a con
stitution for the State of Wisconsin. The journals of that convention
show that General Smith either originated or gave most earnest support
to many of the legislative reforms that have since become law in Wis
consin, and have been widely adopted in other states of the Union;

190 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
notably the homestead exemption law and the rights of married women.
In 1849 General Smith was elected chief clerk of the senate, and again
in 1850 receiving the compliment of a unanimous vote. In 1849 Gen
eral Smith, together with a few other citizens, interested like himself in
collecting and preserving all matters of historical interest, formed the
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and the immediate success of the
society in collecting valuable material induced the legislature to place
the institution under the state patronage. A room in the capitol was
assigned for the use of the society, and thereafter annual appropriations^
were regularly made to carry out and enlarge the work and usefulness
of the institution.
By a special act of the legislature in 1852 General Smith was author
ized to compile a documentary history of Wisconsin from its earliest
settlement to the present time. To this work he devoted several years
of his life, and two volumes of the history were published by the state in
1854. In 1856 General Smith became attorney-general of the State
of Wisconsin, and for two years he filled that office with marked ability;
then having reached the ripe age of seventy-one years, he deemed it
best to retire from active professional and political life, and for the
remainder of his days to enjoy the well earned quiet of his home, his
library and the society of his family and intimate friends. Here, for
eleven years more, he was the delight of all who approached him, his
ripe scholarship and varied information, his sparkling wit and kindly
disposition gave a charm to his conversation that will never be obliter
ated from the memories of those who knew him. His reminiscences of
Washington and the statesmen of his day and many incidents and anec
dotes of historical interest were related with dramatic effect. The hands
of Washington had rested on his head, he had listened to the reading of
the farewell address ; he was present in the German Lutheran church in
Philadelphia when Major General Lee, by the appointment of congress,
pronounced the funeral oration of Washington, and he was in the theater
on the night when the national anthem of Hail Columbia was first sung,
and was witness to the enthusiasm with which the song was greeted.
He had seen every President of the United States from Washington
to Lincoln, and was thus in himself almost a history of the republic.
These and similar recollections endeared him to a generation that
regarded many of the events, in which he had been an actor, as almost
belonging to antiquity. In 1868 General Smith, still active and in good

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 191
health, made the tour of Wisconsin, visiting many of his old friends in
the northern and eastern part of the state; then he proceeded to Quincy,
in the State of Illinois, to visit his youngest daughter, Mrs. Robert H.
Deaderick, residing in that city, and there, in the fullness of years, this
long and brilliant life came to a quiet and peaceful close.
General Smith during all his life was an active and prominent Free
mason, passing through all the degrees of that order from the blue
lodge to the royal arch chapter. He had been grand master of the
State of Pennsylvania and was several times made grand master of the
grand lodge of Wisconsin. He had a singular love and veneration for the
order whilst he lived, and he was buried with masonic honors in Mineral
Point, August 26, 1868. A stately masonic monument now marks his
resting place.
Winfield Smith, Milwaukee, is a native of Wisconsin, having been
born at Fort Howard, where his father, Captain Henry Smith, was sta
tioned in the military service, August 16, 1827. He was named after
General Winfield Scott, of whose military family his father was a mem
ber for five years, and his father also saw arduous service in the Black
Hawk war, and in the subsequent war with Mexico, and died of yellow
fever at Vera Cruz in 1847. His mother was Elvira Foster, who re
sided in early life at Watertown, New York, and who was a woman of
high culture and possessing the most attractive traits of female character.
His parents were both members of educated and refined New England
families, and he inherits, in a marked degree, their strong yet elastic
mental fiber, a conscientious devotion to his convictions, and their physi
cal vigor and stamina.
His education was the subject of particular parental care. His
preparatory studies were continued till 1844, when he was in his seven
teenth year, and he then entered an advanced class in Michigan Uni
versity, and graduated two years afterward from that institution with a
high rank. While at the university, be developed a remarkable aptitude
in the science of physics and in mathematics, and he displayed great
skill in these branches of study. His progress in the classics was equally
striking, and he had also acquired proficiency in French, which he learned
in a private family in Watertown, New York, in 1840. He began the
study of German in Milwaukee, in 185 1, and he reads and speaks both
languages with fluency and correctness. Much of the force and polish

192 ' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
of his writings and of his forensic displays is attributable to his famili
arity with classical models, and with the spirit and energy of the ancient
masters. His education in all the departments of learning which he
pursued was thorough; his intellectual and moral discipline was excel
lent, and his naturally vigorous and well balanced mind emerged from
its period of training well equipped and prepared for the entrance upon
his professional studies, and for the emergencies and duties of business
and of life.
Upon leaving the University, in 1846, he took charge of a private
school at Monroe, Michigan, which had been his home since 1833. The
next year he retired from his school, and assumed the duties of private
tutor to a few advanced scholars in the classics, which afforded him
time for the study of the law, which he then began. In 1848 he
entered the law office of fsaac P. Christiancy, afterward justice of the
supreme court of Michigan, and United States senator, where he applied
himself with diligence and enthusiasm to the acquirement of legal learn
ing and of proficiency in the practical duties of the profession which
he had chosen for his career. He remained in Judge Christiancy's
office until October, 1849, when he removed to Milwaukee, where he
has since resided. There he entered the law office of Emmons & Van
Dyke, then having a high standing among the law firms of the North
west, where he further pursued his legal studies and entered upon
the practice of law in the local courts. In 1850 he was admitted
to practice in the supreme court of Wisconsin, and in 1851 he opened
an office of his own, and practiced law generally alone for four years
afterward, during which time he formed the acquaintance of the leading
men of the state, in business, in politics, and the various professions,
and was a conspicuous member of a large circle of able and ambitious
young men who were then laying the foundation of future careers of
activity, honor and usefulness. It was during this period that his char
acter fully ripened and formed; habits of sobriety and industry bore
their legitimate fruits; and his reputation for ability and integrity in his
profession, and for personal worth, was established. In 1855 he formed
a law partnership with Edward Salomon, afterward governor of the
state, which continued for fifteen years, at the end of which time, Gover
nor Salomon removed to New York city and made his residence there.
This was a prosperous and successful period in Mr. Smith's life, and he
took rank among the foremost members of the bar and public men of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 195
the Northwest. In 1862 he was appointed by Governor Salomon,
attorney-general of the state, to fill out the unexpired term of J. H.
Howe, who had resigned that office to enter the military service, and in
1863 he was elected by the people for a full term in the same office,
which expired January 1, 1866. He discharged all the duties of this
office with studious zeal and deliberate care, and in its round of severe
labors, his ability and professional learning were brought into active
exercise. Among the most useful and productive of these labors,
was his investigation of the claim of the Rock River Canal Company
against the state, and his report to the commissioners appointed to
ascertain and settle this alleged liability of the state to the claimant.
This report was so complete in all its facts and arguments, that it anni
hilated the grounds on which the claim of the canal company was based,
so that it was never revived against the state, and it led to a subsequent
adjustment between the general government and the company, in conse
quence of which, over three hundred thousand dollars, long withheld
from the state treasury by the general government awaiting the settle
ment of this claim, was paid over to the state.
Mr. Smith served for over ten years as United States commissioner
and master-in-chancery, and it was during this period that the fugitive
slave riots, including the Glover rescue, and the prosecutions of the
famous S. M. Booth and John Rycraft occurred, in which he was called
upon to act officially in the inquiry as to their participation in the rescue.
He discharged these unwelcome duties, consistently with his oath, faith
fully and honestly, and of course he did not escape censure from the
most bitter enemies of the law. His sense of official rectitude, however,
and his fidelity to his convictions of duty did not permit him to swerve
from the strict line of his legal obligations in obedience to impulses of
personal sympathy. His intimate friend, Byron Paine, afterward judge
of the supreme court, was one of the defendants in proceedings insti
tuted before Mr. Smith. Subsequent events vindicated his course. He
was not required to await the long course of years to meet his justification
before the people, and the popular majority, by which his appointment
at the head of the law department of the state government was ratified
and he was continued for another term in discharge of its duties, was
greater, with a single exception, than was ever cast for a candidate for
that office.
Mr. Smith was elected from the district in which he lives, a member

196 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
of assembly for 1872, and was appointed chairman of the committee on
the judiciary, and was one of the ablest debaters and leading jurists in
that body, and the legislation of that year bears the marks of his ,
wisdom, his care, and his enlightened skill in the science of public law.
In 1876 he was tendered the appointrnent of United States district-
attorney to succeed Judge Levi Hubbell, whose resignation had created
a vacancy in that office, but he declined the position.
Mr. Smith's business and professional associations, since the dissolu
tion of his partnership with Governor Salomon, have been as follows :
He practiced law in partnership with Joshua Stark, under the firm of
Smith & Stark, from 1869 till 1875. During the latter year he became
associated with the late Mathew H. Carpenter and A. A. L. Smith,
under the firm of Carpenter & Smiths, which continued till Senator
Carpenter's death, when the surviving partners formed a partnership as
Winfield and A. A. L. Smith, which still continues in active professional
practice. He is, at present, also president and a large stockholder
in the Cream City street railway, and his business standing and reputa
tion for integrity are such, that he has been repeatedly selected as trus
tee of estates and other property interests, including membership in the
boards of several public corporations. His clients are numbered among
the men of highest business standing in the city and state, and his prac
tice has included the most important and intricate cases in the courts.
His law practice has been in strictly legitimate directions, and his stand
ing at the bar is unequivocal, and he is among the ablest and best mem
bers of the profession. He has accumulated a moderate competence,
and is regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of Milwaukee
and the state.
Among the many important law and jury cases tried by Mr. Smith,
two may be mentioned as of special note. The first is the celebrated
draft riot case, so called, growing out of the enforcement of the draft in
Ozaukee county during the late war. This case involved the constitu
tionality of the acts of congress authorizing the conscription of citizens,
and their enrollment in the military service of the government, and the
lawful powers of the governor of the state in executing the act. The
events connected with this case are among the most striking in the his
tory of the state, and formed a crisis in the existence of the state and
national government. Party feeling ran high at the time, and all the
occurrences of the period attracted the anxious attention of all parties

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 197
and all classes of society. On the final appeal of the case to the
supreme court, all the acts of Governor Salomon in enforcing the draft,
including the arrest of recalcitrant citizens and their imprisonment in the
military camp at Madison, were declared to be constitutional and in pursu
ance to law, and the power of the government for its own preservation was
fully sustained. Mr. Smith exhibited a complete mastery of all the feat
ures of this case, and his success in the final decision of the supreme court
was due to the close study, careful arrangement and full preparation
which he had made for the trial, and to the principles of law and justice
on which he bases his pleadings and argument. Another case notable
from its importance and from the connection of Mr. Smith with its
various stages, grew out of the controversy between the stockholders of
the old Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien railroad company and the old
Milwaukee and St. Paul railway company, in which the latter giant cor
poration was enjoined from absorbing and destroying the former com
pany until the rights and interests of its stockholders were protected by
a satisfactory and equitable compromise. The national importance of
the draft riot case, and the vast pecuniary interests involved in the latter,
greatly enhanced Mr. Smith's reputation at the bar, led to an increased
practice and to retainers in some of the most important litigation of the
period. In politics Mr. Smith is of democratic antecedents, but he separated
from that party during the events attending the repeal of the Missouri
compromise, and has been an earnest and consistent republican from the
first presidential campaign of that party. During the war his patriotic
speeches and articles contributed to the press, greatly aided in stimu
lating enlistments and in the formation of a highly wrought public
opinion, which was necessary to sustain at home the principles and
objects for which our armies were fighting in the field. The value of
his labors in this direction was such, and they were so zealous and fruit
ful, that he was induced by his friends to abandon his expressed inten
tion of entering the military service.
Mr. Smith's name has been repeatedly mentioned in connection with
high judicial positions, but it has not been at such times as he found it
consistent with other duties and important interests to retire from active
practice and business pursuits. When Judge A. G. Miller, and after
ward when Judge James H. Howe resigned the judgeship of the United
States district court, he was strongly urged to accept the vacant place.

198 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
At the death of Chief Justice Ryan, in 1880, he was again urged to be
come a candidate for the chief justiceship, and in 1881 it was the almost
unanimous wish of the bar and the public that he should accept a
republican nomination, or be an independent candidate for circuit
judge, to succeed Judge Small, whose term was to expire in that year.
For the reason given, he was unable to accept the proposed honor in
either of these instances, but doubtless the future, at a proper and accep
table season, will open a way for him to the elevation which he is so
well qualified to occupy and adorn.
Mr. Smith, through his New England parentage, is of Scotch frish
descent, and possesses the mental and personal characteristics of this
combination of races. He has persistence, keenness, determination,
self-reliance, a conscientious independence of thought and action, strong
religious convictions, and sufficient imagination to warm and illumine
his other qualities and to complete his harmonious intellectual develop
ment. He has an analytic mind ; he considers every subject thoroughly
to which his attention is directed ; he takes nothing for granted ; he
demands the reason of every proposition addressed to his understanding.
He does not form opinions suddenly or by impulse, his beliefs are the
fruit of ripened and intelligent study, and are based upon all the facts
which can be brought to his knowledge. His sincerity, candor and
directness are marked traits of character; his word is regarded by
himself and by all to whom it is given as inviolable, and he enjoys the
unlimited confidence and respect of all who know him, in all the rela
tions of life.
In a work like this some allusions to the social and domestic life of
the individuals whose careers it describes are admissible and of interest,
but elaborate details of home and private relations are not expected." Mr.
Smith has been a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church since
his boyhood, and has been a member of St. Paul's church during his
residence in Milwaukee. His domestic relations are uncommonly,
and in the highest degree, pleasant, and he has cultivated throughout
his life the temper and qualities which render the fireside and family
circle delightful. He has an amiable and accomplished wife and six
children, of whom the two eldest, a son and a daughter, are happily
married and reside in Milwaukee. He loves music and is an amateur
performer on some musical instruments. He is a very skillful chess
player, probably among the very best in Milwaukee. He is fond of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 199
flowers, and never permits himself to be so engrossed in business cares
that he cannot spend some time daily in his conservatory. He has a
sunny and cheerful disposition and a fine and graceful humor, which
enliven his domestic and social intercourse, and are never at fault for
the inspiration of a pleasant word or simile in conversation, which make
him a genial companion and lighten his hours of study and care, which
enliven his forensic arguments while adding to their interest and force,
and which are an unbought beauty in his daily life. He has troops of
friends, and there are few men to whom a wise and gracious providence
has allotted such ways of pleasantness and paths of peace as have been
those in which he is permitted, to walk.
Charles R. Gill, Madison, was born in Winfield, Herkimer county,
New York, August 17, 1830. His parents were David and Nancy Clark
Gill, and he removed with them to a farm in Genesee county in 1843.
Here he worked on the place, attended school, and taught alternately,
until becoming of age, when he entered upon the study of the law, and
in September, 1854, was admitted to practice. In the same month he
was united in marriage with Martha A. Lanetori?; and together they came
immediately to Wisconsin, and located at WatePtown, where he at once
opened a law office. At first he had a hard struggle for business, but
finally met with excellent success. During the early years of his resi
dence at Watertown he was elected superintendent of schools, and served
three consecutive terms, and was afterward elected police justice, which
office he resigned after nine months' service, as interfering with his reg
ular law business. In 1859 he was elected to the senate as an indepen
dent over two other candidates who were regular party nominees. He
was then less than thirty years of age, but took a leading part in favor
of sustaining the general government in its war measures of 1861. Im
mediately after the close of the extra session of the legislature of that
year, senator Gill recruited a company, was elected its captain, and upon
the organization of the twenty-ninth regiment, to which his company
was assigned, he was commissioned its colonel. With it he fought at
Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, and other engagements with
credit. Prostrated by the arduous duties of th.e field, to the extent of
unfitting him for active servite he resigned June 27, 1863, returned home,
and after a partial recovery, resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1865 Colonel Gill was elected attorney general of Wisconsin on
12

200 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the republican ticket, and served two terms. He was appointed attor
ney of the United States in 1875, to take charge of the legal interests of
the general government in the Fox and Wisconsin river improvements,
and held the office until January 1876, when he was appointed commis
sioner of pensions. Proceeding to Washington, he entered upon the
duties of the office, but in a few months his health compelled him to
resign. He then resumed practice in Madison,, and is residing on a
homestead in the suburbs of the city. Entering upon a professional and
political career early in life, Colonel Gill has for many years been prom
inently before the public in both capacities, and has acquitted himself
with credit and honor.
S. S. Barlow, Baraboo, has been a man of note in the state, having
been member of the assembly, subsequently of the senate, and attor
ney-general two terms during the administration of Governor Fairchild.
He has now retired from active practice, in which he is succeeded by
his son located at Baraboo.
Alexander Wilson, Mineral Point, was born at Westfield, Chau-
tuaqua county, New York, August, 1833, and graduated at Union Col
lege, Schenectady, New York, in 1854. In the winter of 1854 and 1855
he taught school at Huntley Station, Illinois, for four months, and in the
spring of 1855 went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he continued the reading
of law in the office of Crozier & Hawthorne, and in the summer of 1855
went out on a public land survey, about thirty miles west of Fort Dodge
in Iowa, and in the fall helped survey a preliminary line for a railroad
from Dubuque to Independence. This substantially ended his work as
an engineer. In November, 1855, he was admitted to the bar at Du
buque, Iowa, and went from Dubuque to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and
engaged to teach in the public schools at that place, and taught there
until the winter of 1859 and i860. While teaching he read law in the
office of Cobb & Messmore, and commenced the practice of law in the
fall of i860. In the spring of i860 he was elected superintendent of
schools for that city, and was a member of the board of education for
several years. Was elected district attorney of Iowa county in the fall
of i860, again in 1864 and in 1866. In 1867 he resigned the office of
district attorney, and was appointed county judge December 9, 1867,
and held that office for about two years. He was county school superin-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 201
tendent in the year 1864. In the fall of 1877 Mr. Wilson was elected
attorney general of the state, and reelected in 1879, which office he
filled to universal satisfaction.
Leander F. Frisby, West Bend, was born June 19. 1825, in Meso
potamia, Trumbull county, Ohio. His father, Lucius Frisby, was a
native of Vermont, but removed with his family to Ohio in 1817, where
he settled on a farm, and followed the occupation of a farmer for over
thirty years. Although of limited early education, he possessed strong
native talents, and kept well posted on all the topics of the day. His
grandfather, on both his father and mother's side, were soldiers in the
revolutionary war. His mother, whose maiden name was Lovina Garry,
was also a native of Vermont. She is still living at the ripe old age of
ninety years, and has been, for eighteen years past, a member of the fam
ily of the subject of this sketch. She still retains those indelible traces
of pure and intellectual womanhood which were so characteristic of the
American mothers of the last generation, and which have done so much
to mould the best phases of American character.
Leander, in his early years, worked upon his father's farm during the
summer months, and attended the neighboring district school for the
short space of three months during the winter. At the age of eighteen,
with the consent of his parents, he left home and learned the trade of a
wagon-maker. From his boyhood he showed a fixed determination to
obtain an education, and devoted all his leisure hours, while learning his
trade, to reading and study. After becoming sufficiently skilled in his
trade to earn wages, he commenced a course of study at Farmington
Academy, in his native county, a school of considerable local fame,
where he paid his board and tuition by working at his trade out of school
hours, for a wagon-maker. He remained there three terms, and out of
some hundred and fifty students, when he left he ranked among the
best. He taught school one winter after leaving the academy, for the
purpose of replenishing his wardrobe and obtaining money to go west,
where he intended to teach for a time and return again to his studies.
He took passage from Cleveland on the second day of September, 1846,
and landed at Sheboygan, about the fifth, and thence went to Fond du
Lac. • The fall of 1846 will be remembered by the old. settlers of Wis
consin as the sickly season, and within two weeks from his arrival he
was taken sick with chill fever, which kept him disabled till far into the

202 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
winter. When he had so far recovered as to be able to work, the schools
were all taken, and being in destitute circumstances he sought work at
his trade. He found, however, upon application to the only wagon
makers in his vicinity, that they had not work sufficient for their own
employment ; and rather than remain idle or to encroach upon the gen
erosity of friends, he entered a cooper shop, as the only place where he
could obtain employment, and worked two months diligently, receiving
as wages only his board, which was the agreement he had made with the
proprietors at the time he began work; in the meantime seeking work at
his trade through correspondence with other parts of the surrounding
country. In March, 1847, receiving a favorable reply from a wagon
maker by the name of Craig, of Beaver Dam, he borrowed fifty cents
from a friend and started on foot for that place, paying his borrowed
money for his supper and lodging at a small tavern on the east side of
Rolling Prairie. A deep snow having fallen during the night, he traversed
Rolling Prairie and the last ten miles over an unbroken road, reaching
his destination at noon of the second day, not having tasted breakfast.
Here he commenced work at his trade for Mr. Craig, and continued in
his employ until the latter part of June. This was the first glimmer of
of sunlight which had dawned upon his pathway since leaving his native
state The long, sad, weary days of sickness, hardships, trials and
despondency spent during the fall and winter at Fond du Lac cannot be
portrayed or comprehended by one who has not tasted of the same bit
ter fruit, and it would be but a sad failure to attempt it. In the summer
of 1847 he went to Janesville, where he also worked at his trade in the
shop of a Mr. Curber. During all this time, however, he never lost sight
of his original object, and spent every moment which he could spare
from his labors, in hard, earnest study of such books as were at his
command. In the fall of 1847, having retrieved himself from his financial
embarrassment by hard and incessant toil at the bench, the darkness
and gloom which had at first overshadowed his pathway in the then far
west, was lifted, and the beauties of the prairie west presented them
selves to him in a new light, which induced him to abandon his first
intent of returning to the east, and he resolved to engage in teaching as
the best adapted to enable him to pursue his studies. Commencing in
the fall of that year, he taught nine months at Spring Prairie Corners,
in Walworth county, to the entire satisfaction of the community, who

X^Ll

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 205
would have gladly retained him another year ; but thinking he could do
better by teaching an academical school at Burlington, Racine county,
in September, 1848, he opened such a school in the old Burlington
Academy building, where he continued to teach until the summer of
1850, in the meantime pursuing the study of law and spending the summer
vacations of 1849 and 1850 in the law office of Blair & Lord at Port
Washington, now in Ozaukee county, where he was admitted to the bar
in the fall of the latter year. As a teacher he was eminently successful,
and built up a school at Burlington which was largely patronized, and
held in high esteem by the people of that place.
On the first of October, 1850, he located at West Bend, in contem
plation of its becoming the county seat of Washington county, where he
has ever since resided. For two years the county seat contest raged,
and the growth of the little village of West Bend remained nearly
stationary, and but little business found its way into his office. He,
however, pursued his studies vigorously, teaching the village school
during the winters of 1850, 1851 and 1852, attending to his little law
business evenings and Saturdays. When the division of the county, in
the winter of 1853, and the establishment of the county seat of the new
county at West Bend took place, a new era dawned upon the young
disciple of Blackstone, and from that time his course was onward and
upward. In the fall of 1853 he was elected the first district attorney of
the new county of Washington, and performed the duties of the office
with marked energy and success. In 1854 he was one of the secretaries
of the first republican state convention held in Wisconsin, at Madison,
July 13 of that year. In 1856 he was appointed county judge of Wash
ington county, by Governor Bashford, to fill out an unexpired term ;
in i860 was a delegate to the national convention held at Chicago,
which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was one of its acting secre
taries ; in the fall of i860 was elected to the state legislature in an
intensely democratic district, was a member of |hat body at the
breaking out of the late civil war, and was chairnW.- of the judiciary
committee at its special session in June, 1861; in 1868 he was the
republican nominee for congress in the fourth district, against Charles
A. Eldridge, and though defeated, he polled much the largest vote ever
cast for a republican in the district ; the same year he was one of the
republican presidential electors, and in 1872 was a delegate to the
republican national convention which renominated General Grant; the

206 THE BI-.NCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
same year he was chosen president of the Wisconsin state convention of
Universalists, and was reelected to the same position in 1873. In the
same year he received the republican nomination on the state ticket for
the office of attorney-general, and though he went down with his ticket
in the common disaster which that year overwhelmed the republican
party, he made a most remarkable run. His home county, Washington,
which gave the democratic candidates — except attorney-general —
about two thousand majority, gave Mr. Frisby something over six hun
dred majority. The result elicited much favorable comment from the
newspapers throughout the state. In the winter of 1878, when the
number of supreme judges had been increased from three to five by
constitutional amendment, and it had been agreed that each party
should select one candidate, both to be run together without opposi
tion, Mr. Frisby was strongly urged as the republican candidate, and
was one of the three who received the highest number of votes in the
republican caucus. Mr. Frisby did not feel at liberty to make a per
sonal effort in his own behalf, though probably no other position within
the gift of the people of the state would have been so acceptable to him
and agreeable to his talent and taste.
In the fall of 1878 he was put in nomination, much against his
wishes, for congress by the republicans of the fourth district, compris
ing the counties of Milwaukee, Washington and Ozaukee, and after
repeated and urgent solicitations he consented to run. A glance at the
statistics will show that this district had, ever since i860, given an
unwavering democratic majority of from five to eleven thousand, and
the friends of P. V. Deuster, the democratic nominee of Milwaukee,
confidently expected the old-time majority. After a spirited and in
some respects bitter canvass, the result was for several days in doubt,
but Mr. Deuster was at last declared elected by only one hundred and
thirty-five majority. The result attracted the attention of the whole
northwest, and ir was on every hand admitted that Mr. Frisby had
made an unusuair. strong run and was victorious in the midst of
defeat. Ever since the organization of the party Mr. Frisby has been
an ardent republican in politics, fn campaigns, when others were
despondent and hopeless, he was unusually sanguine and confident;
never desponding but always hopeful. Previous to the organization of
the republican party he was a free-soiler, and cast his first ballot for
president in 1848, for Martin Van Buren, the candidate of that party.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 207
From the day when he began to take an interest in national affairs he
was an earnest and uncompromising opponent of human slavery. It
has been, however, as a lawyer, that Mr. Frisby has made himself
prominent in the history of Wisconsin.
In 1854 he formed a law partnership with John E. Mann, the pres
ent county judge of Milwaukee county, which continued till Mr. Mann
was elected judge of the third circuit in 1859. He soon thereafter
formed a copartnership with Paul A. Weil, and in 1874 S. S. Barney
was taken into the firm, and remained therein till the fall of 1879, when
the old firm of Frisby & Weil was again resumed. He has now been
in the active practice of his profession for thirty years, and for the last
twenty years has enjoyed an extensive and lucrative business. Mr.
Frisby is regarded throughout the state as an. able lawyer in all branches
of the profession. He is an earnest and successful advocate before a
jury, and. has been eminently successful as a jury lawyer. As an
equity lawyer he has had much experience, and his opinion in matters
arising under that branch of the law can pretty safely be relied upon.
His industry in the work of his profession is extraordinary, and is a
subject of universal remark among his friends and acquaintances. This,
together with a naturally judicial mind and remarkable perceptive facul
ties, has placed him in the front ranks among the lawyers of Wisconsin.
In 1854 he was married to Miss Frances Rooker, of Burlington, Racine
county, Wisconsin, they being now comfortably situated in a pleasant
home in West Bend, having a family of five children, two of whom, Miss
Alice and Miss Almah, graduated with honor at the Wisconsin State Uni
versity, in the class of 1878.
Judge Frisby was nominated on the republican state ticket in i88i>
for attorney-general, and was elected, running far ahead of his ticket in
his own village and county, which is another oft-repeated evidence of
the esteem in which he is held by those who know him best.
Mr. Frisby is tall and commanding in figure, pleasant and affable in
address, and owing to constant temperate habits his faculties are
remarkably clear and vigorous. Many years of usefulness are evidently
before him, full of honor and profit, both to himself and to the large
circle of friends and acquaintances by whom he is surrounded.

208 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
SECRETARIES OF STATE.
Peter Doyle, Prairie du Chien, is a native of Ireland, having bten
born at Myshall, county of Carlow, December 8, 1844. His parents
came to Wisconsin when he was six years old, and settled at Franklin,
Milwaukee county, his father engaging in agricultural and mercantile
pursuits. Mr. Doyle enjoyed the advantages of a full and thorough edu
cation. He taught school for a short time in Milwaukee, but desiring
to adopt the profession of law, entered on its study in the office of But
ler & Cottrill in that city, where he remained about two years. In 1865
he went to Prairie du Chien, engaging in railway business. When that
place became a city in 1872, the dominant party nominated Mr. Doyle
as first mayor, which he declined. The next fall he was elected mem
ber of the assembly for Crawford county, and was prominent at the
ensuing session of the legislature, taking part in the discussion of the
principal measures jKoposed.
In the fall of 1873 his name was placed on the reform ticket for sec
retary of state, and he was elected. In 1875 he was reelected, thus fill
ing the office for four years, after which he declined to be a candidate.
As secretary of state he was also ex-officio auditor, and commissioner of
insurance. The manner in which secretary Doyle discharged the duties
of his office is thus referred to in the Wisconsin volume of the United
States Biographical Dictionary, published in 1877: "No man has ever
occupied the department of the secretary of state, who has displayed a
better knowledge of its duties, or greater ability or honesty in their dis
charge, than have characterized the Honorable Peter Doyle. Though
comparatively a young man, being but little more than thirty years of
age, he shows a maturity and wisdom in his action upon public affairs
which give the impression of his being a much older man than he really
is ; and his official action has the discretion, dignity and sobriety which
belong to advanced years. He is a thorough man of business, a well
read lawyer and a scholar of ripe acquirements. He is really one of the
ablest men in public life in the state. His reports and the part which
he has taken in the administration of the state finances are evidences of
the thorough fitness and great capacity which he brought into the office.
The vigor with which he discharges all the duties which the law places
upon him, and the laborious care which he bestows not only on the larger
but the minor details of business are such as have not been surpassed
even by the most industrious and experienced of his predecessors."

^

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 211
After Mr. Doyle's retirement from official position he visited Europe,
traveling in the British Isles and also in France, Italy, Austria, Germany
and Belgium. Although for some time a. member of the bar, soon after
his return from his travels he entered Yale College, for the purpose of
reviewing his legal studies before commencing the practice of law. He
remained there about a year, during which time he attended lectures in
other departments, especially that of philosophy, in addition to keeping
up with the legal course. At the close of the term he received from the
college the degree of Bachelor of Laws, his standing being third among
thirty-one who obtained that degree, after a lengthy and thorough exami
nation, thus coming within the honor list, consisting of the five who stand
highest among those examined. In the publication already referred to,
we find the following reference to Mr. Doyle, written by the author of
that work :
" Mr. Doyle is upward of six feet in height, of well developed form,
and is capable of enduring much physical and mental labor. He is dig
nified in appearance and deportment, but is modest and unassuming, and
has a high appreciation of real merit. He deliberates carefully, and acts
with promptness, energy and decision. Sincere and honest in his con
victions, and earnest in the advocacy of his principles, he looks only to
that which he believes to be right, disregarding mere expediency. He
is a forcible writer and speaker, is clear in his views, logical in argument
and classical in style. He is fond of poetry, and is familiar with many
of the works of the English and German poets, as well as the ancient
classical authors. Politically he favors the largest degree of personal
liberty consistent with the welfare of society, and is strenuously opposed
to interference by the state in matters pertaining to individual right or
private conscience." The accompanying portrait was taken at the close
of Mr. Doyle's course at Yale. He intends to commence the practice
of law the present year, business engagements and official life having
prevented his doing so sooner.
John Scott Horner was born at Warrenton, Virginia, December
5, 1802. He graduated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, in 1819,
and practiced law in Virginia until 1835, at which time he was appointed
by President Jackson secretary and acting governor of the territory of
Michigan which included Wisconsin. On the formation of Wisconsin
into a territory he was appointed its secretary, and subsequently acted

212 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
as register of the land office at Green Bay thirteen years, and judge of
probate four years for the counties of Marquette and Green Lake.
The venerable governor is passing the decline of his active and useful
life in quiet and elegant retirement at his large and comfortable residence
in Ripon. John Catlin was born at Orwell, Vermont, October 13, 1803.
His education was primarily in the common schools, completing it at
Newton Academy. Quitting school at the age of eighteen, he com
menced teaching, which employment he followed nine successive
winters, devoting summers to self-culture and reading law under the
direction of Augustus C. Hand, at Elizabethtown, New York, and was
admitted to the bar when thirty years of age. He came to Wisconsin
in 1836, located at Mineral Point in law partnership with Moses M.
Strong. In the fall of that year he was appointed clerk of the supreme
court, and was clerk of the territorial house of representatives from
1838 to 1846. In the spring of 1838 he received the appointment of
postmaster at Madison, and removed his residence to the then new
capital of the territory. On the change of administration by the elec
tion of General Harrison to the presidency, he was removed from the
office, but was reinstated by President Tyler, and held the office until
1844, upon his election as a member to the territorial council. He was
the first district attorney for Dane county, and was appointed secretary of
the territory in 1846, and occupied the office until 1848, upon Wisconsin
becoming a state. Subsequently he was elected county judge for Dane
county, which he resigned to become president of the Milwaukee &
Mississippi Railroad Company, in consequence of which he removed
to Milwaukee. He officiated in that capacity until 1856, when he
declined a reelection, but accepted the office the succeeding year, and
continued his connection with it until its consolidation with the Mil
waukee & St. Paul Railway Company. One of the early pioneers of
Wisconsin, Judge Catlin, was conspicuous in public affairs of that early
day, as the record of his life narrated above will show.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 213
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS.
Moses McCure Strong, Mineral Point, is of Puritan stock. His
paternal ancestor, Elder John Strong, emigrated to America in 1629,
and settled at Dorchester, Mass. He died at the age of ninety-four
years at Northampton. The father of Mr. Strong was educated as a
lawyer and became distinguished at the bar. In 1825 he was called to
the bench, whence he retired to private life. Moses McCure Strong
was born at Rutland, Vermont, May 20, 1810. He derived his earliest
educational instruction from his mother. He was five- years at the vil
lage school, thence went to the grammar school at Castleton, Vermont.
In 1825 he entered the freshman class of Middlebury College, Ver
mont. Three years after he joined the senior class of Dartmouth Col
lege, where he graduated in 1829. Having graduated he entered the
law office of Rodney C. Royce, and at the expiration of one year he
entered the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, where he remained
one year, when, after a thorough examination in open court by the judges
and members of the bar, he was admitted to practice in all the courts of
Connecticut. In 1836 he removed to Wisconsin. In July, 1832, Mr.
Strong was married to Miss Caroline Frances Green, daughter of Dr.
Isaac Green, of Windsor, Vermont. In 1833 he received the appoint
ment of deputy surveyor general of the State of Vermont. In 1835,
when the democratic and whig parties were being organized for the
approaching presidential election, although Mr. Strong's father and numer
ous relatives were all whigs, yet the leading measures of Jackson's adminis
tration met his approval, and he cut loose from his political associations,
and supported Mr. Van Buren for the presidency. In 1836, while at
Washington city, he was engaged by Governor Hubbard and others to
invest large sums of money in government lands, and under their direc
tions he went directly to Mineral Point, in Wisconsin, and invested the
funds intrusted to him. Upon his arrival he opened a law and land
agency office, and has made that place his home ever since, fn 1837
Mr. Strong received an appointment from General Lytle for surveying
government lands on the west side of the Mississippi river, in what is
now Jackson and Dubuque counties. In 1838 he was appointed United
States attorney for the territory of Wisconsin, which office he held three
years, discharging his duties with punctuality and ability, and acquiring
high professional distinction. In 1841 Mr. Strong was elected a mem-

214 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ber of the legislative council to fill a vacancy, and in 1842 was reelected
for the full term of four years, in which he took a prominent and active
part in all questions brought before it, and was twice elected as its presi
dent. He was elected as one of the delegates to the convention which
assembled at Madison in 1846, and took a leading part in framing the
first constitution. This constitution was submitted to the people for
adoption, and, after very exciting discussions throughout the state, was
rejected. Another constitution was adopted in February, 1848, and
ratified by the people in March of that year. In November, 1849, Mr.
Strong was elected to the assembly, and at the meeting of the legis
lature in 1850 was chosen speaker. The session lasted thirty-four days,
being the shortest ever held in the state, mainly due to the promptness
and ability of the speaker.
In 1852 he devoted much of his time in aiding the construction of
the La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad, and afterward in constructing
the Mineral Point railroad. He drew up the charter of the La Crosse
railroad, and its adoption was due chiefly to his efforts. He was elected
its first president, and continued in its management until the financial
disaster of 1857. He was also president of the Mineral Point railroad,
which he materially benefited by making successful arrangements with the
fllinois Central and Galena & Chicago railroads. Mr. Strong spent six
years in promoting the success of these enterprises, which withdrew him
from his profession of the law, and it required years of laborious effort
to regain what he had lost.
Mr. Strong, from early education and habit of thought, is a firm
believer in the Christian religion, and being attracted by the beautiful
and classic liturgy of the Episcopal church, he took an active part in
organizing a church in Vermont and was a member of the vestry. On
removing to Mineral Point he, with a few other churchmen, organized
Trinity church in that parish, of which he has ever since been a vestry
man, and in which he received the rite of confirmation at the hands of
Bishop Kemper. Since then he has been a regular communicant and
frequently a delegate to the diocesan convention. His religious char
acter has nothing of asceticism in it. He has always indulged in the
innocent amusements of life. Since 1858 he has avoided public life,
and confined himself chiefly to his professional duties in the practice of
the law. Nature has endowed Mr. Strong with some rare gifts, among
them a vigorous, physical constitution, and intellectual ability of a high

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 215
order, logical, discriminating and comprehensive. He is an able debater,
a close reasoner, an impressive, and occasionally and eloquent speaker.
He has acquired an enviable reputation at the bar and in the legislative
councils, in which bodies as a parliamentarian and presiding officer he
has had no superior in the state. But his knowledge of the principles of
law, his calm deliberation, his logical power and his analytical acumen,
better fit him for the bench than the bar.
George W. Lakin, Milwaukee, was born in Harrison, Cumberland
county, Maryland, March 29, 1816. He was educated at the Wesleyan
Seminary, at Readfield, Maine, graduating in 1837. In the same year
he taught school in Livermore, Maine, boarding in the family of Israel
Washburn, father of the noted family of congressmen by that name.
He commenced the study of law in 1838, at Readfield Corners; came to
the west in 1839; spent some time in Missouri, and was admitted to the
bar of that state in 1841. After admission to the bar, he came at once
to Wisconsin, and opened an office at Platteville, Grant county, in the
same year. In 1847 Mr. Lakin was elected representative from the
county of Grant to the constitutional convention, and in that body
served on the committee on banks, banking and incorporations. He
took a prominent part in the discussions of the convention, speaking upon
many of the most important subjects before it. He had a strong mind,
highly cultivated, and, possessing an excellent voice, his speeches were
always listened to with marked attention. In 1848 he was elected a
member of the state senate, in which body he served two years, ranking
among the ablest men in it, and was valuable and useful in shaping the
affairs of the state government. He was appointed United States dis
trict attorney for Wisconsin, in 1849, by President Taylor, and held the
office until the close of Mr. Fillmore's term in 1853, discharging the
duties of the position with marked ability, and fidelity to the interests
of the government. In 1854 Mr. Lakin removed to the city of Mil
waukee, where he has ever since devoted his time to the practice of his
profession. He still resides in Milwaukee, an honored member of
its bar. Don Alonzo J. Upham, Milwaukee, was born in Weathersfield,
Windsor county, Vermont, May 31, 1809. When sixteen years of age
he chose the legal profession, and attended the preparatory school at

216 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
Chester, Vermont, and subsequently, in 1826 and 1827, at Meriden,
New Hampshire. At the age of nineteen he entered the sophomore
class at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and graduated in 1830.
He entered the law office of James Tallmadge, in New York city, as a
law student, was admitted to the bar in the city of Baltimore, took up
his residence in Wilmington in 1834, and commenced the practice of law.
In 1835 he was elected city attorney.' He settled in Milwaukee in the
fall of 1837 in partnership with Clinton Walworth, and at a later day
with Wilson Graham. He was a member of the territorial legislative
assembly in 1840, 1841 and 1842; was elected county attorney in 1843;
was president of the constitutional convention of 1846 ; was elected
mayor of the city of Milwaukee in 1849, reelected in 1850, and was
United States attorney from 1857 to 1861. His health failing in 1863,
he retired from the active duties of his profession, and died July 19,
1877. Charles Morton Webb, Grand Rapids, a native of Towanda,
Pennsylvania, was born December 30, 1833. His father, John L. Webb,
was, in his latter years, a merchant and prominent politician, and at
the time of his death, which occurred in 1846, he was a member of the
Pennsylvania legislature. His mother's maiden name was Annis Ham
mond. She died about 1875. Charles M. Webb closed his studies in
school at the age of twelve years, and entered a printing office at Troy,
Pennsylvania. Subsequently he worked at the printers' trade at Wells
boro, in the same state. In 1850 he entered the military academy, West
Point, and there spent a year and a half. He worked in a printing
office at Washington, District of Columbia, about two years, and in 1855
began the study of law with Ulysses Mercur, a member of the supreme
bench of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar of that state in
September 1857. After spending a short time looking for an opening
he settled in April, 1858, at Grand Rapids, at that time a village of
eight hundred inhabitants. During the first year of his residence there
he was elected district attorney, and held that position at the opening of
the rebellion in 1861. Resigning his office in Sevvtember of that year
he entered the army as first lieutenant of Company G, Twelfth Regiment,
and after eight months service resigned. Returning to Grand Rapids
he resumed his legal practice, and in 1864 was elected clerk of the board
of supervisors, in which capacity he served during two terms. He was

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 217
elected to the state senate in 1868, and served two sessions. He was
United States district attorney for the western district of Wisconsin from
the creation of that district in 1870 until he resigned in 1877. He has
always acted with the republican party. On the 2d of January, 1857, he
was married to Miss Jane Pierce, of'Smithfield, Pennsylvania, and has
three children. Mr. Webb is a close student of law. His strength
is before a jury: he is logical, clear and persuasive. In 1881 Mr.
Webb received the appointment of register of the land office at Dead-
wood, Dakota, and has entered upon the duties of the office, his tem
porary removal from Wisconsin being regretted by the many friends he
leaves behind.
Henry M. Lewis, Madison, was born in Cornwall, Vermont, Sep
tember 7, 1830 ; came to Wisconsin, and settled near Sun Prairie, in
1846. His education was obtained in the public schools of Vermont
and Wisconsin, and one term at the University of the latter state.
He studied law at Madison in the several offices of L. P. Vilas & Rem
ington, and Judge A. L. Collins and G. B. Smith, and was admitted at
the same place in November, 1853. He began practice the same fall
at Hudson as a member of the firm of Semmes, McMillan & Lewis,
having an office also at Stillwater. Mr. Lewis came to Madison and
opened an office in 1854, where he has since remained. From 1861 to
1863 he was district attorney for Dane county; alderman from 1862 to
1869 ; a member of the board of education for two years. In March,
1867, he was appointed United States revenue collector for the second
collection district of Wisconsin, which office he held until 1873. In
September, 1875, he was appointed assistant United States district
attorney for the western district of Wisconsin, and upon the resignation
of Charles M. Webb, in February, 1878,- was appointed United States
district attorney, which position he still holds.
Jefferson Clark McKenney, Milwaukee, was born at Bridgton,
Maine, April 27, 1841. His parents, Humphrey and Lydia McKenney,
removed to Wisconsin in September, 1854, and settled in Columbia
county. Jefferson entered the State University at Madison in 1857, and
attended that institution until 1861, pursuing a scientific course. For
a short time in i860 and 1861 he read law with Smith S. Wilkinson, at
Prairie du Sac, and subsequently with Henry W. and Daniel K. Ten-

218 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ney, at Madison. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the Twenty-third
Wisconsin Infantry, and was appointed first sergeant of Company I.
He served until the following April, when he was discharged for disa
bility contracted during Sherman's unsuccessful attack on Vicksburg.
On May 22, 1863, Mr. McKenney* was admitted to the bar of the circuit
court of Dane county. April 20, 1875, on motion of Timothy O. Howe,
he was admitted to the supreme court of the United States. In 1863 he
took up his residence in Chicago, where he remained for a little more
than a year. Thence he returned to Madison, and continued to
practice his profession at that place until 1875, when he removed to
Milwaukee. In 1868 he was employed by Door county to prosecute
Patrick McDonald for the murder of Thomas Stinson, the trial result
ing in the conviction of the prisoner, and a sentence of imprisonment
for life. For some time Mr. McKenney was an alderman of the city of
Madison, and from July 16, 1869, to January 1, 1872, was district
attorney of Dane county. From January 1, 187 1, for several years, he
was assistant United States district attorney for the western district of
Wisconsin. In July, 1873, he received a special appointment to con
duct proceedings to enjoin the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com
pany from building a bridge across the Mississippi river near La Crosse,
and was successful in procuring the injunction at the suit of the United
States. May 15, 1875, he was employed by telegraph from the government
at Washington, to take charge of the prosecutions against the " whisky
ring" of Milwaukee ; and to that end was appointed first special assist
ant United States district attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin,
and subsequently acting district attorney. About the same time he was
also appointed special assistant United States attorney for the northern
district of fllinois, but did not qualify in that capacity. The so-called
whisky trials are so famous and interesting a part of the history of our
courts that they occupy a separate chapter in this volume ; and it is suffi
cient to say here that Mr. McKenney conducted them with notable vigor
and ability, bringing to bear against the defendants the skill of a
detective, and the learning of a thorough lawyer. After their close he
was several times employed by the United States as special assistant in
suits of more than ordinary importance. In the fall of 1878 Mr. Mc
Kenney was chosen district attorney of Milwaukee county, and served
in that capacity for the two years ensuing.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 219
John J. Jenkins, Chippewa Falls, was a native of England, having
been born in that country in 1843, and came to the United States when
a youth. He was educated at Baraboo, this state, where he also studied
law and was admitted to the bar. Coming to Chippewa Falls he entered
into partnership with J. M. Bingham, lieutenant-governor of the state,
which continued several years, and also at one time Mr. W. R. Hoyt
was associated with him in practice. Mr. Jenkins has filled several
offices in the line of his profession : for three terms he was city attorney
for Chippewa Falls; county judge of Chippewa county two terms;
member of the Wisconsin legislature for the session of 1872, and United
States attorney for Wyoming territory, having been appointed thereto by
President Grant. During the late war he served in Company A, Sixth
Wisconsin Infantry. When in the legislature Mr. Jenkins took an active
part in the proceedings of that body, and was an influential member.
ATTORNEYS BY JUDICIAL CIRCUITS.
FIRST CIRCUIT.
John Tracy Fish, Racine, was born at Lake Pleasant, Hamilton
county, New York, November 7, 1834. His father was Joseph Warren
Fish, a man of notably excellent judicial judgment, and of great honor
and integrity of character. Mr. Fisher's early education was begun in
the public schools and completed in Kingsborough Academy, New
York. He came west in 1854 to Walworth county, Wisconsin. He
studied law in McHenry, McHenry county, Illinois, and subsequently
in Whitewater with Mr. Kellogg, and was admitted in July, 1859, at
Elkhorn. He commenced practice at Sharon, Walworth county, and
remained there until the opening of the war. In September, 1861, he
entered the army and served in the Thirteenth regiment as second
lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain, until December 26, 1865, when
he was mustered out with his regiment at Madison, and resumed the
practice of law at Sharon. In 1867 he removed to Burlington, and
practiced there until the fall of 1868, when, upon his election as district
attorney of Racine county, he removed to Racine in the spring of 1869.
He served in that capacity four years. In 1871 he went into partner
ship with Charles H. Lee. After this connection ceased, in 1878, Mr.
Fish was alone till March t88o, when he took his son, F. M. Fish, into
partnership. His practice has been extensive, and has extended
13

220 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
through all the courts from that of justice of the peace to the supreme
court of the United States.
Frank M. Fish, Racine, was born in McHenry county, Illinois,
July 4, 1858, was educated in the public schools and at I. G. McMynn's
Academy in Racine. He studied law with Fish & Lee, of Racine,
where he was admitted in July, 1879. Since March, 1880, he has been
in partnership with his father, John T. Fish, Racine.
Nicholas N. Harrington, Delavan, was born in West Greenwich,
Rhode Island, July 15, 1815. In 1817 Mr. Harrington removed to
Potter, Yates county, New York, in company with his parents. His
early educational advantages were very limited, his attendance at
school not being more than one year previous to his nineteenth birth
day. At this time he became a teacher at eleven dollars per month,
an occupation which he continued during seven winters and two sum
mers, During this time he attended the Yates county academy, and
the Franklin Academy at Prattsburgh, New York, and by close applica
tion to his studies in and out of school acquired a good English educa
tion, and some knowledge of Latin and Greek. In 1843 ne became an
inhabitant of the Territory of Wisconsin, making Delavan, then an
infantile hamlet, his first stopping-place, soon deciding to make it his
permanent home, and entering into the mercantile pursuit. He gave
his services to the deaf and dumb institute, located at Delavan, for
fourteen years, as trustee, treasurer and corresponding secretary. He
accepted the office of postmaster under the administration of Franklin
Pierce, unsolicited, for the purpose of obtaining additional mail facili
ties for Delavan. Mr. Harrington is an admitted attorney at the courts
of the state. In politics he is usually associated with the democratic
party, but in the late war period he earnestly lent his influence to the
preservation of the Union. Mr. Harrington has been thrice married :
his present wife was Catharine M. Crosby, daughter of Eber Crosby, a
descendant of Enoch Crosby, the Harvey Birch, Cooper's spy, of the
revolution. She is a lady of superior culture and sterling qualities.
Mr. Harrington has been very successful in the business of life, and is a
highly respected citizen.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 221
John M. Hayes, Kenosha, was born at Berwick, York county,
Maine, August 30, 1838, graduated from Dartmouth College in the class
of i860; taught school every winter during his college course; studied
law with Sullivan Cavimo at Lockport, New York, one year ; graduated
at Albany Law School, Albany, New York, in 1862; was admitted to
the bar in Albany, 1862, in Chicago the same year, and in Kenosha in
1876; practiced in Chicago from 1862 to 1868, three years of which
were with A. Van Buren in the firm of Van Buren & Hayes; was with
Daniel L. Shorey in the firm of Shorey & Hayes, in Lockport, New
York, from 1868 to 1870; again in Chicago from 1873 to 1876 and in
Kenosha from 1876 to the present time as one of the firm of Van Bus-
kirk & Hayes for a while and now alone. From 1870 to 1873 the prac
tice of Mr. Hayes was interrupted by ill health. Mr. Hayes is a mem
ber of the fraternities of Freemasons and Odd-Fellows. In Kenosha he
has been closely identified with the cause of public schools and has acted
in the capacity of superintendent of them.
Charles Henry Lee, Racine, was born in Racine, August 22, 1847,
and is the son of Alanson H. Lee, one of the pioneer settlers of Racine,
He was educated at the public schools of that city while under the
direction and teaching of J. G. McMynn of educational celebrity. Sub
sequently he was a year in the law school at Albany, New York, and then
entered the law office of Fuller & Dyer, Racine, in September, 1866, as a
law student, and was admitted to the bar in 1869 at the age of twenty-one.
From that time he had charge of the office business of that firm until
April, 187 1, when a partnership was formed with John T. Fish, Racine,
under the firm of Fish & Lee, which continued until January 1878.
Since February, 1878, he has been exclusively employed as the general
attorney of the firm of J. I. Case & Company and of the Case Threshing
Machine Company, their successors. Mr. Lee is a republican, but in no
sense a politician, and his religion is his own private affair.
Joseph H. Page, Whitewater, was born at Columbus, New York, on
June 14, 1832. He received his early education in his native town,
and when twenty-four years of age, he put himself under the instruction
of Reverend J. P. Hunting, a retired professor, and devoted a portion
of the day to study, working at(a trade the rest of the time. He pur
sued the same plan in his study of law, spending five hours of the day

222 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
at work, and the remainder in study. After three years he entered the
law office of H. C. & R. L. Miner, Madison county, New York, and
remained there one year, until 1862. He was admitted to the bar, at
Binghamton, by the four judges of the general term. He afterward
went to West Edmeston, and practiced his profession there during one
year. He then came to Wisconsin, and in 1865 settled at Whitewater.
In November of the same year he entered into a law partnership with
N. D. Montague, which continued until July, 1870, when the firm dis
solved. Mr. Page then conducted the business alone until 1878,
when he took Samuel Bishop into partnership, which connection still
continues. Joseph Very Quarles, Racine, was born in the city of Kenosha,
December 16, 1844, and, having received preparatory instruction, he
entered Michigan University, took a full classical course, and graduated
from that institution in the class of 1866. He then commenced the
study of law with O. S. Head, one of the oldest practitioners of
the state; was admitted to the bar in 1868, and entered upon practice
in Kenosha in partnership with Mr. Head in 1868. When the war of
the rebellion broke out he entered the army and was lieutenant in
Company C, Thirty-ninth Wisconsin regiment. On returning from
military service he recommenced the practice of his profession, which
he has since continued at Kenosha. While yet young, Mr. Quarles has
been called to public life : was district attorney for Kenosha county
six years ; mayor of the city in 1876 ; president of the board of educa
tion for 1877 and 1878; member of the assembly in 1879, and state
senator in 1880 and 1881. During senator Quarles' service in the legis
lature, he gradually arose to influence and considerable distinction, serv
ing on the judiciary and other important committees. At the election of
United States senator in 1-881, to fill the place of August Cameron, Mr.
Quarles, without being a candidate, received a handsome vote in the
republican nominating caucus, and, had he not immediately withdrawn
his name, there is no knowing what might have been the consequence.
At that time Mr. Quarles declared his intention to withdraw from pub
lic life for ten years, under the advice of physicians, to save his health,
which had become impaired by over mental labor in the duties of office ;
and he was obliged, for the same reason, to withdraw from the senate
before the final close of the session. Mr. Quarles has a very extensive

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 223
law practice, and has a just reputation as a public speaker. Since this
sketch has been prepared, Mr. Quarles has moved to Racine in the
prosecution of his profession in that city.
Marshall M. Strong, Racine, was a native of Amherst, Massachu
setts, where he spent his early days at the academy and college of that
place, but finished his collegiate course and graduated at Union Col
lege, Schenectady, New York. He then engaged in the study of law
in the city of Troy, in that state, and was then admitted to the bar. In
June, 1836, he came to Racine county, then almost an unsettled coun
try. In 1838 he was elected a member of the territorial council, and
was one of a committee of three from that body to revise the laws of
the territory, in which capacity he faithfully performed his duties. From
that time forward his reputation was established in the front rank of his
profession throughout the territory. In 1846 he was elected a member
of the house of representatives of this state, where he continued to per
form his duties with untiring industry until an appalling calamity called
him from his labors to" mourn in silence and solitude the entire loss by
fire of a much beloved and interesting family. As time restores the
deeply afflicted to themselves, to society and to the business of the
world, his usual cheerfulness returned to him, and he to his professional
labors. He was a member of the first constitutional convention for
framing a state constitution, but so widely different from a majority of
that body that he resigned before the close of the session, and the con
stitution offered to the people was by them rejected. In 1848 he was
again chosen to the legislature, took an important part in the revising of
the statutes of the state, and then permanently retired from the political
strife so necessarily connected with public life, and which was uncon
genial to his thoughtful, quiet and domestic nature. In 1850 he again
married, and the domestic happiness enjoyed, by him and his interesting
family has rarely been equaled. He left a wife and three children to
mourn, in common with the whole community, his- death, which occurred
at Racine, March 9, 1864, — their and the public's irreparable loss. While
his strict sense of justice prompted him on all occasions to be exact in
the financial affairs of his clients, and in no way reckless or extravagant
in his own, yet he had less love of money for its own sake than most
men of the present day, as his liberal use of it for the good of others
will bear witness. His extensive reading, aside from that of his pro-

224 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
fession, was extensive and varied. His love of literature and science
prompted him to spend time and money for the establishment of Racine
College, and the erection of the college building, being always forward
in such public and private enterprises as the public good seemed to
require. He was a man of strong will and great firmness of purpose,
yet seeking less his own advantage than what he conceived to be for the
public good.
During the terrible struggle in which our country had been involved
during the three years preceding his death, he was an unconditional
supporter of the government, using his means, employing his pen, and
raising his voice while strength lasted, to aid the cause which all true
patriots were anxious to see triumphant. As a public speaker he had a
happy faculty of stating his views clearly, in pure and concise language ;
his reasoning, though not marked 'by any labored attempts at ornament,
were forcible and convincing, and never, even in the heat of debate,
did he allow passion to influence or control him. In his intercourse
with his fellow-men he was courteous and gentlemanly. Toward his
professional brethren he was unassuming, and ever ready to advise and
assist the younger portion, who placed unlimited confidence in his judg
ment and rectitude. Dignity characterized his bearing in court, as
elsewhere, and his uprightness, fairness and candor in trying cases gave
him as much influence with the court and jury as a man ought to have,
but that influence was ever used to promote justice and was never
abused. No person had just cause to complain that he ever endeavored
to obtain an unfair advantage ; and yet his care and watchfulness were
an effectual safeguard for his clients' interests. His exalted views of
the nature and duties of his profession were such that he despised the
tricks and chicanery resorted to by many, and always used his influence
to effect a settlement of difficulties between litigants, rather than to add
fuel to the flame. He had a quick, apprehensive, retentive memory, a
discernment remarkably active, and reasoning faculties eminently vigor
ous. His philosophical mind in originality and profundity of thought
was equaled by few. Had he occasion to investigate any subject, he
was persevering in research and thorough in study. In conversation
uncommonly instructive, in private life a genial companion ; he was
always tender and compassionate to the poor, and always ready to
relieve them; strictly temperate in his habits, and entirely free from the
vices into which mortals are too often led. In short, truth, justice and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 225
gentleness, than which nothing can be more sacred and pure, mingled in
his every act, and characterized the man. He closed his life and his
labors, retaining the love of his immediate friends, and the respect and
confidence of all who knew him.
Henry V. Van Pelt, Racine, was born in Racine, January 25,
1854, and was educated at Beloit College, from which institution he
graduated in July 1875. Deciding to adopt the profession of law
he read in the office of Judge E. O. Hand at Racine; was admitted to
the bar in March 1876 ; was appointed circuit court commissioner, and
has been in active and successful practice at Racine from the time of
his admission to the present time.
Thompson D. Weeks, Whitewater, was born at North Hampton,
Massachusetts, November 5, 1834. Having removed to Wisconsin, he
. attended Lawrence University at Appleton, and graduated in the class
of 1858. On the following year he graduated from the law school of
the State University at Albany, New York, and subsequently pursued
his legal studies for six months in the office of Judge W. P. Lyon at
Racine. On the 25th of January, i860, he took up his residence at White
water, and opened an office for the practice of law. In 1870 he formed
a partnership with G. W. Steele, which continues to this time. In 1867
Mr. Weeks was elected a member of the assembly, and during the years
of 1874 and 1875 he represented the district consisting of the counties
of Walworth and Kenosha in the state senate. For several years he
has served as a member of the board of regents of normal schools. He
was presidential elector in 1876, and in that capacity cast his vote for
R. B. Hayes and W. A. Wheeler. He was for six years chairman of the
republican county committee of Walworth county, and is now a mem
ber of the republican state central committee.
SECOND DISTRICT.
Jonathan E. Arnold, Milwaukee, was born at Woonsocket, Rhode
Island, February 16, 1814. He graduated at Brown University, and
studied law in the office of John Whipple at Providence. Subsequently
he spent one year at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to practice
before he had attained his majority. He first came to Milwaukee in
September, 1836, and moved his family here in the May following.

226 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Entering upon the practice of his profession he was soon chosen district
attorney and served in that capacity for several years. In 1840 and
1841 he represented the county of Milwaukee in the council, the upper
house of the territorial legislature. In 1841 he ran against General
Henry Dodge for delegate to congress from the then territory of Wiscon
sin. From that time he was not, we believe, a candidate for public
office until i860, when he was nominated for representative to congress
from the Milwaukee district by the democrats and was defeated by John
F. Potter, the republican candidate. Mr. Arnold was a whig of the old
school during the existence of that party, and regularly attended its
state and national conventions. Upon the disruption of the whig party
after the defeat of Winfield Scott, the whig candidate for president,
and the death of Henry Clay, he acted with the democratic party.
During the war, however, the instincts of his exalted patriotism inspired
him to support the cause of the Union, and in a number of speeches of
great eloquence and power, he sustained the government in its efforts
against treason and rebellion.
Though a most effective popular speaker, and a man of earnest con
victions upon all public questions, Mr. Arnold did not acquire ' his
chief distinction in the arena of politics. His inclinations led him to
dedicate himself with an almost undivided devotion to his profession,
and it is as a lawyer that he will be longest remembered. It is not pos
sible, within the limits of this sketch, even to mention his great triumphs
at the bar, or to convey any adequate idea of the wonderful skill and
matchless eloquence that achieved them. His speech at the impeach
ment trial of Judge Levi Hubbell, and his argument in the quo warranto
case of Bashford against Barstow, were conspicuous specimens of his
ability, but it was overshadowed by his splendid successes in the manage
ment of criminal causes. For the past twenty years, prior to his death,
there had scarcely been an important case of this character in the circuit
with which he was not connected, and it is not too much to say that he
achieved a reputation in this branch of the practice second to no'
lawyer in the west. Aside from his excellent judgment in conceiving
his defenses and his adroitness in the examination of witnesses, his
addresses to the jury were models of impressive oratory. His style was
remarkably finished and elegant, showing rich traces of his thorough cul
ture, and the effect upon a jury of his bursts of fervid and pathetic elo
quence, aided by a magnetic presence, a musical voice, and an expressive

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 227
eye, was fairly magical. In his treatment of other members of the pro
fession, Mr. Arnold was never less than courteous and obliging. For
several years he had been president of the Milwaukee county bar asso
ciation, and in this capacity he always found kindly and touching
words in which to announce the death of a professional brother. He
died suddenly of heart disease in his office June 2, 1869.
Mr. Arnold has left a pleasant memory with members of the bar
with whom he held intimate social and professional relations. His
was a strong character, and his leading characteristics seem to have
been that he was gentle as a child and gentlemanly in all his daily
deportment toward court and bar. He told the court nothing he did
not believe in regard to law. He commenced his argument slow and
dull, fired up to the eloquence of the best lawyers of New England's
best days, and in a large majority of cases carried court and jury with
him. He never smiled or joked while guarding his client's interests in
court, but, like Rufus Choate, acted as though a religious duty was upon
him, and interests in his hands too sacred for him to forget for a mo
ment even to look to the right or left. He never permitted a client to go
to law, with him for advocate, unless he believed and had good faith that
the law was in favor of his client. He was one of the most modest of men.
He was honest in his charges against clients, often telling them that he
had done them no good, and charged accordingly. He treated all men
well, the humblest as well as the richest. He seemed to know all the law
intuitively and believed in equity, and was great and grand in intellect
and the richness and accomplishments of legal education and legal lore.
He feared no man and bullied no man. He never fell behind Edward
George Ryan, Moses M. Strong, Charles Dunn, or any other brilliant
lawyer of his day, in the number of his successes at the circuit, supreme
state court, United States circuit court or supreme court at Washington,
and he was one of God's noblemen, and was always and at all times
a gentleman. Mr. Arnold was employed to defend a suit to recover the value of
some goods. He had put in an answer stating a good defense. But
the proof showed clearly that the answer was wholly false, and that his
client must have known it. Mr. Arnold then arose and said to the jury
that he had put in the answer in good faith, believing from the repre
sentations of his client that he had a good defense, but that he was too
old a member of the profession, and understood its duties too well, to

228 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
allow himself to be made use of for any such purpose as his client had
attempted to use him for in this case ; that he had been deceived, and
that he should not attempt to deceive them, but should submit the case
without any comment from him in behalf of the defense.
Yet, on the other hand, it has been asserted and published in the
newspapers of this day that during the trial of Radcliff for murder, at
Milwaukee, and Mr. Arnold was employed on the defense, the prisoner
acknowledged to his attorneys that he was guilty ; yet, the trial went on
and under the masterly defense of Mr. Arnold a verdict of acquittal
was rendered. It was upon the occasion of bringing in this verdict that
Judge Hubbell, before whom the case was tried, remarked to the jury,
" May the Lord have mercy on your consciences."
Mr. Arnold achieved high professional reputation in the cases of the
Hubbell impeachment trial before the state senate at Madison, the Rad
cliff and the Anna Wheeler murder trials at Milwaukee, in conducting
the defense of each of which he was the leading attorney, and was suc
cessful in obtaining the clearance of his clients. In the noted Anna
Wheeler case he was the first known advocate to use the " moral insanity "
plea as justification, and he used it with success.
Ex-governor Edward Solomon said of him : " With the exception of
E. G. Ryan, no man ever practiced law in the state of Wisconsin whose
breadth of learning relating to matters outside of his profession
equaled that of Jonathan E. Arnold. The two were equally fitted in
legal conflicts, when the marked contrast in their characters were so
sharply brought out. Mr. Ryan, petulant, impatient of opposition,
rolling his great eyes about in search seemingly of those terrible ex
pressions of sarcasm and bitterness of which he knew himself master.
Mr. Arnold, stately, courtly, richly humorous or eloquent, never out of
temper, pouring out at last such outbursts of rich speech that the jury
sat dumb under the spell. In all of their encounters, though Judge Ryan
may have been deeper in legal acumen, Mr. Arnold had the advantage
of being ' greater than he who taketh a city.' "
Edwin H. Abbott, Milwaukee, is a native of Massachusetts, and
was born near the city of Boston; received his education in that city,
graduated at Harvard College in 1855, studied law, and was admitted
to the bar; engaged in the practice of law ; has been a member of the
Suffolk county bar, Massachusetts, for upward of twenty years. He

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 229
came west in 1873, in the interests of his clients who were the principal
owners of the Wisconsin Central Railway, and is general solicitor of the
company. He has been identified with the construction and manage
ment of the road ; upon the death of Judge Bigelow, he succeeded him
as trustee. He has taken an active superintendency of all its legal
matters both in the office and the courts.
Robert N. Austin, Milwaukee, was born at Carlisle, Schoharie
county, New York; graduated at Union College in 1845; studied law
with John D. Hammond, in Cherry Valley, New York ; was admitted
as an attorney, in New York, in 1848, and is in practice in Milwaukee,
where he is regarded as one of the solid practitioners of the city, of
extensive practice.
A. R. R. Butler, Milwaukee, was born in Vermont, September 4,
182 1, and was the eldest son of Dr. A. R. R. Butler, an eminent physician
and surgeon. Dr. Butler removed with his family, in 1822, to Alex
ander, Genesee county, New York, where the subject of this sketch was
reared and received an academic education, preparatory to the study of
law, and afterward at Alexander and Buffalo prepared himself, by a
thorough course of law reading, for the practice of his profession. He
was admitted to the bar in 1846, and in the autumn of that year removed
to Milwaukee, entering almost immediately upon an active and successful
professional career, which has continued until the present time. Soon
after he opened an office in Milwaukee, he was elected prosecuting
attorney of Milwaukee county, and was twice reelected, holding the
office for six years. Thus compelled, while a very young man, to meet,
in the trial of important criminal cases, some of the ablest lawyers of
the country, he speedily won his way to the front rank of his profession,
where he has maintained his position to the present time, among the
ablest and. most successful advocates in a state well known for the
learning and ability of its bar. Avoiding active participation in party
politics, Mr. Butler has declined numerous solicitations to run for high
judicial and other official positions urgently pressed upon him in the
course of his professional career, in a manner so creditable to him as to
be worthy of remark in a period characterized by unscrupulous eager
ness for official promotion. He, however, reluctantly accepted the
democratic nomination for Mayor of Milwaukee, in 1876, and was

230 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
unanimously elected, the republicans putting no candidate in the field
against him, and actively supporting him at the polls.
With great powers of persuasion, and a mind well fitted to present
the salient points of legal controversy in an impressive and effective
manner, Mr. Butler is distinguished for a peculiar elevation and dignity
of character, holding in profound contempt every art of appeal not justi
fied by the highest moral and professional standards. With him, the better
the cause the better the advocate, and an earnest sincerity, well known to
all the judges before whom he has appeared, has secured to many an un
worthy client the protection of his legal rights which prejudice might have
denied to the appeal of a less honorable advocate. Mr. Butler enters
upon the trial of a cause with the earnestness of a great advocate, and
even in courts where he is a stranger there is something in his manner
and appearance which makes him felt at once as a man of uncommon
power. There is no profession, except literature, in which the memory
of professional character has been more carefully preserved as an exam
ple to those who are to assume its important duties, than among lawyers !
and Mr. Butler, having retired with a handsome competency from the
active practice of his profession, it becomes the grateful privilege of the
writer to somewhat extend a general notice of his character and the
causes of his success as an example to the younger members of the Wis
consin bar. His own conviction in regard to success has always been
that it depends mainly on integrity and labor; and the example of an
able man, relying implicitly on these homely virtues in the practice of
his profession, should give his opinion force with those less fortunate in
their natural gifts. One of the most valuable lessons, however, in Mr.
Butler's life, is the fact that his success has never been secured by the
pushing methods of ordinary men. He never advertised himself, but
with excessive modesty waited patiently for the rewards which fully-
equipped merit always gains, and he has enjoyed for years the satisfac
tion of being surrounded by a large number of personal clients who
have sought him out and confided implicitly in his judgment and ability.
The career of a successful lawyer is peculiar. It is a liberal educa
tion in itself, and both sharpens and broadens the understanding; but
it is mainly written in the sand, and some of the noblest passages of
acute and logical reasoning and impassioned eloquence are unheard
except by a jury of twelve men often utterly incapable of appreciating
them. fn this respect Mr. Butler has shared the lot of other law-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 231
yers, with some exceptional instances, like the Olivet church case,
in which his argument, though he considered it of no great importance,
was the talk of the streets for days, and elicited the most enthusiastic
praise from the highest sources. Yet in such cases, through a strange
fatality, his speeches have been unreported and their reproduction is,
of course, impossible. With the nervous, sensitive organization of the
real orator, his eloquence has always been of the highest order. In
personal appearance Mr. Butler is commanding, with a head of which
Power's bust of Webster might well appear a copy, and, ranking in
learning and ability among the most distinguished lawyers in the West,
it is safe to say of him as an advocate, that in fervent and impressive
eloquence and powers of reasoning he is the equal of the most gifted
orators of the present time.
Francis J. Borchardt, Milwaukee, was born in the city of Schrimm,
province of Posen, Poland, September 25, 1849. He came to this
country in 1853, and has resided in Milwaukee since that time. His edu
cation was obtained in an academy in that city. On June 27, 1863:
when only fourteen years of age, he went to the war as private in Com
pany K, First Regiment, Wisconsin heavy artillery, and served to the
close of that struggle, when he returned home. In 1877 he was elected
and commissioned captain of the Kosciusko Guard of Milwaukee, which
company forms a part of the Wisconsin national guards. After his
return from the war he entered upon the study of the law with Jared
Thompson, was admitted to the bar at Milwaukee, November 17, 1879,
and has been in practice in that city to the present time, fn 1877 he
was elected justice of the peace, was reelected in 1879 and again in
1 88 1. In the fall of the latter year Captain Borchardt was elected
member of the assembly by over twelve hundred majority over the
republican candidate, served during the session of 1882, and was mem
ber of the judiciary and other important committees. Brought thus
early in his life into prominence and position, the possibilities of the
future may be accounted as those of brilliant promise.
Elias H. Bottum, Milwaukee, graduated from Middleburg College,
Vermont, in class of 187 1, studied law in New York city, and grad
uated from the law school of Columbian College, Washington, D. C, in
1873, was admitted to practice there but after a short time removed to

232 , the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
Milwaukee, where he has since resided. Is a member of the firm of
Flanders & Bottum.
Moses H. Brand, Milwaukee, was born at Polo, Ogle county, Illi
nois, June 4, 1849, and his parents are William & Catherine Brand. He
was educated at the Normal University, Normal, Illinois, studied law in
Milwaukee first with D. G. Rogers and afterward with James McAlister,
was admitted to the bar in Milwaukee in May, 1873, has since prac
ticed in that city and is now associated with Joshua Stark, the firm being
Stark & Brand.
Eliphalet Cramer, Milwaukee, was born at Waterford, New York,
June 18, 1813, and was son of the wealthy and notable John Cramer, of
that state. He graduated at Union College in 1831, read law, came to
Milwaukee in 1837, was admitted to the bar and made his permanent
residence in that city. Being a gentleman of means, Mr. Cramer did
not enter into the practice of law, but engaged in business enterprises in
the city, and for many years was president of the State Bank of Wiscon
sin. He was identified with works of charity and benevolence, to the
promotion of which he was a liberal contributor, was one of the pillars
and generous supporters of the Plymouth Church, and lent aid to the
founding of the Chicago Theological fnstitute and Beloit College. He
died in Utica, New York, September 19, 1872. He was a much
respected citizen of Milwaukee, tall and spare in person, and quiet and
gentlemanly in his demeanor. W. E. Cramer, the veteran editor of the
Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, is his brother; John F. Cramer, of the
same paper, and Edward Cramer, a banker in Milwaukee, are his sons,
and they are among the most enterprising, promising and honorable
business young men of that city.
John Watson Cary, Milwaukee, was born February n, 1817, at
Shoreham, Vermont. His father, Asa Cary, was married to Anna San-
ford, February 7, 1799, and resided in Shoreham until 1831. They had
nine children, six boys and three girls. He was the youngest of the
boys. His early life was spent on the farm and in attendance upon the
common schools, including two terms at the academy. In 1831 his
father removed to Sterling, Cayuga county, New York. In the follow
ing year he was placed in a store, but not finding the business to his

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 233
taste left it, returned to the farm, and was for two terms under the in
struction of Reverend Jason Lathrop, late of Kenosha, who was then
conducting a private academy at Hannibal, Oswego county. It was
there that he determined to go to college and become a lawyer. He
commenced the study of the Latin grammar, but for want of funds was
compelled to return to the farm, where he remained until 1837, teaching
school in the winter and working on the farm summers, but during that
time spent his evenings in study and reading history. In August, 1837,
he entered the lyceum at Geneva, New York, then under the manage
ment of Reverend Justus French, assisted by the Reverend William
Hogarth. He boarded himself and devoted his time to Latin and
Greek. After remaining one term there he procured private tuition of
Martin French, of Clinton county, New York, who was then principal of
an academy at Victory, Cayuga county. He entered Union College in
September, 1838, and graduated in 1842, having among his classmates
Clarkson N. Potter and Otis H. Waldo.
At that time it was necessary to study seven years before any one
could obtain admission to the bar, four years of which might be spent
in classical studies. During the last year of his college course he also
studied in the office of Samuel W. Jones, a lawyer of Schenectady, and
subsequently in the office of George Rathbun, at Auburn. In January,
1844, he was admitted as an attorney at Albany by the supreme court,
Samuel Nelson presiding, and the next day was admitted as solicitor in
chancery at Saratoga by Chancellor Walworth. In February following
he commenced practice at Red Creek, Wayne county, New York. In
1850 removed to Racine ; in 1851 entered into a partnership with J. R.
Doolittle, which was dissolved by the election of the latter to the bench in
January, 1854. In 1857 and 1858 he was in partnership with A. W. Farr
and Lewis M. Evans. He moved to Milwaukee in January, 1859, and
was in partnership with Wallace Pratt until July, 1865; was subse
quently in partnership with A. L. Cary and J. P. C. Cottrill, and latterly
with his son, Melbert B. Cary. He was postmaster at Red Creek under
President Polk ; senator from Racine in 1853 and 1854, and mayor of
that city in 1857 ; member of the council of Milwaukee in 1868 and of
the legislature in 1872;' has been the general solicitor of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company since its organization in 1863.
Mr. Cary was married in 1844 to Eliza Vilas, who died in 1845, and
was married to Isabel Brinkerhoff in 1847.

234 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
Melbert B. Cary, Milwaukee, was born in Racine, Wisconsin,
July 23, 1852, and removed with his parents, in 1859, to Milwaukee,
received his preparatory education at Milwaukee and Beloit, and gradu
ated from Princeton College in June, 1872. In 1873 he went west,
and lived for a year on the plains ; read law in his father's office in
Milwaukee, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1875. The
following year he entered into partnership with him under the firm
of John W. & M. B. Cary. Was appointed assistant general solicitor
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, in 1877, and
during the latter half of 1879 had charge of its legal business during the
absence of the general solicitor in Europe. April 28, 1880, he married
Julia Metcalf, of Milwaukee.
Jedd Philo Clark Cottrill, Milwaukee, was born at Montpelier,
Vermont, April 15, 1832. He received a common school, academic
and collegiate education, graduated at the University of Vermont, in
August, 1852, and afterward taught in the common schools and acade
mies of Vermont. He subsequently studied law with Peck & Colby, of
Montpelier, both very eminent men ; was admitted to the bar in Ver
mont in September, 1854, and afterward to the supreme court of the
United States, and in which he has had actual practice since 1864.
From the date of his admission to the bar, Mr. Cottrill has been in con
tinued practice in the states of Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania,
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Since November, 1855, his
business and residence has been established in Milwaukee, with the
exception of the years of 1867 to 1870, during which time he resided in
New York, in the practice of his profession, f n his early life he was
messenger boy in the senate of Vermont ; reporter of the senate of Ver
mont in 1852; reporter of the house of representatives of Vermont in
1853; first assistant clerk of the house of representatives of Vermont
in 1854 and 1855, and district attorney of Milwaukee county, Wisconsin,
in 1865 and 1866. His law partners now are A. L. Cary and B. Hanson,
the firm being Cottrill, Cary & Hanson. Mr. Cottrill has long been
identified with the Masonic Order, and has held the highest positions
in it. William H. Ebbets, Milwaukee, was born in New York city, and
his parents are Daniel and Anna Ebbets. He is a graduate of Colum-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 235
bia College, in New York city; studied law with Samuel A. Foote and
James T. Brady, in New York city ; was admitted in New York city
about twenty-five years since ; has been in practice in Fond du Lac,
Janesville, and now in Milwaukee ; was district attorney of Fond du Lac
county two terms, and has been member of the legislature. Mr. Ebbets
has the reputation of a successful criminal lawyer.
Eugene S. Elliott, Milwaukee, was born in Lowell, Vermillion
county, Illinois, August 13, 1842. He received a public school educa
tion at Milwaukee, and entered Dartmouth College, Hanover, New
Hampshire, which he left in 1862, to join the Seventh Rhode Island
Cavalry in a company recruited out of the Eastern colleges. He was
principal of the intermediate department, second ward, and of the ninth
ward grammar school. After having been mustered out of the service
he was manager of the Milwaukee branch of R. G. Dun & Company's
mercantile agency until 1869, when he assumed charge of the Milwaukee
Journal of Commerce. He entered the office of Jenkins & Elliott in
1872 as a law student, and was admitted to the bar at Milwaukee in
1876. He then formed a copartnership with W. C. Williams, under the
firm of Williams & Elliott, in February 1880. He is a thirty-two
degree Mason, and member of the K. of H. and K. of P. societies.
T. B. Elliott, Milwaukee, was born in Wayne county, New York ;
came to Wisconsin in 1852; studied law in Milwaukee; was admitted
to the bar in i860; formed a partnership with James G. Jenkins in
1867, and became one of the firm of Jenkins, Elliott & Winkler when
it was organized in 1874.
Harold Emmons, Milwaukee, was born at Orion, Oakland county,
Michigan, August 12, 1848, his parents being Elias R. and Sarah M.
Emmons, and his education was in the common schools of Michigan.
In preparation for the legal profession he studied law with Alfred
Russell and William Jennison, Detroit, Michigan, and was admitted to
the bar at Detroit, May 6, 1872. Mr. Emmons commenced practice
with Mr. Russell at Detroit, and afterward came to Milwaukee, where
he has been practicing since September, 1875, and at present in connec
tion with his younger brothers, R. W. Emmons and A. C. Emmons.
14

236 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Asahel Finch, Milwaukee, the subject of this sketch was born in
Genoa, Cayuga county, New York, February 14, 1809. His parents
came originally from the county of Orange, in the same state, but his
grandfather on his father's side, resided in Pennsylvania, and was one of
the victims of that terrible massacre, so widely known, which occurred
in 1778 at Wyoming. In his boyhood he attended the common schools,
and later when approaching manhood he pursued a course of study for
one year at Middlebury Academy, in the county of Genesee, now Wy
oming, New York. His educational advantages were limited to that
one course of study. In 1830, when only twenty-one years of age, two
of the most important events of his life occurred. He married and he
moved west as far as the state of Michigan, when for three years he
devoted himself to mercantile pursuits, an experience by no means
without advantage in that profession, which, through the influence of
his friends, he was prevailed upon to enter, and to which he has devoted
so much of his life.
In 1834 he entered as a law student the office of Orange Butler, at
Adrian, and in 1838, four years afterward, he was admitted to the bar
in Calhoun county, Michigan. This was eight years after his marriage,
and after he had served one term in the legislature of that state, to which
he was elected in 1837. He came to the bar no stripling just from the
schools, but at the age of twenty-nine, already matured and disciplined
by the practical duties and responsibilities of manhood. In 1839, when
Wisconsin was yet a territory, nine years before its admission as a state,
he removed to Milwaukee, where he has ever since resided. He was
first associated with Mr. H. N. Wells and Colonel Hans Crocker, under
the name of Wells, Crocker & Finch. On September 16, 1842,
that firm dissolved, and Mr. Finch formed a copartnership with Mr.
Wm. Pitt Lynde, which from that day to the present time (over thirty-
eight years) has never been dissolved. In 1857, however, some twenty-
four years since, they associated with them two younger men, B.
K. Miller and H. M. Finch, and thus the name of the old firm of
Finch & Lynde was changed to Finches, Lynde & Miller. During a
professional life of nearly forty years Mr. Finch has stood at the head of
a law firm in Milwaukee, having as large, various and important a prac
tice as any in the state of Wisconsin or in the northwest. Its registers
show more than ten thousand suits in courts of record, state and federal,
brought or defended; some, of course, wherein the amount involved

THE bench AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 239
would be less than one thousand dollars, but many of them involving
large amounts and important legal questions. So long continued and
successful a law partnership has rarely been equaled in this or in any
other country. Confined to no special branch of the profession, he has
never sought to make himself pre-eminent either as a corporation law
yer, patent lawyer, real estate lawyer, or criminal lawyer, but to deserve
and to hold, as in fact he has held, high place in the front rank of the pro
fession, and in the general practice of the whole duties of an attorney
and counsellor-at-law. Since coming to Wisconsin Mr. Finch has never
held but one office, and that was in the line of his profession, that of
city attorney of Milwaukee. His life may be said to have been devoted
to that profession, of which he has always been an honorable, able and
most useful member. While it would be difficult to point to any one
branch of the profession and say Mr. Finch is pre-eminent in that, it
would be more difficult still to point to any branch of it in which he
does not excel, while, if you take into account his great quickness of
apprehension, and strong practical views of any legal question, and add
to that his long and faithful study of the law, and his untiring industry
and energy, you then comprehend the real strength of Mr. Finch as a
lawyer, and the secret of his power. It will then be seen what has
always made him so able and so successful in every branch of the pro
fession ; with him there is a symmetry of development rarely equaled
and hardly ever excelled.
About five years ago in the trial of a case before Judge Dyer of some
ten days continuance, Mr. Finch was attacked with vertigo and compelled
to abandon the case by simply submitting his brief to the court. After
this he made two efforts in court, but in both instances he was stricken
down, when he was advised by his physician that he must retire from
active court duties. Consequently Mr. Finch retired from active parti
cipation in the law practice of his firm, while yet retaining an interest
in its business. He has not, however, ceased to take part in other busi
ness enterprises, having become connected with several important corpo
rations operating in this city, and even at his advanced age no man
on the streets is around with more activity looking after his business
interests than the subject of this sketch. Mr. Finch is no less
notable in social life than he is in the professional world. He is the
christain lawyer and the upright man. With nearly a life-long connec
tion with the congregational denomination, he is one of the pillars of

240 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the Plymouth church of this city. When in 1874 the memorable con
ferences of churches was called at Brooklyn to take action upon the
celebrated Henry Ward Beecher scandal case, Mr. Finch was selected
a lay member, and has the credit of having performed the duties of the
trust to the entire satisfaction of the denomination in this city and state.
Possessed of large means acquired in strictly legitimate business, Mr.
Finch has the reputation of the true philanthropist, bestowing timely
aid to the worthy in a quiet and unostentatious manner. Not a few have
been helped by him in a financial strait, and his hand is not shut to
private distress. And in the daily walks of life he is the courteous,
considerate, reliable, generous and always sympathetizing friend. Both
as a lawyer and a citizen, few have so clean a record from so long and
successful a career.
James G. Flanders, Milwaukee, was born December 13, 1844, at
New London, New Hampshire ; came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with
his parents in 1848; attended private and public schools in Milwaukee
until i860, when he entered Phillips Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire,
where he received an education preparatory for admission to college.
After graduation at Phillips Exeter Academy he entered Yale College in
1863 as a member of the freshman. class, and graduated in 1867 ; studied
law one year in the office of Emmons, Van Dyke & Hamilton, at
Milwaukee. In October, 1868, he entered the Columbia Law School in
New York city, graduated and was admitted to practice in New York
city in May, 1869. Returned to Milwaukee and engaged in the practice
of law as a member of the firm of Davis & Flanders until the spring of
1875, when the firm became Butler, Davis & Flanders. After the dis
solution of the latter firm, in 1876, he continued in the practice of the
law alone until the spring of 1878, when he and Elias H. Bottum asso
ciated themselves together under the name of Flanders & Bottum,
which firm is still in existence and engaged in the transaction of a general
law business at Milwaukee. He was a member of the board of school
commissioners of the city of Milwaukee from the first ward from 1875 to
1877, and was elected to and served as a member of the assembly of Wis
consin for the year 1877 from the first assembly district of Milwaukee
county, receiving as a democrat 999 votes against 667 cast for his
opponent, a republican.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 241
George B. Goodwin, Milwaukee, is a native of Livingston county,
New York; was born December, 18, 1834, the son of Simeon S. and
Elizabeth Albright Goodwin. After closing his studies in the com
mon schools, Livingston county, he prepared for college, and graduated
from Geneva College in 1854; in 1855, entered the Albany law school,
and in the winter of that year was admitted to practice in all the courts
of New York. He removed to the West, settling in May, 1856, in
Menasha, Wisconsin, and engaged in his profession. Colonel Good
win went into the late war, and commanded the Forty-first regiment,
Wisconsin Infantry, and rendered faithful service until mustered out.
In the spring of 1865 Colonel Goodwin removed to Milwaukee, his
present home. In 1870 he was appointed United States assessor of
internal revenue, and held that office until it was abolished by act of
congress. After retiring from the office of United States assessor he
was associated with R. K. Adams, and in the spring of 1876 withdrew
and became associated with N. S. Murphey, which connection was
dissolved in 1881, aud he is now alone in practice.
D. G. Hooker, Milwaukee, was born in Poultney, Vermont, Sep
tember 14, 1830. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1853; read
law with J. A. Beckwith, of Middlebury, Vermont; was admitted in
Milwaukee in 1856, and has practiced in this city since that time. Mr.
Hooker was mayor of Milwaukee 1872 and 1873, and was city attorney
from 1867 to 1870; is now retired from general practice, and is in
regular employment as counsel for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insur
ance Company. Mr. Hooker was, for many years connected with H.
L. Palmer, as a law firm, in which, at one time, F. W. Pitkin, now Gov
ernor of Colorado, was assocated, and subsequently ex-Chief Justice
L. S. Dixon, who became a member of the firm upon his retirement
from the bench of the supreme court. It will thus be seen that Mr.
Hooker has been associated in his law practice with some of the most
notable attorneys in the state, and member of one of the leading firms
of the Milwaukee bar. Mr. Hooker has always held a high rank in the
profession, and as attorney for the great Northwestern Life Insurance
Company, is in a position of much responsibility, demanding legal
learning, ability, and assiduous attention. All these requirements are
fulfilled in the acceptable manner in which Mr. Hooker performs the
duties of the position. Mr. Hooker has long been identified with the

242 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
doings of the Masonic fraternity, having taken thirty-two regular degrees
of the order.
James Hickcox, Milwaukee, was born in Buffalo, New York, April
9, 1833. In 1850 he came to Wisconsin, spent three years and a half
in completing his education at the State University, from which he
graduated, after which he commenced the study of law with Emmons
& Van Dyke at Milwaukee. Subsequently he returned to Buffalo, and
continued his law studies with Marshall & Harvey, and coming again
to Milwaukee, finished them in the office of Emmons & Van Dyke. In
1857 he was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in connec
tion with Robert Chandler, in Milwaukee. Afterward he was in part
nership with James G. Jenkins, which was continued until 1865, when
Mr. Hickcox was elected clerk of the circuit court. He held this office
until 1873, was a member of the school board eight years, and while on
the board was largely instrumental in establishing, in the city schools,
the study of the German language.
G. P. Harrington, Milwaukee, was born in Ozaukee county, Wis
consin, March 20, 1850; received a liberal education at the University
of Wisconsin, and later graduated from the law department of that
institution with the class of 1872, receiving the degree of Bachelor of
Laws. He was principal of the Wisconsin Academy at Madison,
from 1872 to March 1875, when he resigned the place to accept the
position of trust fund book-keeper in the office of the secretary of
the State of Wisconsin. He resigned this situation in June, 1876,10
engage in the practice of his profession, the law, in the city of Mil
waukee, where he at once opened a law office and continues in the
practice. He was appointed court commissioner for Milwaukee county
in January, 1877, and reappointed for the official term in 1879. He
was raised on his father's farm in Ozaukee county, was given a teacher's
certificate at the age of sixteen years, and acquired his subsequent
education solely through his own efforts. As a teacher, bookkeeper
and attorney he has been very successful. On leaving the secretary's
office in 1876, he received the highest recommendation from Secretary
Doyle. In the fall of, 1 881 Mr. Harrington was elected a member of
the assembly and served during the session of that body of the winter
of 1882.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 243
James G. Jenkins, Milwaukee, is a native of New York state, having
been born at Saratoga Springs, July 18, 1834. His father was Edgar
Jenkins, a business man of New York city, and a cousin of General
Worth, of Mexican war fame. His mother was the eldest child of Reu
ben H. Walworth, of New York, the last chancellor of that state. Being
"so fathered and so mothered "the career of the son has been alike
eminent. Mr. Jenkins was educated in his native state, subsequently
studied his profession in the city of New York, was admitted to the
supreme court of the state, and to the United States court for the
southern district of New York in 1855. In 1857 he came to Wisconsin,
settled in Milwaukee and has lived in that city since that time. He
was admitted to the United States court the same year, to the supreme
court of this state in July, 1859, and to the supreme court of the United
States in March, 1879. He has been attorney for the city of Milwaukee
four terms, serving from 1863 to 1867. Since the last named year he
has devoted his time exclusively to practice as one of the firm of Jen
kins, Elliott & Winkler. At the state election of 1879 Mr. Jenkins was,
against his inclinations, the candidate of the democratic party for gov
ernor. He entered personally into the contest, as in duty bound, and
made a vigorous and able canvass, notwithstanding there was no rea
sonable expectation of overcoming the large republican majority in the
state ; standing in the breach, as it were, in deference to the wishes of
the great party he represented as its standard bearer in the campaign.
Mr. Jenkins married the only daughter of the late eminent Judge A. G.
Miller, of Milwaukee.
On the death of Chief Justice Ryan in November, 1880, the impor
tant question arose, especially with the legal fraternity, as to who should
succeed him on the supreme bench. In this connection a petition was
circulated among the lawyers in Milwaukee, and largely signed by mem
bers of the bar, without distinction of political parties, asking the gov
ernor to promote Judge Cole, the associate justice longest in office, and
appoint Mr. Jenkins to fill his place, for the special reason that it would
be eminently proper and equitable to place a democrat on the bench to
supply the political vacancy created by the death of Judge Ryan who
was a democrat. But having advanced Judge Cole to the chief justice
ship, Governor Smith came to the conclusion to appoint a republican to
succeed him as associate justice, thus settling the matter for the present.
That Mr. Jenkins would have honored the supreme bench no one who

244 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
knows him would doubt. His legal acquirements, intellectual ability,
impartial turn of mind, and purity and dignity of character, eminently
fitted him for the responsible and elevated position. On the election of
United States senator to succeed Angus Cameron at the session of the
legislature of 1881, Mr. Jenkins was the candidate voted for by the
democratic members, who were in the minority. The law class of the
state university graduating in June, 1881, invited Mr. Jenkins to deliver
before them the annual address, and he accepted the invitation with a
fine production.
Mr. Jenkins has the reputation of possessing a thorough knowledge
of law, with a special forte as an advocate. With a lucid style of rea
soning, an easy flow of language, and smooth, pleasant, apparently
candid manner in presenting his case to a jury, he is unusually success
ful in convincing them and gaining his case. Still in his prime the
present promises a still more brilliant future.
D. H. Johnson, Milwaukee, was born near Kingston, Canada West,
now Ontario, July 21, 1825, and attended the common and grammar
schools of his native place for about four years before he came to the
states. He subsequently attended Rock River Seminary at Mount
Morris, Illinois, one year. Most of the time from 1842 to 1849 he was
engaged in teaching. The intervals of his time he occupied in reading
law without any instructor, and without the aid of office work. In 1849
he was admitted to the bar at the Crawford county circuit court, and
practiced law in that county with the exception of two or three years,
when he published the Prairie du Chien Courier from 1849 to 1861.
He was member of the assembly in 1861 from Crawford and Bad Ax,
now Vernon counties, and was assistant attorney-general part of 1861
and 1862. He went south in 1862, and was for some months engaged
as clerk in the pay department, fn the fall of the same year he came
to Milwaukee where he has since been engaged in the practice of his
profession. In 1869 and 1870 he represented the 7th ward in the
assembly. From 1878 to 1880 he was city attorney. He has, at various
times held partnership relations with Leander Wyman, R. N. Austin,
Nath. Pereles, and H. H. Markham, and for the last seven years with
Fred. Rietbrock. L. W. Halsey has been a member of the present firm
of Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey, for some four or five years. Besides
the work of his regular profession he finds time to indulge a literary

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 247
taste to some extent, and contribute to the Atlantic Monthly and other
periodicals. Charles D. Kendrick, Milwaukee, was born in Buffalo, New
York, January 22, 1849, and came to Milwaukee in 1856, where he was
educated. After leaving school he was for several years principal of
the fifth district school of Milwaukee. Meantime he studied law, and
was admitted in 1875, since when he has been in practice in Milwaukee.
Maximilian N. Lando, Milwaukee, was born at Szina, Hungary,
in April 1841, his parents being David H. and Rosalie Lando. He
received a collegiate education in Hungary ; is a graduate of the law
department of the Wisconsin State University; was admitted to the bar
in April 1869, and has been in practice in Milwaukee since July 1869.
John E. Mann, Milwaukee, was born in Schoharie county, New
York, March 4, 1821. His parents were George W. and Elizabeth
Mann, who were upright people, and gave their son excellent moral
precepts and example. His father was a farmer. John E. entered the
sophomore class in Williams College in 1840, and after remaining two
terms he left Williams and entered Union college, Schenectady, where
he graduated in the classical course in 1843. After graduating he
entered the law office of Jacob Houck, Jr., to read law, and was
admitted to the bar at Utica, New York, at the general term of the
supreme court in 1847. He then commenced practice in Schoharie
county, where he pursued his profession seven and a half years. In
May, 1854, he came to Wisconsin, and located at West Bend, forming a
partnership with L. F. Frisby, which continued until 1859, when he was
elected judge of the third circuit to fill the vacancy created by the
resignation of C. H. Larrabee. The following April he was elected for
a term of six years, and served until January, 1867, at which time he
moved to Milwaukee. Immediately he entered into copartnership with
F. W. Cufzhausen, which continued until February 5, 1874, at which
time he entered upon the duties of judge of the county court, to which
position he had been appointed by Governor W. R. Taylor, on the
resignation of H. L. Palmer, and this office he still occupies. The
county court of Milwaukee county is of high importance, holding, as it
does, concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court to the amount of five

248 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
millions of dollars, as well as probate jurisdiction. While residing in
New York he was, at one time, judge advocate of the militia of that
state. Though never an extreme partisan, his political views are demo
cratic. On October 22, 1845, he married Catharine Dietz, grand
daughter of William Dietz, who was a member of congress during the
times of Martin Van Buren and adhered to the political fortunes of
that renowned statesman. His father gave him his education, and
when that was completed he was thrown upon his own resources.
The characteristics of Judge Mann are those of strong common
sense, stern integrity, unremitting industry ; and with broad and com
prehensive views on general subjects, is accustomed to form conclusions
with care and precision. He is a close student, and is eminently sound
and well grounded in the fundamental principles of law, which he
applies, in the course of his official duties, with discreet impartiality.
With brevity in speech, unobtrusive and courteous in demeanor, he is
firm in his convictions, strong in his friendships, and an honest man.
When the time drew near when the term of his office would expire, in
May, 1 88 1, a call was very numerously signed by men and lawyers of
high standing and of all political parties, requesting Judge Mann to
allow his name to be used as a candidate for another term. To this
compliment he gave consent, and was elected by a large majority, in a
district opposed to him in politics, and against a very strong republican
candidate. No better endorsement of a judicial career could be
bestowed upon any citizen.
James A. Mallory, Milwaukee, was born in Washington county,
New York, and removed with his father to western New York, when
about six years of age. He was educated in New York, studied law in
Buffalo four years, and was admitted to practice in the courts of that
state. After a few months' practice in Buffalo he came to Milwaukee,
where he practiced his profession till his appointment to the office of
judge of the municipal court. He was elected district attorney of Mil
waukee county in 1854, and again in 1856, without opposition. . He un
expectedly received, from Alexander W. Randall, Governor of Wiscon
sin, in March 1861, a commission appointing him judge of the municipal
court, to fill a vacancy ; was elected in April following without opposition,
for the unexpired term ; was reelected without opposition three times
subsequently, — in 1865, 187 1 and 1877, and is now the judge of that
court.

£ngiby_rc?m cMzMazMV

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 249
C. K. Martin, Milwaukee, was born at Poughkeepsie, New York,
April 16, 1828, his parents being James and Rebecca Martin. He is a
graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; studied law
in Milwaukee in 1856 and 1857 with Emmons & Van Dyke and Brown
& Ogden, and was admitted to the bar in July, 1857, since which time
he has practiced mostly alone. He was district attorney for Milwaukee
county eight years. Mr. Martin is noted as a successful criminal law
yer, having been employed on many notable cases.
Henry L. Palmer, Milwaukee, was born at Mount Pleasant, Wayne
county, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1819. He received a common school
education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1836, at the age of
seventeen, he went to West Troy, New York, to reside, and from thence
came to Wisconsin in 1849, where he has made his home since that time.
He entered upon the practice of the law, which he continued with eminent
success until he became president of the Northwestern Life Insurance
Company. Previous to that time Mr. Palmer took an active part in
politics, was the acknowledged head of the democratic party in this
state, and its candidate for governor at the election of 1863. He was
member of the assembly in 1853, i860, 1862 and 1873, of the senate in
1867 and 1868, was speaker of the assembly at the session of 1853 and
at the extra session of 1862. While a member of these bodies he was
foremost in the duties of legislation. In 1873 he was elected county
judge and resigned early in February, 1874, to accept the office of presi
dent of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company,- of Milwaukee. Re
linquishing his very extensive law practice and eschewing active parti
cipation in party politics, he has devoted his attention wholly to the .
interests of the mammoth corporation that he has been preeminently in
strumental in building up to the position of one of the first, as it is one of
the soundest, in this or any other country. Of a manner the most quiet
and retiring, there is, in the subject of our sketch, a power back of it
that is comprehensive, clean cut and vigorous. During his career as a
lawyer Mr. Palmer had associated with him at different periods gentle
men of celebrity, among whom were the present governor of Colorado,
F. W. Pitkin, ex-Chief Justice L. S. Dixon, and D. G. Hooker. His
firms were all leading ones of the time, and himself was at their heads.

250 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
James H. Paine, Milwaukee, was born in the State, of Connecticut
He descended from a reputable parentage of the old Puritan stock. When
quite young he removed with his parents to Vergennes, in the State of
Vermont, where he spent his young life. At an early age he was ambi
tious to obtain an education, but his educational advantages, perhaps
unfortunately for him, were limited to only such as were afforded by the
common schools of that day. By industry, strict economy, and hard
toil at farm work a portion of his time, and by teaching the district
school in the winter months, and by improving his opportunities for
self culture, he was enabled to acquire a good English education, also
to qualify himself for the duties and responsibilities of the legal pro
fession. In 182 1 he returned to Painesville in the State of Ohio, where
he was first admitted to the bar, and where he immediately entered
upon a large and lucrative practice which he retained until 1847, when
he removed to this city and became identified with this bar. His stand
ing with the bar was always highly reputable as an honorable prac
titioner, safe counselor and eloquent advocate. He was associated in
his practice in Milwaukee, with his two sons, the late Hortentius Paine
and Judge Byron Paine, for several years, and until the early death of
the former and the advancement of the latter to the judicial bench of
the state. General Paine was a life-long reformer and radical politician.
He devoted much of his time, and contributed liberally from his limited
pecuniary resources, in the dissemination and the advancement of his
peculiar political views.
It is, however, worthy of mention as an evidence of his modesty and
unselfishness, that he never held a political office, and never sought or
desired official position. His views, particularly on the question of
American slavery, were of the most radical type. When those great
champions of freedom, William Lloyd Garrison and Gerritt Smith (who
ultimately became radicals on the slavery question), were sticking in
the bark of gradual emancipation, and were patrons of that deceptive
scheme familiarly known in the early times as the Slave-holders Coloni
zation Society, he was the bold, undaunted advocate of the uncondi
tional abolition of slavery in the territories and states of the Union.
His earnest, fearless and outspoken advocacy of these principles, in
public and private, at home and abroad, gave him great notoriety
throughout the Northwest, and particularly in the State of Ohio, as a
prominent leader in the anti-slavery party. In the inception of the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 251
anti-slavery agitation in this country, and for years afterward, it cost
something to be a pronounced abolitionist. The people of the North
held their teachings as dangerous, the South denounced them as
treasonable, while on every hand they were regarded as wild and fanat
ical. To face such a formidable public sentiment, required men of
nerve, of great tenacity of purpose and fixedness of principle. These
rare qualities General Paine possessed in a marked degree, and during
the long and sanguinary conflict between liberty and slavery he was
always found in the front and true to his convictions. Whether he
always acted wisely we are not called to pass upon at this late day. It
is, however, proper to say in this connection, that his peculiar views of
American slavery, its wrongs, its dangers, and its method of cure, ulti
mately became national. And he lived to see their triumph in the over
throw of slavery throughout our broad domain.
When that great fact was accomplished, and the intelligence was
wired to this city, in the exhuberance of his joy and characteristic of
his impulsive nature, he said to the writer of this, " Now I am ready to
depart, for I have seen the salvation of the Lord." It is a somewhat
remarkable fact that he was apparently taken at his word, for soon
thereafter he was stricken down with a fatal though lingering disease, and
nevermore was known or seen in the business walks or avocations of his
life. He passed away February 19, 1879, at the advanced age of eighty-
seven years.
George H. Paul, Milwaukee, was born at Danville, Caledonia
county, Vermont, March 14, 1826. At eleven years of age he entered
the office of the North Star, one of the oldest weekly newspapers of New
England, where he remained until the expiration of his term of appren
ticeship in 1840. During the ensuing three years he completed his prepa
ration for college at Phillips Academy, and joined the freshman class of
Vermont University at Burlington in January, 1844, from which institu
tion he received his graduation degree in 1847, and subsequently the
degree of master of arts in course. After the completion of his univer
sity studies at Burlington, he became a member of the law class of 1847
at Harvard University, where he remained until January, 1848, when he
became editor and proprietor of the Burlington Sentinel. A few months
later he started the first regularly published daily paper of that state,
and soon after was appointed postmaster at Burlington by President Polk.

252 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Early in the year 185 1 he sold the Sentinel newspaper and came to
Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he commenced the publication of the Keno
sha Democrat. In January, 1853, he was appointed assistant secretary
of the Wisconsin senate. In May of the same year he was appointed
postmaster at Kenosha, and reappointed in 1857, and held the office
until the expiration of his commission in 1861. In April, 1854, he was
appointed a member of Governor Barstow's staff. During his residence
at Kenosha he was mayor of the city one year and held other important
city and county offices. In 1861 he became one of the editors of the
New York Daily News, and upon its discontinuance he returned to Wis
consin and became connected with the Milwaukee News, assuming the
position of managing editor until January, 1871, when the establishment
afterward passed into the hands of a joint stock company. Mr. Paul
was president of it until May, 1874, at which time he parted with his
interest in the paper.
In 1867 he was elected a member of the Milwaukee Charter Conven
tion held in that year. In 1870 he was a member of the Milwaukee
board of school commissioners for two years, but resigned to accept the
place of superintendent of schools for Milwaukee city, in which position
he remained until May 1871. He was a delegate from the state at
large to the national convention which nominated General McClellan
for the presidency at Chicago in 1864, and a delegate from the Milwau
kee district to the national convention which nominated Mr. Greeley for
the presidency at Baltimore in 1872. He was chairman of the demo
cratic state central committee of Wisconsin in 1873 and 1874. In Feb
ruary, 1874, he was appointed a member of the board of regents of
Wisconsin University; was chosen its president in May 1874, and holds
the office to the present time; was appointed by the governor a member
of the board of railroad commissioners for Wisconsin, and this position
he continued to occupy until the repeal of the law under which that
commission was organized. During the entire period that Mr. Paul was
connected with the press, and for some years previous, he was a constant
contributor to the newspaper and miscellaneous literature of the time.
In 1877 Mr. Paul was elected to the state senate, and was reelected in
1879. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Milwaukee
County fnsane Asylum, and vice-president and business manager of the
Milwaukee Cement Company. Though admitted as a member of the
bar of Milwaukee many years ago, and a student in the study of law

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 253
from early life, he has never engaged in the active . practice of that
profession. J. V. V. Platto, Milwaukee, was born in Schenectady, New York,
January 17, 1822, was educated in Albany, studied law with R. W.
Peckham, then judge of the court of appeals, and was admitted as an
attorney in 1845, by the supreme court of New York. He came to Wis
consin in 1848, commenced practice in Milwaukee, where he has been a
successful practitioner to this time, and is one of the oldest lawyers in
that city. Mr. Platto served as member of the assembly during the
sessions of 1861 and 1862, and when in that body served on a select
committee on investigation of state affairs, as, likewise, on the expendi
ture of the war fund, for which latter committee he made the report.
Nathan Pereles, Milwaukee, one of the pioneer residents of Mil
waukee, was born at Sobotisch, Hungary, Austria, April 2, 1824, his
parents having been Herman Pereles and Julia Pereles. His education
was received at Sobotisch, Prague and Vienna, Europe and New York.
His law study was with G. W. Chapman, Milwaukee, and he was
admitted to the bar in Milwaukee, September 11, 1857. His practice
was continuously in Milwaukee, and all over the state, and his part
ners have been R. N. Austin, D. H. Johnson, under the firm of Austin,
Pereles & Johnson, afterward, in 1873, Pereles & Chapman, and since
1874, Nath. Pereles & Sons, the latter being James Madison Pereles and
Thomas Jefferson Pereles. The father of these sons died January 28,
1879, but the firm still continues Nath. Pereles & Sons. Mr. Pereles
was a director of the old LaCrosse and Milwaukee railroad, one of the
directors of the Bank of Commerce of Milwaukee, and financial agent for
Wisconsin of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hart
ford, Connecticut.
Albert Phalen, Milwaukee, was born in the State of Maine, and
came to Wisconsin when about two years of age. He studied law, was
admitted to the bar, commenced practice at Sheboygan in 1877, where
he practiced alone until 1881, when he changed his business and resi
dence to Milwaukee. Mr. Phalen has made a specialty of criminal
practice, in which he has acquired a reputation warranted by uniform
success, having never lost an important case. His success in jury trials
is remarkable, as the records of the cases in which he has been em-

254 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ployed will attest. In civil trials his success is likewise notable for a
young practitioner.
Hugh Ryan, Milwaukee, was born in Racine, June 14, 1847, and
is a son of Chief Justice Ryan. He grew up and attended school in
Milwaukee, then went east and completed his education in New Jersey.
He studied law with Attorney-General Edsall, of Illinois, and was
admitted to the bar in Wyandotte, Kansas, in 1873, and engaged in the
practice of law. He was appointed prosecuting attorney for Rooks
county. In 1874 he was admitted to the bar of the Illinois supreme
court. He came to Milwaukee in 1876, and entered the office of Judge
L. S. Dixon in 1877. He was for some time associate editor of the
Commercial Times, of Milwaukee. In 1878 he was appointed United
States court commissioner, and since then has also been in the practice
of law in Milwaukee.
George A. Starkweather, Milwaukee, was a native of the State
of Connecticut, and was born May 19, 1794. Until the fall of 1813 he
worked on his father's farm, and his health having failed he went with a
friend to Orange county, New York, with a view to spend the winter
and recuperate, ft resulted in his taking a common school, which he
taught for two years in the town of Walkill, working in the summer season
on a farm before and after school hours. He returned to Connecticut
in the fall of 1815, taking with him as the fruits of his labor about six
hundred dollars. He then commenced preparing for college, and in the
fall of 1817, entered Union College, joining the sophomore class. He
remained in College until the fall of 1819, when he moved to Coopers-
town, Otsego county, New York, and commenced his professional
studies with his brother Samuel. He was elected by the faculty of
Union one of the first six of his class as a Phi Beta Kappa, and had
the third appointment in his class ; but his funds being exhausted, he
did not return to fulfill his appointment. In the fall of 1820 he went to
Ithaca and taught a select school for six months, pursuing his law
studies at the same time. He returned to Cooperstown in the spring
and paid up his little bills ; was admitted as attorney of the supreme
court in January, 1823, as counsel in 1826, and solicitors' counsel in
chancery in 1831 ; in September 1842 was admitted as counsel in the
district court of the United States for the northern district of New

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 255
York, and in 1854 was admitted to the supreme court of the United
States. Mr. Starkweather formed a partnership with his brother Samuel,
and practiced his profession in the county of Otsego thirty-three years,
having purchased his brother's interest in the business in 1831. In 1856
he joined his eldest son, John C. Starkweather, in Milwaukee, where he
practiced his profession for ten years. Mr. Starkweather took a very
active part in politics. He was challenger at the polls for ten years
when, the election was held three days, and never missed a day ; was
twenty years chairman of the democratic corresponding committee of
Otsego county, New York, and wrote most of the addresses and resolu
tions; was frequently a delegate to county senatorial and state conven
tions ; was delegate to the national convention at the time Mr. Van
Buren was nominated for president, and was secretary of the conven
tion. The first office he held was commissioner of deeds, elected by
the board of supervisors ; in 1833 was appointed surrogate of Otsego
county; was afterward elected without opposition and held the office
for eight years. He was elected town supervisor in his absence, held
the office for four years, and was chairman of the board. He was
appointed one of the examiners of school teachers for the town of
Otsego ; took a deep interest in the common school system, and visited
the schools of the town without compensation; in 1846 was elected to
congress, Otsego and Schoharie forming the congressional district ;
made a speech in the house of representatives, opposing the extension
of slavery, which was formally commented upon by the New York
Tribune, Herald, and several other papers. He was commissioned
successively adjutant, major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the
Twelfth regiment, New York State artillery, " and was an efficient and
able officer." In 1850 he was appointed a member of the American
legal association; in 1834 he became a life member of the colonization
society, and in 1847 a life member of the Otsego bible association.
He was one of the vestry of Christ Church, Cooperstown, New York,
for twenty-seven years. When in Milwaukee he donated 116 volumes
of his congressional books to the Young Men's association, and was
made an honorary life member thereof. Colonel Starkweather had four
sons in the army during the late war of the rebellion, all of whom were
volunteers. The venerable and greatly respected Colonel Starkweather
died at Cooperstown, New York, October 13, 1878, at the advanced age
of eighty-four. 15

256 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Joshua Stark, Milwaukee, was born in Brattleboro, Vermont,
August 12, 1828. His parents were Reverend J. L. Stark and Hannah
G. Stark, both natives of Bozrah, Connecticut. They removed to the
town of Canajoharie, Montgomery county, New York, in the spring of
1839, and in 1842 to the village of Mohawk, Herkimer county, New
York. Mr. Stark was educated and prepared for college at the acade
mies in West Brattleboro, Vermont, and Ames, Herkimer and Little
Falls, New York ; entered Union College at Schenectady in the spring
of 1846, joining the sophomore class, and graduated in 1848. From
January 1847, to January 1848, he was employed as tutor in the family
of Edward C. Marshall, in Fauquier county, Virginia, during which
time he pursued the studies of his class, and upon examination was
permitted to resume his standing and graduate with the class. In the
fall of 1848 he entered the law office of J. N. & D. Lake, at Little
Falls, New York, as a student, and remained with them until admit
ted to the bar by the supreme court of New York, at general term
held in Watertown, in July, 1850. About the first of October 1850,
he set out for the West, having Milwaukee as destination, coming
by rail to New Buffalo, and thence to Milwaukee by boat, arriving
October 6, 1850. He formed a law partnership with F. W. Horn, of
Cedarburg, Wisconsin, about the twentieth of the same month, and
spent the winter in that village, without law practice, but diligently
engaged in the study of the German language, until May 19, 185 1,
when he took up his residence in Milwaukee, where he has ever since
pursued the practice of his profession. In the spring of 1853 he was
elected city attorney, and held the office one year. In November, 1855,
he was chosen as democratic representative from the first ward, then
comprising the present first and seventh wards, in the assembly of the
state, for the sessions of 1856. He was made chairman of the judiciary
committee, and speaker pro tempore, in which latter capacity he presided
during a large portion of the adjourned session in September, 1856.
During the regular session, the gubernatorial contest between Bashford
and Barstow came before the legislature and the supreme court. Mr.
Stark refused to join in resistance to the decision and judgment of the
supreme court, and aided in preventing a serious collision of the oppos
ing parties. A defalcation in the state treasury, discovered a little
before the adjournment, led to the appointment of a joint committee of
investigation, and an adjournment of the session until September, 1856,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 257
to receive and act upon. the report of the committee. Near the opening
of the regular session, communications from holders of scrip issued by
the state for the construction of the Fox and Wisconsin improvement,
brought to the notice of the legislature the fact that the improvement
company, to which the state had, in 1853, transferred the improvement
and the congressional grant of lands in its aid, upon condition that it
should pay the indebtedness of the state incurred on account of the
work, had neglected to comply with this condition, and had permitted
coupons for interest to be protested for non-payment, and the credit of
the state to be seriously prejudiced. The subject was referred to a
select committee of the assembly of which Mr. Stark was chairman,
and M. M. Davis, of Portage City, and Charles H. Walker, of Mani
towoc, were members. Other matters of importance relating to the
improvement company and its execution of the trust conferred upon it
by the state came to the knowledge of the committee during the session;
but as the committee were unable to report advisedly upon them before
the adjournment, the assembly authorized the committee to sit during
the recess, and report in September. In July or August the committee
visited and inspected the improvement from Portage City to Green Bay.
and thoroughly considered the subject of the improvement and of the
interests of the state as affected thereby, and reported at length in
October, recommending the passage of an act to secure the rights and
interests of the state, and the prompt completion of the improvement.
The act was passed, and received the approval of the governor, October
3, 1856. It resulted in the speedy payment and extinguishment of all
the obligations of the state on account of the improvement.
In June, 1856, congress made a liberal grant of lands to the state
for railroad purposes. The disposition of these lands became the lead
ing question at the October session. The prominent events of the ses
sion are well known. Mr. Stark came out of the struggle unspotted by
the corruptions of the session. In November, i860, he was elected
district attorney of Milwaukee county, and held the office for two years
from January 1, 1861. Though not in the military service, he aided,
during the war, to keep alive the courage and patriotism of the north ;
attended war meetings, and urged the prompt recruiting of our regi
ments, and was in hearty sympathy with the cause of the Union. In
September, 187 1, he was appointed school commissioner for the seventh
ward, and served until June 1873, when he resigned to undertake the

258 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
work of revising and consolidating the charter, and ordinances of the
city of Milwaukee. This work being completed, in April 1874 he was
again chosen school commissioner of the same board, which office he
still holds. In May, 1875, he was elected president of the school board,
and has been reelected each year since that time, and is now serving
for the sixth year. Mr. Stark was one of the pioneer lawyers of Mil
waukee, and has always held a prominent position at the bar of the city,
and is of high standing in the fraternity. His partner is now Moses H.
Brand, a young and promising lawyer. Mr. Stark has taken great
interest in educational matters in the city, as a member of the school
board, and its presiding officer.
E. P. Smith, Milwaukee, was born in Burlington, Vermont, February
18, 1827. His father, the late Reverend Reuben Smith, was a Presby
terian minister of marked talents and power, for many years located at
Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, New York. The subject of this sketch
was prepared for college under the tuition of Professor Taylor Lewis,
and graduated at Union College in the class of 1847. Intending to
devote himself to the practice of law Mr. Smith came west after complet
ing his preparatory studies and entered the law office of Finch & Lynde,
in the city of Milwaukee, where he remained until his admission to the bar.
In October, 1849, he removed to Beaver Dam, then a small but growing
place, and soon succeeded in building up a lucrative practice and
establishing himself in the confidence of the community. He was the
second mayor of the city of Beaver Dam and afterward twice elected at
different periods to the same office. In 1872 Mr. Smith removed to
Milwaukee, carrying with him the reputation of an able, thorough and
successful lawyer, and was at once recognized as entitled to stand in the
front rank of his profession.
Amos A. L. Smith, Milwaukee, was born at Appleton, September 8,
1849, is the son of Reeder and Eliza P. Smith, and the first white child
born in Appleton. His father enjoys the credit of having been the
founder of the city of Appleton, as the agent of Amos A. Lawrence, of
Boston, who was proprietor of the land upon which the city now stands,
and has, moreover, been a conspicuous citizen of Wisconsin. A. A. L.
Smith was prepared for college at the Lawrence University at Appleton,
completing the sophomore year at that institution, and entered the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 259
Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, in September, 1869, from
which he graduated in full classical course in 1872, taking the highest
prizes for oratory and English composition. When at the university he
was a prominent debater in the literary societies of the institution ; was
for two years editor of the college paper, took several special studies in
the department of engineering in addition to his regular course ; in lan
guages he was quite proficient, having in his college course read the whole
trilogy of ^schylus in addition to the Greek prescribed, and wrote a
Greek oration.
Immediately after his graduation Mr. Smith became a traveling
correspondent for the Chicago Inter Ocean, and after a few months
became united with the editorial force of the city department of the
paper, where for about two years he labored industriously. The offices
of the Inter Ocean, commencing soon after the great Chicago fire, were
located in buildings connected with the office and residence of J. Y.
Scammon, proprietor of the paper, whose extensive law library afforded
Mr. Smith an opportunity to pursue the study of law, which at the invi
tation of Mr. Scammon he improved. In 1874 he came to Milwaukee,
where he completed his law studies, was admitted to the bar the same
year, and commenced practice of the profession in the office of Carpen
ter & Murphy, through an invitation extended by Senator Carpenter.
Here for two years, and especially during the absence of Mr. Carpenter
at Washington, Mr. Smith assisted in the preparation of cases, and par
ticipated in many of the trials conducted by the firm. On May 20,
1874, Mr. Smith married Miss Frances Louise Brown, of Chicago, with
whom he had formed an acquaintance while attending college at Evans-
ton, at which village her father has an elegant summer residence, one
of the finest in any of the suburbs of Chicago. In making, at an early
age of his life, this matrimonial alliance, Mr. Smith has been peculiarly
fortunate. Domestic in his tendencies, he is blessed in having a wife
who is well calculated to make home happy. Uniting with an attractive
person, a thorough education, an amiable temper, and considerable
accomplishments, she is beloved by all who know her, and, with fine
musical tastes, is a remarkably skillful performer on the piano. Their
children are Laura Louise, who was born June 16, 1876, and Philip
Reeder, born January 8, 1878.
When Mr. Carpenter returned to Milwaukee at the close of his
first term in the United States senate in March, 1876, and resumed

260 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
his law practice, Mr. Smith removed from the office of Carpenter
& Murphy, rented the office and library of E. G. Ryan, who had
recently gone on the supreme bench as chief justice, and began
the practice of law on his own account. Devoting himself assidu
ously to his business, he alone had acquired a large and valuable
practice, when, in the latter part of the same year, Senator Carpen
ter and Winfield Smith invited him to join them and form the
law firm of Carpenter & Smiths, which was accepted. Upon the death
of Mr. Carpenter in 1881 the firm became Winfield & A. A. L. Smith,
and is continued as such. In his political tendencies Mr. Smith has
always been a straight republican ; in religion he is a member of a con
gregational church, and socially is fond of home and books. No better
comment can be made upon the solid merits of Mr. Smith than to add that
he was especially esteemed by Mr. Carpenter, and was his trusted confi
dant and personal friend, and is now holding similar relations with Mr.
Winfield Smith. To have been in business with gentlemen of their
distinction, may be truly considered an honor to any man, and especially
to one so young in years as Mr. A. A. L. Smith.
Truman Willcox Saunders, Milwaukee, was born in Rensselaer
county, New York, January 22, 1847. He graduated from Williams
College in 1873, and was immediately after engaged for three years as
Professor of Greek in Milton College, Wisconsin. He left the latter
institution in 1876, and taught for one year in Markham's Academy,
Milwaukee. From 1877 to 1878 he read law with Judge J. Gibson, in
Salem, New York, and was admitted to the bar in Milwaukee in the fall
of 1878. He at once began his practice in Milwaukee, and while meet- '
ing with good success he was cut off when only thirty-four years of age
by sudden sickness at his home in that city, to the grief of his many
friends, who know that a purer, truer and pleasanter man never lived.
He left a young and accomplished wife and one interesting child.
Frank B. Van Valkenburgh, Milwaukee, was born in Pitts
burgh, Steuben county, New York, February 21, 1835, arjd received his
education in the common schools of that state. He began the study of
law with Rumsy & Van Valkenburgh, of Bath, New York, and subse
quently removed to Milwaukee, where he was admitted to the practice
of his profession, February 21, 1856. He was a member of the firm of
Waldo, Ody & Van, of Milwaukee, and is now alone in business.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 261
O. H. Waldo, Milwaukee, was born in Prattsburgh, New York, April
i, 1822. His father was a farmer and until seventeen years of age Otis
remained at home working hard with brain and hand. He entered Union
College in 1839, and notwithstanding the fact that his sight failed him
in the last years of his study he graduated in both the literary and classi
cal courses with honor in 1842. Mr. Waldo's health was not good, and
he left home for the more genial climate of the south, settling in Natchez)
where he studied law with John A. Quitman, and was admitted to the bar
in 1849 at that place. The young lawyer did not agree with the peculiar
political ideas of the south, however ; they were distasteful to his republi
canism, even at this early day, and accordingly he decided to locate in
the west, and came to Milwaukee in the autumn of 1849. In tne spring
of 1850 he married the daughter of J. Van Valkenburgh, of Pontiac,
Michigan, and immediately commenced his career as one of the most
thorough and conscientious lawyers who ever practiced in the courts of
any state. He took an active interest in all public enterprises for over
twenty years, and to his labors may be greatly traced the success of
some of the railroad enterprises which are at the basis of the city's
prosperity. To his efforts are largely due the construction of the
Milwaukee & Northern Railroad.
Emil Wallber, Milwaukee. There are among the members of
the Wisconsin bar, those who have achieved a high standing as
legal practitioners who came to this country from abroad at an early
period of their lives, and have remained here, grown up within its institu
tions, filled places of public trust with ability and fidelity, and become
an honor to the state. Among the younger men of this class is the sub
ject of this sketch. Emil Wallber was born in the city of Berlin, Prussia,
April 1, 1841, and came to the city of New York with his parents in the
year 1850. The son received his education at the New York Free
Academy. The family left that city in 1855 and came to Milwaukee,
where they settled, and Emil commenced the study of law in the office
of Winfield Smith and Edward Salomon. He was admitted to practice
at the bar in 1864, and in 1862 commenced public life as chief clerk of
the executive office at Madison, which office he held until 1863, which
was during the term of Governor Salomon as executive of the state. He
was then appointed, in 1864, assistant attorney-general and served until
1866. In Milwaukee Mr. Wallber has been much identified with the

262 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
interests of the public schools, having served as school commissioner for
the sixth ward, from April 27, 1870 to 1873, and was president of the
board of school commissioners for 187 1 and 1872. The latter year he
was member of the assembly in which he took a leading part and was
member of important committees of that body. In 1873 he was elected
city attorney, and held the office by reelection until 1878, when he
declined to be again a candidate, choosing to apply himself to the legiti
mate practice of the law, accepting, however, the office of court com
missioner in 1878, and now continues to administer its functions. At
the election of city attorney in 1880, Mr. Wallber was strongly urged to
accept a nomination, which he respectfully declined. Mr. Wallber is
one of the most genial of gentlemen, a straight-forward lawyer, and a
reliable man. The many stations of public duty that he has been called
to occupy have been filled with distinguished ability and universal accept
ance. Few have been called to serve in public capacities at so young
an age, and none have discharged the responsibilities of office more
worthily. In June, 1882, a Milwaukee daily paper said: "The election of
Emil Wallber, of this city, to be president of the National Association of
Turners, is peculiarly an honor to the turners of Milwaukee and Wis
consin, and incidentally a marked compliment to the city and state.
The distinction is one of which Mr. Wallber has the right to be proud."
Frederic C. Winkler, Milwaukee, was born in Bremen, Germany,
March 15, 1838. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was
six years of age, and located in Milwaukee. His education was obtained
in the public and private schools in Milwaukee, and under the private tui
tion of, Professor Engelman. Mr. Winkler taught school before reaching
his eighteenth year, and at this age commenced the study of law in the office
of H- L. Palmer, Milwaukee, where, teaching school in the winter months,
he remained a student until the fall of 1858, when heentqre.d the, office, pf
Abbott, Gregory & Pinney, at Madison, as clerk. While , there he,., was,
April 19, 1859, admitted] to the bar it\ the, circujt , .co„urt ..q^ D,ane
county after a thorough examination, in open court. S/foqr^y^afjte^irrjjs
event he returned to Milwaukee and. , entered, upon the, ( practice, of his
profession. , Immediately after. the breaking put of the war ,h,is . partner,
iG^Vpn Deutsch, entered^he^ cayajry service, leaving, Mt:h,e, busjpess,;,in
lyfr. Winkler's hands. In 1862 when the (appeal for more troops bega.mf.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 263
urgent, Mr. Winkler gave up his business and recruited Company B, of
the twenty-sixth Wisconsin regiment, of which he was elected captain.
The regiment left the state early in October and was assigned to the
eleventh corps of the army of the Potomac, then commanded by General
Sigel. During the succeeding winter Captain Winkler was constantly
employed as judge-advocate in courts-martial at corps headquarters.
At the opening of the campaign the next spring he was assigned to the
staff of General Schurz, who was commanding a division of the corps,
participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and tempo
rarily took charge of the regiment during the latter battle. Afterward
he remained with the regiment as second in command. After the battle
of Chickamauga the regiment was transferred to the west, as a part of
General Hooker's forces that were sent to the relief of Rosecrans.
Shortly afterward the colonel of the regiment resigned, and Captain
Winkler thenceforth commanded the regiment, being successively pro
moted through the various grades to that of colonel. Under his com
mand the regiment took part in the battle of Mission Ridge in 1863 ; the
Atlanta campaign with its battles and countless skirmishes in 1864; the
march to the sea, and thence north through the Carolinas, winning the
reputation of a brave and well conducted fighting regiment. It never
met with a reverse or marched in retreat while under Colonel Winkler's
command. Upon the close of the war, in 1865, he was appointed Brevet
Brigadier-General. Returning to Milwaukee, General Winkler resumed the practice of
law, and in 1867 became associated with A. R. R. Butler. In 1872 he
was a member of the assembly in the state legislature, and was the
republican nominee, the same year, for congress in the Milwaukee
district, then largely democratic.
W. C. Williams, Milwaukee, was born in the town of Darien, Wiscon
sin, April 7, 1852. He completed his education at Ripon College, and
studied law in Milwaukee with Carpenter & Murphey and with Butler &
Winkler. He was admitted to the bar at Milwaukee, and there entered
upMhis professional career. He was first associated with Mr. Merrill,
under the firrn of, Williams & Merrill, and was then alone in his prac-
r:t.,WDm,i,f/j;i 10 /r-n'o ¦ <:< ivirmi.-n ,mi'. £)_..,, L
tice until 187,8, when he became a member of the firm of Butler, Will-
,7B3y. SrafiK 3rlj'n:,;:iii'M *v ¦ , li'iu'i'i :-" -i.. Q.* i in [f-;!i , • ¦¦ . '
jams & Butler., He is now.associated with E. S. Elliott, under the firm
0f.Wiili9.WS & Elliott. , In November, 1880, Mr. Williams was elected city
attorney of Milwaukee.

264 » THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Augustus Gordon Weissert, Milwaukee, was born August 7, 1843,
at Canton, Stark county,- Ohio. His father was a merchant and old resi
dent of that place, going thither from New York city. In 1848, his parents
coming west, he located with them at Racine, Wisconsin ; graduated at the
Racine High School, and afterward at the University of Michigan, where
he received the degree of LL. B. He was for sometime connected with
the press, and studied law. At the outbreak of the late war, being then
in New York, he returned to his home at Racine and entered the army
early in September, 1861, in the eighth 1 regiment Wisconsin volunteer
infantry, and which was afterward known as the famous live eagle regi
ment. He served with this command over four years, and was promoted
and afterward brevetted captain for meritorious conduct on various battle
fields. He was appointed by President Lincoln cadet to the United
States Military Academy at West Point, but was obliged to decline the
appointment on account of wounds received in battle. He participated
with his regiment in a large number of battles and still carries a bullet
in his person received in a charge on the enemies' works at the battle of
Nashville, Tennessee. He has never recovered from this wound, the
same never having healed. He has held several public positions : was ad
mitted to the bar in 1866. He has been and is now successfully practicing
his profession; is a member of the Milwaukee board of school commis
sioners, and has been a resident of Milwaukee since the close of the war.
Edwin Hurlbut, Oconomowoc, is a son of Philander Hurlbut, an
attorney and farmer, and was born in Newtown, Connecticut, October
10, 1817. Both of his grandfathers fought in the American revolution,
and his father participated in the war of 1812 to 1815. The family
moved to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, when Edwin was about seven
years old. There he remained about eight years, and enjoyed the
educational advantages that a common school afforded. At the end of
that time he started for New Jersey, walking all the way to Newark,
where he lived a year, and then started westward. He tarried a short
time in Eaton county, Michigan, and afterward returned to the East
and studied law at Lodi Seneca county, New York. Proceeding to
Towanda, Pennsylvania, in 1842, he resumed the study of law, and was
admitted to the bar in 1847. He returned to Michigan the same year,
and settled at Mason, Ingham county, and commenced practice. He
was appointed postmaster at that place in 1848, district attorney the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 265
same year, and a little later received from Governor Ransen the
appointment of judge advocate in the state militia with the rank of
colonel. In April, 1850, Colonel Hurlbut settled at Oconomowoc,
where he has been in the practice of law twenty-seven years. During
the first year of his practice in Wisconsin he was appointed attorney of
the Milwaukee, Watertown & Madison plank-road ; was elected district
attorney in 1856, holding the office two years, and in 1858 was appointed
attorney for what was then known as the Milwaukee, Beaver Dam &
Baraboo railroad, now a branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
road, and held that position several years. At the opening of the
rebellion, in the spring of 1861, Colonel Hurlbut was appointed colonel
on Governor Randall's staff, and was active in recruiting soldiers for
the Union army. He went to Washington with the Fourth Wisconsin
Infantry, and had a position in the state commissary department, had
the inspection of troops, and before the close of the year was again
appointed governor's aid. In 1862 he was appointed deputy United
States marshal, with provost marshal's powers. He was tendered the
colonelcy of one of the Wisconsin regiments, but declined.
Colonel Hurlbut was a member of the general assembly in the
session of 1869. He was chairman of the committee on federal rela
tions, and a member of other committees. The next year Governor
Fairchild appointed him to represent the governor at the international con
gress on penitentiary and reformatory discipline, of which congress Ruther
ford B. Hayes was president. Colonel Hurlbut is known as a humanitarian,
and in 1872 was appointed a delegate to the International Penitentiary
Congress, which met in London. Two years later he was a member of
the National Prison Congress, held in St. Louis, and was made one of
its trustees, and put on the committee on criminal law reform. In 1875
he became a trustee of the National Prison Association of New York,
and was placed on the committee on discharged convicts. Colonel
Hurlbut has held various offices in the village and city of Oconomowoc,
one of them being that of clerk of the school board, which he held about
twelve years. He was a member of the board of managers of the state
industrial school, located at Waukesha. In politics, Colonel Hurlbut
was a democrat until 1854, when he aided in forming the republican
party at Madison, with which he acted until 1872, when he supported
Horace Greeley for President. It was by the reform party, then domi
nant in the state, that he was elected district attorney of Waukesha

266 » THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
county in 1873. He is editor and proprietor of the Wisconsin Free
Press, a weekly newspaper published in Oconomowoc, and devoted to
the interests of the reform party. He is a member of Waukesha chap
ter of the Masonic fraternity, and was grand worthy patriarch of the
state in the order of Sons of Temperance in 1853. He has probably
the largest and best law library in Waukesha county. Colonel Hurlbut
was married in October, 1840, to Miss Chandler, of Seneca county, New
York. Vernon Tichenor, Waukesha, is the son of Moses and Abby Paul
Tichenor, and was born at Amsterdam, New York, August 28, 1815.
Vernon was prepared for college at the Amsterdam Academy, and
graduated at Union College in 1835, on the verge of entering upon his
twenty-first year. He studied law with David P. Corey, at Amsterdam;
was admitted to the bar at Albany in October 1838; the following year
opened a law office at Waukesha, and was the first lawyer to put out a
shingle in that then Indian wilderness town, now famous as a sum
mer watering-place. Mr. Tichenor is a noted office lawyer; was magis
trate many years, in which capacity he executed a great variety of
business; was the first town clerk of Waukesha, serving several years;
has been court commissioner twenty years; has long been a member of
the school board ; three or four terms president of the village ; was
draft commissioner in 1862; member of assembly in 1869; is local
attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, and president
of the board of trustees of Carroll county, Waukesha. Mr. Tichenor
married Miss Charlotte Sears, August 19, 1838, and has three children.
Alexander Cook, Waukesha, was born at Sharon Springs, Schoharie
county, New York, March 1, 1820. His parents were John R. and
Maria Coon Cook. Mr. Cook was educated at Clinton, New York, at
Hamilton College and the Liberal Institute at that place. He read
law in the city of Syracuse, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He
came- to Wisconsin in 1845, and in August of that year located at
Waukesha, where he has been in the practice of law to the present time.
He filled the office of town clerk two terms and was district attorney eight
terms, and justice of the peace eight terms, having held one or the other
of these offices ever since he came to Waukesha. He married Miss
Nancy Stevens, of New York State, February 1, 1843. They had one
son, who lost his life in the army, January 23, 1863.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 267
E. W. Chafin, Waukesha, was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin,
November i, 1852, and is self-educated. He was a member of the
State University law class, which was graduated in 1875. The year
succeeding his graduation he opened an office in Waukesha, where he
has since been in practice alone. In 1876 he published the Voters'
Hand-Book. THIRD CIRCUIT.
Charles Barber, Oshkosh, was born at Burlington, Vermont, Sep
tember 21, 1851. He was the son of Dr. A. P. and K. E. Barber, who
afterward emigrated to the west and located at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It
was there where Charles received his school education, graduating from
the high school of that town in 1868.
He commenced the study of law with E. P. Finch, Oshkosh ; after
ward went to Columbia law school, New York, and graduated from
that institution in May, 1874. The same year he entered as a partner
in the office of his former teacher, E. P. Finch, and the connection
still continues. During that year he was appointed inspector of the
Oshkosh High School.
Henry Bailey, Oshkosh, the son of John Bailey, was born at Par-
sonsfield, York county, Maine, October 18, 1842. He availed himself of
such educational advantages as the town of Effingham, New Hampshire,
afforded. His preparation for the legal profession was completed at the
office of Moses Hooper, Oshkosh, in 1866 ; was admitted to the bar at
Oshkosh, which city has ever since continued to be his home, and where he
has adhered faithfully to his work as a lawyer. On the breaking out of
the war Mr. Bailey was filled with popular enthusiasm of the time
and entered the army as captain of Fifty-first Wisconsin infantry.
Chester D. Cleveland, Oshkosh, was born at Winchester, Connecti
cut, October 22, 1839, and is the son of Rufus and Sarah Cleveland.
The young man, after pursuing the usual course at the common
school, was sent to Williston Seminary to prepare for college. After
graduating from Williston Seminary he commenced the study of law with
Elisha Johnson, of Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained until the
breaking out of the war in 1861, when he entered the army. After the
close of the war he was admitted to the bar at Litchfield, Connecticut,

268 - the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
in 1865. He then entered the Yale law school from whence he gradu
ated, in 1866, and during the fall of that year took up his residence
at Oshkosh, and from that time until the present has continued in the
practice of his profession.
Mr. Cleveland participated in the war of the rebellion, entering as a
private and working his way up through the several grades until he was
appointed to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Second Connecticut artil
lery. He was present at the battles of Bull Run and Appomattox, and
was in many battles during the memorable struggle for the maintenance
of the Union.
A. E. Dunlap, Berlin, was born September 14, 1847, at Oswego,
New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1852, and lived for thirteen years
on a farm in Washara county. In the winter of 1865 Mr. Dunlap, then
only seventeen years of age, enlisted in the Forty-seventh regiment and
was mustered out in the following September. In 1866 he commenced a
course of study at Oberlin College, Ohio, continuing there for some years.
He returned to Wisconsin in 1877, and went into the office of Warren
& Ryan, Berlin, as a law student. He was admitted to the bar January
18, 1879, and subsequently formed a partnership with D. Junor.
Mengo Hall Eaton, Oshkosh, a native of Oshkosh, was born
February 3, 185 1. His parents were Jefferson and Jane M. Eaton,
who are owners of a beautiful farm near the city of Oshkosh, where
the subject of our sketch passed his life until his nineteenth year,
when he was sent to Ripon College for the purpose of receiving a
more liberal education than could be acquired in rural districts.
He afterward took an academical course at Lawrence University,
Appleton. He commenced the study of law in the office of Finch
& Felker, and completed the same while in the office of Jackson &
Halsey, and on December 16, 1873, was admitted to the bar, and
commenced the practice of law at Oshkosh. Mr. Eaton is a repub
lican in politics, and a ready stump speaker. During the years of
1879, 1880 and 1881 he has held the office of city attorney of Oshkosh,
and has performed the duties of the office in such a manner as has
given satisfaction to his constituents and credit to himself.

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. - 269
Charles W. Felker, Oshkosh, was born in the State of New York,
November 25, 1834, came to Wisconsin with his parents, Andrew and
Maria Pixley Felker, in the spring of 1847, and settled in Winnebago
county, where he has continued to reside until the present time. Mr.
Felker is a lawyer, and in politics a democrat. He resides at the city
of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Earl Pierce Finch, Oshkosh, was born at Jay, Essex county, New
York, October 27, 1828. He acquired, at Union College, New York,
as thorough an education as the advantages of that period would allow.
After graduation he fell into the tide of emigration which was then
sweeping westward, and coming to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he entered as a
student, the law office of Judge Edwin Wheeler. In the year 1859 he
had completed his law studies, and in the same year was admitted to
the bar. He immediately entered on the practice of his profession, at
Oshkosh, and has ever since continued to be one of the most success
ful lawyers of that section of the state.
James Freeman, Oshkosh, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 19,
1827, and was educated in the University in Ohio. He read law
with Samuel Stevenson, at Cleveland and was admitted to the bar
by the supreme court of Ohio at Columbus, December 4, 1850. He
practiced one year in Cleveland, and then removed to Muskegon,
Illinois ; practiced two years in Muskegon and Chicago, and came to
Oshkosh in December, 1854, and engaged in practice, which he con
tinued until 1862, when he raised a company for the war, was assigned
to the Thirty-second regiment, and went to the front and served with
gallantry and distinction to the close of the war, returning to Oshkosh
in July, 1865, when he resumed practice, and has continued to the
present time.
George Gary, Oshkosh, was born March 16, 1824, at Potsdam,
St. Lawrence county, New York. From early childhood he was afflicted
with a disease of the eyes, from which he has suffered during his life
time, causing a constant inflammation, and during the whole period of
his childhood and youth rendering any continuous application to study
or any pursuit impracticable. He received such education in the com
mon English branches as could be acquired by a very irregular attend
ance at the common schools of that period and at two or three terms of

270 ? > THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
an academy at Keenville, New York. At the age of twenty-one he
embarked on a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean. After an absence
of something more that two years he returned home in the fall of 1847
with eyes considerably improved. After two years spent in teaching a
country school and miscellaneous pursuits, in the spring of 1850, after a
surgical operation by which his eyes were further improved, he emigrated
to Wisconsin and located at the city, then village, of Oshkosh, where he
spent several years as clerk in a forwarding and transportation business.
He was elected and served as a member of the legislature in the sessions
of 1854 and 1855, and served as speaker pro tempore (which was then an
office for the session) in 1855. In 1857 he was elected clerk of the court
of Winnebago county, to fill a vacancy, and was reelected and retained
the position till January 1, 1861. Having read law during his service as
clerk and before, he was admitted to the bar in April, 186 1. In 1862,
upon the passage of the internal revenue law, he was appointed assessor
for the then fifth district of Wisconsin, comprising thirteen counties,
which position he resigned in the spring of 1865 ; was state senator in
1867, and resigned after one year to take the position of register in
bankruptcy, which he also resigned in 1869 to take the office of county
judge, which he has held from January 1, 1870, to March, 1882, when
he resigned on account of insufficiency of salary. Judge Gary has had
some experience as an editor of newspapers, and is the author of Gary's
Probate Law.
H. B. Harshaw, Oshkosh, was born in Argyle, Washington county,
New York, June 13, 1842, came to Wisconsin in 1851, and to Osh
kosh, where he received his education and has since resided. At the
first call for troops for the late war. Colonel Harshaw enlisted April 18,
1861, in company C, second regiment, Wisconsin infantry, rose to the
rank of colonel, lost an arm while on duty, and was mustered out June
28, 1864, by reason of expiration of term of service. In the fall of 1864
he was elected- clerk of the circuit court of Winnebago county, and
served in that capacity until January 1, 1878, when he resigned the
office. In 1875 he was admitted to the bar, and in January, 1879,
formed a copartnership with A. W. Weisbrod, and they are together
practicing in Oshkosh, the firm being Weisbrod & Harshaw. Colonel
Harshaw was appointed postmaster at Oshkosh in 1878, and is now
holding the office.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 271
Emmett Reuben Hicks, Oshkosh. The subject of this sketch,
now a- practicing lawyer at Oshkosh, was born at Waukau, Winnebago
county, Wisconsin, March 7, 1854, of R. P. and Sophia B. Hicks. He
is a graduate of the academic and law departments of the State Univer
sity of Wisconsin, the former course having been completed in 1876, the
latter in 1880. He also received the degree of master of arts from the
same institution in June, 1880. Mr. Hicks further prepared himself for
the legal profession in the offices of Eli Hooker, Waupun, and J. H.
Carpenter, Madison. In June, 1880, he was admitted to practice in the
state and United States courts, and at once opened a law office in Oshkosh,
and without the aid of a partner is steadily acquiring a satisfactory
practice. Heman B. Jackson, Oshkosh, is a native of Naperville, Illinois,
which place at the time of his birth consisted of a handful of huts, and
was a mere settlement among the savages, who then roamed through
that country. H. B. Jackson was born on July 24, 1837, and is the son
of William and Lucy Babbitt Jackson. He was educated in the semi
naries at Warrenville and Elgin, Illinois, and later he attended the
Western Reserve College at Hiram, Ohio. He states, with pride, that
he succeeded in attending college by means of his own personal efforts,
and the practice of the most rigid economy. While at college he
boarded himself at an expense not exceeding seventy-five cents per
week. At the close of his studies there he engaged in teaching two
terms of district school, and then began the study of law with Joslin
and Gifford, at Elgin, Illinois.
At the early age of twenty years he was admitted to the Illinois bar,
In 1857. Going from Elgin to Crystal Lake, Illinois, he first hung out
his shingle there. That field proving too limited for his youthful aspi
rations, he removed in the spring of 1859 to his present home in Osh
kosh, and entered upon a practice of his profession, which has since
become large and remunerative. The firm of Jackson & Halsey was
formed in 1865, and that of Jackson & Thompson in 1880, Mr. Halsey
going out and A. E. Thompson coming in. Mr. Jackson was admitted
to practice in all the courts of record in Illinois, while a resident of that
state. In 1863 his practice first called him to the bar of the supreme
court of Wisconsin, and in the same year he was admitted to the United
States circuit and district courts. A reference to the court reports
16

272 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
shows that in a large majority of his cases he has been successful. He
is an ardent and earnest advocate, and zealously makes his client's cause
his own. At the opening of the war he was deeply interested in the
Union cause, and prompted by his patriotic nature he was among the
very first to enlist for the war, which was on April 21, 1861, at Oshkosh,
and entered the army as second lieutenant of Company E, Second regi
ment Wisconsin volunteer infantry. Afterward he was promoted to a
position on the staff of General W. T. Sherman. He acted in the capacity
of staff-officer at the battle of Bull Run, and continued on General
Sherman's staff until, on account of a serious and permanent injury, he
was compelled to quit the service during the same year. This was the
more regretted for the reason that subsequent events of the war placed
his chief on the very pinnacle of military fame. Nothing remained for
him on leaving the army but to resume his legal practice, which he did
at the same place from which he entered the military service. He was
twice elected city attorney of Oshkosh. In 1864 he became district
attorney, and was reelected to that office in 1868. In 1875 he was nomi
nated by the republican party of his district as its candidate for mem
ber of the state legislature, but through local causes, was defeated.
Previous to the great fire of Oshkosh in 1875, he had erected several
large blocks, • which, together with millions of property of his neigh
bors, were destroyed. He has ever kept foremost among those who
sought to promote the public good by supplying public libraries, estab
lishing lecture courses and in other ways. Mr. Jackson was married on
June 14, 1862, to Miss Annett L. Harwood, by whom he has three
daughters. David Junor, Berlin, was born at London, Canada, July 20, 1842.
He received an excellent education at the Toronto University, and gradu
ated in 1866 from that institution, from which also he received the
degree of Master of Arts in 1868. He studied law at St. Mary's, and
was admitted to the bar at Toronto in 1869. He practiced for three
years at St. Mary's, in partnership with J. E. Harding, the same lawyer
with whom he had formerly studied. He came to the United States in
1872, and purchased the Berlin Courant, one of the oldest papers in the
State of Wisconsin, published at Berlin, Wisconsin, and in the following
year was admitted to the bar. During the two years after his admission he
was principal of the Berlin High School, and from 1877 to 1879 occupied

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 273
the same position in the city of Sanganio, Michigan. In 1879 he re
turned to Berlin, and resumed the publication of the Courant. At the
same time he began the practice of law, in partnership with A. E. Dun
lap, which partnership was dissolved in 1880, when Mr. Dunlap was
elected clerk of circuit court for Green Lake county.
James C. Kerwin, Neenah, was born in the town of Menasha, Wis
consin, May 4, 1850, his parents being Michael and Mary Kerwin. He
lived at Menasha during the early part of his life, worked on his father's
farm, attended the high school of that place from which he graduated
from a regular course, and his education was finally completed at the
State University. He studied law with A. L. Collins, Menasha, and
graduated at the law school of the university. Previously admitted to the
bar at the circuit court of Dane county, he was admitted to the supreme
court in 1875, and to the United States district court by Judge Charles
E. Dyer, July 10, 1878, at the Oshkosh term of that year. Since his
admission he has applied himself, with unremitted energy, to the prac
tice of his profession at Neenah, having no partner.
P. V. Lawson, Menasha, though not a native of Wisconsin, became
one of its inhabitants during his early life, and acquired in this state the
greater part of his education. He is the son of P. V. and Elizabeth
Lawson, and was born in Corning, New York, November 1, 1853. As
has been said he received his education in Wisconsin, being a graduate
of the literary and law departments of the State University, and he also
read law at Madison, with William F. Vilas. On July 10, 1877, he was
admitted to practice in the Circuit courts, on August 28, of the same
year, to the supreme court of the state, and in September following to
the United States courts. He has been settled in practice at Menasha,
without a partner, and has filled the respective offices of supervisor
in the county board and court commissioner of the third circuit.
For a lawyer so young in years and practice Mr. Lawson has an un
commonly large law library, to which he is constantly adding rare
and valuable works, and is starting out in his profession under the
most favorable auspices. Settling down, as he has, at the place of his
early home, is evidence that those who have known him always can
be relied upon to entrust to him their legal business, and it is safe
to say his practice so far has been satisfactory and is increasing.

274 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Thomas Lynch, Chilton, was born in Milwaukee county, Wiscon
sin, November 21, 1844, was educated in the public schools of his
native place and came to Chilton in 1864, where he worked on a
farm summers and taught school winters from 1867 to 187 1, during
which time he was chairman of the town, and one year chairman
of the county board. In 1872 he was elected a member of the
assembly of the state legislature, and, while a member, commenced the
study of law with J. C. McMullen and graduated at the law school
of the State University in the class of 1875. On being admitted to
the bar by the supreme court he commenced practice at Chilton with
J. C. McMullen which connection continued until January, 1878,
since which time he has been alone in business. In 1878 Mr. Lynch
was elected district attorney, reelected in 1880, and is now holding
the office.
James H. Merrill, Oshkosh, was born at Batavia, Genesee county,
New York, February 9, 1846. His father, James D. Merrill, was a lead
ing lawyer at that place. In 1849 Mr. Merrill's father removed to
Milwaukee, where, in 1850, he was appointed, by his life-long friend
President Fillmore, postmaster. The subject of this sketch, in 1863,
entered the United States navy, serving on the U. S. S. Eastport, of
the Mississippi squadron, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg,
and the disastrous Red river expedition. After serving his time he was
discharged and returned home, and subsequently enlisted in Company
B, of the Forty-seventh Wisconsin infantry, and remained in the service
till the close of the war, when he commenced the study of law in New
York city, and was admitted to the bar at Elkhorn, this state, Septem
ber 22, 1868, by Judge Lyon, then the circuit judge of the first circuit,
and now on the supreme bench. In 1869 Mr. Merrill entered upon
practice at Winneconne where he remained nearly seven years, during
which time he was repeatedly elected president of the town board, and
president of the village of Winneconne. In 1875 he removed to Oshkosh,
where he has since practiced, having served the city two years as city
attorney. William Frazer McArthur, Neenah, was born at Cornwall,
Ontario, April 17, 1852. He was educated at the schools of Cornwall
and Montreal ; pursued his legal studies in the offices of Burke & Kil-

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 275
bourn, Malone, New York, and J. C. Kerwin, Neenah, Wisconsin, and
also in the law school of the State University in the classes of 1876 and
1877. He was admitted to practice at Oshkosh, September 24, 1877
when he settled at Neenah, and has kept a law. office in that city since
that time. t
John McDonnell, Oshkosh, was born in the town of Vinland,
Winnebago county, Wisconsin, November 25, 1857. We received a
common school education. Early in life he decided upon following the
profession of law, and entered, as a student, in a law office at Oshkosh.,
He was admitted to the bar in the circuit court of Wisconsin in the
year 1880, and is now practicing his profession in the city of Oshkosh.
A. A. Nugent, Chilton, was born in Canada, May 12, 1848, and came
to the United States when three years old, remaining in Michigan three
years and from whence he came to Wisconsin in 1854. His education was
acquired in this state, completing it at Lawrence University.
Having entered upon the study of law with McMullen & Lynch at
Chilton, he attended the lectures of the State University Law School
two winters ; was admitted to the bar at Chilton at the spring term
of the circuit court in 1877, and has been in practice alone at the
same place till now.
Mr. Nugent went into the army in January, 1864, served as a
private one and a half years, and lost his right arm at the battle of
Bentonville, North Carolina, in March, 1865.
Oscar F. Silver, Berlin, was born in Caledonia county, Vermont,
March 29, 1834, but grew up in Montpelier. His father was Isaac
Silver and his mother Synthia Austin Silver. Mr. Silver's education
was completed at the State University of Vermont, studied law with
Lucius B. Peck at Montpelier, was admitted to the bar of the county
court May 4, 1847, and to the supreme court of Vermont April 9,
1850. In November, 1850, he came to Berlin, where he has con
tinued in the practice of law to the present time, excepting when
he was in the volunteer military service in the war of the rebellion,
serving as first lieutenant of company A, Sixteenth Wisconsin regi
ment. Becoming unfit for active duty while in the field, Lieutenant
Silver was compelled to resign his commission and return home, when

276 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
he resumed the practice of .his profession as soon as recovery enabled
him to do so. For twenty-five years he has filled the office of justice of
the peace, and has been alderman and mayor of the city of Berlin, dis
trict attorney and court commissioner. In 1855 Mr. Silver married
Miss Julia Kimball, a native of Maine, and they have four children.
John Calvin Truesdell, Berlin, was born in Liberty township,
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825, and is the eldest
son of S. W. and L. U. Truesdell. His education was completed by a
. two years' course at Hartford University, Pennsylvania, after which he
entered the law office of Little & Streeter, at Montrose, Pennsylvania,
and graduated as a law student at the age of twenty-three years. In
1848 he was admitted to the bar at Montrose, and the same year came
West and opened an office at Fond du Lac in connection with O. B.
Tyler, and both were admitted to practice in this state in 1850. Mr.
Truesdell subsequently became a partner of J. M. Gillett. In 1858 he
moved to Berlin, and soon after formed a partnership with Eleazer Root,
and later with G. D. Waring, under the name of Truesdell & Waring.
fn 1845 he had an office in St. Louis; and for two or three years pur
sued his law business at Princeton, Wisconsin, since which time he has
been in practice in Berlin.
Mr. Truesdell was a candidate for attorney-general of the state in
185 1, but' had the disadvantage of being on the minority ticket, as was
the case as candidate for the senate in 1861, and for the assembly at a
later date, nevertheless running well on the ticket. While living at
Fond du Lac in 1849 he was superintendent of schools for that city.
He was a whig during the existence of that party, and of a later day has
been a democrat. Mr. Truesdell is one of the oldest, well-known and
respected lawyers of Wisconsin.
Albert E. Thompson, Oshkosh, was born in the town of Pleasant
Valley, now Princeton, Wisconsin, October 28, 1850, his parents being
John C. and Catherine M. Thompson. Having completed his education
at Ripon College he entered the office of J. M. Fish, at Princeton, as a
student at law in April, 1869. On the completion of his law studies he
was admitted to the bar at Dartford in June, 1870, and immediately
entered into the practice of law with Mr. Fish, at Princeton, which con
nection continued until April, 1879, when Mr. Thompson moved to

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 277
Oshkosh, where he formed a partnership with H. B. Jackson, which
continues to the present time- — 1882. While residing at Princeton, he
was president of that village in 1875, and from that time until leaving
the place he was a member of the county board of supervisors, of which
he was chairman during the last two years of his serving on the board.
fourth circuit.
A. M. Blair, Fond du Lac, is of Scotch descent, and was born in the
town of Stannard, Caledonia county, Vermont, in April 1818. His
father, who was a farmer, gave him an academic education, and in the
fall of 1840 sent him to the Vermont University, where he remained but
one year. He read law at Lyndon, Vermont, with Thomas Bartlett,
and was admitted to the bar in December, 1843. Upon his admission
he opened an office at Hardwick, Vermont, and continued to practice
at that place until November, 1848, when he removed to the West.
After spending a few months at Valparaiso, fndiana, in June, 1849, he
located at Port Washington, Wisconsin. In the fall of 1852 he was
elected to the state senate of Wisconsin, and in 1854 was an unsuccess
ful candidate for circuit judge against Charles H. Larrabee, who
was subsequently a member of congress; in the spring of 1863 he re
moved to Fond du Lac, where he now resides. Since his admission
to the bar Mr. Blair has devoted himself with rare singleness of purpose
to his profession, in which he has acquired an enviable reputation, and
(has not been denied a fair share of its more substantial rewards. He is
still in the enjoyment of a large and responsible practice, to which he
devotes the energies of a vigorous and mature mind, and the resources
of his long experience and excellent judgment.
Mason Brayman, Ripon, was born in Buffalo, New York, May 23,
1813, is the son of Daniel and Nancy English Brayman, and was edu
cated in the common schools of Erie county, New York. He learned the
trade of printer in the office of the Buffalo Journal. At twenty years of
age he was editor of the Buffalo Bulletin, at the same time studying law
with Sheldon Smith, and was admitted to the bar at Buffalo in 1836. The
same year he married Miss Mary Williams, of Chatauqua county. He
practiced law in partnership with Benoni Thompson, removed to Monroe,
Michigan, in 1837, was editor of the Monroe Times while practicing law
in connection with J. Q. Adams. Thence he went to Louisville, Ken-

278 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
tucky, where he was editor of the Louisville Advertiser till 1842, when
he became a resident of Springfield, Illinois, practicing law in that city
with Jesse B. Thomas. In 1844 and 1845 he revised the laws of Illi
nois, under appointment of the governor and legislature. In 1851 he
wrote the charter of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and was
attorney of that corporation until the completion of the road in 1855.
After practicing law a few months in Chicago with John Baker he took
charge of the land department of a line of railroad through Missouri
and Arkansas from Cairo to Texas, and afterward, as president of the
two companies, commenced the work of construction, which was sud
denly arrested by the coming on of the war of 1861. He then entered
the volunteer service as major of the Twenty-ninth Illinois infantry in
August, 1 86 1, and was detailed for duty as assistant adjutant-general
and chief of staff of Brigadier- General, afterward Major- General, Mc-
Clernand, commanding part of the forces of General Grant. He par
ticipated in the battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Pitts
burgh Landing, Corinth, Jackson and Bolivar, escaping personal injury,
but having a horse wounded at Belmont, and another at Pittsburgh
Landing. Though entering the army without military experience, his
courage and skill were such as to receive special notice in general orders
and reports of battles, especially at Pittsburgh Landing, where, at a criti
cal moment during the first and disastrous day of fighting, he held a fal
tering line to its work by carrying a regimental flag in their front,
exposed to the fire of both armies. After this battle he was made
colonel of his regiment, and on September 24 following was appointed
by President Lincoln a brigadier-general. He commanded until June,
1863, at Bolivar, Tennessee, also until February, 1864, at Camp Denni-
son, Ohio, reorganizing some seventy Ohio regiments, then at Cairo
during the raids of Forest into western Kentucky, then was ordered to
Memphis as president of a court of inquiry info the Sturgis disaster at
Guntown. From July, 1864, to the spring o'f 1865 he commanded at
Natchez, his district comprising lower Mississippi and Louisiana north of
Red River. In March, 1865, he was ordered to New Orleans, and for
three months served as president of a commission for examining claims
against the government, and succeeded in exposing and defeating enor
mous frauds. His reports of one hundred cases were recorded in books,
which have since enabled the court of claims at Washington to protect
the treasury against many of the same fraudulent demands which often

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 279
come there reinforced by additional false testimony. On being mus
tered out of service at the close of the war, he was commissioned brevet
major-general. Several years were spent after the war in reviving his railroad enter
prises in Missouri and Arkansas. In 1873 he removed his residence to
Wisconsin. In 1876 he was appointed by President Grant governor of
the territory of Idaho, his most conspicuous and useful service there
consisting in efforts to protect the people against the raids of Indians,
and the public treasury against organized plunderers. At the close of
his term in 1880 he returned to Wisconsin, and at present resides in
Ripon engaged in the practice of the law.
James Coleman, Fond du Lac, was born in the county of Schoharie,
state of New York, June 29, 1836. His father is the Reverend Sey-
more Coleman, of the Methodist denomination, formerly of the Troy
conference of New York. The son James received an academic educa
tion, read law three years in Troy and Albany, and graduated at the
Albany law school in the spring of 1856. He was admitted to the bar
the same year, and in 1857 commenced the practice of law at Fond du
Lac, where he has continued to reside. Mr. Coleman was elected dis
trict attorney for Fond du Lac county in i860, and was reelected in ,1862.
He has twice represented the city in the legislature; was register in
bankruptcy in 1869, which position he resigned, and was appointed
postmaster the same year. Not seeking a reappointment, at the close of his
term he removed his law business to Washington, District of Columbia,
where he was a partner of Mathew H. Carpenter, until the death of the
latter in 1881. He still continues, the law business at Washington, his
family continuing to reside at Fond du Lac. In every position in which
Mr. Coleman has occupied he has acquitted the duties with fidelity and
honor. Elihu Coleman, Fond du Lac, was born in Oneida, Brown county,
Wisconsin, May 11, 1841, and came to Fond du Lac in 1847, and has
since resided there. He pursued a full classical course at Lawrence
University, and graduated with honors June 28, 1865. He entered the
military service of the United States in October 1861, in the First Wis
consin cavalry, and was honorably discharged in 1863, having held vari
ous positions of responsibility in the commissary and quartermaster's

280 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
departments. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 at Fond du Lac,
where he has since practiced law. He held the position of register in
bankruptcy from July 1869, to January 1872, when he resigned the posi
tion to take his seat as a member of the legislature of 1872. He was a
member of the joint committee on charitable and penal institutions,
where he introduced and succeeded in carrying through some impor
tant reforms. As chairman of the committee on federal relations, he was
the political leader of the house in the discussions of that session that
preceded the presidential campaign of 1872. In 1880 he was the repub
lican candidate for congress in the fifth congressional district, which has
always been noted for large democratic majorities. He spoke nearly
every evening during the campaign, and not only succeeded in making
a large reduction in the party majority, but also ran largely ahead of his
ticket. Mr. Coleman is the senior member of the firm of Coleman, Car
ter & Kent, and is doing a large and successful business. In 1868 he
was married to Miss Lizzie M. Hill, of Madison, :md has four children.
George W. Carter, Fond du Lac, was born in Erie county, Penn
sylvania, April 20, 1839. His parents are Jacob and Elizabeth Carter,
and he is the oldest of a large family. His parents removed to Wiscon
sin in 1844, and settled in the present town of Metomen, Fond du Lac
county, in June 1845, where they still reside on a good farm, and in
comfortable circumstances. George W. worked at home and helped
develop the farm, attending such schools as the country afforded during
the winter seasons, until he commenced to teach, closing a term of four
months in the town of Ripon, before he was eighteen years of age, and
teaching several winters succeeding that time. He commenced an ir
regular course in the State University in the fall of 1859, and continued
until the beginning of the war of the rebellion. He enlisted April 19,
1861, the day before he was twenty-two years of age, and was elected
second lieutenant of Company B, Fourth regiment, and commissioned
by Governor Randall in May 186 1, and was elected Captain over the
first lieutenant by almost a unanimous vote of the company December
4, 1861, and commissioned accordingly. He served with his regiment
without a leave of absence, missing no duty, battle or skirmish, to the
second assault on Port Hudson, June 14, 1863. In that battle he was
seriously wounded in the right leg and became a cripple for life. He
served two years thereafter at Washington, District of Columbia, and at

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 281
Springfield, Illinois, on the staff of General Halbert E. Paine, General
John Cook and others, and was discharged in July 1866, having previ
ously been promoted to major V. R. C. About this time he declined
an unsolicited appointment of second lieutenant in the regular army.
In the fall of 1866 he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Fond
du Lac county, in which office he served four years, prosecuting the
study of law meanwhile, and in January, 1870, was admitted to practice
in the circuit courts, and later in the supreme court of the state. He
commenced the profession of law, and was in practice at Fond du Lac
until he was appointed warden of the state prison in December 1879.
He served one term on Governor Ludington's military staff, from
which his friends have styled him colonel, though he prefers his army
title of major. In 1876 he was nominated to lead the forlorn hope for
congress in the fifth district, against General Bragg, and made a thorough
canvass, speaking on the political issues of the day at several points in
each county in the district. He received at the election 1500 more votes
than had ever been polled in the district for a republican congressional
candidate. In the practice of law, while not attaining eminence, he has
given to the duties untiring energy and to his clients his best efforts and
most conscientious regard for their interests. In the cases managed by
him alone, he has had, as the records show, much more than average
success, having in fact, seldom been unsuccessful in the circuit or su
preme court. He loves the profession and practice of the law, and but
for the temptation of a better income for the time being, which the needs
of a growing family seemed to require, he would not even temporarily
have suspended the practice to take an office. As warden of the state
prison Major Carter has given unquestioned satisfaction to the state,
the interests of the institution having been economically and profitably
managed, and its entire management has moved along everyway harmo
niously and smoothly.
Jeremiah Dobbs, Ripon, was born at Saugerties, Ulster county,
New York, in March 1832, and is the son of Jeremiah and Mary Dobbs.
He acquired his education at Williamson, New York, after which he
was clerk in a general store at Rochester, New York, two years. Later
he commenced the study of law at Newark ; came to Wisconsin and
settled at Lake Mills in 1849; was admitted to the bar at Jefferson in
1851, and engaged in practice at Lake Mills. In 1854 he removed to

282 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Ripon, and established himself in the legal practice, which, though
small at first, has kept pace with the growth of the thrifty place, until
he has become extensively known as a prominent attorney of that
section of the state. Aside from his law business Mr. Dobbs has filled
offices of honor and trust. In 1850 he was chosen district attorney of
Jefferson county; was elected a member of the legislature in 1869, and
several years was chairman of the county board ; has been chairman of
his ward, and was a director in the Oshkosh and Mississippi Railroad
Company. In politics Mr. Dobbs has always acted with the democratic
party. He is preeminently a self-made man. Beginning life without
means, he has, by untiring effort and marked social qualities, and strict
integrity, made his way step by step to a high place in his profession
and society, and accumulated a handsome fortune. On February 21,
1854, he married Miss Mary A. Lampson, and they have one son and
two daughters.
Rufus P. Eaton, Manitowoc, was born in New Hampshire, Feb
ruary 6, 1809. He came to Wisconsin in 1838, settling first at Green
Bay; and remaining there two years, he went to Stockbridge and resided
in that place a like period of time. In 1843 he removed to Calumet,
and here it was that he first began the study of law, which he did with
out an instructor in his own house, until he was admitted to the bar on
due examination in 1846, at Fond du Lac, and to the supreme court in
1847. In early life Mr. Eaton was engaged in the mercantile business,
and during ten years, while at Calumet, he was the proprietor of a public
house, thus becoming extensively known throughout the state. He com
menced the practice of law at Fond du Lac, and continued it there
about ten years. In 1856 he moved to Appleton, opened an office and
practiced during five years. In 1861 he returned to his farm at Calu
met, and for the time gave up the practice of law. But in 1864, grow
ing tired of farm life, he reentered law practice at Fond du Lac, con
tinuing there for about ten years, fn 1869 he settled at his present
home, Manitowoc, and on account of his advanced age has retired from
the active business of life.
M. D. L. Fuller, Plymouth, was born in New York, August 18,
1850; graduated at Milton College, Wisconsin, in 1871; was engaged as a
teacher for several years in the public schools of Wisconsin ; was elected

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 283
county superintendent of schools for Sheboygan county in 1873; was
admitted to the bar in 1875, and since then has resided at Plymouth in
the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1880 he was elected a
member of the assembly, and at the session of 1881 was a member of
the committee on the judiciary, and also that on medical societies.
H. W. Frost, Waupun, was educated in the town of Windsor, Broome
county, New York, where he was born March 27, 1842. It was in
his native town that in 1872 he was admitted to the bar, having stud
ied law at Binghamton with William Merritt. He commenced practice
at Greene in 1868, and has continued it to date. Coming to Wisconsin
in September, 1874, he settled the following month at Waupun, his
present home, and entered into a law partnership with J. W. Seely.
He was appointed city attorney, in the fall of 1878,10 fill a vacancy, and
was elected to the same office the following spring.
Sherman J. Morse, Waupun, was born at Chester, Wisconsin, Sep
tember 6, 1850; was educated at Waupun, studied law with Eli Hooker
at the same place; was admitted to the bar June 19, 1877, and has prac
ticed his profession at Waupun three years. In April, 1880, Mr. Morse
was elected city attorney for Waupun, and is now serving in that office.
L. J. Nash, Manitowoc, was born in Orleans county, New York, Janu
ary 18, 1845, and came to Wisconsin, when in his seventh year, with his
father's family, who settled on Rock Prairie in Rock county. His educa
tion was completed at Lawrence University, from which he graduated in
the spring of 1870. Upon completing his collegiate course he devoted
two years to teaching in the high school of Manitowoc, of which he was
principal. In July,. 1872, he began studying law in the office of E. B.
Treat in the same city. In December, 1872, he was admitted to the
bar, commenced practice with E. B. Treat in January, 1874, in Mani
towoc, has since been in partnership with O. F. A. Greene, and later
with A. J. Schmidt, but is now a member of the firm of Nash & Nash,
practicing still at Manitowoc.
C. K Pier, Fond du Lac, who is the son of Edward Pier, the
first white man to settle at the location of Fond du Lac in 1841,
and Colwert K., was one of the first white twins born in that place

284 » the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
their advent having been on June 7, 1841. His early education was
obtained in the public schools which he attended winters, and working
on his father's" farm the other portions of the year until he was sixteen
years of age, when he was sent to Lombard University at Galesburg,
Illinois. Having finished his college course, his tastes led him to adopt
the practice of the law for a profession. With this end in view, he
entered upon its study with Judge Robert Flint, at Fond du Lac. While
thus assiduously employed the war of the late rebellion broke out, and this
young man of twenty years was the first man to enroll his name in that
city, enlisting as a private in Company f, First regiment Wisconsin
Volunteer infantry, of three months men. His regiment went to the
front, and on the expiration of his term of service, Mr. Pier returned
and entered the Albany law school. Upon the completion of his course
of instruction at this institution he came back to Fond du Lac, and
continued his studies in the law office of J. M. Gillet and W. D. Conk-
lin, two leading lawyers of that city. The war spirit, however, soon
moved him, and he again entered the army. Organizing a company, he
was elected its captain, and subsequently he organized nine other com
panies into a regiment, and was chosen its colonel by election of the
commissioned officers. He was then about twenty-one years of age.
The regiment was tendered to the government, but was not accepted, as
no more troops were supposed to be needed at that juncture. Some
length of time afterward more troops were called for, and Colonel Pier
accepted the commission of lieutenant-colonel, tendered to him by the
Governor of Wisconsin, and very soon his regiment was reorganized and
joined the forces of General Grant, in the Wilderness and Richmond
campaign, through which he fought, and was promoted to colonel. He
was often detailed on' court martial duty, both in the field and in Wash
ington at the closing scenes of the war. Mustered out in August, 1865,
Colonel Pier returned home with a high army record, and having been
admitted to the bar, he commenced practice as member of the firm of
Gillet, Conklin & Pier, afterward Gillet & Pier, then Gillet, Pier & Bass,
and finally alone until 1874. He then relinquished general practice to
become manager of the savings bank at Fond du Lac, the business of
which he has made very successful, taking it safely through the panic of
1873, and has been instrumental in promoting and sustaining various
important manufacturing interests in that city. An ardent republican,
Colonel Pier has never sought political position, and is not a partisan
worker.

the bench and bar OF WISCONSIN. 285
While the Soldiers' Orphans' Home was in existence he was one of
its board of trustees, and secretary and vice-president during a portion of
the time. He was president of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Reunion Associa
tion, and chiefly instrumental in bringing about the notable soldiers'
reunion at Milwaukee, in June 1880. For some years he held a con
trolling interest in the Fond du Lac Commonwealth newspaper, without,
however, devoting his time to its work. Colonel Pier is a ready and
accomplished writer, and has been a contributor to the periodicals
of the day. He is widely known as a first-class business man, and an
upright and highly respected citizen of the state.
Edmond L. Runals, Ripon, was born December 28, 1826, near the
village of Arcade, Wyoming county, New York. His father was origi
nally from Concord, New Hampshire, and his mother from Cavendish,
Vermont. The former was a pioneer farmer before his marriage, and
became wealthy, and the latter had been a school teacher. Edward L.
was educated at three academies in western New York, and spent some
time in the study of the law with Judge Williams Mitchell, his uncle, of
Genesee county, New York, and in the office of A. B. Hamilton, at
Arcade. Before he was seventeen years of age, he came to Racine, in
the summer of 1843, and spent the season with an uncle living there.
In 1846, and before he was twenty years of age, he came to Ripon.
Upon first coming west he had no intention of practicing law, but was
gradually drawn into practice in justices' courts at an early day, and
finally was persuaded to apply and was admitted to the bar of Fond du
Lac county. Immediately after his admission, Mr. Runals commenced
practice in the circuit court. At this time he began the publication of
a newspaper at Ripon, of which "he was also the editor, and continued
it until 1857, when he sold out and retired from the business, fn 1846
he was elected to the assembly by a larger majority than any member of
that body; was again elected in 1847, and was chairman of very
important committees. In 1864 he was elected judge of the municipal
court of Ripon, and served in that capacity four years. He aided in
the survey of the line of the Milwaukee & Horicon railroad, until he
accepted the position of stock agent for the company, and continued an
active canvass for the subscription to the stock until the road was
assured. During the year 1878 he spent several months traveling through

286 THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Europe. For many years he has been a successful dealer in real
estate, at the same time engaging, to some extent, in amateur agricul
ture. He has a farm extending for a mile along the southern shore of
Green Lake, and is improving and beautifying one hundred and seventy-
five acres of its wooded portion, after the manner of the English parks,
believing in its profitableness, both in pleasure and investment.
George E. Sutherland, Fond du Lac, was born in Burlington,
Otsego county, New York, September 14, 1843, and was .the youngest
in the family. His father, Samuel Sutherland, a farmer, honest and
upright, but of limited means, was the grandson of William Sutherland,
who came from Scotland to America on account of political persecu
tions. This ancestor was distinguished both for strength and probity
of character, and he has given to this country of freedom a long line of
descendants possessing, in marked degree, the parental traits. Although
Mr. Sutherland's father gave him but little material aid, and that only
in his years of childhood, he imparted to him a valuable inheritance in
integrity, sincerity of mind and a love of books. To this his mother
added energy, steadfastness of purpose, and thoughtfulness, possessing
which one rarely neglects his duty to others or his own highest interest.
The mother, a wise and devout woman, died when George was but six,
which left him for several years practically homeless. Living around
with various relatives, he had little chance for schooling, but being fond
of reading he picked up a great deal of valuable information of a mis
cellaneous kind, and could hardly be called an ignorant boy, though he
knew not a rule of arithmetic. Speeches were his favorite reading, and
even congressional reports. His father, a strong anti-slavery and free-
soil man, early inspired in George his own sentiments, and he read
with avidity the speeches and writings of the apostles of human free
dom. It was during these years that he formed the purpose of obtaining
a college education, and becoming a lawyer ; and it speaks everything
for his steadfastness and persistence that the purpose once formed was
never relinquished.
When he was eleven, a brother who was a teacher in Norwich, Con
necticut, married and took George with him, and the discipline of school
began in earnest. His brother took great pains with him, keeping him
at his books early and late, and in two years George went from the
foot to the head of the school. At the end of that time the brother

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 287
moved to Wisconsin, and found a home at Waukau, Winnebago county,
where George attended school, and worked on a farm till he was six
teen, when he launched off for himself. Going back to New York state,
he taught district school near his old home winters, and attended West
Winfield Academy summers, for two years. This brought the memora
ble year of 1861, in the fall of which year Mr. Sutherland enlisted. He
remained in the army until the close of the war, with the exception of
three months' furlough, when he took a course of instruction in a
military school, established during the war, in Philadelphia. He was
promoted from private to captain ; was once surrounded and taken
prisoner. During the last year he served as member of court martial
and military commission, which is his first appearance in a court of
law. As a judge he inclined to temper the severities of military law
with mercy. He was the youngest member of the commission in age
but not in rank. At the close of the war Mr. Sutherland entered the
preparatory department of Ripon College. After three years in Ripon
and two in Amherst College, Massachusetts, he graduated in 1870
standing high in his class among the honor men. The summer follow
ing he studied law in the office of Judge Willard, of Utica, New York,
and in the fall of that year entered Columbia Law School in New York
city. With his previous reading and by hard study he completed the
two years' course in one year, reciting six hours a day. He sustained
himself here creditably, and was highly commended by Professor
Dwight, then at the head of the school, for his attainments and mental
qualifications for a lawyer. In September, 187 1, Mr. Sutherland was
admitted to the bar, and formed a law partnership with Mr. A. B. Hamil
ton, of Ripon. This partnership proved of great advantage to him as a
training school. Mr. Hamilton was an intelligent man and an able
lawyer with a good practice. Soon after the partnership was formed,
however, his health failed to such an extent that the active duties of the
firm fell largely upon Mr. Sutherland, under Mr. Hamilton's guidance
and direction. By this he gained the ability to transact legal business
correctly and with facility sooner than beginners are usually able to
do. Very soon after commencing the practice of law, Mr. Sutherland
tried his first case. Judge L. S. Dixon, then chief justice, in his written
and published opinion of a case, pays the young lawyer this high
compliment : " In conclusion we may remark that it would be doing
injustice to our own feelings not to acknowledge our obligation
17

288 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
*
for the assistance rendered by the very clear and able argument made
at the bar by the counsel for the plaintiff."
For two years of the time that Mr. Sutherland resided in Ripon, he
was city attorney. In this capacity he prosecuted many liquor dealers
under the provisions of the law, known as the Graham Law. On one
such trial the question arose whether beer rightly came under the
statute prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors without a license.
The New York rule, that if the human stomach can contain enough of
any liquor to intoxicate a man it is an intoxicating liquor, was under
consideration, when the counsel for the defendant enunciated the
following lucid proposition : " There is no man who contains a stom
ach confident to sustain an intoxicated beer." This, with the effect
upon the open-mouthed jury, is one of the most interesting reminis
cences of his early practice. During the last year of his stay in Ripon
Mr. Sutherland was a member of the county board of supervisors ; an
industrious and efficient officer. Mr. Sutherland remained in Ripon
three years, when he accepted an invitation to a partnership extended
him by Judge David Taylor, of Fond du Lac. This at once introduced
him into the best class of business done in the northern part of the
state, and also it could not have failed to be of great advantage to him
to be associated with a man who has no superior in the state as a judge
of law. The partnership continued with mutual satisfaction until Judge
Taylor's election to the supreme bench, since which time Mr. Suther
land has conducted business alone, retaining the clients of the firm,
being employed on one side or the other of most of the important Suits
brought in his section of the state. In the fall of 1879 Mr. Sutherland
was elected to the state senate, and took his seat in January 1880. He
was called the most industrious man in that body. He introduced many
bills, and framed many times as many for those less used than he to
composition and legal phrase. He is best known, however, as the
chairman of the committee to investigate the Wisconsin state hospital
for the insane. During the summer of 1880 he, with Senators Smith
and McGrew, thoroughly examined the affairs of the institution; and
submitted a report of the same to the next legislature. To give some
idea of the magnitude of the work : during the last two weeks of the
investigation Mr. Sutherland personally examined over sixty witnesses.
With the report and with the view of its economy and efficient adminis
tration, the committee submitted a recommendation for change of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 289
government of all the charitable and penal institutions in the state.
They advised that, instead of an unpaid board for each institution there
should be a board of control consisting of three persons with just sala
ries who should have charge of all the state institutions. Mr. Suther
land formed this recommendation into a bill which did not at once meet
with favor. The evening upon which the vote was taken Mr. Suther
land was on his feet for four hours, arguing, explaining and answering
questions, at the end of which time the bill, slightly modified, passed
in the senate by a vote of twenty-nine to one, and afterward in the
assembly by sixty-six to fifteen. The results have justified the wisdom
of the measure, and its workings have been of greater advantage to the
state than its movers dared hope.
It remains to speak of Mr. Sutherland's methods and characteristics
in practice. In preparing his cases he is industrious and careful, but is
not a "case lawyer." He determines his position by what he considers
ought to be the law applicable, and then looks up cases to confirm his
opinion. In pleading it is his- custom to present a logical framework
for his case in the nature of propositions, one following the other and
leading up to the next. He makes his points clear and distinct, and,
especially when addressing a jury, studies simplicity of statement. His
manner is characterized by earnestness and force, and he addresses
himself to the main point, avoiding immaterial questions. He is also
fertile in illustration by which to elucidate his position. He holds the
attention of a jury closely by his aptness, stories, witticisms and occa
sional sarcasm, but has a stronger liking for the clear logic of the law
and the discussion of legal principles than for the rough and tumble of
nisi prius trials ; and he has the rare gift of stopping when he is through.
Adolph J'. Schmitz, Manitowoc, was born in Manitowoc county
June 8, 1852, and his parents were Frederick and Johanna Schmitz.
He is a graduate of the State University, acquired his legal education in
the law department of that institution ; was admitted to the bar at Madi
son by the judges of the supreme court in June, 1875; has been in
practice since that time in Manitowoc, and for a time in partnership
with L. J. Nash, but is now alone. He was elected district attorney for
the county of Manitowoc in the fall of 1876, and reelected in 1878.

290 ' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Harvey Griswold Turner, Manitowoc. Joseph and Mary Griswold
Turner were the parents of H. G. Turner and at the time of his birth they
were living at East Oswego, New York, the town in which young Harvey
passed his boyhood, and in which he received all the educational advan
tages that he ever enjoyed. He was born June 7, 1822, and as soon as
it was feasible was sent to the Oswego Academy. His stay at that
institution of learning was for a brief time, as he immigrated at an early
age from his native town and became, in the spring of 1840, an inhabi
tant of the then territory of Wisconsin. He entered the law office of
Finch & Lynde in Milwaukee when the firm first organized, and applied
himself to the study of the law. In the year 1844 he was admitted to
the bar, and has since had an extensive practice, and among others in
the counties of Milwaukee, Washington, Ozaukee and Manitowoc, as
also in the supreme court of the state. Mr. Turner was a member of
the second constitutional convention, has also been state senator, county
judge, district attorney, and has filled various local offices.
FIFTH CIRCUIT.
Melancthon J. Briggs, Dodgeville, was born at Kalamazoo, Michi
gan, March 31, 1846. When but fifteen years of age he enlisted in the
Seventeenth Wisconsin volunteers (Irish brigade). He participated in
all the battles in which that regiment was engaged and for two years
served as color sergeant of the regiment. For distinguished gallantry at
Corinth and Vicksburgh he was complimented in general orders, and at
the early age of eighteen given a commission of lieutenant, which rank
he held at the time he was mustered out in January, 1866, after a service
of four years and two months. He read law in the office of Eastland &
Eastland, Richmond Center, and was admitted to practice in October,
1868. Mr. Briggs located at Dodgeville in June, 1869, and speedily took
a place in the front rank among the lawyers of the fifth circuit. As a suc
cessful criminal lawyer he stands preeminent in his county, and as a jury
lawyer he has few equals in the entire circuit. In the fall of 1880 Mr.
Briggs was elected to the assembly, and at the session that followed he
took a prominent part in the deliberations of that body, and distinguished
himself in debate. He was a member of the judiciary committee, and
also of the committee on militia, during the session. He was also a
member of the select special committee on railway taxation.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 291
William E. Carter, Platteville, is a native of England, having
been born near Brighton, Sussex county, November 17, 1833, and was
self educated. Coming to this country he became a resident of Lan
caster in 1850, and studied law with J. Allen Barber during the years of
1855 and 1856, when he was admitted to the bar at that place. Com
mencing practice at Lancaster, he subsequently continued it at Platte
ville, to which he removed in 1861, and where he still resides. His
partners in the profession have been Stephen O. Paine, George B. Carter
and T. L. Cleary. Mr. Carter is not only prominent as a lawyer, but
has held offices of importance. As a regent of the State University he
is serving in his second term; has been United States court commis
sioner since 1870, and was member of the assembly for the sessions of
1877, 1878 and 1879, in which he served on the judiciary and other im
portant committees, and was a leading republican member of the house.
When the republican national convention convened in Chicago in June,
1880, Mr. Carter served as a delegate and took an early part in bringing
forward the name of James A. Garfield for President. At the state
republican convention of 1877 he was nominated for attorney-general,
which he declined.
Richard Carter, Dodgeville, was born at Sussex, England, May
31, 1836, a son of William and Ann Carter. His education not having
been completed when' he came to Wisconsin, he attended the academy at
Platteville, graduating from that institution in 1859. From 1856 to
i860 at intervals he read law at Lancaster with Judge J. T. Mills and
Colonel John G. Clark, and with Paine & Carter, Platteville, from 1865
to the time of his admission, which took place March 8, 1866, at Lan
caster. In 1876 he became a member of the bar of the supreme court.
He practiced law at Platteville with Colonel John E. Gurley from 1866 to
1869, and at Dodgeville with Samuel W. Reese since 1871. At the
breaking out of the war Mr. Carter became interested in the Union
cause and* enlisted at Madison, April 16, 1861. He rose to the rank of
first lieutenant of Company I of the Fifth Wisconsin infantry, and in
May,. 1864, was appointed captain -and assistant quartermaster of volun
teers; was on duty as assistant quartermaster in Chattanooga, Ten
nessee, until May or June, 1865, when he was assigned to the cavalry
corps of the military division of the Mississippi head-quarters at Macon,
Georgia, and acted as chief quartermaster of said corps on the staff of

292 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Major-General James H. Wilson. He was discharged November 27,
1865, when he returned to the practice of his profession.
Charles Spencer Fuller, Prairie du Chien, was born at Athens
Pennsylvania, June 30, 1849. His father was a farmer. He was edu
cated at the Wisconsin State University, and graduated at the law school
of the same institution in June, 1875; came to Prairie du Chien and was
admitted to Crawford county bar June 17, 1875, and to the supreme
court and United States circuit court on the same day. In February,
1876, he entered into partnership with O. B. Thomas, Prairie du Chien,
which connection continues to this date. Mr. Fuller enjoys the rare
merit of obtaining a first-class literary and law education totally un
aided. During the years he was pursuing his studies he spent his vaca
tions either in teaching school, working on a farm, or any honorable
employment that offered, and is now reaping the fruits of his industry.
H. H. Gray, Darlington, was born at Madison, Madison county,
New York, June 29, 1827, and is a son of John Gray. He left home at
thirteea years of age and came to the lead-mining region of Wisconsin
in 1843, where he speedily made some money and devoted himself and
his means to acquiring an education, attending school in Belvedere,
Illinois, and in Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1846 he received an appointment to
West Point, which he declined, and commenced reading law with J. M.
Keep at Beloit, but subsequently devoted himself to land operations,
mercantile and other business at Beloit and Darlington. For ten years
Mr. Gray took an active and leading part in procuring the location of
the county seat of La Fayette county at Darlington, during which time
he was editing newspapers devoted to the interests of the county seat
question. Besides attending to his extensive personal business, which has
of later years been dealing largely in western lands, he has found time
to fill offices of importance ; was county supervisor several years, district
attorney one term, member of the assembly in 1856 and 1858, and of
the senate in 1869 and 1870, and a regent of the State University two
terms. In 1869 he was the democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor,
and in 1872 was a delegate to the liberal national convention that nomi
nated Horace Greeley for President. In 1849 Mr. Gray married a
daughter of Reverend S. Peet, of Beloit, and has eight children living.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 293
Marvin Hollister, Shullsburg, has been a member of the bar for over
thirty years. He was born at Pawlet, Rutland county, Vermont, and is
a son of Hartley and Lucy Hollister. He was a student at West Gran
ville Academy, and Troy Conference Academy, Poultney, Vermont. He
studied law with Isaac W. and Oscar F. Thompson, Granville, Washing
ton county, New York, and was admitted to the bar at Albany, January
15, 1847. Coming to Wisconsin he commenced practice in La Fayette
county and was district attorney from 1868 to 1870. He is prompt and
energetic and said to be a good lawyer.
Aldro Jenks, Dodgeville, was born at Watertown, Jefferson county,
New York, January 18, 1855. fn the spring of 1857 he removed, with
his parents, to Wisconsin and settled near Darlington, in La Fayette
county, where his parents have ever since resided. He received a com
mon school education, and at the age of seventeen commenced teaching
school, which occupation he continued for four successive winter terms,
working upon his father's farm in the meantime and pursuing his studies
privately, and with such result that at the expiration of the third
year he applied for and obtained a first grade certificate. He com
menced his legal studies with James R. Rose, at Darlington, in 1874,
and in the spring of 1875 ne entered the law office of M. M. Cothren,
at Mineral Point, where he remained until his admission to the
bar at Dodgeville, March 19, 1876. He then commenced the practice
of law at Highland, where he remained until August, 1878, when he
removed to Dodgeville and formed a partnership with M. J. Briggs
under the firm of Briggs & Jenks. This partnership still continues and
is one of the strongest and most popular firms in the county.
John T. Jones, Dodgeville, is a native of Wales ; was born in An-
glesea, May 21, 1836. His parents, Thomas and Hannah Jones, emi
grated to Wisconsin in 1852. They had given him a common school
education before emigrating, and he insisted at the age of thirteen that
his parents should let him enter a printing office to learn the trade, at
which trade he was working when they emigrated. He left Wisconsin
in the fall of 1852, worked at his trade in Chicago that winter, left for
New York city in the spring of 1853, worked in book offices there over
a year, then engaged in the office of the Utica Herald. After accumulat
ing some money he went to Whitestown Seminary, four miles from

294 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Utica. When his funds run out he used to walk after school Fridays to
Utica, and after supper and all day Saturday worked at the case, thus
earning enough money to keep himself at school the following week.
In the fall of 1855 he received a certificate to teach school in Oneida
county, but did not teach, preferring to come West, which he did, and
entered Platteville Academy, which was then taught by Professor Pick-
ard. He alternately attended the academy and taught school till the
war broke out, the first school he taught being the Old Brick (as it was
familiarly termed) in the town of Lima, Grant county, Wisconsin. He
enlisted in August, 1861, as private in Company E, Thirtieth Wisconsin
volunteers; was subsequently promoted to first sergeant, second lieutenant,
and first lieutenant. Was discharged with the regiment in October, 1865.
Was married to Miss Ann Oldham, daughter of William and Mary Oldham,
May 21, 1864, while home on a furlough. Was clerk in office of secre
tary of state, and while there improved his spare time in studying law,
and graduated from the law department of the University in the class of
1871, passing creditably the same examination as the regular university
students. Entered on the practice of the law at Mineral Point in 1874
as partner of ex-attorney-general Alexander Wilson. Dissolved partner
ship and opened a law office himself in spring of 1876. Was elected
judge of Iowa county in 1877, and removed to Dodgeville, the county
seat. Was renominated by acclamation by the county republican con
vention in March, 1881, and reelected without opposition April 5, 1881.
James W. Murphy, Platteville, is a native of the town in which he
is now practicing his profession, and was born in the year 1858. He
was educated at the State Normal School at Platteville, and studied law
in the same town, in the office of A. W. Bell, afterward attending the
law department of the University of Michigan. He was admitted to
the Wisconsin bar in 1879, and has as yet been associated with no law
partner. Henry Freeland McNelly, Muscoda, was born at Orin, Richland
county, Wisconsin, in 1854, and is the son of Dr. H. McNelly, who
is one of the earliest settlers of the state. He commenced the study of
law with Judge M. M. Cothren, at Mineral Point, in 1875 ; was admited
to the bar June 26, 1877, at a term of the Circuit Court at Darlington,
and commenced practice at Muscoda, September 9, 1877, and has been
in practice at that village till the present time.

THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 295
Samuel Merrick, Jamestown, was born in Jefferson county, New
York, July 15, 1815. His father was a native of Massachusetts, and his
mother of Rhode Island. He was educated in the public schools and
at an academy situated in Lowville, New York. His main occupation,
after the completion of his studies, was that of teacher in the common
schools. At the breaking out of the Mexican war he enlisted as a
soldier in the American army, and had a good deal of experience of
military service. He commenced his study of law with John Palmer, of
Watertown, New York, an eminent lawyer of that time. He removed
to Wisconsin in the spring of 1850, and seven years afterward was
admitted to practice at the bar of Grant county, which vocation he is
now following.
Philo A. Orton, Darlington, was born in Hamilton, New York,
March 24, 1837. His parents were Philo A. Orton and Nancy C. Orton.
His father died at Darlington, Wisconsin, July 12, 1872. He was a man
of very considerable culture and of unswerving integrity. His mother
is still living. The family is an old Connecticut family, descending
from Thomas Orton, an Englishman, who emigrated to this country,
landing at Charleston, Massachusetts, in 1640. The family finally
located in Connecticut, and were largely represented at Woodbury, in
that state. Thomas Orton, the grandfather of Philo A. Orton, removed
from Connecticut about the year 1800 to Hamilton, New York. The
father of the subject of this sketch removed with his family from New
York to Wisconsin in 1850, first locating at Beloit. In 1855 he removed
to Darlington, Wisconsin, where he died, and where Philo A. Orton has
ever since resided. His education was principally at the common
schools. He attended Beloit College for about one year, in 185 1 and
1852, and Madison University, in his native town, one year, in 1856
and 1857, designing to make civil engineering his profession. The gene
ral suspension of all railroad enterprises in 1858 induced him to aban
don his former purpose of becoming a civil engineer, and in 1858 he
commenced the study of law in the office of James R. Rose, at Darling
ton. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar, and has been constantly in
practice since that time at Darlington. His success in his profession
has been very marked. For twenty years he has had a large and lucra
tive legal practice. For many years past he has had a law partner, Mr.
C. F. Osborn, He was married January 27, 1862, to Miss Sarah M.

296 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Osborn, daughter of Captain Sylvester W Osborn, one of the oldest and
most respected citizens of Darlington. His wife is a most estimable
lady. They have two children : Susan, ten years, and Robert Eugene,
eight years of age.
Mr. Orton was a democrat before the war, a war democrat during
the war, and acted with that political organization until 1879, when he
refused to support the democratic state ticket then in nomination. In
1880, early in the presidential campaign, he publicly declared his inten
tion to support the republican ticket, and worked hard on the stump in
and out of the state for the election of Garfield and Arthur. In 1861
he was democratic candidate for attorney general of Wisconsin. In
1870 he was the democratic candidate for circuit judge, and though he
ran far ahead of his ticket, was defeated. In 1876' he was democratic
candidate for representative in congress, and was again defeated. In
1869 he was elected county judge of La Fayette county, and served in
that office four years, declining a renomination. Since 1874 Mr. Orton
has been connected with the La Fayette County Bank, at Darlington.
Samuel W. Reese, Dodgeville, is by birth a Welshman, and was
born November 29, 1829, at Mongomeryshire, North Wales. He was
the son of William and Susan Reese. When very young he became a
resident of Shrewsbury, England, and lived there until he immigrated to
Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, in 1844. In the year 1852 he became
a resident of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where he has since resided. In
the year 1858 he was admitted to the bar at Mineral Point, and
has practiced the profession ever since. In 1868 he associated him
self with George Mulks in the practice of the law, and were partners
until the spring of 1871, when Mr. Mulks died. In the fall of 1871 he
became the partner of Richard Carter, under the firm of Reese & Car
ter, and the firm have been in active practice of the law ever since at
Dodgeville. Charles G. Rodolf, Muscoda, is not a native of America, but was
born in Switzerland, November 15, 1818. He immigrated to the United
States while he was yet fifteen years of age, having received during that
time of his life a good academic education, and passed through the
regular course of the Swiss High School at Zurzach, Canton of Argovie;
coming to the western hemisphere in November, 1833, and landing at

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 297
New Orleans, he went from there to St. Louis, spending in that city his
first year in America. He became an inhabitant of Wisconsin in the
year following, locating in "August, 1834, in Iowa county. He first
engaged in farming on a preemption claim, teaming and breaking
prairie, subsequently engaged in the mercantile business and lead min
ing at Centreville and Highland, Iowa county, previous to entering the
legal profession. Mr. Rodolf acquired a moderate knowledge of the
English language during his stay at St. Louis, and as soon as circum
stances allowed began his study of law, and was admitted to the bar of
Wisconsin in the year 1 85 1 . He began his practice in 1846 at High
land, but moved, in 1852, to Richland county, and then obtained a few
years' experience as a lawyer. It was during his stay in this last men
tioned county that he erected the saw and grist mills of which he is now
the proprietor. He located at his present home, Muscoda, in 187 1, and
again commenced practice, to which he has ever since devoted his
attention. Mr. Rodolf has been chosen to fill numerous state offices in his
adopted country. In 1851 he represented Iowa county in the general
assembly; was also a representative in the same body during the year
1858, from Richland county. The counties of Iowa and Richland
elected him state senator for the years 1859 and i860 ; was chairman of
the county board of Richland county in 1853, and was the democratic
candidate for congress, in 1863, for the third congressional district; was
a member of the board of supervisors of Grant county during five suc
cessive years; from 1864 to. 1869 he was treasurer of the. town of Eagle ;
and a delegate to the democratic national convention, at Chicago, in
1864, and again, in 1868, in New York.
James R. Rose, Darlington, was born in Delaware county, New
York, September 18, 1817, and received his education in that state.
Subsequently he studied law in Otsego county, and was admitted to the
bar of the supreme court in Albany. He was clerk of the assembly in
1844, 1845 and 1850. In 185 1 he came to Wisconsin and settled in La
Fayette county, in the practice of the law : is the oldest lawyer in that
county, and has been district attorney two terms. His son, D. S. Rose
is his partner in the law business.

298 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
David S. Rose, Darlington, was born June 30, 1856, at the village
of Avon, now town of Darlington, La Fayette county. The names of
his parents were J. R. and Phebe A- Rose." He was admitted to prac
tice June 30, 1876, at the June term of the circuit court for La Fayette
county, for the year 1876, by Judge J. T. Mills. He studied his pro
fession with M. M. Cothren and J. R. Rose, of the firm of Cothren &
Rose. He practiced from January, 1878, to February, 1879, at Belmont,
and from that time he has been associated with his father, J. R. Rose,
at Darlington. John Montgomery Smith, Mineral Point, was born at Bedford
Springs, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1834. He came to Wisconsin with
his father, the late General William R. Smith, and settled at Mineral
Point in January, 1838: Receiving a common school education, he
commenced studying law at the age of sixteen, with his father. In 1852
he crossed the plains to California. Returned from the Pacific coast in
1855, he resumed his studies under the direction of his father, and
subsequently studied with Joseph H. Clary and the late Judge Samuel
Crawford, of the supreme court. Admitted to practice at Mineral Point
in the fall of 1862, he formed a partnership with Judge Crawford, which
was terminated by the judge's death, and is now in partnership with W.
T. Henry, who is in the banking business. Mr. Smith has served two
terms as district attorney of Iowa county, and was nominated by
acclamation for a third term, but declined, as his law practice had in
creased so much he had not the time to attend to the duties of the
office. He was also elected city superintendent of schools, was twice
elected mayor of the city of Mineral Point, and was the democratic can
didate for attorney-general in 1879.
Ormsby B. Thomas, Prairie du Chien, was born at Sandgate, Ver
mont, August 21, 1832. His education was in the public schools; read
law by a course at the law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he
graduated in 1856, and was admitted to the supreme court bar of New
York in Albany in 1856. The following year he came to Wisconsin, and
has since that time been in practice at Prairie du Chien. He was dis
trict attorney for Crawford county during several years; was member of
the assembly in 1862, 1865 and 1867, and is now state senator on the
second year of his term, having been elected in 1879. In 1872 Mr.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 299
Thomas was a presidential elector on the republican ticket. During the
war of the rebellion he served in the army three years as captain in the-
Thirty-first Wisconsin Regiment. His present law partner is C. S.
Fuller. In 1877 Captain Thomas was nominated by the republicans for
attorney general of the state, but declined to run, not caring to break in
on his extensive law practice. During the session of the legislature of
1880 Senator Thomas served on the committees on the judiciary and
on education, and at the session of 1881 was chairman of the commit
tees on the judiciary and a member of that on military affairs. He took
a prominent part in the proceedings of the body of which he was a
member two years.
Myron Mansel Webster, Prairie du Chien, was born in McGraws-
ville, New York, January 18, 1836, at which place he was educated.
He came west at an early age, studied law with H. B. McGinnis at
Galena, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar in the Allmaker district
court, Iowa, in July, 1857, and subsequently to the Iowa supreme court,
afterward practicing ten years at Allmaker. He came to Prairie du
Chien and located in practice November 1, 1867, and was admitted,
soon after, to the bar of Crawford county, and to practice in the supreme
court and United States courts of Wisconsin. Since then he remained
in Prairie du Chien in partnership with his brother, Daniel Webster,
until his death in the fall of 1881.
Daniel Webster, Prairie du Chien, was born in McGrawsville, New
York, September 4, 1844. Coming west while young, his education was
obtained at Galena, Illinois, and Wawkon, Iowa. Choosing the practice
of law for a profession, he studied in the law office of his brother, Myron
Mansel, at Lansing, fowa. Afterward, coming to Prairie du Chien to
live, he was admitted to practice in Allmaker county, Iowa, and at
Crawford county bar; practiced at Kasson, Minnesota, a short time, and
in Allmaker county, Iowa, two or three years, and then returned to
Prairie du Chien, when he entered into partnership with his brother,
Myron Mansel Webster, but has been alone since the death of the lat
ter in the fall of 1881.
John Darlin Wilson, Boscobel, was born June 19, 185 1, at Johns
ton, Lamarkshire, Scotland. He was, on his father's side, related to the

300 » THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Camerons, his grandmother being a Cameron. His grandfather was
James Wilson, the brother of Professor John Wilson, known, in the
magazines, as Christopher North. While still young John Darling
Wilson came to the United States, and in 1864 to Concord, New Hamp
shire. In the academy at this place he finished his education, which
had been begun in a grammar school at Glasgow. He came to Shulls-
burg, Wisconsin, in 1865, and for the first two years of his stay in the
state taught school at Darlington. Mr. Wilson commenced the study
of law with H. S. Magoon, at Darlington, and was admitted to the bar
June 22, 1873, in La Fayette county. In order to give finish to his
legal training, he went into the office of M. M. Cothren, Mineral Point,
and in July, 1875, they formed a partnership, and established a branch
office at Boscobel. When Judge Cothren was elected circuit judge in
1876 the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Wilson has since been
alone in his practice. Mr. Wilson was admitted to the supreme court
of Wisconsin in February, 1876, and to the United States district and
circuit courts in January 1876.
Lucius Jason Woolley, Boscobel, was born in Westminster, Ver
mont, December 1, 1820. His father was from the original stock of
that name, and lived in New Bedford, and his mother was a Colvinn, of
New Hampshire. His early education was in the public schools, after
ward in a normal school, and completed in the Black River Literary
and Religious Institute, at Watertown, New York. At the latter place
he studied law four years with W. H. Shumway, when he was admitted
to the bar in advance of the usual seven years' course of law study. In
the fall of 1855 he came to Wisconsin, prosecuted further the study of
law with J. T. Mills, at Lancaster, and was admitted to the Grant
county bar, at Lancaster, at the spring term of the circuit court of 1856.
He then established himself in practice at Lancaster, and continued
there until 1861, when he came to Boscobel, and entered into a law
partnership with G. Hartshorn, but since the spring of 1863 has been
alone in business. Mr. Woolley has been much in public office : has been
chairman of the county board of supervisors three years, and, conse
quently, a member of the board three terms ; is notary public ; circuit
court and United States court commissioner; is now justice of the
peace, having held the office several different years, and has been en
gaged in prosecuting pension claims against the United States govern
ment since 1863.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 301
J. S. Waddington, Argyle, was born at Stockton, New York, No
vember 12, 1831. As early as 1839 he came to the Western states. Up
to the time of his removal he had attended the common schools in his
native town, and while in the west he was sent as a student to the acad
emy at Belvidere, Illinois. He first came to La Fayette county in 1842,
but did not make a permanent location in Wisconsin until 1846, passing
two years of the interim at his former home at Belvidere. He has been
elected to several township offices, such as those of secretary and treas
urer. He was elected county judge of La Fayette county in the spring
of 1876, and still occupies the position, his term not expiring until 1882.
Mr. Waddington has been a successful merchant of Argyle, and has
earned the reputation of being an efficient and popular county judge.
SIXTH circuit.
Adelbert E. Bleekman, Sparta, was born at Salisbury, Herkimer
county, New York, March 26, 1846. After receiving an academic edu
cation he studied law, came to Wisconsin in 1869, and settled in Tomah
in the practice of his profession. In 1873 he was elected a member of
the assembly. During the late war he entered the military service as
private in Company A, Second Ohio Cavalry, and was in the battles of
the Wilderness, Hanover Court-House, Ackland Station, and all of
Wilson's engagements during his raids in 1864. While residing at
Tomah he was elected without opposition to the state senate in Novem
ber, 1873. Removing to Sparta in June, 1875, he was elected district
attorney for the county of Monroe for 1876, 1877 and 1878. Mr.
Bleekman's law firm at Sparta is Bleekman & Bloomingdale, and doing
a thrifty business.
C. M. Butt, Viroqua, was born in the town of Deerfield, Morgan
county, Ohio, September 30, 1833, his parents being Edward and
Hannah Roberts Butt. His education was obtained in the public schools
and in the Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. Subsequently he
entered upon the study of the law with Judge Evans & Wood, at Mc-
Connellsville, Ohio; was admitted to the bar at Viroqua, Wisconsin, in
June, 1859, and commenced its practice at the same place immediately
after. The fall thereafter he was elected district attorney for Vernon
county, and on the expiration of his term, in 1861, he received a renomi-
nation, which he declined in order to accept the republican nomination

302 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
for the senate, but was defeated by only eighty-seven votes at the ensuing
election by N. S. Cole, who ran on a Union ticket. During the
war of the rebellion he entered the military service a first lieuten
ant "in Company A, Twenty-fifth Regiment Wisconsin volunteers ; was
promoted to captain in March, 1864; to major of the Forty-eighth
Wisconsin in March, 1865, and to lieutenant colonel in January, 1866.
During the war he participated in two campaigns against the Indians in
Minnesota and Kansas ; also in the campaign at Vicksburg, Meridian,
Chattanooga, Savannah, and Sherman's Carolina campaign, ending at
Goldsboro, North Carolina. Served seven months as ordnance officer
of Fourth Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, J. Mower commanding.
Was elected senator on the republican ticket in 1868 by a majority '
of 2,573, and served in that body during the sessions of 1869 and
1870. Since that time he has been in the active practice of his pro
fession at Viroqua. Was elected district attorney again in 1871 and
1873, serving four years; was elected county judge in 1877, and re
elected in 1 881. He is one of our large farmers, his farm consisting
of six hundred acres, on which he resides, and takes personal super
vision. After leaving the army and returning home, Colonel Butt was
elected county treasurer of Vernon county, and served from June 1,
1866, until January 1, 1870.
Frank H. Bloomingdale, Sparta, was born at Condersport, Penn
sylvania, October 15, 1854, and in the spring of 1863 he came to
Wisconsin with his parents. His education was commenced in the
public schools at Sparta, and in the fall of 1872 he entered the State
University, where he completed his sophomore year. In the fall of 1874
he entered the law school of Michigan State University, and was
admitted tp_the bar at the December term of the Monroe county circuit
court at Sparta, in 1877. In January, 1879, he commenced practice of
the law at Sparta, in partnership with A. E. Bleekman, and the firm still
continues Bleekman & Bloomingdale. Mr. Bloomingdale is a rising
young lawyer.
W. S. Burroughs, La Crosse, was born in Portage county, Ohio,
July 7, 1837; received an academic education in his native place, and
removed to Illinois with his parents in 1855. Two years later he set
tled at La Crosse, and begau the study of law with Denison & Lyndes.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 303
He was admitted to the bar at La Crosse in 1859. In December, 1861,
he began practice with Mr. Lyndes, and so continued till 1876, since
which time he has been alone.
Benjamin French Bryant, La Crosse, was born at Rockland,
Maine, September 3, 1837. His early education was in the public
schools, Maine Wesleyan Seminary, at Kent Hill, and Bowdoin College,
in the class of 1863. He came west, and entered the army in 1862,
enlisting at Norwalk, Ohio, in the One hundred and first Ohio regiment.
He served in the army of the Cumberland till the close of the war, at
first as sergeant, and subsequently commissioned first lieutenant, and
still later as captain. He was mustered out of service in June, 1865,
and settled at Norwalk, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar and
began practice. In May, 1868, he came to La Crosse, where he has
since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. He was
appointed to the office of county judge in the spring of 1870, and held
the office four years, fn the fall of 1873 he was elected district attor
ney, which position he resigned in April, 1875, to become United States
pension agent. In 1877 he was again elected district attorney, and
reelected in 1879. He has been aid de camp upon the staff of Gov
ernor C. C. Washburn, and, also, upon that of Governor W. E. Smith.
Captain Bryant is a finished orator.
Charles Wilson Bunn, La Crosse, was born in the town of Gale,
Trempealeau county, on May 21, 1855. He lived at Galesville with his
father's family until the spring of 186 1, when he removed with them to
Sparta. Here he attended the graded school until he was fifteen years
of age, when he entered the freshman class at the University of Wis
consin, and graduated in 1874. Immediately on leaving college he
entered the law office of Professor J. H. Carpenter, dean of the law
faculty at Madison, and attended the law school one year, from which
he graduated in the summer of 1875. In September of that year he
entered the law office of Cameron & Losey, at La Crosse, as a clerk,
where he remained in that capacity until the first of January, 1876,
when he was taken in as a partner in that firm, and has remained there
ever since. In August, 1877, he married Miss Mary Anderson, eldest
daughter of Mons Anderson, at La Crosse.
18

304 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Samuel S. Burton, La Crosse, was born at Manchester, Vermont)
April 10, 1822, and spent his early boyhood on his father's farm. He
was educated at the Burr & Burton Seminary, at Manchester, and
studied law with Miner & Burton of the same place, as well as at the
Ballston Spa law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and
practiced at Manchester with E. B. Burton till 1857, when he came to
La Crosse in April of the same year, and was a member of the firm of
Tucker, Burton & Morse till 1859, when, a vacancy occurring in the
office of county judge, Mr. Burton was appointed to the office by Gover
nor Alexander Randall, and at the end of three years, the expiration of
the term for which he was appointed, he was elected to the same office,
which he held till January, 1866. His judicial duties, then embracing
civil as well as probate matters, took him quite effectually out of the
practice of his profession.
He was elected to the assembly for the session of 1864 ; was receiver
of public moneys at the land office from 1867 to 1875, and was appointed
receiver of the first bank of La Crosse upon its failure in April, 1876.
In January, 1866, he- formed a partnership with G. M. Woodward, and
remained a member of the firm of Burton & Woodward till January,
1877, when upon the organization of the National Bank of La Crosse by
the wealthy citizens of that place, he abandoned his profession, and has
been its cashier and manager to the present time.
Hugh Cameron, La Crosse. His parents were Duncan A. (who
is of the Lochiel branch) and Sarah McColI Cameron, who came from
Scotland early in this century, and their son Hugh was born in Caledo
nia, New York, June 29, 1815, and passed his youth on his father's farm.
He was prepared for college in the institutions of Middleburg and Lima,
and entering the University of Vermont in 1834, graduated at the same
institution four years later. Returning to western New York, Mr. Cam
eron taught in the Avon Academy in 1838 and 1839, at the same time
reading law with Amos Dann. He finished his law studies with Hast
ings & Husbands at Rochester, and was admitted to the bar of the
supreme court in that city in 1841. After practicing a few years in Liv
ingston county, he went to Buffalo in the spring of 1847, and there built
up an excellent business in the firm of Wadsworth & Cameron, but see
ing openings of greater promise farther west, he came to La Crosse in
the spring of 1858, which has become his permanent home. During the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 305
first six years in La Crosse, he was in partnership with his brother Alex
ander, who died in the army in 1864. In 1865 he was elected county
judge, held the office four years and declined reelection.
On December 2, 1875, Judge Cameron wedded Miss Caroline D.
Starr, of Burlington, Iowa. He is elder brother of United States Sena
tor Angus Cameron. March 1, 188 r, Judge Benton having resigned
the office of county judge, Judge Cameron was appointed to fill the
vacancy, by Governor W. E. Smith ; was elected at the spring election
without opposition, and is now serving in that capacity. It was an ap
pointment particularly " fit to be made," and the position is filled by
him with dignity, ability and unswerving integrity, giving universal
satisfaction to both bar and people having business in his courts.
Alexander Cameron, La Crosse, a brother of Hugh and Angus
Cameron, was born at Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, in 1832 ;
came to La Crosse at an early day, studied law with A. Johnson, and was
admitted to the bar in 1857. He went into company with his brother,
Hugh Cameron, in 1858, and was elected district attorney in 1859.
On the breaking out of the war in 1861 he entered the Union army as
senior first lieutenant of the First Wisconsin Battery, and was in the fight
at Cumberland Gap. While on duty in Kentucky he contracted con
sumption, of which he died in 1864. He was known as a brave and
efficient officer, and as a member of the bar was noted for his native and
persuasive eloquence, which scarcely ever failed of carrying court and
jury with him.
John J. Cole, La Crosse, was born at Albany, New York,
August 29, 1824, and received his academic and legal education at the
same place. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the supreme
court and court of chancery, his license to practice in the former court
bearing the signature of Chief-Justice Bronson, and in the latter that of
Chancellor Walworth. In 1856 he removed to Wisconsin and settled at
Viroqua, where he remained till 1839, when he came to La Crosse,
where he has since remained in active practice. He has been actively
engaged in his profession since he was twenty-one years of age. At
Viroqua he was a partner of Judge Terhune, and at La Crosse he was
for a time in partnership with W. H. Tucker. He is at present alone.

306 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Albert William Campbell, Viroqua, was born in Oconomowoc,
Wisconsin, October 10, 1856, and was educated at the district school
and the high school of Tomah. He studied law in the office of Smith
& Rogers at Madison, also went through a course in the law class of
the Wisconsin State University, and was admitted to the bar in Madison
on May 1, 1878. Subsequently, establishing himself in practice at Viro
qua, he entered into partnership with Judge Carson Graham, and
recently with Walter S. Field. Mr. Campbell is now court commissioner
for Vernon county.
Samuel Norris Dickinson, Sparta, was born at Willsborough,
Pennsylvania, July 24, 1833, and was educated at East Hampton, Massa
chusetts. He read law with Johnson & Brown, at Warren, Pennsyl
vania; was admitted to the bar at the same place, and located at Sparta,
Wisconsin, where he became associated in practice with T. B. Tyler
and M. Montgomery, the firm becoming, on the retiring from it of Mr.
Montgomery, Tyler & Dickinson, which still continues. Mr. Dickinson
has devoted himself exclusively to the duties of his profession, not seeking
office or political preferment, and taking part in public affairs only as a
citizen should do. Consequently professional success has attended him.
John A. Daniels, La Crosse, was born in Delaware county, New
York, and educated at the Delaware Literary Institute. He studied
law at Kenosha, Wisconsin, with H. F. Schoff, and was admitted to the
bar at Manitowoc in 1856, and afterward commenced practice in Ke
nosha county. Two years later he went to Trempealeau county. In
1864 he formed a partnership and entered upon the practice of law
with W. H. Stodgill at La Crosse. In 1879 his son, H. S. Daniels,
was admitted to the firm. He was district attorney of Trempealeau
county in 1858 and 1859.
Homar S. Daniels, La Crosse, was born at Ahnapee, August 25,
1856, and was educated at the State University of Wisconsin, graduating
in the class of 1876. He studied law with Stogdill & Daniels, and was
admitted to the bar in 1877 at La Crosse, where he began practice at
once. A year later he was admitted to the partnership of Stogdill &
Daniels. In 1880 he formed a partnership with Frank J. Toeller, under
the firm of Daniels & Toeller.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 307
J. J. Fruit, La Crosse, was born in Grant county, March 29, 1849,
and worked upon his father's farm until seventeen years of age. He had
a common school education, then took a course at the Platteville Nor
mal School, graduating in 187 1. He was engaged in teaching, as prin
cipal of one of the public schools of La Crosse, for five successive years.
He then chose the profession of law. and was graduated from the law
department of the State University in 1877. He began practice at once,
in partnership with H. Pfund, at La Crosse. After the removal of Mr.
Pfund to Madison he continued practice alone, until June, 1880, when
he took in as partner John Brindley, formerly of Boscobel. Grant county,
Wisconsin. Henry C. Forsyth, Viroqua, was born in the State of Ohio ; was
educated in the law at the law school of the Wisconsin State University,
graduating in the class of 1879, having previously read law in the office
of W. F. Turhune, at Viroqua; was admitted to the bar at Madison in
1879; has been in practice at Viroqua as member of the firm of Tur
hune and Forsyth, and also that of Forsyth & Hattlestad, and has been
justice of the peace.
Walter S. Field, Viroqua, was born in Hillsborough, Wisconsin,
October 19, 1856; was educated at the Wisconsin State University,
graduating in the class of 1878, and in the law class of the university of
1880; was admitted to the bar at Madison, April 15, 1880, and has been
in practice at Viroqua since December 1, 1880, with A. W. Campbell.
Charles Waldo Graves, Viroqua, was born in East Aurora, Erie
county, New York, November 29, 1854, and his father is Lewis W.
Graves, who for forty-five years has been a member of the bar at Sparta,
Wisconsin. He was educated in the public schools at Sparta, studied
law three years with his father and one year with A. E. Bleekman, at
Sparta, and was admitted to the bar at Sparta on January 4, 1876.
Commencing practice at Sparta, he was in partnership one year, com
prising that of 1876, with F. T. Condit — Graves & Condit ; two years,
1877 and 1878, with A. E. Bleekman — Bleekman & Graves; three years,
1879, 1880, 1.88 1, and continuing to the present year of 1882, with Colo
nel C. M. Butt, at Viroqua. In 1876 Mr. Graves, besides practicing his
profession at the same time, was clerk of the town of Sparta.

308 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Clark L. Hood, La Crosse, began life in Delaware county, New
York. June 23, 1847. He was educated at the Delaware Literary Insti
tute, in Franklin, New York, and studied law with Hotchkiss & Sey-
more, in Binghamton, where he was admitted to practice in 1868. In
1869 he came to La Crosse and engaged in practice, being for two years
in partnership with M. P. Wing. He has held the position of city attor
ney three years. In August, 1863, he entered the army, and served till
the-close of the war, with an honorable record. Since returning to the
arts of peace he has devoted himself to the practice of his profession,
in which he has had distinguished success. He is a "stalwart" of the
La Crosse bar.
Harvey E. Hubbard, La Crosse, was born in Onondaga county,
New York, on the 17th day of March, 1830. He lived at home upon
his father's farm until sixteen years of age, attending district school and
also the Manlius Academy. In 1846 he came with his parents to Mil
waukee, and spent two years as clerk in a store. He then began the
study of law with Haven Powers, with whom he remained about a year
and a half; then spent another term of about the same length of time in
the office of Judge A. D. Smith and H. L. Palmer, when he was admit
ted to the bar of the circuit court for Milwaukee county, then presided
over by Judge Levi Hubbell, in the spring of 1851, at the age of twenty-
one. In July of the same year he moved to La Crosse, and commenced
practice. In January, 1852, he was elected clerk of the senate, and '
during that winter was admitted to practice in the supreme court.
Upon his return to La Crosse, in the spring of 1852, he was appointed
clerk of the circuit court by Judge Knowlton to fill a vacancy, and at
the end of his term was elected by the people. In 1853 he was
appointed postmaster by President Pierce, and was reappointed by
Buchanan in 1857, and held the office eight years. Mr. Hubbard was
the first police justice under the city charter, holding the office at that
time two years; afterward from 1864 to 1874, and from 1878 to the
present time, 1881, he has filled the same position. He has discharged
the duties of United States court commissioner, being first appointed
by Judge Miller, and subsequently by Judge Hopkins,of the United States
district court, and holds that position to the present time. Judge Hub
bard has also held various local offices of importance^ and at this
writing is discharging the duties of police justice, which office he has

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 309
held for sixteen years, having been placed in that position by votes of
the electors of the city of La Crosse.'
Charles N. Harris, Viroqua, whose father was Mr. Joseph Har
ris, entered upon the study of the law with C. M. Butt at Viroqua, and
attended the State University law school, graduating in the class of
1879, at which time he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at
Madison ; has been in practice at Viroqua with H. L. Proctor, the firm
being Proctor & Harris, subsequently alone, and has held the office of
justice of the peace at Viroqua.
William E. Howe, La Crosse, was born in Monona, Clayton
county, Iowa, January 17, 185 1, his parents beitfg H. E. and M.A.Howe.
His education was completed in the University of Wisconsin, after which
he studied law with J. H. Carpenter, Madison, and was admitted to the
bar in that city in 1874. He practiced his profession in the city of
St. Louis two years, and has been in successful practice in La Crosse
six years. At the latter place he was, for a time, in partnership with
M. Tourtelotte, which connection was dissolved in 1881. In La Crosse
he has held the office of municipal judge. He left St. Louis for the
benefit of his health, leaving a good practice there, but has been equally
successful in La Crosse. On graduating from the State University in
June, 1873, Judge Howe was awarded the first honors of the class in the
scientific course. Promptly on the succeeding day he entered upon the
study of the profession he had chosen, and was as diligent in its study
as he has since been industrous, laborious and successful in its practice.
When in practice in St. Louis he was in partnership with O. B. Givens,
leaving there in June, 1876.
Joseph W. Losey, La Crosse, was born at Honesdale, Pennsylvania,
December 30, 1834, his parents being Ebenezer T. and Lucy M. Losey.
He was educated at Honesdale Academy and Amherst College; studied
law with Denison & Lyndes at La Crosse ; was admitted at Sparta in Octo
ber, 1858; practiced in company with James G. Lyndes in La Crosse from
1858 to 1861, with Angus Cameron from 1861 to 1876, and then with
Angus Cameron and Charles W. Bunn up to the present time, the firm
being Cameron, Losey & Bunn.

310 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Cyrus K. Lord, La Crosse, was born in Parsonfield, York county,
Maine, January 10, 1811, and was educated at Limerick Academy -in
the same county. In 1837 he came west and settled first at Galena,
Illinois. He afterward went to Platteville, Wisconsin, in 1838, where he
began the study of law with B. C. Eastman. He was admitted to
the bar in 1842 at Lancaster, and commenced practice at Potosi in the
spring of that year. In 1853 he came to La Crosse, where he has since
remained. In the interval from 1850 to 1853 he was county judge of
Grant county, having common law as well as probate jurisdiction. From
1853 to 1856 he was register of the land office at La Crosse. In 1874 he
was made police justice, which position he filled for about four years,
and is now somewhat retired from the active duties of his profession,
enjoying the pleasures of a competence, and the respect of the com
munity. Joseph M. Morrow, Sparta, was born at East Aurora, Erie county,
New York, January 1, 1832. His parents were Henry and Mary Mor
row. He was educated at the East Aurora Academy ; studied law princi
pally with L. W. Graves at Sparta; was admitted to the bar at Sparta in
the fall of 1858, and has practiced at Sparta constantly since January 1,
1867, at first with L. W. Graves, under the firm of Graves & Morrow,
for three years, then alone with the exception of about seven years with
C. M. Masters, the firm being Morrow & Masters, which still continues.
Mr. Morrow was member of the assembly of this state in 1862, dis
trict attorney of Monroe county five terms, president of the village of
Sparta two terms, and candidate for attorney-general on the democratic
ticket in 1876.
G. C. Prentiss, La Crosse, was born at Georgia, Franklin county,
Vermont, January 11, 1824; was admitted to the bar at Burlington in
September, 1847, and practiced in his native state till 1852, the last two
years being associated in business with David A. Smalley, late district
judge for the United States for the district of Vermont. In November,
1852, he removed to Wisconsin and formed a partnership with Judge
L. S. Dixon, at Portage, with whom he practiced till 1857. In 1872 he
removed to La Crosse, where he is still in practice in partnership with
M. P. Wing.

THE BENCH AND BAR' OF WISCONSIN. 311
Carl C. Pope, Black River Falls, was born at Washington, Orange
county, Vermont, July 22, 1834, and his parents were Ralph and Mary
R. Pope. He was educated at the Green Mountain Liberal Institute,
South Woodstock, Vermont ; studied law with J. P. Kidder, West
Randolph, Vermont, now of Dakota ; was admitted to the bar at Chel
sea, Vermont, in January, 1856, and has always practiced his profession
at Black River Falls and alone. Mr. Pope has filled the offices of
district attorney, county judge, member of the assembly and of the state
senate. He was member of assembly for the years 1862, 1863, 1877 and
1878, and a senator for the years 1864 and 1865. In 1863 he was
chairman of the committee on federal relations of the assembly, which,
owing to the war then pending was a very important position, and its
duties were discharged in a faithful manner by Judge Pope. He was,
in 1865, chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate; and though
one of the youngest members of that body, ranked among the ablest
and most industrious. In 1864 he was a member of the national repub
lican convention, which nominated Lincoln and Johnson to the Presi
dency and Vice-presidency of the Union, and took an active part in
the canvass which followed. When in the assembly at the session of
1877, Judge Pope was chairman of the judiciary committee, and the
republican leader of the house. His friends had brought forward his
name for the speakership, but the judge declined to run in opposition
to J. B. Cassoday, who was accordingly placed in the chair. Judge
Pope has long been conspicuous in the politics of the state.
As a lawyer, Judge Pope is a most thorough and indefatigable
worker. He is very careful in the preparation of his pleadings, and
plumes himself upon always being prepared for professional labors,
when he has had time for preparation. He is a forcible and persuasive
advocate, and even a ready speaker when called upon for extempora
neous effort. He has ever been a deep reader of the law, and not only
the books of the law, but of history and the whole field of belles-lettres,
believing that a wide and comprehensive range of reading is of great
importance to the practicing lawyer. In his department he is ever
courteous and respectful to the bench and kind and accommodating to
the members of the bar. Personally he has ever enjoyed the respect of
the profession, and the confidence of the courts of the state.

312 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
George M. Perry, Black River Falls, was born in the town of
Albion, Jackson county, Wisconsin, August 23, 1848, and is the son of
James and Lydia Perry. His education was obtained at Howe Semi
nary, Epsworth, Iowa, at Denmark, Iowa, and Urbana, Illinois. He
read law while engaged in teaching school, and afterward, under the
instruction of a lawyer, he pursued the study while holding the office of
clerk of the circuit court, and was admitted to the bar at Black River
Falls on March 23, 1880, but has not been in actual practice, the duties
of the several offices he has been holding occupying his entire time.
These offices consist of clerk of circuit court of previous years, and he is
now county judge, deputy register of deeds, and deputy county clerk.
Judge Perry was appointed, by Governor W. E. Smith, county judge to
fill a vacancy, and was subsequently elected to the office without opposi
tion for the term of four years, commencing January 1882.
H. W. Proctor, Viroqua, was born in Fairfax county, Vermont,
January 25, 1843, his father being Henry Proctor. His education was
acquired in both Vermont and Wisconsin ; studied law with R. C. Bierce
& Carson Graham, at Viroqua; was admitted at Viroqua, December 13,
187 1, and has been in practice at Viroqua with Carson Graham, W. H.
Carter and C. N. Harris. From January 1, 1876, to January 1, 1882,
Mr. Proctor was district attorney for Vernon county, and president of
the village of Viroqua for 1881 and 1882. During the war of the late
rebellion he served as private in Company D, Forty-third regiment of
Wisconsin volunteers, from the organization of the regiment until the
close of the war.
Lycurgus J. Rusk, Viroqua, was born in Morgan county, Ohio,
March 13, 1852. His father is Jeremiah M. Rusk, formerly member of
the United States house of representatives, and at this time is Governor
of Wisconsin. His mother was Mary E. Rusk. His literary education
was completed at the Wisconsin State University, and his law studies at
Dane law school of Harvard College ; read law with Cameron & Losey,
La Crosse; was admitted to the bar at La Crosse in 1874, and has
since been in practice at Viroqua. His firm was at first Rusk & Vinge,
and is now Rusk & Wyman. Colonel Rusk is the governor's private and
military secretary and aid-de-camp with the rank of colonel, residing in
Madison during the term of his official duties, in the performance of
which he is courteous, able and popular.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 313
H. M. Safford, La Crosse, was born at Cambridge, Vermont, May
14, 1825, and was educated there, in his earlier days, afterward receiv
ing a thorough academical .education at Johnson Academy, Johnson,
Vermont. He studied law with Judge Salmon Wires at Johnson, and
with Judge H. P. Smith, at Hyde Park. In 1846 at the December term
of the Lamoille county court he was admitted to practice. Three years
later he was admitted to the supreme court at Montpelier, and subse
quently to the United States courts of the state. He began practice at
Washington county in 1846, where he continued three years, when he
removed to Franklin county, where he continued practice from 1857 to
1870. During this time he was deputy collector of customs at Richford,
a frontier port of entry, for five years, from 1852 to 1857. In Novem
ber, 1870, he came to La Crosse, where he is still in active practice in
the state and United States courts. In 1874 he was appointed district
attorney for La Crosse county to fill a vacancy of one year and nine
months, at the end of which time he was elected to the same position
for the regular term of two years. Mr. Safford is also justice of the
peace. Thomas B. Tyler, Sparta, was born at Cochecton, Sullivan county,
New York, January 12, 1824. His parents removing their .residence
when he was quite young to Seneca, Ontario county, he was brought up
on a farm, attended the public schools during the winter months until
eighteen years of age, when he entered the Canandaigua Academy, and
spent two terms there supported on his own resources. For several
years thereafter he was employed in successful teaching. Having an
inclination for professional life, he at first chose that of medicine, and,
leaving school teaching, read with Doctor Francis Deane one year at
Gorham, Ontario county. At the end of this time, the gold excitement
breaking out, he went to California. Returning home after two years
absence, he settled down at Coudersport, Pennsylvania, in 1852. The
succeeding year he was elected prothonotary, and clerk of the courts.
While holding these offices he commenced the study of law, which he
pursued until 1857 when he was admitted to the bar. Removing to
Sparta the same year he entered into practice with Milton Montgomery.
At the commencement of the late war Mr. Montgomery entered the
army as colonel of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin regiment, at which time
S. N. Dickinson was added to the firm, Colonel Montgomery retaining

314 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
his interest in the business durin'g his continuance in the military ser
vice, and until 1873, when he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, leaving
the firm Tyler & Dickinson, which still continues.
Mr. Tyler was an ardent war democrat, and was active in measures
supporting the armies in the field. As a citizen he has always taken an
earnest interest in business enterprises of the place ; has been vice presi
dent of the First National Bank of Sparta since its organization; has
often served in the council of the village, and was its president four
years. Although choosing to be a lawyer, and not an active politician,
he went as a delegate to the democratic national convention that met
in New York city in July, 1867, when Horatio Seymour was nominated
candidate for president; and once he permitted his name to be used
as a candidate for state senator, and ran ahead of his party ticket. Mr.
Tyler takes much interest in masonic matters, and has held the highest
offices in the order, in Sparta, and the state. Mrs. Tyler is the daughter
of Doctor Duane, the old medical preceptor of Mr. Tyler, and they have
one child, Mrs. Ira A. Hill, of Sparta.
Mills Tourtellotte, La Crosse, is a native of Holyoke, Massa
chusetts, and was born August 31, 1853. When about two years of age
his parents moved to La Crosse county, Wisconsin, where they pur
chased a considerable tract of land just out of the present village of
West Salem, La Crosse county, where they now reside. His father, M.
L. Tourtellotte, was among the earliest settlers of La Crosse county, he
having come here in 1855, and shortly thereafter assisted to lay out the
village of West Salem. The subject of this sketch was educated at the
University of Wisconsin, and he graduated in the law class of 1875. In
June of the same year he was admitted to the bar at Madison, Wiscon
sin, and moved to the city of La Crosse, where he further prosecuted his
studies in the offices of B. F. Bryant, and Lyndes & Burroughs until
August 1, 1876, when the copartnership of Howe & Tourtellotte was
formed. Mr. Tourtellotte continued to be a member of the firm of
Howe & Tourtellotte until the month of May, 1881, when the copart
nership was dissolved. After the dissolution of the firm of Howe &
Tourtellotte he continued the practice of his profession in the offices
formerly occupied by the firm. Mr. Tourtellotte was married in
August, 1878, to Miss Lillie Woodbury, daughter of Captain W. W.
Woodbury, of Somerville, Middlesex county, Massachusetts.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 315
Louis Tollefron, Viroqua, was born in Norway, June 28, 185 1;
was educated in Iowa and Wisconsin ; attended the La Crosse Business
College in 1872 and 1873; read law with H. P. Procter at Viroqua;
was admitted to the bar at Viroqua, October 26, 1881, and is in prac
tice with H. P. Proctor at Viroqua.
Frank J. Toeller, La Crosse, was born at Cologne, Prussia, Octo
ber 20, 1856, and came to this country in 1859, with his parents, settling
in Minnesota. At the time of the Indian raid in 1861, he left with his
parents and came to La Crosse, where he was educated, and, after study
ing law with T. J. Widvey, was admitted to practice November 11, 1878.
He began practice in La Crosse the same year, and in 1879 formed a
partnership with C. J. Stevens. He was elected justice of the peace
November 5, 1878, to fill a vacancy, and was reelected in 1880. He
dissolved partnership with C. J. Stevens in 1880, and formed a copart
nership with H. S. Daniels the same year.
William F. Terhune, Viroqua, was a native of Northumberland,
New York, born July 10, 1821. His grandfather was a soldier in the
war of the revolution, and his father an officer in that of 181 2. Until
seventeen years of age he was employed upon his father's farm in sum
mer, and attended the district school in the winter. He then com
menced teaching, which he pursued while dividing his time in attendance
at the Troy conference and Castleton academies, Vermont, and Schuy-
lerville and Amsterdam academies, New York. During his academic
course he was selected to deliver three valedictory addresses. In 1843
he entered Union College, but want of means prevented his graduating.
He then resumed teaching, which he pursued until 1846, when he com
menced the study of the law in the office of P. H. Sylvester, Coxsackie,
New York, and was enabled to complete his course, by means derived
from filling the office of county superintendent of schools for Green
county, to which he was chosen in 1846. He was admitted to the bar
of the supreme court at Albany in 1848, and commenced practice at
Athens. He superintended taking the census of 1850 for the southern
district of New York. On August 5, 185 1, Judge Terhune landed in
Wisconsin, and became a pioneer at Viroqua, where he has since re
sided, in the practice of his profession. He has been county judge,
member of the assembly, court commissioner, chairman of the board of
supervisors, and filled various other offices in the county.

316 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Merrick P. Wing, La Crosse, was born at Hinsdale in Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, September 10, 1833, and came to Michigan with
his parents, at the age of about four years. Part of his education was
obtained at common school in Michigan. In 1853 he returned to his
native state and completed his education at Hinsdale Academy. In
1855 he came to Portage, Wisconsin, where he afterward began the
study of law. He was a member of the law school of Michigan Univer
sity in the years 1861 and 1862. He was admitted to practice by Judge
H. S. Orton at Portage, upon the conclusion of his law studies in 1862,
and came to La Crosse in 1863, where he has since remained. Since
1872 Mr. Wing has been in partnership with Judge G. C. Prentiss. In
1876 he was elected state senator, served the term acceptably to his con
stituents, and was again elected in 1880. At the session of 1881 Senator
Wing served on the committees on the judiciary and public lands.
G. M: Woodward, La Crosse, was born in Washington, District of
Columbia, December 25, 1835. In the capacity of printer and proof
reader he was in the office of The National Intelligencer from 1850 to
i860, at which time he came to Wisconsin and began the study of law
at La Crosse, where he was admitted to the bar in April, 1861. Enlist
ing as a private of Company B, Second Wisconsin regiment, May 22,
1861 ; in September of same year he was made orderly sergeant; and
later held commissions of second and first lieutenant and adjutant.
During the Gettysburg campaign, in which he was wounded, he was
aide-de-camp on the staff of the first brigade, first division of the first
army corps. During the Wilderness campaign he held the same posi
tion in the fifth army corps. July 30, 1864, he was mustered out at Madi
son, and has since practiced law at La Crosse. He was district attor
ney of his county for eight years, from 1866 to 1874 ; was elected
alderman in 1868, and held the office for two terms of three years each ;
was mayor in 1874, and a candidate for state senator on the democratic
and liberal ticket in 1872.
Ovis B. Wyman, Viroqua, was born in the State of Vermont, was
educated at Wisconsin State University ; read law at Viroqua ; was
admitted to the bar at Viroqua in 1878; is in practice with Colonel L.
J. Rusk at Viroqua, the firm being Rusk & Wyman ; has filled the office
of county superintendent of schools, and that of district attorney for the
county of Vernon.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 317
SEVENTH CIRCUIT.
Elisha L. Bump, Wausau, was born in Otsego county, New York,
July 10, 1849. Completing his education at an academy in that state,
he studied law in 1868 and 1869 with V. A. Willard, at Belmont, New
York, finishing his course with E. L. Browne, Waupaca, Wisconsin,
and was admitted to the Waupaca county bar in December, 1870.
Locating at Wausau, he entered into practice in partnership with W.
C. Silverthorn, in November, 187 1. In February, 1874, he was ad
mitted to practice in the supreme court of the state, and held the
office of district attorney for Marathon county in 1873 and 1874. He
removed to Waupaca in May, 1875, and was in partnership with E. L.
Browne, at that place, until March, 1879, when he again located at
Wausau, where he now resides and is engaged in the practice of his
profession. While living at Waupaca he was chairman of the board
of supervisors of Waupaca county for 1877 and 1878. Mr. Bump is
a member of the order of I. O. O. F., and of the blue lodge chapter
and council of the F. and A. Masons.
Charles T. Crosby, Wausau, was born in Jefferson county, Wis
consin, December 12, 1847, and was educated in the public schools,
the Bronson Institute, Point Bluff, completing his studies at the Kil-
bourn Institute, Kilbourn City. He read law with J. Bowman,
Kilbourn City, and was admitted in the fall of 1870, at Friendship,
Adams county. His practice has been at Luverne, Minnesota, and
with B. W. James, his present partner, at Wausau, where he now
resides. When living in Minnesota he held the office of county judge
for Rock county; was district attorney for the same county in 1872,
1873 and 1874; was elected to the MinnesotaJegislature in 1874; came
to Wausau in July, 1875, and in 1877 was elected district attorney for
Marathon county. Mr. Crosby is a member of Forest Lodge of F. and
A. Masons at Wausau, also of Wausau Chapter R. A. Masons, the Ber
lin Commandery of Knights Templar, and a member of the Knights
of Honor, and the I. O. of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Crosby is now member of the state senate, having been elected
November, 1880, as a republican, by a majority of 1,074 votes, in a
strongly democratic district, over George W. Cate, ex-member of
Congress of the eighth congressional district. For the session of the
legislature of 1881 Senator Crosby served on the committee on the

318 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
judiciary and on engrossed bills, and on important committees at the
session of 1882.
Charles T. Eldred, Wausau, was born in Warren, Pennsylvania,
in 1841 ; was educated at the University of Northern Pennsylvania ;
read law in Pennsylvania; was admitted in December, 186 1 ; entered
the army in 1862 in the Eleventh Regiment New York cavalry, and
served till the close of the war; practiced law in Howsdale, Penn
sylvania, until 1873, when he came to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he
has since resided in the practice of his profession. He was district
attorney of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, one term, assessor of inter
nal revenue during President Johnson's administration, and is now
district attorney of Marathon county.
James A. Felch, Stevens Point, was born in the town of Somers,
Kenosha county, Wisconsin, and his parents were Alson and Aurilla
Felch. He was educated at Hillsdale, Michigan. Commencing the
study of law with D. L. Shorey, in Chicago, he completed it in the
Chicago Law School, and was admitted to the bar in June 1869. He
settled at Stevens Point in the spring of 1870, where he has ever since
resided. Practicing alone for six years, he was in partnership with A.
H. Lamoreux during 1877, 1878 and 1879. He was city attorney one
year from the spring of 1875, and is now justice of the peace, having
held the office seven years consecutively.
Frank M. Guernsey, Clintonville, was born in Chenango county,
New York, February 22, 1839; was educated at Oberlin, Ohio; studied
law with Wheeler and Kimball at Berlin, Wisconsin ; was admitted to
the bar at Berlin in 1862, and is in practice at Clintonville. In August,
1862, Mr. Guernsey enlisted as a private, and was discharged in June,
1865, as captain of Company E, Thirty-second Wisconsin regiment,
having participated in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged
during the campaigns in which it took part.
M. A. Hurley, Wausau, was born in Ottawa, Canada, October 23,
1840, and his parents brought him, when in his infancy, to Ogdensburg,
New York, where his father died when this son was between nine and
ten years of age. He attended public schools in his younger years, and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 319
was prepared for college, but ill health prevented his going through a
course, and he had three years' instruction under private tutors. In
1856 he came to Wisconsin, read law with Ryan & Kimball, Green
Lake county, and was admitted to the bar in 1868 in that county.
Subsequently he was elected and served as district attorney for Green
Lake county, which office he resigned and went to Wausau, where he
formed a partnership with W. C. Silverthorn, which connection con
tinues. Mr. Hurley is considered by his associates of the Marathon
county bar and elsewhere, as a rising young lawyer.
Willis Wilson Haseltine, Stevens Point, was born in Brooklyn,
Green county, Wisconsin, and his parents were J. W. and Sarah A.
Haseltine. He was educated at Evansville Seminary, Evansville, Wis
consin. Subsequently he studied law in the office of Orton, Keyes &
Chynoweth at Madison, graduated from the State University Law School,
and was admitted to the bar, at Madison, by the supreme. court, June
20, 1876. He settled down in the practice of his profession at Stevens
Point, and is connected with J. O. Raymond in the firm of Raymond &
Haseltine Mr. Haseltine has achieved eminent success in. his law
practice, and high standing as a citizen.
B. W. James, Wausau, was born at Otsego, Columbia county, Wis
consin, September 2, 1847. His father, Stephen James, was a pioneer
farmer of this state, having settled at Otsego as early as 1844. His son,
B. W. James, was two years a student in the Wayland University, at
Beaver Dam, afterward went through a course of study at the State
University, from which he graduated in June, 1872, with honors. He
then entered the University Law School, from which he graduated in
the class of 1873. In October of the same year he entered into practice
at Wausau, and has been in partnership with C. F. Crosby nearly all the
time since. He has been superintendent of the Wausau city schools
seven years, and is one of the board of visiters of the State University.
Mr. James has met with eminent success in the business of life. In
September, 1873, he married Miss May Haines, of Columbus, and they
have several children. Mrs. James is notable for valuable and interest
ing contributions to the press, before and since her marriage.
19

320 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
D. Lloyd Jones, Stevens Point, was born in the parish of Stanfair,
Denbighshire, North Wales, October 9, 1841, his parents being Edward
and Anna Maria Jones, and was educated in the public schools of that
country. He immigrated to Wisconsin in the year 1858. Mr. Jones has
a meritorious war record, having enlisted December 9, 1861, as a pri
vate in Company C, Sixteenth Wisconsin regiment, and went to the
front. He was engaged in all the battles in which that regiment partici
pated ; was wounded in a charge on the enemy's works on Leggett's
Hill before Atlanta; was promoted to second lieutenant of Company C,
August 4, 1864, and to adjutant of his regiment, February 17, 1865, and
was mustered out after the close of the war, August 4, 1865. He after
ward commenced the study of law, and graduated at the State University
Law School, at Madison, and was admitted to practice by the state
supreme court in June 187 1. Settling at Stevens Point he commenced
practicing law in partnership with G. L. Park, which partnership con
tinued until March 4, 1875, and from August, 1876, to the present time
he has been in partnership with A. W. Sanborn.
C. S. Ogden, Waupaca, was born at Cannonsville, Delaware county,
New York, August 2, 1819. After receiving an academic education he
removed in 1834 to western Michigan, where he resided for fourteen
years, serving as school inspector, and in some other minor offices. In
1848 he located at Plover, Portage county, Wisconsin. Six years later
he removed to Waupaca county, where he founded the village of Og-
densburgh. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and is still practicing
law, and serving as county judge. Being a very public-spirited citizen,
and having an eminent capacity for public duties, Judge Ogden has
been persistently conscripted by his fellow citizens, and has held some
public office every year since his arrival in the state except the first.
He was never defeated for an elective office. He has also engaged in
numerous industrial enterprises, — saw mills, foundries and machine
shops, in which he seems to have been followed by an untiring fate, hav
ing lost no less than $25,000 by fire. He also established the Waupaca
county Republican, the New London Times, and assisted in establishing
the Taylor county News and Waupaca Post, all of which papers are
still in vigorous existence. Judge Ogden is a son of Abraham Ogden,
who took up his residence at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1846, and was an
honored citizen of that place until he died at an advanced age. His

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 321
mother is still living at the age of eighty-two, and is quite as well pre
served as most ladies of fifty.
William H. Packard, Stevens Point, was born in Springfield,
Massachusetts, December 24, 1828. When he was seven years of age
his parents removed to York, Medina county, Ohio, where he remained
with them until May, 1850, when he came to southern Wisconsin. In
December of the 'same year he removed to Washara county, and in
June, 1853, to Stevens Point. In the fall of 1854 he went to Mara
thon county, where he was engaged in building mills until the spring
of 1856, when he returned to Stevens Point, and continued in the
same business in that section for some length of time. In the fall of
1858 he was elected register of deeds for Portage county, and held
the office by reelection until January, 1867, when he received the
appointment of clerk of the circuit court, and served until June 1872.
In Ju'ne of the same year he commenced the practice of law in part
nership, four years, with J. O. Raymond, at Stevens Point. He was
elected district attorney for Portage county in 1874, and held the office
by reelection until 1880. While serving as clerk of the court he was
again elected ; in the fall of 1870, register of deeds, and fulfilled the
duties of both offices until 1872, when he was again elected register
of deeds. While serving his second term as register of deeds he was
deputy county treasurer, and discharged the duties of both offices,
and while serving his third and fourth terms as register was appointed
under-sheriff and jailer, and discharged the duties of both offices,
virtually performing all the duties of sheriff during the time. During
the years 1861 and 1862 he was likewise deputy county treasurer.
For the greater portion of the terms that he was register of deeds and
clerk of the court he was deputy clerk of the board of supervisors.
While residing at Plover, before the removal of the county seat to
Stevens Point, he was assessor and chairman of the board of supervisors.
In 1874 he was elected district attorney for Portage county, and re
elected in 1878 and 1880.
In February, 1853, Mr. Packard married Elizabeth A. Beach, at
Oasis, Wisconsin, and they have seven children.
Myron Reed, Waupaca, was born at Massena, St. Lawrence county,
New York, September 19, 1836, his parents being Heman L. and

322 THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Sophia Reed. He was educated at Union Academy, Belleville, Jef
ferson county, New York. He commenced the study of Jaw in the
.office of D. D. Mott, Massena, in 1856, and afterward attended two
terms of the law school at Albany, in 1857 and 1858, and was admitted
to the bar the latter year. In the spring of 1859 he came to Waupaca,
where he has since resided, and commenced practice in company with
M. H. Sessions, with whom he continued for about seven years; since
which time he has been alone, and has succeeded in building up as
large a practice as any attorney in Waupaca county. Mr. Reed,
though averse to holding office, has always manifested an interest in
politics, being one of the staunchest and most faithful democrats in
northern Wisconsin. At one time he served as district attorney of
Waupaca county, having been appointed to that position by Governor
Fairchild to fill a vacancy. He was state senator in 1871 and 1872, being
upon the judiciary and other important committees. To him belongs
the credit of securing the passage of the constitutional amendment
restricting local legislation. He has been mayor of the city of
Waupaca, and member of the board of supervisors. To his influence,
skill and perseverance, Waupaca county is indebted for the fine new
court-house now in process of erection. He is at the head of the
Masonic fraternity in his city, and to his devotion to that institution
is due the fact that Waupaca boasts one of the most prosperous lodges
in the state. Mr. Reed has been identified with several public enter
prises in his part of the state, all of which have prospered. He has
filled many positions of public trust and confidence, and has never
been recreant to any.
James O. Raymond, Stevens Point, was born in the town of
McDonough, Chenango county, New York, May 31, 1831. His parents
were Edward and Maria Osborn Raymond. He attended common
schools, and the academies at Newark Valley and Owego, Tioga
county, New York. At the age of twenty-two he commenced studying
law with John M. Parker, at Owego, New York. In the spring of 1855
he came to Wisconsin, and in the spring of 1856 located at Plover,
and on May 26, 1856, was admitted to practice in the circuit courts of
this state, and immediately formed a copartnership with Luther Han-
chett, for the practice of law, which continued until his death in 1862.
At the November election, in 1856, he was elected district attorney for

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 323
Portage county, and in 1858 was reelected. In February, 1865, he
entered the army as orderly sergeant of Company C, Fifty-second Wis
consin regiment, and served until the regiment was disbanded in August
of that year. He was elected member of the assembly, and served
during the session of 1866 ; was a member of the judiciary committee,
and committee on incorporations. He was elected district attorney of
Portage county in 1866, and served two years. In July, 1873, he
removed to Stevens Point, where he has since resided. In 1875 he was
a candidate for circuit judge against G. L. Park, present incumbent.
In 1877 he formed a copartnership for the practice of law, with W. W.
Haseltine, which still continues. In March, 1881, he was appointed
postmaster at Stevens Point, by President Garfield, and still holds the
office. February 26, 1866, he was admitted to practice in the supreme
court of this state, and June 2, 1873, to the United States circuit and
district courts of the state.
Albert W. Sanborn, Stevens Point, was born at Swanton, Vermont,
January 17, 1853; was educated at Muskingum College, New Concord,
Ohio; read law with Barnes & Anderson, at Cambridge, Ohio; was
admitted to the bar at Cambridge, Ohio, April 16, 1876, and is in
practice with D. Lloyd Jones, at Stevens Point.
EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
William Pitt Bartlett, EaU Claire, is a native of Maine, but has
lived so many years in this state, and has been so closely identified with
all public matters pertaining to the welfare of Wisconsin during the past
quarter of a century that he is, it might be said, " to the manor born."
He was born September 13, 1829, at Minot, Maine, and is the son of
John H. and Phebe Bartlett. In March, 1833, his father moved to New
Portland, then almost an unbroken wilderness in the northern part of
Maine, and it was at this place that the subject of this sketch passed his
boyhood and early youth. At fifteen years of age he commenced teach
ing school winters, and at the same time preparing himself for college.
In 1849 he entered Waterville College, at Waterville, Maine, and gradu
ated four years later in 1853. He immediately commenced the study of
law, and in the meantime supporting himself by teaching school. In
the fall of 1855 we nn£i him coming west to seek a wider and larger
field of action. He stopped at Watertown, where he remained until the

324 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
spring of 1877, and then moved to Eau Claire. At that time Eau Claire
was a mere village with but few inhabitants, and no lawyer in the
county before Mr. Bartlett made that his home, and commenced the
practice of his profession. From that time until the present, which is
twenty-four years, no lawyer in the state has devoted himself with more
zeal, energy and untiring perseverance to his profession than has Mr.
Bartlett. Possessed with a fine classical education, his mind thoroughly
trained, and being in the prime of early manhood, he was well fitted to
make his mark among the lawyers of the state.
In i860 he was admitted to the supreme court of the state, and in
1874 to the supreme court of the United States. His practice in Eau
Claire and surrounding counties has been large, and especially in cases
in the supreme and higher courts. Brought in contact with the best
lawyers of the state he has ably and well obtained the standing and rep
utation of being one of the best and most faithful lawyers in the state.
In politics he is a firm, unrelenting republican, and one of the founders of
the republican party. Though not allowing politics to interfere with
his profession, he has been called upon to hold, and has held, several
offices of honor and trust. In 1857 he was elected district attorney of
Eau Claire county which he held two years; in i860 he was mem
ber of Wisconsin legislature; in i860, 1861 and 1862, county judge
of Eau Claire county; from 1863 to 1867, district attorney; again of
Eau Claire county in 1873; again elected to the legislature in 1874;
and was appointed register of the United States Land Office, which
position he held for four years with much credit. He is now fifty-two
years of age, and as active as when a young man commencing practice.
Mr. Bartlett was married in 1861 to Miss Hattie Hart, daughter of
Edward W. Hart, of Baraboo, and they have one daughter and four
sons. At this date, October, 1881, the daughter, now nineteen years
old, is attending the State Normal School, at Oshkosh, and the eldest
son, a young man of seventeen years, is a cadet in the senior class of
the military academy at Orchard Lake, Michigan.
Mr. Bartlett is still in the active practice of his profession, and of
the firm of Bartlett & Hayden. Always deeply interested in all educa
tional and public concerns, he finds time to attend personally to those
matters that are of the greatest importance, but often sadly neglected,
because capable men will not, usually, devote their time to business in
which there is no pay. Not so with Mr. Bartlett. Educational and city

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 325
matters always are watched over and cared for by him, and few public
men in the state have done more than he has to promote the welfare
and prosperity of our public schools. He has been a member of the
school board in the district where he resides continuously for twenty-
four years, and was elected last July again for three years. At the
present time he is alderman from the third ward of the city of Eau
Claire, and president of the common council. Mr. Bartlett has long
been a prominent lawyer and citizen in the state, and is a recognized
leader in political matters in the section in which he resides. In all
local public enterprises he is among the foremost in active work and
cooperation with others in schemes and doings for the public welfare.
Only yet in the prime of life, few at his age have arrived to equal dis
tinction and usefulness.
James H. Culbertson, Eau Claire, was born in Albany, Whiteside
county, Illinois, and is son of Samuel and Margaret Culbertson. His
education was obtained at the Hamline University, Red Wing, Minne
sota; studied law with M. D. Bartlett, Eau Claire, from 1874 to 1876 ;
was admitted to the bar in Pepin county at the October term of the
circuit court of 1876, and is now in practice alone in Eau Claire.
W. W. Downs, Eau Claire, was born in Menomonee, Wisconsin,
November 7, 1851, and is the son of B. B. and Laura Downs, both of
whom are living. His education was acquired at Madison, where he
graduated from the law school of the State University in the class of
1874, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court at the same
time. At once commencing practice in Eau Claire, he has continued it
there to the present time with success. He has been an alderman of
the city of Eau Claire for one term.
Augustus Finkelnburg, Fountain City, was born in Marienlinden,
Prussia, May 8, 1830. His father was Welhelm Finkelnburg. He was
educated at a college in Munstereifel, Prussia ; studied law with A.
Krekel, judge of United States district court, Jefferson City, Missouri ;
was admitted at Buffalo county, Wisconsin, and is in practice at Foun
tain City. Mr. Finkelnburg has been county judge, county superin
tendent of schools, member of the assembly in 1874, and is senator for
1881 and 1882. For the session of 1881, Senator Finkelnburg was

326 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
chairman of the committee on privileges and elections, and a member of
that on insurance, banks and banking. William A. Finkelnburg, son of
the above named gentleman, was born in Fountain City ; is now twenty-
two years of age ; studied law in St. Louis, Missouri ; was admitted in
1880, and is in practice in Fountain City as partner of his father.
T. F. Frawley, Eau Claire, was born in the city of Troy, in the
State of New York, March 6, 1851, and is the son of Thomas and
Honora Frawley. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in
1875, receiving the master degree from the same institution in 1880 ; was
principal of the first district high school of Eau Claire, from the fall of
1875 until entering the practice of law, in July 1880; studied law for a
short time at the city of Madison, with La Fayette Smith ; was admitted
to the bar at the city of Eau Claire, in March, 1880, and has practiced,
since entering the profession, at Eau Claire. He is member of the
common council and clerk of the school board of the city of Eau
Claire. Franklin L. Gilson, Ellsworth, was born at Middlefield, Geauga
county, Ohio, October 22, 1846, his parents being W. H. and Sylvia L.
Gilson. He received a partial collegiate education at Hiram, and at
Oberlin College, Ohio; studied law at West Bend, Wisconsin, with
Frisby & Weil, from 1870 to 1872; was admitted October 22, 1870, at
West Bend, and has practiced at Ellsworth from the fall of 1872 to the
present time. From 1874 to 1876 he practiced with J. H. Wilkinson,
the firm being Gilson & Wilkinson, fn 1881 he formed a partnership
with J. W. Hancock, which continues as Gilson & Hancock. Mr.
Gilson has been somewhat in public life, having been district attorney
of Pierce county from 1874 to 1880; was a delegate to the republican
national convention held in Chicago in June, 1880, and was a member of
the assembly of 1881. During the session of the latter he was a member
of the committee on the judiciary and that of medical societies. He
introduced (and it passed) a bill cutting down the pay of the employes
of the legislature. He was again elected member of the assembly in
1881, and at the session of 1882 was chosen speaker.
Michael Griffin, Eau Claire, was born in the county of Clare,
Ireland, September 9, 1842 ; came to America in 1847, and to Wisconsin

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 327
in 1856; settling first in Sauk county. His education was in the public
schools, and afterward studied law with J. Bowman, of Kilbourn city, and
was admitted to the bar at Portage city in 1868. In 1861 he enlisted
for the war in Company E, Twelfth Wisconsin regiment ; was promoted to
first lieutenant, and continued in the service to the close of the war. He
was in the siege of Vicksburg, and other important engagements, and
went through Sherman's campaigns, including his march to the sea.
Having been mustered out when hostilities were ended, he removed his
home to Kilbourn city, and began the study of law. While residing in
that place he was member of the county board for two terms, and was
elected to the assembly as a republican in 1875, and was chairman of
the committee on judiciary of the assembly at its session in 1876. His
residence was changed to Eau Claire in 1876, where he was appointed
city attorney in 1878, and reappointed in 1879 and 1880. In the fall of
1879 he was elected state senator from the thirtieth senatorial district,
comprising the counties of Dunn, Eau Claire and Pierce, and served as
a member of the committee on judiciary, and chairman of the committee
on federal relations of the senate for the two sessions of his term as sena
tor. Senator Griffin was an active and useful member both in the house
and the senate, reflecting credit upon himself and his constituents. While
serving in the house he made the argument before the assembly in sup
port of the report of the committee on privileges and elections, of which
he was a member, in the famous Bennett against Gray, contested election
case, by which Gray was unseated, in accordance with the report of the
committee. As a lawyer he is accounted one of the best at the Eau
Claire bar, having succeeded in building up a fine and lucrative prac
tice during his residence in that city. He is industrious and attends
strictly to business, and is a man of strict integrity and thoroughly reliable.
A. M. Gibbons, Eau Claire, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the
year 1837. His parents were James H. and Elizabeth Mead Gibbons,
who afterward came west and settled in Illinois, while he was a mere
child. His education was mainly such as the common schools of the
country afforded, finishing up the same at an academy at Granville, Illi
nois. He was a diligent student, and his time was improved to the best
advantage, particularly during his year and a half at Granville. Choos
ing the law for a profession he entered upon its study with Ira Fenn, of
Illinois, and after two years' close attention to study was admitted to

328 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
practice by the supreme court at Ottawa, Illinois. Immediately opening
an office he began practice, and continued the same until he concluded
to seek a broader and more inviting field. He tarried awhile at Peoria,
Illinois, thence he went to Colorado, and finally Oregon. Mr. Gibbons
crossed the country to the Pacific coast in 1859, and reached the city of
Portland in the fall of the year. He there went into the office of David
Logan. He was appointed, by Judge Waite, states attorney for the dis
trict comprising the northern part of the state. All of this judicial dis
trict was reached by steamboat, as it lay on the Willamette and Colum
bia rivers. He remained there until the spring of 1861, when he settled
up his business and went to Washington. Mr. Bates, the attorney
general, offered the office of United States district attorney for Oregon
to him, but he declined to accept it. He was among the early volun
teers in the war of the rebellion, as he joined a company which was
organized before the call for volunteers was issued by President Lincoln.
and which company was recognized after such call, and regularly mus
tered into the service. At his discharge he visited Washington and New
York for a short time, and then returned to Illinois and resumed the
practice of the law. Mr. Gibbons was a delegate to the national union
convention, which was held at Philadelphia in 1866, and took an active .
part in the discussions of that body. He entertains broad and liberal
views, and is equal to almost any emergency. He is a well read lawyer,
well adapted to dispatch business, and a ready speaker. In the spring
of 1878 he located in Eau Claire, where he now resides.
Henry H. Hayden, Eau Claire, was born in Schenectady, New
York, May 3, 1841. Educated in the common schools, he studied
law with Jackson & Halsey, and Felker & Weisbrod, Oshkosh, and
was admitted to the bar in the same city, December 22, 1870. Coming
to Eau Claire to practice his profession, Mr. Hayden became a
member of the existing firm of Bartlett & Hayden, William Pitt Bart
lett being the senior partner. In the war of the rebellion he served
in company H, Thirty-sixth Illinois Regiment.
Lewis R. Larson, Eau Claire, was born near Bergen, Norway,
September 1, 1849, his parents being Elling and Martha Larson.
Coming to this country in the spring of 1850, his early education was
at the village schools of Columbus, Wisconsin, and was graduated from

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 329
the State University in the class of 1872. His law studies were with
A. G. Cook, at Columbus, and he was admitted to the bar at Portage,
May 20, 1874. After admission he remained in the office of Mr. Cook,
as his assistant, until he removed to Eau Claire, where he opened an
office June 14, 1875. Since settling in Eau Claire Judge Larson filled
the office of city attorney from April, 1876, to April, 1877, when he
was elected municipal judge, which position he now holds.
Alexander Meggett, Eau Claire, son of Alexander and Sarah Mac-
Arthur Meggett, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, March 26, 1824, and is
a half-brother of Arthur MacArthur, now on the bench of the supreme
court of the District of Columbia. The family name is very rare, but
occurs in English literature, in Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake,
as the name of a mead or meadow, and the subject of this sketch is
the oldest living representative of the family in this country. His
father, a man of clear head and sturdy integrity, was a weaver, emi
grated to this country in 1827, and settled at Uxbridge, Massachu
setts. There, at the early age of eight years, the son was put to work
in a cotton factory under his father, and he followed this vocation in
various departments until he was nineteen years old. Never satisfied
with his condition in life, being imbued with a strong desire for an
education, impelled by an ambition inherited of his mother, he aban
doned factory life, with his father's consent, and at once took to books
and study with a severe Scotch perseverance and tenacity inherited
of his father.
Commencing at Wilbraham Academy, in 1843, by his own exer
tions he worked his way through many impediments; teaching at
intervals to defray his expenses. The year 1846 found him in Mid
dletown University, in Connecticut, pursuing a scientific course of
study. After leaving the university, he taught about five years in the
public schools of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in Slatersville and
vicinity, and Pawtucket. During the last two years of his teaching at
the latter place he devoted his leisure hours to the reading of law with
C. B. Farnsworth ; then abandoned teaching and pursued and finished
his legal studies with T. A. Jencks, of Rhode Island ; was admitted
to the bar in the city of Providence, in March, 1853, and to practice
in the United States courts three years later. Still ambitious for suc
cess in his profession, he emigrated to Wisconsin in 1857, and settled

330 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
at Eau Claire, in July of that year, as the second lawyer of this then
new settlement ; at once entered upon the practice of his profession,
and for a brief period was the sole editor of the Eau Claire Times.
He rose in his profession rapidly, and became especially and deserv
edly prominent as a criminal lawyer. It may be said that no man
of his age in this state has had a more varied and extensive criminal
practice, particularly in the number and noted capital cases, he has
prosecuted and defended in the twenty-two years of his practice in
this state, and is especially noted for his unswerving fidelity to the
interests of his clients, and the determined tenacity of purpose with
which he presses his causes, notwithstanding which he has a genial
and very jovial disposition.
When the first railway reached Eau Claire, in 1870, he was by
common consent selected and honored as the orator at the celebra
tion of this auspicious event, and it is but justice to accord to him
the merit of a ready, fluent, and entertaining speaker.
For years he was one of the leading democrats in his part of the
state, but was, however, during our late civil war, the cordial and
hearty supporter of the Union cause. In the Greeley campaign in
1872, his connection with the democratic party was dissolved, and
since then he has heartily affiliated with the republicans. In 1859,
in compliance with the urgent request of his democratic friends, he ran
for state senator, and in 1870, on the Union ticket for congress, in
the strongest republican district in the state, and ran greatly ahead
of his ticket, reducing the usual large republican majority in his own
county to only 147 against him.
In 1876 he was tendered a call, without distinction of party, to be
come a candidate for the office of judge of the thirteenth judicial
circuit, then just formed, but he did not run for the office. He is
now, by recent executive appointment, register of the United States
land office at Eau Claire. Mr. Meggett is a prominent member of the
masonic fraternity, is of the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite,
and is a past deputy grand master of the state in the order, fn his
religious culture he was educated in the severe Scotch mould ; con
tributes liberally to church support, and is an outspoken and unswerv
ing advocate of all that tends to moral, social and religious advance
ment.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 331
Conrad Moser, Jr., Alma, is one of the most prominent of the
lawyers of foreign birth in Wisconsin. He is identified with the history
of northern Wisconsin, particularly, and in a general way with that of
the state. His attainments, his achievements, his unsullied character,
entitle him to rank among the best citizens of this state. He came to
northern Wisconsin, during its formative period, and has been one of
the important factors in its upbuilding from the plastic state, as it were,
to the present induration. He was born in Switzerland in 1835, and
received a thorough academic education at Zurich. His entire youth
and early manhood, until he arrived at his majority, were spent in school ;
his father was an educator in Switzerland. In 1856 the family came to
this country, and. located at Alma, Buffalo county, Wisconsin, where
they now reside, the father being over eighty years of age. From 1858
to 1861 he was a student in the St. Louis Law Institute ; was admitted
to the bar at La Crosse in 1864, commenced practice in Alma, and
has been there since. He was elected and served as probate judge of
that county. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, and reelected
in 1867 ; was chairman of the committee on town and county organiza
tion, and a member of other committees, that on education among the
number. He was an active legislator, and took a prominent part in the
important legislation of those years ; was the champion of the noted
Bceuf Slough bill, which was a measure that excited great opposition,
as it touched a vital interest in northern Wisconsin, the lumber interest.
He was identified in a prominent way with all legislation pertaining to
the educational and railroad interests of the state especially. In 1880
he published the work called the Lawyer's Diary, which has a universal
sale. In it he gives a code of ethics which should prevail among
honorable and high minded lawyers and judges, and other valuable
information. He is a gentleman of varied attainments, a careful and
reliable lawyer, a good citizen and a gentleman highly esteemed by all
who know him.
S. W. McCaslin, Eau Claire, was born November 3, 1844, at Neills-
burg, Forest county, Pennsylvania. His parents are James and Hannah
McCaslin. He was educated at Neillsburg Acadamy, Pennsylvania, and
at the State Normal School, Edinboro, Erie county, Pennsylvania;
studied law with W. W. Nevison, of Painesville, Lake county, Ohio ;
was admitted to the bar at Cleveland, Ohio, September 6, 1866;

332 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
practiced with W. W. Nevison, at Painesville, Ohio, until 1868, when he
moved to St. Charles, Winona county, Minnesota, where he practiced
with Edwin Hill for four years, and in February, 1872, moved to Eau
Claire, where he has since practiced, having had partnerships with M.
D. & E. M. Bartlett, and W. F. Bailey, until fall of 1877, since which
time he has been and is still practicing alone. He was a member of
the city council of the city of Eau Claire two years, 1874 and 1875, and
is a member of all the courts of Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
John C. Spooner, Hudson, was born in Lawrenceburg, Dearborn
county, fndiana, January 6, 1843, and came to Madison in 1859 with
his father's family. His education was completed at the Wisconsin
State University, at which institution he graduated in 1864. Adopt
ing the law for a profession, he entered upon its study in Madison, in
the office of his father, P. L. Spooner; went through a course of
instruction in the University Law School ; was admitted to the bar, and
began practice at Madison. During the war of the rebellion he enlisted
in the ranks of Company D, Fortieth Wisconsin regiment, which took
him to the plains of Dakota, and was breveted major for faithful and
meritorious services. After the close of the war Major Spooner
became private secretary to Governor Fairchild ; was subsequently
assistant attorney-general under Attorney-General S. S. Barlow ; is now
a regent of the State University, a deserved compliment to one of its
alumni, the first of the like bestowed; and during the administration of
Governor Fairchild, was a member of his military staff with the rank of
Colonel. In 1870 Colonel Spooner established his residence and business
at Hudson, where he was for some years in law practice with H. C.
Baker, and in the fall of 187 1, was elected member of the assembly in
which he served with distinction at the session that followed in the
winter of 1872. At that time the State University was struggling along
with inadequate support ; and it is to the credit of Colonel Spooner
that he nobly championed the cause of his Alma Mater, and with
speech and persistent work, succeeded in procuring that aid from the
legislature which, so greatly needed, placed it on the financial basis
that gave a fresh impulse to the workings of the institution that has
resulted in bringing it up to a standard of merit of high character, and
the usefulness of which is felt by all friends of education in the state.
While in active general practice at Hudson, his firm was employed in

fo^M & .^eM^V1

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

335

the legal business of what was then the West Wisconsin railroad ; and
the aptitude of Colonel Spooner in conducting causes of the company,
led to his call to the office of general solicitor of that company, which
he has ever since filled. In this capacity he has become conspicuous,
while, at the same time, he has achieved an elevated position as a
learned and profound lawyer, and successful advocate at the bar. Far
from being a professed politician, he has, nevertheless, when duty has
called, taken the field in some of the political campaigns, and performed
efficient work as a speaker for the republican cause. Addresses that he
has made on other subjects have been marked with special excellence,
while in legal argument few lawyers among his contemporaries have
proved themselves his equal in clearness of statement, logical reason
ing and impressive diction. With eminent success in his profession
while still young, it is easy to foreshadow the future of his career.
George Clinton Teall, Eau Claire, was bom in Seneca county,
New York, May 20, 1840. He was of a prominent and influential
family, branches of which are located at Syracuse, Albany and Geneva,
New York, and received his education principally at the latter place.
He was a member of the class of 1862 at Hobart College. His ances
tors were among the Pilgrim Fathers who landed from the May Flower
at Plymouth in 1620, and later were among the defenders of republican
liberty in the revolutionary war. Judge Teall studied law at Rochester,
New York, from 1862 to 1864, first in the office of T. R. Strong, formerly
of the New York court of appeals, and afterward with the Surrogate of
Monroe county, where he acquired a special knowledge of probate law
and practice, to which he has since devoted much attention, and also
attended a course of law lectures, at Rochester, in 1863 and 1864. He
was admitted to practice in this state, at Milwaukee, in January, 1872,
since which time he has been actively engaged in the practice of law, at
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and is an industrious lawyer. From 1872 to
1881 he was a member of the law firm of Meggett & Teall, and has
been engaged in many important cases, civil and criminal, in which he
has been quite generally successful. He is eminent commander of
Chippewa Commandery No. 8, of Knights Templar, and a member
S.P.R.S. of Wisconsin Consistory A.A.S.R. at Milwaukee. Judge Teall
has resided at Eau Claire since 1866, and has several times been elected
to office in his county, but is not a politician. He has always been a

336 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
thorough republican, consistent and progressive, devotes himself assidu
ously to his profession, and is a lawyer of unswerving integrity. He
has been twice appointed, and three times elected to the office of county
judge, which he now holds, and to which he was elected without oppo
sition, in April, 1881, for the term ending January 1866.
Levi M. Vilas, Eau Claire,' was born in Chelsea, Orange county,
Vermont, February 17, 1844. He was the third son of Levi B. Vilas,
elsewhere commemorated in this volume. Graduating from the University
of Wisconsin in 1863, he immediately entered the Albany Law School,
from which he was graduated in 1864. He was thereupon admitted to
the bar by the supreme court of New York. In 1868 he removed to
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he still resides, engaged in active practice.
His rank is acknowledged among the leaders of the bar of northwestern
Wisconsin. An extensive business and large clientage from the promi
nent and energetic men, who have developed the great interests on the
Chippewa river and its tributaries, attest the confidence and apprecia
tion in which he is held in that community. The writer of this sketch
well knows the estimate placed upon Mr. Vilas by his professional
brethren. By them he is universally regarded as well forward in the
front rank of the lawyers of the state ; clear and accurate in judgment,
thorough in learning, conscientious and painstaking in the preparation
of causes, and strong and vigilant in trial. He has a gift of expressing
his views in a terse, lucid and forcible style, admirably adapted to legal
argument. His mind is strongly judicial, and his qualities are commonly
accepted as prophetic of distinction on the bench in due season. A
genial address and manner, an open bearing, a kindly, sympathetic
nature, grounded upon a character of sterling integrity, render him
deservedly popular in his community, and with his profession. Although
too thorough a lawyer to be active in politics, and adhering to the party
in minority in his city and county, marks of popular favor have come to
him unsought, and in spite of party prejudice. He was elected city
attorney of Eau Claire in 1872, its mayor in 1876, district attorney of
Eau Claire county in 1877, and was reelected to that office in 1879.
L. P. Wetherby, Hudson, was born in Onondaga county, New
York, October 7, 1824, studied law with Angel & Grover, Allegany
county, New York; was admitted to the bar in New York city in 1840;

THE BENCH AND BAR OF' WISCONSIN. 337
was district attorney, and county judge in New York from 1848 to 1852.
Coming to Wisconsin he was elected judge of the circuit court of the
eighth district of Wisconsin, in the spring of i860 for six years, and
served out the term acceptably. NINTH CIRCUIT.
I
Alexander Botkin, Madison. At Sun Prairie, in the county of
Dane and State of Wisconsin, and while absent from his home on busi
ness, from what is supposed to have been a disease of the heart, Colonel
Alexander Botkin, on March 5, 1857, at the age of fifty-six years, sud
denly deceased. The" stroke was sudden and unexpected, but he died
surrounded by friends, for there was not a hamlet in the county where
he was not well and favorably known, and where he would not have
found ready hands and willing hearts to give him cheer and welcome in
sickness or in health. To his faithful companion, Jane Roslin Sinclair,
to whom he was married in September, 1835, near Cincinnati, Ohio, and
to his three sons, Sinclair W., William W., and Alexander C, aged re
spectively nineteen, seventeen, and fifteen years, the announcement of
the death of a kind father and an affectionate husband was melancholy
news, and fell upon his household as an irreparable calamity. The
shock to the community was almost as severe as to the family itself; for
Colonel Botkin was known to everybody in town and country, and every
body esteemed him as a friend and as a companion, the young and the old
alike. His genial disposition, even temper, and frank and hearty man
ner made him welcome in all the relations of social and domestic life.
He was a man of strong friendships, frank to a fault and tolerant to all.
These qualities of mind and manner, united with a fine physique and
pleasing address (for Colonel Botkin was six feet in height and weighed
two hundred and forty pounds) 'rendered him personally popular among
the people, and one of the centers of attraction in social and political
assemblages. Mr. Botkin was born in the State of Kentucky, on March 4, 1801.
Of his parentage we can give no details ; records in those days, of deaths
even, were rarely preserved or transmitted beyond the boundaries of
immediate family tradition, and there is but little that we know of the
early boyhood and dawning manhood of our deceased friend. We only
know that he was a strong, stalwart youth, and that at an early age he
removed to Ohio, and subsequently, in 1836, settled at Alton, in Illinois,
20

338 THE BENCH and BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and which place, at that time, was a rival of the city of St. Louis. About
this time Lovejoy, the noted abolitionist, was killed in a riot, and Mr.
Botkin being a justice, of the peace, was one of the staff of peace officers
who, at the peril of their own lives, sought to prevent the effusion of
blood. In June, 1841, he came to Madison with his family, as assistant
secretary of the territory under A. P. Field, who $was secretary. He
was subsequently the law partner of Mr. Field. For the law, he had
had no special training, but possessing naturally a logical mind, strong
reasoning powers and fluency of speech, he soon took rank as one of the
ablest jury lawyers in the territory, which position he maintained up to
the time of his death.
Mr. Botkin was preeminently fitted for political tournaments. He
belonged to the whig school of politicians, and Henry Clay, of his native
state, was his political idol. He loved Mr. Clay better than any demo
crat ever loved Andrew Jackson, and in those days democratic affection
for Jackson bordered upon eastern idolatry. The enthusiasm for these
respective champions of the whig and democratic parties, was not less
ened because of our "territorial existence, and Mr. Botkin, owing to his
political prominence and his great skill and ability as a public speaker,
was designated as a leader under whose generalship the whigs hoped to
rescue the territory from the control of the Jackson party. He accord
ingly, as early as 1845, came to be regarded as the leading whig in the
territory outside of Milwaukee, and after the organization into a state he
controlled, in a larger degree than any other whig in it, the policy of
his party up to the time of its disruption in 1854. He it was who con
ceived and planned the nomination of Leonard J. Farwell for governor
in 185 1, and in whose election the democracy of this state received its first
stunning blow. Prior to this, and in 1846, he was elected a member of
the special session of the territorial assembly for 1847, and for the session
of 1848. The assembly district comprised the counties of Green, Dane
and Sauk. In 1849 he was elected state senator from his district, and
served two years. In 1852 he was returned to the assembly. As a leg
islator, he was a man of large influence and rendered efficient service in
starting the wheels of state government. The old pioneers, now living,
point with some degree of pride to the legislators of those days, as com
pared with those of the present era. They would not suffer by the com
parison, and in that array of talent which added lustre to our territorial
history and to our early state legislation, Colonel Botkin, in clearness of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 339
conception, in logic, in wit and in eloquence, was the peer of any one of
them. To the brilliant qualities of his mind was combined integrity of
purpose and a laudable ambition to discharge every duty faithfully and
well. Such was the estimation in which he was held by his party, that
he was the caucus nominee for United States senator against Isaac P.
Walker in 1849. He was but twice defeated at a popular election — once
when he ran as a candidate in 1846, for a seat in the first constitutional
convention, his successful opponent being John Y. Smith, and again in
1850, when he ran for the state senate and was defeated by E. B. Dean,
Jr. In his various canvasses there was a large democratic majority in
his district.While the material is at hand from which the writer of this sketch
might form an extended notice or eulogy upon Colonel Botkin, he
refrains from doing so, as the object of this work is limited to giving
data only, for future reference. He desires, however, as one who knew
him long and well, to say, that beneath that disposition and manner
which was always so jocund, so full of life and so cheerful, there reposed
a stratum of mind, thoughtful, deep and earnest. He was not religiously
inclined, — he leaned perhaps to skepticism, but he entertained a deep
respect for the sentiments of others, and a generous toleration for all
forms of faith. His companion in his home was a devout christian
woman, and to her he lent a willing hand in inculcating around the
domestic fireside the highest standard of morals and integrity, and the
fruit of that teaching has been rich and abundant. Their joint efforts
in these particulars were not confined to their home ; they did their full
share in moulding and directing a young community in the same habits
of life. They have both finished their work. On April 25, 1874, one
of the best of mothers and one of the noblest of womankind, wearied
with life and full of years, was laid by the side of her husband at Forest
Hill cemetery, and the spot marked by filial affection in- the rearing of
tablets, inscribed with the time " when they came here and when they
went away." They rest in company with a goodly array of old pioneers,
who, like themselves, assisted in laying the foundation of the capital of
a new state, and in giving character to her people. They soon will be
reinforced by the remaining few who have not yet completed their tasks.
Brigham, Chapman, J. Y. Smith, Botkin, Roys, Van Bergen, Pyncheon,
Johnson, Abbott, Carpenter, G. B. Smith, Dean and others, have
opened up the way. Who, among the aged of our pioneers, but longs

340 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
for the companionship of these old-time friends? Surely the road to
death and immortality is made smooth when first trodden by such as
these. Sinclair W. Botkin, Madison, is the eldest son of Alexander
Botkin, a memoir of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. He
was born at Alton, Illinois, September 19, 1838, and removed with
his parents to Madison, when about three years of age. He attended
the State University of Wisconsin, and graduated in the class of 1857.
In 1862 he entered the service as first lieutenant of company A,
Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry, and was soon after promoted to
captain. He was engaged in the battles before Vicksburg and the
siege, resigning in the fall of 1863. From i860 to 1862, ,and again
in 1864 and 1865, he was deputy clerk of the supreme court, and
assistant state librarian. He completed his law studies in the office
of Spooner & Lamb, and was admitted to practice in 1866. Since
1868 he has been a member of the firm of Welch & Botkin. In
November, 1875, he was appointed register in bankruptcy, serving in
that capacity until he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May, 1882,
together with his partner, to practice law there.
Arthur B. Braley, Madison, was the only son of Rufus and
Hepzee Braley, and was born in Perry, New York, February 11, 1824.
His father dying when Arthur B. was young, his systematic education
was somewhat neglected ; his early reading, however, was extensive,
varied and profitable. In the spring of 1843 he ventured out into the
world in search of fortune. During this his first venture into the
great world, he visited Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and
Virginia. He remained for some months in the southern part of Ohio,
near Chillicothe. Leaving this place he next located for a season in
Kentucky in the celebrated Blue-grass region. In all these travels his
only means of conveyance were the canal, the stage coach, or on
foot. In the fall of 1844 he returned to New York. The ensuing
spring he commenced the study of law, using borrowed books for that
purpose. The succeeding winter months were spent teaching in the
Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania.
Leaving his native place in the spring of 1846 he immigrated to
Wisconsin, first settling at Delavan. Completing his legal studies at

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 341
that village, he visited Madison in 1848, was admitted to the bar
by the presiding judge of the supreme court, and in 1852 went to Madi
son to reside. On the organization of the city he was elected police
justice, and held the office six years. Judge Braley was alderman
for 1864 and three succeeding years. During the presidential cam
paign of 1864 he had editorial charge of the Daily Patriot, which was the
organ of the democratic party at the capital, and at the close of the
canvass returned to the duties of his profession, fn 1868 he was elected
city attorney, and became principal political editor of the Daily Demo
crat, which position he resigned at the close of the presidential election
of 1868. Moving in the spring of 1869 to Waukesha, he lived there until the
fall of 1870, when he returned to Madison, and has resided there until
this time. In the spring of 1872 he was elected police justice without
opposition, and that court having been reorganized into a county
municipal court in the spring of 1874, he was elected without opposi
tion municipal judge for six years. At the ensuing election, which was
in April, 1880, there was another Richmond in the field and stubbornly
contested the ground, but the judge came off triumphant without
special effort.
On February 11, 1855, he married Miss Philida Stevens at Madison,
who died in March, 1879. He married again in April, 1880, at Rich-
burgh, Alleghany county, New York, to Miss Alta E. Jordan, daughter
of Andrew E. Jordan, of that place.
In the midst of his professional and official duties, Judge Braley
has taken time to write much for the press continually for the last
twenty-five years on both literary and political subjects. Shakspearean
reviews have won him the distinction of being considered the finest
Shakespearean scholar in the northwest, and have brought him many
pleasing and complimentary testimonials from eminent minds in both
continents. These reviews in book form will eventually be ranked
among the best Shakespearean lore, and will be of great value to
scholars and writers. As a man, " every inch a man" ; as a judge,
discriminating, just and impartial; as a critic and author, at once con
cise and eloquent ; as a companion and host, genial and hospitable, and
generous to a fault. The subject of our sketch deservedly ranks among
the foremost men of his state and day.

342 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
George E. Bryant, Madison, was born at Templeton, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, February n, 1832. His father was George W.
Bryant, and his mother Eunice Norcross Bryant. George E. was
educated at Norwich University, Vermont, in the same class with
General G. M. Dodge and General Ransom. Choosing the profession
of the law, he read with Amasa Norcross, M. C, at Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts, and was admitted in 1856 at Worcester. Shortly afterward
he came to Wisconsin, and entered into partnership practice with
Myron H. Orton, which continued until 1861. He was captain of
the Madison Guards, the first military company from Wisconsin to
offer its services to the government at the commencement of the
rebellion. The company served five months with the First Wisconsin
Regiment on the Potomac, when it was mustered out of service, and
Captain Bryant returned home. He was commissioned colonel of the
Twelfth Regiment by Governor Randall, September 27, 1861, with
which he went into the Indian Territory, thence marching across the
plains to west of Fort Riley. Afterward joining the Army of the
Tennessee under Grant, with whom he was at Vicksburg, and was
with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, commanding a brigade in the
Seventeenth Army Corps at some of the battles. He was in command
of the storming party at Bald Hill, — called by General Sherman Leg-
gett's Hill, — July 21, 1864, and the next day successfully defended
the same at the so-called battle of Atlanta. At the close of the war
Colonel Bryant returned to his farm near Madison, on which he
breeds fine stock of many kinds. He was county judge three terms,
from 1866 to 1878, and was elected state senator in 1874, and served
two years. In January, 1878, he was elected secretary of the State Agri
cultural Society, which office he still holds. He was a delegate to
the republican national convention held in Chicago June 7, 1880,
voted steadfastly for Grant, and was one of the two Wisconsin
delegates who voted for Vice-President Arthur. General Bryant has
been quartermaster-general of Wisconsin since January 1876. He was
commissioned postmaster at Madison by President Chester A. Arthur,
February 6, 1882.
Edward E. Bryant, Madison, was born in Milton, Chittenden
county, Vermont, January 10, 1836, and he lived there until he came
to Janesville, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1857. Having prepared him-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 343
self in the study of the law, he was admitted to the bar in the fall of
1857, when he located in Monroe, in the practice of the profession
In connection with James Bintliff he purchased the Monroe Sentinel
in 1857, which they published together until the war of the rebellion
broke out, when he enlisted in June, 1861, as a private in company C,
Third Wisconsin Infantry ; was promoted to sergeant-major before
leaving the state, served three years as first lieutenant of company
A, and was also adjutant of the same regiment. On July 1, 1864,
he was appointed commissioner of enrollment, and in the winter of
1864 and 1865 was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fiftieth
Infantry. On the close of the war, and leaving the service, he returned
to Monroe. In the spring of 1868 Colonel Bryant received the ap
pointments of adjutant-general of the state and private secretary to
Governor Fairchild, which offices he held until the expiration of the
administration of Governor Fairchild, in January, 1872 He then
reentered upon the practice of law in partnership with W. F. Vilas,
at Madison, the connection continuing to the present time. In Jan
uary, 1876, he again became adjutant-general under Governor Luding-
ton, and served two years, when he was reappointed by Governor
William E. Smith, in 1878, and continued in the office until the close
of Governor Smith's term in 1882, then declining further service, to
devote his entire time to his law practice. He was member of the
legislature of 1878, and served as chairman on the committee on
revision of the statutes of the state, and subsequently assisted in the
publication of the revision ordered by the legislation at the same
session. He was also appointed, in connection with W. F. Vilas, to
revise eighteen volumes of the supreme court reports, and reported
the thirty-seventh volume himself. He is a Knight Templar. He
married Louisa S. Boynton, at Monroe, on June 29, 1859, and they
have four children. General Bryant came out of the war with a high
record ; subsequently distinguished himself in connection with his
office of secretary to Governor Fairchild ; is notable as a ready and
racy writer for the press ; has a reputation of a lawyer of the first-class,
and as a citizen no one knows him but to respect and esteem him
beyond the common lot of man.
J. H. Carpenter, Madison, was born in Ashford, Windham county,
Connecticut, February 14, 1822. He read law, was admitted to the bar

344 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
in March, 1847, and practiced his profession in Willimantic, Connecti
cut, to the time of his coming to Madison in June 1857. Besides atten
tion to an extensive practice during his residence at Madison, Mr.
Carpenter has been a professor in the law department of the State Uni
versity since its organization, and for many years dean of the law
faculty, continuing as such to the present time. In 1876 the faculty of
the university bestowed upon Mr. Carpenter the honorary degree of
LL.D. O. M. Conover, Madison, reporter of the supreme court of Wis
consin, was born at Dayton, Ohio, October 8, 1825. His father was of
Dutch ancestry, and his mother. Sarah Miller Conover, was a native of
Kentucky. He graduated at Princeton College in 1844, after which
he taught for two years, first in Kentucky, near Lexington, and then as
instructor in Latin and Greek in the Dayton Academy, studying law
meantime, in the office of Schenck & Conover. In the fall of 1846 he
entered the Princeton Theological Seminary, and graduated from that
institution in 1849. Removing to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1850, he
edited and published for a short time a literary and educational
monthly, entitled The Northwestern Journal. In 1850 he became an
instructor in the State University of Wisconsin, then recently organized.
The entire faculty at that time consisted of Chancellor John H. Lathrop,
Professor John W. Sterling and the subject of this sketch. When the
University moved into one of the buildings upon its present site, in
1852, Mr. Conover was called to the chair of ancient languages and
literature, which position he occupied until 1858. If he had known
that one of his pupils would be his present biographer, perhaps he
would have been less severe as to the second aorist passive of Greek
verbs ending in mi! Professor Conover was admitted to the bar of
Dane county in 1859. On the appointment of P. L. Spooner, as
reporter of the supreme court in 1861, he became associated with that
gentleman in the preparation and publication of Wisconsin reports,
beginning with volume twelve. When Mr. Spooner resigned, in the
summer of 1864, he was appointed his successor. The first volume
bearing Mr. Conover's name as official reporter is volume sixteen ; but
that was in fact prepared by S. U. Pinney, in accordance with previ
ous arrangements. Volume forty-nine is the last that has appeared at
this date. Volumes twenty-nine, thirty and thirty-seven were respec-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 3-15
tively prepared and edited by James Simmons, of Geneva, Wisconsin,
James L. High, of Chicago, and Edward E. Bryant, of Madison. The
other volumes which have appeared during Mr. Conover's incum
bency have been mainly prepared and wholly edited by himself,
though he has sometimes had occasion to avail himself of the
assistance of Burr W. Jones, of Madison, John B. Simmons, of
Geneva, and one or two others. By these means the series has
been issued with a degree of promptness somewhat rare in the
reports of courts of last resort in this country. Mr. Conover's work has
also been distinguished by excellent judgment, eminent clearness, and
succinctness of recital, and the accurate and exhaustive character of
the syllabi.
F. K. Conover, Madison, was born at Madison, February 17, 1857,
and is the son of O. M. Conover. He graduated from the State Uni
versity in the class of 1878 ; studied law in the office of J. H. Carpen
ter, and graduated from the law department of the State University;
was admitted to the bar November 10, 1879, and is nqw located in his
profession in Madison.
Herbert W. Chynoweth, Madison, was born in Livingston county,
New York, August 29, 1848, and came to Madison in 1855. He gradu
ated at the State University in the class of 1868, being valedictorian.
The same year he commenced reading law with E. W. Keyes ; was admitted
to the bar in April, 1870, and beginning practice as a member of the
firm of Orton, Keyes, & Chynoweth. When Judge Orton went upon
the bench in 1878 the firm became Keyes & Chynoweth. Since 1878
he has been assistant attorney-general.
Phillip Cheek, Jr., Baraboo, was born in Silverton, England, May
11, 1841 ; came to America with his parents in 1852, and to Wisconsin
in May 1856, since which time he has resided in or near Baraboo. He
enlisted as a private in Company A, Sixth regiment, in April 186 1 ;
was discharged for wound received at the battle of Antietam ; was
deputy provost marshal for Sauk county the last seventeen months of
the war; was elected clerk of circuit court in 1870; was admitted to
the bar in September 1876; commenced practice of his profession
January 1, 1877, and is now district attorney of Sauk county.

346 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
Frank E. Campbell, Tomah, was born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin,
June 21, 1855, and was educated for the bar in the law school of the
State University, from which he graduated in the class of 1878. He
was admitted to practice in April, 1878, and entered upon his profession
at Norwalk, in 1879. In January, 1880, he came to Tomah, has been
in practice there to the present time, and has been in partnership with
H. C. Spaulding, the firm being Spaulding & Campbell.
Jared Comstock Gregory, Madison, was born at the house of his
father at Gregory Hill, where his grandfather had settled at a very early
day, in the town of Butternuts, Otsego county, New York, January 13,
1823. Mr. Gregory was educated at Gilbertsville Academy, and pur
sued classical studies at Cooperstown under a private tutor; read law
with Judge Charles C. Noble, of Unadilla, whose brother-in-law he sub
sequently became; was admitted to the bar in Cortland county, New
York, in 1848. He was chosen justice of the sessions while quite young,
and filled various local offices. In 1858 he removed with his family
from Unadilla, New York, where he had practiced law from the time of
his admission, to Madison, Wisconsin, which has since been his home.
He was chosen mayor of that city in 1873 ; was a delegate to the demo
cratic national convention at Cincinnati in 1880, and one of the vice
presidents of that body. He was for twelve years a regent of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, and member of the executive committee of the
board, voluntarily resigning in 1881, and has at all times been an active
and faithful friend of that institution. On coming to Madison in 1858
he associated himself with S. U. Pinney, in the practice of the law,
under the firm of Gregory & Pinney, and their partnership continued
until 1879, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Gregory formed a law part
nership with his younger son, Charles N. Gregory, which still continues.
Henry Howarth, Mazomanie, was born in Manchester, England,
September 1, 1814; came to the United States in October 1850, and on
his arrival proceeded direct to Mazomanie, then called Farmersville,
where he bought a homestead, and has lived on it ever since. He has
been justice of the peace fifteen years; has practiced law in Mazomanie
fourteen years; was deputy register of deeds at Madison ten years,
commencing in 1864, and has been town clerk and school treasurer.
He married Miss Eliza Turner, in England, and she died'in May, 1876.

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 347
He has a son and a daughter, both unmarried, and living on his farm
which they carry on, leaving the father at freedom to attend to his law
business. The farm of Mr. Howarth is one mile from the village, and
¦ comprises one hundred and twenty acres.
Mr. Howarth is one of the most candid of lawyers, advises settle
ment of cases in preference to litigation ; is a square dealing man in
every respect. No man stands higher in the community in which he
lives, is free and agreeable in intercourse with the world, and is exceed
ingly well preserved for a person of his advanced time of life.
Henry H. Hatch, New Lisbon, was born at Mesopotamia, Trum
bull county, Ohio, March 7, 182 1, and his parents were Anson and Mary
Hatch. His education was completed at Farmington, Trumbull county,
Ohio ; studied law with George M. Tuttle, in Warren, Trumbull county,
Ohio, from 1842 to 1845 > was admitted to the bar at Jefferson, Ashta
bula county, Ohio, in 1845; commenced practice in Trumbull county
with McConnell & Tuttle ; afterward practiced in Johnson county,
Indiana, from 1853 to 1857, when he came to Wisconsin, settled in New
Lisbon, and has resided there to the present time, in the practice of his
profession, until within a few years, failing health compelling his retire
ment from the active business of life. Mr. Hatch is a very friendly
gentleman, and greatly respected.
Burr W. Jones, Madison, was born at Evansville, Wisconsin, March
9, 1846, and graduated at the State University at the end of a clas
sical course in the class of 1870, and from the law department the next
year. He read law with W. F. Vilas, and began practice in Madison
in the spring of 1872. He was a partner with Judge A. L. Sanborn for
two years and with A. C. Parkinson about the same length of time. In
the fall of 1872 he was elected district attorney and reelected in 1874.
For about two years he practiced alone, when in 1880 he entered into
partnership with F. J. Lamb, which connection continues. Mr. Jones
was placed in nomination by the democrats in the fall of 1879, in the
Madison assembly district, and was defeated, though running several
hundred votes ahead of his ticket. The records of the courts probably
show that no attorney has been more actively engaged, in nisi prius
business in the ninth judicial circuit during the past three or four years
than Mr. Jones. He has confined himself closely to his large and important

348 * the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
law practice, but like most lawyers has taken an interest in public
affairs ; in political campaigns he has responded to the call of the demo
cratic central committee, and he has made for himself an enviable
reputation as a speaker in the many public addresses which he has
delivered. Elisha W. Keyes, Madison, was born in Northfield, Washington
county, Vermont, January 23. 1828. He came to Wisconsin in June,
1837, with his father, Captain Joseph Keyes, who remained in Milwau
kee until September of the same year, when he removed with his family
to Lake Mills, Jefferson county, and settled there. Elisha W. attended
the public school at that place, and completed his education with a
short attendance at Beloit Seminary. Choosing the law for a profession,
he came to Madison in December, 1850, entered upon the study of law
in the office of A. L. Collins and George B. Smith, and was admitted to
the bar in October 1851. Since that date he has had a law office in
Madison in connection with other practitioners, but has been almost
continually in active politics. In 1852 he was appointed special agent
of the post-office department, to transfer balances due from postmasters
to the sub-treasury at St. Louis; was elected district attorney for Dane
county in 1858; was appointed postmaster at Madison in 1861, and
held the office continuously until 1882; was elected the first republican
mayor of Madison in 1865, and reelected the next year without opposi
tion ; in 1871 was special attorney for the United States in the arbitra
tion between the government and the Green Bay & Mississippi Canal
company, before the United States commissioners; was a delegate to
the republican national convention held at Philadelphia in 1872, as also
at Cincinnati in 1876, and on each occasion was chairman of the Wis
consin delegation; was appointed in 1877 a regent at large of the State
University, and reappointed in 1880 for the term of three years ; was a
candidate for republican nomination by the legislature of 1879, for
United States senator, to succeed T. O. Howe, and during one hundred
ballotings led in the contest between Judge Howe, M. H. Carpenter
and himself, and then withdrawing in favor of Mr. Carpenter, who was
thereupon nominated by acclamation ; was again a candidate for the
same office in 1881, to succeed Senator Angus Cameron, and received
thirty-three votes in the caucus, but failed of a nomination, and at the
same session of the legislature was an unsuccessful candidate for nomi-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 349
nation to take the place of the unexpired term of M. H. Carpenter, in
the United States Senate, and in 1881 was elected a member of the
assembly by a large majority. Entering into the arena of party politics
when first starting in life, his political career has been a marked and
prominent one, always acting with the stalwarts of the republican party.
In 1869 he was chosen chairman of the state central committee of the
republican party, and acquired a national reputation by the distin
guished work he performed for the republican cause. He continued at
the head of this committee until 1877, when, in holding the office of
postmaster, the civil service order of President Hayes compelled him to
decline further service as chairman of the committee. In November,
1881, his twentieth year as postmaster ended, and he would have re
ceived the appointment for another term had not an established rule of
the department forbade his appointment while holding the' position of
member of the assembly, and he preferred to forego the office, rather
than, by .resigning his membership of the legislature, disappoint the
constituency, who had so generously elected him. In view of his well
known ability, vigor and vigilance, it is needless, perhaps, to add, that
as a legislator, he at once took a prominent, leading and influential posi
tion in the proceedings of the body of which he is, for the first time, a
member. Colonel Keyes is now in the practice of law in Madison.
Joseph S. Keyes, Madison, was born in Madison, December 24,
1854, is the son of Elisha W.. Keyes, a graduate of the Wisconsin State
University, and of the University law school, of the class of 1878;
studied law with Orton, Keyes & Chynoweth, in Madison ; was admit
ted to the bar in Madison, November 11, 1879, and has been in practice
with Orton, Keyes & Chynowith in Madison.
Francis J. Lamb, Madison, was born at Canandaigua, Ontario
county, New York, March 2, 1825. His parents were Aaron and Alma
Castle Lamb. His education was obtained in the common schools and
at Canandaigua Academy. He prepared for his profession with Mark
H. Sibley and Thomas M. Howell in his native place, where, after his
admission at Rochester in 1855, he practiced with Edwin Hicks. After
coming west he has been at various times associated in practice with
William Welch, P. S. Spooner, George B. Smith and B. W. Jones in Madi
son. He removed to Madison in June, 1857, and has resided there ever
since in the practice of his profession. He has not held office, except-

350 * the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
ing he was elected and served one term as superintendent of public
schools of his native town and has served two terms on the board of
education of Madison.
W. A. P. Morris, Madison, was born in Otsego county, New York,
May 10, 1832. He graduated at Hamilton College at Clinton, New
York, in the class of 1854, and pursued the study of law at the
same institution. In 1857 he came to Madison and was admitted to
practice. In 1870 he became a member of the firm of Stevens, Flower
& Morris, which was afterward Stevens & Morris, and then Sloan,
Stevens & Morris.
E. S. Miner, Necedah, was born in Madison, State of New York,
March 20, 1818. His father was a clergyman of the Presbyterian
denomination, and he came with him to Green Bay in 1828. His educa
tion was in the public schools, and he worked at farming in New York
and Illinois until 1842. In 1850 he made a permanent location in Wis
consin, when he engaged in mercantile business at Grand Rapids, and
was postmaster at that place until he removed to Necedah. At the
latter place he has been constantly in the lumber and mercantile busi
ness with T. Weston and J. T. Kingston, and also postmaster to the
present time, with the exception of two years. Having been a prominent
early settler in the state he has held many offices of trust and responsi
bility ; has been supervisor of Portage county, county judge of Adams
county, justice of the peace, treasurer of Necedah fourteen years, mem
ber of the assembly two years, of the senate two years, and one of the
legislative committee appointed by Governor Fairchild to visit the
state institutions. In 1845 he married Miss Serena Elliot in Canada,
and they have six living children.
Myron H. Orton, Madison, was bdrn in Madison county, New
York, in April, 1810. He attended the common schools of that and of
Niagara county, and worked at several trades until he removed to Ohio
where he afterward graduated at Kenyon College. He studied law
with John B. Orton, went to La Porte, Indiana, where he married; there
he practiced law and represented his district in the legislature for a time.
In 1849 he came to Wisconsin and pursued his profession in Milwaukee
part of the time being associated with Charles E. Jenks till 1853, when

the bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 351
he changed his location to Madison and there continued the practice of
law till his death in i860. He was a man of great original power, fine
perceptions, extensive reading, and of a most retentive and reliable
memory. He excelled as an elementary and probate lawyer; was a
fine speaker, popular politician of the whig and republican schools, and
a powerful stump orator.
Otho H. Orton, Madison, was born at Valparaiso, Indiana, March
12, 1843, and was educated at the Wisconsin University and Maryland
Agricultural College. He studied law with his father, Judge H. S. Orton,
and graduated in the University law class of 187 1 . He practiced with his
father in Madison until the spring of 1875, when he went to Beloit. In
September, 1880, he returned to Madison and is now in practice there.
While in Beloit he was city attorney one year and for four years in part
nership with L. H. Parker.
S. U. Pinney, Madison, was born in Rockdale, Crawford county,
Pennsylvania, March 3, 1833. His father, Justin C. Pinney, was a
native of Becket, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and removed from
there to Crawford county, Pennsylvania, in 1815. His mother's maiden
name was Mary Ann Miller, a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania,
and .of German descent. His father, with his family, came to Wiscon
sin, in 1846, and settled in what is now the town of Windsor, Dane
county, but which was'then.a part of the town of Madison. The country
was then new and sparsely settled, and the subject of this sketch having
received a good common school education, found it necessary to give
his attention to other subjects than books for a considerable length of
time. He had, however, the advantages that some private instruction
could give, and such self instruction as his leisure hours only could
afford. He was, however, principally occupied in improving and culti
vating his father's farm. He was tolerably well supplied with books,
was a great reader, and had an excellent memory; so that whatever
he gained, even in the most general or imperfect manner, he was able
to retain and utilize. Commencing when about seventeen years of age,
he taught district schools three winters. Having a predilection for the
legal profession, he began the study of the first text-books in law, and
kept it up, as well as his occupation on the farm and teaching school
would permit, until April 1853, when he entered the law office of Vilas

352 •* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
& Remington, in Madison, as a student. From that time to the present
he has devoted his time and attention exclusively to the law. In
February, 1854, he was admitted to practice in both the circuit and
supreme courts of the state, and afterward in the federal courts, and in
May, 1854, he entered upon the active duties of his profession in Madi
son, in which he has been engaged ever since. He has ever been, and
is still, a democrat, and has avoided rather than sought political prefer
ment. He began his career in life single handed and alone, with no
capital but his industry and such qualifications in point of learning as
he had acquired for engaging in the profession, and hence he early
became accustomed to rely upon himself; and self-reliance has been
the source of his success. In 1858 he was attorney for the city of
Madison ; in 1865 he was a member of the city council, and in 1869 an
unsuccessful candidate for attorney-general of the state on the demo
cratic ticket; in April, 1874, he was elected mayor of Madison, and in
November of that year was elected a member of the assembly; in 1875
was reelected mayor without opposition; in 1865 he prepared and
attended to the publication of the sixteenth volume of Wisconsin
supreme court reports ; in 1870 he was appointed special reporter by
the supreme court, to report and publish the decisions of the territorial
supreme court and the first supreme court of the state, extending over a
period from 1836 to June, 1853, and which are contained in the three
volumes known as Pinney 's Wisconsin reports. Mr. Pinney became
junior member of the law firm of Vilas, Roys & Pinney, in which Judge
Levi B. Vilas and Samuel H. Roys were his associates. In June, 1856,
Judge Vilas retired from practice, and in April, 1857, Mr. Roys was
elected county judge, which left Mr. Pinney alone in practice. In
February, 1858, Mr. Pinney became a partner with J. C. Gregory,
under the name of Gregory & Pinney, and in October, 1858, Chauncy
Abbott became associated with them, when the firm became Abbott,
Gregory & Pinney. In 1863 Mr. Abbott withdrew, and Mr. Pinney
and Mr. Gregory remained partners until July, 1879, and he afterward
became a member of the law firm of Pinney & Sanborn. The traits of
Mr. Pinney are quick perception ; a subtle power of discrimination ; a
sound, practical judgment and a wonderful memory. In the discussion
of legal principles in the presence of the court, he is lucid in his state
ments, logical in his arguments and forcible in his conclusions. He
speaks in court without apparent effort, in plain, simple language, going

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. OHO
directly to the points in the case with logical and forcible arguments,
without ornament to divert the mind from the subject matter, and with
out obscurity to conceal it. It has been his good fortune to be
employed in many cases involving large amounts of money and
property. He ranks among the eminently able and successful lawyers
of the West. March 3, 1856, he married, at Colesburg, Iowa, Miss
Mary M. Mulliken, a native of Farmersville, Cattaraugus county, New
York. S. A. Pease, Montello, was born in Spafford, Onondaga county,
New York, February 23, 1817, and received an academic education at
Auburn. He came west in 1837, and settled in Kenosha county,
whence he removed to Marquette county in 1850. He was county treas
urer in 1857 and 1858, and member of the assembly for four years,
beginning in 1865 and ending in 1872. In 1868 he was delegate to
the democratic national convention in New York, which nominated
Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair for President and Vice-president.
In 1858 he became proprietor and editor of the Marquette Express,
then published at Oxford. In 1862 the publication of the paper was
changed to Montello, and the name to Montello Express. It continued
under his management until 1873, when he retired from the editorial
field and devoted himself to his profession, which is that of the law.
While a member of the legislature he served on important committees,
and was active in promoting useful legislation. He was appointed by
Governor Fairchild a member of the state visiting committee. He is a
man of liberal views and actively interested in all measures designed to
promote the public welfare. His office is a favorite resort of all classes
of the community in which he lives, and is, in fact, the political and
general headquarters for information for the county.
Solon W. Pierce, Friendship, was born March 7, 1831, in the
town of Yorkshire, Cattaraugus county, New York. He received an
academic education at Mendon Academy in that state. While follow
ing the trade of steam engineering, he borrowed books and read law for
three years before coming to Wisconsin in 1854. In May, 1856, he
entered the law office of H. P. Brown, now of California, at Cascade,
Wisconsin, and read law with him until June, 1857. In that month he
was admitted to the bar by the circuit court for Adams county, and
21

354 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
soon after entered upon the practice at Friendship. In 1861 he was
elected county judge of Adams county, which position he held until
1864, when he resigned to enter the army. Having been commissioned
first lieutenant of Company K, Thirty-eighth regiment of Wisconsin
infantry, he took part with that regiment in every movement, skirmish
and battle in which it engaged, without a day's absence from duty.
This regiment performed a glorious part in the closing battles of the war,
as its list of honored dead most tearfully testifies, and with its record
Mr. Pierce is incomparably identified. Mr. Pierce was elected district
attorney of Adams county, in 1866 ; declined a renomination in 1868, but
was reelected in 1870, and has since held that office. He was elected
a member of the Wisconsin assembly in 1870, 1877, 1878, 1880,
and 1881 ; served in that body, being chairman of the judiciary
committee, in 1880, and again in 1881 and 1882, and also member of
other important committees. Since 1861, except when absent in the
army, Mr. Pierce has had editorial*. charge of the Adams County Press,
which has grown under his management to twice its original size, and
to wide circulation. In 1866 he published a book entitled Battle Fields
and Camp Fires of the Thirty-eighth Regiment, which was a felicitous
recital of the events indicated by the title.
At the last and also the present session of the legislature, Mr. Pierce
has been the recognized leader of the republican side of the house,
which conspicuous position he has filled with ability and acceptance.
His urbanity, sound judgment and discretion have contributed to make
him a useful member, esteemed by all parties. For the sessions of 1880,
also of 1881 and again in 1882, friends of Mr. Pierce presented his
name for republican nomination for speaker; and his fitness for the
position was generally acknowledged ; but the innate modesty of the
man prevented him from allowing his claims pushed to that extremity
which is often indispensable to success. Being yet young, he can afford
to wait more propitious circumstances for merited recognition.
William H. Rogers, Madison, was born March 15, 1850, at Mount
Morris, New York, and came to Portland, Wisconsin, in 1852. He lived
upon his father's farm until eighteen years of age. After attending
Marshall Academy two years he went to the State University and
graduated in the class of 1875, and from the law department of the
same institution the following year. He has held the office of district

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 355
attorney for one term of two years, and was a member of the common
council in 1879. He is in practice in Madison with R. B. Smith. For
a time A. S. Frank was in the firm, but left to go west in 1882.
Rufus B. Smith, Madison, was born March 1, 1846, at Cplebrook,
Litchfield county, Connecticut, and was a member of the class of 1870,
of Yale College. He studied law at Warren, Pennsylvania, in the office
of Brown & Stone, and was admitted to the bar in Warren, November
23, 1869. He came to Madison in September, 1871, and at once com
menced the practice of his profession. In December, 1876, he entered
into partnership with W. H. Rogers, and in January, 1878, Frank W.
Hall was added to the firm. January 1, 1880, Mr. Hall retired from the
firm, and the firm had been composed of Smith,. Rogers and Alfred
S. Frank, until the latter went west in 1882. The firm is now Smith &
Rogers. From April 1878, to April 1880, Mr. Smith was city attorney
of the city of Madison, and since 1873 he has been court commissioner.
He was a private in Company F, Second Connecticut heavy artillery,
and was wounded in the left arm at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia,
on October 19, 1864. He was married October 13, 1869, at Warren,
Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary Clemons. They have one daughter named
Mary E. Smith, who was born February 6, 1872.
Richard Smith, New Lisbon, was born in New York, October 1818.
He obtained his literary and law education at Sudonia, and was admitted
to the bar about the year 1844. Soon after his admission he came west
and spent his first year in Wisconsin, traveling about the state. At
the end of that time, he located in Waukesha county, and remained there
during a period of ten years. He came to New Lisbon in the winter of
1857, where he has continued to reside, in the practice of law. Mr.
Smith is among the earliest of the white inhabitants of Wisconsin,
and may be said to have stood the brunt of western pioneer life. He
has been district attorney during one term, from 1871 to 1872. While
Buchanan was president he was postmaster of New Lisbon.
John Turner, Mauston, was born in Kent, England, November 3,
1828. He came to America in 1848 an officer of the Potter's emigration
society, and settled on the unsurveyed Indian land, near where Portage
now stands. In 1854 he removed to Mauston, where he has made a

356 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
permanent residence. Having studied law before leaving England he
resumed it at Mauston, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Besides
his law practice he has served in the state legislature; twice as district
attorney of the county, and has held other local offices of importance.
In i860 he became editor and proprietor of the Mauston Star, which
paper he conducted and published until a few years since, when he dis
posed of it, in order to give undivided attention to his law practice, which
he continued while editing and publishing it. Under his management the
Star was the leading republican newspaper in Juneau county. Mr. Tur
ner is closely identified with the Masonic fraternity, has served as
junior and senior grand warden of the grand lodge, and has been chair
man of the committee on foreign correspondence of the Knights Templar.
Levi B. Vilas, Madison. Among the many distinguished members
of the early bar of Wisconsin who have passed from earth to be suc
ceeded by a new generation in the profession, no one was marked by
stronger powers, or more characteristic virtues, in his professional and
private life than the late Judge Levi B. Vilas, of Madison.
Judge Vilas was born February 25, 1811, in Sterling, Lamoille
county, Vermont, a rugged section well calculated to develop the
physical and intellectual strength, and the integrity, industry and
ability which so impressed his character, and distinguished him in all
his work in life. He was ambitious in his youth, and having received
an academic education, entered upon a collegiate course of instruction,
but, by .too persistent and constant application to his studies, his health
became impaired, and he was compelled to forego the completion of his
collegiate course. After a thorough study of the law, to which he
devoted himself with his usual energy and industry, he was admitted
to the bar at St. Albans, Vermont, in 1833, and practiced his profes
sion at Morristown, Johnson and Chelsea in that state, for a period
of eighteen years. At the start he took a leading position at the
bar, and during all this time enjoyed a large and lucrative practice,
extending throughout the state. Encountering an able, learned and
accomplished bar, he diligently applied himself to his work, and won
and maintained a professional reputation for ability, integrity and
learning of the highest order, which gave him a conspicuous place in
the front rank of the most eminent members of the bar. The
reports of the supreme court of that state during the period of his

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 359
practice there attest the extensiveness of his business, the varied char
acter of the legal questions which he argued in the causes in that court
in which he was engaged, and bear witness to the great ability, learn
ing, and energy with which he presented and argued them in tbat
tribunal, then noted and distinguished for the eminent and able jurists
who filled and adorned its bench.
Judge Vilas at an early age took part in politics and was chosen
to many positions of trust and honor in his native state. In 1835 he
was elected from Johnson to the state constitutional convention, and
represented that town in the legislature in 1836 and 1837, and in the
latter year was elected by the legislature one of the state commission
ers of the deaf, dumb and blind, and during the same period he held
the office of judge of probate. He removed to Chelsea in 1838, and
represented that town in the legislature in 1840, 1841, 1842 and 1843,
during which time he served on the judiciary committee, the last
. year as its chairman. He was elected state senator from Orange
county in 1845, and reelected in 1846, in which year he was unani
mously chosen president pro tempore of the senate, although the senators
of his political party were but a small minority of that body. He also
held the office of judge of probate in Orange county for three years,
and in 1850 represented Chelsea in the state constitutional con
vention. In 1844 he was the democratic candidate for congress against
Jacob Collamer, and in 1848 was supported by the democrats of the
legislature for United States senator against William Upham, but was
defeated for these high offices, as his political party was in the minority
in that state.
In 185 1 Judge Vilas removed with his family to Wisconsin, and
settled at Madison, where he continued to reside until his death. Here
he at once took the high position as a citizen to which his abilities,
experience and reputation entitled him. Having acquired a comfort
able fortune he retired, in 1856, from the field of professional labor,
and never again resumed the practice of law. He represented the
Madison assembly district in the legislature in the years 1855, 1868
and 1873, during which time he zealously labored for the advancement
of the welfare of his constituents, and faithfully represented and pro
moted the interests of his district, and in the last year of his service
as a member of the assembly received the votes of the democratic
members for speaker of the assembly. He was elected mayor of the

360 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
city of Madison in April, 1861, without opposition, and held that office
for one year, in the discharge of which trust he exhibited the same
qualities of firmness, independence, integrity and ability which distin
guished him in the administration of every duty, public or private,
which he assumed. He was appointed by Governor Salomon draft
commissioner in the war for the Union in 1862, and discharged the
peculiarly difficult duties of that position with such ability aud im
partiality as to receive the approval and commendation of all parties.
He was a firm and consistent friend of the cause of liberal education,
and, in a service of twelve years as a regent of the State University, ably
and loyally supported and encouraged the friends of that institution,
and labored diligently, persistently and effectively, during the trying
times of its early life and history, to establish and maintain the uni
versity on a firm basis, and to make it what it was designed and
intended to be by the act of congress granting the lands for its support
and maintenance. In proof of his steadfast devotion to the university,
he gave to it for instruction, discipline and training in its halls of learn
ing, his five sons, all of who.m pursued there their collegiate course,
and graduated with honor to themselves and to the institution.
Judge Vilas possessed a strong physical organization, and, until a
short time before his death, enjoyed robust health. His personal pres
ence was fine and commanding. His powers of mind, naturally active
and vigorous, improved and developed by thorough discipline and
generous training, impelled by an ardent and almost vehement, though
not impulsive temperament, and supported by a strength of will and
persistency of purpose that faltered at no obstacles, and yielded to no
opposition, united with a cool, clear and discriminating judgment,
which led him to quickly, but carefully and considerately, examine and
decide all questions which were submitted to his determination, made
him a strong, able and positive man, sure and sound in his conclu
sions, an able, safe and successful counsellor, and in public and
private life a man of great usefulness, power and influence. In all
the public and private enterprises which affected the interests of the
community in which he dwelt, he was foremost among their promoters
and advocates, discouraged at no obstacles which to many seemed
insuperable, but combating and overcoming all apparent difficulties
by his sagacity, energy, industry and strength of will, which seemed
to gain new force and vigor by encountering opposition, he never

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 361
rested from his work until success was extricated from apparent defeat,
and the object and purpose sought to be obtained were successfully
accomplished. Nor was he only liberal in his labors for the accom
plishment of such purpose; he also contributed generously from his
means to give success to the enterprises which he advocated, and for
which he labored to advance the interests and promote the welfare of
r the city in which he had his home.
He was strict and punctilious in meeting and performing all his
duties and obligations, public or private, and required a like degree of
promptness and fidelity from others. All his dealings in the affairs of
life were guided and marked by unswerving integrity and unwavering
fidelity to duty, and he had little tolerance for a disregard of those
principles and qualities by others. He believed that infidelity to
public trust was moral treason to the state ; and in his performance
of the duties pertaining to a long list of important public trusts com
mitted to his care, during a long and useful life, his fidelity, integrity,
and patriotism as a citizen and public servant were so conspicuously
exhibited, that they were universally conceded to be beyond question,
and above the breath of suspicion.
In 1837 he was married to Esther G. Smilie, a daughter of Nathan
Smilie, of Cambridge, Vermont, a lady of rare character and possessed
of marked womanly power and accomplishments, whose counsel and
prudent judgment, with remarkable gentleness and grace of manner,
united with strength of character, greatly aided him in all his success
ful work. Judge Vilas was essentially a kind-hearted man. His home was
broad and generous, and he was faithful to the interests and require
ments of his family, and careful and liberal in the education and train
ing of his children, to whose proper and rational development and suc
cess he was devoted. He was kind to his neighbors, and cordial, genial
and hospitable to his friends and acquaintances. He was fond of soci
ety, and in conversation entertaining and instructive. His society was
attractive not only on account of the solidity of his judgment and the
breadth of his information, but for his keen appreciation and remarkable
power of illustration by appropriate anecdote and story. He was a
careful observer of events and a keen judge of men and character,
quickly and intuitively forming his judgment, and rarely failing in the
correctness of his conclusions, and his opinion upon all practical ques-

362 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
tions of business in public Or private concerns was always received
and regarded with the greatest respect and consideration.
He was kind and sympathetic to the poor, cheerfully lending a help
ing hand to those whom he found worthy of assistance, and many an un
fortunate poor person in the city of his residence remembers with
gratitude the timely succor and encouragement afforded him by Judge
Vilas when aid was necessary to success.
In his religious views Judge Vilas was intelligent, broad and liberal.
He had read and carefully studied the scriptures, and few men were
more famjliar than he with their teachings, lessons and examples. But
he read and regarded them with a broad and philosophical spirit, as
sacred history, to be interpreted and understood in the light of reason
and philosophy, unfettered in his judgment or appreciation of their
teachings or information by any narrow view, and without an attempt to
warp or bend them to fit any preconceived theory or plan. Although
he was a member of no church organization, he was firm and unshaken
in his belief in the existence of a Divine Creator, and showed in all the
acts and dealings of his daily life his appreciation of his responsibility
and duty. His religion was manifested in the morality and uprightness
of his life and dealings with all men.
He died at his home in Madison on February 6, 1879, universally
mourned by the community. His widow and five children survive him.
The action taken after his death by the civic authorities of that city, the
legislature of the state, and by the supreme court, and the private grief
of his numerous warm personaf friends throughout the state, attest the
high regard in which he was held by them during life, and their keen
appreciation of the loss sustained by his sudden and premature death.
His remains were interred in Forest Hill Cemetery near Madison, the
scene of the labors of his latter life.
William Freeman Vilas was born in Chelsea, Orange county, Ver
mont, July 9, 1840. He was a lad of about eleven when his father,
Judge L. B. Vilas, came west with his family, to make his home at Madi
son. The subject of this sketch early entered the University of Wis
consin, whence he graduated with the highest honors of his class in 1858,
at the age of eighteen. His collegiate career gave promise of that
brilliant future which his maturer years have realized, and his instructors
and companions at that time did not fail to recognize in the zealous,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 363
earnest and industrious young student, the qualities which have since
contributed to his success. Immediately upon graduation he went to
the Albany Law School, where for two years he diligently and intelligently
pursued the studies of the profession he had chosen. He took his
diploma at that institution in i860, and returning to Madison where he
entered upon the practice of law as a partner of E. Wakeley, now of
Omaha, Nebraska, and one of the recognized leaders of the bar of that
state. Under such favorable auspices, thoroughly trained and equipped
for the struggle, and imbued with an ardent love for his profession the
young lawyer's progress was rapid and satisfactory. He speedily estab
lished himself in the esteem of his brethren on the bench and at the bar,
and readily gained the confidence and good will of clients. He had, how
ever, only just entered upon his career when the civil war broke out.
We can well believe it cost him a struggle to abandon his profession and
the alluring prospects of success in it which a just ambition held out to
him. No unworthier sentiment could have caused him to hesitate, nor
could that long control his conduct. He was commissioned captain,
raised a company and went out at the head of it in the Twenty-third
Wisconsin in 1862. With this regiment he participated in the campaign
before Vicksburg, was present throughout the long siege, and at the sur
render of that redoubtable stronghold of the rebellion, and in many of
the most hotly contested battles of our western armies.
He was promoted to major and afterward lieutenant-colonel, acting
as colonel and commanding his regiment. He resigned after a period
of very hard and active service and returned to Madison, where he
resumed and has since continued the practice of his profession. Unlike
many who returned from the stirring scenes of camp and field to the
duties of civil life, he seemed to begin where he left off when he entered
the army, and in the same line of progressive development he pressed
zealously forward in his professional career. He could not, in a pro
fession where, more perhaps than in any other calling, a man finds that
position which he is entitled to hold, fail of success, because he earned
and deserved it. Whatever he had to do he did thoroughly and well,
relying not merely nor mainly upon his undoubted natural talents, but
never failing in diligent, intelligent and systematic preparation. He
early formed habits of industry, without which all professional success,
Rowever brilliant it may seem, must be illusive and disappointing. He
was married in 1866, and soon after established his beautiful home amid

364 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
a grove of noble oaks a short distance from the city, where he could
enjoy his evenings in the seclusion of his library, undisturbed by anxious
clients or the numerous distractions of town life. There for years he
has habitually devoted his evenings until a late hour of the night to
study and reading, mainly in the line of his profession ; for no lawyer
ever more fully realized the necessity for Coke's saying: "a passion for
nocturnal study." Yet, notwithstanding the engrossing character of his
professional studies, he has found time to wander into the domain of
general literature, history, politics, science, poetry, belles-lettres, and the
higher class of fiction, and in such fields to accomplish what would be
for an ordinary man an immense amount of labor.
Such was the result of the excellent use made by him of all his
opportunities, his natural gifts, his courage and aptitude for legal con
troversy and his sound business sense and quick perceptions, that it is
not too much to say that at the age of thirty he was the peer of any
member of the then brilliant bar at the capital of the state. This early
success neither tempted him to forego his efforts for further triumphs nor
filled the measure of his ambition. He rather redoubled his exertions,
nor did he thus seem to tax, but rather to call forth, his powers. In
every line of professional labor — in the office, at the pleader's desk, in the
nisi prius court room, before the courts of last resort in equity, in law
or in bankruptcy matters, he was instant, zealous, bold, untiring and gen
erally successful. In his arguments in court he is more intent upon
impressing the jury with his views of the case than with his ability as a
talker, and in consequence seldom fails of convincing them. His client
age, which was considerable at an early period of his professional career,
has constantly increased until now he has such a flood of important busi
ness, and such constant demands upon his time and attention, as commonly
attend only upon the most successful practitioners in our great commer
cial cities. He is now, and for some time has been, under general
retainer from the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, and
transacts all their law business in the State of Wisconsin in addition to
carrying on his large general practice. He is now professor of plead
ing, practice and evidence in the law department of the State University,
one of the trustees of the State Orphan Asylum, and was one of the
three commissioners appointed by the supreme court to revise the
statutes under an act of the legislature passed in 1875. The present
revision is the work of those commissioners. In 1881 he was appointed

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 365
a member of the board of regents of the State University, a position
which he still holds. He is essentially a man of the people, open, affable
and genial in manner, making friends readily with people of all classes
in life, of broad and liberal views on all subjects, and opposed to every
thing in legislation or politics that is oppressive or undemocratic, or that
seeks to foster the interest of any class or monopoly at the expense of
the general public.
Politically Colonel Vilas has been all his life a steadfast democrat,
though in these latter days it has been doubtless hard for a man of his
earnest and deep seated convictions, on political as well as other sub
jects, to listen with any patience to all the wild' and undemocratic theo
ries which certain so called leaders of the party have promulgated as the
true gospel of democracy, the chief merit claimed for them being their
vote catching capacity. His devotion to his profession as well as his
own tastes and inclinations have prevented him from participating in
the struggle for office, and has always persistently declined nomination,
notably when in 1879 he refused to accept the democratic nomination
for governor of the state: He was a delegate from the state at large to
the democratic national convention in 1880, has sat in other con
ventions of the party, and frequently participated in its campaigns.
Taken all in all, as a lawyer his is a singularly well-rounded character.
But it is not merely within the profession and as a lawyer that Colonel
Vilas has made and earned a wide reputation. Within the last few
years his reputation as an orator has extended rapidly beyond the circle
of his immediate hearers, until it may now be justly termed national.
It is impossible within the limit of this article to give any account of
all his great oratorical efforts, whether forensic or otherwise. He has
delivered a considerable number of addresses, political and general, all
of which are marked by deep thought, wide reading and scholarly and
elegant diction. Among the notable public addresses of Colonel Vilas,
his greatest effort was at the reunion of the army of the Tennessee, at
Chicago, in December, 1879, in response to a toast to General Grant,
who was present. His was the great speech of the occasion. The
orator had a more critical and distinguished audience before him than
had ever greeted Demosthenes or Cicero. Among t'he brilliant
addresses then made, it was conceded that Colonel Vilas excelled them
all, and obtained for him a national reputation, which his subsequent
oratorical efforts have fully sustained. He is associated in business at

366 • THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Madison with General E. E. Bryant and Edward P. Vilas (a younger
brother), both of whom are able and accomplished lawyers, whose assist
ance is indispensable to conducting the very extensive law business in
which the firm is engaged.
Edward P. Vilas, Madison, was born in Madison, November 6,
1852, and is a son of Judge Levi P. Vilas. He graduated in the classi
cal course of the State University in 1872, and the law department in
1875, was admitted to the bar at the same time, and has since prac
ticed law in all the courts of the state as a member of the firm of Vilas
& Bryant, of Madison, W. F. Vilas and E. E. Bryant being the other
members of the firm. Mr. Vilas married a daughter of General David
Atwood, of Madison, on November 9, 1877, and they have one child.
William Welch, Madison, was born November 12, 1821, in the
town of Lorraine, Jefferson county, New York. He had simply such
education as the district schools in central New York in those days
offered, and it was completed when he had reached the age of fifteen
years. He then went to Watertown, the county seat of the same county,
and was apprenticed in a printing office. Having learned the trade of a
printer, in 1840 he became associated with a Mr. R. S. Hunt in the pub
lication of the Carthagenian. a weekly newspaper at Carthage, also in
the same county. The enterprise was an unsuccessful one and was
abandoned after a few months. He then returned to Watertown, where
he purchased of his former employer the newspaper in the office of
which he had learned his trade — the Watertown Register. In 1843 he
formed a partnership with Joel Green in the publication of the Black
River Journal. This business connection lasted less than a year, when
the partnership was dissolved. The office owned by the partners was
destroyed by fire not long afterward, and furnished Mr. Welch a subject
for a sketch written in his later years, which was one of the most brill
iant and characteristic of his miscellaneous articles. The notes given
by Green to Mr. Welch in payment of his interest in the press were
deposited with a neighboring lawyer for collection, and were burned
with the lawyer's office in the same conflagration.
In October, 1844, Mr. Welch came to the west, settling at Rockford,
Illinois. He had read law at odd spells, with a constant design to adopt
it ultimately as his profession. In Rockford he formed a law partner-

THE UENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 367
ship, which did not, however, long continue, and in 1845 he went to
Springfield, fllinois, where he worked again at his trade in the state
printing office. He afterward went to St. Louis, where he worked as
compositor on the Missouri Republican, but being taken ill of chills and
fever he returned to Rockford.
In 1845 he came to Wisconsin on a visit, and with his brother-in-
law, Chester Bushnell, he purchased the old Madison hotel, located on
the south side of King street, adjoining the present site of Dean's block
in Madison. He continued in the hotel business until 1849, when he
formed a law partnership with Julius T. Clark, and he has since that
time devoted himself with industry, zeal and success to the continuous
practice of this profession. His law partners after Mr. Clark were F. J.
Lamb, B. P. Kissam and Sinclair W. Botkin, the latter a son of the late
Colonel Alexander Botkin. The law firm of Welsh & Botkin was
formed years ago, and its business has been very extensive in all depart
ments of practice, the partners being the warmest of friends as well as
business associates, and possessing each other's unqualified esteem and
confidence. Mr. Welch is a good lawyer in all the details of ordinary practice.
He is well grounded in the common law and is skilled in practice. He is
a remarkable advocate and jury lawyer, and is adroit, fertile in resources,
and possesses great power in the trial of causes. He prepares cases with
great care ; he recognizes with unerring sagacity their strong points, and
he never trifles with his legitimate advantages in a suit for purposes of
professional display. He makes success in his cases the one object
before him, and he uses all the proper means at his command for that
end alone; an accurate and quick judge of human nature, he knows
the effect of evidence and argument on juries, and he seldom or never
misapplies facts or logic so that their force is lost or impaired. Many
of his arguments have been of great power; with a copious diction, with
great acuteness as a reasoner, and with unfailing tact in stating his points
to the common apprehension of jurors, he convinces and moulds the
judgments of those to whom his arguments are addressed. To this
array of useful faculties he adds at times marked effects in oratory ; he
has command of an earnest and sustained style of eloquence ; his wit
and sarcasm are of the most brilliant description, and he can, when
occasion requires, hurl the fiercest denunciation at a bad cause, an un
sound principle or an obnoxious opponent. One of the happiest epi-

368 . THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
sodes in forensic oratory occurred many years ago in a trial in the circuit
court at Madison, in Mr. Welch's address to the jury. It appeared that
the opposing counsel and party were both named Smith, and it was
claimed that both had some claims to an ancestry traced to Captain
John Smith, the founder of Virginia. In reaching this part of the argu
ment Mr. Welch said:
" Why, gentlemen of the jury, if it be true, as claimed by this Smith,
the attorney, and this Smith, the client, that they are lineal descendants
of the famous John Smith, of Virginia, Pocahontas, that virgin queen of
the forest, committed a grievous sin to this age and to this generation
in staying the uplifted war club of her savage father."
The following extract, from a patriotic address by Mr. Welch at
Dodgeville in 1875, is a favorable specimen of his more sustained style
of eloquence, and having been once published, through an innocent
imposition, as an extract from an early speech by Daniel Webster, had
an extensive currency through the press as such :
" Twenty-seven years more and a century shall witness a grand anni
versary. Many here this day will participate in the demonstration to be
born on the 4th day of July, 1876. It will be a proud day. The con
stellations, robed in the azure light of sixty centuries, will attend the morn
ing's first rays. The great luminary of day will rise in the east saluted
by the roar of ten thousand times ten thousand cannon. Our flag, com
bining ethereal blue with the red and white, will wave a greeting to the
morning stars as they retire to the chambers of the Almighty and veil
their forms from mortal vision. The people will gather together to
rejoice and to celebrate with their whole hearts. The Declaration of
fndependence will be read with the fervor and with the patriotism with
which it was read in 1776. Orators will burn with the eloquence of
John Adams ; the fife and the drum will play our national anthem with
martial ardor; bands of music will swell the chorus of the Star Spangled
Banner, and Hail Columbia will vibrate upon the swell of each passing
breeze. With a national salute to the sun as he sinks from view behind
the golden waves of the Pacific, bonfires will illuminate the heavens,
rockets will scream through the air, and general joy will witness the
close of the pageant. Heaven will look down approvingly, for this
people will never forget that in the hollow of his hand is the destiny of
nations." The following paragraph consists of reflections caused by the re-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 369
moval of the Madison post-office into the government building of that
city, on its completion, the last of its many changes from place to place,
in 1871 :
" It would be vain to contemplate how many and various fortunes it
has carried with it in its wanderings — what expectations and fears have
waited on its outgoings and incomings, how many smiles it has
brought to happy faces, of how many tears it has been the fountain,
during its vagabond existence. The missives that have come and gone
through its portals have been laden with every human care and affec
tion, with the grief of mourners and the joys of triumph, with the de
lights of love and the sickness of hope deferred, with all that there is
bright and all that there is dark in human vicissitudes."
Mr. Welch has advocated some novel and startling political theories.
He has argued with great force and eloquence that state lines should be
abolished, and for the consolidation of all the elements of our political
system into " one executive, one legislature, one court, one code of laws,
one currency and one country." He is also the author of a theory of
suffrage which shall give the voter one ballot at the age of twenty-one,
two ballots at the age of forty-two, and three ballots at the age of sixty-
three, by which the conservative spirit which grows with the years of
man shall have increased power in government over the unripe enthu
siasm of youth and adolescence. His early politics were those of the
constitutional whigs ; he has acted with the republican party and as an
independent since the whig party dissolved. He twice represented the
ward in which he lived in the common council of Madison, and was
repeatedly a candidate for other offices, but at such times and under such
circumstances as made success impossible, notwithstanding his acknow
ledged personal popularity. He was the founder and first president of
the Wisconsin Fish Commission, which he organized and placed in
successful operation.
Mr. Welch removed with his family to Minneapolis May i, 1882. He
was accompanied by Colonel Botkin, his law partner, and the firm is
now in successful practice in that city. He was married in 1850 to
Jane W. Petherick, daughter of the late William Petherick, and has four
children. The eldest, Victor J. Welch, is associated with him in his
law practice. The second, William P. Welch, though but eighteen
years of age, is a promising journalist, residing at Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The third is a daughter, the youngest is a son.

370 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
He was one of the charter members of Hope Lodge, No. 17, 1.O.O.F.,
and was the senior master mason in Madison, as he was the senior in
practice at the bar at the time of his removal from that city.
Mr. Welch's literary ability is of a high order, and he has been a
multifarious reader in every department of English literature. He has,
notably, a bright mind, quick, alert, with strong perceptive faculties, and
yet a wide grasp of thought and solidity of understanding. With some
acerbity and erratic traits of temper, he is a good neighbor and a public
spirited citizen; he is an entertaining companion; the warmth and sin
cerity of his friendship are a strong characteristic, and he is extremely
lovable in the social and domestic circle
Nelson W. Wheeler, Baraboo, was born at Sturbridge, Worcester
county, Massachusetts, June 29, 1828; came to Wisconsin in May 1841 ;
received an academic education at Beloit; entered the law office of
J. M. Keep as a student in 1848, where he remained two years, then
entered the law office of Machin & Finch at Monroe, where he remained
until the spring of 185 1, at which time he was admitted to the bar,
and entered upon the practice of law, which he continued at Monroe
until 1873, when he removed to Chippewa Falls, where he resumed the
practice of his profession, and came to Baraboo in 1881. He held
the office of district attorney eight years, as also some minor offices.
It is not saying too much to denominate Mr. Wheeler an original char
acter. His witty speeches at meetings of the bar and at bar banquets
are the life of the occasion. His pioneer experience as practitioner is
rich with reminiscences, and his inimitable manner of relating them is
particularly racy and entertaining, his off-hand utterances having the
merit always of good sound sense. Without the presence of Mr.
Wheeler the annual session of the State Bar Association at Madison
would not be much of a meeting. He is, moreover, sound in every
respect as a man and as a lawyer, and is universally respected.
A. C. Wilkinson, New Lisbon, was born at Wibsey, near Bradford,
Yorkshire, England, July 16, 1853, and came to America when four
years old, which was in 1857, the family locating in Sauk county, where
he acquired his education by self-instruction. His law studies were had
with his brother at Mauston; was admitted to the bar in 1877; com
menced practice at New Lisbon in the spring of 1877, immediately after

The bench and bar of Wisconsin. 371
his admission, and has continued to reside there. He has held some
local offices in the village, among which was that of supervisor. In his
youth he worked on a farm until eighteen years of age, after which he
was employed on a railroad four years. Mr. Wilkinson is alone in his
law practice.
H. A. Lewis, Madison, was born in New Haven, Vermont, July
25> 1837 ; came to Wisconsin in 1852 ; was in the classical course of the
State University two years ; in the army in Company D, Fortieth infantry,
hundred day men ; clerk of circuit court in Dane county four years ;
business manager of the State Journal seven years; had studied law,
and was admitted to the bar in 1868, and is now in practice with his
cousin, H. M. Lewis. tenth circuit.
David Agry, Green Bay. Thomas Agry, of Barnstable, Massachu
setts, was the earliest ancestor of the Agry family of whom we have any
record. He was a shipwright by trade, and built many sea-going ves
sels, at Agry's Point, near Pittston, Maine, at which place he settled
before 1770. His youngest son, John, the father of the subject of this
sketch, was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, April 7, 1763, and mar
ried Elizabeth Reed, of Boothbay, Maine, (a sister of Colonel Andrew
Reed, of Phipsburgh, Maine, who commanded a regiment of militia on
duty at the mouth of Kennebec river in the war of 1812,) August 13,
1793, removed from Pittston to Hallowell in 1801, and died in 1848.
David Agry was born in Pittston, August 2, 1794, had a collegiate edu
cation, graduating at Dartmouth College in 1815 ; then studied law for
a profession ; was admitted to the bar, and practiced several years in
Bangor, Maine. When about thirty years of age he went to Louisiana,
and after a sojourn of some time in New Orleans, he finally opened an
office at Shreveport, where he resided for a number of years. He sub
sequently returned to the north, and was located for a time in New
York city. He there made the acquaintance of Mr. Joseph Rolette,
of Prairie du Chien, a relative of Mrs. H. S. Baird, of Green Bay, by
whose favorable representations he was led to think of the latter place
for a location, and finally landed there from a Buffalo steamer in the
month of September 1840. For the first year he practiced with Mr.
Morgan L. Martin, but in the following year opened an office in com-
22

372 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
pany with J. S. Fisk. In 1842 he was elected a member of the terri
torial house of representatives, and reelected the succeeding year. In
1850 he was elected county judge of Brown county, which position he
held until the time of his death, January 30, 1877. He was elected a
member of the first constitutional convention in 1846, from the county
of Brown, served in that body as chairman of the committee on the
powers, duties and restrictions of the legislature, and was also a member
of the committee on the executive of the state. His. services through
out the session were in the highest degree important, dignified and con
scientious, and he ranked as a peer among the most distinguished men
of that body. His abilities were of the highest order, finely cultivated, .
in knowledge profound, and all his acts marked with the force of per
sonal conviction and innate honesty. He was a lawyer of superior
erudition, an assiduous reader of general literature, and, before age and
extreme deafness had obscured his powers, there was no man in the
community where he lived who could yield a richer fund of intellectual
entertainment for a social circle. It was said of a famous Englishman
that " though not a man to be loved, yet he was eminently a man to be
trusted." Judge Agry was eminently a man to be trusted and loved.
Though never married, he seemed peculiarly domestic in his tastes and
feelings, and always entered with hearty zest into the joys, and cher
ished a tender sympathy with all the sorrows of the family circles where
he was an honored and pleasing guest.

Lyman Barnes, Appleton, was a native of Waupaca county, and
was born June 30, 1855. He removed to Oshkosh when he was quite
young, and there he obtained his education. He began the study of
law with E. P. Finch, Oshkosh, and afterward went to Columbia Law
School, graduating in the class of 1876. He was admitted to the Wis
consin bar July, 1876, came to Appleton the following year, has since
practiced his profession there, and is now a partner of J. Goodland.
John Bottensek, Appleton, is a native of Waterville, Waukesha
county, and was born January 4, 1850. When five years of age his
home was changed from Waukesha to Outagamie county. He was
educated at Lawrence University, Appleton, finishing his course at that
institution in 1872. He subsequently entered the law department of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 373
the State University, and graduated in the class of 1875, at the same
time being admitted to practice at the Wisconsin bar. Two years after
ward he opened an office at Appleton, forming a law partnership with J.
E. Harriman, which continued to September 1, 1880, and since then
has been in the firm of Sloan & Bottensek.. Mr. Bottensek was elected
alderman of Appleton in 1878 and 1881.
Theodore G. Case, Green Bay, was born in Castleton, Rensselaer
county, New York, July 13, 1853, his father being Mr. Timothy Case,
vice president and general superintendent of the Green Bay, Winona &
St. Paul railroad. Mr. Case was prepared for college at the Collegiate
College, Newton, New Jersey, after which he entered the University of
Michigan, took a special course, and graduated at the institution in
July, 1870, having conferred upon him the degree of pharmaceutical
chemist. Upon his graduation from college he became interested with
several New York capitalists, and was, by them, sent with others to con
struct the Houston & Great Northern railroad of Texas, in which em
ployment he was engaged until 1873, when he returned to New York
city. In the fall of the same year he commenced the study of law with
Linn & Babbitt at Jersey City, New Jersey. His preceptors are emi
nent members of the bar, and, at that time, were counsel for several
large railway corporations, and for the notable Hudson River Tunnel
Company. Remaining with th'is firm two years he then entered the law
school of the University of the city of New York to complete his law
studies. The regular course of this school is two college years, of nine
months each, and Mr. Case has the credit of having accomplished a
graduation at the end of the first year of nine months, and at the same
time he was a student in the office of William M. Evarts. At the time
of his graduation with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, in June, 1876, he
was delegated by the faculty of the college to deliver an address at the
commencement exercises held in the Academy of Music, with a crowded
house, his subject being The Lawyer and Public Opinions. Immedi
ately afterward he engaged in general practice in New York city, but
making a specialty of corporation business. Remaining in that city
until April, 1878, he came to Green Bay to enter upon the duties of
general counsel' of the Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad Company to
which position he had accepted an appointment, and is still acting in
that capacity. Upon the reorganization of the above named railroad

374 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
company into the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul, he was elected, on
June 7, 1881, general attorney of the new company, which office he now
holds. During the time he has been in this state he has acted as coun
sel for the Lackawana Iron company, having charge of the business of
the company concerning municipal bonds in Wisconsin, and has also
acted as associate counsel for The Farmers Loan & Trust Company, of
New York, in the foreclosure of the Green Bay & Minnesota railroad.
Since January, 1881, Mr. Case has been engaged in cases of large
import, involving amounts aggregating over one million of dollars, and
has been uniformly successful in the management of the litigation con
nected therewith. The numerous suits at law in which the railroad
company he represents has been involved the past year or two, have
been as intricate as they have been important, yet Mr. Case has suc
ceeded in fully protecting and securing the rights of that corporation,
by his tact and ability.
Orlando E. Clark, Appleton, was born in the town of Darien, New
York, November 9, 1850, and was educated at East Pembroke and Le-
roy academies, and Rochester University. He entered the university
in the fall of 1872, and graduated in 1876. The same year he entered
the law office of Myron H. Peck, of Batavia, New York, where he
remained till November 1877, when he removed to Appleton, Wisconsin,
where he entered the office of Warner & Ryan, and was admitted to
the bar at Green Bay, February 1, following. He remained with Warner
& Ryan till September 1878, when he opened an office for himself. He
was admitted to the supreme court at Madison May 12, 1880.
George C. Dickinson, Shawano, was born in Rock county, Wiscon
sin, September 5, 1848. After completing his education at Milton Col
lege, he studied law with Warner & Ryan at Appleton, and was admitted
to the bar at the same place in June 1874. He commenced practice in
Appleton in 1879, where he continued alone until February, 1881, when
he moved to Shawano, and formed a partnership with E. P. Perry, where
he is now in practice.
E. Holmes Ellis, Green Bay, was born at Green Bay, August 26,
1826, and enjoyed only such educational advantages as were afforded
by the common school and intelligent teaching in his father's family.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 375
At a proper age he entered the law office of H. S. Baird, and prosecuted
his law studies with such diligence, that at the age of twenty-one years
he was admitted to practice in the territorial courts. In November
1847, he opened an office at Manitowoc Rapids, then a small village
where he continued to practice until 185 1, when he sought a larger field
by removing to Green Bay, and has, since that time, made it his home.
In partnership, at. different times, with W. J. Green, H. J. Fenbee, S.
D. Hastings, Jr., George G. Green, and W. H. Norris, he has continued
to hold a high rank in his profession, and from 1871 to 1879 occupied
the position of circuit judge. His eight years' service on the bench
was eminently successful and satisfactory to the people of his circuit
and to the bar; but declining health and the meager compensation
allowed for the service compelled his resignation. Judge Ellis, though
never a politician, has ever held very pronounced views upon the polit
ical questions which have agitated the country for the past twenty years.
He has often been called upon to serve in public office, but never as a
partisan, having been district attorney and clerk of -supervisors of Mani
towoc, alderman and mayor of the city of Green Bay, and registrer of
deeds of Brown county. His retirement from the bench of the circuit
court was deeply regretted by his constituents, not, however, without
the hope, and perhaps expectation, that he would be elevated to a
higher position. The public service of Judge Ellis and his unimpeacha
ble private character have won for him the confidence and respect of
his fellow citizens of all parties. Judge Ellis is a son of the venerable
Albert G. Ellis, for many years a resident and prominent and highly
respected citizen of Stevens Point.
Hiram Orlando Fairchild, Marinette, the subject of this sketch
is associated in the practice of the law with an older brother, John B.
Fairchild, under the firm of Fairchild & Fairchild. Mr. Fairchild is a
native of the State of Indiana, having been born in that state at New
town, Fountain county, August 14, 1845. He spent his youth in his
native state, and continued to reside there until 1866, when he went to
Fort Kearney, Nebraska, to represent the business interests of the late
Judge Levi Hubbell, of Milwaukee, in the firm of Beale, La Fevre &:
Company. The late ex-lieutenant-governor Beale, of this state was also
a member of this firm. Mr. Fairchild remained in Nebraska until the
spring of 1867, when he removed to Wisconsin. He prepared himself

376 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
for college in the high school at Wabash, Indiana, and entered Wabash
College, which is situated at Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the fall of 1861.
Here he continued with an intermission of one year, which he spent in
the mercantile business at Danville, Illinois, until the summer of 1866,
when he graduated in the classical course, receiving the degree of Bach
elor of Arts. Three years later his Alma Mater conferred upon him the
degree of Master of Arts. Having studied law during the years 1868
and 1869 in the law office of his brother, who then resided at Oconto,
he was admitted to the bar in May, 1870, and located . at Marinette,
where he has ever since been actively engaged in the practice of the
law. Upon the organization of Marinette county, in 1879, he was
appointed, by Governor Smith, district attorney of that county, to which
office he has since been twice elected by the people. During his term
of office as district attorney he has prosecuted several important criminal
cases ; notably among them is that of the state against Charles E.
Crocket, who was charged with the murder of John Kelley, in October
1879. This case became quite a noted one. It was removed, by a
change of venue, to Fond du Lac county, where Crocket was tried in the
spring of 1880, and, although defended by such eminent criminal law
yers as E. S. Bragg and C- W. and W. B. Felker, was convicted of man
slaughter, and sentenced to the state prison for five years. The case
was afterward removed by writ of error to the supreme court of the
state, when, to the already great array of counsel for the prisoner, T. R.
Hudd, of Green Bay was added. Mr. Fairchild followed the case to
the supreme court, and at the request of the attorney-general made the
argument in behalf of the state. The judgment of the lower court was
affirmed. In the conduct of this case, from the beginning to the ending,
Mr. Fairchild was alone, and the energy and ability with which he pre
sented it made him a wide reputation in the state as a criminal lawyer.
As everything connected with the life and ancestry of the late President
Garfield is of peculiar interest to the public, it may not be amiss to say
that the genealogy of Mr. Fairchild's family and that of General Gar
field may be traced back to a common ancestry, that of Joshua Bigelow,
who died at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1745. Joshua Bigelow had
two children : a son, Eliezer, and a daughter, Mercy. The daughter
married Thomas Garfield, Jr. A son, Solomon Garfield, was born of
this marriage. Solomon Garfield grew up, was married and had a son,
Abraham Garfield, who was the father of James A. Garfield. Eliezer

<tfG&z~JLex

the bench and bar OF WISCONSIN. 379
Bigelow, the son of Joshua Bigelow, was married and had a son, Jabez
Bigelow, who in turn had a son Reuben. The son, Reuben.'was married
and had a daughter, Laura, who married John Fairchild in 1835. Of
this union the subject of this sketch was born.
John Goodland, Appleton, who is not a native of America, came
to the United States before he had reached his twenty-first year. He
was born in Somersetshire, England, August 10, 1831. He first landed in
his new country in 1849, and settled in Wisconsin in 1854. His educa
tion was completed before he had left England. Mr. Goodland read
law at Appleton, and was admitted to the bar of the circuit court; Janu
ary 5, 1877 ; to the supreme court of the state, March 12, 1878, and to
the United States circuit court, July 9, 1878. He is in practice in
Appleton, in partnership with Lyman Barnes.
George G. Greene, Green Bay, was born in Herkimer county, New
York, November 18, 1844, and came to Wisconsin when two years of
age. His education was obtained in this state. He studied law with
E. W. Keyes in Madison, and was graduated from the Columbia law
school in New York, in 1868. He began practice at Green Bay in 1870,
as a member of the firm of Ellis, Hastings & Green. Judge Ellis was
elected to the bench in 187 1, and the firm has since been Hastings &
Green. Samuel D. Hastings, Jr., Green Bay, was born in Philadelphia,
June 19, 1841, and came with his parents to Walworth county, Wiscon
sin, in 1845. His father subsequently became a resident of Madison,
where he was state treasurer four terms of two years each. The young
Mr. Hastings graduated at Beloit College in 1863, and from the Albany,
New York, law school in 1865. His preparatory study of the law had
been with Abbott & Hutchinson at Madison. Having been admitted
to the bar in due course, his practice was entered upon at Madison in
partnership with E. W. Keyes in 1865, and continued the connection
until 1867, when Mr. Hastings changed his field of business and resi
dence to Green Bay, where he formed a partnership with E. H. Ellis,
subsequently adding G. G. Greene to the firm, making it Ellis, Has
tings & Greene, and when Mr. Ellis went upon the bench of the circuit
court the firm became Hastings & Greene, which now continues. Prior

380 ' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
to 1878 the supreme court was composed of one chief justice and two
associate justices. During that year an amendment to the state consti
tution took effect, increasing the number of associate justices to four. It
was mutually agreed that there should be no political contest over the
positions, but that a democrat and a republican should be supported.
Mr. Hastings received strong support from the bar and the press of this
and adjoining circuits as the republican representative. But the matter
was finally settled by the different parties in the legislature, which was
in session at the'time, making the nominations. In 1880, by the death
of Chief Justice Ryan, a vacancy occurred in that office, and in the ex
pectation that Judge Cole would be elevated to that position, Mr. Has
tings was strongly supported by his professional brethren of all shades
of politics to fill the vacancy that would be left in that contingency, but
the choice fell upon another portion of the state. No one who knows
Mr. Hastings doubts for a moment his eminent qualifications to fill the
position with usefulness and honor.
Joseph E. Harriman, Appleton, was born at Louisville, St. Law
rence county, New York, August 16, 1834, and came to Wisconsin in
May, 1852. He resided in Walworth county during 1852 and 1853,
attended Milton College in 1854 and 1855, and settled in Appleton in
1856, where he still resides. In 1856 and 1857 he was a diligent stu
dent at Lawrence University. He studied law with Jewett & Hudd in
Appleton in 1858 and 1859; with the late Judge Cotton, of Green Bay,
in 1868, and was admitted to the bar. He has held many positions of
honor and trust, and in 1873 was elected county judge for Outagamie
county for a term of four years; reelected in 1877 and again in 1881,
and, although the county is largely democratic, was elected by increased
majorities each time. In politics he is a liberal republican.
Thomas R. Hudd, Green Bay, was a native of New York state, hav
ing been born in the city of Buffalo, October 1, 1835. His parents were
Richard and Mary Harrison Hudd. The father was an ornamental
painter and designer; was a man of decided character, and took espe
cial care in the training of this his only child, giving him all the advan
tages that his means could afford. Dying when his son was yet young,
the widowed mother moved to Chicago, Illinois, taking her son with her
when he was. seven years of age. In the public and select schools of

- «"?

/^

THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 383
that city he received his early education. He then worked three years
in the printing offices of the Evening Journal and the Western Citizen,
Chicago, in order to earn money to enable him to complete his higher
studies. With the money thus earned he attended the Lawrence Uni
versity, at Appleton, Wisconsin, working in the meanwhile in the office
of the Crescent. On closing his course at this school, he commenced
the study of law, and, in due time, was admitted to the bar of all the
state courts in 1856. Immediately entering into practice in Appleton,
he continued it twelve years with excellent success. In 1868 he changed
his business to Green Bay, where he has resided in active and extensive
practice to the, present time. He has been admitted to the United
States supreme court, and has a large federal practice. Mr. J. H. H.
Wigman became his law partner in 1864, the firm now being Hudd &
Wigman. Mr. Hudd has not been permitted to confine his labors to
his professional business by his fellow citizens, but has been called upon
to serve the public in various capacities. While living at Appleton he
represented that district in the state senate for the sessions of 1862 and
1863, and in the assembly in 1868. After moving to Green Bay he was
elected city attorney in 1873 ; was elected member of the assembly in
1875 ; was senator at the sessions of 1876 and 1877 ; again in 1878 and
1879, and was reelected in 1881. Mr. Hudd married, June 7, 1857, Miss
Parthenia S. Peak, who died September 24, 1870, leaving two sons and
three daughters ; and October 2, 1872, he married Mary Kill, by whom
he has four daughters.
Senator Hudd is a prominent member of the democratic party, with
which he has always been identified, yet has been so conservative and
fair as to command the esteem of all parties, and is uncommonly free
from personal enemies. In every public station that he has been called
to occupy he has fulfilled the duties of it with honor to himself and sat
isfaction of his constituents. He has been equally successful in profes
sional life. Frank, open, friendly, true, and with an attractive presence,
few men have more well wishers than Senator Hudd.
George C. Jones, Appleton, was born in the town of Barry, near the
city of Albion, in the county of Orleans, in the State of New York,
October 1, 1829. His parents removed to the county of Oakland, in
the State of Michigan, and settled near Pontiac, when he was only four
teen years old. There he received his. education. He studied law in

384 , THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Pontiac with H. L. Stevens, and with Baldwin & Draper, and was admit
ted to the bar in 1853. In September of that year he removed to On
tonagon, Lake Superior, Michigan, and there commenced the practice of
his profession. He remained in this place until 1869, and was associa
ted a part of the time in a law partnership with Jay A. Hubbell, — who is
at present a member of congress from that district — until he removed
to Houghton, and afterward with Judge W. D. Williams. He then re
moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, for the purpose of giving to his children
the advantages of an education at Lawrence University, and where he
could conveniently look after his extensive interests in copper and iron
mines, and pine lands at Lake Superior. In this latter city, besides his
law business, he has given a large part of his time to looking after his
mining and real estate business. Mr. Jones while residing in the Lake
Superior mining district was interested in and took an active part in all
public matters relating to the development of that country. He held
several offices of trust, and was a member of the Michigan legislature
for two years ; was prosecuting attorney for several years, and was cir
cuit court commissioner and judge of probate of Ontonagon county.
Mr. Jones was married in 1854 to Miss Elizabeth H. Weller, of Pontiac,
and they have five sons, one of whom is an attorney at law in Colorado.
David Marsh Kelly, Green Bay, was born in Hamilton, Massachu
setts, in 1841. He is the son of Reverend George W. and Mary Marsh
Kelly. His father was born in Virginia, and is a Congregational min
ister; his mother was born in Massachusetts, and belongs to one of
the oldest and most respectable families in New England. When about
ten years of age, he removed, with his parents, who are still living, to
Haverhill, Massachusetts. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar
in 1865, to practice in all the courts of that state. Immediately after his
admission he formed a partnership with H. N. Merrill, a prominent and
able lawyer, and commenced the practice of law in Haverhill. In 1867
he removed from Massachusetts to Appleton in this state, and was soon
afterward admitted to practice in all the state and United States courts
of Wisconsin. Here he became a director of the Green Bay and Miss
issippi Canal Company, and took charge of a line of steamboats running
in the interests of that company on the upper and lower Fox rivers, and
on Lake Winnebago. In 1868 Mr. Kelly became vice-president and
superintendent of the Lake and River Transportation Company, a cor-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 385
poration running. steamboats on the upper and lower Fox rivers, and pro
pellers on the great lakes, and of which company ex-governor Horatio
Seymour, of New York, was president; and in the spring of that year he
removed from Appleton to Green Bay, where he has ever since resided.
In 1869 he purchased the interest of the Dousmans in the property and
business of Dousman & Elmore, of Fort Howard, on the west side of
Fox river, opposite Green Bay, in this state, then owners of the Green
Bay elevator, and doing an elevator, grain and wholesale commission
business. A partnership to continue the business was formed by Andrew
E. Elmore and James H. Elmore, of Fort Howard, and Mr. Kelly,
under the name of Elmore & Kelly. In 1870 he became a director and
vice-president of the Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railway Company, a
corporation organized for the purpose of constructing a railroad from
Green Bay to the Mississippi river. After careful investigation of, the
project he became convinced that there was great merit in the enterprise,
and that with proper effort the projected road could be built, and he
therefore resigned his offices with the company, and entered into a con
tract to construct the entire line, binding himself to complete the road to
the Mississippi on or before January 1, 1876. The first rail was laid in
187 1, and in twenty-five consecutive months from that time the work
of 214 miles was completed. This road is now known as the Green
Bay and Minnesota railroad, of which Mr. Kelly was vice-presi
dent and general manager until December 1877, when he resigned to
attend to his private business. During the rebellion Mr. Kelly served
eighteen months in the Union army, and took part in the seige of Port
Hudson and other important operations of the war. Heretofore keep
ing aloof from taking active part in politics, Mr. Kelly was nominated
in the fall of 1876, as the republican candidate for member of assembly
in a strong democratic district of Brown county. He was elected by a
large majority and served as a member of the committee on the judiciary
of the assembly of 1877. He was a member of the republican state
convention, held in June 1877, and presided over its deliberations as its
president, and filled the position with such general satisfaction that, on
his reelection to the assembly the same year, he was the republican can
didate for speaker for the session of 1878. Being elected to the assembly
for the third time, he was chosen speaker for the session of 1879. During
the session of 1879 he was favorably named for a compromise candidate
for United States senator, with prospect of election if any other than one

386» THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
of the three prominent candidates had been a necessity. In the summer
of the same year his friends wished to bring him out for governor, but he
gave no encouragement to their friendly offers in that direction. In
the fall of 1879 the republicans of Brown county nominated him for state
senator, to which position he was elected by a large majority in a strong
opposition constituency, and he had the honor and distinction of being
the first republican in the senate of this state from Brown county. His
present term of office as state senator expired in 1881.
Mr. Kelly is in the enjoyment of vigorous and perfect health, and
while not in the active practice of his profession is diligently and ener
getically engaged in furthering useful and important business enterprises.
In the two sessions of the senate at which Senator Kelly served, he was
a conspicuous and a leading member of that body. When speaker of
the. other house, he performed the duties of the chair with distinguished
ability and won universal popularity. Mr. Kelly has been frequently
mentioned for the office of governor of the state, as also for United '
States senator. Although a stalwart republican always, he has never
been either a professional or a scheming politician. His many manly
qualities command the respect of all classes and all creeds.
Aaron H. Kellogg, Appleton, was born at Vernon, Connecticut,
September 1, 1844. His education was completed at Lawrence Uni
versity, Appleton, Wisconsin. He then commenced the study of Jaw
at Appleton, with Hudd & Wigman, and finished with them after their
removal to Green Bay. He was admitted to the bar at Green Bay in
September, 1872, by Judge E. H. Ellis; commenced practice at Apple-
ton, January 12, 1874; has been court commissioner for the tenth
judicial circuit since 1875, and is now in practice at Appleton.
George H. Myers, Appleton, was born in Middleton, Delaware
county, New York. His father, Samuel Myers, was a farmer. The
maiden name of his mother was Rachel Austin. The family moved to
Pennsylvania in 1828, and settled on a farm four miles from Waterford,
where George H. worked on his father's farm until he was twenty years
of age, after which he studied three years at academies in Waterford
and Erie. Subsequently he studied law with Judge John H. Galbraith,
and was admitted to the bar at Erie in May 1849. Coming to Wiscon
sin the same season, he located in Appleton, and entered upon practice

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 387
in that village, which consisted of about three hundred inhabitants.
He was the first lawyer to open an office in Outagamie county, and
when it was organized in the spring of 1852, he was chosen district
attorney for the short term of nine months, and subsequently occupied
the office two additional years. In April, 1861, he was elected county
judge, and resigned the office in February 1865. He was draft com
missioner under Governor Salomon, and, on resigning his judgeship,
went into the volunteer army, adjutant of the Fiftieth Wisconsin
infantry, served six months, when he resigned. In 1868 he was
appointed postmaster of Appleton, and held the office eight years. On
the resignation of Judge E. H. Ellis, Mr. Myers was appointed judge
of the court of the tenth circuit, which office he is now occupying.
Judge Myers was formerly a whig, and has been a republican since the
organization of that party. Although strong in his political faith, he
has never sought government office or political distinction. On the
contrary his inclinations are solely in the direction of the " weightier
matters of the law." His law library is large and valuable, and in its
use he is a constant student; consequently he has not only excelled as
a safe counsellor and successful practitioner, but has the well-grounded
reputation of soundness on points of law and of impartiality in his
judicial decisions. Judge Myers married Miss B. A. Hawley, of Lib
erty, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1852, and they have a pleasant and
attractive residence in the heart of the beautiful city of Appleton.
Samuel Ryan, Appleton, is a native of the State of New York, hav
ing been born at Sackett's Harbor, March 13, 1824. His father came
to this country from Ireland ; served in the American army in the war of
1812 ; settled at Fort Howard in 1826, before the city of Green Bay was
platted, or contained within its present limits over three houses; was
receiver of the land office at Menasha several years, and died in the
latter place in April, 1876, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years.
His son, Samuel Ryan, having received the rudiments of his education in
the common schools, it was completed in printing offices. His first effort
at the printer's art was at Green Bay in 1841, at which time he was seven
teen years of age, afterward worked at the case in Chicago, and later in
Milwaukee, where he helped set up the first number of the Sentinel news
paper. He went to Appleton in January, 1853, and commenced the
publication of the Crescent on the 24th of the succeeding February,

388 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and has continued the editor of that paper to the present time, except
ing the years he was in the civil war. It has always been a publication
of acknowledged ability and of authority with the democratic party. Be
sides that of editor Judge Ryan has been prominent in public and politi
cal affairs. When the war of the rebellion broke out his patriotism was
aroused and he entered the military service by enlisting on January 4,
1862, in the Third Wisconsin Cavalry. He had previously enlisted a
company of sixty-nine men for the Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry, but
not being full was disbanded in camp by Adjutant-General Utley.
Going in as a private he was early advanced to the office of quarter
master sergeant, and was in service until January 1864. On his return
home he again devoted his attention to the editorial duties of the Cres
cent. He has also been called to fill civic offices by the suffrages of his
fellow citizens: was clerk of the circuit court two terms, county judge
two terms, member of the assembly in 1865, has been justice of the
peace the past nine years, and is now acting in that capacity.
Originally a whig Judge Ryan became a democrat when his party
ceased to exist, and was democratic presidential elector in 1868 and in
1876. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has
been grand master of the grand lodge of Wisconsin, and for four years was
representative to the sovereign grand lodge of the world. Judge Ryan is
one of the most reliable, pleasant and cordial of men. He is well versed
in the law, but, it is understood, to have never applied to be admitted to
practice. Associated with him in the publication of the Crescent is his
brother, James Ryan, who has been state senator, mayor, alderman and
treasurer of the city of Appleton. The judge has had three wives,
the third, it is said, being the first love.
Henry C. Sloan, Appleton, was born in De Ruyter, Madison county,
New York, August 12, 1846. Mr. Sloan came to Wisconsin with his
father's family in 1854. Settling in Beaver Dam, Henry C. received an
academic education. In October, 1863, at the age of seventeen, he en
listed as a private in Company D, Fifth Wisconsin regiment, partici
pated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold
Harbor, Petersburg, and a number of minor engagements, and in July,
1864, was appointed second lieutenant of Marine corps, which office he
resigned in January, 1865, when he joined the Forty-eighth Wisconsin
as first lieutenant, and was mustered out with the regiment in March

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 389
1866. . He had been previously appointed second lieutenant of the
Fourth United States infantry in February 1866 ; was promoted to first
lieutenant in July of the same year, and on December 31, 1870, resigned
under the provisions of the act of Congress reducing the army. He
studied law with his father,. A. Scott Sloan, at Beaver Dam ; was admit
ted to the bar March 5, 1872 ; practiced at Beaver Dam until January
1875, when he removed to Appleton, where he has since resided ; was
elected city attorney in 1877, 1878, 1879 and 1880; in the fall of 1880
was elected to the assembly and served at the succeeding session of that
body. Mr. Sloan has a partner, the firm being Sloan & Bottensek.
John J. Tracy, Green Bay, was born at Windsor, Vermont, Decem
ber 23, 1844; graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1864,
entered the army immediately after graduation, and served till July,
1865, as a private in the Fourth Vermont regiment. Upon his dis
charge on the close of the war, he came to Green Bay, and taught in
the high school at that place for two years. He studied law with J. C.
Neville, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1868, when he
commenced practice in Green Bay; was for a time in partnership with
Mr. Neville, and is now in the firm of Tracy & Bailey. He has been
twice elected district attorney, the last time resigning before the expira
tion of his term, having served from 1874 to 1876.
J. H. M. Wigman, Green Bay, was born in Amsterdam, Holland,
August 15, 1835. His parents belonged to one of the noble families of
Holland. In his early boyhood his parents bestowed on him an educa
tion in the institutions of that country. At the age of twelve he was,
aside from his ordinary studies in his mother tongue, also able to read.
and write the French and German languages, and is to-day one of the
finest linguists in the state. The death of his mother, in 1847, was the
chief cause which led to his immigration to the United States in 1848.
After his arrival in Wisconsin in the same year, and until 1854, he
worked at farming and chopping wood, and afterward obtained a situa
tion as clerk in a dry goods store, in Green Bay, where he continued for
over two years. In the fall of 1856 he located at Bay settlement, and
taught the district school. In August, 1857, he married Matilda Lyon-
nais, and kept on teaching, holding also the offices of town clerk, treas
urer, assessor, and justice of the peace in the town of Green Bay, now

390 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
town of Scott, and applying himself to the study of the law, at intervals,
as opportunity offered. In 'March, 1863, he went to Europe to attend
the settlement of his father's estate, and returned in July of the same
year. On his return he located with his family in Appleton, where he
entered the law office of T. R. Hudd, his present law partner, continued
his studies, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1864, upon a
thorough examination in open court.
After his admission to the bar he continued in the office of Mr.
Hudd, and became associated with him under the name of Hudd &
Wigman. In the fall of 1864 he received the democratic nomination
and was elected to the office of district attorney for Outagamie county,
to which office he was reelected at the ensuing election in 1866, and
again in 1868. In the spring of 1868 the firm of Hudd & Wigman
moved their law office to Green Bay, Mr. Wigman remaining for a time
in Appleton, to finish their then pending business. In 1870 he built his
present elegant residence on Astor Heights, and in the fall he removed
his family therein. In 1876 his wife died, after having for more than
eighteen years, with the devotedness of a true woman and loved wife,
sharing in former years the privations and struggles of her husband, and
having borne him nine children, of whom two sons and five daughters
survive her. fn the same year Mr. Wigman married Miss Jane
Meagher, his present wife. In his religious convictions Mr. Wigman is
a Roman Catholic, and in political sentiment, a democrat, although
steadily avoiding any of its recipient honors. In 1878 he received from
the governor the appointment of district attorney for Brown county, but
for professional and other reasons declined the same. In 1879 Mr.
Wigman was made a member of the Societas Romana Princeps a Petro
Juris Consultorum, and received his diploma from Rome under date of
February 21, 1879. He began life with nothing, but by perseverance
and close attention to business, has accumulated a moderate income.
In April, 1882, Mr. Wigman was elected mayor of Green Bay. The
firm of Hudd & Wigman is one of the oldest in the state, and has an
extensive practice. Their offices are among the finest in the state, com
prising a suite of five rooms, with a library of about two thousand vol
umes.

j&rtvuvvt

v/yvt,

OU/w

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 393
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT.
Daniel Buchanan, Jr., Chippewa Falls, was born at Fort Winnebago,
Wisconsin, July n, 1851. He was educated at the State University;
graduated from the law department of that institution, June 14, 1872,
and at the same time was admitted to the bar by the supreme court at
Madison. Subsequently he was with Bartlett & Hayden, Eau Claire,
four years, from April, 1873, to March, 1877, at which time he removed
to Chippewa Falls, where he has continued practice without a partner.
William R. Hoyt, Chippewa Falls, is a native of the State of Ver
mont, having been born in St. Albans, March 17, 1845, his parents
being Romeo H. and Betsey D. Hoyt. His education was obtained in
the public schools and Norwich University, in his native state, after
completing which he studied law with Bailey & Davis, at St. Albans,
and was admitted to the bar at the same place, September 10, 1867.
Coming to Wisconsin in 1868, he located at Chippewa Falls, and com
menced the practice of law in company with John J. Jenkins, and after
ward with Mr. Jenkins and J. M. Bingham as partners, fn 1872 he
moved to Eau Claire, and entered into partnership with Henry
Cousins, at which place he was twice elected city attorney. Subse
quently returning to Chippewa Falls, he is now practicing alone, and has
served as city attorney; has been county judge and court commissioner
for the county, and district attorney, having been elected three terms in
succession to the last named office. During the late war Judge Hoyt
entered the volunteer military service, successively as private, corporal,
sergeant-major, second and first lieutenant, and for the last year of the
war commanded Company A, Tenth Vermont infantry.
George Davis McDill, Osceola Mills, was born in Wayne, Craw
ford county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1838. Having received an academic
education he adopted the profession of law, to fit himself for which he
entered upon its study in 1865, and was admitted in the fifth circuit,
at Prairie du Chien, in 1870. He came to Wisconsin in 1841, living
first in Beloit, afterward in Vernon county; finally settled in Polk
county in 1872, and is now in practice there. Mr. McDill was district
attorney for Polk county for two terms, from January 1874; was chair
man of the board of supervisors of the same county five successive
years, and member of the assembly for 1881, during the session of which
23

394 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
he served on the committee on the judiciary, and joint committee on
charitable and penal institutions. At the commencement of the late
war Captain McDill enlisted in Company f, Sixth regiment, in which he
served in active duty to March 24, 1874, at which time he was commis
sioned captain of Company K, Thirty-seventh regiment, and, on account
of wounds, was discharged November 3, 1864. He was in the engage
ments of Gainsville, Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks
burg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg. For
the session of 1882 Captain McDill again served as a member of the
assembly, and was prominent in the business of that body.
W. L. Pierce, Chippewa Falls, was born in Amboy, New York,
March 22, 1849. His parents were Joseph C. and Almira Pierce. He
was educated at Lawrence University, Appleton, after completing
which he studied law with Dobbs & Foote, at Ripon, and was admitted
to the bar at the circuit court at Fond du Lac in November 1870.
He commenced the practice of law at Ripon in company with Jeremiah
Dobbs, and the firm of Dobbs & Pierce continued from 1870 to 1875,
when Mr. Pierce came to Chippewa Falls, and entered into partnership
with Lieutenant-Governor J. M. Bingham, which firm continues to the
present time. Since residing at the Falls he has been city attorney,
alderman, and member of the board of supervisors.
William H. Stafford, Chippewa Falls, was born in Orono, Maine,
March 19, 1855, and is the son of Richard T. and Margaret M. Staf
ford. His education was obtained in the public schools of Maine and
Wisconsin. He studied law with Lieutenant-Governor J. M. Bingham,
at Chippewa Falls; was admitted to the bar in 1879 ; opened an office
at Chippewa Falls, and is now practicing law there. Since coming to
Chippewa county he has held the office of town clerk three years, and
now holds the office of county judge for Chippewa county, to which he
was elected April 5, 1881, for the term of four years commencing Jan
uary 1, 1882.
William M. Tompkins, Ashland, was born in England, February
24» 1845. His education was commenced at the Brunson Institute,
and afterward he was two years in the State University. He prepared
himself for the profession of the law by self study, was admitted to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 395
the bar at Ashland in July, 1875, and has been in practice at that
place since that time. Mr. Tompkins has been district attorney for
Ashland county, town clerk, and county superintendent of schools.
TWELFTH CIRCUIT.
Ira W. Bird, Jefferson, was born in Oneida county, New York, in
181 9, and with such outfit as was then supplied by the common school,
came to Wisconsin in 1836; remained in Milwaukee upon a claim, and
clerked in a store until 1838, and then went to Madison, and was em
ployed as one of the working hands upon the old capitol. In 1841 he
was elected register of deeds of Dane county, and held that office three
years, was sheriff of Dane county one term, studied law with Thomas W.
Sutherland, was admitted to the bar and commenced practicing law
at Madison in 1847. He represented the Madison assembly district in
the legislature in 1849. In 1850 he went to California by the way of
Salt Lake, and in that city tried a suit in the tabernacle of the saints.
While in California Mr. Bird was city attorney of San Diego, quarter
master and commissary of an expedition fitted out by the state to pro
tect the settlers in southern California from Indian depredations, and in
the winter of 1852 he was employed to assist the engrossing clerk of the
senate at a session of the legislature held at Sacramento. In the sum
mer of 1852 Mr. Bird returned to Madison, and in December of that
year married Antoinette Ruby, youngest daughter of Jeremiah and
Maria Brayton, of Aztalan in 1854, moved to Jefferson, and two children,
Ella Antoinette and Jessie Louise, were born of that marriage. Jessie
died in infancy. Ella is the wife of R. B. Kirkland, of Jefferson. Mrs.
Bird, with the roses of youth still blooming upon her cheek, was smitten
by the destroyer, in early womanhood, and fell, loved and mourned, as
only an affectionate daughter, generous %ister, loving wife, tender mother
and considerate friend may be loved and mourned. In 1864 Mr. Bird
married Emily Mary, daughter of A. T. and Lydia VV. Howes, of Jeffer
son, and four children blessed this union, Ralph, Belle, Janet and Edgar.
all of whom are living but Edgar, who died in infancy. Since Mr. Bird
has lived in Jefferson he has held nearly every office in the village, city,
town and county, among which may be mentioned president of the vil
lage, mayor of the city, chairman of the town, county clerk, clerk of the
circuit court, justice of the peace, and county judge. Though a mem
ber of the law firm of I. W. & G. W. Bird, Mr. Bird devotes the most of

396 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
his time to the improvement of a stock farm, owned by the firm, near
the city of Jefferson.
George W. Bird, Jefferson, was born in Milwaukee, July 28, 1837.
After a preparatory course, he entered the Slate University, from which
he graduated in June, i860. He commenced the study of law, July 5,
i860, in the office of Smith, Keyes & Gay, at Madison; was admitted
to the bar two years later, and established himself in practice at Jeffer
son in 1863, where he has made his home to the present day. In May,
1864, he enlisted in Company D, Fortieth Wisconsin regiment of three-
months men, and was mustered out in September 1864. Returning to
his profession at Jefferson, he held the office of county superintendent of
schools from 1866 to 1870; was private secretary to Governor W. R.
Taylor, during his administration, and member of his staff; was two
years member of the county board ; was chairman of the town board,
and delegate to the national democratic convention of 1876 that nomi
nated S. J. Tilden for President, at St. Louis. Colonel Bird married
Maria S. Sawin, October 2, 1864, and has four children. He is now in
partnership in the practice of law at Jefferson, with his brother, I. W.
Bird, under the title of I. W. &. G. W. Bird, and doing a leading business.
Nelson Bruett, Jefferson, was born at Mussena Springs, New
York, August 14, 1828, and his parents were Francis Bruett and Mary
DeLerba Bruett. He was educated at Gouvernuer, Wesleyan Seminary,
St. Lawrence county, New York ; commenced studying law with
Holmes & Merriman in 1856, at Jefferson, Wisconsin; was admitted to
the bar at Jefferson in 1859, by Harlow S. Orton, circuit judge; com
menced practice at Jefferson with John E. Holmes, in 1859, and con
tinued the association with him- until the breaking out of the war in
1861. He then enlisted in July, 1861, in the First Wisconsin cavalry;
was captain of Company D, and was discharged for disability, in August
1863. His health was so much impaired that he did not resume the
practice of law until 1875, since which time he has been, and is now, in
practice at Jefferson, Wisconsin.
Henry Colonius, Jefferson, was born in Waechtersbach, March 12,
1 831; was educated at Academic Gymnasium, in Hanan, and at Bue-
dingen, Germany; finished course in primus class in full preparation for

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 397
the University; came to America in 1849, and was eight years engaged
in manufacturing cigars in New York city; in 1858 and 1859 he edited
the Virginia Staatszeitung, at Wheeling, Virginia ; was in the commis
sion business, in Watertown, Wisconsin, for a time, and came to Jeffer
son in 1862. In 1870 he was elected registrar of deeds, which office he
held two terms; served as town clerk in 1875 and 1876, and is now
probate judge of Jefferson county. On May 25, 1866, he married
Catherine Limper, who is a native of Buedingen, Germany, born Febru
ary 5, 1849. Mr. Colonius is a member of the Independent Order of
Odd-Fellows. Chester A. Caswell, Fort Atkinson, was born at Fort Atkinson,
June 8, 1856. He was educated at the high school in Fort Atkinson
and State University in Madison ; attended law school at the Univer
sity, and was admitted to_ the bar in 1877. He formed a copartnership
with his father, L. B. Caswell, under the firm of L. B. & C. A. Caswell,
and has so continued to the present time in practice. He has principal
charge of the office while the senior partner is absent, which is a large
portion of the time.
Barnabas B. Eldredge, Janesville, was born at Sharon Springs,
Schoharie county, New York, February 2, 1824. His parents are
David and Sally Eldredge. He was educated at Hamilton College, at
Clinton, New York; studied law with Judge Jabez D. Hammond, of
Cherry Valley, New York, Samuel Stevens, of Albany, New York, and
at Cambridge Law School, under Professor Simon Greenleaf and
Judge Bent; was admitted to practice at Salem, New York, at a term
of supreme court, Judges Cady, Hand, and Willard presiding, in May,
1848, and has practiced law with John J. B. Pease and General Thomas
Howard Ruger, at Janesville, and also 'with Ogden H. Fethers at the
same place.
Jacob J. Enos, Watertown, was born in Johnstown, Fulton county,
New York, July 5, 1816. This was an old colonial settlement, with its
forts and castle, founded by Sir William Johnson. Having completed
the ordinary course of preparatory studies, he was admitted to the bar
of his native state. Like many other enterprising young men about to
make a start in life, he came to the promising West, taking up his resi-

393 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
dence in this city in January, 1844, just thirty-eight years ago. With
youth, talents and a new field of achievement in his favor, he at once
entered on the practice of his profession, the first regular lawyer in
Watertown, with zeal and industry, and by his intelligence and ability
soon won the high position at the bar in Jefferson and Dodge counties,
and in the slate, which he maintained with unvarying uniformity. Im
mediately after coming west he received the appointment of court com
missioner. In 1848 he was placed on the whig ticket as a presidential
elector. Under President Taylor he was postmaster of the city, the
duties of which he discharged to general satisfaction. Though holding
few official places, he was always an active and influential leader of his
party; but while taking a lively interest in political affairs, he, for the
most part, preferred to give his time and attention to the demands of
his rapidly increasing legal business. In 1853 he formed a partnership
with Daniel Hall, which continued twenty- one years, and was only
dissolved by the death of the senior member of the well-known firm.
" In the ripened strength of his maturity and usefulness, his departure
caused a wide and sad vacancy in the various circles in which he
moved in his profession, in society, and above all and beyond all, in
that home which he so tenderly cherished as the aim and end of all his
efforts, and to which, amidst all his cares and toils, he ever fondly
turned as the center of his serenest happiness and purest enjoy
ment. He was ardently devoted to his profession, because in its
pursuits he found the reward success brings and eminence confers.
As an adviser he was sincere and reliable, seeking to have on his side
what he regarded as law and justice. As an advocate addressing a
jury, he was earnest and impressive, and when the occasion required,
was capable of rising into strains of persuasive eloquence, which excited
the emotions and convinced the judgment. Full of resources, he had
at his command the valuable faculty of seizing with intuitive sagacity
the strong points of his own case, and at the same time of detecting the
weak ones of his opponent, and using this rare gift with admirable skill,
he was a formidable adversary, not easy to be overreached or defeated.
In his intercourse with the court and members of the bar, he was affable,
and courteous, and enjoyed an enviable popularity with all classes. As
a neighbor and friend, he was considerate and generous; and if he
sometimes exhibited a little fitful irritation or austerity in his impatience
of shams and wrongs, underneath this apparently stern demeanor,

m/nefjh /$*«f.

THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 401
sooner or later, there was always sure to break out the genial feelings
and real kindness of the man. His heart was true and sound in its
noble parts. Mr. Enos died at Watertown, of neuralgia of the heart,
January 3, 1874, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and leaves a wife,
two sons and a daughter. Colonel H. M. Enos, of the regular army,
and Major E. Enos, postmaster at Waukesha, are his brothers.
Edward M. Hyzer, Janesville, was born at Janesville, December
10, 1854. His literary education was acquired at the Janesville High
School and Classical Academy, of the same place. He obtained his
legal acquirements in the law office of Cassoday & Carpenter, Janes
ville, and was admitted to the bar of Rock county circuit court,
January 14, 1879, and to the bar of the supreme court, February 3,
1880. In April, 1880, he was elected to the office of city attorney of
Janesville, and reelected to the same office in April 1881.
Alfred A. Jackson, Janesville, was born in Verona, Oneida
county, New York, August 8, 183 1, and was descended from the
Puritans of New England. His father, Truman Jackson, was born
in Connecticut, March 6, 1800, and was an honest, intelligent and
industrious farmer; his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Low-
ton, was born in New York. The careful religious training which
Mr. Jackson received from his honored parents in his early years
has remained with him through his subsequent life. His boyhood
was spent in aiding his father on the farm, and this employment
developed in him the strong physical frame which he has to-day. He
received a common school education, and then attended an academy
located at Rome, New York, for two years, where close application to
study impaired his health and caused him to quit the school. He
remained in Oneida county after this about two years, and in April,
1855, he came to Janesville, where he has since resided. Here he
entered upon the study of law in the office of I. C. Sloan and L. F.
Patten, and continued it a few months in the office of Bennett, Sloan &
Patten, after those gentlemen formed a partnership with John R.
Bennett; afterward he commenced reading in the office of Sleeper &
Norton, and continued with them until June 1, 1858. He was admitted
to the bar of Rock county in 1856, to the supreme court of this stale
in 1857 and to the supreme court of the United States in 1868. On

402 THE BENCH and BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the first day of June, 1858, he formed a law partnership with James H.
Knowlton and Moses S. Prichard, which continued until 1862, and
since then he has been in business alone, except a short time with
Pliny Norcross.
Mr. Jackson, from the purity of his life and character, adorns and
honors his profession. Being a gentleman of a modest and retiring
nature, he has never been ambitious to obtain office, and has avoided
rather than sought the honors which official positions bring. And yet
being deeply respected and honored by the community where he has
resided, he has been called to fill many local offices. He served as
alderman of the city of Janesville from 1864 to 1866; was mayor in
1868 and 1869; has been a member of the county board of supervisors
of Rock county; was several years president of the board of trustees
of the Wisconsin Institute for the education of the blind; was acting
in this capacity when the present building was erected ; and his
wisdom and judgment greatly aided in providing this building, which
for its purpose is one of the most substantial and useful of any erected
in the state. Mr. Jackson is the president of the Rock County Bar
Association, and an officer of the State Bar Association. To all of
these positions he brought abilities commensurate to the performance
of every duty, and he has discharged such duties with the strictest
integrity and with great fidelity.
As a lawyer, Mr. Jackson is learned, laborious and painstaking,
bringing to every case he undertakes, thorough preparation and careful
study. But his practice has been confined mainly to cases tried by
the court without a jury and to practice in the supreme court of the
state and the United States courts. There is hardly space in this
brief sketch to speak of Mr. Jackson otherwise than as a citizen and
lawyer, and yet this brief biography would be very deficient if we did
not add that he is a gentleman of fine literary taste, and is well read
in modern literature. In the year 1872 the faculty of Beloit College
conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M. He is a member of
the Congregational church in Janesville, and was for many years presi
dent of its board of trustees. And he was the first president of the
Young Mens' Christian Association of Janesville.
Robert Barr Kirkland, Jefferson, was born in Glasgow, Scotland,
March 8, 1849, his parents being Alexander and Jane Hewetson Kirk-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 403
land. His education was principally obtained at the high school of his
native city. Coming to America in the fall of 1869 he entered upon the
study of the law with I. W. and G. W. Bird, at Jefferson, was admitted
as an attorney at the same place, February 26, 1876, and has been in
practice alone in Jefferson to the present time. In the fall of 1880 he
was elected district attorney for Jefferson county. Before leaving the
old country Mr. Kirkland served eight years in the British navy.
John J. R. Pease, Janesville, was born in Connecticut, came to Wis
consin, and settled at Green Bay in June 1840. While living at that
place he was employed in the office of the register of deeds, and in other
vocations. Having prepared himself for the profession of law he was
admitted to the bar in 1849, and has been continuously in practice since
that time. In 1866 he changed his residence to Janesville, and has re
sided there to the present time. For over twelve years he was a
director of the Chicago, St. Paul & F. Railroad Company; was one of
the first directors of the Rock County Bank; has been one of the trus
tees of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company for twenty years ; has
been a director of the Janesville Cotton Manufacturing Company since
its organization; was mayor of Janesville for 1856; served several years
as supervisor, and in other local offices; is a trustee and president
of the Oak Hill Cemetery Association, and has been connected with
that association eighteen years. His partner in law business at Janes
ville is W. H. Ruger.
Moses S. Prichard, Janesville, was born at Bradford, Orange
county, Vermont, April 8, 1822, and is son of George W. and Elizabeth
Prichard. He was educated at the University of Vermont; studied law
at Oxford, New Hampshire, with Leonard Wilcox, who has been judge
of the supreme court, and United States senator, and was admitted as
an attorney at Chelsea, Orange county, Vermont, in 1844. When he
came to Wisconsin it was in company with A. Hyatt Smith, David Nog
gle, Amos P. Prichard, John M. Berry, — now judge of the supreme
court of Minnesota, — John D. Parker, James H. Knowlton and A. A.
Jackson, a notable array of gentlemen, all of whom have arrived to dis
tinction. Judge Prichard has filled the offices of justice of the peace,
county judge, and police justice of the city of Janesville, in which last
capacity he is now serving.

404 . THE BENCH AND EAR OF WISCONSIN.
Warren H. Porter, Jefferson, was born in the state of New York,
November 4, 1837, his parents being Garnett and Lucina Porter. He
was educated in private select schools, and was at the Wisconsin State
University a short time ; studied law with Robert Flint, at Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin; was admitted to the bar at Jefferson in September, 1862,
and has been practicing at Jefferson since that time. His partners have
been D. F. Weymouth and N. Slemake. For one term he was clerk of
the board of supervisors.
Archibald N. Randall, Broadhead, was born in Sardinia, Erie
county, New York, August 22, 1830, and is the son of Archibald and
Eunice Randall. His education was completed at Brockport Collegiate
Institute, New York. Subsequently coming to Wisconsin he located in
Rock county ; undertook and accomplished the study of law in his own
office; was admitted to the bar at Monroe in 1871, and has practiced at
Broadhead by himself to the present time. He has been superintendent
of schools, has held various town offices, and in 1881 was elected, as a
republican, to the state senate. During the late rebellion he went into
the volunteer army ; was captain of Company G, Thirteenth Wisconsin
infantry; was acting assistant inspector-general of the district of Tennes
see, upon the staff of General Rosseau ; was engaged in the battles of
Franklin and Nashville, and many engagements of less magnitude, in
cluding seven battles against the rebel forces under rebel General
Wheeler, and two against those commanded by Forrest ; was also with
General Rosseau in his celebrated raid around Atlanta. He also com
manded a battalion of mounted infantry during the summer of 1863,
with headquarters at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, performing meritorious
and valuable service in clearing a large tract of country from guerillas,
fighting them wherever found.
John W. Sale, Janesville, was born in La Porte, Indiana, in 1842,
and, when an infant, his parents came to Rock county, where they set
tled. Mr. Sale graduated from the Michigan University in June, 1866,
at which time he was admitted to the bar of Michigan, and to the bar
of Wisconsin the same year. He came to Janesville in 1866 ; commenced
practice there January 1, 1867 ; wai several years city attorney, is now
serving his fifth year as district attorney, and is partner of J. R. Bennett
in the practice of law.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 405
John Winans, Janesville, was born in the town of Vernon, county
of Sussex, New Jersey, on the 27th day of September, 1831. His father,
William R. Winans, and his uncle, Ross Winans, of Baltimore, were
descendants of the Hollanders, who were among the earliest settlers of
that state. The subject of this sketch, after reading law at Newton and
Trenton, New Jersey, and a portion of the time with Martin Ryerson,
since one of the supreme and circuit judges of that state, was in the
fall of 1855 admitted to practice in all its courts.
In the fall of 1857 Mr. Winans came to Wisconsin, locating at the
city of Janesville, engaging in the practice of his professon, where he
has since resided. The source of every lawyer's wealth, so far as the
practice of his profession is concerned, is the confidence of the people in
his personal and professional integrity. This confidence, though easily
lost, can only be won and retained by a long and honorable professional
career. His very large and successful legal business demonstrates that
Mr. Winans has not only won the confidence and esteem of his fellow-
citizens, but that he easily and justly retains them.
He possesses all of the qualifications requisite to a great lawyer. In
his mental organization he is clear, calm and comprehensive ; and while
in his affections he is tender and sympathetic, yet his will-power and
sense of justice are so strong that he cannot be moved from those
things which he believes are just and proper, or swerved in the least
from the path in which duty and honor call him to go. Well grounded
in the principles of the law, industrious and attentive to business, he
brings to all cases intrusted to him thorough preparation and careful
study. Some lawyers have great power in discussing questions of fact
to a jury, but are not equally able in arguing points of law to the court.
Mr. Winans is fortunate in possessing those qualities of mind and heart,
which enable him to excel in both positions; and it would be difficult
for his brethren to determine in which he takes highest rank and is most
successful. His arguments to the jury are clear, forcible and impressive; and, in
important cases, are characterized by a sincerity, zeal and persuasive
eloquence that at once command and retain the attention, and not in
frequently tenderly touch and move every heart ; while those addressed
to the court are models of logical clearness and legal analysis. In Rock
county, which has always had an able bar, Mr. Winans stands to
day the acknowledged leader, and his brethren throughout the state

406> THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
accord to him a position in the very foremost rank of the profession.
The late Senator Carpenter, whose fame as a lawyer is national, said
that if he had an important case of his own, he would as soon commit it
to Mr. Winans, or one other lawyer whom he named, as to any member
of the bar in Wisconsin. His uniform kindness and courtesy to his pro
fessional brethren are as noticeable as they are worthy of imitation.
And however vexatious or perplexing the circumstances of a case may
be, he never becomes angry, or for one moment loses his self-possession.
It may be unnecessary to add that such a man and lawyer is ever a
faithful friend and an upright, honorable citizen. In politics Mr. Winans
has been classed as a democrat, though he follows his own convictions
instead of the dictation of party.
In 1864 he was a member of the democratic national convention of
Chicago, in 1868 the democratic candidate for congress in the second
congressional district, composed then of the counties of Rock, Jefferson,
Dane and Columbia, which being largely republican, he was defeated,
and member of the assembly in 1874 and 1882. To every public posi
tion he has been called to fill, which have been many, he has brought
abilities amply adequate to the performance of every duty, and a sincerity
and uprightness of purpose which places all his acts above cavil or
reproach. Mr. Winans, both in his professional life and in his public
acts, has ever been governed by high moral principle. And this is
"the only torch to light the way of a lawyer amidst darkness and
obstruction, ft is like the spear of the guardian of paradise."
THIRTEENTH CIRCUIT.
Samuel Stebbins Barney, West Bend, is a native of Wisconsin, and
was born at Hartford, Washington county, January 31, 1846. His
father, John Barney, and also his mother, whose maiden name was Ade
line A. Knox, were of New England parentage. Mr. Barney received
his education at Lombard University, Galesburg, Illinois. He studied
law at West Bend, Wisconsin, in the office of Frisby & Weil, and was
admitted to the bar in the spring of 187 1. For five years, from 1874 to
1879, he was a member of the firm of Frisby, Weil & Barney, as
sociated as a partner in the firm with which he studied. He is now the
senior member of the firm of Barney & Kuechenmeister, at West Bend.
Mr. Barney was for four years ihe county superintendent of schools, of
Washington county, his term of office having commenced January i,
1876.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 407
S. K. Delaney. Maysville, was born at Fort Ticonderoga, New
York, January 10, 1841. His parents were James and Theresa O. De
laney. He was educated in the common schools at Horicon, Wisconsin ;
studied law with Montgomery & Tyler at Sparta and La Crosse, and
with A. J. Rising, Horicon; was admitted to the bar in Dodge county
circuit court in February, 1865, and is in practice alone at Maysville.
He has been superintendent of schools for Dodge county six years ; was
member of the assembly in 1869, and is now member of the senate for
1881 and 1882, where he is serving on the committee on the judiciary
and on public lands. At the session of the legislature in the winter of
1881, Senator Delaney gained much applause in the delivery of a very
able eulogy upon the death of Mathew H. Carpenter, before a joint
convention of the two houses and on which occasion there was a
crowded outside audience, which listened with appreciating attention to
the unexpected display of oratorical power by the young senator.
Isaac N. Frisby, West Bend, was born in Mesopotamia, Trumbull
county, Ohio, March 6, 1820, and is the son of Lucius and Lovina
Frisby. His early life until he was eighteen years old was on a farm,
commencing his education in the common schools. He subsequently
took an academic course in the Farmington academy in his native state.
He entered upon the study of the law in 1848 by borrowing law books
of his friend, H. H. Hatch, at Warren, Ohio. In June, 1850, he moved
to Washington county, Wisconsin, and engaged for about two years
thereafter in teaching school at Newburgh. In 1853 he located in the
village of West Bend; opened a law office there and associated himself
for the study and practice of the law with N. W. Tupper ; was admitted
to the bar as an attorney at law at West Bend, 1853 ; held the offices of
deputy clerk of the circuit court of the county from 1853 to T855 ; was
admitted to the supreme court September 10, 1867, and to the United
States circuit of the eastern district of Wisconsin, March 1, 1875. His
business connection with Mr. Tupper ended in January 1856. On
January 1, 1862, he formed a partnership in the law business with F. O.
Thorp, which was continued till January 1, 1870. He continued the
practice of law alone till October, 1879, when he formed a partnership
with S. S. Barney, which continued till December 1880, since which
date he has been alone in the business. He held the office of district
attorney of the county by appointment for a short time; has held the
office of circuit court commissioner since 1868.

408» THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Frederick W. Horn, Cedarsburg, was born in Lienum, in the
Mark Brandeburg, Prussia, August 21, 1815 ; was educated at the
Gymnasium of the Gray Friar, in Berlin. He left Prussia for the
United States in 1836; resided in the State of New York until 1837;
went in the fall of that year to Michigan, and traveled through Illinois,
Iowa and Missouri, returning to Michigan in the winter of 1839; in
1840 he came to Milwaukee; in 1841 settled at Mequon ; in 1847
removed to his present place of residence. He was appointed by
Governor Doty, in 1842, justice of the peace for Washington county,
then the only magistrate in the county; was postmaster at Mequon
during his residence there; register of deeds in 1846 and 1847 ; elected
as an independent candidate to the first state senate, in 1848, and
reelected for 1849 and 1850; was elected to the assembly in 1851,
1854, 1857, 1859, i860, 1867, 1868, 1871, 1872, 1875 and 1881, and was
elected speaker of that body in 1851, again in 1854 and in 1876; was
state commissioner of immigration, residing at New York, in 1854 and
1855 ; was a delegate to the democratic national convention at
Charlestown and Baltimore in i860, serving as vice-president,
again a delegate to the democratic national convention at New York
in 1858, and represented Wisconsin in the democratic national com
mittee; was elected to the assembly in 187 1 by the unanimous vote
of both parties of the district; was again elected in 1872 and 1875,
and at the ensuing session of 1876 was elected speaker for the third
time. In 1881 he was again elected to assembly on the democratic
ticket. Mr. Horn has for many years been prominent in Wisconsin
politics, and is a strong man every way. In the legislature he was
always a leader, and distinguished as an able and correct parliamen
tarian. Mr. Horn married Adelheid Schaellner in 1845 ; she died in
1849, and he married Minna Schaper in 1850, and he has seven chil
dren living.
Charles H. Miller, West Bend, was born in the city of Doebeln,
in Saxony, September 26, 1826, and received his education before
coming to America. He commenced the study of law with Pierce &
Stanford at Port Washington, in 1848, and practiced his profession
with P. O'Meara, in West Bend, under the firm of O'Meara & Miller,
from 187 1 to 1881, and now alone. He has been register of deeds
of Washington county, clerk of court, and has also represented his
district in the assembly.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 409
Patrick O'Meara, West Bend, was born at Emmett, Dodge
county, Wisconsin, February 27, 1845. His parents came from New
York, and settled in Wisconsin during the year 1844. Mr. O'Meara
was given such an education as the common schools of that period
afforded, and also attended private school and the Northwestern
University at Watertown. He graduated from the law department
of the State University in 1870, and commenced practice at West
Bend in 1871. Has been four times elected district attorney of
Washington county, his first term having begun in January 1875. Mr.
O'Meara has a brother practicing law in Milwaukee. For a time he
was in partnership with C. H. Miller, in his practice at West Bend,
and the partnership was dissolved in 1881.
William A. Pors, Port Washington, was born in Hamburg, Ger
many, November 17, 1827, and came to the United States in 1849,
locating in Washington county, where he followed farming one year.
Before leaving his native country he acquired his education at Toho-
neum, a school of high degree in Hamburg. Leaving- his agiicultural
pursuits in 1850, he was employed as clerk in the office of register
of deeds at Port Washington for one year, when having decided to
enter the profession of law, he went to New Hampshire, and commenced
the study of it with Stephen Crosby, at Francistown, with whom he
remained one year. From there he proceeded to Lowell, Massachu
setts, and continued his studies with Judge Crosby, and in December,
1853, was, on motion of Benjamin F. Butler, admitted to the bar.
Returning soon after to Port Washington, he has been engaged in law
practice at that place to the present time. In 1862 he was draft
commissioner during the draft riots, and has been district attorney
several terms. In 1859 he married Miss Ida Heineniann, a native
of Hanover, and they have one son, who is now a practicing lawyer
in Oshkosh. John Shelley, West Bend, is a native of Pennsylvania, and was
born at York, February 7, 1817. He received his education at Pennsyl
vania College, Gettysburg, and studied law with Thomas C. Hamly,
York. At the same place he was admitted to practice in 1840. He
has followed his profession in Wisconsin, at West Bend, and his only law
partner has been F. O. Thorp. Mr. Shelley has been county judge of
Washington county since 1858.

410 * the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
Eugene S. Turner, Port Washington, was born at East Oswego,
New York, June 14, 1824. His father was Joseph Turner, who married
Mary Griswold, the mother of the subject of this sketch, at Herkimer,
New York, in the summer of 1816, and he was a member of the last ter
ritorial council, and the first senator from Waukesha county. On May
11, 1840, the parents, with their family of one daughter and four sons,
Eugene being the third, landed at Milwaukee, then a place with a popu
lation estimated at 1500. They soon located on three hundred and
twenty acres of government land, three miles west of Waukesha. The
three years of manual labor on that new farm gave him those powers of
physical endurance that have been a great advantage, enabling him to
undergo in latter years the frequent and continuous strains incident to
an active professional career.
He had been kept at private schools and at the Oswego Academy,
but his physical tasks did not check his ambitious efforts to continue to
build up and add to the foundations already laid, so that for four years
after coming west every available resource was laid under contribution
to prepare himself for entering systematically the study of the law, teach
ing school a part of the time. He entered as law student the office of
Alexander W. Randall, afterward governor and postmaster-general. At
the end of a year and a half he entered the office of Tweedy & Crocker,
in Milwaukee where for a year he alternated between being a student
in their office, and deputy clerk of the United States district court. In
June, 1846, together with A. R. R. Butler, he was examined and admit
ted to the bar of the United States court, at Milwaukee. Advised by
friends he located at Grafton, in Washington county, that year. In the
winter of 1846 and 1847 he was assistant secretary of the territorial
council, and by that service saved enough to purchase the commence
ment of a law library. In 1848, as a candidate for district attorney of
Washington county, he was defeated by a few votes.
In 1849, after a hard and very spirited contest on account of his
youthful appearance, he was elected to the legislative assembly, where
he served the succeeding winter, with credit and some notoriety in the
contest on the county seat question, and as chairman of the committee
on ways and means. In 1850 he was elected district attorney over Le-
land Stanford, late governor of California, and now the wealthiest tax
payer on the Pacific coast. Mr. Turner was reelected district attorney
in 1852 over most serious opposition. In 1853 he was one of the most

THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 411
active in opposing the division of Washington county, and spent a part
of the summer at Madison, in preparing for and testing the validity of
the law before the supreme court. In 1854 he traveled extensively in
Europe and through Great Britain. That year he was again elected
district attorney and served, making six successive years. About this
time, becoming dissatisfied with his own party administration of state
affairs, he left political life. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he
was a thorough war democrat and ever since a pronounced and known
republican. In 1863 he removed to Port Washington, where he has, except for
two years and a half, continued in the practice of his profession. As a
lawyer and an advocate he has made more than an average success.
The preserved records of Washington, Ozaukee and adjacent counties
attest his perseverance and ability, and they furnish an encomium greater
than any written biography. His efforts have often been sought with
pen and speech outside of the strict line of the profession, and though
pronounced and many times emphatic with both, he has never left any
thing like an impress of malice. He was married in 1850 to Frances H.
E., eldest daughter of Elijah Gove, of Waukesha, and they have two
daughters living and married. He has ever been a promoter of temper
ance, morality, religion and education, but never in any regard with nar
rowness of conception or bigotry. In fact, in all his life work, whether
at the bar or otherwise, a measure or principle with him has uniformly
taken the lead, to the exclusion of personal consideration of himself ; at
the same time he has not been too severe, or unmindful of the weakness
of others. The length of this sketch precludes us from noticing in detail the
numerous contests in which Mr. Turner has borne a part at the cir
cuit, as a trial lawyer. They have been many and important. In the
supreme court they have ranged through a period of twenty-nine years,
many of them requiring much study and research, and some of them
conspicuous in the settlement of principles, commencing in 1853 with
the constitutional question of the division of Washington county, and
the erection of the county of Ozaukee, in which he was successfully
opposed by the present able associate justice, Harlow S. Orton, then in
hey-day of his professional practice. Mr. Turner's appearance and
habits would indicate a long period of future usefulness.
24

412 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
OMITTED FROM SECOND CIRCUIT.
Horatio Nelson Wells, Milwaukee, was born in Chittenden
county, Vermont, in 1808. He was prepared for the bar in the office of
D. A. Smalley in the same county. Mr. Wells came to the west together
with Hans Crocker, and located themselves in Milwaukee in October
1836. The two friends commenced the practice of law there as partners
under the firm of Wells & Crocker. Once started in, and his talent as
an advocate becoming known, he was at once launched upon a sea of
business, which extended into neighboring counties. His forte was
before a jury more than in his learning in the law. His tact was infinite,
his wit keen, resources inexhaustible, good nature supreme, and his
apt reading of men remarkable. Consequently popular, he carried court,
jury and audience before him.
In 1859 he was elected a member of the territorial house of repre
sentatives; in 1846 he was a member of the territorial council, which
position he held two years, during which he was president of the
council, three sessions of which were held in 1847 and 1848. In 1850
he was elected county judge for the county of Milwaukee, and occupied
that bench four years. After the expiration of his term of office as
judge he did but little business in the line of the law, and died August
18, 1858. and a great legal light that had been feebly flickering the
previous four years or more went out in utter darkness.
When he commenced practice in Milwaukee, " he went at once to
the head of the bar, and memories of his flashing wit and swift elo
quence light up the eyes of the old lawyers now living. Mr. Wells was
always making some sharp turn, and his wit was always so ready, so
unprepared, that even its victims were sometimes charmed with it. His
was a very proud spirit, and it is on record that the cloud which dark
ened his later days rested there because of the discouragements and
vexations brought on from the constant annoyances of discordant
natures. He was generous to a fault, often to his own disadvantage.
He died August 18, 1858, a wreck of the handsome, vivacious young
man who came to Milwaukee with such high hopes in 1836."
" The most noted of the cluster of early lawyers practicing in Mil
waukee were H. N. Wells and Jonathan E. Arnold. Mr. Wells, a ner
vous, quick-spoken man, was the synonym for wit and lightning brilliancy.
Finely educated and ambitious, for many years he disputed the palm of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 413
eloquence with Mr. Arnold, his young contemporary, and this in the
poetic quality and richness of intellect."
To show the aptness of Mr. Wells in trial cases the following is quoted :
"A man was on trial for perjury, and he was defended by that sharp and
quick-witted lawyer, H. N. Wells, a man of great resources in a jury
trial. The testimony was going strong against his client, when he be
thought to ask the squire where he was born. It proved to be across
the water called the Atlantic. ' How many times did you appear in
court or before the clerk to become naturalized ?' inquired Wells. 'Once
only,' was the reply. ' I demand then, your honor, that the indictment
be quashed,' said Wells, addressing the court, ' as it requires the second
application to become naturalized.' And the indictment was quashed,
or a nolle prosequi entered under the direction of the court."
Harrison Carroll Hobart, Milwaukee, is a native of Ashburnham,
Massachusetts. At the age of sixteen years he entered the printing
office of John R. Reding, in Haverhill, New Hampshire. He subse
quently prepared for college at the Concord Literary Institute and the
New Hampton Academy, and he entered Darmouth College in 1838,
graduating in 1842. He afterward studied law in the office of the late
Robert Rantoul, and was admitted to the Suffolk county bar in 1845.
In 1846 he removed to the then Territory of Wisconsin, and became a
resident of Sheboygan. He at once took a foremost position at the
territorial bar, in politics and in public affairs, which he has since main
tained, during the many vicissitudes through which the state and the
nation have passed.
In 1847 he was elected a member of the territorial legislature, and
was an able and industrious member of that body. He introduced
a bill looking to the abolition of capital punishment, the passage of
which by the house of which he was a member, was regarded by Gover
nor Dodge as popular authority for commuting the death sentence of
David Bonham, a conspicuous character of territorial times, who was at
the time in jail at Racine, awaiting execution for a murder which he had
committed in Waukesha county. The warrant of commutation was car
ried by special messenger from Madison to Racine, and was handed to
the sheriff of that county while he was preparing the culprit for the
gallows, which had been already erected.
Mr. Hobart was elected to the state senate in 1848, the first legisla-

414 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ture under the state government, and was zealous, laborious and influen
tial in the enactment by that body of the beneficent legislation imposed
by the new constitution, including the homestead exemption, the liberal
franchise laws for foreigners, the civil rights of married women, and the
state educational system, including the common schools, the State Uni
versity and the State Historical Society. Serving the short term in the
senate, he was elected in the autumn of the same year a member of the
assembly, and at the. ensuing session in the following January he was
chosen speaker of that house. At this session he procured the passage
of the act incorporating the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railroad Com
pany, and on its subsequent organization, which occurred mainly by his
efforts and management, he was appointed attorney for the board of
directors. A few years afterward he removed to Calumet county, where
he opened a law office, and aided in founding and the settlement of the
town of Chilton, the county seat. He was elected a member of the
assembly of 1859, where he secured the charter of a railroad to be con
structed between Milwaukee and Green Bay. He was also elected in
that year a member of the board of regents of the State University.
During these years of his residence in the state, his professional,
business and political career was one of great activity. He was essen
tially a public spirited man. He was a democrat in partisan action, and
habitually occupied a leading place in the councils of that party. Some
of the most important political events of the territory and state, until the
final democratic defeat and overthrow in 1859, were influenced to a
marked degree by his labors and associations. This was notably and
especially true of the incidents in political affairs occurring in the year
1853, by which the Barstow wing of the democracy secured ascendency,
which they maintained while the party continued in power.
Mr. Hobart was liberal and progressive in his political opinions, and
he had no sympathy with the pro-slavery policy and instincts of the
party to which he belonged. When the democratic rupture occurred
between the Buchanan administration and Stephen A. Douglas, he there
fore assumed a place with the friends of the latter statesman, in hos
tility to the audacious doctrine that slavery was legalized in all the
national territories by virtue of the constitution, and that neither con
gress, nor the territorial legislatures nor new state governments, when
formed, could legislate for its extinction.
Previous to this time, in 1850, and in 1856, he had been the candi-

V\ <L YAiAuuOr-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 417
date of the democratic party for member of congress in the northern
district, but the circumstances at both periods were inauspicious, and his
defeat was a foreordained event. In 1859 he was nominated, against
his expressed desire and protest, by the democratic party for governor
of the state. The democrats had elected a part of their candidates for
state officers at the previous election in 1857, but their power had evi
dently been waning after that time. The anti-slavery excitement was
extreme, and in the heat of controversy, the public mind did not dis
tinguish between the views of individuals who might be candidates for
office, and the unpopular issues precipitated by the national democratic
administration, in the interest of the slavery propaganda, while the repub
lican party, then newly organized, was strong and popular and had been
uniformly successful in the elections throughout the northern and eastern
states. He made a brilliant campaign, stumping the state in company
with his opponent, the late Alexander W. Randall, but defeat was una
voidable, which he met with cheerfulness and complacency.
Following the election of i860, and the resistance of the South to its
declared results, and when the first events in the pro-slavery rebellion
occurred, he was among the foremost of the patriotic millions who
rallied with voice, pen and sword to the defense of the government, and
in April, 1861, he raised a company of one hundred men in Calumet
county, in response to the proclamation of President Lincoln calling for
seventy-five thousand troops. He was elected captain of the company,
and commissioned for the office by Governor A. W. Randall, on the 23d
day of April. His company was assigned to the fourth Wisconsin in
fantry on the second call for troops, and he left the state with his regi
ment, July 5. His military service, like his professional and political
life, was extremely active, and the limits of this sketch forbid more than
a mention of its incidents in chronological order.
The first service of his regiment was in Maryland. In the fall of
1861 they crossed to the eastern shore of that state and drove back into
Virginia a rebel force which had affected a lodgement there and was
overawing the loyal inhabitants. On his return from this exhibition he
was detailed for duty as judge-advocate of a court marshal sitting in
Baltimore for the trial of officers, by order of General McClellan. In
March, 1862, he was assigned with his command to the army of the
Gulf, and embarked with that force for Ship Island. He participated in
the movements which resulted in the capture of New Orleans, was at

418 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the siege of Vicksburgh, at the burning of Grand Gulf, and the battle of
Baton Rouge. He was promoted July 22, 1862, to be lieutenant-colonel
of the twenty-first regiment, and was relieved from duty in the depart
ment of the Gulf to take command of that regiment, then in the army of
the Cumberland, operating in Kentucky, under General Thomas. He
took part in the laborious and hazardous campaigns which followed, in
cluding the march through Kentucky and Tennessee ; the battles of Stone
River and Hoosier's Gap; the subsequent advance upon Tullahoma;
the crossing of the Tennessee river, September n, 1863, and the encounter
with the rebel enemy at Dry Gap. At the disastrous battle of Chicka-
mauga, in which his regiment was actively engaged and fought with
great bravery until the defeat became general, he was taken prisoner
with a large number of other federal officers and men, and he was sent
to Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, where he was confined. On the
9th of February, 1864, with one hundred and eight other officers, he
made a successful attempt at escape from the rebel prison through a
tunnel constructed from the prison basement under an adjoining street,
with an exit through an empty tobacco warehouse opposite. The nar
rative of his imprisonment and escape, which has been given to the
press, is one of the most thrilling prison episodes of the great war. On
reporting within the Union lines he was furloughed for the purpose of
visiting Wisconsin, where his reception was a splendid ovation from all
ranks and classes of citizens. He met throngs of people at various
points, and was called before a vast meeting in the assembly chamber
at Madison, where the narrative of his experiences was listened to with
excited interest. On returning to duty he was promoted. March 1, 1864,
to the rank of colonel in his regiment, which he rejoined in the field,
forming a part of Sherman's advance on Atlanta, and participated in the
battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw
Mountain, Marietta, Chattahoochie, Peach Tree Creek, and the cap
ture of Atlanta. After that event, which occurred September 2, 1864,
he was assigned to the command of the first brigade, first division,
fourteenth army corps, in Sherman's march to the sea. On the capture
of Savannah he was brevetted brigadier-general, the only appointment
to that rank made in his division, and on the recommendation of Gen
eral Sherman he was appointed by President Lincoln to the full rank of
brigadier-general and so confirmed by the senate. He was in command
of his brigade during the march through the Carolinas, at the battles of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 419
Averysboro and Bentonville, at the capture of Raleigh, and the march
through Richmond, after its capture, to Washington, and the grand
review of the two great armies at the close of the war. He was finally
mustered out June 8, 1865, four years and two months after his enlist
ment, and at the close of a period of active service such as few officers
in the volunteer army experienced.
During the war General Hobart had regarded himself as associated
with the political element in Wisconsin recognized as the "war democ
racy." Upon his return from the army, in 1865, and before he had
fully settled as to his future home and avocation, he was again nomi
nated by the democrats for governor, and reluctantly assented to the use
of his name for that purpose. There was no reaction, however, from
the high excitement with which the elements of the war had inspired
the public; platforms of peace and conciliation between the sections
lately arrayed in armed strife were unacceptable, and his success as a
candidate was not anticipated, or among the possibilities of the times.
In the fall of 1865 General Hobart took up his residence in Milwau
kee, where he opened an office for the practice of law, and was appointed
an agent of the United States treasury department. He was again elect
ed in 1866 a member of the assembly, which commenced its session in
January 1867, and of which he was a conspicuous and influential mem
ber, advocating and voting for the adoption of the fourteenth amendment
to the constitution, introducing and securing the passage of the eight hour
law, and introducing and advocating a bill repealing all laws which pro
vided any causes for divorce except for marital infidelity. He was also
the author of the law which was enacted at that session, forever prohib
iting the consolidation of the Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Chicago &
Northwestern railway systems. At the same session he procured the
necessary legislation for the establishment of the Milwaukee High
School. He subsequently opened an office in Washington as an attor
ney for the prosecution of claims against the government, and, on
motion of the late Chief-Justice E. G. Ryan, was admitted to practice in
the supreme court of the United States. In 1876 he was elected as an
alderman from the second ward of the city of Milwaukee, and in 1878
was chosen president of the council. He is now a member of the Mil
waukee board of trade and a trustee of the Milwaukee public library.
In the latter capacity he has successfully instituted a system of book
contributions among the citizens of Milwaukee which in a few years

420 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

•

will make the library one of the first as to size, variety and value in the
country. General Hobart enjoys robust health, is of sanguine
temperament, and possesses a nervous vigor and energy of character,
with a tenacious firmness of purpose and an ample vitality, which give
him great power in popular movements, and constitute him a native
leader of social forces, fn his earlier manhood these qualities rendered
him an aggressive element in politics, in his profession and in business,
and endowed him with a push and virility which marked his manage
ment of the various enterprises and public movements in which he
engaged. He has a large and active mind, with an originality of
thought, high analytical powers, and great clearness of statement, mak
ing him a splendid reasoner. As a public speaker he is marked by a
full command of language, distinct but rapid articulation, plainness in
demonstration, and strength in argument. He has little of the gifts of
fancy and imagination which make the great orator, but as a rhetorician
and advocate he has few or no superiors. He has recently been active
in temperance and other social and municipal reforms in the city of
Milwaukee, which has enlarged his field of usefulness, and elicited the
approval of the best and most thoughtful classes of the people.
OMITTED FROM FOURTH CIRCUIT.
John E. Thomas, Sheboygan Falls, was born in Rensselaer county,
New York, November 27, 1829. When four years of age the family
removed to Livingston county, and after a short period to Genesee
county in the same state. At the last named place of residence the
young son commenced his education in the common schools. This
course of instruction was cut short when the financial crash of 1837 fell
upon the country, and like thousands of other cases, swept away the
property of the family. But this misfortune did not crush out the spirit
and hopes of the young man. Having at this time arrived at the age of
fifteen, he had recourse to his own unaided resources, which consisted of
a good common school education, a healthy, vigorous constitution, a
good character, and a willingness to work if he could find employment.
With commendable resolution he left home in quest of work. Looking
. about for a situation in whatever respectable business it might offer, he
reached the city of Lockport, Niagara county, New York. After a few
days' search he found employment with a merchant, and entered upon
the battle of life. The duties of the situation he determined to fulfill to

>^— ~

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 423
the satisfaction of his employer. That his success was complete is evi
dent in the fact that during the four years he remained in the establish
ment, which was transacting a large business, he had honestly worked
his way up from the lowest position to that of chief clerk or head sales
man, and at the same time laid the foundation of thorough business
attainments. And this was not the end of his efforts for self advance
ment ; for during these four years of hard work in the store, he entered
upon a course of private study, to which a portion of his earnings were
devoted. To aid him in this task he wrote out his self imposed lessons
on slips of paper, which were carried in his pockets for reference when
memorizing and rehearsing them during the day. When he had gone as
far in his studies as he well could, unaided, he called to his assistance a
young educated German, and under this private tutor the higher branches
were grappled with, and in addition to advancement made in the classics,
a fair knowledge of the German language was acquired. Subsequently
he studied medicine two years, with a view to its practice, which plan
was finally abandoned to come west and engage in other avocations.
In the fall of 1849 he came to Wisconsin, remaining a short time at
Southport, now Kenosha, and in September of that year locating at She
boygan Falls, where he has since resided, and where in 1853 he married
Miss Clara A. W. Cole. He engaged in business pursuits until 1856.
when he commenced the study of law, and in 1858 was admitted to
practice in the circuit court at Sheboygan, subsequently to the state
supreme court, and to the United States district and circuit courts for
Wisconsin. Having prepared himself by assiduous self culture and by
thorough reading of law he was prepared to enter upon the practice of
his chosen profession, which he did by locating his business in the city
of Milwaukee, doing a lucrative business there from February 1858 to
1865, during which time his residence remained unchanged. Since the
last named date his professional business has mainly been confined to
the fourth judicial circuit. In 1862 he was called upon by the people
with whom he had long associated, to serve them in responsible public
duties, by electing him a member of assembly on the democratic ticket.
At an extra session convened during his term of office, he served as
chairman of the committee on the judiciary. In 1863 and 1864 he repre
sented his district in the senate, and although belonging to the minority
in that body, he was made chairman of the select committee to consider
the liability of the state to sufferers by the Ozaukee county draft riot,

424 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
*
and his report to pay for the destroyed property was adopted. He was
a member of the board of regents of the state normal school six years ;
was a member of the board of trustees of the state institution for the
deaf and dumb, for two terms ; was treasurer of the board two years,
and represented the state at the international meeting of teachers and
others interested in the education of deaf mutes, held at Belleville,
Ontario, Canada. He has been town and county superintendent of
schools, a member of the local school boards many years ; was one of the
first life members of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters ;
served several years as secretary of the county agricultural and horticul
tural societies of his county, and has been ever ready to lend a helping
hand to enterprises designed to advance civilization and education.
He has held at various times, minor local offices, including president of
the village and chairman of the county board of supervisors. For several
years he has contributed to different periodicals and journals over various
noms de plume, and in 1878 he purchased the Sheboygan County News,
and with a daughter as assistant editor and a son as business manager,
he has placed it on a substantial basis, and has secured for it a large
patronage. Early in 1882 Mr. Thomas, in connection with others,
established at Sheboygan Falls the Dairymens Bank, of which he became
president. Mr. Thomas ran for congress on the greenback ticket in the
fifth district in 1880, having been nominated against his urgent protest.
He took the field, however, and performed active service for the cause.
Mr. Thomas is still in the vigor of life, and is eminently an example of a
self-made man. OMITTED FROM FIFTH CIRCUIT.
George Alpheus Marshall, Darlington, was born at Northum
berland, in Coos county, New Hampshire, February 17, 1836. His
father's name was Caleb Marshall ; the maiden name of his mother was
Laura Franklin Waters. Among his ancestors were Benjamin Franklin
and General Israel Putnam of revolutionary memory. In 1852 his
parents removed to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where they lived until the
death of his father, in 1866. His mother is still living at the advanced
age of eighty-three years. While at St. Johnsbury, he was employed in
the scale manufactory of E. & T. Fairbanks & Company. In 1855 he
went to Johnson, Vermont, where he was prepared for college in the
Lamoille county grammar school. In 1857 he entered the University

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 427
of Vermont, at Burlington, and was graduated with honor in 1861.
He immediately came to Wisconsin, and during the fall was principal
of the high school at Sheboygan. Meantime he had commenced the
study of the law, and continuing it in the office of Ellis & Jones, promi
nent attorneys of that city, he was, on June 9, 1862, admitted to the bar
by Judge David Taylor. He went from Sheboygan to Galena, where
he opened an office in August of that year. November 20, 1862, he
was united in marriage to Miss Miriam H. Cutler, of Burlington, Ver
mont. She is a sister of H. C. Cutler, M.D., widely known as a suc
cessful physician and influential citizen of Dodgeville, in this state. At
that time she was visiting at the residence of her cousin, Mrs. Bean, at Wau
kesha, where their marriage was celebrated by Bishop Kemper, in St. Mat
thias church. They have two children : Mary Florence, born July 26,
1865, and Francis Cutler, born March 26, 1867, both born in Galena. In
July, 1867, owing to the poor health of his wife, he removed to Darling
ton, Wisconsin, where he has since remained in the active practice of
his profession. In 1873 he determined to add the business of abstract
ing titles to his law practice ; and he has now the only complete set of
abstracts of real estate titles in La Fayette county. This has been made
wholly under his personal supervision, and is a model of accuracy and
completeness. In July, 1881, he formed a partnership with P. H. Conley,
under the name of Marshall & Conley. He has paid little attention to
politics, never having been a candidate for any political office. He was
elected district attorney on the republican ticket in 1868, and county
superintendent of schools in 1871. He is now city attorney of Darling
ton. While living at Galena, his Alma Mater conferred upon him the
degree of A.M. He has always taken an active interest in literary
pursuits, and is correspondent of the Philological Society of England ;
he is president of the Literary Club and of the Dramatic Association
of Darlington. William S. Hamilton. Very few of the early settlers of the lead
mines are better known than Colonel William S. Hamilton. Few
people at this day know that he commenced his career in Illinois
as the aid on the staff of Governor Coles, with the rank of colonel,
which he afterward always bore, and was subsequently a member of the
state legislature from Sangamon county. We extract what E. B. Wash
burn says of him: A word as to William S. Hamilton may not be

428 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
amiss, as he was one of the earliest settlers of Illinois, and lived in the
state during the administration of Governor Coles. He was appointed
by the governor as his aid-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, soon after
his installation into office. He was the son of Alexander Hamilton,
and his name was William Stephen, not William Schuyler Hamilton, as
written by Governor Coles. He was born in New York, August 4, 1797,
and was admitted to the West Point military academy in 1814, and re
signed in 1817. He left his home in New York, and settled at an early
day in Sangamon county, Illinois. He was United States deputy sur
veyor of the public lands, and in that capacity surveyed the township in
which Springfield now stands. In 1824 he was elected a member of
the house of representatives from Sangamon county. In 1827 he emi
grated from Illinois to the Fever river lead mines. He commenced
mining for lead ore at a point soon known as Hamilton's Diggin's,
now Wiota, in La Fayette county, Wisconsin. I knew Colonel Hamil
ton well from 1841 to 1849, when he emigrated to California. He occu
pied a prominent position in southwestern Wisconsin, and was a well
known whig politician. He was a member of the house of representa
tives in the territorial legislature of Wisconsin in 1842 and 1843. He
died in Sacramento, California, October 9, 1850. For nineteen years
neither stone nor slab marked the spot where reposed his ashes. When
the careless grave-digger threw his shovelfuls of earth on his coffin, little
could he have thought he was covering the remains of a son of Alexan
der Hamilton, in my judgment the greatest of all American states
men. Colonel Hamilton was brave, generous, hospitable, and humane,
unusually quick in perception, and decided in action. In 1879 Cyrus
Woodman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was long a resident of
Mineral Point, and a devoted friend of Colonel Hamilton, purchased
a lot in the cemetery of Sacramento, and marked the grave with granite
head and foot stones.
George W. Jones was born in Vincennes, Indiana, April 12, 1804.
He was educated at the Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky,
and entered upon the legal profession. He came west and located six
miles from Dubuque in the early part of 1827. At the close of the
Black Hawk war he was elected judge of the cdurt of the western district
of Michigan, now the state of Wisconsin, but there is no record of his
having served in that capacity. Upon the organization in 1836 of- the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 429
Territory of Wisconsin he was elected delegate to congress. Mr. Jones
received the appointment, by the United States government, of surveyor-
general for the territory, and held the office, with one interruption, until
1848. In 1848 he was elected United States senator from Iowa, and
was reelected for a second term ending in 1859. Under the adminis
tration of President Buchanan, General Jones was appointed minister to
New Grenada, and as such resided at Bagota three years, returning in
1861, and now resides in Dubuque, retired from public life.
Thomas Pendleton Burnett was born in Pittsylvania county,
Virginia, September .3, 1800. He received an academic education,
and after being admitted to the bar, settled and practiced his profes
sion in Paris, Kentucky. He was appointed sub-Indian agent at.
Prairie du Chien, at which place he arrived in June, 1830, and com
menced the practice of law. In January, 1835, he was appointed
district attorney for the counties of Crawford, Iowa, Dubuque and
Des Moines, but resigned the office in the following September. In
October, 1835, he was elected a member of the territorial council of
Michigan Territory, which was to meet at Green Bay. In 1836 he was
appointed reporter to the supreme court of the territory of Wisconsin.
In 1837 he settled in Grant county, from which he was elected
member of the legislative assembly for that county in 1844, was a
member of the first constitutional convention, and died during the
session of that body, on November 7, 1846.
James H. Knowlton was born at Canandaigua, New York,
August 22, 1813. He was self-educated. Coming to Wisconsin at the
age of twenty-six he resided successively at Janesville, Mineral Point
and Shullsburg. At the latter place he prepared for the bar and was
admitted to practice, which he commenced at Shullsburg. In 1856
he removed to Janesville, practiced his profession until in 1861, when
he changed his business to Chicago and his residence to Wheaton.
He was probate judge, on its first organization, of the county of
La Fayette; was a member of the assembly for the years of 1855
and 1856; was a presidential elector-at-large in 1856; after remov
ing to Janesville he was again elected to the assembly in 1857. Judge
Knowlton acquired his greatest distinction in this state as one of the
attorneys on the defense with Jonathan E. Arnold in the Hubbell

430 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
impeachment trial before the senate in 1853. He was afflicted with
the unfortunate habit of indulgence in intoxicating drinks, and had
the peculiar faculty of discriminating between the adulterated and
the pure. In a suit before him, as judge in St. Croix county, to recover
for a bill for adulterated liquor, he charged the jury that pure liquor is
a wholesome beverage and promotive of longevity, but no man could
recover judgment in his court for a demand based on a sale of adulter
ated and poisonous liquors. In making his will in 1875, leaving about
three thousand dollars, he added the following : I have labored too
continuously for others, and neglected the collection of many demands
justly due me. The result is evidenced by my estate. Sickness and
disease have, the greater portion of my life, attended me with great
fidelity and I have suffered much from pain. That will cease;
when it does I urgently request that no prayer be made, and that no
sermon be preached or delivered over my remains by anyone who
professes to believe that there is an all-wise, all-powerful, and infinitely
just Being who now is, and always has been, abundantly able to pre
vent human suffering and all wrong-doing, but who does nothing,
and never has done anything, to stay or diminish either.
William B. Felker, Oshkosh, was born in the State of New York,
in February, 1837; came to Wisconsin in 1847 ; studied law in Oshkosh
with Judge E. Wheeler and C. W. Felker; was admitted to the bar at
Waupun in 1840; practiced at Shawano four years, at Omro six years,
in Oshkosh since that time in the firms of Finch & Felker four years,
Felker & Cleveland four years, and alone all the rest of the time.

the bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 431

CHICAGO ATTORNEYS FORMERLY OF WISCONSIN.
Charles A. Dibble was born in Herkimer county, New York, in
1842. His father was in the lumber business; moved to Columbia
county, in this state, in 1849, where Charles was reared and educated,
mainly. He is essentially self made, and a man self made is generally
well made, more likely to follow in the channel of his native incli
nations, and more fully develop his inherent abilities, as he has done.
When quite young he engaged in school teaching and continued in that
occupation until the outbreak of the war, when he enlisted in the Twenty-
ninth Wisconsin infantry — Colonel Charles R. Gill — and was sergeant in
that regiment, the history of which is on the credit side. At the battle
of Port Gibson, Mississippi, he was wounded, the result of which was
the loss of his left leg below the knee. His valor and bravery were evi
denced in his entire career as a soldier. When mustered out of the
service he returned to Columbia county and reengaged in school teach
ing there and in Fox Lake ; thence to Markham Academy in Milwau
kee, where he remained during the summer and fall of 1866, taking a
partial course in a law class in addition to his academic studies. In the
fall of that year he was elected clerk of the court of the ninth cir
cuit, and was reelected two successive terms. He made an efficient
court clerk. During this time he read law under the direction of Israel
Holmes, and was admitted to the bar in Dodge county, in the fall of
187 1. He resigned the clerkship that fall and went to Chicago the
day after the great fire, engaged in the practice of his profession,
has been there since, and with as great a degree of success in all
respects as any of the former Wisconsin lawyers, who have located in
Chicago. He takes an interest in matters pertaining to soldiers ; is
judge advocate of the Veteran Union League, and Grand Army Post
28, and is a highly respected member of those organizations. He is a
man of exemplary habits, and esteemed as a gentleman and citizen. In
1870 he married the daughter of Doctor Winter, formerly of Horicon,
where he built a hotel, which bears his name ; was surgeon of the Nine
teenth Wisconsin infantry ; now resides in Chicago, though engaged in
the manufacture of mineral paint, at Iron Ridge, Wisconsin.

432 the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
James M. Flower, was born in Oswego county, New York, March
10, 1835. His parents moved to Wisconsin when he was still a child,
and he received his education at the Wisconsin State University.
After graduating he entered the Albany Law School, and while there
was admitted to the bar in May 1859. On his return to Madison he
became a member of the firm of Abbott, Gregory, Pinney and Flower,
and when that firm dissolved, of the firm of Stevens, Flower and Morris.
Wishing to devote himself exclusively to one branch of the profession,
he moved to Chicago in January, 1873, and entered the firm of Tenneys,
Flower and Abercrombie, now Flower, Remy and Gregory, a firm univer
sally acknowledged to be composed of the most careful and successful
commercial lawyers in the West. Mr. Flower is a man eminently qualified
to inspire confidence as a lawyer ; having a clear, logical mind, great
energy, a cool and almost unerring judgment; and to these qualities
adding a thorough knowledge of the law. His life may well serve as a
stimulus to. all young men striving for eminence in the profession, as to
his own unaided efforts is due his success at the bar.
Stephen- S. Gregory, was born at Unadilla, Otsego county, New
York, November 16, 1849, and is the eldest son of J. C. Gregory,
of Madison, one of the leading lawyers of Wisconsin. He was
educated at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in the classical
course in 1870, with the degree of A.B., and from the law department
in 187 1 with the degree of LL.B., and he has since received the degree
of A.M. from his Alma Mater. After leaving college he continued the
study of law in the office of Gregory and Pinney, at Madison, and
having been admitted to the bar of the supreme court he commenced
practice at Madison, where he was for a time in partnership with J. D.
Gurnee. On July 1, 1874, Mr. Gregory became a resident of Chicago,
where he formed a law partnership with Arthur H. Chetlain. He
subsequently became, and now is, a member of the firm of Flower,
Remy and Gregory, which is one of the most successful in Chicago. Mr.
Gregory has shown especial talent in the trial of cases, and in difficult
matters of pleading, and he attends to a great part of the litigated
business of his firm. Mr. Gregory was married in 1879 to Miss Janet
Mclndoe Tappan, daughter of the late Captain Edward Tappan, of
Madison, and granddaughter of the late Arthur Tappan, of New York.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 433
Israel Holmes was born in Danube, Herkimer county, New York,
January 21, 1828, and is the son of John and Alida Herkimer Holmes.
Having been prepared in Fairfield Academy, he entered Union College,
from which he graduated in 1849. Adopting law for a profession, he
prepared for its duties in the state and national law school at Ballston
Spa, New York, where he ranked as a proficient student, foreshadowing
the success which has since been attained. In 1850 he was admitted
to the bar at Schenectady, New York, after which he was for a short
time in the office of Judge Eza Graves, at Herkimer ; he then taught
school a few years, and was principal of Fairfield Academy, New York.
He came to Wisconsin in 1854, and commenced the practice of law at
Portage, in which he was alone some years, afterward becoming
associated with G. C. Prentiss until 187 1, at which time he removed
to Chicago, when he became senior member of the firm of Holmes,
Rich and Noble. While at Portage, Mr. Holmes was district attorney
for Columbia county two terms, and has held no other office. During
his professional career in Wisconsin Mr. Holmes came to be one of
the first lawyers of the state, standing high as a conscientious and
faithful counsellor, as an able and forcible advocate, and is one of those
jurists who were conspicuous in illustrating the annals of the jurispru
dence of the state, which are noteworthy among similar annals in this
country. In Chicago, Mr. Holmes has found eminent success. His prac
tice has taken in very important cases; among these may with propriety
be mentioned the novel and notable case attracting wide attention at
the time, where the wife of the artist Elkins sued a saloon keeper for
twenty-five thousand dollars damages for selling liquor to her husband,
including in the suit the owner of the building and his renting agents.
As counsel for the owner of the building and the party through whom
the lease came down, Mr. Holmes, after long and laborious trial, made
an argument, in summing up, that was able and exhaustive, unsurpassed
in the history of any such case in this country, and was so pronounced
by the most competent judges who heard it. While residing in Wis
consin Mr. Holmes enjoyed the highest respect and esteem of his
fellow citizens, and it is no less true that the same friendly sentiment
toward him obtains in Chicago. Never seeking office or political
prominence, his modest and retiring disposition is coupled with the
demeanor of the true gentleman. Notwithstanding the press of duties
pertaining to his profession, he does not fail to indulge his taste for
25

434 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the better class of literature, and his estimable wife is noted in society
for her high literary attainments and personal accomplishments.
Lumley Ingledew is a Wisconsin lawyer now in Chicago, and has
been successful; has attained to it in a quiet and unostentatious way by
his industry and energy. The truly successful man is one who'
makes the most of his abilities and opportunities when turned into the
channel of his inclinations and native fitness and is faithful to himself
and to his early formed purposes, which is true of him. He was born in
Bradford, England, in 1837; his parents emigrated to Troy, Walworth
county, Wisconsin, in 1845, and engaged in farming, where Lumley
worked on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he set about obtain
ing an education; entered Milton College, and graduated in 1861, after
which he read law in Janesville, with the now Judge H. S. Conger and
Henry K. Whiton, and was admitted to the bar at Madison in 1863, and
was immediately thereafter commissioned by President Lincoln com
missary of subsistence with rank of captain, and was with the army of
the Cumberland during the war, with the exception of nine months,
when he was prisoner of war; part of the time in Charleston, South
Carolina, where he was one of the six hundred Union officers placed by
the confederate authorities under the fire of our own batteries during
the seige and bombardment of that city, and remained so exposed for
three months to protect the buildings. He was promoted by Lincoln to
the rank of brevet major in the same branch of the service, making an
honorable and creditable record; mustered out of the service in Octo
ber, 1865, when he went to Chicago and took a course in bookkeeping,
in Eastman's Business College, and was subsequently principal of book
keeping and commercial law in that institution for eighteen months;
when, in 1867, he engaged in the real estate and law business, and has
been so engaged since. While in Janesville he was one of the origi
nators and promoters of the Young Men's Literary Society, and was, as
he now is, a man of excellent habits, and highly respected.
John J. McClellan. What there is of a man which is creditable
and favorable is, as a rule, evidenced by what appears on the surface,
and what the public, generally an unerring critic, sees and knows of his
outward career; and, further, by what, he accomplishes that is known
and read of men — those who have to do with him in business or in

the bench and bar of Wisconsin. 435
society. A man who is worthy of any considerable attention from the
public, as identified with any legitimate calling, stands or falls upon his
merits — not always, but generally true. A judge who knew John J.
McClellan, the subject of this sketch, well, said of him : " He has an
active, vigorous mind; an accurate and extensive knowledge of law;
patient and persistent industry, and is the soul of honor." He has been
successful — won success by his native ability, energy, integrity and
faithfulness to those who entrust their interests to him. The purpose
of this sketch is to show the principal steps of his career leadihg up to
this result. He was born in Livingston, Columbia county, New York,
September 5, 1833; his father, Samuel R. McClellan, a physician, is of
Scotch descent, and his ancestors settled in Colerain, Massachusetts, in
1723; his mother's maiden name was Catherine Garner, of Dutch
descent;' her ancestors settled in Columbia county, New York, in 1793,
a commingling of two sturdy and vigorous peoples, both characterized
by intelligence and good common sense. In 1845 the family settled in
what is now Kenosha county, Wisconsin, where the father practiced his
profession, and improved a large farm, and, taking a deep interest in the
political as well as material interests of the new commonwealth, was
elected a member of the first constitutional convention, and subse
quently .of the state senate. John J. worked on the farm, attending
school winters, until seventeen years of age, when he entered a school
at Kenosha, where he remained two years, when he commenced the
study of law, to make it his profession, in the office of E. W. Evans,
then a prominent lawyer in Kenosha, late of the Chicago bar. In 1855
he entered the law department of the Albany University, graduated in
1856, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in the fall of the
same year in Oconto, in northern Wisconsin, and met with marked suc
cess. In the spring of 1857 he was elected district attorney, under a
new county organization, and, by successive reelections, continued to
hold the office until January, 1862, when he was appointed assistant
attorney-general under James H. Howe, the attorney-general, and after
ward under his successor, Winfield Smith, and was acknowledged by all
parties to be an efficient and faithful officer in that capacity. In March,
1863, he resigned this office and moved to Racine, and resumed the
practice of his profession. In May, 1864, he was appointed, by Presi
dent Lincoln, assistant quartermaster of volunteers, with rank of captain,
and placed in charge of Johnson's Island, Tallahasse, Florida, and other

436* the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
places; remained in this service until 1866, leaving it with a clean
balance sheet, and a record for faithful and honorable service. He then
moved to Chicago and resumed practice, first taking charge of the legal
affairs of the great dry goods house of J. V. Farwell & Company; sub
sequently formed a partnership with D. K. Tenney, and engaged mainly
in the practice of commercial law, building up an extensive and lucra
tive business, which has continued to this day. He is now engaged in
general practice, and is the senior member of the firm of McClellan,
Tewksbury & Cummins, in Chicago. This is one of the most reliable
and successful law firms in Chicago. In 1861 he married Julia G.
Wheldon, of Racine. They have two children, a daughter about eigh
teen, and a son about fourteen years of age ; a pleasant home and sur
roundings. D. K. Tenney was born at Plattsburg, New York, December 31,
1834, and removed with his parents to Ohio when less than a year old.
At the age of four he was placed at school, where he soon developed a
genius for orthography, for at the age of eight he accomplished the un
common feat of spelling down one hundred and fifty pupils at a spelling
match. His brothers, Horace and Henry, were publishing a newspaper
at Elyria, three miles from his home, and he was placed with them, where
he was kept at work three years, at the end of which time he could set a
column a day. The brothers going west, he returned home and attended
school again, until he was twelve years old, when he went to work on
the Ohio Observer, at Hudson, where he remained two years, during
which time he attended the preparatory department of the Western Re
serve College four months in each year. He then came to Wisconsin,
arriving, at the age of fifteen, at Madison, with a quarter of a dollar only
in hand. Here he worked at the case for his brother Horace, who was
publishing the Wisconsin Argus, setting type on Saturdays and vaca
tions, and attended the State University. At the end of two years he
went to Cleveland, Ohio, and worked as a journeyman printer in the
office of the Plain Dealer. Returning to Madison he continued in the
university to near the close of his sophomore year, when he left that in
stitution, on account of disagreement with the faculty, because he manly
refused to divulge the name of a fellow student who had been perpetrat
ing a bit of mischief. His leaving was voluntary, and he thenceforth
determined to seek fortune without rank or sheepskin. He then worked

THE bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 437
as foreman in the office of the State Journal at Madison to earn the
means to enable him to enter upon the study of the law, which, having
accomplished, he read law one year with his brother Henry, at Portage,
and afterward at Madison a year, acting during the time as deputy clerk
of the circuit court to keep himself in funds. On December n, 1855,
he was admitted to the bar when he was less than twenty-one years of
age. On the same day he entered into partnership with Thomas Hood,
and started in without a dollar.
Judge Hood retiring from practice in 1856, Mr. Tenney took into
partnership Charles T. Wakeley, and dissolved with him in i860. The
civil war coming on, Mr. Tenney was heart and soul for the Union cause,
but was prevented by ill health from entering the army, as well as the care
of two banks in which he had a large interest. Aside from his law prac
tice he was engaged in several business enterprises, among which was
the organization of the Northwestern Accident Insurance Company, in
which he was a large stockholder. Although doing a good business at
Madison, he determined, contrary to the advice of friends, to seek a
wider field for his law practice, and went to Chicago, and associated
himself with John J. McClellan in 1870. He met with immediate success ;
and his brother Henry left Madison also, and joined him. Soon after
Mr. McClellan was deposed from the firm and James M. Flower took his
place, and afterward the firm became Tenneys, Flower & Abercrombie.
The firm is not rivaled by any other in Chicago, either in quantity, quality
or income, and has reached a point where no further increase is desired.
Henry W. Tenney retired from the firm in 1879, and the firm became
Tenney, Flower & Cratty, the partners consisting of D. K. Tenney, J.
M. Flower, T. Cratty and S. S. Gregory. They represented in Chicago
many of the leading mercantile firms, and large corporations of Boston,
New York and Chicago, and did a business which perhaps in the amount
of money involved was never equaled by that of any firm at the Chicago
bar. fn 1882 Mr. Tenney retired from the practice at Chicago, and
resumed his residence at Madison, Wisconsin.
In 1864 Mr. Tenney visited Cuba, and in 1873, and again in 1880 made
an extended tour of Europe. In 1857 he married Miss Mary J. Marston,
at Madison, and their children are a son and a daughter. Mr. Tenney
has, evidently, been a hard worker, and relying upon himself alone, has
achieved a success in life that few, with every means at command, ac
complish. Through life, as we are informed, he has never been con-

438* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
scious of having willfully wronged any man, and his motto has stead
fastly been " to make a dollar a day and spend only seventy-five cents, "
— principles that, with fair ability and industry, will insure reasonable
success to the life of any man. Mr. Tenney has never sought political
preferment. In 1858, while he was president of the Sauk City Bank, he
was elected to the office of alderman in Madison, and again in 1867 he
was appointed by the governor upon a commission to revise and simplify
the laws relating to the assessment and collection of taxes, to which sub
ject he had paid considerable attention. Other than these two minor
appointments, he has never held a public office nor desired to do so.
When it is said further that the competition before the Chicago bar is
greater and more trying than at the bar of any city in the Union, and
when it is known that the subject of this sketch had, at the early age of
forty-five, by his own unaided efforts, secured a practice and influence
more commanding than that of any young man at that bar, it will at
once be recognized that Daniel K. Tenney is no ordinary man.
Ezra G. Valentine is one of the most successful of the young
lawyers who came to Chicago from Wisconsin. He is especially
entitled to credit since he was surrounded by circumstances not the
most favorable in the matter of his obtaining an education. The man
who attains success, having unlimited opportunities and surrounded
with the most favorable conditions, is not entitled to the same credit
as one who is obliged to make the circumstances and submit to and
contend with the conditions and make the most of such opportunities
as he may have. Under the latter circumstances the young man, if
he has the capacity to comprehend and measure himself, will make
the best use of them he can, and turn his abilities and talents into
the channel of his native inclinations and develop them to the full
est extent, and evolve in himself a true manhood if he be consci
entious and true to himself. Judged from such a standpoint Ezra
G. Valentine has been a successful man; has won success by his
native ability, energy, industry, faithfulness to the interests of his
clients, and strict integrity and unexceptionable habits; has devoted
himself to early imbibed principles, an early formed purpose, and to
his profession, earnestly and conscientiously, and has risen above the
majority of young lawyers in the way of substantial success.- He was
born in Wyoming county, New York, in 1847 ! his father was a

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 439
farmer ; left there, with his parents, when about nine years of age,
and located on a farm in Green Lake county, Wisconsin ; thence to
Ripon in 1859, where he commenced preparation for a c'ollegiate
course under the tuition of the now President Merrill ; from there
to Beloit College in 1864, and was in the preparatory department
one year, when he entered upon the classical course, and graduated
in 1869, standing high in scholarship.- He paid his own way in
college by teaching in the preparatory department and elsewhere
during vacations. After graduating he taught for a time in the deaf
and dumb institute at Delavan ; thence to Indianapolis, Indiana, where
he taught and read law, having access to such libraries as that of
General B. Harrison and others. In 1875 he came to Chicago; was
admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in 1877, and has since
been employed in several important cases. He successfully defended
the officers and trustees of the Delavan deaf and dumb institute
against charges of misdemeanors made by a former officer; the trial
was a notable one, lasting three months ; was associated with Lyman
Trumbull in the Republic Fire Insurance cases, and others. These
brief references to Mr. Valentine carry with them their own story.
He is a genial and unpretentious gentleman, highly respected ; a
reliable attorney and counselor; a good citizen, and in good circum
stances ; a member of the Episcopal church, and is a self-made man
in all respects.
Robert Forbes Winslow was one of the pioneers of Wisconsin.
The name Winslow is widely known in the early and later annals of
New England. It is among the old family names of England, where
the family, as an historic one, originated. The ancestors of the
Winslows in this country came to New England in the early part of
the sixteenth century. Robert F. is descended from John Winslow,
a brother of the first governor of Plymouth Colony, who married
Mary Chilton, the first woman who landed from the May Flower. He
was born in 1807 ; his father was Thomas Winslow, a native of Boston,
Massachusetts, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Forbes, of the
Island of Bermuda. The Winslows are a long-lived people ; the subject
of this mention, now past seventy-five, is in full mental and physical
strength and vigor; he is a brother of Dr. Forbes Winslow, deceased,
late of England, author of several medical works, notably of the juris-

440 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
prudence of insanity ; also brother of the late Reverend Dr Octavius
Winslow, of England, Baptist minister and author. Edward Winslow,
deceased, also a brother, was private secretary of Lord Lyndhurst dur
ing the time he was Chancellor of England, and was afterwards Master
in Lunacy. It is a family with a noteworthy history, many of its mem
bers having held high positions of state and others.
He received an academic education, read law with William Paxson
Hallett, who was subsequently clerk of the supreme court of New York.
He was admitted to the bar in New York city in 1840, where he prac
ticed with success until 1850. During this time he was colonel in
the militia, hence his title. He has hanging in his office to-day
a commission as notary public, issued to him by Governor DeWitt
Clinton, dated 1826, just before he reached his majority. He has held
such a commission since in the three states of New York, Wisconsin
and Illinois, continuously for fifty-five years, probably longer than any
other man ever held the office in this country. In 1851 he came to
Fond du Lac, landing first at Milwaukee, with a considerable amount of
money and a number of land warrants ; thence by boat to Green Bay
and thence to Fond du Lac. Being a man of close observation he had
an eye out for the main chance in the way of selecting lands on which
to locate his warrants. The captain of the steamboat remarked to him,
as they rounded the peninsula, that some day there would be a canal
from the lake across to Sturgeon Bay, making a great saving in dis
tance between Milwaukee and Green Bay. He comprehended the
force of the suggestion and preempted by warrants every forty acres of
the land between the head of the bay and the lake, where the canal
would likely to be constructed. When he arrived at Fond du Lac,
he engaged in practice, as attorney, and purchasing a farm near that city,
on which his family resided, his preemptions on the peninsula becoming
known, and being solicited to do so, he disposed of three-quarters of
his land at Sturgeon Bay to Governor Doty and others, at a large
advance over what it cost. A company was shortly thereafter organ
ized and a charter obtained from the legislature authorizing the company
to construct a canal just where the Sturgeon Bay canal now is, Messrs.
Winslow, Doty and others were named as corporators. The company
was duly organized, but Mr. Winslow, his wife and oldest son having
died, and also having lost very largely by fire, destroying his dwelling
house and a large and valuable library, he became disheartened and in

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 443
1855 left the state, and after he left the company did nothing about the
matter, and a new charter was obtained superseding that of Mr.
Winslow's and a new company organized by which, aided by large
grants of land from the United States government, the present canal has
been constructed. This incident is mentioned to show that he may
justly claim to be the father and originator, in a way, of that great
enterprise. At that early day Mr. Winslow traveled over the state a
good deal, by his own team, and made sundry investments in real estate.
He remained at Fond du Lac until 1855, when he went to Chicago,
and there engaged in the practice of law. He will be remembered by
the residents in Wisconsin at the time of his residence in that state,
especially in Milwaukee and Fond du Lac. He remained in Chicago
until 1858 and thence re-removed to Princeton, Bureau county, and
there engaged in the practice of his profession in partnership with
Milton J. Peters, a well known real estate lawyer. In 1861, by
request and by authority of the war department, he raised and drilled
a regiment of infantry in that county, with the purpose of going to the
front with it, but circumstances beyond his control were such that he
was compelled to abandon his military plans, yet he sent the men he
had so raised, and also three of his sons, to the war, who all served
until its close ; one of his sons died of wounds received in the war.
In 1863 he went to Lacon, Marshall county, and there followed his pro
fession until 1872, when he returned to Chicago, and has been there
since, doing a first-class professional business.
He married, in 1828, Caroline McKeeby, of Duchess county, New
York, who died in Fond du Lac in 1854. They had nine children,
seven of whom survive. He is a member of the second Baptist church,
in Chicago. He is a gentleman of the old school, clothed with becom
ing dignity, without vanity; courteous and gentle, conscientious and
unswerving in his fidelity to truth and uprightness; is a faithful and
reliable attorney and counselor; systematic, accurate and methodical
in preparing his cases, and has few equals in point of ability in pre
senting them to court or jury ; is true to his clients, and esteemed by
the members of his profession ; held in high regard by all who know
him as a citizen and gentleman. His life has been one of beneficent
activity.

444» THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

ATTORNEYS REMOVED TO DISTANT STATES.
Frederick W. Pitkin, Colorado. The bar and bench of Wisconsin
has sent forth many names which have added character and honor to
the profession, but none more so than the subject of this biography.
Though for some years a resident of Colorado, the- name of Frederick
W. Pitkin is a familiar one throughout Wisconsin, and his administra
tion as governor of the centennial state has proved of such a character
as to inspire the confidence of the public in his ability to govern a great
and growing state.
Governor Pitkin comes of New England stock, and is a descendant
of the Pitkins and Griswolds of Connecticut — names that are familiar to
readers of the early history of that state. He was born at Manches
ter, Connecticut, on August 31, 1837, and is now in his forty-fifth year.
After a preparatory course for college, his education was entrusted to
the faculty of Wesylan University at Middleton, where he entered in
1855, and graduated with credit three years later. Pursuing his studies
still farther, he entered upon a course at the Albany Law School, and
after graduating at that institution with distinguished honor, started for
the west to begin the practice of his profession, and located at Milwau
kee, Wisconsin,- in the year 1859. Commencing practice in that city
Governor Pitkin subsequently became associated with other practition
ers, at different periods. The firms with which he was connected were
Adams & Pitkin, Pitkin & Davis, Carter, Pitkin & Davis, and Palmer,
Hooker & Pitkin. While residing in Milwaukee Governor Pitkin was
engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice, and enjoyed the reputa
tion of high standing as a lawyer, and was universally esteemed as a
citizen, — everybody liked Mr. Pitkin. While all the gentlemen associa
ted with him in business in Milwaukee were lawyers of standing, those
comprised in the last named firm are distinguished in the city and state;
and to have been a member of their firm when they were engaged in
general practice, was no small honor to any man.
His introduction to Colorado was as an invalid seeking the benefits
of its climate for a system that had become enfeebled through long and
close attention to his law practice. His visit to the far west was the
result of advice, after a stay in the mountains of Switzerland, and
another on the shores of Florida, had been made without effecting any

<^~>^kl^

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 447
change in his condition. Governor Pitkin arrived in Colorado in 1874,
and, fully determined to give the climate the benefit of a thorough trial,
he went to the southern portion of the state, where the pure bracing air
soon gave him the relief he sought. For many months he lived in a tent,
traveling frpm place to place, and venturing into higher altitudes as he
became stronger and more invigorated. This mode of life was followed
until 1877, by which time he was so far restored as to be able to take up
his residence with his family in Ouray, in the San Juan mining country,
though usually passing his winters in the northern part of the state.
His nomination for governor by the republicans in 1878 was a com
pliment as unexpected as it was gratifying. The southern portion of the
state presented his name to the convention, and it met with unani
mous approval. The campaign was a long and bitter one. Its close
showed Governor Pitkin elected by a majority of nearly three thousand,
in a total vote of about thirty thousand. This was almost double the
majority ever given a republican candidate at previous elections. Fol
lowing close upon his inaugural, Governor Pitkin found himself called
upon to settle more perplexing questions than had ever fallen to the lot
of any former executive. A long and bitter warfare between two of the
railroad companies had been scarcely adjusted without loss to the state
or its interests, before an outbreak among the Ute tribe of Indians,
located on a reservation within the state, called for the greatest vigilance
and care. In this emergency Governor Pitkin was not slow to take meas
ures which would insure the entire safety of the people of his state. His
record on this question is familiar to the readers of the stirring events of
the times. Throughout the period when the border was threatened by
the savages, down to the day when the new treaty with the Utes was
signed at Washington, he remained an uncompromising advocate of the
rights of the white people of the state, and did all that was in his power,
both as the governor of the state, and by a personal visit to the authori
ties at Washington to secure the removal of the tribe from Colorado.
His reelection for a second term as governor, was a vigorous and
hearty endorsement of his first administration, though not anxious to
become burdened with the cares of the state for another two years, his
party solicited that he take the nomination which was tendered in a
manner more hearty and unanimous than two years previous. Although
a national campaign, the contest of the democracy was concentrated
against Governor Pitkin and the most strenuous efforts were made to

44§ THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
defeat him by the leaders of the opposition. His majority was nearly
double that given to any other candidate on the ticket, and demon
strated the popular sentiment that existed in favor of his administration.
The reins of government in a new and growing state are not easy
to manage. The increase of population and the extension of settle
ment into new sections are, attended with difficulties that cannot be
anticipated, but must be met and settled with promptness. Governor
Pitkin is essentially the man for such a trust. He is familiar with every
section of the state and can deal intelligently with questions affecting
each. His knowledge of its various industries enables him to further
such legislation as will enhance their interests. Believing that the
foundation of good government is justice, virtue and the common good,
he has endeavored to promote those views in other men, and entered
upon his second term with the confidence of the people whose welfare
is in his hands.
John R. Sharpstein, San Francisco, California, who for seventeen
years was a member of the Wisconsin bar, was born May 3, 1823, in the
town of Richmond, county of Ontario, State of New York. From five
to twelve years of age he attended the common school of the district in
which his parents lived. When he was twelve years of age his parents
moved to Michigan and settled upon a farm in the town of Ray, county
of Macomb, near the village of Romeo and about twenty-five or thirty
miles from Detroit. There, with the exception of six months in 1843,
during which he was a pupil in the Norwalk Seminary, of which the late
Bishop Thompson was principal, the subject of this sketch resided until
he was admitted to the bar. He was educated in the common schools,
in a select school taught by A. S. Welch, now president of the Iowa
Agricultural College, at the Norwalk Seminary of Ohio, and in what was
then a branch of the Michigan State University located at Romeo. He
was never graduated at any college. He read law at Romeo in the office
of William T. Mitchell, late a circuit court judge of Michigan. In
March, 1847, he was admitted to the bar of that state, and immediately
thereafter went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he met Judge Taylor,
General Hobart, Judge Gorsline, General E. Fox Cook, Messrs. Elmell,
Clinton, Hiller, Jennings, Howard and Williams, all of whom were his
seniors at the bar, and by all of whom he was treated with marked
kindness. He at first entered the office of General Cook, and after

¦THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 449
remaining with him for a few months opened an office by himself. In
the spring of 1848 Judge Taylor resigned the office of prosecuting
attorney of that county, and upon his recommendation Mr. Sharpstein
was appointed to fill the unexpired term. In the fall of 1847 the late
A. G. Miller held a short term of court in Sheboygan, and Mr. Sharp-
stein's first appearance in a court of record was during that term. One
year afterward the late Chief Justice A. W. Stow held a term of the state
circuit court there, and Mr. Sharpstein, as prosecuting attorney and
otherwise, had a fair share of the cases disposed of at that term. In the
earjy part of 1849 he left Sheboygan and went to Southport, since
known as Kenosha, to live. He at once opened a law office there, and
in 1850 was elected prosecuting attorney of that county. In 1851 he
was elected to the state senate, of which he was a member during the
years of 1852 and 1853. In May of the latter year he was appointed,
by President Pierce, attorney of the United States for the district
of Wisconsin, and in the fall of that year he removed to Milwaukee.
He held that office until the spring of 1857, when he resigned it. Dur
ing his incumbency a fugitive slave, named Glover, was arrested by the
United States marshal and lodged in the county jail to await an exami
nation under the fugitive slave law. Glover was rescued by a large
party of citizens who broke into the jail for that purpose. Several of
the rescuers were indicted by the United States grand jury and three of
them, including S. M. Booth, were tried and convicted. They were
promptly discharged by the supreme court of the state on habeas corpus.
The affair at the time caused considerable excitement. In the spring of
1856 Mr. Sharpstein became the proprietor of the Milwaukee News and
retained the editorial control of it for a period of about six years. In 185 7
he was appointed postmaster at Milwaukee by Mr. Buchanan, and held
the office a little over one year, when his term ended by the refusal of
the senate to confirm the nomination, fn i860 he was one of the dele
gates to the democratic national convention, which first assembled at
Charleston and then adjourned to meet at Baltimore. He was then a
firm supporter of Mr. Douglas, and looks back with as much satisfaction
upon that event, as he does upon any in his life. In the spring of 1862
he was appointed superintendent of schools in Milwaukee, and filled the
office until he resigned it in order to take a seat in the assembly to which
he was elected in the district composed at that time of the first and
seventh wards. Soon after the adjournment of the legislature he be-

450* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
came associated with H. L. Palmer, with whom he remained about one
year. In 1864 he left Milwaukee and went to San Francisco, where he
has since lived and practiced law, with the exception of two years while
he was judge of the twelfth district court in that city and the time which
has intervened since he took his seat at the commencement of 1880
upon the supreme court bench of California.
He was appointed district judge by Governor Booth, since United
States senator, to fill an unexpired term of two years which commenced
January 1, 1874, and ended January 1, 1876. He was elected to his
present position by the people of the state.
Soon after his admission to the bar he was married to his present
wife, and they have two sons, both living in San Francisco. His only
brother, who for many years lived and practiced law at Stevens Point,
Wisconsin, has lived for the past fifteen years at Walla Walla, Washing
ton territory, where he has a good practice in his profession. Judge
Sharpstein has always been a firm believer in the soundness of the doc
trines of" the democratic party, and as a general rule has supported the
nominees of that party, especially for president and vice-president of the
United States.

Cyrus Woodman, Cambridge, was born in Buxton, Maine, in
1814; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1836; read law with Hubbard
& Watts, in Boston, and was admitted to practice and opened an
office in Boston in 1839. In the latter part of that year he was em
ployed by The Boston and Western Land Company, owning lands in
Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin to superintend their interests, and he
accordingly went west for that purpose. He resided in Illinois for a
time, and in the year 1844 came to Wisconsin and located at Mineral
Point. At this place he opened a law office in connection with C. C.
Washburn, under the style of Washburn and Woodman. For several
years the firm did a large business, which consisted more in entering
land on time for settlers, and in general transactions, such as the early
settlers required, than in the practice of law in the courts. By square
dealing, the firm, both individually and jointly, at once established a
reputation for reliability, fairness and integrity, which was never ques
tioned or controverted. In their whole career, extending through many
years, no instance is known to have occurred of overreaching or of un-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 451
conscionable methods of practice. The same traits of character have
adhered to them through life, and they seem to have been inherent;
their record is clear and unsullied, and will bear the strictest scrutiny.
The business of the firm prospered, and, finally dissolving, the members
of it diverged into devious channels. Mr. Washburn continued to
reside in Wisconsin, and occupied positions of public trust to the great
satisfaction of the people. Mr. Woodman, having, by diligent attention to
business, acquired a competency, visited Europe with his wife and chil
dren, and remained there several years for educational purposes. One
of the sons, now a lawyer, was placed at school at Robert College on the
Bosphorus, of which Doctor Cyrus Hamlin was president. On his return
from Europe in 1859, Mr. Woodman returned to Mineral Point, but in
1863 removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he still resides
among the cultivated and refined society of that city. It can, with pro
priety, be said, that Mr. Woodman is a perfect model of a business man.
having system and regularity in every department. By his ability, edu
cation and natural disposition, he is qualified and is competent, in the
highest sense to occupy, with credit to himself and benefit to his
country, any place or position in the government, either state or
national. But he never has sought, and probably would not accept,
political promotion, having absolutely and persistently refused it while
a resident of Wiscdnsin.

John M. Thurston, Omaha, Nebraska. Of the many members of
the bar who have left Wisconsin and gone west for business, there are
none, perhaps, who went so young and so soon arrived to distinction as
John M. Thurston. He is a native New Englander, having been
born in Montpelier, Vermont, August 21, 1847. At the early age
of seven years his father's family came to Wisconsin, making Madison
their first stopping place, and three years later they went to Beaver
Dam for permanent location. Here young Thurston grew up. His
father, a man of limited means, could not afford him the facilities for a
high education, but young Thurston managed to overcome these obsta
cles by working on the farm in the summer and pursuing his studies
during the winter. Thus he was enabled to complete a collegiate
course, graduating from Wayland University at the age of twenty. Im
mediately entering upon the study of law with E. P. Smith, now of the

452 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Milwaukee bar, he was admitted to practice May 21, 1869, at Portage, by
Judge Alva Stewart. This was when he was only twenty-one years of
age. In October of the same year he sought newer fields for professional
labor, and located in Omaha, since which he has risen to the front rank
of his profession, and has filled various positions of honor and public
trust. In April, 1872, he was elected a member of the city council, and
served two years, during which time he was its acting president, and
was also police justice of the city by appointment, for portions of the
same period, and in 1874 he was elected city attorney, and while holding
the office was elected a member of the legislature. While serving in
that body he was chairman of the committee on the judiciary, and act
ing speaker of the house.
Having been continued in the office of city attorney until April,
1877, he resigned the position to accept that of assistant attorney of the
Union Pacific Railway Company, which situation he now holds. In the
fall of 1875 he was nominated by unanimous vote of the republican
convention as candidate for judge of the third judicial district of the
state, and was defeated by a small majority only, and solely on account
of his youth. Of this nomination a townsman of his says: This is by
far the most important judicial district in the state, and the fact that
Mr. Thurston was the unanimous choice of the convention that placed
him in nomination, furnishes substantial and striking evidence that he
enjoys the popular confidence and esteem in a most eminent degree.
Mr. Thurston is still a very young man, only twenty-eight, but the
political history of this progressive state does not present a parallel to
his remarkably successful public career. Unlike many other promising
young men, who from time to time shoot up in our political horizon like
sky rockets and come down like so many sticks, Mr. Thurston has,
since his advent among us, six years ago, made steady progress, rising
from one position of public trust and responsibility to another, until
now he stands before the people a candidate for the position so ably
filled by Chief Justice Lake. Coming to Nebraska a stranger, without
money and without political backing, John M. Thurston has by perse
vering industry and devotion to duty risen from comparative obscurity
to enviable eminence. His best recommendation is his public record.
As justice of the county courts, councilman, city attorney, and legislator,
Mr. Thurston has served the people of Omaha and Douglas county with
ability and fidelity. While liable to error like all other men Mr.

C/Lfn.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ¦ WISCONSIN. 455
Thurston's reputation for probity has never been called in question.
Always an ardent republican, Mr. Thurston has gradually been drawn
into politics, taking an active and conspicuous part in all party move
ments. The state convention of 1878 was accounted the bitterest and
most strongly contested of any ever held in the state, and of this he was
a member. Of the part he took in its proceedings a contemporary
says: "Judge Thurston was the ruling spirit of the convention. His
answer to the charge that he was a Union Pacific attorney, carefully
prepared and splendidly enunciated, was as fine a thing as the eloquence
of Nebraska has ever produced. And not only in that introduction to
his speech -in the contest, but in the management of the whole contest,
from beginning to end, he displayed a fertility of resource and executive
ability that, added to his power as a speaker, carried everything before
him. Even after the Douglas county contest had been decided the
mantle' did not fall from his shoulders. Against every move of the
opposition was Thurston, tall, commanding, attaching the unconscious
respect and friendliness of all — and to him belongs more than to any
other man the glory of the glorious victory of true republicanism." Mr.
Thurston possesses the rare gift of ready public speaking, and it may
not be too much to say that he is one of the acknowledged leading
orators in the state. He has stumped the state in every local and
national 'campaign for several years, and is recognized as the man who
has organized victory for the republican party in Nebraska. During the.
contest for nomination of president in 1880, Mr. Thurston was one of
the leaders of the Grant element in Nebraska. Though defeated in his
efforts to carry the state for Grant, he headed a large delegation of Ne
braska's most prominent politicians who went to Chicago to work for
the nomination of the general. At the great Grant mass-meeting in
Dearborn Park on the night before the national convention, he was one
of the speakers. In its report of that meeting an Omaha paper says :
" Thurston followed Fred Douglas and General Logan, and he roused
heartier cheers than either when he said : The safety of a republican
government is in the intelligence of the people, and I know the intelli
gence of this people must make them believe that the man, who in the
hour of the nation's peril saved its life, will never, never seek to strangle
its liberty." There was a thunderburst of applause which rolled over
26

456 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the whole assemblage, to the very outskirts, and the following portions
of his speech were greeted with cheers long continued.
Though disappointed in his first choice for president, Mr. Thurston
took an active and energetic part in the election following, canvassing
his own and other states with signal success. At the Nebraska state
convention he was nominated by acclamation as one of the presidential
electors, and was afterward selected as electoral messenger to carry the
vote to Washington. In 1879 the state appropriated the sum of ten
thousand, dollars for the criminal prosecution of Olive and others, in
what was known over the5 country as the great Man Burner case,
which was the most celebrated criminal case ever tried in the state, and
Mr. Thurston was employed by the governor to assist the attorney-
general in the management of the cause in behalf of the state. In the
arguments of counsel he was accorded the honor of making the closing
address to the jury. At the time, it was pronounced by the press as one
of the greatest efforts of the kind ever made in the state. A leading
paper said: "Mr. Thurston addressed them in that clear tone, concise
logic and faultless language, for which he is growing so rapidly famous
throughout the state." His two and a half hours' address closed with
the following eloquent peroration, which is here given to show the
inimitable style of the orator : " They say there are mitigating circum
stances that surround this crime and make it less than murder. Was
it a mitigating circumstance that he dragged his victim from his home
— from the fond embraces of a loving wife, from the sweet voices of his
little children, bound, chained and shackled? Was it in mitigation that
he bore him away from the habitations of mankind into a lonely canon,
into the silence of the night, the solitude and darkness ? Was it in miti
gation that no loving hands were there to sustain him in that awful hour
of need, no loving voice to whisper words of consolation or of hope, no
loving eyes to look once more into his own with deathless love, no
children's voices whispering a last goodbye? Was it in mitigation that
no time was given him to send a message back to those behind — a
single word they might remember in the after years? Was it in mitiga
tion that no single instant was his own in which to breathe a prayer, in
which to reconcile his soul to God, before he passed from out the shad
ows into his awful presence ? Had I the painter's brush I'd paint a
justice for humanity — a justice for civilization — a justice for a liberty-
loving people — a justice for the nineteenth century, the glorious age in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 457
'which we live. I'd paint that justice as a living, breathing, glowing
woman, with rosy cheeks and gentle brow, and eyes that could look in
sorrow not in anger on a sinful world. Within her bosom there should
be a human heart that beat and throbbed and thrilled with human
sympathy, human pity and human love. Her ears, that listened to the
evidence should be attuned to the sweet voices of her children calling
'Mother.' Her lips, that spoke the law and pronounced the judgment
should be fresh from singing them lullaby songs ; and the hands and
arms that held the scales and wielded the sword should be used to
dandle little babies on her knee, and holding them to her mother breast.
And do you think that this Mother Justice would be pitying to those
who stilled her children's voices in the silence of the grave ? Would
she have love and sympathy for those who hushed the lullaby upon her
lips, and bathed her bosom in the blood of her babes ? Would she be
merciful to those who crucified her sons in chains ? — those sons who
" Not being Christs, died with eyes turned away
And no last words to say."
I have stood — you have stood — we all have stood by the side of those
we loved, and watched them go down into the mystic shadows of the
vale of death. We have wiped with loving hands from the agonized
brow the death-damp gathered there, and held the cooling cup to the
burning lips; and we have held the helpless hands, and looking in the
anxious eyes, have whispered words of hope and trust and faith ; and
then, when all was over, we have gently closed their eyes, and on their
bosoms crossed their lifeless hands and left them with their God. But
this man died with no loving hands upon his brow — no loving wife to
hold the cup unto his burning lips — no loving eyes to look into his
own — no loving voice to whisper words of hope. He died in the wil
derness, without a friend. Facing his death as heroes face it, without a
word, without a moan he died. And there, throughout the watches of
that awful night, his burned and blackened body cried aloud for ven
geance. Oh, gentlemen, when you are asked to look upon the tears of
those who love this man — upon the little children gathered at his side,
I ask you to think of those whose hearts have bled, in silence and alone
— whose eyes have wept in bitterness and despair until the fountain-
head of tears is dry and burning. And remember that while you need
not answer to the clamor of the people, the prejudice of the press, or
the passions of your own hearts, you must answer for the justness of

459 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
your verdict as you will answer in that last great day to your consciences
and to your God."
When he finished, the whole assemblage, men and women, were in
tears. What gave this trial great prominence was that Olive was a very
wealthy stock breeder, 'and he had hosts of powerful friends in the
state ; he was convicted of murder, and sentenced to stated prison for
life. So strong was the feeling in all the state in the contest that the
military was called out to protect the prosecution at the trial. To be
opposed to Olive required nerve, and he had powerful counsel to de
fend him. Mr. Thurston was married in 1872 to Miss Mattie L. Poland,
formerly of Viroqua and Madison, Wisconsin, at which latter place she
completed her education at the State University. They have had three
sons, of whom only one survives, Mr. Thurston is a member of the
masonic fraternity, and is 33 years of age. A better record, for so
young a man, as has been narrated in this sketch, is rarely to be found.
John C. Starkweather, Washington, was born at Cooperstown,
Otsego county, New York, May n, 1830, and his parents were George
A. and Elizabeth G. Starkweather. His education was in the military
school of Major Duff, Cooperstown ; at Gilbertsville Academy, and at
Union College, Schenectady. He studied law with his father at Coop
erstown and with Finch & Lynde, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; was admitted
to the circuit court at Milwaukee, February n, 1851, and commenced
practice in that city alone ; afterward was in partnership with William
H. Wright, and subsequently with his father under the firm of G. A. &
J. C. Starkweather, and he has been in practice alone in Washington,
District of Columbia, since 1876.
Distinguished in public and in his professional life, General Stark
weather commenced serving the community as foreman of Supply Hose
Company, Milwaukee ; he next extered upon a military career in the
state militia, and was captain of the Milwaukee Light Guard from April
10, 1857, to April 17, 1861, at which latter date he was commissioned
colonel of the First Wisconsin Regiment of volunteers, raised for three
months' service on the first call for troops in the late war of the rebellion.
Having served out the term of enlistment the regiment reorganized for
three years' service, and Colonel Starkweather was recommissioned
colonel of it, August 21, 1861, and participated in twenty-seven battles
and skirmishes ; was wounded in his left leg in the battle of Chicka-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 459
mauga, September 20, 1863, at the same time had an attack of hemor
rhage of the lungs, yet remained on duty, notwithstanding, throughout
that and the next day. It is notable that no part of his command ever
met with any disaster while on detached or other duty. His name was
placed on the army roll of honor for good conduct and bravery. He
afterward was member of the court-martial that tried General W. A.
Hammond, surgeon-general United States army. On July 17, 1863,
Colonel Starkweather was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and
resigned May 11, 1865, when the war was virtually ended. After re
turning home from the war he made his residence at Oconomowoc, Wis
consin, upon his farm, and was appointed postmaster, which office he
held during his residence at that place. He was president of the Wau
kesha County Agricultural Society when residing in that county. It
would be pleasing to speak at length of the military career of General
Starkweather, but it is not within the scope of this work to go into
details of the war record of those represented in it. It may be, how
ever, sufficient to say that the general was the first to respond in Wis
consin to his country's call in the hour of approaching danger, and led
the first troops Wisconsin sent to the defense of the government in its
day of peril, and he was constantly in active service until the close of the
eventful struggle that followed. His duties were constantly at the front,
and the manner in which they were performed was conspicuous and
meritorious. That he has been prosperous as a lawyer may be inferred
from the fact that, when a youthful practitioner, he obtained a flattering
share of law business alongside of the able members of the Milwaukee
bar, and has met with success in his profession in five years' practice in
the city of Washington, where acknowledged ability alone is presumed
to find recognition and demand in the legal profession.
John A. Bentley, Denver, Colorado, is a native of the State of
New York, having been born in the town of Kingsbury, Washington
county, January 27, 1836. His parents were Cornelius and Mary
Brayton Bentley. They were in independent circumstances, highly
respected in the community in which they lived, and took special care
to bring up their children to habits of industry and morality. John A.
passed his early days on his father's farm and attending the public
schools and an academy in the neighborhood of his native place. Hav
ing completed his education he commenced the study of the law with

460, the bench and bar of Wisconsin.
the late Judge E. H. Rosenkrans of the supreme court of New York and
Orange Ferris, both of Glens Falls, Warren county, New York, con
tinued it later with U. G. Paris, of Sandy Hill, Washington county, New
York, and graduated at the Albany Law School in 1857, which admitted
him to practice in the courts of the State of New York. During the
prosecution of his law studies Mr. Bentley devoted a portion of his time
in the commendable and culturing employment of teaching school to
enable him to defray his expenses.
Immediately upon his admission to the bar he established himself in
his profession at Glens Falls, where he remained until March, 1859,
when he came to Wisconsin, settling at first in Manitowoc; he practiced
there one year, when he transferred his business to Sheboygan, where
has been his place of residence to the present time. His practice has
been alone excepting for three brief periods of partnership with the late
Judge W. R. Gorsline, G. W. Werden and W. H. Seaman, all at Sheboygan.
In 1864 Mr. Bentley was elected to the state senate, and served with
acceptance. Subsequently he was president of the Sheboygan and Fond
du Lac railroad, in which capacity he was active manager two years.
In 1876 he was tendered the position of United States commissioner of
pensions, which he accepted and at once entered upon the duties of the
office. He found a vast deal of unfinished and complicated work on
his hands, and gave his entire time, night and day, to putting the affairs
of the office in order, completing which he addressed himself to needed
reforms in the outside workings of the bureau. In doing this he met
with violent opposition from professional pension agents, inasmuch as he
brought about the system of pensioners dealing directly with the depart
ments. His recommendation was likewise adopted of concentrating the
government pension agencies. It may not be saying too much to add
that the state is reasonably proud of the impartial, independent and suc
cessful manner in which Commissioner Bentley has performed the re
sponsible duties of the high office he so occupied. And all this for less
remuneration than his regular law business would naturally afford him.
Mr. Bentley is still young, in the best of health, and has years of con
tinued usefulness before him.
Since this sketch was prepared Mr. Bentley, having served out his
term of commissioner of pensions, relinquished the office and has settled
down in the practice of law in Denver, Colorado.

the bench and BAR OF WISCONSIN. 461
Enoch Totten, Washington, D. C, was born in Chester, Wayne
county, Ohio, March 23, 1836. Commencing his education in the com
mon schools of that period, it was continued in academies and completed
at Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio. For a start out in the world
he came to Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1855, where he commenced the
study of law in 1856, and subsequently went to Milwaukee and continued
it in the office of Levi Hubbell. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar
for Milwaukee circuit court, and to that of the supreme court at Madi-
> son in 1861. His practice was commenced in Milwaukee in i860, in
partnership with Captain Irving M. Bean, the present collector of inter
nal revenue for the first district of Wisconsin. At the breaking out of
the war of the rebellion both entered the military service as officers in
the Fifth Wisconsin infantry. On the close of his term of service Major
Totten was mustered out, August 2, 1864, as major of his regiment. As
a soldier he has specially distinguished himself for gallantry in the field,
having participated in twenty-eight battles of the army of the Potomac.
In May, 1864, he was in command of his regiment in the battles of the
Wilderness; was several times wounded; had a horse shot under him
on May 5, 1864, and on May 10 received a most painful wound, crip
pling his right hand. His regiment was one of twelve which, under Gene
ral Emory Upton, formed the assaulting column that captured the ene
my's works at Spottsylvania Court House. In the fall of 1864 he
returned to his home in Milwaukee, and shortly afterward received
the nomination of the republican party for the office of district
attorney. He was popular and much admired, and made a '-' splendid
run," but was not elected, owing to the great preponderance of demo
cratic voters at that time in Milwaukee. Soon after Major Totten
removed to the city of Washington, and commenced the practice
of his profession, where he has continued it to the present time, with
increasing success and distinction. In 1866 he married Miss Mary H.
Howe, the accomplished daughter of the present postmaster-general
T. O. Howe. In 1868 he was retained by E. M. Stanton, then secre
tary of war, in the celebrated McCardle case, and the brief filed by him
was regarded as a very superior one, and stamped him as a lawyer of
marked ability. He also argued the celebrated case of Kilbourn against
Thompson, in the supreme court of the United States, in which the
practice of imprisoning witnesses for contempt when refusing to answer
questions put by investigating committees of either house of congress

462 ' THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
was declared unconstitutional and overturned. At the present time he
is attorney for the Pennsylvania Railway Company and other large cor
porations. The causes that he engages in are always prepared with
extreme care, and he is a stern and bold fighter in the courts. Outside
of them Colonel Totten is a warm-hearted, companionable gentleman,
whose personal traits are extremely attractive ; is generous to a fault,
and has hosts of admiring friends, who predict for him a distinguished
future. Charles W. Roby, Portland, Oregon, was born at Stoughton, Wis
consin, April 20, 1850, and was educated at Stoughton and at the Wis
consin State University. Completing the course in the law department
of the university in 1872, he received the degree of LL.B., and was
admitted to the bar. After practicing about a year in Madison he
removed to Winnebago county, where, in 1874, he was made county
superintendent of schools. The next year he removed to La Crosse
and engaged in teaching for two years or more. In 1877 he com
menced the practice of law at La Crosse, and also held the office of
city superintendent of schools during the years of 1877, 1878 and
1879, but in 1880 he again devoted himself exclusively to the law.
At the age of nine years Mr. Roby was thrown entirely upon his own
resources for a living. He began teaching school at the age of sixteen
years, by which means he not only succeeded in securing a liberal
education, but has aided in the support of his mother. The dean of
the law faculty, now a distinguished judge, observes: "Mr. Roby is
a young man of fine attainments, good abilities and unblemished
character." In 1880 Mr. Roby went to Portland, Oregon, where he
has taken up his residence.
Champion S. Chase, Omaha, Nebraska, was born in Cornish, New
Hampshire. In early life he worked on a farm, but subsequently re
ceived a liberal education at the Kimball Union Institution at Meriden,
New Hampshire, and commenced life for himself as teacher of the
academy at Amsterdam, New York. He studied law at Buffalo with
Barker & Sill, and was admitted to the bar at Canandaigua, in the
same state, in 1847. Like many other young men, he went west, and
commenced the practice of law at Racine, Wisconsin, about the first
of May 1848. On motion of Daniel Webster he was admitted to the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 463
supreme court of United States in 1851. Two years later the
governor of Wisconsin appointed him brigadier-general of the state
militia. He was in the same year — 1853 — ¦ elected president of the
Racine board of education. He took an active part in politics.
In 1855 we find him at Philadelphia as one of the delegates to the na
tional republican convention that nominated Fremont for the presidency.
He was in the same year elected to the state senate, in which he served
as chairman of the judiciary committee, and in 1858 supervised the
revision of the statutes of the state. In 1857 he was elected state
attorney of the first judicial district. In 1862 President Lincoln ap
pointed him paymaster U. S. A., and in 1865 he was* promoted to
the rank of colonel, in acknowledgment of his distinguished services
during the Gulf campaign. He came to Nebraska in 1866, and settled
down in Omaha as an attorney. In 1867 he was appointed attorney
general, an office he held for two years, and in which he gave general
satisfaction, fn 1869 was elected for six years one of the regents of
the State University. In 1874 he was chosen by an overwhelming ma
jority in every ward mayor of Omaha, and was in April, 1875, reelected
to the same post for a term of two years, thus becoming centennial
mayor. To say anything about his career as mayor would be super
fluous, for every German-American citizen agrees that Colonel Chase
was the best mayor Omaha ever had. Colonel Chase was elected
mayor of Omaha for the third time in April, 1879, for the term of
two years, and is known throughout the Northwest as the "veto mayor."

464 THE. BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

REMINISCENCES OF GREAT ADVOCATES OF THE
WISCONSIN BAR.
While it may be truly claimed that the bar of this state comprises
many members of acknowledged learning and ability, as well as many
who are distinguished more especially as powerful and successful advo
cates, it may not be invidious to mention some of those who have
stood preeminent in the profession, particularly where they have acquired
a national reputation. Few lawyers have ran a judicial career in this
country, if, indeed, in any other, whose efforts in the courts have ranked
with those of Edward G. Ryan, Matthew H. Carpenter, Jonathan E.
Arnold, Abram D. Smith, and George B. Smith. There are others of
eminence who are worthy of mention, did space permit. But all of
those named have ended their race, and it may therefore be safe to sum
up their traits of character, and allude to their professional and public
achievements, without seeming to be unjust or partial.
Much of Mr. Ryan's power as an advocate was due to the heat and
glow of passion into which he uniformly precipitated himself when
addressing a court or a jury in a case which had deeply interested his
feelings. He was always a forcible and interesting speaker; but his flow
of language was never so clear, his perceptions were never so acute, his
imagination was never so vivid, as when his passions were excited by
his interest in the case on trial, or the subject of his argument. Some
of his political addresses were characterized by the highest eloquence
and the most forcible rhetoric, because he was an impassioned politi
cian, and he always spoke, when he made political speeches, in a blaze
of enthusiasm or of indignation. In many of the lawsuits in which his
great arguments occurred, his earnestness, his zeal and power, were
stimulated by his personal feelings. This was notably the case as to
the part taken by him in the Hubbell impeachment, in the Booth-Cook
prosecution, and in the Noonan-Wilson libel suit. But he always
became deeply interested in cases which he tried ; and his force, acute
ness and eloquence as an advocate were superior to those of any other
member of the Wisconsin bar.
An analysis of the style of Matt. H. Carpenter as an advocate is
hardly necessary to those who have heard him so recently in his splen
did political addresses, for he always argued his cases in politics as

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 465
closely and as logically as he did his cases at law. One of the most
marked effects which he ever produced in a court of justice was at the
trial of Capt. Charles A. Perry, at Janesville, in 1866, for shooting one
Jack Shay at Elkhorn, just at the close of the war. Shay had been a
member of Capt. Perry's company, in the Third regiment of Wisconsin
cavalry volunteers, and the testimony on the trial showed him to have
been an insubordinate, brawling and reckless member of the company,
abandoned in his habits, and a dangerous character, and that he had
continuously during a large portion of his term of service threatened to
shoot Capt. Perry when his time should be out. He had been dis
charged from the service, and had gone to Elkhorn, the home of Capt.
Perry, having no ostensible business or errand there, but saying to
different parties while on the way that he "was going to Elkhorn to
shoot Capt. Perry." Witnesses testified that Capt. Perry had heard that
Shay had arrived in town, and taking a station on the street where Shay
was likely to pass, Perry shot him as he appeared, claiming that the
killing was necessarily done in self-defense. Mr. Carpenter arose after
the trial had lasted several days to argue the case for the defense to the
jury. He began the argument as no advocate ever before began one.
Said he : Gentlemen of the jury, whatever may be the result of this
trial to my client, the defendant here, — whatever may be your verdict
as to him, f congratulate you and all the peaceable citizens of this state
that Jack Shay is dead! He stamped his foot, and threw all the earnest
ness and dramatic power of which he was capable into this exclamation,
and then made a deliberate pause. It had almost taken away the breath
of the members of the jury, and electrified the audience. As the full
force of his words was comprehended by his auditors, he proceeded to
describe the character of Shay again as it had appeared in the testi
mony, and when he had concluded but few differed from the opinion
which he had expressed. He succeeded in procuring a disagreement of
the jury, and the ultimate discharge of Capt. Perry on his own recogni
zance, the case standing in that condition to this day. But Mr. Car
penter's oratory was not usually of this dramatic description. He was
essentially a pleasing speaker. His voice was music. It was intoned
and modulated with exquisite adaptedness to the occasion, the language
and the sentiment, and he rarely shocked good taste, or ruffled the
enjoyment of his auditors. His first appearance in the supreme court
at Washington was an era at that bar. Imagination and fancy, anima-

466 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
•
tion and eloquence, had long been banished from that forum ; but he
made them again familiar, and the old judges hung delighted upon the
tones of his silvery voice and the honied accent with which he enun
ciated the dry propositions of the law. For some years afterward an
announcement that " Mr. Carpenter, of Wisconsin, is arguing a case,"
was sufficient to empty the offices in the capital of their clerks and
attendants, and if congress was in session at the time, senators and
members rushed to the supreme court room to hear the new orator from
the West.
It has been said of both Mr. Ryan and Mr. Carpenter that they
lacked aptness in appreciating the simplest and strongest points of their
cases. They both appeared to disdain the easy and elementary propo
sitions upon which often the best side of their cases rested, and they
sought profounder depths of principle and recondite features of the
suit for the basis of argument and demonstration. For this reason it
has been charged that they lost cases which they might have won,
because they abandoned common, tenable grounds which anybody could
see, and labored to build up artificial defenses. They spied out minor
corners of advantage, and odd incidents of the case, upon which they
built and piled up elaborate structures of logic or of sophistry, splendid,
massive and beautiful, but not sufficient in law for the purposes of their
creation. It is also said that in some such cases which these distin
guished men tried, and in which they were successful, the court gave
them judgment, not on the elaborate, factitious grounds and fanciful
premises where their arguments were laid, but on a few primary princi
ples lying in each instance at the very threshold of the case, but never
presented by the counsel. This trait of their professional character was
based on pride of intellect, on a vanity in their powers of comprehen
sion and thought, — the arms with which they entered upon the battles,
the assaults and the defenses of professional warfare. They disdained
a victory gained with all the advantage of strength, position and equip
ment. Those triumphs were alone valuable in their eyes which were
the result of argument, of logic, of eloquence ; of their mental armament,
their skill and valor. This rendered them unsafe as counsellors, and
impaired their usefulness to the numbers who thronged to their sides
for professional aid.
They both also had weaknesses of which the greatest lawyers are
free. Mr. Ryan's tempestuous sensibilities and impulsive passions

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 467
often led him into needless wrangles with the courts, with his clients
and with other counsel, rupturing his professional relations, and re
sulting in his abandonment of cases when they were half tried, and
for a long period of years he became an entire alien from some courts
of the state. Mr. Carpenter, while capable of intense application,
while his labors in some cases were immense and arduous, suffered
from a lamentable mental infirmity; he often became ineffably weary
of his cases, his clients, his round of professional duty, his channels of
thought and study ; it all became to him monotonous, irksome and
intolerable; he sought novelty and recreation, new cases, new faces,
new intellectual occupation ; and when he returned to some old case
to bring it to trial, his distaste for it had grown into carelessness and
weariness, which required an effort to overcome.
Mr. Carpenter's war speeches, from the earliest opening of hostilities
to the close of the rebellion, were all splendid and eloquent; they were
ablaze with the fires of patriotism, thrilling in their appeals, and were
animated by a zeal and earnestness such as he seldom displayed in his
legal arguments or his other political addresses. He had been a demo
crat, and he was the leader and gave the impulse to the movement of war
democrats in the state. Mr. Ryan and Mr. Carpenter were law part
ners for a few months in the year 1857, but they soon disagreed,
quarreled and separated, and they had no friendly feeling for each
other afterward. Mr. Ryan's opinions in relation to war questions
were very conservative, and he condemned many of the war measures
and plans for prosecuting the war. Ill-natured observers suggested
that Mr. Carpenter's Union zeal and his brilliant advocacy of war
measures were stimulated quite as much by his dislike of Mr. Ryan and
his determination to be on the side opposite to his rival, as by pat
riotism and public spirit ; but this was never asserted by those who were
capable of appreciating the man, or by those who had any sympathy
with the patriotic sentiments -he avowed.
Jonathan E. Arnold was a much less forcible orator in both sub
stance and manner than either Mr. Carpenter or Mr. Ryan. His style
was carefully elaborated. His most eloquent passages were industriously
prepared, were polished to the last degree of luster, and were committed
literally to memory ; but his art and animation in their delivery were
such that they had all the appearance of inspiration, and of having been
suggested by the previous train of thought, from excitement of the mind

468 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
and the passions, and from the impulses of the time and the occasion
His arguments were of great strength, because they were so clear, so
closely welded, and so free from flaws, from seams and imperfections.
As a logician he was superior to either Mr. Ryan or Mr. Carpenter.
Pride of intellect did not lead him, as it did them, to despise the first
principles of law and the first testimony as to facts, when he entered
upon a case, for the sake of abstruse and sublimated principles upon
which it might be argued and determined. He never neglected or threw
away an obvious advantage, and he was as well satisfied to win a case
on an easy and obvious point as he was to reach it after toilsome mental
endeavor, in high-flown regions of speculation and argument.
Mr. Arnold had a thin and husky voice, as if his vocal organs had
been impaired by over-exhaustion, dissipation or disease ; but it was
quite powerful, and could be heard far away in vast crowds. He modu
lated it with great skill. It had a certain power and penetration, and it
had a magnetic effect on large and sympathetic audiences. His gesticu
lation was animated and graceful, and he possessed forensic dignity,
with exquisite tact in discovering the approachable sides of juries,
crowds, witnesses, and his companions in social intercourse.
He had no vein of humor in his mind, which was crystalline in its
lucidity and like steel in its fibre and texture. He had an exquisite
sensitiveness and dread of absurdity which was almost a disease in its
manifestation. He could not endure rough edges in argument, or mal-
construction of ideas and language. This trait of mental character
rendered his logic more perfect. He was the first to detect an awk
wardness or contradiction which it might contain ; or, rather, it led him
to construct his argument without awkwardness, weak spots or inconsis
tency in detail and arrangement. He was slight in figure, and he
lacked mental as he was without physical robustitude; but he was lithe
and sinewy in his body and in his intellect. He was adroit and skillful
in the use of every mental and moral power which he possessed. He
was a charming gentleman in his every-day demeanor, in his social
intercourse, at the festive board, and in professional life, and he was
quick to take offense where the personal or professional amenities were
violated. One of the most remarkable scenes which ever occurred in a
court-room in this state was produced by this cause. In one of the
innumerable lawsuits in which the late John Roesbeck was concerned,
J. H. Paine was his counsel and Mr. Arnold was employed to assist in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 469
the trial of the case, the other side being represented by A. D. Smith.
It appeared that Roesbeck's case was without merits, and at the stage of
the trial where this fact became evident, Mr. Smith, probably half or
more than half in badinage, assumed a high moral tone, and delivered
to Mr. Paine and Mr. Arnold a pompous and unctuous homily on the
immorality of advising a client who had no case to go into court, putting
him to expense and loss, and making him ridiculous, for the sake of the
professional profits and fees which they were to receive. Mr. Arnold
did not at all enter into the humorous phase of the address, but reserved
his reply till he had finished the argument which followed that of Mr.
Smith. He then turned, and looking Mr. Smith full in the face, referred
to the lesson which had been delivered. "But," said he, "I have
arrived at that period of life and at that rank in my profession when I
am not to be taught lessons in law by a jack at all trades, nor moral
honesty by a religious hypocrite, nor pecuniary integrity by a branded
and recorded bankrupt." This savage invective had but a few grains
of truth for its foundation. Mr. Smith had studied both medicine and
theology before adopting the law as a profession, and this was what was
meant by the allusion to the variety of his pursuits. He was an active
church member, but was not conspicuous for unworldliness or superior
sanctity in professional and week-day affairs, and he had been compelled,
in consequence of some unfortunate business enterprises, to take the
benefit of an insolvent act. Upon these slender circumstances Mr.
Arnold had hung the well-rounded and studied phrases in his strain of
splendid and eloquent vituperation.
Mr. Arnold possessed extraordinary skill in the cross-examination of
witnesses. His mental adroitness in an encounter with an intelligent
and cautious witness was one of the wonders of the bar, and it has
probably never been equaled by any of his professional associates or
successors. He seemed to know all the devious ways of human thought,
and he searched and sounded them with unerring sagacity. Stupid and
untrained witnesses were but the playthings of his skill. In a difficult
case, eliciting all the testimony that would help his client, and none
that would be damaging, he was a master. He trod as carefully, as
delicately and as safely among the snares and pitfalls of hostile, equivo
cal or experimental testimony, as less gifted lawyers would upon the
solid ground of known and admitted truth. In his political addresses
Mr. Arnold was the most effective speaker of his time in the state.

470 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
He showed his greatness as an orator, and his depth of feeling, and a
pathetic disappointment of heart to the greatest extent during those,
years when the whig party, of which he was a devoted member, was
passing through the scenes of its dissolution. As long ago as 1850, there
was a great disposition on the part of the anti-slavery whigs of Wiscon
sin, which comprised nearly the whole number, to amalgamate with the
free-soil party, and to blend their forces in support of the same can
didate. In that year a whig meeting was called at the old court house
in Milwaukee to determine whether they would coalesce with the free^
soilers in the support of a candidate for congress. Rufus King and
other politic whigs made specious and plausible arguments in favor of
that course. Mr. Arnold resisted it with all his power and eloquence.
He said tha\t he would not assimilate with the new party ; he would not
consent to the proposed coalition. He paid a most eloquent tribute to
the whig party, and to whig principles, and declared that he would sur
render neither the one nor the other; that he preferred defeat and party
destruction to such a course. He said that if the ship must go down
he preferred that it should go down with all its colors flying, and quoted
with thrilling and impressive effect, Doctor Holmes' lines to the Iron
sides : Nail to the mast her holy flag,
And spread each threadbare sail ;
Then give her to the God of Storms,
The lightning and the gale.
In 1852 Mr. Arnold was a delegate from Wisconsin to the whig
national convention at Baltimore, the last national convention of that
party. He advocated the nomination of Daniel Webster for president,
but was unsuccessful, General Winfield Scott receiving the votes of a
majority of the Wisconsin delegation, and of the convention, but this
result was not reached till after fifty-three ballots had been taken. Mr.
Arnold was extremely disappointed at the defeat of Webster, and he re
fused to say that he was satisfied with General Scott as a candidate.
But the whigs at Milwaukee hoped that he would acquire a better state
of feeling, and they called a meeting at the old city hall, now the mu
nicipal court room, to ratify the nomination. Mr. Arnold was one of
the speakers, as he always was at whig meetings, and he gave what he
termed " an account of his stewardship," as a delegate representing
Wisconsin at the whig convention. He recited the history of the part
he had taken as one of the Wisconsin delegation, a portion of whom,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 471
with him, had supported Webster. He then paid to Henry Clay, who
had died but a short time before, a magnificent tribute, full of pathos
and eloquence. He eulogized Clay as a statesman, an orator and a
patriot, and spoke in most feeling and affecting terms of the loss which
the whig party and the' country had suffered in his death. He then
eulogized Webster, and his language was still more elevated and splen
did in describing all which Webster would have been as president, the
consummate product of American statesmanship at the head of' the
American government. Mr. Arnold had never so stirred a Milwaukee
audience. The crowds who thronged the hall were thrilled by the
magnetism of his speech and by the overwhelming pathos of the occa
sion, as it had been wrought to a grand climax by the accomplished
speaker — the death of one of the most illustrious whig statesmen, and
the defeat and overthrow of the other in the national convention of his
party. In a voice, almost of agony, Mr. Arnold exclaimed: "In the
late convention at Baltimore I voted for Mr. Webster for president fifty-
three times ; were the ballotings still in progress I should be voting for
him still! I now leave it for some gentleman with more enthusiasm
than I possess to do justice to the merits of your candidate, General
Scott." This was the abrupt and overwhelming conclusion of the speech.
Not one word of approval or praise of the candidate ; not a word to give
an impulse to the campaign. The whig politicians, who but a few
moments before had cheered till their voices split, and had thrown
their hats to the arched ceiling of the city hall, as he had delivered his
highly wrought eulogies of Clay and Webster, were struck as if by col
lapse. Wet blankets, a shower of ice, are inadequate to illustrate the
effect produced. The local whig campaign did not recover from the
set-back during the summer, — lagged, without animation, till the elec
tion, and closed disastrously in the city and state.
Mr. Arnold defended Judge Levi Hubbell in the impeachment trial,
before the state senate in 1853, and Governor William A. Barstow in the
quo warranto proceedings in the supreme court, prosecuted by Coles
Bashford, who claimed the office of governor in 1856. He acted with
the democratic party after the dissolution of the whig party, until his
death. The late A. D. Smith was a lawyer and advocate, more resembling
Matt H. Carpenter than either Ryan or Arnold, with whom he was often
27

47*2 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
arrayed as an associate or an opponent in the trial of causes, until he
was elected to the supreme bench in 1852. He had a mind of a similar
character, without Ryan's passionate force and energy, and without Ar
nold's clearness and wonderful fineness of texture, but very comprehen
sive, broad, enlarged, and capable of severe and highly sustained effort.
He had an agreeable voice, a sympathetic manner, and ample powers of
expression. His medical education rendered him the most accomplished
master of medical jurisprudence at the Wisconsin bar, and contributed
greatly to the skill and success which marked his trial of capital cases, suits
for medical malpractice, and for damages on account of bodily injuries.
He was also a great political orator, and he wielded a marked influence
and power over popular audiences. He was an anti-slavery democrat
from the start, and during the period of his political activity, assailed
the whig party in the most eloquent and indignant style, because Henry
Clay, its idol and leader, was a slaveholder, and because under the whig
administration of Fillmore, the slavery compromise measures, including
the fugitive slave law, were enacted. In 1852, at a democratic meeting
in the old court house in Milwaukee, he elaborated this argument with
great skill and power. He depicted the atrocities of which the fugitive
slave law might be the cause if executed, argued that it was unconstitu
tional and monstrous, and concluded his splendid harangue as follows :
" This is the first fruit and offspring of the whig administration of Mil
lard Fillmore, and I pray the Almighty Lord to strike its womb with
barrenness, that no more like it may come after it."
Of George B. Smith it may be said that he was one of the best of
men, one of the truest of friends, a clear, consistent and patriotic politi
cian, learned in the law, and gifted with rare powers of oratory. But he
was not as great as a lawyer as he was as a man, though he was a great
lawyer. The whole man was capacious ; he was large in all his traits
and characteristics, a full pattern of man, good in every walk of business
or duty, and in every varied way which he trod in life. He went to
Madison when barely of age. He was ambitious from the start, and
aspired to high position, and to the first social and professional rank,
which he reached long before middle age. He was a radical democrat
in politics, and owing to the fact that the party to which he belonged was
for nearly the entire generation during which he lived in a minority in
the state, he never enjoyed the high political rewards to which he was
entitled by his ability, his political zeal, his party services, and his unde-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 473
niable fitness for any position in the administration or judicial departments
of the state government. Like Matt H. Carpenter, he died more than
a decade before expectancy had placed a period to his career, or the
order of nature as to the completeness of life had been filled, and when
he might fairly have looked forward to many years of activity and use
fulness. In conversation with a friend, in 1855, while he was attor
ney-general, he said: "I settled in Madison in 1845, at the age of
twenty-two years, after having been admitted to the bar. I then made,
a mark which I determined to reach. I said to myself that within ten
years I would either prosecute or defend a man on trial for murder,
then regarded as the highest task which a lawyer could undertake, and
would be district attorney of Dane county. The ten years have just
elapsed. I was district attorney of Dane county within a year from the
time I have described, and I served in that office six years ; I have been
attorney in four murder trials ; f am now attorney-general of the state."
He spoke without vanity or ostentation, apparently as if simply to point
a moral from his own experience, and to show that high aims and earnest
endeavor, sustained by integrity and industry, will in the main, reap their
just reward.
CHIEF JUSTICE RYAN AND SENATOR CARPENTER CONTRASTED.
In a memorial address Mr. Winfield Smith says :
Our bar has, within the last few months, lost from its number
those two members who may by common consent be said to have
reached the highest rank and to have borne the highest honors
in the profession. Probably at any time within the past fifteen
years the question, what two lawyers in the state had upon the
whole attained the highest rank, would have been answered in
the same way by every one of us. For, although men may have
greatly differed in their estimate of certain characteristics of the
lawyers, although there might have been wide divergence of views
whether these two men were among their fellows the wisest counselors
or the most successful advocates, there could be no doubt that in those
qualities that upon the whole confer distinction, Senator Carpenter and
Chief Justice Ryan stood preeminent.
Unlike as they were, it is curious to observe how many points of
resemblance united them. Each had a singular love and reverence for

474* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
his profession, and thirsted for thoroughness as well as success in the
pursuit of that profession. Each had studied the principles of the law,
and each was well informed, not only in respect to those principles, but
in respect to the details of its practice. Each enjoyed the study, not
only of those principles, but of the literature of his profession, and each
would have thought it unworthy of himself to approach the argument of
an important case without at least believing that he possessed a philo-
-sophic comprehension of the grounds upon which he sought success, as
well as a considerable familiarity with the authorities supporting him.
Both possessed that clearness of thought which is the parent of lucidity
of style. Each had that mastery of the English language which made
his discourse, upon a subject never so dry, interesting to cultivated
listeners. Both were heard always with pleasure, and seldom without
instruction. The style of their speech was unlike. Mr. Carpenter, in
particular, rarely resorted to metaphor, but reveled in wit ; while Mr.
Ryan illustrated his grandest thoughts and most striking periods with
imagery that added brilliancy to his. finished sentences; but he rarely
departed from the seriousness of his subject. He was naturally severe,
and when in his opinion condemnation was demanded, his sarcasm or
invective was mighty, and to. its victim was terrible. But the senator
was the happy possessor of a hearty, overflowing good nature, which
would not permit him to be harsh. He was charitable even in ridicule.
His keen sense of the ludicrous found frequent expression, but so
softened by a kindly temper as to play jocosely about its object, amus
ing all and angering none.
No one can recall Mr. Carpenter's forensic displays witho.ut recur
ring to that jovial and happy humor, that spirit of fun which overflowed
in bright and sparkling wit, adding a charm to every discourse, as it
enlivened the tedium of every trial. In whatever respect' he may be
said to have failed, I think it must be fairly conceded that he was suc
cessful in every bon mot. The English of Mr. Carpenter was simple,
and was admirable and effective on account of its Saxon simplicity.
.The style of Mr. Ryan most exacted admiration when it was grand,
majestic, and embellished with those Corinthian beauties of oratory which
were agreeable to his classic taste and education. Each illustrated his
earnest regard for his profession in the addresses it was his pride to
deliver to young men embarking in the pursuit of the law ; and they
alike habitually repeated the noble maxims and lofty sentiments which

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 475
ever inspire those most distinguished in our profession, and. which alone
raise it above pure drudgery. They were ambitious, and both attained
high honors in their profession, as well as in the kindred field of
politics; yet neither was a successful politician in the higher or lower
signification of the term. Each was, to a certain extent, a law unto
himself in his mental as in his physical and moral habits.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES DUNN.
Mr. William Hull says of him: As a lawyer, Judge Dunn ranked
as one of the best. As a judge he was honest and as impartial as a
man of his temperament could possibly be. A good pleader himself
he held us all to the strict technicalities of the common law practice,
which then prevailed, and although at times pron.e to give way to the
violence of his personal feelings, he was generally liked and respected
by the members of the bar in his district and the territory. He could
never forget his dignity on the bench; on the road traveling from court
to court, at the stopping places for the night, and during the sessions of
the courts, he was, with his friends, at all times courteous and a gentle
man; to those whom he did not like he could and did occasionally
preserve a different course. This trait in the judge's character can
only be accounted for by premising that, like all other descendants
from the first families of Virginia, the Dunns claimed to have the royal
blood of Powhatan flowing in his veins, through his daughter, the
historical, abused Pocahontas. In all places and at all times he never
put off his dignity. One instance of this ruling trait in the judge will
bear to relate. Game of all kinds was very plentiful in those early
days, and deer hunting was a common pastime. After the fall term
of the courts had terminated, on one occasion the judge, his brother
Frank, a henchman of Frank's, Abe Fields, a gentleman now promi
nent in an adjoining state, and Mr. Hull, of La Crosse, were in camp
on the Kickapoo river, near Wayne's mill. The judge, for some cause,
did not, as had been observed on the trip, take much interest in the
unnamed gentleman. The second day of the hunt, the judge, a true
sportsman, had killed a magnificent buck, and it had been brought
into camp. The deer was hung up for dressing. The judge, with
coat off, sleeves rolled up, and knife in hand had commenced his work.
After a few cuts with the knife had been made, the gentleman wishing
to make some remark to the judge, spoke loudly,
Dunn!"

476* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
As quick as a flash Judge Dunn stopped his work, turned facing
the gentleman, and with his piercing black eyes flashing lightning,
responded, " Judge Dunn ! if you please, sir."
After this explosion there was silence in that camp for awhile.
ELOQUENCE OF JUDGE BYRON PAINE.
The late Judge Byron Paine, of the Wisconsin supreme court, was
one of the ablest writers that the state ever produced, and like Chief
Justice Ryan, he at times enriched his judicial opinions with elaborate
and highly sustained rhetoric, adorned with the finest flowers of the fancy
and the imagination. In an early railroad case in the supreme court
the decision was written by Justice Paine, in which he said: Railroads
are the great public highways of the world, along which the gigantic
currents of trade and travel continuously pour, — highways compared
with which the most magnificent highways of antiquity dwindle into
insignificance. They are the most marvelous inventions of modern
times. They have done more to develop the wealth and resources,
to stimulate the industry, reward the labor and promote the general
prosperity of the country than any other, and perhaps, than all other,
mere physical causes combined. There is probably not a man, woman
or child whose interest or comfort has not been in some degree sub
served by them. They bring to our doors the productions of the earth.
They enable us to anticipate and protract the seasons. They enable the
inhabitants of each clime to enjoy the pleasures and luxuries of all. They
scatter the productions of the press and literature broadcast through the
country with amazing rapidity. There is scarcely a want, wish, or aspiration
of the human heart which they do not in some measure tend to gratify.
They promote the pleasures of social life and of friendship. They bring
the skilled physician swiftly from a distance to attend the sick and the
wounded, and enable the absent friend to be present at the bedside of
the dying. They have more than realized the fabulous conception of
the eastern imagination, which pictured the genie as transporting an in
habited palace from the Atlantic coast, and with marvelous swiftness,
depositing it on the shores that are washed by the Pacific seas. In war
they transport the armies and supplies of the government with the
greatest celerity, and carry forward, as it were, on the wings of the wind,
relief and comfort to those who are stretched bleeding and wounded on
the field of battle.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 477

BAR ASSOCIATIONS.
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION.
The members of the bar of the western district of Wisconsin held a
meeting in the United States court-room at Madison, January 29, 1877,
for the purpose of forming a west Wisconsin bar association, but it was
finally determined to change the plan and form a state bar association,
and preliminary measures were taken to that end by the appointment of
a committee to submit to a subsequent meeting a constitution and by
laws as a basis of organization. Chief Justice E. G. Ryan was made
chairman and W. F. Vilas secretary of the committee.
On January 9, 1878, the second meeting was held in the supreme
court room, at which Chief Justice E. G. Ryan, as chairman of the com
mittee on organization of a state bar association, made an elaborate
address. A constitution to govern a state bar association was adopted, the
object of which is "to maintain the honor and dignity and to increase
the usefulness and influence of the profession of the law." Moses M.
Strong was chosen president, a vice-president for each of the thirteen
judicial circuits, E. E. Bryant, secretary; J. H. Carpenter, treasurer;
and an executive committee of three, of which J. W. Cary was made the
chairman. M. M. Strong, on taking the chair as president, delivered an
appropriate address, which, together with that of Judge Ryan, is re
corded in the books of the association.
The constitution is signed by three hundred and thirty-two attorneys
of different parts of the state.
On February 20, 1878, the third meeting of the association was held
in the United States court-room at Madison. At this meeting a resolu
tion was adopted, that the association is in favor of the strict enforce
ment of the laws of the state regulating the admission of attorneys. A
report was submitted by the committee that had been appointed for the
purpose to report the terms on which law publishers would furnish the
Wisconsin Reports, with the view of obtaining them at a cheaper rate
than heretofore. ¦ The movement in this matter finally resulted, after
much negotiation and discussion, in Callaghan and Company, of Chicago,
entering into an agreement to furnish them at the rate of one dollar and
twenty-four cents the volume, for ten years to the members of the bar of
this state.

478 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
At this meeting the subject also came up relative to the recommen
dation of candidates to be supported for the two additional associate
judges of the supreme court, which a recent law provided to be chosen
at the ensuing spring election. Upon this question there arose much
discussion and motions made, the whole resulting in no action having
been taken.
On June 16, 1881, the fourth meeting was holden in the assembly
chamber at Madison. The officers of the association were reelected.
The president made an elaborate address, in which he presented a list
of all the attorneys in the state, past and present, together with biogra
phies of the deceased members so far as had been obtained. By this
list there are now resident in the state, in and out of practice, 1,349
members, 1,147 non-residents, and 481 deceased. A committee was
appointed to publish this list, biographies, address of the president, and
proceedings of this meeting of the association, for distribution among
members of the bar at the cost price of the publication. A banquet
closed the proceedings of the occasion.
ft may be worthy of mention that this meeting was thinly attended,
the causes supposed to be on account of the length of time since the
previous meeting, that there was no matter of special interest to be
brought before the association, and the ill feeling that was engendered
at the last meeting in the discussion relative to nominating or recom
mending candidates for the two new associate justices.
THE MILWAUKEE BAR ASSOCIATION.
This association was organized June n, 1858, with Jonathan E.
Arnold for president, Levi Hubbell vice president, O. H. Waldo treas
urer, and J. B. D. Coggswell secretary. Mr. Arnold continued presi
dent until his death in June, 1869, and Mr. Coggswell secretary until
1866, when he removed from the state, and there was a secretary pro
tempore until October, 1869, at which time new officers were elected, by
which William Pitt Lynde was made president, O. H. Waldo vice presi
dent, J. R. Brigham treasurer, and James G. Flanders secretary. J. G.
Flanders was secretary until 1878, when Burton Hanson was elected, and
still holds the office. A. R. R. Butter was elected -president in 1878,
James G. Jenkins vice-president, and J. R. Brigham treasurer. The
officers elected in 1881 were A. R. R. Butter president, J. G. Jenkins
vice-president, J. R. Brigham treasurer, and Burton Hanson, secretary.
This association has been in existence a longer period of time than

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 479
any like association in the state. Its roll of membership, both past and
present, comprises the best legal talent of the city. The meetings of the
association have been somewhat irregular and chiefly confined to memo
rial occasions. In the way of resolutions and eulogies the fraternity
usually does ample justice to a deceased brother whose life has been
worthy of commemoration. The association also takes cognizance of the
professional misconduct of its members. The latest instance of the kind
was in the case of John J. Orton who had been accused of making a
pleading in a case in which he was defendant, which the judge of the
court refused to be allowed to be placed on file, and subsequently, for
the act, disbarred him from practicing in the courts. Mr. Orton was ar-
rainged before the Bar Association, of which he was a member, but no
charges were formulated against him. At several meetings, however,
the matter was warmly discussed, yet no action was taken. As the case
was before the courts the matter was, by common consent, permitted to
go over to await judicial decision. On appeal to the supreme court,
the ruling of the court below was set aside. This apparently ended the
case for the time being, and ended its consideration likewise, with the
Bar Association. Jonathan E. Arnold was for many years president of
the association. After his death A. R. R. Butler was elected to and still
occupies that position. The annual dues are fixed at three dollars
per member. BROWN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.
This association was organized on April 4, 1857. A constitution
was adopted and H. S. Baird was chosen president, and E. H. Ellis,
secretary. Mr. Baird continued to be its president until a brief period
before his death, when J. C. Neville was chosen to the office, which
he holds to the present date. There are about thirty members em
braced in the association. DANE COUNTY LEGAL ASSOCIATION.
This association adopted a constitution and elected officers, August
1, 1869: Thomas Hood, president; J. B. Baltzell, vice-president;
F. H. Firman, secretary; J. H. Carpenter, treasurer. February 8,
1879, J. H. Carpenter became president; F. J. Lamb, treasurer; C. N.
Gregory, secretary, and are the officers to the present time, January
1882. The meetings of the association have been chiefly devoted to
adopting a fee bill and taking action on the disease of Judge Levi P.
Vilas, George B. Smith, and Chief Justice Edward G. Ryan.

480 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ROCK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.
This association was organized in 1879, with A. A. Jackson, presi
dent; M. M. Phelps, treasurer, and A. W. Baldwin, secretary; and the
same officers continue to the present time, 1882.
THE LAW DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
The University Law School has done much toward raising the stand
ard of legal acquirements in this state. Few law students, if any, in
Wisconsin, now undertake to enter upon the duties of the profession
without a course of instruction in the law department of the university.
Without the thorough training had in this school, or one equally as
efficient, a young practitioner can scarcely be well equipped to enter
upon competition with those who have enjoyed its advantages. The
professors in this school have been, from first to last, eminent in the
profession. They seem to have taken a pride in the advancement and
resulting acquirements of their classes. Such legal lights as Hopkins,
Paine, Cole, Lyon, Orton, Cassoday, the younger Vilas, Carpenter,
Spooner, Pinney, Sloan, are jurists who would impart dignity and tone
to any institution of the kind in the country, in profoundness in law,
and in elevation of character. This department of the university was
organized in January, 1857, and E. G. Ryan and T. O. Howe appointed
its professors ; yet no course of instruction was undertaken at the time,
nor for the ten succeeding years, as there were no funds to support it.
In 1868, however, the school was placed on a working basis, and a
yearly course of instruction permanently established. The term was
opened with twelve students, and with Orsamus Cole, Byron Paine, J.
H. Carpenter, and W. F. Vilas, professors.
The established course was to be completed in one year. In 1869
H. S. Orton was added to the number of professors and became dean
of the faculty. At the session of the legislature for 1870 an enactment
provided that certificates of graduation in the law classes, entitled
graduates to admission to the supreme court and all other courts of the
state without examination. In 187 1 W. P. Lyon was appointed professor
in place of Byron Paine ; P. L. Spooner in 187 1 and became dean ; H. S.
Orton resigned in 1873, and I. C. Sloan was appointed ; in 1876 S. U. Pin
ney and J. B. Cassoday, and in 1878 R. Bunn and C. Gapen were added.
Honorary degrees of LL.D. have been conferred upon Russell Z.
Mason, president of Lawrence University in 1866; Harlow S. Orton in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 481
1869; Luther S. Dixon in 1869; Orsamus Cole in 1869; Byron Paine
in 1869; William Penn Lyon in 1872; Lyman C. Draper in 1872; C.
C. Washburn in 1873; E. G. Ryan in 1873; J. H. Carpenter in 1876;
J. B. Cassoday, 1881. To enter this law department, students, who are
not college graduates, must be twenty-one years of age, and to be
graduated must have studied law two years, including one course in the
Law School.

THE GREAT LAW CASES.
THE BARSTOW-BASHFORD CONTESTED ELECTION.
The somewhat notable litigation that forms the subject of this paper
is reported in the fourth volume of Wisconsin Reports under the title,
"The Attorney-General on the Relation of Bashford against Barstow."
There are facts, however, quite outside of the office of the court reporter,
that possess some interest, and it is the purpose of this article to em
body these with the history of the proceedings before the supreme court.
At the general election in Wisconsin in 1855 the opposing candidates
for governor were Coles Bashford, the nominee of the then young repub
lican party, and William A. Barstow, democrat and the incumbent.
Barstow's administration had not escaped criticism, and it will be readily
believed that the current charges were active factors in the canvass.
Apt alliteration's artful aid was summoned in the shibboleth, "Barstow
and the Balance," and among the euphemisms of the campaign, the
phrase, "The Forty Thieves " was prominent, reference being meant to
the governor and his intimates.
The election having taken place, it was not long in appearing that
the democratic candidates were elected, except the candidate for gov
ernor. As to that office, the vote was close, and the result doubtful.
Both parties continued to claim the victory until the day fixed for the
canvassing of the returns. That function was vested by the laws of the
state in a state board of canvassers, consisting of the secretary of the
state, A. T. Gray, the state treasurer, E. H. Janssen, and the attorney-
general, George B. Smith. These officers were warm personal and
political friends of Governor Barstow. Having opened and canvassed
the returns, they certified that Barstow had received one hundred and
fifty-seven majority, and was duly elected governor for the ensuing term.

48^ THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Their action excited great indignation. It was stated that having
adopted a rule in one case, they had not scrupled to adopt exactly the
opposite rule in another case, being consistent only to the purpose of
finding a majority for Barstow or making one. It was further charged
that gross frauds had been perpetrated under cover of " supplementary
returns," meaning returns received from sources aliunde, the certificates
of the county canvassers. The town of Bridge Creek, in Chippewa
county, which had never been heard of before, was found to possess
startling electoral capabilities, having cast one hundred and twenty-eight
votes, nearly all for Governor Barstow. A precinct in Waupaca county,
for which no one had yet performed the office of godfather, and which
was designated only as " town 25 north, of range ten east of the fourth
principal meridian," developed a voting capacity that could only be ac
counted for on the theory that the bears had been enfranchised ! Mr.
Bashford resolved to contest the election. As the day fixed by law for
the inauguration drew near, there was no little excitement. Rumors
were circulated that the induction of Barstow would be resisted by force ;
that the supporters of Bashford would seize the capital. To provide
against these possibilities, the friends of Governor Barstow sent to Mil
waukee and Watertown for militia companies to be present at the inau-/
guration, and in the silent hours of the night, arms were removed from
the State House, and placed where they would be accessible to the
followers of Barstow in any emergency. For a time there was afforded
a fair prototype of Louisiana.
The seventh of January came. It was an intensely cold day, and the
two hundred and fifty-eight soldiers, who had come to see that Barstow
was inaugurated, presented a sorry sight as they paraded the streets with
their benumbed fingers and frozen ears. But- there was no attempt at a
coup d'etat. Governor Barstow was sworn in by a nisi prius judge, and
remained in undisturbed possession of the executive chamber. Mr.
Bashford took the oath of office before E. V. Whiton, chief justice of
the supreme court. On the tenth of the same month the legislature
assembled. Its action had been looked forward to with interest in the
expectation that it might have no inconsiderable bearing upon the con
test. In the assembly the democrats had a considerable majority : in
the senate the republicans had a majority of one. The assembly prompt
ly adopted a joint resolution for a committee to wait upon His Excel
lency William A. Barstow, governor of the State of Wisconsin, and inform

the Bench and bar of Wisconsin. 483
him that the legislature was organized and ready to receive any com
munication that he had to present. The senate demurred at first and
struck out the words, William A. Barstow, but on the following day voted
to concur in the resolution on the ground that it only recognized Bar
stow as governor de facto. So the question was not to be settled by a
coup or by the legislature ; it was relegated to the supreme court.
The supreme bench consisted of Chief Justice E. V. Whiton and
associate justices A. D. Smith and Orsamus Cole. Political parties had
become at that day republican and democratic. The contest was purely
political, and it may be a matter of interest to know the political pro
clivities of the respective judges who were to decide the contest in its
legal bearing. Judge Whiton was originally a whig, and, upon the sub
sidence of that great party and the formation of the republican party in
his state in 1854, became a republican ; Judge Smith was an anti-slavery
democrat, and Judge Cole was an old time whig and then a republican.
Notwithstanding this diversity of political views the final decision of the
case was unanimous. The attorney-general was William R. Smith, who was
a democrat. The counsel arrayed on either side of the case represented the
respective political parties to which they belonged, with the exception
of E. G. Ryan, who was a democrat of the strongest kind but appeared
for the republican side. The lawyers on both sides were accounted the
ablest in the state at that time.
The claimant, Bashford, encountered a serious obstacle at the start. It
was necessary for him to proceed by an information in the nature of a
quo warranto. The provision of the law on this subject was that the
attorney-general shall appear for the state, and prosecute and defend all
suits and proceedings, civil and criminal, in the supreme court in which
the state shall be interested or a party. By rather a singular coincidence
the legislature during the previous winter had amended this provision
as follows :
Whenever any citizen of this state shall claim any public office which
is usurped, intruded into, or unlawfully held and exercised by another,
the person so claiming such office shall have the right to file in the
supreme court, either in term time or vacation, an information in the
nature of a quo warranto, upon his own relation, and with or without the
consent of such attorney-general ; and such person shall have the right
to prosecute such information to final judgment in all respects as pro
vided in such chapter. Provided, That he shall first have applied to

484 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

-

the attorney-general to file the information, and the attorney-general
shall have refused or neglected to file the same, and in such case he
shall be liable for the costs if he shall fail to establish his right to the
office. The attorney-general, having been a candidate on the ticket with
Governor Barstow, was his zealous partisan, and it was surmised that
he would be disposed to obstruct rather than promote proceedings to
secure a judgment of ouster against him. Mr. Bashford accordingly
retained counsel consisting of Timothy O. Howe, United States senator
for eighteen years ; Edward G. Ryan, late chief justice of the supreme
court of Wisconsin ; Alexander W. Randall, subsequently governor
of Wisconsin and postmaster-general in the cabinet of Andrew
Johnson; and James H. Knowlton. It may be here stated that the
counsel for Barstow were Matt H. Carpenter, subsequently United
States senator; Jonathan E. Arnold, and Harlow S. Orton, now associate
justice of the supreme court of the state.
The counsel for Bashford prepared an information and delivered a
copy to the attorney-general with a request that he should file it. Their
expectation was that he would refuse, when it would become competent
for them under the law of 1855, quoted above, to file the information
and prosecute it to final judgment. This expectation was disappointed ;
the attorney-general filed, not the information prepared by the counsel
for the relator, but another drawn by himself. The attorney-general's
information was very brief, and simply set forth in the most general
terms that William A. Barstow held, used and exercised the office of gov
ernor of the State of Wisconsin without any legal election, appointment,
warrant or authority ; and, that Coles Bashford was rightfully entitled to
hold, use and exercise said4 office. The information of the relator's coun
sel was long, and recited at length the action of the state board of can
vassers, and the respects wherein the relator proposed to show that he
had been defrauded. It was suspected, not wholly without reason it
would appear, that the motive of the attorney-general was to compel the
relator to go into court with a loose pleading, and at the same time to
secure the control of the suit in the interest of the respondent.
On the twenty-second of January the counsel for the relator appeared
in court, and moved that the information filed by the attorney-general
be discontinued ; that Coles Bashford be permitted to file an informa
tion on his own relation, and that he be at liberty to prosecute and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 485
control the same, by himself, or his counsel. It is not necessary to the
purpose of this article to summarize the arguments of counsel on this
motion. One singular complication was the entering of an appearance
by the counsel for the respondent to assist the attorney-general in op
posing the motion. The court held that the condition contemplated
by the law of 1855, had not occurred so long as the attorney-general
filed an information, whether it were the one desired by the respondent
or not. The motion was therefore denied ; but at the same time the
chief justice stated that there were three parties in court, — the people,
the relator and the respondent, — and that the rights of all should be
protected. The chief justice fixed the fifth of February as the time for
the defendant to plead. On the twentieth of that month the counsel for
the respondent moved the court to dismiss all proceedings for the
reason that the court had no jurisdiction. Mr. Carpenter opened in
support of the motion. He argued three propositions which he stated
in beginning as follows :
I. The three departments of the state government, the legislative,
the executive and the judicial, are equal, coordinate and independent
of each other; and that each department must be, and is the ultimate
judge of the election and qualification of its own member or members ;
subject only to impeachment and appeal to the people.
II. That this court must take judicial notice of who is governor of
the state; when he was inaugurated; the genuineness of his signature,
etc. ; and, therefore, cannot hear argument or evidence upon the sub
ject. That who is rightfully entitled to the office of governor can in no
case become a judicial question; and
III. That the constitution provides no means for ousting a success
ful usurpation of either of the three departments of the government;
that that power rests with the people, to be exercised by them when
they think the exigency requires it.
Messrs. Orton and Arnold also delivered arguments in support of the
motion. Messrs. Randall, Knowlton and Howe were heard in opposi
tion. They contended that the independence of a department is a very
different thing from the independence of the person or persons filling
that department; that while the court might have no power to control,
or in any manner interfere with the functions of the executive depart
ment of the state government, it has jurisdiction of the citizens of the
state to prevent them from usurping the offices and franchises of the

486 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
state, and to punish such usurpation when consummated; and that the
office of governor is a civil office, and an unlawful intrusion into, and
usurpation of the same may be tried by an information in the nature of
a quo warranto, and the intruder or usurper be ousted and punished.
The court denied the motion to dismiss, affirming its jurisdiction on the
grounds presented by the counsel for the relator substantially as above
stated. It should be here mentioned that during the argument of this
motion, the attorney-general was asked what part he proposed to take in
the discussion; to which he replied that. he was counsel of the people,
and that he had no part in this action between the two other sides of
this triangular case. Accordingly he submitted no argument. The
next proceeding was the filing of a stipulation signed by all of the coun
sel agreeing to submit to the court whether it had any jurisdiction to
inquire beyond the canvass of the state board of canvassers, and their
certificate and the certificate of election made by the secretary of state,
as to the number of votes actually given at the election for Barstow for
governor, " the counsel for the relator offering to prove that such certifi
cates were made and issued through mistake and fraud, and also that
Coles Bashford at said election, for said office of governor, did receive
the greatest number of votes." The court ruled that this stipulation
presented no issue upon which judgment could be rendered, and re
quired the counsel for the respondent to plead to the information.
They did so, simply setting up the action of the state board of canvass
ers, determining and certifying that Barstow was duly elected governor,
and the issuance to him of a certificate of election. To this plea the
counsel for the relator demurred; the counsel for the respondent filed
a joinder in demurrer, and on the twenty-ninth of February, the argu
ments began. They were concluded on the third of March, and on the
fourth Chief Justice Whiton delivered the opinion of the court. It was,
in brief, that in a proceeding by quo warranto to determine the rights
of persons claiming an office, the court will go behind the certificate of
the canvassers, and ascertain who was legally elected ; for it is the elec
tion, and not the canvass of votes or the certificate thereof that confers
the right ; that the duty of state canvassers is mainly ministerial — to
count the votes returned and make a statement of the result; they have
no judicial power to try and determine a contest between disputing
claimants; and that the canvass and statement of the board of canvass
ers are prima facie correct, but their correctness may be impeached by

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 487
testimony ; they are not final and conclusive, but upon inquiry by quo
warranto the court may go behind' the certificate of the canvassers, and
ascertain the fact of the election. The demurrer was sustained, and
the respondent required to answer over.
The day fixed for the filing of the plea having arrived, Mr. Car
penter appeared in court and announced that the counsel for the
respondent had been directed by their client to withdraw from the
cause. At the same time he handed to the court a document which
proved to be a communication from Governor Barstow, couched in
language rather more vigorous than courteous. The governor pro
tested " against any further interference with the department under his
charge as governor of the state, on the part of the court, either by
attempting to transfer its power to another, or direct the course of
executive action ''; and declared that he " should deem it his imperative
duty to repel, with all the force vested in this department, any infringe
ment upon the rights and powers which he exercised under the con
stitution." There was a warlike sound in his excellency's manifesto.
The subsequent proceedings in this contest must be briefly related.
On the eleventh of March the counsel for the relator moved for final
judgment on the default of the respondent. On the eighteenth the
attorney-general, who, as has been stated, was more than suspected of
being in sympathy with Governor Barstow, dismissed the case. On the
following day the court met to announce its decision on the motion for
judgment. It held that the default of the respondent rendered it com
petent for the court to enter a judgment of ouster against the respon
dent, but that it was not wholly clear that the court could enter
judgment in favor of the relator. It would therefore require of the
relator some proof to show that he had a right to the office. Referring
to the action of the attorney-general in dismissing the case, the court
held that it could not prejudice the rights of the relator.
On the twentieth of March the court began to take testimony to
establish the claim of the relator, Bashford. On the twenty-first, Gov
ernor Barstow sent a communication to the legislature resigning the
office of governor. The lieutenant-governor, Arthur McArthur, there
upon entered upon the duties of governor, and sent a message to the
legislature announcing the fact. The supreme court continued to hear
the testimony submitted on behalf of the claimant Bashford. Some of
the evidence was of a startling character. There were supplementary
28

488 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
returns that were included in the count of the canvassers from Gilbert's
Mills and Spring Creek, towns in different counties, and over one hun
dred miles distant from each other. It was observed that the paper on
which these returns were written. was of the same kind, a peculiar, small
white foolscap, much used about the capitol, but rarely seen elsewhere.
The more inculpatory circumstance was that the indentions of the two
half sheets of paper, upon which these returns were written, upon being
put together, exactly corresponded, showing that they had been origi
nally joined in one sheet of paper. It is historical that a manufacturer
of returns in Louisiana, by a masterly achievement won the approba
tion of a co-conspirator in the expression, "Well, you are a h — 1 of
a fellow." There seems to .have been some bold hand at work on
the Wisconsin returns that was worthy of no less warm an eulogium.
The court rendered judgment on the twenty-fourth of March. It
was a judgment of ouster against the respondent, and in favor of the
relator. On the following day Governor Bashford, accompanied by
Messrs. Howe and Ryan of his counsel, entered the executive chamber,
and there found Acting- Governor McArthur. Governor Bashford de
manded possession of the office. Governor McArthur asked if force
would be used. Governor Bashford replied that it would, if necessary.
Governor McArthur said that the threat was virtually force, and he
would therefore retire under protest, at the same time rising and leaving
the room. The senate at once recognized Coles Bashford as governor
of Wisconsin. On the twenty-sixth, Governor Bashford sent a message
to both houses of the legislature. The speaker of the assembly refused
to receive it, and a resolution, instructing him to do so, was lost by a
vote of thirty-four ayes to thirty-eight noes. On the following day
eighteen democrat members of the assembly united in a paper protest
ing against the legality of Governor Bashford's incumbency, but inti
mating a willingness to recognize him as governor rather than to
obstruct the business of the state government. A motion was made for
the appointment of a committee of three to wait upon His Excellency
Coles Bashford, governor of Wisconsin, and inform him that the
assembly was ready to receive any communication that he might be
pleased to make. Even the signers of the document above referred to
were scarcely willing to take their humble pie in this form ; but enough
of the democratic members refused to vote to permit the adoption of
the motion, and Governor Bashford served the remainder of the term
without question or obstruction.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN 489
There remain to be related some facts that have never before been
published, and the knowledge of which has been kept within a compara
tively small circle. It must have occasioned some surprise in the mind
of the professional reader to learn that after the court had affirmed its
jurisdiction, and its power to go behind the canvass, the counsel for the
respondent withdrew from the case, and made default, instead of joining
issue on the facts. If the latter course had been pursued, they might,
without serious difficulty, have practiced dilatory tactics until the expi
ration of the gubernatorial term. There is the best evidence for the
statement that the members of the supreme court did not expect to
render final judgment in the premises, confidently supposing that the
policy of delay would be adopted. In a recent conversation with one of
Governor Barstow's counsel, he was asked why they did not join issue on
the facts. He replied that they had information that in that case the
court would summon a jury and try the issue summarily there. They
were certainly misinformed, for Judge Cole, the surviving member of
the court, has stated that if an issue of fact had arisen in the case it
would have been sent below for trial.
An explanation of the course of the respondent's counsel may be
found in the facts about to be narrated. At an early stage of the pro
ceedings Governor Barstow applied to Rufus Choate for an opinion
upon the questions of law involved in the contest. It was forwarded ;
and it may afford some criterion to judge of the amount of labor be
stowed upon it, if it is stated that Mr. Choate charged and was paid
$1,000. The opinion of that very eminent jurist was, in substance :
I. That the supreme court has no power to determine whether the
citizen holding the office of governor, is or is not lawfully entitled to
that office.
II. That the execution of a judgment of ouster by the supreme
court against the governor would be none the less usurpation than if
the claimant had seized the office without such judgment.
III. That such an usurpation would be " domestic violence," within
the meaning of section four, article four, of the constitution, and would
make it the duty of the United States to interpose its authority.
To return now to the history of the case : It will be remembered
that it was on the nineteenth of March that the court rendered its
decision that the action of the attorney-general in dismissing the case
could not prejudice the rights of the relator. This extinguished the

490 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
»
last hope of Governor Barstow so far as the supreme court was con
cerned. On the same day Matt. H. Carpenter and Samuel Crawford,
the latter being advisory counsel of Governor Barstow, started for Wash
ington to procure troops from President Pierce to maintain Governor Bar
stow in his position. It is not clear how they could have expected to
succeed, in the absence of an application by the legislature, which was in
session; but it is quite certain that they started for Washington, and
upon this mission. They went to their respective homes, — Judge
Crawford to Mineral Point, and Mr. Carpenter to Beloit, — to make
some needed preparations for their journey, when they were overtaken
by dispatches which rendered their errand unnecessary.
Since their departure from Madison a new idea had dawned upon
the counsels of Governor Barstow and his friends. It occurred to them
that Governor Barstow might forestall the judgment of ouster by resign
ing, and that however defective his own title might be, he could thus
vest a clear title in the lieutenant-governor, who was his political friend.'
Hence, as we have seen, the governor sent to the legislature his resigna
tion, and Lieutenant-Governor McArthur succeeded to the executive
office. But, as we have also seen, the court proceeded as if nothing
had occurred, and having established Governor Bashford's right to the
office, he was installed.
It is interesting to speculate as to what the consequences would have
been if Messrs. Carpenter and Crawford had proceeded on their mission
and presented to President Pierce an application in due form for troops
to protect the state against domestic violence. The probability is that
the requisition would have been complied with ; for it has always been
and must always be the tendency of the national administration- to take
an enlarged view of its own powers, and partisan sympathy would have
inclined the democratic president to assist the democratic claimant.
But suppose that federal troops had been sent into the state to maintain
Governor Barstow in office, and to resist the process of the supreme
court. Public feeling was very much excited at the time, as a single
incident will illustrate : On the night before the supreme court was to
render its final decision, Associate Justice Cole was awakened by a loud
tapping at his window. He arose, and opening the blinds, found there
a friend, who seriously advised him not to go in with the court on the
following day, as they would certainly be mobbed. If the supporters of
Governor Barstow were ready for expedients of so desperate a charac-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 491
ter, the republicans were no less determined, and they were peculiarly
jealous of the federal authority at that time on account of a recent
instance of the enforcement of the fugitive slave law in the state.
Altogether it may be regarded as a fair inference from the conditions
existing that, if United States troops had entered the state for the pur
pose of resisting the execution of the judgment of ouster against Gover
nor Barstow, a collision would have resulted and other calamitous conse
quences that the imagination can scarcely compass. It must therefore be
regarded as a subject for congratulation that a governmental machinery
within the state was permitted to settle the contest; and justice seems to
demand that some credit be allotted to the people of Wisconsin, which
was then looked upon as the western border of our civilization, who, not
withstanding the intense feeling that prevailed, the possibilities of obstruc
tion and confusion resulting from the possession of different branches of
the government by opposing political parties, and all the circumstances
tending to embroil the controversy, acquiesced in its adjudication by
the supreme court of the state without turmoil or violence.
THE IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE LEVI HUBBELL.
It was during the session of the legislature in the winter of 1853 that
the state was shaken from center to circumference with the impeachment
trial of Judge Hubbell. The democratic party held at that time full
sway in the state and legislature. Judge Hubbell was a democrat, and
a singular feature in the case was that his prosecutors were those of his
own political household.
Levi Hubbell was a popular man. He possessed a fine personal
appearance and much suavity of manner. He was for the second time
a widower. Hence the more ready suspicion of immoral practices as
charged in the trial.
' William K. Wilson, of Milwaukee, led off in preparing the charges
brought to bear on Judge Hubbell. Wilson had been once a member
of the assembly, and member of the senate two terms, and was at the
time a conspicuous man and politician. He was not, however, a mem
ber of either house when this trial was instituted. It is not known what
special grievance Mr. Wilson entertained against Judge Hubbell at that
period unless it be that, shortly before that time the judge was presiding
in a murder trial at Milwaukee; the case created much local excitement;
Wilson was foreman of the jury, and when the verdict was rendered "not

495* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
guilty," the judge made the deprecating remark to the jurors: "Gentle
men, may the Lord have mercy on your consciences." This greatly
offended Wilson. In justice to the judge it should be said, however,
that it subsequently transpired that the prisoner had committed the
crime, and had confessed it to his counsel during the progress of the
trial. During the early days of the session it became rumored around the
capital that an impeachment case was to be sprung upon the legislature ;
yet, few people suspected who the official was that would be aimed at.
Shortly, however, on January 26,' a bomb shell burst, so to speak, in the
assembly, by the introduction of the following communication, addressed
to the speaker, and signed by W. K. Wilson :
The undersigned, a citizen and elector of this state, hereby charges
the Hon. Levi Hubbell, judge of the second judicial circuit of this state,
with having committed and being guilty of high crimes and misde
meanors, and malfeasances in office, and has so acted in his judicial
capacity as to require the interposition of the constitutional power of
the assembly. I therefore request you to lay this communication before
your honorable body, so that an investigation can be made, to enable
the assembly to determine whether or not the constitutional power of
the assembly ought to be exercised in regard to the Hon. Levi Hubbell.
Many able and prominent men were members of that body. Henry
L. Palmer, of Milwaukee, occupied the speaker's chair. Immediately
upon the reading of the resolution, excitement rose to a high pitch, and
after several days of active skirmishing the resolution was adopted.
Articles of impeachment were prepared by a select committee, sent to
the senate March 5, and managers of the cause appeared in that body
in behalf of the assembly. They consisted of H. T. Sanders, G. W.
Cate, J. A. Barber, P. B. Simpson and E. Wheeler. They presented the
articles of impeachment in due form, and the contest opened. The
trial did not commence, however, until June 6, the legislature having, at
the close of its annual session, adjourned to that day that the senate
might sit as a court of impeachment, and that the parties might have
time to amply prepare for the great contest. The lieutenant-governor
being absent, Duncan C. Reed, the president of the senate, presided.
John K. Williams and George H. Paul were the clerks. The senators
were : N. Smith, J. S. Alban, A. M. Blair, B. S. Weil, E. M. Hunter, D.
C. Reed, J. W. Cary, J, R. Sharpstein, G. R. McLane, M. H. Bovee, T.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 493
T. Whittlesey, E. Wakeley, C. Dunn, A. Stewart, L. Sterling, J. W. Sea-
ton, E. Miller, J. R. Briggs, Jr., B. Allen, B. Pinkney, C. Bashford, J.
Prentice, D. S. Vittum, T. S. Bowen and J. T. Lewis. All of these were
in their seats. Both sides retained counsel. The assembly managers
brought in E. G. Ryan to their aid. The chief management of the
prosecution fell upon him. It was here that this afterward eminent
jurist first displayed the ability, learning and eloquence that made him
the acknowledged head of th.e legal profession- in the state, and which
elevated position he held during his life.
On the part of Judge Hubbell, Jonathan E. Arnold and J. H. Knowl
ton were retained. Mr. Arnold stood, at the time, without a peer before
a court and jury in legal learning, tact and eloquence. Judge Knowlton
was a powerful legal light of that day. These lawyers had before them
in the members of the senate, men, many of whom were then eminent
in the state, and others who subsequently became so. The political
parties of that day were whig and democrat. With members of the
senate the latter predominated. The trial lasted twenty-six days, and
drew a large concourse of people to the capital, and densely crowded
the senate chamber during all the days of the trial, and swarmed all
through the capitoL/^Upon the opening of the court one morning at the
trial, the clerk, on reading the printed minutes of the preceding day,
read persecution instead of prosecution, which caused a general laugh
throughout the chamber. This nettled Judge Ryan, who arose at once
and gave a severe and eloquent philippic against what he chose to look
upon as an insult to the prosecution. It turned out that the change in
the word was purely a typographical error, as since vouched for by Mr.
Paul, the assistant clerk, but opportunity was afforded whereby Judge
Ryan displayed his wonderful ability to pour forth a torrent of vindic
tive eloquence upon an unimportant matter, and which was wholly un
premeditated ; but,' then, such was the height of feeling aroused on the
occasion of this trial that every incident connected with its progress
was magnified in the excited minds of those present, whether members
of the court, or spectators. The entire proceedings of the trial, the
addresses of the counsel in full included, were published, occupying an
octavo volume, a copy of which is now rare, ft is the general opinion
with the lawyers, in Milwaukee, at least, that the friends of Judge Hub
bell gobbled up every volume they could lay hands upon. Many law
yers having taken the book to their houses for more safe keeping, but

494 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
on hunting them up, subsequently, find them missing. The book is
thought of special value, not only as a model of the form of such pro
ceedings in its several steps, but for the able and eloquent addresses it
contains of the eminent counsel who argued the cause on either side.
There were eleven charges with sixty-four specifications. Four of
these charges had relation to bribery, five to partiality, one charged him
with embezzlement, and still another with tyrannical usurpation of
authority. Under the head of bribery were four charges. In the first two the
judge was accused of adjudicating in the case of suitors in the courts
upon pecuniary or other compensation. In the latter two, adjudicating
in the courts upon causes in which he was personally interested.
The first charge details that a suit was instituted in the circuit court
of Milwaukee county, and the judge, Levi Hubbell, permitted William
Sanderson, one of the defendants, to consult with him on the subject
matter of said suit ; and afterward upon a traverse of the affidavit upon
which the attachment was executed, which had been tried without a
jury and submitted to him, the judge revealed to Sanderson that he
would decide it as he, Sanderson, was interested that it should be de
cided ; and thereupon solicited a loan of money from Sanderson, and
obtained the same without giving any voucher, or making any agreement
as to repayment ; and within two days thereafter the issue of fact was
desided as Sanderson desired. It was charged that when prosecution
was threatened before the constitutional tribunal a voucher was given,
but the sum of money remained unrepaid.
Charge third accused the judge of using his judicial station and in
fluence for the purpose of inducing females interested in suits before his
court to submit themselves to be debauched by him. To it there were four
specifications. The two remaining charges in a moral aspect came under
the head of bribery. In the ' first of these charges the judge was#
accused of presiding and adjudicating in the courts in causes in which
he was pecuniarily interested. It was specified that the judge being the
owner of a certain promissory note given by one Joseph O. Humble, did
cause a suit to be instituted in the- circuit court of Milwaukee county,
wherein he was the presiding judge, for the collection of the said prom
issory note in the name of one Wallace W. Graham, as plaintiff against
Humble, and did render judgment therein in favor of Graham. • The
second charge accused the judge of presiding and adjudicating in the
courts in causes wherein he had personally acted as attorney.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 495'
The charge, of tyrannical usurpation of authority, differed some
what from all the other charges. It specified that an individual having
been convicted in Dane county for an assault with intent to kill, Judge
Hubbell sentenced the individual so convicted to pay a fine of two hun
dred dollars, when the statute makes that crime a penitentiary offense.
One charge accuses Judge Hubbell of embezzling the money of
suitors in the court. It was specified that in a certain cause in chancery
pending in the circuit court of Dane county the judge ordered a certain
sum of money in controversy to be paid to the clerk of said court, and
afterward did himself obtain and use the same until the final determina
tion of said cause.
The remaining five charges had relation 'to alleged partiality on the
part of Judge Hubbell. In the first charge under this head he was
accused of being partial in giving judicial advice and making judicial
promises, as was instanced in the case of the attorney-general against
the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company and Alexander
Mitchell, in which Judge Hubbell did confer with Alexander Mitchell
whether to obey an injunction in the said cause, and averred that he,
as judge, would dissolve the same.
The second charge alleged that Judge Hubbell had conducted
himself with unjust partiality to particular suitors in the courts.
In the third charge he was accused of being partial in the exercise of
. his judicial functions, as was specified in the case of his ordering a new
trial without sufficient cause, and without argument heard by him in
court. In the fourth charge he was accused of being partial in that he had
allowed himself to be improperly approached, consulted and influenced
out of court on the subject of suits pending in the circuit court of his
circuit. The fifth and last charge was that Judge Hubbell had officiously
interfered and advised upon the subject-matter of suits pending in the
circuit and supreme courts of the state.
On the first charge ten of the jurymen voted for conviction and four
teen for acquittal. Of all the charges relating to bribery this was the
one on which Judge Hubbell came the nearest to being convicted.
From the third article of the charge Judge Hubbell was almost unani
mously acquitted. From the fifth charge and all its specifications the
judge was unanimously acquitted. From the sixth charge of partiality

496 c THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
only six of the jurymen voted for conviction. From the eighth charge
the judge was acquitted, and it related to an alleged private and inde
cent interview with a Mrs. Howe concerning an indictment against her
husband for perjury.
Able, elaborate and eloquent arguments were made in the case by
Edward G. Ryan on one side, and Jonathan E. Arnold and James H.
Knowlton on the other,' closing with a brief, terse and feeling address
by Judge Hubbell.
At the close of the trial each specification in each of the charges
was voted upon separately, which having been completed the president
of the senate announced that Levi Hubbell, Judge of the Second Judi
cial Circuit, is hereby declared by this Court, not guilty of the charges
of corrupt conduct in office, nor of crimes and misdemeanors, as charged
in the articles and specifications exhibited against him by the Assembly
of fhe Stale of Wisconsin.
THE KIDNAPPING AND RESCUE OF THE SLAVE GLOVER.
Future generations will scarcely be enabled to realize to its full ex
tent the widespread antagonistic feeling that pervaded the people of the
states in which slavery did not exist upon the enactment by the United
States congress in 1850, of the famous fugitive slave law, the pro
visions of which compelled state authorities and individual citizens,
when called upon, to seize slaves fleeing from southern bondage, and
return them to their masters. Several northern states declared the law
unconstitutional, and radical abolitionists innumerable stood ready to
set the law at defiance. Refugees fled to the north in greater numbers
than ever, and in various localities people came in direct contact with
the authorities of the general government when the latter were attempt
ing to enforce the federal laws by returning captured fugitives to bon
dage. In the Booth-Glover case the drama opens at Racine. Just
before dusk on Friday evening, March 10, 1854, Charles Cotton, John
Kearney and D. F. Houghton, accompanied by four other persons,
started from the city with two teams and drove to within twenty rods of
Glover's house, where they left the horses and wagons and proceeded
on foot. Within the house were Glover, Nelson Turner, and William
Abby, all colored, seated at a table, playing cards. When the knock
was heard at the door Glover cried out, " don't open it until we know
who they are," but Turner immediately went to the door and unbolted

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 497
it. Kearney rushed into the room with a bludgeon and dealt Glover a
blow on. the head, which brought him down. A desperate struggle
ensued. Three men were unable to put irons on Glover, and even
when, with the help of others they had succeeded, he broke the mana-
,cles from his wrists. Abby fled. Turner was placed in the wagon with
Glover without resistance, and brought two miles toward the city when
he got out.
The news of the capture of Glover soon spread throughout Racine.
'The citizens were thoroughly aroused during the night of the event, and
inquiries were immediately made of Kearney concerning his authority
for the arrest. At first the questions met with flat denials of the deed,
but subsequent developments necessitated a change of attitude on .the
part of the aggressors. It became known that the alleged owner of
Glover, a fugitive from slavery, resided near St. Louis, and had deemed
it more prudent to effect the man's return by sudden force than by
an appeal to the courts, inasmuch as this region was anti-slavery in
general sentiment, or, at least, did not approve of the fugitive slave law
of 1850. The owner, therefore, obtained a warrant from a Milwaukee
judge for the arrest of Glover, in order that the capture of the negro
might have some semblance of authority. Armed with this document,
the band of kidnappers repaired to Glover's house, and with the mani
fest assistance of Turner, who appears to have been a false friend of
Glover, successfully carried out their designs upon the liberty of the es
caped bondman. On Saturday morning the news was received that
Glover was incarcerated in the jail at Milwaukee. This announcement
¦was the one thing needed to ignite the smouldering tempers of the peo
ple. The largest public meeting ever held in the place immediately
assembled to protest against the outrage, and devise ways and means of
rescuing the arrested refugee. Resolutions were unanimously adopted,
demanding that a fair trial be accorded to the alleged fugitive slave.
The people again assembled early in the afternoon, and resolved to send
a delegation to Milwaukee, to carry into effect the resolutions adopted
at the morning meeting. A steamer, on her regular trip, was to leave
in the afternoon for Milwaukee, and about one hundred excited citizens
literally took possession of the boat in their eagerness to give their
moral support to the work in hand, and went on her to that city. The
scene now changes to Milwaukee.
At the time, Sherman M. Booth was publishing, at Milwaukee, the

498 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the daily Free Democrat, which was the organ of the radical anti-slavery
element of the day in Wisconsin. As editor of this paper he wielded " a
vigorous pen, with a fertile and strong brain, and assumed the attitude
of leader in the van of the abolition party. So positive an organ, so
unyielding an opponent, made enemies. The timid followers in his own
army sometimes felt the lash, and never forgot it. But admirers and
friends were numerous ; energy, enthusiasm and zeal always command
the admiration of the people, and Booth wielded a powerful influence."
This was the status of one of the chief actors in the drama. " At nine
o'clock a.m., March n, 1854, Mr. Booth received a telegram from the
mayor of Racine, stating that a negro, named Joshua Glover, had been
kidnapped near that city by Deputy-Marshal Cotton, the night previous,
and asking him to ascertain if a warrant had been issued in Milwaukee
for that purpose. On inquiry, Cotton denied all knowledge of the sub
ject, but Judge Miller said a warrant had been issued, but that whether
Glover had been arrested, or would be tried before him, if arrested, he
could not tell. The judge expatiated on the liability of the marshal,
should the slave escape, and hoped there would be no excitement. Mr.
Booth only asked that there might be a fair and open trial, and that
Glover might be permitted counsel. He soon learned that Glover was
in jail, brought here about eight o'clock that morning, bruised and
bloody, with marks of brutal treatment. He at once issued small bills,
stating the facts, and asking the citizens to watch the jail, marshal and
court, as it was feared Glover would be spirited away. Writs of habeas
corpus were issued directed to both the sheriff and marshal. Another
dispatch from Racine at twelve, noon, stated that a grand meeting was
held there and strong resolutions adopted. These proceedings he
issued in another extra. At one o'clock p.m. the excitement was great,
as it was reported that Glover was to be brought before Judge Miller,
and delivered up to his claimant at two o'clock. It was thought best
to have a public meeting, and as there was no other way to give notice,
Booth mounted a dark, blazed-face horse, and full-bearded, bald-headed,
and in trumpet tones, riding through the principal streets, cried : " Free
men to the rescue! " and calling on the citizens to meet in the court
house square at two o'clock. The people gathered in great numbers.
Dr. E. B. Wolcott was made chairman. Mr. Booth explained the
position of affairs, read the dispatches from Racine, and, as chairman of
a committee, presented resolutions, reciting the facts, and pledging

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 499
themselves to do their utmost to secure to Glover the benefit of the
writ of habeas corpus, and a fair and impartial trial by jury. The dig
nity of the crowd, in numbers, at least, impressed the authorities of
Milwaukee with the earnestness of its intentions to rescue the prisoner,
and the military was called out, but did not respond to the summons.
Inflammatory speeches were made, a vigilance committee of twenty-
five was appointed, and also a committee of two, to wait on Sheriff Page,
and ascertain if he would obey the writ of habeas corpus; and the
meeting, apparently united as the heart of one man, adjourned, to meet
at the ringing of the bells. At three p.m. the sheriff made returns that
Glover was not in his custody, but in the custody of the United States
marshal. A writ of habeas corpus was then served on Deputy -Marshal
Cotton, and a committee, of which C. K. Watkins was chairman,
waited on Judge Miller, to see if the writ would be obeyed. Judge
Miller answered that it would not, — that Glover would remain in jail
till ten a.m., on Monday, when he would be brought before him for a
hearing. At five p.m. a hundred delegates from Racine, headed by the
sheriff of the county, with a warrant for the arrest of Garland and Cot
ton, for an assault and battery on Glover, landed on the steamboat
wharf and marched to the jail. The bells were rung and the people
assembled. Mr. Booth explained to the delegation what had been done,
denounced the fugitive slave act, but counseled the people against vio
lence. Mr. Watkins reported that Judge Miller had decided that the
writ of habeas corpus should not be obeyed, and that no earthly power
should take Glover from the jail until Monday. Watkins said it was an
outrage to keep Glover in jail over the Sabbath, — there were times
when the people must take the law into their own hands, and whether
the present was such a time the people must judge; he would give no-
advice on that point. After a conference with members of the vigilance
committee, and of the Racine delegation, it was decided to repair at
once to the American House, take tea, and consult as to the best course
to be pursued. Mr. Booth made the announcement publicly, when- the
crowd made a rush for the jail, and in fifteen minutes Glover was
liberated, put in a wagon, carried out of the city with swift horses, on
the western road, followed by pursuers on horseback, in carriages, and
even on foot ; but eluding them all, he was driven safely into Waukesha
late in the evening. Here he was secreted by sympathizers, taken in
the night to Racine, where he was put on board of a vessel, and landed
safely in Canada.

500* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Sheriff Morrison, of Racine, arrested Garland for assault and battery
on Glover, the same evening, and Judge Miller issued a writ of habeas
corpus to the sheriff, and on the following Monday, he discharged Gar
land on a hearing, deciding that until Garland excepted his writ and
obtained his slave, he could not be interfered with by any legal process
by the state, and that in the execution. of his slave warrant he was justi
fied in using any violence, even to the taking of life, if necessary, to
secure his slave, and that no state process could interrupt such violence.
On March 15, Mr. Booth was first arrested by Marshal Ableman, and
brought before United States Commissioner Winfield Smith. The ex
amination was postponed until March 21, when, after three days' exami
nation and trial, he was held in the sum of two thousand dollars, to
answer any bill of indictment prepared against him at the July term of
the United States district court. Dr. Wunderly became his bail.
On the twenty-fifth of March Mr. Booth was sued by B. S. Garland,
of Missouri, for the value of his slave and damages, claimed, at two
thousand dollars. J. E. Arnold was counsel for the plaintiff.
Soon after this, Mr. Booth was surrendered by his bondsmen. A
writ of habeas corpus was granted by Judge A. D. Smith, of the state
supreme court, and after argument on the case he was discharged on the
ground, first, that the commitment was insufficient; secondly, that the
fugitive slave act of 1850 was unconstitutional, because congress has no
power to legislate for the recapture of fugitive slaves, and because that
act annuls the writ of habeas corpus and right of trial by jury.
The case was appealed to the full bench of the supreme court at the
July term, and after a full and able argument, the court unanimously
affirmed the order for his discharge ; Justice Crawford dissenting from,
and Chief Justice Whiton concurring in, the opinion of Justice Smith,
that the fugitive slave act was unconstitutional.
In the meantime the United States district court was in session, and
a bill of indictment was found against Mr. Booth and others, and Booth
was arrested in July, the day after his return from Madison. He offered
the same person, Dr. Wunderly, as bail, but the judge refused to accept
him, though he offered to qualify in twenty times the sum demanded,
on the ground that he had before surrendered him. Mr. Booth declined
to give other bail, went to jail, and applied again to the supreme court
for a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied, on the ground that the
United States jurisdiction had attached, and that comity required the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 501
state court to presume that the district court, on hearing, would pro
nounce the fugitive slave act unconstitutional, and discharge him ; and
that it could not interfere while the case was pending in the federal
court. The news of the refusal of the writ caused much excitement,
and a rescue being apprehended, Marshal Ableman went to the jail and
offered to accept the same bail which Judge Miller had refused before,
and urged it with some pertinacity, offering to go after Dr. Munderly
himself; and finally, with some reluctance, Booth consented, and was
released at eight o'clock Saturday evening, having been in prison ten
days and six hours. A special term of the United States district court
was held in November, for the purpose of trying the Glover rescue
cases; but Mr. Booth being confined with a severe attack of typhoid
fever, his- case was postponed; but John Rycraft, indicted with him for
the same offense, was tried and convicted; but an appeal to the supreme
court discharged him on a technicality. At the January term Mr. Booth
was put on trial. The motion of his counsel that the indictment should
be set aside, on the ground, as shown by the affidavits of four witnesses,
that two of the grand jury which had indicted him were strongly preju
diced against the defendant, and had, expressed themselves in favor of
his conviction, was overruled. The trial lasted five days, and was
marked by a rather bitter spirit against the defendant ; the district
attorney being aided by one of Mr. Booth's strongest personal and
political enemies. Under instruction of the court, the jury brought in
a verdict, at nine o'clock Saturday night, after deliberating seven hours,
of not guilty on the first three counts, of resisting United States pro
cess, and of guilty on the last two counts, of aiding Joshua Glover to
escape. "The judge charged the jury that the fact alone that Mr. Booth
drew up and presented to the meeting at the court house the following
resolutions was sufficient to convict him :
As citizens of Milwaukee, that every person has an indefensible
right to a fair and impartial trial by jury on all questions involving per
sonal liberty.
That the writ of habeas corpus is the great defense of freedom, and
that we demand for this prisoner, as well as for our own protection, that
this sacred writ shall be obeyed.
That we pledge ourselves to stand by this prisoner, and do our
utmost to secure for him a fair and impartial trial by jury.
The following resolution was adopted by three of the jurors:

50& THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
That while we feel ourselves bound by a solemn oath to perform a
most painful duty, in declaring the defendant guilty of the above charge,
and thus making him liable to the penalties of a cruel and odious law,
yet at the same time, in so doing, we declare that he performed a noble,
benevolent and humane act, and we thus record our condemnation of
the fugitive slave law, and earnestly commend him to the clemency of
the court.
On January 15 motions were made for arrest of judgment and for a
new trial, on the ground of the insufficiency of the indictment and proof,
and the prejudice of jurors, and affidavits of eight responsible witnesses
were offered proving that two of the jurors who convicted him had de
clared, previous to the trial, that he ought to be convicted. But the
motion, after argument, was overruled, and on January 23 Mr. Booth was
sentenced to one month's imprisonment and to pay a fine of one thou
sand dollars and four hundred and sixty-one dollars and one cent costs,
and to be imprisoned till the fine and costs were paid. Mr. Rycraft, at
the same time, was sentenced for the same offense to ten days' imprison
ment, and to pay a fine of two hundred dollars, and both were immedi
ately conducted to the county jail. The news of this sentence produced
great excitement in this city and throughout the state, and meetings,
numerously attended, were held here and through the country, pledging
the sympathy and help of the people to save them from pecuniary loss.
An application was again made to the supreme court for a writ of habeas
corpus, which was granted, and on Monday, January 29, at sunrise, the
prisoners, in charge of the sheriff, preceeded by a band of music, and
accompanied by their counsel, were escorted by a large number of their
friends, amid the firing of cannon and the ringing of church bells, to the
railroad depot, to take the cars for Madison ; and on Saturday, February
3, after a full hearing, the supreme court discharged them free men, on
the ground that no offense was charged against them in the indictment,
Justices Whiton and Smith reaffirming their former opinions, holding the
fugitive slave law unconstitutional and void.
This decision was hailed with acclamation by the republican press
throughout the free states, and was responded to by a considerable por
tion of the democratic press of this state. Meetings were held and reso
lutions passed pledging the support of the people to the decision of the
supreme court, and a mass state convention of the more' radical portion
was held in Milwaukee, and a rescue fund committee appointed to raise

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 503
funds to defray the expenses of the slave trials, past and future. About
two-thirds of the expenses of the trials were raised by contribution; the
rest was paid by the prisoners. The supreme court instructed its clerk
not to send up the papers to the United States Supreme Court, denying
to that court the right to review their decision in this case. They also
refused to send up the papers on a writ of error from the United States
Supreme Court.
At the state judicial election Orsamus Cole was chosen associate
justice of the supreme court over Justice Crawford, the sole issue being
the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the fugitive slave act,
Judge Cole representing the negative of the question. At the April term
of the United States district court the suit of Garland v. Booth, for the
value of the slave, came on, and after a trial of four days the jury disa
greed and were discharged, after having been out fifty-two and a half
hours. The trial was characterized by greater vindictiveness on the part
of the prosecution, if possible, than on the criminal suit.
In the winter of 1858-9, the United States supreme court assumed
jurisdiction in the case of Mr. Booth, without the papers, or a certified
copy of the record, and proceeded to review the decision of our state
court, and sent down its remittitur, requiring it to review its former
judgment discharging Mr. Booth from imprisonment, and to remand him
into federal custody. This our supreme court refused to do, denying
the appellate jurisdiction of the United States supreme court over its
proceedings. After the decision of the supreme court at Washington, our legisla
ture, in March, 1858, passed joint resolutions, denouncing the action of
the United States supreme' court, and sustaining the decision of our
state supreme court, and recommending resistance as the rightful remedy.
They had the sanction of every republican vote in both houses, and
the approval of the governor. .
In April, 1859, the judicial election turned solely on this issue;
Byron Paine, who had been Mr. Booth's counsel, in the rescue cases,
being a candidate for associate justice, against William P. Lynde, the
democratic candidate, and was elected over him by a small majority.
In February, 1859, the United States marshal levied upon Mr.
Booth's cylinder press and steam engine, to satisfy the judgment of
Garland. The press and engine were sold for one hundred and seventy-
five dollars ; and in April, the marshal made another levy on the print-
29

504» THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
ing office, to satisfy the balance of the judgment. Mr. Booth replevined
his property in the circuit court, and recovered them ; Garland appealed
the cases to the state supreme court, and the cases were twice argued
there, and the final result was that Mr. Booth lost his property.
On the first of March, i860, Mr. Booth was again arrested, by United
States Deputy Marshal Brown, on his way home from the railroad depot,
and confined in the United States custom house, in Milwaukee. His
counsel applied to the supreme court for a writ of habeas corpus, but as
Justice Paine declined to act, on account of having been Mr. Booth's
counsel, before his first discharge ; and as Chief Justice Dixon had
declared the fugitive act constitutional, the court was equally divided, and
the application failed. Another application was made, on the ground
that there was no authority for imprisoning him in the custom house;
but Judge Dixon decided that this averment should have been made at
the first application, and again refused the writ.
On the first of August he was rescued by some eight persons, who,
at noon, went up to the room in which he was confined, seized the
guard, opened the door, and walked off with him, after locking the
guard in his place. He went to Ripon, and remained in that vicinity
until the eighth of October, when he visited Berlin, and was arrested by
a detective in the evening, put on board a special train of cars, brought
to Milwaukee and placed in his old quarters in a room on the third floor
in the custom house.
For a long time Mr. Booth lay in prison, occasionally issuing an
epistle to the people, — that reminds one of Luther in the castle of
Wartburg, — fulminating unseen doctrines that were acknowledged by a
select few to be right, but highly dangerous.
Booth finally was released from durance by the timely efforts of
James R. Doolittle then a republican United States senator -from Wis
consin. Mr. Lincoln having been elected president in i860, Senator
Doolittle foresaw that the case of Booth would be presented to him
asking for executive pardon, which would, under the circumstances
greatly embarrass him, in view of the attitude of the South toward the
abolitionists of the North. Accordingly the senator went to President
Buchanan immediately before the expiration of his term of office, laid
the matter before him, and finally persuaded him to issue an uncondi
tional pardon to Booth, and thus ended the "celebrated case" of that
day and generation.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 505
THE GRANGER RAILWAY CASES.
Some ten years since the matter of legislative control of railways
operating in Wisconsin in particular, and in other states in general, had
assumed that importance and discussion which was soon to bring on a
test of the powers held by the railways, on one hand, and the people
on the other. Those largely patronizing the roads had become loud in
complaints of extortionate charges and discriminations. The farmers
interested in transportation charges for their products to market, took
the matter practically in hand, and in this state at least assumed the
lead in antagonizing the right of the railways to indiscriminate rule in
their scale of tariffs. With this contest largely in view, farmers in
various parts of the country banded together in organized granges,
denominating their members Patrons of Husbandry. By the year 1873
this order had become so strong in this state as to hold in its hands, in
united action, the balance of political power. -At that time the demo
cratic party was largely in the minority, the republicans having the rule.
To ring in the help of the Patrons, the democratic state convention
nominated a noted farmer as its candidate for governor, who was also
a leading member of the Patrons, and termed the new departure the
reform party. The Patrons, as individuals and not as an organization,
gave their suffrages largely to this reform ticket, and it was trium
phantly elected, carrying with it a strong working majority of the state
legislature. At the succeeding session of the legislature, a movement was
inaugurated to try conclusions with the railways, and an act was passed
assuming general control of railways to which the charters had been
granted by the state, and fixing limits to their charges for both freight
and passenger transportation. To this the managers of the railways
objected, claiming that a charter was a contract and constitutionally
inviolable. They refused to obey the law, and were in consequence
brought into the courts. To the State of Wisconsin is due the credit
or having been the first to inaugurate the movement that eventuated in
settling the principle of state control over railroads, one of the ques
tions of greatest importance in the history of legislation and court
decisions that has been discussed, acted upon, and conclusively decided
in this country, in view of the magnitude of railway extension and the
vital interests of the people as inevitably interwoven in the nature and
and scope of its business.

506* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
The following are the leading facts pertaining to the progress of the
legal controversy which grew out of the act of the legislature of Wis
consin, passed in 1874, known as the granger law of 1874, limiting the
charges for passengers and freights on the railroads of the state. Shortly
after the passage of the act, Alexander Mitchell, president of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and Albert Keep, president of
the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, each addressed a
letter to the governor of the state, stating, in effect, that their respective
railroads could not be operated for the charges limited by said act,
denying the right of the legislature to control and limit the charges of
the company, and announced their intention of disregarding the law.
Immediately after the receipt of these letters, and on the first of May,
1874, the governor issued a proclamation, to the effect that the laws of
the state must be obeyed, and enjoining all railroad corporations, their
officers and agents, to obey said act, and invoking the aid of all good
citizens in its enforcement. The governor also, on the twenty-first day
.of May following, issued an address to the people of the state, setting
forth that the railroad corporations were violating the law, invoking aid
and support in enforcing it, and calling upon all the district attorneys
of the state to vigorously prosecute all violations of the law, and on all
constables and police officers to be vigilant to inquire into all offenses
against said act, and to complain of the offenders.
The officers of the railroad companies had, before writing the letters
to the governor above mentioned, taken the opinions of several of the
most eminent lawyers of the country on the constitutional question of
the power of the legislature to enact said law, among them B. R. Cur
tiss, William M. Evarts and George F. Hoar, who had all given opinions
adverse to the constitutional power of the legislature to enact said law,
and to the validity and binding force of the law. The governor of the
state also submitted that question to A. Scott Sloan, the attorney-
general of the state, who gave an opinion in favor of the constitution
ality and validity of the law. In the meantime numerous prosecutions of
the agents and employes of the railroad companies had been instituted
in justices' courts, to enforce the penalties provided in the act for its
violation. Certain holders of the bonds of the Chicago & North-
Western Railway Company then filed a bill of complaint in equity in the
circuit court of the United States for the western district of Wisconsin,
against Geo. H. Paul, Joseph H. Osborn and John W. Hoyt, the railroad

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 507
commissioners of the state, and A. Scott Sloan, attorney-general, pray
ing for injunction restraining the defendants from taking any steps to
enforce said act by prosecutions of the officers, agents and employes of
the company, and for a decree adjudging said act of the legislature to
be unconstitutional and void; and, immediately upon the filing of said
bill in court, made a motion that an injunction issue according to the
prayer of the bill. This motion was brought to a hearing at the July
term of 1874, before a full court in the United States circuit. David
Davis, of the United States supreme court, Thomas Drummond, United
States circuit judge and J. C. Hopkins, district judge, sitting to hear the
motion. Mr. B. C. Cook, general solicitor, and Judge C. B. Lawrence,
of counsel for the railway company, and E. W. Stoughton, of New York,
""as counsel for the bondholders, appeared and argued the motion for the
complainants, and L. S. Dixon and I. C. Sloan appeared and argued the
same for the defendants.
The court denied the motion. The bills of complaint were then de
murred to for want of equity. A decree sustaining the demurrer and
dismissing the bills was then entered. From this decree the complain
ants took an appeal to the supreme court of the United States. But the
railway companies, still relying upon the advice of counsel, persisted in
disobeying and violating the act limiting their charges. The attorney-
general then, in July, 1874, after first obtaining leave of the court, filed
informations in the supreme court of the state against the Chicago &
Northwestern Railway Company, and the Chicago & St. Paul Railway
Company setting forth the continued violations of the law on the part of
these companies, and prayed that an injunction might issue restraining
each of said corporations from exceeding its powers, and from asking or
receiving higher rates of fare for the carriage of persons, and of toll for
transporting property than those fixed and limited by said act of the
legislature, and made a motion based on said informations that injunc
tions issue according to the prayer thereof. This motion came on for
argument before the supreme court of the state. L. S. Dixon, I. C.
Sloan and H. S. Orton appeared for the state, and B. C. Cook, C. B.
Lawrence, John W. Cary, George B. Smith and P. L. Spooner for the
defendants. After an elaborate and exhaustive discussion of the questions in
volved by counsel lasting many days, the court granted the motion and
directed the injunction to issue, restraining the companies from charging

508* THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
higher rates for transportation of persons and property than those
limited by the act. The opinion of the court, written by Chief Justice
Ryan, is one of the most elaborate and able ever delivered by any court,
and is a model of judicial style and reasoning. In the meantime two
other cases had been instituted involving questions growing out of this
act of the legislature. In one, Acherly, a lumber dealer, having ten
dered to the railway company the amount of freight prescribed by the
act for a car load of lumber consigned to him, brought an action of
replevin for the lumber and recovered judgment in the circuit court for
Milwaukee county. In the other one, Stone, a ticket agent, having
charged a higher rate for a passenger ticket than was limited by the act,
was prosecuted for the penalty, and convicted in the Dane county cir
cuit court. Both of these cases were appealed to the supreme court of
the state and the respective judgments affirmed.
All the cases mentioned were appealed to the supreme court of the
United States, and came on for argument in October, 1876, together
with certain other cases from other states, involving analogous questions;
Munn against Illinois, brought to determine the right of the legislature
to limit the charges on elevators for 'storing grain; Chicago & Rock
fsland Railroad Company against the State of Iowa, in which the same
question was raised as in the Wisconsin cases, as to the power of the
legislature to limit charges for passengers and freights, and Winona &
St. Peters Railroad Company against Blake, in which the main question
was whether a state legislature where the constitution of the state re
served no right to alter or repeal the charters of corporations, had the
power to regulate and limit railroad charges.
In the main Wisconsin cases Wm. M. Evarts, C. B. Lawrence, B. C.
Cook, J. W. Cary and E. W. Stoughton appeared for the railroad com
panies, and I. C. Sloan and L. S. Dixon appeared for the state. The
supreme court of the United States decided in substance, that railr6ad
and warehouse companies were engaged in a public employment and ser
vice, and that, therefore, irrespective of any reserved power in the constitu
tion of the state, the legislature of the respective states had full power
to regulate and limit all charges for warehousing grain and for the
transportation of passengers and property on all railroads in the country.
Thus terminating in favor of popular control, the most important liti
gation which has arisen in Wisconsin since its organization as a sover
eign commonwealth.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 509
At the session of the legislature of 1876 the granger law was re
pealed, since which time the people generally and the Patrons of Hus
bandry as well, have been satisfied with the management of the railways
operating within the borders of the state.
THE WHISKY TRIALS.
In the spring of 1875 the treasury department, which includes the
internal revenue bureau, became aware that the internal revenue laws
were being systematically violated in several of the cities of the West,
and the subject was taken into consideration with the view of adopting
some comprehensive plan for bringing the offenders to justice. The
extent of these depredations was not known, but the secretary of the
treasury and the commissioner of internal revenue agreed that they
were of sufficient magnitude to justify strong measures on behalf of the
government. The impression seemed to prevail, based on the reports
of special detectives, that Chicago, Peoria, St. Louis and Milwaukee
needed immediate attention, and vigorous measures were set on foot to
strike a simultaneous blow at these several places. Accordingly, early
in May, seizures were made of distilleries and other property at all these
cities, and a large number of arrests speedily followed of distillers, recti
fiers, compounders and government officers. The blow fell so suddenly,
so unexpectedly, and with such tremendous power, that the action of
the government arrested at once the attention of all classes, and became
the great and leading sensation of the' period. Almost the entire busi
ness of manufacturing distilled spirits at the above places was brought
to a halt, as if by a single word of command. The parties interested in
the business directly and indirectly, as well as the government officials,
who knew how deeply themselves were implicated in the frauds that had
been practiced, were for the time being in a state of consternation. Some
absconded; others denied their guilt, and others awaited with ill-con
cealed anxiety the development of events.
Judge Hubbell had been since 1871 the United States attorney for
the eastern district of Wisconsin, and was at the time of the first seizures
above mentioned in possession of that office. The supervisors and the
special agents of the internal revenue department acquired the notion,
for reasons which were not made public, and which it is, perhaps, not
important to know, that the judge was not in sympathy with the policy
of the government in the premises, and he was shortly afterward sus
pended and finally removed.

510 - THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Judge Dixon, who had recently left the position of chief justice of
the supreme court of the state, and J. C. McKenney, who had been
deputy United States attorney for the western district of Wisconsin, and
had had some experience in enforcing the internal revenue law in that
district, were appointed special assistant United States attorneys, and as
such were placed in charge of the prosecution of the cases connected
with and growing out of the alleged violations of the law in the city of
Milwaukee. The defendants, or such of them as had not absconded,
having resolved to make a vigorous fight, retained Carpenter & Murphy
and Goodwin & Adams as principal attorneys, although in the course of
the litigation which followed Winfield Smith, J. G. Jenkins, Frederick
C. Winkler, F. W. Cotzhauzen, J. R. Doolittle, J. T. Fish, and possibly
others, appeared on behalf of some of the defendants. A grand jury was
called for the Oshkosh term of the United States court which opened on
the second Tuesday of July, at which thirty-seven indictments were
returned. The parties named in these indictments embraced all against
whom evidence had been furnished at the time, including the collector,
George Q. Erskine, and a .considerable number of storekeepers and
gaugers. In the meantime a large number of civil suits had been com
menced on the bonds of the distillers and the official bonds of the store
keepers and gaugers, and proceedings in rem instituted to forfeit the
property employed in and about the manufacture of spirits.
At the October term of the United States court, held at Milwaukee,
his honor Judge Drummond, circuit judge, occupied the bench with
his honor Judge Dyer, of the district court, and reporters for the local
newspapers were in attendance to report the evidence and the incidents
of the court room for the public. The first case called was that of the
United States against George Q. Erskine, indicted for " neglect of duty
and unlawful issue of stamps." Mr. Erskine was a resident of Racine
and was defended by ex Senator Doolittle and J. T. Fish, of that city.
The result was a verdict of acquittal, and it is only just to Mr. Erskine
to say that the verdict was in full accord with popular opinion' and
expectation. The case of the United States against C. J. F. Moller, government
gauger, was next called and was very vigorously contested at every stage.
In the defense of Mr. Moller, Senator Carpenter took the active and ,
leading part, although Messrs. Murphy, Goodwin, Adams and Judge
Hubbell occupied seats at the table and rendered important assistance.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 511
This was the only jury trial in which Mr. Carpenter took any part in
the court room, in these cases. Mr. Moller was convicted and subse
quently sentenced by Judge Drummond to imprisonment in the States
prison at Waupun for one year and fined $2,500. After this other cases
were called in their order and tried, the government being almost invari
ably successful.
In January, 1876, indictments were returned against Daniel W.
Munn, supervisor of internal revenue and Augustus G. Weissert, deputy
collector; also against Sylvester J. Conklin, revenue agent; Edward S.
Reddington, gauger ; Nowell S. Tenny, gauger, and several others. A
second indictment was returned against George Q. Erskine at this term.
Phillip Goldberg, Julius Jonas and Adam M. Crosby, of Chicago, were
indicted for a conspiracy to carry away papers.
Nearly the entire time of the court was occupied from October, 1875,
till July, 1876, with these so-called whisky cases. Judge Drummond
remained through two or three of the jury trials, when he returned to
Chicago, leaving the subsequent cases to the district judge. In antici
pation of an indictment, Mr. Conklin had fled to Canada, where he re
mained till a promise of indemnity was obtained for him by United
States marshal C. S. Hamilton, upon condition that he should return and
furnish evidence for the indictment of certain parties named in the
marshal's correspondence. Mr. Conklin shortly after his return was
'taken before Judge Dixon and Mr. McKenny by Marshal Hamilton, to
disclose what he knew concerning the guilt of the parties in question,
when it was discovered that his knowledge fell short of what was
required to furnish ground for indicting, to say nothing of convicting
the parties. The correspondence of the marshal with Mr. Conklin was
quite voluminous and was subsequently embodied in a petition by Conk
lin to the court, asking the formal discontinuance of the prosecution
against him, and the same thus became a part of the public record of
the case. As Mr. Conklin held the unconditional, indemnity of the
government over the signatures of Messrs. Dixon and McKenny, the
court could not do otherwise than grant the petition. The indictment
against Daniel W. Munn was discontinued by direction of the court
with the approval of the attorney general, for want of evidence. The
indictment against Augustus G. Wiessert was called for trial at the
November term, 1876, but no evidence implicating him could be elicited
from the witnesses and he was discharged by direction of the court.

512 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Mr. Erskine demanded an immediate trial on the second indictment
against him, but the attorneys for the government were not ready to
proceed, and subsequently a nolle prosequi was entered in the case. The
same course was pursued in the cases against Reddington and Tenny.
The second batch of indictments seems to have been based on uncer
tain and insufficient evidence, and doubtless might better not have been
found. The trial of the indictment against Goldburg and others came
on in May, 1876, and continued for several days, and resulted in a verdict
of not guilty.
A very considerable amount of money was realized in the civil
actions, and the parties involved in the crooked business were for the
most part brought to punishment, but there was much criticism indulged
in, particularly against Secretary Bristow and Solicitor Wilson for the
manner in which the prosecutions were conducted. Many persons who
were under indictment for violations of law and were generally believed
to be leading spirits among the crooks, instead of being prosecuted,
convicted and sentenced in the usual way, were approached by govern
ment officials and solicited under varying promises to furnish evidence
implicating other parties. Some were promised absolute immunity,
upon condition that they should tell what they knew concerning promi
nent citizens in their locality. Others were promised more lenient
punishment. The result, undoubtedly, was to cheat the law of its victims
in some instances and to greatly detract from the moral effect which
might have resulted from a different policy. But it may be justly said
that the rings which had been organized to defraud the revenues, were
effectually broken up, and the action of the government in 1875-6 has
helped very greatly to secure the high standard of efficiency in the
revenue service that has prevailed since.
WIT AND HUMOR OF THE WISCONSIN BAR.
There lived in Wisconsin a certain Judge J  , who was noted for
his learning, abilities and for being remarkably absent-minded when
intoxicated to a certain degree. Judge J  and Senator B  had
been on a visit to Madison on some political errand, and both had
become somewhat "blue," when they started for home — a distance of
about thirty miles. The two friends lived in the same town, had gone
to Madison together in the same buggy, and were to return together,
and did start in the company of each other about one o'clock p.m. At

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 513
the " Half-way House" they stopped to take a drink, of course, and
Senator B  alighted to procure the "red-eye," while the judge
remained in the buggy. In due time the senator returned- with de
canter and tumbler, and the two drank, and B  returned to deliver
the implements to mine host. B  deposited the tumbler and de
canter, paid for the " exhilarator," then called for a cigar and proceeded
to light the same. Meantime the judge, having taken his drink, sat
quietly for the space of half a minute, and forgetting that he was wait
ing for B  , started up the team at a 2:40 rate and was off.
After driving about forty miles he met a friend going to Madison,
whom he hailed as follows :
"I say, D  , just stop at the Half-way House and ask the land
lord if I left anything there. It seems to me I came away and
forgot something, and I have been trying to think for an hour what it
is, but I can't ; so just stop, won't you, and inquire, and if I left any
thing, just bring it out when you come back ? "
D  agreed, and the judge drove home.
Two or three days after B  arrived, and immediately called
upon the judge, when occurred the following:
Senator B  , " You are a pretty man to leave a fellow fifteen
miles from home, ain't you ? "
Judge J., " Why, B  , what's the matter ? "
B  , "What's the matter! sure enough, I have a good mind to
thrash you ! "
J  , "Why, B  , what's the — I — I don't understand."
B  , "Don't understand, eh? As though- leaving me at the
Half-way House wasn't enough, but you must send by D  to inquire
if you hadn't left something; and now make strange as if you didn't
know it ! "
J  , "Ha! ha! ha! That's it. I knew there was something
wrong. I told D  ¦ I had left something, but couldn't think what.
Tried to remember all the way home. Asked my wife what was miss
ing when I got home. Have thought of it ever since, and could make
nothing of it; and sure enough it ivas you. Ha! ha! ha! Sorry, 'pon
my soul. Let's take a drink."
And they did drink.
Judge Miller was in religion as strict and devout an Episcopalian as he
was in politics an ardent democrat. His radicalism in these particulars

514, THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
may well be illustrated by a short anecdote. While holding court at
Oshkosh there was on one occasion a witness on the stand who greatly
vexed the judge by his stubborn persistency in withholding certain facts.
The judge could hardly find words strong enough to express his irri
tation. While at dinner at the hotel the same day he happened to
be seated near Gabe Bouck, from whom he sought to obtain some
consolation by relating his troubles, expressing, as his opinion, that
the contumacious witness " must be a Methodist."
"On the contrary," said Bouck, "he is an Episcopalian."
"Then," said the judge, "he is certainly a republican."
" Wrong again, judge," said Bouck, " he is a democrat."
On the first of April, 1870, a little triangular piece of wit was per
petrated in the clerk's office of the supreme court of the United States
between Senator Carpenter of Wisconsin and United States Attorney-
General Evarts and Mr. Middleton, the clerk of the court. Said Mr.
Carpenter :
" Mr. Middlefon, there is no statute of the United States that pro
hibits a man from making a fool of himself."
" Nor any decision of the courts," gravely rejoined the clerk.
" Ah, certainly," quickly added Mr. Evarts with a sly twinkle of the
eye, " there is nothing in the practice of this court to warrant any other
conclusion." David Davis, while an associate justice of the United States supreme
court, and holding a session in Madison, the attorney for one party in a
case that came before him failed to appear, whereupon the attorney for
the other party claimed in consequence a decision in favor of his client.
The judge heard him through, when he quietly remarked that "a case
was once before him down in Illinois where the opposing counsel did
not appear and we beat him ! " This squelched the persisting lawyer.
H. N. Wells. Mr. Wells was a wit and genius, and withal outspoken
and independent in his demeanor in court. Practicing before Judge
A. G. Miller, at Milwaukee, Hans Crocker one day asked the judge
"why he did not discipline Wells for impertinence." The judge
quickly replied, "Mr. Wells wins no cases in this court."
At another time Mr. Wells was making out an affidavit for a client to
sign bearing on a case then pending. The latter said to him to so write

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 515
it that the true facts would appear. The former turned around and
said "it is my business to make out this affidavit and yours to sign it."
Moses M. Strong, in a case before Judge Savage, proceeded to
read an affidavit which was of great length ; told about where he
lived, what he had been doing, and not a word touching the case.
The judge, to cut it short, remarked, " That is the strongest affida
vit I have ever heard; it is all right, and will be accepted right now."
An application once made before Judge Frazer for change of venue
on account of prejudice of the judge. The judge said he did not
know the party — had never seen him — asked his counsel if he was
in court — requested to see him — attorney called upon him to stand
up — judge looked at him askance, shrugged his shoulders, then said
quickly to the attorney : " All right, it is all right, the order for change
of venue will be entered; I had no prejudice in the case before, but
have now ! "
Judge Woodell, who resided in Madison, was of a humorous turn.
He had received some of the notable railroad bonds which were
corruptly distributed to members of the legislature at the session of
1856, of which body the judge was a member. He afterward was
requested to return them, and he replied that he had sold them and
used the money — had lost sight of them entirely, but when the Ross
telescope arrivec at the observatory he would try and discover them.
Being a prominent democrat the Milwaukee News had been sent him
for a long time and finally a bill for subscription to the paper was sent,
to which was added, " The proprietors could not make a paper with
out costing money." The judge replied he did not see that it had
cost him anything, and failed to remit. The paper was then un
ceremoniously stopped. At this he wrote to them that "he had
seen by the terms advertised in the paper that ' no subscription will
be discontinued until all arrearages are paid,' and that, as he had
paid up no arrearages, he did not see but that he was entitled to the
continuance of the paper." The paper was promptly sent him.
Perry H. Smith relates that an early day in the law history of
Wisconsin, a man was on trial for a crime at Appleton, was convicted,
and a motion made for a new trial. The judge was undecided, and
during an adjournment it was proposed to let the judge out of his

516, THE- BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
embarrassment by the chances on a game of "old sledge." The court
and prosecuting attorney played for granting a new trial, and won.
The criminal was finally acquitted, was advised by the prosecuting
attorney to study law, which he did at Oshkosh, was admitted to
the bar; subsequently practiced in Iowa, and became distinguished.
All the happy result of a game of cards, a recreation all too common
in those pioneer times, when results of so fortunate a nature did not
often follow the enticing pastime.
A case was recalled before Judge Stow. When he declared that he
had before decided the case, the clerk stated it had been appealed, his
decision reversed, and remanded for a new trial. "Then," said the
judge, "I have only another decision 'to make, and that is that the
judges of the supreme court are consummate blockheads."
On leaving a hotel Judge Stow threw down a ten dollar bill to pay
the charges. The clerk said he could not change it. " Well," said the
judge, " this is the first- time I have known this hotel to charge anything
less than ten dollars."
John J. Orton, when arguing a case of his own before the supreme
court, with an ex-judge as counsel for the other side, the latter, in refer
ring to Mr. Orton indulged in the quotation : " He who pleads his own
case has a fool for his client." When it came to Orton's turn, he re
torted by saying "he would leave it to the court to judge whethe^ in
the case of his opponent in this cause the old saw should not be reversed
in that the client seemed to be the wise man, and his lawyer the fool."
On another occasion of a case of his own before the supreme court,
upon his arising to open, Chief Justice Ryan left the bench, remarking
" I have been a partner of the attorney and it is proper for me to retire."
Thereupon Judge Orton arose and left, remarking that he " is a brother
of the party, and it would be improper for him to sit upon the case."
J. J. Orton then, looking around in his peculiar way, said, "I have got
along eighteen years with only three judges on this bench, and, possibly,
I can a while longer.
A law firm of Milwaukee, which for reasons unnamed we will desig
nate as Smith, Jones & Smith, experienced lately an amusing trick
which is too good not to be told. The firm, especially devoted to the
collecting of debts, had in this line gained a good reputation as col-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 517
-lectors, once notified a local business man that they had a collection
against him and informed him of it in order that by conferring with
them he might save himself much trouble. The debtor, who was per
sonally quite unknown to the lawyers, had no objection except the
payment of the claim. So he appeared in the law office of Smith, Jones
& Smith and announced that he had a "case" for them.
"There is a fellow in town," said he, "who threatens to sue me, and
I am ready to pay any amount in case he loses his suit. Can you help
me?" " Certainly," exclaimed Smith, Jones & Smith, who, as said above,
did not know their man.
" What I want," said the client, " is to delay the fellow, and finally
not pay him. Can I do that ? "
" Assuredly," said the senior partner, " the man will not get his
money for twenty years, if we take the case in hand."
" You are entire strangers to me said the client, but you have been
well recommended. Suppose now that the man sues me, what will you
do?" " First, we will delay answer to the suit. Then we will take deposi
tions de bene esse before a court commissioner; then summon foreign
witnesses, perhaps from Siberia ; then on the day of the proceedings our
business will be of such a nature that the trial will have to be post
poned ; then you and we will take turns in being sick, and if at last he
receives judgment in his favor, we will appeal. Oh, it will be twenty
years at least before the plaintiff will get his money."
" But what will the attorneys of the other side do? I hear they are
very shrewd men."
"We do not care a continental for that," said Smith, Jones &
Smith, " who are they ? "
" I do not remember the name, but I have one of their letters with
me. Here it is, but, gentlemen ; the — thunder ! it is Smith, Jones &
Smith ! "
The partners were speechless.
" I hope that nothing I have said will be used against me," said the
client, in a submissive tone, after looking at the three lawyers in a row.
" I beg, my dear sirs, that you will not betray me. It was a bad mistake,
but I hope you will not use it against me."
Smith, Jones & Smith held a short consultation.
" Am I in great danger ? " said the client.

518, THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
"We believe not," answered Smith, Jones & Smith, "we are — now
we — we are ready to let the affair go. We will say nothing if — if —
if you will keep your mouth shut in regard to our conversation."
" Certainly, certainly," smiled the client, " and in future you shall
have all my law business."
Probably one of the most enjoyable episodes in the professional life
of the lawyer is when attending court in a country town with a little
leisure on their hands, when stories, anecdotes and general hilarity is in
order. At one term of the circuit court in Green county, the attorneys
were waiting for the judge — Pulling — to arrive, and as one method of
passing off the time a moot court was put in operation. A man would be
brought in for trial in all apparent seriousness, and final judgment ren
dered against him for ten dollars. This he would pay over, and the court
adjourn and drink it up; and when again becoming thirsty repeat the
operation with another victim.
At another time they forced Judge Pulling — -this was before he
was a judge — to mount a barrel and to make a speech. The barrel head
fell in and with it -Mr. Pulling, who, being rather brief in stature, pre
sented a comical appearance; his head just protruded above the demor
alized barrel, to the great amusement of his brother lawyers.
Judge David Noggle was apt, so to speak, in the misuse of words.
At a meeting of pioneer settlers at which he was present, it was proposed
to take some action upon the recent death of one of the club, who had
been killed by the cars, upon which Judge Noggle offered a resolution
to "congratulate the friends of the deceased."
At another time when he was attending a society meeting of a con
gregation that was about to build a church, and the propriety of having
the usual ceremony of laying the corner stone was under discussion.
The judge was called upon for his opinion — he being a judge —
when in the course of his remarks he said, "it was customary on such
occasions to place monumentals under the corner stone."
On one occasion when addressing a jury in behalf of the plaintiff,
he called their attention to the personal appearance of the defendant,
and pointing direct to the man he exclaimed, " you can see f-r-o-d writ
ten upon his very forehead."

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. ' 519
Of Matt Carpenter it has been said that the very audacity of the man
was sublime. An incident occurred soon after the present Chief-Justice
Waite, of the supreme court of the United States, assumed his position.
Nowhere is etiquette more rigidly observed than in the old senate cham
ber, which is now the gloomy United States supreme court chambers.
Its frigid solemnity, it was once remarked, was sufficient to give a Polar
bear the ague. After Justice Waite had assumed the gown this strict
ness became even more rigid than before. An attorney presuming
to address the court while wearing his overcoat was rebuked for his dis
regard of the dignity of the court. This system did not please Carpen
ter, and he took a method to express his contempt for such convention
ality that, for audacity, exceeds anything on record. Appearing in the
chamber to deliver an argument, he arose seemingly to address the
court, but hesitating, advanced into the august presence of the mighty
nine, and addressing the chief-justice, requested him in the blandest
manner to hand him a pinch of snuff from the snuff-box which lay on
the elevated desk before him. Before the chief-justice could recover
from his surprise he was holding the snuff-box extended to the com
placent Carpenter, while a suppressed titter ran through the assembly
and a smile rippled over the solemn countenance of more than one of
the justices on the bench. "Thank you, judge, thank you," said Car
penter, and then he proceeded with his argument.
Of Judge Stow. The story about the late Chief-Justice Whiton's
handsome feet is literally correct, except that it was Judge A. W. Stow
instead of Isaac Woodle who said that if he " could have Whiton's feet he
would be almost willing to also have his head." Judge Stow did not have
club feet, but very awkward and shapeless ones, short, thick, stubbed,
without curves of beauty, and so constructed, as one of our informants
stated, that the hollow would make a hole in the ground. Whiton and
Stow were both members of the old supreme court, composed of the
circuit judges, and it was during a term of the court, while they were
occupying the same room as boarders at the old National hotel at
Madison, that the conversation occurred.
A plaintiff was sued before a Wisconsin justice for damages caused
by the bite of defendant's dog; and on the trial, while being examined
on his own behalf, he was asked, " how much he was damaged by the
30

520 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
dog ?" This was objected to by defendant's counsel, when the
esquire, who was a Hibernian, said he would put the question himself,
which he did thus : " This is the question : What would ye tak to be bit
by the same dog agin ?" This decided the matter.
Several years since a circuit court in Wisconsin was in session, Judge
Blank presiding. A man was on trial for a violation of the law to sup
press gambling. Mr. K- — — was defending him. A witness on the
stand talked glibly of "checking," " passing" and " going blind." The
defendant's counsel appeared to understand these terms without diffi
culty. The judge, who enjoyed a joke, said to him : " Mr. K.  , you
seem to understand the witness ; will you explain the terms used by
him?" A suppressed laughter rang through the room ; but Mr. K. — —
was equal to the emergency; he walked deliberately up to the bench,
and reaching out his hand in the most innocent manner in the world,
answered, "certainly, sir, certainly, if your honor will be kind enough to
lend me your deck."
A stranger came into the office of J. H. Knowlton and abruptly
informed him that his wife had deserted him, and wished to have her
replevined at once. Mr. Knowlton told him that remedy would not
meet his case exactly, and went on to inform him that, if he would be
patient until the desertion had continued one year, he could obtain a
divorce. The stranger said that he did not know as he wanted a divorce ;
what he most feared was, that his wife would run him in debt all over
the country. " In that case," said Judge Knowlton, " you had better
post her." What his client understood him by posting remains a mys
tery to this day. He said, in a meditative way, that he did not know
where she had gone, and besides that she was fully as strong as he was,
and he did not believe he could post her, even if he knew where to find
her. Mr. Knowlton hastened to inform him that, by posting his wife, he
meant putting a notice in a newspaper, saying: "Whereas, my wife,
Helen, has left my bed and board without just cause — " But that is not
true," interrupted the client, "that is not true — she didn't leave my bed
— she took it away with her."
Mr. Hood and Mr. Thompson, both residing in Madison, looked so
much alike that it was often found difficult' to distinguish them from '

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 521
each other. On one occasion, Mr. Hood had a note discounted in a
bank at Madison, which had recently been opened. A few days after
the note had matured, the clerk of the new bank was sent out to find Mr.
Hood and notify him of the state of affairs. The clerk met Mr. Thomp
son in the street, and thinking he had struck his man, -informed him that
his note was due. Mr. Thompson, seeing the chance for a joke, said
that he had been expecting to have the money but had been disappointed,
and asked for a renewal of ninety days, which was granted. Mr. Thomp
son then went to Mr. Hood and informed him what he had done, at
which Mr. Hood was delighted, saying that when the time was out he
would be greatly obliged to him to renew the note for another ninety
days. In New England it is the custom for all members of the bar to
commence their professional career in the capacity of justice of the
peace, consequently the lawyers of that region have one and all
acquired the honorable title of " 'squire." A gentleman from Massa
chusetts, Mr. M. P. Wing's native state, was visiting at La Crosse,
and being told that a Massachusetts man was an inhabitant of the
town, he expressed a great desire to see him. After the ceremony
of introduction had been gone through with, Mr. Wing was asked by
his new acquaintance, with Yankee-like inquisitiveness, what his oc
cupation was. He naturally enough replied that he was an attorney.
The New Englander, after searching his own mental vocabulary for
the meaning of the word, ingeniously put the question,
" Have you a turning lathe ? "
" No, I am a lawyer," was the startled reply.
" Ah, well then, I am glad to have met you, 'squire."
The New Englander was no longer dealing in foreign words.
General Gill relates an amusing incident of his early professional
career. He came to Watertown, Wisconsin, from central New York
about the year 1853, being then about twenty-three years of age. He
had a small but well-chosen library, and was full of courage and confi
dence. The first case that he was employed upon, however, resulted
most disastrously, and, as he asserts, came near driving him out of the
legal profession. The majority of the people of Watertown were of
German birth or parentage, and our young lawyer was employed one

,22

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.

day to try a case in dispute between two citizens of the above-named
nationality. His client, the plaintiff, asked damages of the defendent
for injury committed by the latter's cow, which had been allowed to
run at large, contrary to the ordinances, and had broken into the
plaintiff's garden. The suit was brought before an old Dutch justice,
and as the day was very warm, he adjourned the court from his office
to the shade of a large tree a few rods distant. A jury consisting of
six honest German burghers was impaneled. There was no dispute as
to the facts alleged or as to the amount of damage inflicted, so Mr. Gill
contented himself with reading the ordinance, which stringently prohib
ited the running at large of cattle, and sat down m the confident
expectation of a verdict. The opposing counsel, to Gill's great amuse
ment, never touched upon the question at issue, but devoted his whole
time to berating rich people who seek to oppress the poor, and espe
cially in the way of refusing the latter the small privilege of pastur
ing their cows on the grass grown on street sides. To that sort of
an argument Mr. Gill thought it ridiculous to make any response,
and so the jury retired at its close to the shade of another tree for
consultation. They were not gone long, and our young attorney's
astonishment and horror can be imagined when the foreman arose and
impressively said : " May it blease the gourt, ve vind the blaintiff
guilty." Gill says that for an hour or two he felt inclined to throw
his library into the river, and hire out to a drayman; but he soon
thought better of it and his subsequent career is marked with brill-,
iant professional victories ; thus showing that, if a young lawyer
has the right kind of stuff in him, early defeats only serve to stimu
late him to efforts that, in the result, are certain to win.
In a case in the United States supreme court at Washington, Mr.
Carpenter, the counsel opposed to Mr. Ryan, proposed to supply some
omission or neglect on his part by filing the requisite paper, nunc pro
tunc, Mr. Ryan said that it reminded him of the Dutch justice who
was applied to to marry a couple, and the justice told the applicants
that his commission had expired, but that they might go and behave
just like married folks, and come back next week, when his commis
sion would be renewed, and then he would marry them nunc pro tunc.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 523

ATTORNEYS IN PRACTICE
Adams county — Friendship, J. B. Harrison, O. B. Lapham, S. W,
Pierce, Adriel Bean.
Ashland county — Ashland, John J. Miles, W. M. Tompkins.
Barron county — Rice Lake, F. M. Angell, G. H. Barwise, Sr., I. C.
Sargent, W. A. Hylman. Barron, J. F. Coe, H. J. Sill, W. P. Swift, C. S.
Taylor. Cumberland, C. C. Kinsman. Cheteck, W. R. Smith.
Bayfield county — Bayfield, J. H. Knight, Andrew Tate.
Brown county — Green Bay, C. W. Bailey, L. J. Billings, Van Buren
Bromley, T. G. Case, E. H. Ellis, G. C. Green, D. H. Grignon, S. D.
Hastings, Jr., T. R. Hudd, H. J. Huntington, W. J. Lander, F. G. Lee,
M. P. Lindsay, M. L. Martin, A. C. Neville, J. C. Neville, L. B. Sale, J.
J. Tracy, C. Vroman, J. H. M. Wigman. Depere, G. F. Merrill, E. F.
Parker. Kaukauna, E. C. Eastman.
Buffalo county — Alma, T. Buehter, R. Lees, C. Moser, Jr. Foun
tain City, A. Finkelnburg, W. F. Finkelnburg. Gilmanton, Edward Lees.
Mondovi, S. G. Gilman, J. W. McKay, J. W. Wheelan.
Burnett county — Grantsburg, W. R. Maxwell, E. M. Wilson.
Calumet county — Chilton, T. Lynch, J. E. McMullen, A. A. Nugent,
J. Paulus. Chippewa county — Chippewa Falls, J. M. Bingham, W. F. Boland,
D. Buchanan, Jr., J. S. Carr, P. H. Foster, L. Gandit, A Gough, W. R.
Hoyt, J. J. Jenkins, R. D. Marshall, W. L. Price, H. Richardson, W. H.
Stafford, J. P. Wall, C. J. Wittse, F. T. Condit. Bloomer, A. Jackson,
C. D. Tillinghart.
Clark county — Neillsville, R. Dewhurst, L. A. Doolittle, B. F.
French, R.J. McBride, J. O'Niell, Jr., M. C. Ring, J. R. Sturdevant, L.
M. Sturdevant, C. A. Youmans, R. F. Kountz, Joseph Morely. Colby,
C. F. Grow, R. B- Salter.
Columbia county — Portage, T. Armstrong, Jr., E. S. Baker, L. W.
Barden, H. Briggs, J. Buckwell, G. J. Cox, G. Curtis, Jr., H. H. Curtis,
C. L. Dering, J. J. Guppy, J. H. Rogers, A. Stewart, W. S. Stroud, J. B.
Taylor. Lodi, R. Lindsay, S. H. Watson, B. C. Lamont. Columbus, E.
Von Briessen, A. G. Cook, J. T. Lewis, J. S. Maxwell, G. W. Stephens.
Kilbourn City, J. Bowman, T. B. Coon, W. H. Mylrea, P. G. Strand.
Poynette, J. P. Wilson. Cambria, Peter Williams.

524 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Crawford county — Prairie du Chien, Peter Doyle, W. H. Evans, C.
S. Fuller, M. E. Norris, J. H. Savage, O. B. Thomas, L. F. S. Viele,
Daniel Webster. Manette, S. S. Ferrell. Bell Center, J. N. Kast- North
Star, E. Keiley. De Soto, G. L. Miller. Eastman, S. C. McCline.
Yankeetown, A. Montgomery. Wheatville, W. B. Walton. Soldier's
Grove, T. B. Ward.
Dane county — Madison, I. C. Sloan, Breese J. Stevens, W. A. P.
Morris, J. C. Gregory, Chas. N. Gregory, S. U. Pinney, A. L. Sanborn,
Henry M. Lewis, Herbert A. Lewis, Chas. F. Harding, Wm. F. Vilas,
Ed. E. Bryant, E. P. Vilas, Rufus B. Smith, W. H. Rogers, Elisha W.
Keyes, Jos. S. Keyes, Thomas H. Gill, H. W. Chynoweth, T. B. Chyno
weth, F. J. Lamb, Burr W. Jones, F. E. Parkinson, H. Pfund, J. M. Olin,
L. J. Grinde, R. M. LaFollette, R. G. Siebecker, E. A. Hayes, J. O.
Hayes, Chas. N. Brown, J. L. O'Connor, Alden S. Sanborn, J. H Car
penter, P. L. Spooner, R. M. Bashford, W. L. Smith, Hans Spilde, F. K.
Conover, J. C. Ford, M. P. Jerdee, O. H. Orton, John D. Gurnee, C. T.
Wakeley, J. M. Bowman, B. E. Hutchinson, P. B. Kissam. Sun Prairie,
E. A. Spencer. Marshall, Geo. H. Norton. Stoughton, L. K. Luse.
Oregon, M. M. Green, F. D. Powers. Black Earth, T. H. Taylor.
Mazomanie, Henry Howarth, C. H. Hart. Waunakee, P. R. Tierney.
Dodge county — Beaver Dam, J. J. Dick, H. L. Eaton, E. Elweli, G.
Hebgen, H. W. Lander, Dana Lander, C. K. Miller, E. C. Pratt, A. Scott
Sloan, S. L. Rose. Juneau, L. T. Fribert, E. C. Lewis, J. E. Malone, E.
Lowth, P. G. Lewis, R. C. Lewis, G. W. Sloan, C. Henning. Waupun, E.
M. Beach, C. E. Hooker, Eli Hooker, R. S. Oliver, S. J. Sumner, S. J.
Morse, W. H. Frost, S. R. Vaughn. Horicon, C. Allen, J. B. Hays.
Fox Lake, F. Hamilton, W. Hamilton, H. S. Murwin. Mayville, A. K.
Delaney, S. W.Lamoreux, F. M. Lawrence, P. B. Lamoreux. Watertown,
C. H. Gardner. Lowel, James Lowth, G. W. W. Tanner. Theresa, P.
Langenfeld. Door county — Sturgeon Bay, G. W. Allen, O. E. Druetzer, R. P.
Cody, Y. V. Druetzer, F. J. Hamilton, H. M. McNally, D. H. Reed, H.
J. Scudder, L. M. Sherman. Fish Creek, R. M. Wright.
Douglas county — Superior, J. W. Burhans, S. H. Clough, G. H.
Perry, J. S. Richie, Hiram Hayes, — — Haynes.
Dunn county — Menomonee, E. G. Bundy, N. F. Carpenter, C. E.
Freeman, S. W. Hunt, J. H. Ives, J. Relley, Jr., R. Macauley, F. J.
McLean, W. C. McLean, E. B. Manwaring, J. R. Mathews, G. Shafer,
R. C. Whitford.

THE BENCH AND. BAR OF WISCONSIN. 525
Eau Claire county — Eau Claire, W. F. Bailey, E. M. Bartlett, M. D.
Bartlett, W. P. Bartlett, J. H. Culbertson, R. E. Doolittle, W. W. Downs,
J. F. Ellis, T. F. Frawley, A. M. Gibbons, M. Griffin, H. H. Hayden, L.
W. Larson, S. W. McClaslin, A. Meggett, J. F. Salisbury, G. E. Teall, L.
M. Vilas. Augusta, I. B. Bradford, R. D. Campbell, J. C. Crawford, J.
B. Irwin. Fond du Lac county — Fond du Lac, D. Babcock, E. Bissell, A. M.
Blair, E. S. Bragg, S. L, Brasted, E. Colman, J. Coleman, G. W. Carter,
W. D. Conklin, H. E. Connit, F. F. Duffy, C. A. Eldredge, A. B. Eldredge,
C. L. Frederick, H. J. Gersbeide, N. C Giffin, N. S. Gilson, J. H.
Hauser, J. W. Hiner, W. H. Hurley, A. A. Kelley, J. E. Kent, G. P.
Knowles, P. H. Martin, C. S. Matteson, C. McLean, G. Perkins, D. W.
C. Priest, H. F. Rose, C. E. Shepard, C. D. Smith, T. W. Spence, G. E.
Sutherland, F. O. Thorp, J. F- Ware, O. T. Williams. Brandon, H. A.
Brown, D. Whitton. Ripon, C. L. Catlin, Jere Dobbs, J. J. Foote, H.
E. Greise, T. Harris, L. E. Reed, E. L. Runals, W. W. D. Turner.
Grant county — Lancaster, A. R. Bushnell, J. G. Clark, George
Clementson, J. T. Mills, R. C. Orr, A. P. Thompson, R. A. Watkins, L.
J. Arthur. Platteville, W. H. Beebe, A. W. Bell, W. E. Carter, J. W.
Murphy, H. H. Rountree, T. L. Cleary, Thos. H. Robertson. Boscobel,
T. J. Brooks, W) Dutcher, J. D. Wilson, G. C. Hazelton, A. W. Hicks,
E. M. Lowry, A. McFall, A. Provis, L. J. Wolley. Muscoda, H. F.
,McNelly, C. G. Rodolph. Pair Play, Samuel Merrick. Potasi, J. W.
Seaton. Hazel Green, H. D. York. Bloomington, W. B. Clark. Mont-
fort, W. E. Bell.
Green county — Monroe, S. W. Abbott, E. Bartlett, P. J. Clawson,
A. S. Douglas, B. Dunwiddie, R. D. Evans, J. B.Galusha, C. Goetz, B.
S. Kerr, H. Medbury, L. Rote, W. W. Wright. Albany, J. B. Perry.
Brodhead, C. N. Carpenter, O. S. Putnam, A. M. Randall, B. Sprague.
Juda, J. H. Patten.
Green Lake county — Princeton, H. M. Comstock, and Niskeru.
Berlin, M. L. Kimball, J. N. Rogers, O. F. Silver, J. V. Snelling, G. D.
Waring, D. Junor, J. C. Truesdell, A. E. Dunlap. Markesan, F. J.
Knight, A. McCracken. Kingston, J. J. Cauley, P. Walsh.
Iowa county— Mineral Point, T. S. Ansley, M. M. Cothren, W. T.
Henry, Cyrus Sawyer, C. W. Mclllhen, J. M. Smith, C. Spensley, M. M.
Strong, A. Wilson! ' Dodgeville, M. J. Briggs, R. Carter, J. J. Hoskins,
A. Jenks, J. T. Jones, A. McArthur, S. W. Reese, O. C. Smith, J. P.

526 # THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Smelker. Avoca, P. H. Quinn. Mifflin, Thomas Patefield. Highland,
B. Temes, H. L. Frost, John Grace. Linden, J. W. Taylor. Cobb,
Henry D. Fruit.
Jackson county — Black River Falls, C. F. Ainsworth, C. R. Johnson,
A J. Marsh, C. M. Olson, G. M. Perry, C. C. Pope, F. C. Weed, C. C.
Pope, W. T. Price, H. E. Thompson, F. C. Weed. Merrillan, E. A.
Andrews, G. P. Roosman. Melvina, J. A. Johnson.
Jefferson county — G. W. Bird, f . W. Bird, N. Bruett, R. B. Kirkland,
W. L. McKenna, W. H. Porter, N. Steinaker. Fort Atkinson, W. H.
Allen, G. W. Burchard, C. A. Caswell, L. B. Caswell, W. H. Rogers, G.
C Smith. Waterloo, S. M. Cour, D. A. Seeber. Watertown, C. H.
Gardner, D. Hall, E. T. Masterson, H. Mullerga, H. Pease, C. B. Skin
ner, F. B. Tuttle, A. G. Steiner. Lake Mills, John Winnich. Johnson's
Creek, W. W. Woodman.
Kenosha county — Kenosha, M. A. Baker, J. Bond, S. Y. Brand,
J. Cavanagh, A. G. Cole, J. P. English, J. W. Hayes, C. Quarles, J.
M. Stebbins, E. C. Theirs.
Kewaunee county — Ahnapee, J. R. McDonald, M. McDonald, M.
T. Parker, J. L, V Yates. Kewaunee, F. E. Manseau, W. H. Timlin,
F. W. White, G. W. Wing, R. A. Wing.
Juneau county — Necedah, A. Green, Jr. Mauston, H. W. Barney,
P. R. Briggs, J. Turner, F. S. Verder, F. Winsor. New Lisbon, H. H.
Hatch, J. J. Hughes, C. E. Macomber, R. Smith, A. C. Wilkinson.
Wonewoc, Durand Mowry, R. A. Wilkinson. Elroy, N. B. Wilkinson.
La Crosse — La Crosse, J. Brindley, B. F. Bryant, C. W. Bunn, W.
S. Burroughs, A. Cameron, H. Cameron, J. J. Cole, H. S. Daniels, J. J.
Fruit, Geo. H. Gordon,. M. Hayes, C. L. Hood, W. E. Howe, H. E.
Hubbard, C. K. Lord, J. W. Losey, Chas. B. Miller, G. C. Prentiss, H.
M. Safford, W. H. Stogdill, F. J. Toeller, M. Tourtellotte, T. J. Widvey,
M. P. Wing, G. M. Woodward.
La Fayette county — Darlington, J. H. Clary, T. C. L. Mackey, H.
S. Magoon, G. A. Marshall, J. G. Monahan, A. J. O'Keefe, P. A. Orton,
C. F. Osborn, D. S. Rose, J. K. Rose. Shullsburg, M. Hollister, T. J.
Law, P. B. Simpson. Belmont, A. C. Murphy, N. Olmstead. Benton,
Mathew Murphy. Argyle, E. P. Rogers. Gratiot, N. E. Tully.
Langdale county — Antigo, George W. Latta, L. W. Bliss, M. M. Ross.
Lincoln county — Merrill, W. H. Cannon, H. C. Hertzell, S. M.
Hoyt, B. M. McCord, Van R. Willard.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 527
Manitowoc county — Manitowoc, J. S. Anderson, G. B. Byron, R.
P. Eaton, C. E. Estabrook, G. A. Forrest, M. Kirwin, J. D. Markham,
E. G. Nash, L. J. Nash, A. J. Schmitz, H. Sibree, G. G. Sedgwick,
H. G. Turner, W. J. Turner, C. W. White, W. A. Walker, S. A. Wood.
Marathon county — Wausau, C. V. Bardeen, N. A. Brown, E. L.
Bump, M. M. Charles, C. F. Crosby, C. T. Eldred, H. H. Grace, H.
B. Huntington, M. A. Hurley, B. W. James, J. A. Kellogg, C. H.
Mueller, T. Ryan, W. C. Silverthorn, Louis Prodt, Neal Brown, M.
Livermore. Marinette county — Marinette, C. C. Daily, C. J. Faber, J. D. Fair-
child, H. O. Fairchild, A. Holgate. Florence, A. G. M. Massee, C. E.
Mcintosh. Marquette county — Montello, J. Barry, D. K. Devam, S. A. Pease,
W. H. Peters. Orford, H. H. Taylor, G. W. Westfall. Packwaukee,
James Duff. Douglas, Silas G. Mills.
Milwaukee county — E. H. Abbott, R. K. Adams, W. R. Adams, R.
N. Austin, W. H. Austin, A. J. Beaumont, A. C. Behne, M. C. Bice, F.
Bloodgood, E. H. Bottum, F. J. Borchardt, M. H. Brand, A. H. Brown,
J. R. Brigham, C. S. Brown, A. R. R. Butler, John A. Butler, H. S. Bux
ton, A. L. Cary, J. W. Cary, M. B. Cary, E. E. Chapin, I. S. Clark, J. M.
Clark, L. Collins, E. G. Comstock, L. M. Comstock, J. M. Connolly, E.
F. Cook, J. P. C. Cottrill, F. W. Cotzhausen, D. J. Dalton, J. G. Devens,
DeWitt Davis, C. C. Dey, H. W. Dixon, L. S. Dixon, S. M. Dixon, J. G.
Donnelly, J. Downer, W. H. Ebbets, J. A. Eggen, E. S. Elliott, T. B.
Elliott, A. C. Emmons, H. Emmons, N. J. Emmons, G. Engel, J. B.
Irwin, A. E. Evans, O. J. Fieburg, H. H. Field, A. Finch, H. M. Finch,
J. G. Flanders, I. T. Ford, A. C. Frazer, J. E. Friend, W. E. Furlong,
G. P. Gifford, Sr., B. M. Goldberg, G. B. Goodwin, W. Graham, S. W.
Granger, E. P. Hackett, L.'W. Halsey, C. A. Hamilton, Burton Hanson,
G. P. Harrington, G. W. Hazelton, A. Herdegen, J. Hickcox, D. G.
Hooker, S. Howard, F. M. Hoyt, J. G. Jenkins, D. H. Johnson, E. E.
Johnson, F. J. Johnson, G. L. Jones, Kate Kane, C. D. Kendrick, C. S.
Kitchell, C. A. Koeffler, Jr., A. A. Krause, M. C. Krause, G. L. Kurtz,
C. W. Lakin, G. W. Lakin, C P. Larkin, M. N. Lando, G. H. Lawrence,
W. Loring, J. C. Ludwig, R. Luscombe, W. P. Lynde, W. P. Lynde, Jr.,
J. H. Lambe, W. McElroy, Jr., J. P. McGregor, J. C. McKenney, M.
N. McLaren, J. F. McMullen, G. McWhorter, G. A. Mallory, J. A.
Mallory, C. D. Mann, J. E. Mann, E. Mariner, G. E. Markham, II. H.
31

528 * THE BENCH AND EAR OF WISCONSIN.
Markham, C K. Martin, N. Masson, G. Maxon, A. G. Miller, B. K.
Miller, B. K. Miller, Jr., B. M. Miller, D. C. Millett, W. S. Milligan, H.
Morris, W. H. Morris, N. S. Murphey, G. Hi Noyes, T. O'Meara, J. H.
Opdale, D. S. Ordway, J. J. Orton, H. L. Palmer, J. M. Pereles, T. J. Pere
les, K. D. Peterson, A. Phalen, J. V. V. Platto, J. M. W. Pratt, W. J. Quinn,
J. S. Randall, J. S. Raney, R. Renkenna, J. R. Riess, F. Rietbrook, D.
G. Rogers, S. Rosendale, A. C. Runkle, H. C. Runkle, P. Rupp, Hugh
Ryan, F. Scheiber, B. G. Schley, W. F. Schoof, L. B. Schram, G.' B.
Seaman, K. Shawvan, T. R. Shepard, A. A. L. Smith, E. P. Smith, Winfield
Smith, D. W. Small, P. J. Somers, T. T. Somers, J. Stark, S. A. Stout, G.
Sylvester, J. Thompson, Jr., J. I. Thompson, W. J. Turner, D. A. J. Up-
ham, G. D. Van Dyke, J. H. Van Dyke, W. D. Van Dyke, F. B. Van
Valkenburg, A. Van Wyck, H. Van Wyck, F. Vollrath, Emil Wallber, J.
A. Wall, D. S. Wegg, H. E. Weiskoff A. G. Weissert, C. K. Wells, J. P.
Wiboig, J. E. Wildish, W. C. Williams, W. W. Wight, F. C. Winkler, L.
Wyman. Monroe county — Sparta, A. E. Bleekman, F. 'A. Bloomingdale, S.
N. Dickinson, C M. Masters, J. M. Morrow, G. A. Richardson, T. B.
Tyler, C W. Meadows. Tomah, F. E. Campbell, G. Graham, H. C
Spaulding. Outagamee county — Appleton, W. J. Allen, D. C Babcock, S. Baird,
L. Barnes, J. Bottensek, S. Boyd, O. E. Clark, A. L. Collins, J. Good-
land, L. Hammell, J. E. Harriman, G. C Jones, A. H. Kellogg, G. H.
Myer, W.Kennedy, H. Pierce, H. D. Ryan, H. C. Sloan, H. W. Tenney,
W. S. Warner, H. Wantz, S. Ryan, J, Roemer. Kaukauna, E. C. Eastman.
Oconto county — Oconto, A. Brazeau, R. Ellis, A. Reinhart, O. F.
Trudell, W. H. Webster, H. H. Woodmansee. Maple Valley, R. W.
Hubbell. Ozaukee county — Port Washington, L. H. Coe, G. H. Foster, J.
Hedding, D. N. Jackson, W. A. Pors, W. A. Stewart, L. Towsley, E. S.
Turner. Cedarburg, F. W. Horn.
Pepin county — Durand, J. D. Eldridge, J. Frazer, H. E. Houghton.-
Pierce county— River Falls, N. P. Haugen, E. B. Helms, W.P.Knowles,
C. Smith, W. Vannata, A. P. Weld, J. H. Wilkinson. Ellsworth, F. L.
Gilson, A. Cambacker, J. W. .Hancock, P. D. Pierce. Maiden Rock,
A. Cook. Prescott, E. H. Ives, F. A. Ross, J. S. White. Rock Elm
Center, H. Lowater.
Polk county — Wagon Landing, V. M. Babcock. Osceola Mills,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 529
H. B. Dike, G. D. McDill, C. H. Oakley, J. Post. St. Croix Falls, C.
H. Ladd, N. B. Ladd. Clear Lake, H. B. Buibank, F. M. Nye.
Portage county — Stevens Point, W. R. Barnes, G. W. Cate, D. Lloyd
Jones, J. A. Felch, W. W. Haseltine, H. W. Lee, W. H. Packard, G. L.
Park, J. O. Raymond, A. W. Sanborn, A. J. Smith, J. Stampff. Plover,
W. R. Alban, O. Lamoreux.
Racine county — C. A. Brownson, W. Crosten, J. E. Dodge, C E.
Dyer, D. S. Eastman, J. T. Fish, F. M. Fish, D. H. Flett, W. T. Fuller,
Cary Fuller, G. W. Griswold; E. O. Hand, A. C. Judd, G. B. Judd, C
H. Lee, E. W. Moore, I. C. Paine, J. V. Quarles, S. Ritchie, A. S.
Ritchie, B. W. Shaw, M. Shiel, C. Snyder, H. V. Van Pelt, J. T. Went-
worth, J. T. Wentworth, Jr., J. B. Winslow. Burlington,  Cooper.
Waterford, J. A. Rice.
Richland county — Richland Center, J. H. Barryman, O. I1'. Black,
F. H. Burnham, A. Dumford, H. A. Eastland, H. W. Eastland, K. M.
Eastland, G. J. Jarvis, J. H. Minor, M. Murphy, E. C. Mulfing.
Rock county — Janesville, A. W. Baldwin, A. C. Bates, J. M. Bates, J.
R. Bennett, H. S. Conger, E. F. Carpenter, L. C. Clark, J. B. Doe, Jr.,
D. T. Dunwiddie, B. B. Eldredge, T. J. Emmons, O. H. Fethers, E. M.
Hyzer, A. A. Jackson, Angie King, H. McElroy, C C McLean, J.
Nicholls. T. S. Nolan, Pliny Norcross, H. S. Patterson, L. F- Patton,
J. J. R. Pease, M. M. Phelps, A. P. Prichard, M. L. Prichard, M. Ruger,
J. W. Sale, A. H. Smith, M. Smith, Jr., M. Street, G. G. Southerland, A.
D. Wickham, C. G. Williams, John Winans. Beloit, J. B. Dow, B. M.
Malone, R. H. Mills, Jr., S. J. Todd, R. Tattershall. Evansville, D. L.
Mills. Edgerton, J. P. Town. Oxfordville, George Helmbolt. Clin
ton, William Jones. Footville, H. A. Richards.
Sauk county — Baraboo, J. Barker, H. P. Barlow, M. Bentley, W.
Brown, P. Cheek, Jr., L. Cronch, R. E. Noyes, N. W. Wheeler, John
E. Wright. Reedsburg, J. W. Lusk, W. A. Wyse, A. W. Perry, R. P.
Perry, G. Stevens. Prairie du Sac, E. W. Young, J. S. Tripp. Sauk
City, J. B. Quimby.
Shawano county — Shawano, D. P. Andrews, J. W. Bishop, G. C.
Dickinson, H. C French, E. J. Goodrich, J. Maurer, R. M. Phillips,
E. P. Perry.
Sheboygan county — Sheboygan, L. D. Harvey, P. T. Krez, W. H.
Seaman, Joseph Wedig, Bille Williams, Frank Williams, C A. Dean, Con
rad Krez, D. T. Phalen. Sheboygan Falls, John E. Thomas, E. Clark,

530 * THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
J. H. James. Plymouth, M. D. L. Fuller, M. Mead. Scott, T. Clif
ford. St. Croix county — Hudson, H. C. Baker, J. W. Bashford, C- L.
Catlin, j. E. Glover, C L. Hall, T. Hughes, H. L. Humphrey, J. S.
Moffatt, A. C. Patten, S. C. Simonds, J. B. Smith, J. C Spooner, L. P.
Wetherby. Baldwin, B. M. Anderson, D. R. Bailey, H. F. Woodard.
Hammond, S. J. Bradford,  McMahon, J. B. Owens. New Rich
mond, F. R. Chapman, S. N. Hawkins, G. C Hough, G. B. Kidder.
Trempealeau county — Whitehall, C. A. Atwood, O. J. Allen, S. S.
Miller, P. B. Williams. Trempealeau, J. C Button, N. W. Newman.
Arcadia, T. J. Conner, E. C Higbee, E. Q. Nye, S. Richmond. Gales-
ville, G. Y. Freeman, H. Gilliland. Independence, M. Mulligan, N.
Nichols. Vernon county — Viroqua, C. M. Butt, A. W. Campbell, W. S. Field,
H. C. Forsyth, C. W. Graves, C. N. Harris, H. W. McAuley, J. E.
Newell, H. P. Proctor, C A. Roberts, L. J. Rusk, W. F. Turhune, L. S.
Tallefron, O. B. Wyman.
Walworth county — Delavan, A. Bennett, F. E. Latimer, R. R. Menzie,
S. W. Menzie, A. S. Spooner. Elkhorn, E. Elderkin, P. Golder, J. F.
Lyon, H. F. Smith, E. H. Sprague, H. S. Winsor, J. B. Wheeler. East
Troy, E. T. Cass, John F. Potter. Geneva, C. S. French, J. Simmons,
J. B. Simmons, H. T. Sharpe. Whitewater, S. F. Bishop, Pitt Cravath,
Prosper Cravath, H. Heady, J. H. Page, G. W. Steele, T. D. Weeks, H,
S. Dunlap. Washington county — West Bend, S. S. Barney, I. N. Frisby, L. F.
Frisby, G. A. Keuchenmeister, C. H. Miller, P. O'Meara, J. Shelley, P.
A. Weil, B. K. Miller. Hartford, H. A. Forbes, H. W. Sawyer, E. A.
Runge, H. K. Butterfield.
Waukesha county — Waukesha, P. H. Carney, E. W. Chafin, A.
Cook, W. S. Green, M. S. Griswold, T. W. Haight, W. S. Hawkins, T.
C. Martin, F. W. Montieth, D. H. Sumner, Mrs. T. M. Sumner, J. R.
Spencer, F. H. Putney, S. A. Randies, V. Tichenor. Oconomowoc, J.
R. Carpenter, R. C. Hathaway, E. Hurlbut, W. Parks, E. D. R. Thomp
son, C. H. Van Alstine. Mukwanago, M. Field. Gennesee, P. D.
Gifford. Pewaukee, W. H. Therna.
Waupaca county — Waupaca, E. L. Browne, I. P. Lord, Myron Reed,
G. Lines, C. S. Ogden, J. F. Dufur. New London, Miss F. F. Arnold,
G. W. Bishop, S. L- Hamilton, M. B- Patchin, E- P, Perry, O. F. Weed,

THE BENCH AND BAR' OF WISCONSIN 531
Fred. Weed. Weyauwega, J. Fordyce, W. F. Waterhouse,  Hutch
inson. Clintonville, F. M. Guernsey, M. E. Phillips. Rural, J. H.
Jones. Freemont, J. Wakefield.
Waushara county — Wautoma, R. L. D. Potter, L. L. Soule. Plain-
field, W. N. Kelley, T. H. Walker, M. M. Gillet. Auroraville, A.
Strang. Winnebago county — Oshkosh, A. Haight, Elbert D. Weed, W. M.
Greenwood, J. McDonnell, E. R. Hicks, Chris. Sarau, J. Crozier, G. E.
Tyrrell, George H. Read, E. P. Finch, Chas. Barber, James Freeman,
A. A. Austin, Gabe Bouck, W. R. Kennedy, H. B. Jackson, A. E.
Thompson, Henry Bailey, W. B. Felker, G. W. Burnell, C. D. Cleveland,
A. W. Wiesbrod, H. B. Harshaw, M. Hooper, S. T. Berry, A. G. Randall,
M. H. Eaton, W. F. Gruenewald, Albert Norton, G. W. Washburn, J.
H. Merrill, J. W. Hume, C. W. Felker, J. M. Weisbrod, W. Wheeler,
Charles E. Pike, Richard P. Eighme, Charles R. Nevitt, 'Jr., F. W.
Houghton, W. E. Wilbur, B. E. Van Keuren. Omro, A. K. Brush, F. F.
Wheeler, J. H. Banks. Neenah, J. B. Hamilton, J. C. Kerwin, G. W.
Todd, W. F. McArthur. Menasha, Elbridge Smith, P. V. Lawson,
Henry Fitzgibbon, Silas Bullard, M. M. Schcetz. Winchester, Wesley
Mott. Winneconne, J. D. Rush.
Wood-county — Grand Rapids, C. W. Briggs, J. W. Cochrane, G. R.
Gardner, J. A. Gayner, L. P. Powers, C. M. Webb. Centralia, C O.
Baker. Marshfield, L. J. Glass, T. S. Kirkland. Remington, H. W.
Remington. Miledore, B. A. Cady. Whole number, one thousand, one
hundred and sixty-eight.

WOMEN LAWYERS.
In an address before the State Bar Association, as its president, M.
M. Strong said : " The professional career of Rhoda Lavinia Goodell
has given a marked impression to one feature of the professional history
of the state, and presented an occasion for an appropriate and able ex
position of the distinction created by nature between the proper sphere
of woman, and the rough and varied duties of him whose province it is
rather to aid and protect, than seek to vanquish her. But the pro
gressive spirit of the age has, through the legislation of the state,
abolished that natural distinction, and declared that no person shall be

532 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
denied admission or license to practice as an attorney in any court of
this state, on account of sex. So long as this shall continue to be the
law of the state, it will be the duty and the pleasure of the members of
the bar to extend to all women, who may choose to avail themselves of
it, every courtesy and kindness in his power."
Miss R. L. Goodell came from New York city to this state when a
young woman, studied law at Janesville, was admitted to the bar of that
circuit, opened a law office in that city, and entered into considerable
practice, her clients being mainly of her own sex. Having a case
appealed to the supreme court she presented herself before that bench
asking for admission. Her application was rejected. This was wholly
on account of sex. E. G. Ryan, then chief-justice, took a decided stand
against her admission. He said he wished to protect the- sex. Miss
Goodell thereupon opened upon him a fierce wordy warfare, largely
through the press, and at the next session of the state legislature she in
duced a friendly member to introduce a bill permitting the admission of
women to practice in all courts in the state. She entered the field in per
son, successfully lobbied the bill through the legislature and was subse
quently admitted to the bar of the supreme court. She then removed
her residence and law business to Madison and shortly afterward died.
In literary attainments, intellectual ability and purity of character this
lady preeminently excelled.
Miss Angie King studied law, was admitted to the bar, and is in suc
cessful practice at Janesville. She has education, business abilities, is a
member of a highly respectable family, has high social standing, and is
cordially recognized as one of the fraternity by the members of the bar
where she practices her profession. When Miss Goodell was an attorney
at Janesville these ladies were in partnership as Goodell & King.
The women attorneys in practice in this state are Miss Kate Kane,
at Milwaukee, Miss Angie King, at Janesville, Miss F. F. Wheeler, at
New London, and Mrs. T. M. Sumner, at Waukesha.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN 533
WISCONSIN LAWYERS WHO HAVE FIELD PROMINENT
POSITIONS. GOVERNORS.
Nathaniel P. Talmadge, Nelson Dewey, Arthur McArthur, Coles
Bashford, Alexander W. Randall, Edward Salomon, James T. Lewis,
Lucius Fairchild, Cadwallader C. Washburn. *'K« £*»»*
OTHER STATES AND TERRITORIES.
James D. Doty, Utah. Charles. Durkee, Utah. Frederick W. Pit
kin, Colorado. Leland Stanford, California. M. Brayman, Idaho.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS.
Samuel W. Beall, James T. Lewis, Arthur McArthur, Edward Salo
mon, Wyman Spooner, James M. Bingham.
UNITED STATES SENATORS.
Isaac P. Walker, Charles Durkee, James R. Doolittle, Timothy O.
Howe, Mathew H. Carpenter, Angus Cameron.
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
George W. Jones, James D. Doty, Morgan L. Martin,' John H.
Tweedy, William Pitt Lynde, Charles Durkee, Orsamus Cole, C. C.
Washburn, John F. Potter, Charles H. Larrabee, Luther Hanchett, A.
Scott Sloan, James S. Brown, Ithamar C. Sloan, Amasa Cobb, Charles
A. Eldredge, Halbert E. Paine, Gerry W. Hazelton, J. Allen Barber,
Charles G. Williams, Lucien B. Caswell, Henry S. Magoon, George W.
Cate, Herman L. Humphrey, George C. Hazelton. Edward S. Bragg,
Gabriel Bouck, Henry S. Conger, from New York.
CABINET MINISTERS.  POSTMASTElfS-GENERAL.
Alexander W. Randall, Timothy O. Howe.
POSITIONS ABROAD.
Lucius Fairchild, Minister to Spain, Consul at Liverpool, Consul-
General at Paris. Mortimer M. Jackson, Consul-General at Halifax.
TERRITORIAL JUDGES.
James Duane Doty, Charles Dunn, David Irvin, William C. Frazer,
Andrew G. Miller. CHIEF JUSTICES.
Alexander W. Stow, Edward V. Whiton, Luther S. Dixon, Edward
G. Ryan, Orsamus Cole. ASSOCIATE JUSTICES.
Levi Hubbell, Charles H. Larrabee, Wiram Knowlton, Mortimer M.
Jackson, Samuel Crawford, Abram D. Smith, Byron Paine, Jason
Downer, William Penn Lyon, Harlow S. Orton, David Taylor, John B.

534 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Cassoday, Arthur McArthur, District Columbia, Amasa Cobb, Nebraska,
J. R. Sharpstein. California. UNITED STATES JUDGES.
Andrew G. Miller, John C. Hopkins, James H. Howe, Charles E.
Dyer, Romanzo Bunn, David Noggle, Idaho.
CIRCUIT JUDGES.
Alexander W. Stow, Edward V. Whiton, Levi Hubbell, Charles H.
Larrabee, James R. Doolittle, Mortimer M. Jackson, Timothy O. Howe,
Wiram Knowlton, George W. Cate, Alexander L. Collins, S.-S. N. Fuller,
William R. Gorsline, Stephen R. Cotton, John- M. Keep, Charles M.
Baker, Alexander W. Randall, George Gale, ''Arthur McArthur, David
Taylor, David Noggle, Luther S. Dixon, Montgomery M. Cothren, John
E. Mann, Harlow S. Orton, Lucien P. Wetherby, Henry D. Barron,
Edwin Wheeler, Edwin Flint, Isaac E. Messmore, Joseph T. Mills,
Ganem W. Washburn, Solon H. Clough, Alva Stewart, Ira E. Paine,
William P. Lyon, H. L. Humphrey, Campbell McLean, Romanzo Bunn,
Jason Downer, David W. Small, Ezra T. Sprague, Harmon S. Conger,
Robert Harkness, E. Holmes Ellis, George W. Cate, D. J. Pulling, Eli
C. Lewis, Gilbert L. Park, John C. Wentworth, A. W. Newman, Egbert
B. Bundy, George H. Myers, N. S. Gilson, A. Scott Sloan, Charles A.
Hamilton, James R. Bennett. ATTORNEYS-GENERAL.
Henry S. Baird, H. N. Wells, M. M. Jackson, William Pitt Lynde,
A. Hyatt Smith, James S. Brown, S. Park Coon, Experience Estabrook,
George B. Smith, William R. Smith, Gabriel Bouck, James H. Howe,
Winfield Smith, Charles R. Gill, Stephen S. Barlow, A. Scott Sloan,
Alexander Wilson, Leander F. Frisby.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS.
W. W. Chapman, Moses M. Strong, T. W. Sutherland, W. P. Lynde,
G. W. Lakin, J. R. Sharpstien, D. A. J. Upham, J. B. D. Cogswell,
Thomas Hood, G. W. Hazelton, Levi Hubbell, C. M. Webb, H. M.
Lewis, J. C. McKenney, J. J. Jenkins, Wyoming.
SECRETARIES OF STATE.
John S. Horner, F. J. Dunn, John Catlin, A. T. Gray, J. T. Lewis,
Peter Doyle. COMMISSIONERS OF PENSIONS.
Charles R. Gill, John A. Bentley.
COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.
Halbert E. Paine.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 535
The data for the following sketch was received only in time for the
last pages of the book:
Norman S. Gilson, Fond du Lac, is a son of Willard H. and Sylvia
L. Gilson, and was born in Middlefield, Geauga county, Ohio, March
23, 1839. His parents were among the early pioneers of the Western
Reserve. Norman, the eldest son, was born in a log house near the old
Gilson homestead, and as soon as he was large enough to work, assisted
his father in improving and carrying on the farm. The community in
which he passed his boyhood was composed of frugal and industrious
people from New England. Ypung Gilson continued to labor with his
father on the farm until he was twenty-one years old, but during that
time received a good common school and academic education. He
also taught school one term before leaving home for the west, fn the
spring of i860 he came to Wisconsin, settling at West Bend, where he
commenced the study of the law with his uncle, L. F. Frisby, then in part
nership with Paul A. Weil. The following fall he taught a select school
in West Bend, and afterward the district school at that place. When
the winter term of school closed he clerked in the postoffice for his
uncle, I. N. Frisby, who was then postmaster at West Bend. Before he
had pursued his legal studies far enough to obtain admission to the. bar
the war broke out, and in September, 1861, he enlisted at West Bend
in Company D, of the Twelfth Wisconsin, commanded by Colonel George
E. Bryant. He entered the service as a private, and was promoted to
be sergeant of his company, then to sergeant-major of the regiment;
during a- part of 1862 his regiment was on duty in Missouri and Kansas,
but in Tune of that year they joined the Army of the Tennessee at
Columbus, Kentucky; a portion of the time he was with the Army of
the Cumberland on detached duty with the staff of General Robert B.
Mitchell; rejoining General Grant's army at La Grange late in the fall
of 1862, he remained with that army until after the capture of Jackson,
Mississippi, in July, 1863 ; in August, 1863, he was promoted to .the first
lieutenancy of Company H, Fifty-eighth regiment United States colored
infantry, afterward to the position of adjutant and finally to that of
lieutenant-colonel of the regiment; he participated in the siege of
Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, battle of Perryville and other engagements ;
he served as judge advocate of the district of Natchez on the staff of
Major-General Davidson, and in 1865 and 1866 was judge advocate of
the Department of the Mississippi on the staff of Major-General Oster-
32

536 THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
haus, and with General Thomas J- Wood commanding that department.
Although his regiment was mustered out of service in 1865, he was
retained on duty for more than a year afterward by direction of the
secretary of war on account of his being judge advocate of the court
martial convened for the trial of Captain Frederic Speed for criminal
carelessness in over-loading the steamer Sultana, whereby the lives of
over eleven hundred paroled prisoners of war were lost. It is safe to
say that this was the most important military trial held on the Missis
sippi during the war.
On June 12, 1866, soon after the conclusion of the Speed trial, Colo
nel Gilson was mustered out of the service and brevetted colonel of
United States volunteers by the president. During nearly five years'
service, he was absent from duty only thirty-six days, thirty days on
furlough and six days in the hospital. Upon leaving the army Colonel
Gilson resumed the study of law after the long absence. Taking a full
course at the Albany Law School, he graduated from that institution in
1867 and was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of New York.
Returning to Wisconsin he selected Fond du Lac for his home, and in
the winter of 1868 began the practice of his profession and continued
in active practice until elected judge. In the meantime he served one
term as city attorney of Fond du. Lac, and one term as district attorney
of Fond du Lac county. In March, 1880, Colonel Gilson received the
democratic nomination for judge of the fourth judicial circuit, and was
elected by over eight thousand majority. Judge Campbell McLean,
who held that office for two terms ran against him as an independent
candidate. Judge Gilson's father, now seventy years of age, is living at Garretts-
ville, Ohio. His mother died in January, 1880. She was a woman of
good sense, possessed of rare patience and was untiring in her care and
watchfulness in the nurture and training of her children. Franklin L.
Gilson, his youngest brother, is a lawyer residing at River Falls, and
was speaker of the Wisconsin assembly in 1882.

INDEX.

GENERAL SUBJECTS.

Introductory  3
History  7
The Territorial Courts  22
The Constitutional Convention and
Admission of the State. ....... 29
The Supreme Court under the Con
stitution  29
The reorganized Supreme Court ... 30
The United States District Courts. 33
The United States Circuit Courts . . 34
Early Justices Courts  35
Biography  ,39
Judges Territorial Courts  39
Chief Justices Supreme Court  50
Associate Justices Supreme Court. 67
Judges, United States District
Courts  83
Judges United States Supreme and
Circuit Courts  •  89
Judges Circuit Courts  100
-Governors  116
Lieutenant-Governors  128
United States Senators  132
Members of Congress  151
Attorney-Generals  181
Secretaries of State  208
United States Attorneys  213
Attorneys by Judicial Circuits.... 219
First Circuit  219
Second Circuit  ,  225
Third Circuit  267
Fourth Circuit  277
Fifth Circuit  290
Sixth Circuit  301
Seventh Circuit  317
Eighth Circuit  323
Ninth Circuit  337
Tenth Circuit   37*
Eleventh Circuit  393
Twelfth Circuit  : 395
Thirteenth Circuit  406

Biographies Omitted from Second
Circuit  412
Biographies Omitted from Fourth
Circuit  420
Biographies Omitted from Fifth
Circuit  424
Chicago Attorneys Formerly of
Wisconsin  431
Attorneys removed to Distant
States  444
Reminiscences of Great Advocates
of the Wisconsin Bar  464
Chief Justice Ryan and Senator
Carpenter Contrasted  473
Characteristics of Chief Justice
Charles Dunn  . . . . 475
Eloquence of, Judge Byron Paine. . 476
Bar Associations  477
State Bar Association  477
Milwaukee Bar Association  478
Brown County Bar Association . '. . 479
Dane County Legal Association . . . 479
Rock County Bar Association  480
The Law Department of the State
University  480
The Great Law Cases  481
The Barstow-Bashford Contested
Election  481
The Impeachment of Judge Levi
Hubbell  491
The Kidnapping and Rescue of the
Slave Glover  496
The Granger Railway Cases  505
The Whisky Trials  509
Wit and Humor of the Wisconsin
Bar  512
Attorneys in practice  523
Wisconsin Lawyers who have held
Prominent Positions  533
Women Lawyers  531

538

INDEX.

BIOGRAPHIES.

Arnold, Jonathan E., Milwaukee. . 225
Abbott, Edwin H., Milwaukee.... 228
Austin, Robert N., Milwaukee.... 229
Agry, David, Green Bay  371
Bunn, Romanzo, Madison  88
Bundy, Egbert B., Menomonee. 100
Barron, Henry D., St. Croix Falls . 103
Baker, Charles M., Geneva  i no
Bennett, John R., Janesville  113
Bashford, Coles, Tucson  117
Beall, Samuel W., Montana  128
Bingham, James M. .Chippewa Falls 131
Barber, Joel Allen, Lancaster  163
Bragg, Edward S., Fonddu Lac. . . 180
Bouck, Gabriel, Oshkosh  180
Baird, Henry S., Green Bay  181
Brown, James S., Milwaukee  184
Barlow, S. S., Baraboo  200
Butler, A. R. R., Milwaukee  229
Borchardt, F. J., Milwaukee  231
Bottum, E. H., Milwaukee  231
Brand, Moses H., Milwaukee .... 232
Barber, Charles, Oshkosh  267
Bailey, Henry, Oshkosh  267
Blair, A. M., Fond du Lac  277
Briggs, M. J., Dodgeville  290
Bleekman, A. E., Sparta  301
Brayman, Mason, Ripon  277
Butt, C. M., Viroqua  301
Bloomingdale, F. H., Sparta  302
Burroughs, W. S., La Crosse  302
Bryant, B. F. , La Crosse  303
Bunn, C. W., La Crosse.  303
Burton, S. S., La Crosse  304
Bump, E. L., Wausau  317
Bartlett, W. P., Eau Claire  323
Botkin, Alexander, Madison  337
Botkin, S. W., Madison  340
Braley, A. B., Madison  340
Bryant, George .E., Madison  342
Bryant, E. E., Madison  342
Barnes, Lyman, Appleton  372
Bottensek, John, Appleton  372
Buchanan D., Jr., Chippewa Falls. 393
Bird, Ira W., Jefferson  395
Bird, George W., Jefferson  396
Bruett, Nelson, Jefferson  396
Barney, S. S., West Bend  406
Burnett, T. P., "  429
Bentley, J. A., Denver  459
Crawford, Samuel, Mineral Point. . 70
Cole, Orsamus, Madison  65
Cassoday, John B., Madison  79

Cothren, M. M., Mineral Point . . . 100
Collins, A. L., Appleton  105
Cate, George W., Stevens Point. . . 114
Carpenter, Mathew H., Milwaukee 138
Cameron, Angus, La Crosse  148 ¦
Cobb, Amasa, Lincoln, Nebraska... 157
Caswell, Lucien B., Fort Atkinson 170
Coon, S. Park, Chicago  184
Catlin, John  212
Cramer, Eliphalet, Milwaukee . . -. 232
Ca^y, John W., Milwaukee  232
Cary, Melbert B., Milwaukee  234
Cottrill, J. P. C, Milwaukee  234
Cook, A., Waukesha  266
Chafin, E. W., Waukesha .'  267
Cleveland, C. D., Oshkosh  267
Carter, George W., Fond duLac. . . 280
Carter, William E., Platteville .... 291
Coleman, James, Fond du Lac. . . . 279
Carter, Richard, Dodgeville  291
Colman, Elihu, Fond du Lac  279
Cameron, Hugh', La Crosse  304
Cameron, Alex, La Crosse  305
Cole, John J., La Crosse ..... 305
Campbell, A. W., Viroqua  306
Crosby, C. T., Wausau  317
Culbertson, J. H., Eau Claire .... 325
Carpenter, J. IT., Madison  343
Conover, O. M., Madison  344
Conover, F. K., Madison  345
Chynoweth, H. W., Madison  345
Cheek, Philip Jr., Baraboo  345
Campbell, F. E., Tomah  346
Case, Theo. G, Green Bay  373
Clark, O. E., Appleton  374
Colonius, H., Jefferson  396
Caswell, C. A,, Ft. Atkinson  397
Chase, C. §., Omaha  462
Doty, James Duane, Menasha .... 39
Dunn, Charles, Belmont  40
Dixon, Luthus S., Milwaukee  53
Downer, Jason, Milwaukee  72
Dyer, Charles E., Racine  85
Davis, David, Bloomington, 111. ... 89
Drummond, Thomas, Chicago ... 95
Dewey, Nelson, Cassville  116
Durkee, Charles, Kenosha  132
Doolittle, James R., Racine  133
Doyle, Peter, Prairie du Chien . . . 208
Dunlap, A. E., Berlin  268
Dickinson, S. N., Sparta  306
Daniels, J. A., La Crosse  306
Daniels, H. S., La Crosse  306

INDEX.

539

Downs, W. W., Eau Claire  325
Dickinson, Geo. C, Shawano  374
Delaney, S. K., Maysville  407
Dibble, C. A., Chicago  431
Dobbs, Jere, Ripon  281
Eldredge, Charles A., Fond du Lac 158
Estabrook, Experience, Omaha . . . 184
Eaton, R. P., Oshkosh.  282
Ebbets, W. H., Milwaukee  234
Elliott, E. S., Milwaukee ,  235
Elliott, T. B., Milwaukee  235
Emmons, Harold, Milwaukee  235
Eaton, M. H., Oshkosh  T 268
Eldred, C. T., Wausau  318
Ellis, E. H.', Green Bay  374
Enos, J. J. Watertown .  397
Eldredge, B. B., Janesville  397
Frazer, William C., Pennsylvania. 43
Fairchild, Lucius, Madison  126
Frisby, Leander F.,West Bend. . . . 201
Fish, John T., Racine  219
Fish, Frank M., Racine  220
Finch, Asahel, Milwaukee  236
Flanders, James G-, Milwaukee. . . 240
Felker, Charles W., Oshkosh  269
Finch, Earle P., Oshkosh  269
Freeman, James, Oshkosh  269
Fuller, C. S., Prairie du Chien ; .. 292
Fuller, M.-D. L., Plymouth  282
Fruit, J. J., La Crosse  307
Frost, H. W., Waupun. . . . ,  283
' Forsyth, H. C, Viroqua  307
Field, W. S., Viroqua  307
Felch, James A., Stevens Point . . . 318
Finkelnburg, S., Fountain. City ... . 325
Frawley, T. F., Eau Claire  326
Fairchild, H. O., Marinette  375
Frisby, I. N., West Bend  407
Felker, W. B., Oshkosh  430
Flower, J. M., Chicago  432
Gill, Charles R., Madison  199
Goodwin, George B., Milwaukee.. 241
Gary, George, Oshkosh  269
Gray, H. H., Darlington  292
Graves, C. W., Viroqua  307
Guernsey, F. M., Clintonville  318
Gilson, F. L., Ellsworth  326
Griffin, Michael, Eau Claire.  326
Gibbons, A. M., Eau Claire  327
Gregory, J. C, Madison  346
Goodland, John, Appleton  379
Green, G. C., Green Bay  379
Gregory, S. S., Chicago  432
Gilson, N. S., Fond du Lac  535
Hubbell, Levi, Milwaukee  67
Hopkins, James C, Madison ..... 83

Howe, James H., Kenosha  84
Harlan, John M., Louisville  94
Hamilton, Charles A., Milwaukee. 104
Howe, Timothy O., Green Bay . . . 134
Hazelton, G. W., Milwaukee  164
Humphrey, H. L., Hudson  172
Hazelton, George C, Boscobel ... 176
Horner, John S., Ripon .•  211
Hooker, D. G., Milwaukee  241
Hollister, M., Shullsburgh  293
Hickcox, James, Milwaukee  242
Harrington, G. P., Milwaukee. . . . 242
Hurley, M. A., Wausau  318
Haseltine, W. W., Wausau  319
Hayden, H. H., Eau Claire. ...... 328
Howarth, H., Mazomanie  346
Hastings, S. D., Jr., Green Bay. . . 379
Harrington, N. M., Delavan  220
Hayes, John M., Kenosha  221
Hurlbut, Edwin, Oconomowoc .... 264
Harshaw, H. B., Oshkosh  270
Hicks, E. R., Oshkosh  271
Hood, C. L., La Crosse  308
Hubbard, H. E., La Crosse. . . ... 308
Harris, C. N., Viroqua  309
Howe, W. E., La Crosse  309
Hatch, H. H., New Lisbon  347
Harriman, J. E., Appleton  380
Hudd, Thomas R., Green Bay .... 380
Hoyt, W. R., Chippewa Falls  393
Hyzer, E. M., Janesville  401
Horn, F. W., Cedarsburg  408
Hobart, H. C., Milwaukee  413
Holmes, Israel, Chicago  433
Hamilton, W. S.,  427
Irvin, David, Texas  42
Ingledew, Lumley, Chicago  t 434
Jackson, M. M.,  51
Jenkins, John J., Chippewa Falls. . 219
Jenkins, James G., Milwaukee .... 243
Johnson, D. H., Milwaukee  244
Jackson, H. B., Oshkosh  271
Junor, David, Berlin  272
Jenks, Aldro, Dodgeville  293
Jones, John T., Dodgeville  293
James, B. W., Wausau  319
Jones, D. Lloyd, Stevens Point . . . 320
Jones, Burr W., Madison  347
Jones, Geo. C, Appleton  383
Jackson, A. A., Janesville  401
Jones, G...W. , Dubuque  428
Knowlton, Wiram, Prairie du Chien 70
Kendrick, C. D., Milwaukee  247
Keyes, E. W., Madison  348
Keyes, J. S. , Madison  349
Kelly, D. M., Green Bay  384

540

INDEX.

Kellogg, A. H., Appleton  386
Kirkland, R. B., Jefferson  402
Knowlton, J. H., Chicago  429
Kerwin, J. C, Neenah  273
Larrabee, Charles H., Oregon .... 68
Lyon, William Penn, Madison .... 73
Lewis, James T., Columbus .... 122
Lando, M. N., Milwaukee  247
Larson, L. R., Eau Claire  328
Lamb, F. J., Madison  349
Lewis, H. A., Madison  371
Lynch, Thomas, Chilton  274
Lynde, William Pitt, Milwaukee . . 153
Lakin, George W., Milwaukee .... 215
Lewis, Henry M., Madison  217
Lee, Charles H., Racine  221
Losey, J. W., La Crosse  309
Lord, C. K., La Crosse  310
Lawson, P. V., Menasha  273
Miller, Andrew G., Milwaukee. ... 44
Mills, Joseph T., Lancaster  115
MacArthur, Arthur, Washington . . 128
Martin, Morgan L., Green Bay. ... 151
Magoon, Henry S., Darlington . . . 171
McKenney, J. C, Milwaukee  217
Mann, John E., Milwaukee  247
Mallory, James A., Milwaukee. . . . 248
Martin, C. K., Milwaukee  249
Merrill, J. H., Oshkosh  274
Murphy, J. W., Platteville  294
Morse, S. J., Waupun  283
McNelly, H. F., Muscoda  294
McArthur, W. F., Neenah  274
Merrick, Samuel, Jamestown  295
Morrow, J. M., Sparta  310
Meggett, Alex., Eau Claire  329
McCaslin, S. W., Eau Claire  331
Moser, Conrad, jr., Alma  331
Morris, W. A. P., Madison  350
Miner, E. S., Necedah  350
Myers, G. H., Appleton  386
McDill, G. D., Osceola Mills  393
Miller, C. H., West Bend  408
Marshall, G. A., Darlington  424
McLennan, J. J., Chicago  434
McDonald, John, Oshkosh  275
Newman, A. W., Trempealeau. . . . 110
Noggle, David, Janesville  115
Nugent, A. A., Chilton.  275
Nash, L. J., Manitowoc  283
Orton, Harlow S., Madison  76
Orton, Philo A., Darlington  295
Ogden, C. S., Waupaca  320
Orton, Myron H., Madison  350
Orton, Otho H., Madison  351
O'Meara, P., West Bend  409

Paine, Byron, Madison  71
Park, Gilbert L., Stevens Point ... 109
Paine, HalbertE., Washington, D.C. 158
Page, J. H., Whitewater  221
Van Pelt, Henry V., Racine  225
Palmer, Henry L., Milwaukee .... 249
Paine, James H., Milwaukee  250
Paul, George H., Milwaukee  251
Platto, J. V. V., Milwaukee  253
Pereles, Nathan, Milwaukee  253
Phalen, Albert, Milwaukee  253
Prentiss, G. C, La Crosse  310
Pope, Carl C, Black River Falls. . 311
Perry, G. M., Black River Falls. . . 312
Proctor, H. W., Viroqua  312
Packard, W. H., Stevens Point . .. 321
Pinney, S. U., Madison  351
Pease, S. A., Montello  353 .
Pierce, S. W., Friendship. ...'..... 353
Pierce, W. L., Chippewa Falls. . . . 394
Pease, J. J. R., Janesville  403
Prichard, M. S., Janesville  403
Pors, W. A., Port Washington. . . . 409
Pitkin, F. W:, Colorado  444
Pier, C. K., Fond du Lac . ;  283
Porter, W. H., Jefferson  404
Quarles, J. V., Racine  222
Ryan, Edward G., Madison  55
Randall, Alexander, W  118
Ryan, Hugh, Milwaukee  254
Reese, S. W. , Dodgeville  296
Rodolph, Charles G., Muscoda.... 296
Rose, James R., Darlington  297
Rose, David S., Darlington  298
Rusk, L. J., Viroqua  312
Reed, Myron, Waupaca  321
Raymond, J. O., Stevens Point . . . 322
Rogers, W. H., Madison  354
Ryan, Samuel, Appleton . . . .'  387
Roby, Charles W., Portland, Oregon 462.
Runals, E. L., Ripon  285
Randall, A. N., Brodhead  404
Stow, Alexander W., Fond du Lac 50
Smith, Abram D., Milwaukee  71
Small, David W., Oconomowoc... 109
Salomon, Edward, New York  119
Spooner, Wyman, Elkhorn  130
Sloan, A. Scott, Beaver Dam  155
Sloan, Ithamah C, Madison  156
Smith, A. H., Janesville  183
Smith, George B., Madison  185
Smith, William R., Mineral Point. 186
Smith, Winfield, Milwaukee  191
Strong, Moses M., Mineral Point . 213
Strong, Marshall M., Racine  223
Starkweather, G. A., Milwaukee. . 254

INDEX.

541

Stark, Joshua, Milwaukee  256
Smith, E. P., Milwaukee,  258
Strong, Moses M., Mineral Point . 213
Smith, J. M., Mineral Point  298
Sanborn, A. W. , Stevens Point. . . . 323
Shelley, John, West Bend  409
Starkweather, J. C, Washington
D. C  458
Silver, O. F., Berlin  275
Sharptein, J. R., San Francisco... 448
Sutherland, G. E., Fond du Lac, . . 286
Smith, A. A. L., Milwaukee  258
Saunders, T. W., Milwaukee  260
Schmitz, A. J., Manitowoc  289
Safford, H. M., La Crosse  313
Spooner, John C, Hudson  332
Smith, R. B., Madison  355
Smith, Richard, New Lisbon  355
Sloan, H. C, Appleton. . . ,.  388
Stafford, W. H., Chippewa Falls . . 394
Sale, J. W., Janesville  404
Taylor, David, Madison . '  78
Talmadge, N. P  '  116
Tweedy, John H., Milwaukee  152
Tichenor, V., Waukesha  266
Turner, H. G., Manitowoc  290
Thomas, O. B., Prairie du Chien . 298
Tyler, T. B., Sparta  313
Tourtellotte, M., La Crosse  ¦. 314
Tollefron. L. , Viroqua  315
Toeller, F. J., La Crosse  315
Turhune, W. F., Viroqua  315
Teal, George C, Eau Claire  325
Turner, John, Manston  355
Tracy, John J., Green Bay  389
Tompkins, W. M., Ashland  394
Turner, E. S., Port Washington . . 410
Thomas, Jno. E., Sheboygan Falls. 420
Totten, Enoch, Washington  461
Tenney, D. K., Chicago  436
Thurston, John'M., Omaha  451

Truesdell, J. C, Berlin  276
Thompson, A. E., Oshkosh  276
Upham, D. A. J., Milwaukee  215
Van Valkenburgh, F. B., Milwau
kee  260
Vilas, L. M., Eau Claire  336
Vilas, L. B., Madison  356
Vilas, W. F. , Madison  362
Vilas, E. P., Madison  366
Van Pelt, H. V., Racine  225
Valentine, E. G., Chicago  438
Whiton, Edward V., Janesville ... 51
Washburn, G. W., Oshkosh  104
Washburn, C. C, Madison  127
Walker, Isaac P., Milwaukee  132
Williams, Charles G., Janesville. . . 161
Wilson, Alexander, Mineral Point. 200
Webb, Charles M., Grand Rapids. . 216
Weeks, T. D., Whitewater  225
Waldo, O. H., Milwaukee  261
Wallber, Emil, Milwaukee  261
Winkler, F. C, Milwaukee  262
Williams, W. C., Milwaukee  263
Weissert, A. G., Milwaukee  264
Webster, M. M., Prairie du Chien. 299
Webster, Daniel, Prairie du Chien. 399
Wilson, J. D., Boscobel  '. . . 299
Woolley, L. J., Boscobel  300
Waddington, J. S., Argyle  301
Wing, M. P., La Crosse  316
Woodward, G. M., La Crosse  316
Wyman, O. B., Viroqua  316
Wetherby, L. P. , Hudson  336
Wigman, J. H. M., Green Bay  389
Welch, W., Madison  366
Wheeler, Nelson W., Baraboo .... 370
Wilkinson, A. C, New Lisbon. . . . 370
Wells, H. N., Milwaukee  412
Winslow, R. F., Chicago  439
Woodman, Cyrus, Cambridge;Mass. 450
Winans, John Janesville  405

PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATIONS.

Botkin, Alexander  338
Baker, Charles M  no
Collins, Alexander L  106
Cothren, Montgomery M  100
Cary, John W.  232
Carpenter, Mathew H  138
Cameron, Angus  148
Davis, David  90
Drummond, Thomas  96
Doyle, Peter  208

Enos, Jacob J  398
Finch, Asahel  236
Felker, Charles W  ,  269
Frisby, Leander F-.  202
Fairchild, Hiram 0  376
Harlan, John M  94
Hudd, Thomas R  380
Hobart, Harrison C  414
Hazelton, Gerry W  164
Jenkins, James G  244

542

INDEX.

Lyon, William Penn  74
Lewis, James T  122
Lawson, P. V  273
' Miller, Andrew G  44
Mann, John E  248
Magoon, Henry S  172
Marshall, George A  424
Orton, Harlow S  , . 76
Pierce, Solon W  354
Pitkin, Frederick W  444
Paine, Halbert E   » 158

Ryan, Edward G  1
Roby, Charles W  462
Smith, Winfield  192
Salomon, Edward  120
Spooner, John C  332
Taylor, David  78
Thomas, John E  420
Thurston, John M..'  452
Vilas, Levi B  356
Wigman, J. H. M  '. . 390
Winslow, Robert F  440

ERRATA.
Page 51 — The biography of M. M. Jackson should be under the
head of associate justices of the supreme court.
Page 35 — State against Arndt • should be State against Vineyard for
shooting Arndt.
Page 59 — Lester Ryan should be Leslie Ryan in the last paragraph
but pne on the page.
Page 117 — Tuscan should be Tucson in second par'agraph.
Page 225 — Second district should be second circuit.
Page 279 — Eliha Coleman should be Elihu Colman.
Page 533 — C. K. Davis, Minnesota, should have been added to the
list of Governors who have been lawyers of Wisconsin.