History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 9

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944

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It was from his father that Joel F. Vaile inherited his love for the legal profession. In the acquirement of his education he attended the public schools of his native state and afterward continued his education in Oberlin College of Ohio, from which he was graduated with the class of 1872. He then took up the study of law in his father's office and after two years' thorough preliminary reading was admitted to the bar and entered upon active practice in connection with his father. He was never an aspirant for political office yet he ever took the keenest and deepest interest in public affairs and his opinions were of such soundness and his insight so keen that his ideas always carried weight with party leaders. Moreover, he possessed natural oratorical power and ability, which were developed in the course of his law practice and he ever

JOEL F. VAILE

MRS. ANNA W. VAILE

HISTORY OF COLORADO

had the faculty of holding the close attention of his hearers to any subject upon which he spoke. He was barely thirty years of age when he was chosen prosecuting attorney of the thirty-sixth judicial district of Indiana, which office he occupied during the years 1878 and 1879, making a most creditable record by the able and fearless manner in which he discharged his duties. Speaking of this period of his career, a contempo- rary writer said: "The next year, 1880, was held the historic convention of the republican party at Chicago, where the Stalwarts, under the leadership of Roscoe Conkling, sought to force the nomination of the beloved Grant for the third time. Although it was a distinction invariably conferred upon the older members of the party, yet the people of Vaile's district elected him a delegate to this memorable gath- ering. There, as a young man, he saw and came into close personal contact with the giants in intellect whose names are enrolled on the pages of national history. Al- though a great admirer of President Grant and warmly disposed toward the impetuous and commanding Conkling, Vaile could not support their program. He voted for the precedent established by Washington, and Garfield was nominated."

Mr. Vaile's residence in Colorado dated from 1882, at which time he took up his abode in Denver and entered upon the practice of law. He formed a partnership with John A. Bentley and not long afterward became a partner of Senator Edward O. Wol- cott, the firm being accorded a very distinguished position in the ranks of the legal fraternity in the state. In fact they were connected with the most important litigation tried in the courts of Colorado. Upon the death of Senator Wolcott in January, 1905, Mr. Vaile became general counsel for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He was at different periods a partner in the law firm of Wolcott & Vaile, of Vaile, McAllister & Waterman and of Vaile, McAllister & Vaile. His course as a member of the bar was ever characterized by a masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution. He was never surprised by an unexpected attack of the opposing counsel, for he studied his cases from every possible standpoint and was ready for defense as well as for attack. He was seldom, if ever, at fault in the citation of a legal principle and he most clearly recognized the relation between cause and effect. His reasoning was sound, his presentation of a cause clear and cogent and the court records bear testimony to the many favorable verdicts which he won.

Mr. Vaile was married twice. On the 10th of August, 1875, at West Brookfield, Massachusetts, he wedded Charlotte M. White and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters: William N., an attorney of Denver; Gertrude, of Denver, who is a director of civilian relief of the Rocky Mountain division of the Red Cross; Louis Frederick, who is an officer of the Thirteenth Field Artillery, now in France; and Lucretia, who is head of the reference department of the Denver public library. Mr. Vaile was married a second time on the 4th of January, 1912, when Miss Anna L. Wolcott, of New York city, became his wife. She is of the noted Wolcott family, a sister of Edward O. and Henry R. Wolcott, and was the founder of The Wolcott School for Girls in Denver, mention of which is made elsewhere in this work.

During the period of his connection with Colorado, Mr. Vaile became a prominent and active worker in the republican party and was one who exercised the strongest influence over its activities. In recognition of his ability his name was suggested a number of times as the choice of his party for United States senator. He felt that the pursuits of private life, however, were in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts and his ambition lay in the direction of attaining distinction in his chosen profession rather than in the political field. He held membership in the Denver Club, also in the University Club of Denver, the Denver Athletic Club and the Metropolitan Club of New York. He had attained the age of sixty-eight years when death called him on the 3d of April, 1916, while in Pasadena, California. A man of marked ability and personal worth, he left the impress of his individuality for good upon the public life and thought of Denver, where for many years he ranked as a leading lawyer. He was always called upon to meet where intelligent men where gathered in the discussion of important public questions and he held to high ideals in citizenship and in public affairs as well as in the life of the individual.

MRS. ANNA WOLCOTT VAILE.

Mrs. Anna Wolcott Vaile, prominent in the educational field and as an active worker for interests having to do with the welfare and progress of community and state as well as with the uplift of the individual, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel and Harriet (Pope) Wolcott. Among the

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Wolcott ancestry and others from whom she traces her lineage were those who were most prominent in connection with the colonial bistory of New England. Her brother, Edward O. Wolcott, was United States senator from Colorado and another brother, Henry R. Wolcott, was for years one of the distinguished leaders of the republican party in this state and is a most highly esteemed citizen. By reason of his position . as speaker pro tem of the state senate he was called upon to perform the duties of the chief executive as acting governor of Colorado.

On the 4th of January, 1913, Anna Wolcott became the wife of Joel F. Vaile, a former law partner of E. O. White and one of the eminent members of the American bar. He died in California, April 3, 1916.

Mrs. Vaile had been educated in Wellesley College, where she prepared for that broad sphere of usefulness that has rounded out her splendid career. She was prin- cipal of Wolfe Hall of Denver from 1892 until 1898 and in the latter year became the founder and the principal of the Wolcott School for Girls in Denver, so continuing until 1913. In 1910 she was elected a regent of the State University of Colorado, occu- pying that position until 1916. She has also been a director of the School of American Archæology and has at different periods served as vice president of the Colorado Society of the American Institute of Archaeology, as a director from Colorado of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, as state president of the Colorado Society of Colonial Dames, and as a member of the Civil Service Commission by appointment of the governor, besides various positions in local societies. She has been spoken of as "one of the most distinguished ladies of Colorado by reason of her own merit and as a representative of a broad culture and high ideals." A contemporary writer has said of her: "Anna Wolcott Vaile needs no mere recital of distinguished family connec- tions, for her own life as a lady of gracious manner and prominence as an educator give her an eminence that is her own."

GEORGE K. ANDRUS.

George K. Andrus, who for thirty-five years has been actively engaged in the practice of law, his identification with the Denver bar dating from 1895, was born in Saybrook, Ohio, July 4, 1857, a son of Alanson and Eliza (Cole) Andrus, both of whom were natives of Connecticut but removed with their respective parents to Ohio during infancy. The father devoted his life to farming and remained a resident of the Buckeye state until called to his final rest in the year 1906. He had long sur- vived his wife, who passed away in the year 1878. In their family were seven children, five sons and two daughters.

George K. Andrus was the sixth in order of birth. In early life he attended the public schools of Ohio and completed a high school course at Austinburg, while in 1877 he pursued an academic course, becoming thus well qualified for entrance to the university. Determining upon the practice of law as a life work, he became a student in the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and there completed his course by graduation with the class of 1882. He afterward removed westward to North Dakota, settling in Valley City, where he opened an office and followed his profession with good success until 1895, when he resolved to seek a still broader field of labor and removed to Denver, where he has since remained. He has built up a practice of large and gratifying proportions, his ability ranking him with the leading lawyers of the city. Court and jury recognize the strength of his argument, which never fails to impress his auditors and seldom fails to win the verdict desired. His ability is pro- nounced in marshaling the evidence and he is seldom, if ever, at fault in the applica- tion of a legal principle. Aside from his law practice he is well known in business circles as a director and the president of the Cleveland Loan & Building Association.

In March, 1885, Mr. Andrus was married in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Miss Minnie Estabrook, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Estabrook. They have become the parents of three children. Ralph Andrus, who was born in Valley City, North Dakota, in 1886, is a graduate of the law school of the University of Colorado and is now engaged in practice with his father. He married Miss Adelaide Ferris, of Carthage, Illinois, and they are the parents of two children, George and Hebe. Maynard, the second of the family, was born in Valley City, North Dakota, in 1893, and is a grad- uate of Oberlin College of Oberlin, Ohio, and also is numbered among the alumni of Harvard. He now resides in Denver. Dewey, born in Denver in 1898, is still a student in the schools of Denver.

Mr. Andrus belongs to the Denver Bar Association and the Colorado State Bar

HISTORY OF COLORADO

Association. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, but while well informed on the questions and issues of the day, he does not seek or desire office as a reward for party fealty. His religious faith is that of the Christian Science church and fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the Odd Fellows. In the former organization he has taken the Knight Templar degree in Denver Commandery, No. 25, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. His pronounced characteristics are such as ever command respect and confidence wherever he is known and most of all where he is best known, showing that his career will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. Laudable ambition prompted his preparation for the legal profession and since starting upon the practice of law he has made steady progress.

JUDGE HENRY C. THATCHER.

The fame of Judge Henry C. Thatcher was that of virtue and ability and his name Is written in honor upon the pages of Colorado's history. He was the first chief justice of the state and when he passed away, at the comparatively early age of forty-two years, the press throughout Colorado bore testimony of the prominent part which he had played in shaping its judicial records, of his ability as a distinguished lawyer and of the high principles which actuated him in every relation of life. He came to Colorado in 1866, being at the time a young man of twenty-four years, his birth having occurred at New Buffalo, Perry county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of April, 1842. He was a son of Henry and Lydia Ann Thatcher, who, anxious that their children should have thorough educational training as a preparation for life's practical and responsible duties, enabled Judge Thatcher to supplement his public school education by study in the Franklin and Marshall College of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1864. He determined upon the practice of law as a life work and began reading in preparation therefor at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and at the same time he edited the educational department of the Hollidaysburg Standard. In the spring of 1866 he was graduated from the law department of Albany University of New York and in the fall of the same year came to Colorado, locating in Pueblo, where he opened a law office and began practice. He remained an active member of the Pueblo bar save for the three years in which he served as chief justice of the supreme court of the state. In 1869 President U. S. Grant appointed him United States attorney for Colorado and after discharging the duties of that position for a little more than a year he resigned. In large measure he left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the history of the state, especially in connection with the work of framing and executing its laws. He was chosen a member of the constitutional convention from his district on a non-partisan ticket, with scarcely a dissenting vote, and in 1876 he received the republican nomination for the supreme court and was elected to that high office. In drawing lots for terms, Judge Thatcher drew the short term of three years and by virtue of the law thus became chief justice. He proved himself the peer of the ablest members who have ever sat in this court of last resort, his decisions being marked by a masterful grasp of every problem that was presented for solution. With his retirement from office he resumed the practice of law in Pueblo, becoming senior partner in the firm of Thatcher & Gast. That relation was maintained to the time of his death, which occurred in San Francisco, California, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health.

In 1869 Judge Thatcher was married, his first union being with Miss Ella Snyder and to them was born a son, William Nevin, on December 3, 1870, who died July 14, 1891, in Chester, England. He was graduated with high honors in June, 1891, and had gone abroad with a party of college friends and was taken ill with appendicitis, dying from the effects of the operation. He is buried in Chester, England. There also were two daughters, Minnie and Flora, who passed away in infancy. The death of the wife and mother occurred in 1875 and in 1879 Judge Thatcher was again married, his second union being with Sallie Aschome, of Everett, Pennsylvania. They became parents of a son, Coolidge, who died in infancy.

Every possible honor and many tokens of affection were paid Judge Thatcher in the funeral services, his remains being brought back to Pueblo for interment. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad placed a special car at the disposal of the committee sent to meet the remains and at the time of the funeral services all the business houses and public offices of Pueblo were closed and the entire city as well as many residents from elsewhere in the state paid tribute to the man who for eighteen years had been an honored resident of Pueblo and who occupied a central place on the stage of public

JUDGE HENRY C. THATCHER

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HISTORY OF COLORADO

activity in the commonwealth. Memorial meetings were held in his honor by the members of the bar of Pueblo, on which occasion Judge T. T. Player said: "In our grief for the irreparable loss which the community, and especially the bar, has sustained in the death of Judge Thatcher, there remains to us the sad pleasure of being able, more fully than was possible during his lifetime, to express the admiration, regard and affection with which our dead brother inspired all those who came in close contact with him. In his case there is no need to call to mind the injunction 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.' During the eight years of his life when it was my privilege to know him, I have never heard anyone speak of him otherwise than in terms of the highest respect, and since his death his praises are in the mouth of all, and the universal grief which has been shown attests the sincerity of these expressions. His epitaph might fairly be written in the one word 'excellent.' He was an excellent lawyer, an excellent citizen, and, above all, an excellent man. Judge Thatcher was essentially a modest and somewhat reserved man, and it is more true of him than of anyone else whom I ever knew, that his good qualities grew upon you day by day. For this reason, those who knew him longest and best, mourn him most deeply. To such a one, whatever there is of rest in 'that undis- covered country from whose bourne no traveler returns,' must now be open, and we will find out more and more, day by day, that not he who has gone before, but we who are left behind, have suffered the loss. The state has lost one of its noblest citizens; the law has lost its leader; his family has lost a beloved husband, father, son and brother; and many of those present, besides myself, have lost a true and most disinterested friend. There are few of us, however, who have found this life so pleasant as not to be able to believe that our loss has been his great gain."

In an address on the same occasion E. J. Maxwell said: "What shall I say of Judge Thatcher as a man? Recall the remarkable spectacle which was presented here last Tuesday, when the whole community was in mourning; when this courtroom and its approaches, the streets and avenues over which the sad procession moved, were thronged with citizens. It was not because of his greatness as a lawyer, not by reason of his having been chief justice of the state, not because of personal popularity, it was the grandeur of his character alone which had impressed itself on this community-character alone, which, notwithstanding the slurs of the cynical and the skeptic, the world admires and venerates for itself alone."

Speaking of Judge Thatcher, Mr. Richmond commented on his character and his ability as follows: "Judge Thatcher as a citizen, as a man, as a scholar, as a lawyer and as a judge, had no equal in the estimation of his brethren of Pueblo county. Over nineteen years ago Judge Thatcher left his mountain home in Pennsylvania and made his pilgrimage by ox team across the prairies of the west, with Pueblo as the objective point. The trip was long, tedious and most dreary. After a weary journey, involving the possibility of being butchered by savage hands, he arrived in what is now known as the city of Pueblo, but which at the time of his arrrival was known as a trading point on the Arkansas river. He entered immediately upon the practice of his profession, under what was then known as the Colorado practice. In the now City of Canon, Colorado City, Trinidad and other southern points he was recognized from the first as an able lawyer and an upright man, and among his professional brethren as one thoroughly conversant with the ethics of his profession. It always seemed to me that he recognized the fact that no man could be a truly great lawyer who was not in every sense of the word a good man. He did not seek to shine with meteoric splendor, but hoped to achieve renown in the profession by studious habits and sterling integrity, believing that integrity and honor, with assiduity, would bring him fame in his profession and financial independence. He would not swerve from truth or fairness in any particular, and from the first to the day of his death he was able to stand the severest scrutiny of the public."

The supreme court of the state also held a memorial service in honor of Chief Justice Thatcher, on which occasion Judge Elbert said: "It was my good fortune to know Judge Thatcher intimately and well. For years we were associated together upon this bench. For three years we came and went together in the discharge of our judicial duties, and in the enjoyment of a most intimate and delightful intercourse. Of these years I have nothing but pleasant memories. As a man he was upright in his work, generous in his impulses, faithful in his friendships and most kind and noble in his feelings and aspirations. Those who knew him best loved and esteemed him most. As a citizen he was active, public spirited and faithful in the discharge of his duties. Every good work, every institution for the advancement and elevation of his fellowman received his encouragement and support. Purity in public life and purity in political methods found in him a zealous advocate. It was as a jurist that I knew him best. He was a most excellent judge. He was pure, conscientious, clear-sighted and learned.

HISTORY OF COLORADO

He was careful, painstaking and laborious. His investigations were most thorough, and no fact connected with the case he was considering escaped his attention. Judge Thatcher never wrote a slovenly opinion. He knew distinctly and clearly the conclusions he had reached and the process of reasoning by which he had reached them, and his statement and his argument was always clear, accurate and logical. His mind was analytical, and he treaded the intricate mazes of a difficult legal question with a steady step and clear eye that made him a most valuable member of this court and would have made him a valuable member of any court. Above all, he was pure and incorruptible, presenting a judicial character the purity of which was as the snow, and the integrity of which was as the granite. Had his life been spared, that it would have been one of great usefulness and value, and that he would have merited other positions of trust and honor cannot be doubted. We cannot, however, compute our loss. Of the value of such a life there is no measure. And thus dropping into his untimely grave all that is kind and generous in eulogy, we bid this good, true, upright and manly man farewell. We turn again to the struggles of life, the weaker it is true by reason of his death, the stronger it is also true by reason of his life."

Charles E. Gast spoke of Judge Thatcher as follows: "The personal affection we cherished toward Judge Thatcher was a matter of growth; it had proportion to the intimacy of our associations with him. Those who knew him longest loved him best. He was not a person whose good fellowship shone with meteoric brilliancy at first acquaintance or who won a fleeting popularity by mere cordial handshaking. On the contrary, there was a seeming preoccupation in his manner which gave no clue or insight to the depths of hearty, generous feeling and strong personal attachment with which his nature was endowed. He was in all things sincere and made no effort to cultivate an artificial cordiality. Nevertheless, there are few men whose friendships were more exten- sive. With but a slight acquaintance one readily saw that his manhood was genuine, his bonhomie, if not brilliant, was an expression of a kind and generous heart, and accordingly no one commanded more lasting and endearing ties from all with whom he was brought into association. He was singularly free from malice; he had the ready appreciation of others' merits that is a distinctive mark of a large and liberal mind. During his practice of fifteen years at the har Judge Thatcher won deserved distinction. His mind was vigorous and comprehensive, his habits of application unceasing. I was brought into intimacy with him years ago and can speak of the industry and painstaking care with which he was constantly extending the foundations of his legal acquirements by research and analysis. Probably his most distinguishing traits as a practitioner were his zealous devotion to his clients' interests and his exhaustive preparation of causes for trial or argument. As the first chief justice of this honorable court, he commanded the respect of the entire bar and has left behind him a memory that will long be cherished throughout the state. It was fortunate for the state that at the organization of this court, it should be presided over by one whose attainments in the field of jurisprudence and whose purity of character gave confidence that as a court it would earn the respect of the bar. As a judge he had a realizing sense of the ennobling dignity of the office. The scales of justice were with him evenly balanced, and the opinions which he delivered, while a member of this bench, evince that conscientious thoroughness and care that was always a marked characteristic of his legal training. Judge Thatcher had not com- pleted his career. He had possibilities before him, which, if he had been permitted to live, with a mind expanding and strengthening, he might have attained to his own credit and to the credit of the state. He had little to regret, everything to look forward to."

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 9

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 944

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 944