USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110
In October, 1862, James G. Day was elected to fill the position of judge of this district, and on the Ist of January, 1863, he assumed the judicial ermine. His first term in Cass county was held in January, 1863, commencing on the 22d of that month. C. E. Millard was district attor- ney; William Waddell, clerk, and John Keyes, sheriff.
378
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
-
·
On the 27th of January, 1864, Cass county was detached from the third, and made a part of the fifth district, then embracing the counties of Adair, Audu- bon, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, Madison, Warren and Polk. John H. Gray was the presiding judge at the time. His first term in Cass county commenced on the 14th of April, 1864. Judge Gray was a citizen of Polk county, and died October 14, 1865. B. F. Murray, of Mad- ison county, was elected district attorney October 12, 1858, and served until the Ist of January, 1865.
Charles C. Nourse, of Polk county, suc- ceeded Judge Gray, having been appoint- ed by William H. Stone, the governor, to fill the vacancy. His first and only term in Cass county commenced April 12, 1866, when his commission as judge was read in opeu court. He only occupied the bench for a short time, resigning August 1, 1866. He is now engaged in the prac- tice of law in Des Moines, and his name was prominently before the convention for the office of supreme judge.
The next judge of the fifth district was H. W. Maxwell, of Warren county, who had nearly finished a term as district at- torney. He was appointed to fill the va- cancy from August 1, 1866, and in Octo- ber of the same year the people ratified the choice by electing him to this honor- able office. His first term in Cass county commenced October 18, 1866. At that time Col. S. D. Nichols was the district attorney; William Waddell, clerk of the court, and V. M. Bradshaw, sheriff. It was at the April term of 1867, that Julian Phelps and H. E. Griswold were admitted to the bar, in this court.
By an act of the Fourteenth General Assembly, in 1872, Cass county was asso- ciated in the new thirteenth district, with the counties of Fremont, Mills, Audubon, Pottawattamie, Crawford, Shelby, Carroll and Greene. In that year J. R. Reed, of Pottawattamie county, was chosen district judge, and H. K. McJunkin, of Mills county, was elected district attorney. Judge Reed held his first term in this county in May, 1873, commencing on the 5th of that month. J. K. Powers was the clerk of the court, and E. E. Herbert sheriff. Judge Reed was re-elected to this office in 1876, and in 1880, and re- mained upon the bench until January 1, 1884, when having been elected one of the judges of the supreme court of Iowa, he resigned the inferior position. The governor thereupon appointed C. F. Loof- bourow, of Cass county, the then circuit judge, to the vacant seat upon the bench of the district court. a position which he now occupies.
Judge Charles F. Loofbourow stands among the most prominent men in Cass county, or indeed, in southwestern Iowa. He is a native of the Buckeye State, hav- ing been born in Knox county, Ohio, September 4, 1842. His father, John W., who was a millwright by trade, was of English-German descent. He died in Licking county, Ohio. His mother, Mary (Plumb), was of an American family, her parents being Connecticut people. Charles F. spent his carly boyhood days in the village of Batemantown, Ohio, and from there went to Chesterfield, Warren coun- ty. Here he received his common school education, and having a natural taste for the law, he borrowed law books, and com-
C
379
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
menced the foundation of his legal learn- ing. On the death of his father, the care of the family, including four sisters and a younger brother, devolved upon him, in addition to the task of preparing for his entry to the bar, and his duties as teacher, by which means lie earned his support. In 1865 he decided to remove to Iowa, and in the same year took up his residence in Marshall county, where be obtained employment at clerking in a store. He also studied law there with Henderson and Binford. The first named member of this firm is now judge of that district. He spent two years studying law there, one year with the firm men- tioned, and the remainder of the time at his home. As a result of his labors, he was admitted to practice by Judge Chase, of Webster City, in the spring of 1868. He then started out to find a location, and soon brought up in Lewis, this county. Here he stayed about three weeks,and fail- ing to find office room, went to Grove City, which, at that time, was thought to be the place where the Rock Island rail- road would locate its station. That was . in the summer of 1868. He opened an office in Grove City, but, finding that the hopes for the future of that town had been shattered by the starting of the new town of Atlantic, he removed to this place, and was among Atlantic's early attorneys, coming in the spring of 1869. Ile soon attained a flattering practice, and took his position in the front ranks of the profession. In 1876 he was chosen by the Republican convention as the can- didate of the party, for the position of circuit judge, and at the election of that year received a very large majority of the
votes of the people. This position he held for seven years, at the end of which time (January 1, 1884), he was appointed by . Governor Sherman to the district judgeship of the thirteenth district, to fill the vacancy left by Judge Reed, when he was advanced to the supreme bench. He has been again elevated to the posi- tion of judge of the thirteenth district, at the November election, 1881. In the Masonic order he is a Knight Templar, and was Master of the Blue Lodge here a number of terms, besides holding all the other principal offices in that lodge. He is comfortably supplied with this world's goods, having considerable property in Cass county, a pretty residence at the corner of Fifth and Oak, the grounds covering a quarter of a block, and other property. He is also a stockholder in the Cass county bank. Judge Loofbourow was in the service of the Union during the civil war, having enlisted in company I, 136th Ohio, in the hundred day service. At the expiration of this time, he applied for re-enlistment, but was rejected on account of disability. He was married in the spring of 1870, to Miss Hannah Hodgkins, a native of New Hampshire, but reared in Massachusetts. They have four children, all boys, whose names are- John W., Chas. F., Jesse H. and Leon L.
CIRCUIT COURT.
By an act of the general assembly, passed and approved April 3, 1868, cir- cnit courts were established in this State, and each judicial district was divided into two circuits, in each of which, at the gen- eral election in November, 1868, and
380
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
every four years thereafter, a circuit judge should be elected. Four terms of court were provided per year in each county in the circuits. By this act the office of county judge was abolished, and all busi- ness of a legal nature pertaining to that office was transferred to the circuit court, which was also to have concurrent juris- diction with the district court in all civil actions at law, and exclusive jurisdiction of all appeals and writs of error from jus- tices' courts, mayors' courts and all other inferior tribunals, either in civil or crim- inal cases.
Cass county, together with Madison, Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Greene and Guthrie counties, constituted the second circuit of the fifth judicial district.
In that year, Frederick Mott, of Madi- son county, was elected to the circuit judgeship, and held the position four years. In 1872 the law of 1868, creating the circuit court, was modified, constitu- ting the circuits the same as the districts. The first term of the circuit court in Cass county was opened on the first Monday in March, 1869, when there were present: Frederick Mott, judge; J. K. Powers, clerk; V. M. Bradshaw, sheriff. The first case to come before this court was Southworth, Slauson and Company us. John F. Chapman, which involved a ques- tion of law. The first criminal case was that of the State against William Per- kins, for larceny. The first jury empan- nelled in this court was on this case, and consisted of the following named: Perry Disbrow, Benjamin Albee, D. C. John- son, J. H. Leslie, James Duncan, H. A. Baker, D. C. Kennedy, L. D. Marsh,
Pierce Maher, W. N. Haworth and Wil- liam Hopley.
After the consolidation of the district, T. R. Stockton was chosen circuit judge, and occupied the position until the 1st of January, 1877, when he was succeeded by Judge C. F. Loofbourow, now the judge of the district court: Judge Loofbourow was re-elected in 1880, but resigned it in 1884, to take his place on the bench in the district court as mentioned before.
On the elevation of Judge Loofbourow to the higher court, Joseph Lyman, of Council Bluffs, was appointed to. the va- cant judgeship of the circuit court, and still occupies that exalted position.
COUNTY COURT.
In 1851, by an act of the General As- sembly, county courts were established and the office of county judge created. By the same act, the office of probate judge was abolished, as were the offices of county commissioners; the duties of the commissioners and probate judges devolving upon the county judge. The county of Cass, not being organized until 1853, had no probate judges or county commissioners. The first county judge was Jeremiah Bradshaw, one of the earliest settlers. Upon him devolved the duty of perfecting the organization of the county. Judge Bradshaw's successors were: J. W. Benedict, W. N. Dickerson, Samuel L. Lorah and Henry Temple.
During 1861, the offices of county super- visors were created, which relieved the county judge of much of the business which had previously devolved upon him, and the office was shorn of much of its
381
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
importance. Under this dispensation the county judges were: Andrew Irwin, E. B. Bell, D. A. Barnett and L. L. Alexan- der. In the chapter under the title of
National, State and County Representa- tion, this office is treated in detail, and personal sketches of many of the judges will be found.
CHAPTER XII.
THE BAR.
Horace Greeley once said that the only ] good use a lawyer could be put to was hanging, and a great many other people entertain the same opinion. There may be cause for condemning the course of certain practitioners of the law, but the same may be said within the ranks of all other professions. Such men should not be criticised as lawyers, doctors or the like, but rather as individuals who seek, through a profession that is quite essen- tial to the welfare of the body politic as the science of medicine is to that of the physical well being, or theology to the perfection of moral nature, to carry out their nefarious and dishonest designs, which are usually for the rapid accumu- lation of money, although at times for more evil and sinister purposes, and which are the instincts of naturally de- praved and vicious natures. None of the professions stand alone in being thus affected. All suffer alike. The most holy and sacred offices have been prosti- tuted to base uses. And it would be quite
as reasonable to hold the entire medical fraternity in contempt for the malprac- tice and quackery of some of its unscru- pulous members, or the church, with its thousands of sincere and noble teachers and followers, in derision for the hypoc- ricy and deceit of the few, who simply use it as a cloak to conceal the intentions of a rotten heart and corrupt nature, as to saddle upon a profession as great as either, the shortcomings of some of its individual members.
By a wise ordination of Providence, law and order govern everything in the vast and complex system of the universe. Law is everything - lawyers nothing .. Law would still exist, though every one of its professors and teachers should per- ish from the face of the earth. And should such a thing occur, and a new race spring up, the first instinctive desire of its best men would be to bring order out of chaos by the enactment and promulga- tion of wise and beneficial laws. Law in the abstract is as much a component part
382
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
of our planet as are the elements, earth, air, fire and water. In a concrete sense, as applied to the government of races, nations and peoples, it plays almost as important a part. Indeed, so grand is the science, and so noble are the objects sought to be accomplished through it, that it has inspired some of the best and greatest men of ancient and modern times to an investigation and study of its prin- ciples; and in the long line of great names handed down to us from the dim and shadowy portals of the past, quite as great men will be found enrolled as mem- bers of the legal profession as any other, and owe their greatness to a sound know- ledge of the principles of law, and a strict and impartial application of them. Draco, among the first and greatest of Athenian law-givers, was hailed by the people of that province as a deliverer, because of his enacting laws and enforc- ing them, for the preventing of vice and crime, and looking to the protection of the masses from oppression and lawless- ness. It is true, that many of the penal- ties he attached to the violation of the laws were severe and even barbarous, but this severity proceeded from an honorable nature, with an honest desire to improve the condition of his fellow-man. Trip- tolemus, his contemporary, proclaimed as laws: "Honor your parents, worship the Gods, hurt not animals." Solon, perhaps the wisest and greatest of all, a man of remarkable purity of life and noble im- pulses, whose moral character was so great, and conviction as to the public good so strong, that he could and did refuse su- preme and despotic power when thrust
upon him, and thus replied to the sneers of his friends:
Nor wisdom's plan, nor deep laid policy, Csn Solon boast. For, when its noble blessing Heaven poured into his lap, he spurned them from him.
Where were his sense and spirit, when enclosed He found the choicest prey, nor deigned to draw it?
Who to command fair Athens but one day Would not himself, with all his race, have fallen Contented on the morrow?
What is true of one nation or race in this particular is true of all, viz: that the wisest and greatest of law makers and lawyers have always been pure and good men, perhaps the most notable exceptions being Justinian and Tribonianus. Their great learning and wisdom enabled them to rear as their everlasting monument the Pandects and the Justinian Code, which, however, they sadly defaced by the im- moralities and excesses of their private lives. Among the revered of modern nations will be found, conspicuous for their great services to their fellows, in- numerable lawyers. To the Frenchman the mention of the names of Tronchet, LeBrun, Portalis, Roederer, and Thibau- deau, excites a thrill of pride for great- ness and of gratitude for their goodness. What Englishman, or American either, but that takes just pride in the splendid reputation and character of the long line of England's loyal lawyer sons? The Bacons, father and son, who, with Lord Burleigh, were selected by England's greatest queen to administer the affairs of State, and Somers, and Hard wicke, Cow- per, and Dunning, Elden, Blackstone, Coke, Stowell, and Curran, who, with all the boldness of a giant and eloquence of
-
383
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
Demosthenes, struck such vigorous blows against kingly tyranny and oppression; and Erskine and Mansfield, and a score of others.
These are the men who form the criter- ion by which the profession should be judged. And in our own country, have we not names among the dead as sacred, and among the living as dear? In the bright pages of the history of a country, founded for the sole benefit of the people, who, more than our lawyers, are recorded as assisting in its formation, preservation, and working for its perpetuity?
The American will ever turn with espe- cial pride, to the great Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Jo. Daviess, Rufus Choate, William Wirt, Taney, Marshall, and hun- dreds of others, who reflected the great- est honor upon the profession in our own country. Among the truest and best sons of this State are her lawyers, and even in this county, some of her most highly ex- teemed and most responsible citizens are members of this noble profession.
S. M. Tucker, who built the first house in Lewis, was the pioneer lawyer of the county. He came in 1853, and practiced his profession whenever occasion required, until he left Lewis. He was married in 1854 to Miss Mary Hitchcock, in this county. Theirs was among the early marriages in the county. 'Mr. Tucker was shrewd and quick-witted, and was consid- ered a very good lawyer. He left with the rush in 1860, and went to Colorado.
ATTORNEYS OF ATLANTIC.
The first exponnder of Blackstone to cast his lot with the fortunes of the town of Atlantic, then in its infancy, was H. T. Sharp, who came in December, 1868.
He was the only one to arrive in the first year of the city's life, but early in 1869 he found company of his own profession in the person of J. T. Hanna ; and these two gentlemen, finding each other congen- ial, formed a co-partnership, under the name of Sharp & Hanna. This firm had the field to themselves but a short time, for HI. Temple and Julian Phelps, who were practicing at the old county reat, es- tablished an office in Atlantic, taking their share of the legal business About the same time, two other attorneys of Lewis, H. E. Griswold and J. W. Brown also chose Atlantic for a field, and opened an office. C. F. Loofbourow removed from Grove City to Atlantic while those mentioned were coming up from Lewis. A. S. Churchill, R. G. Phelps and L. L. DeLano also came soon after, the last two being another addition from Lewis.
THE PRESENT BAR OF ATLANTIC.
The bar of the present consists of the following named : C. F. Loofbonrow, E. Willard, Isaac Hopper, D. Harding, H. E. Griswold, J. W. Brown, G. E. Pennell, L. L. De Lano, R. G. Phelps, H. A. Dis- brow, James B. Bruff, Reynolds and Dolan, A. S. Churchill. John Hudspeth, J. Phelps and Henry Temple.
C. F. Loofbourow, the present district judge, is also an attorney of Atlantic. He is noticed in the preceding chapter in connection with his official capacity.
R. G. Phelps, one of the prominent lawyers of Atlantic, is a native of War- ren county, Illinois, born January. 26 1846. His early life was spent upon a farm. He was an apt scholar and re- ceived a good education, graduating from Monmonth college in the class of 1867,
25
384
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
of which"he was valedictorian. He stud- jed law with Stewart and Phelps, at Mon- mouth, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court at Ottawa, during the spring term of 1868. He came to Cass county July 10, 1868, first locating at Lewis, and moved to Atlantic during the winter of 1869-'70, where he engaged in the practice of his profession in the firm of Phelps and DeLano, continuing in that partnership until 1881, when he abandoned the practice of law for a time. He re- sumed in 1882, and has since continued, having at this time a lucrative practice. Ile was married in this county, Septem- ber 20, 1871, to Alice Hardenburgh, a na- tive of New York. They have one child, Porter. He is at this time county attor- ney, and is also employed by different railroads as a regular attorney.
L. L. De Lano, attorney at law, of At- lantic, first came to this county in 1868, settling at that time in Lewis, where he remained engaged in the practice of his profession until the year following, when he came to Atlantic, where he is now living, and is widely known, having a considerable practice in the State and United States courts. IIe is a native of Washington county, Ohio, and spent his youth upon a farm near Marietta. He is of English and French extraction, and was born January 17, 1846. IIis early education was obtained in the common schools of his native county, supple- mented by a course of instruction at the Glendale high school in Washington county. When eighteen years old bis father died, and thus being thrown upon his own resources, he soon afterwards taught school a short time, and then came
to Iowa, first stopping at Indianola, War- ren county, where he entered the law office of Maxwell and Brian. He was ad- mitted to the bar March 16, 1868, Judge Maxwell presiding. He was married Octo- ber 1, 1868, to Martha A. Hockett. They have five children-Zeta G., Zoe L., Zeb. II., Zac. W. and Zella M. Mr. DeLano is the president of the school board, and has the respect and confidence of the commu- nity in which he lives.
Among the foremost members of the bar of southwestern Iowa is the subject of this sketch, E. Willard. He is a na- tive of Wyoming county, New York, and was born on the 21st of December, 1841, being the son of Rossell and Phæbe (Rich) Willard, both natives of Vermont. While the subject was quite young his parents removed to Williams county, Ohio, and from there to Indiana. In April, 1861, he enlisted in company C, Ninth Indiana Infantry for three months service; at the expiration of which time he returned home and the company re-or- ganizing, he again enlisted and served till March, 1863, when he was discharged for disability, having been wounded at Shiloh. IIe enlisted as a private, was afterwards appointed second lieutenant, and after the battle of Shiloh was appointed adjutant of regiment and first lieutenant. After his discharge he returned to his home in Elkhart, Indiana,remaining there till April, 1864, when he removed to Adel, Dallas county, Iowa. He commenced the study of law in 1858, while attending school at Notre Dame, Indiana, where he received his education. He studied law in the pri- vate office of Albert Heath for some three years, and was admitted to the bar
385
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
in the spring of 1861. After going home from the war he followed his profession for one year before going to Adel, Iowa, where he remained until 1876, when he removed to Dallas, Texas, and practiced there till June, 1881, then returning to Iowa and settling in Atlantic, Cass county, where he still resides, and has built up a reputation second to none in southwestern Iowa. He was married in Elkhart, Indi- ana, in August, 1861, to Miss Harriet Hopper, a native of Michigan, and the sister of Isaac Hopper, his partner. Mr. and Mrs. Willard have been blessed with one child, Edward M., who graduated from the Atlantic high school in June, 1884. Mr. W. is a member of the Royal Arch Masons, I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R. His residence is on the corner of Sixth and Linn streets.
A. S. Churchill, one of the prominent attorneys of Atlantic, was born in Erie county, New York, in 1846, his parents being L. M. and Eliza (Smith) Churchill. His parents moved to Green county, Wis- consin in 1848, where A. S. was reared to manhood, receiving his education in Evansville seminary previous to the war. In 1862 he enlisted in company A, Twen- ty-second Volunteer Infantry, and partici- pated in a number of important engage- ments. During the entire war he was with the Army of the Cumberland, and was taken prisoner on the 3d of March, 1862, during the battle of Spring Hill. He was then taken to Libby Prison, where he was confined for five and a half months, being then exchanged and rejoining his regiment at Camp Benton, St. Louis. He also took part in the battle of Chickamau- ga, and was with Sherman in his march
to the sea. He was discharged June 28, 1865, at Washington, D. C., after the grand review, in which he participated. On September 8th of the same year he entered the University of Chicago (bet- ter known as Douglas University), and graduated in the June class of 1868. Dur- ing his last two years in the university he studied for his profession, and in March, 1868, was admitted to the bar at Newton, Jasper county, Iowa, where his parents had removed two years previously. He remained in Jasper county until March, 1869, when he moved to Atlantic and em- barked in the real estate business; and commenced the practice of his profession in 1872, and has been eminently success- ful. Mr. Churchill was married February 22, 1869, to Miss Orlena C. Murphy, a na- tive of Knoxville, Tennessee, and who was born October 23, 1848. By this mar- riage there are two children-Amy E, born March 16, 1869, and Zetta B., born November 17, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Church- ill are members of the Baptist church, Mr. C. having been a member of the Sab- bath school for twelve years. He was the first superintendent of the school, and to him is due much of the credit for its or- ganization. He was the first city clerk of Atlantic, and has always taken an ac- tive part in the welfare of the city, and in all matters pertaining to the purity of the city government.
George E. Pennell came to Atlantic in 1877, and for the first year was employed in the Bank of Atlantic, at the expiration of which time he engaged in bis present business. He was born in Connecticut, where he remained until twenty years of age, when he went to Portland, Maine.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.