USA > Indiana > Courts and lawyers of Indiana, Volume II > Part 5
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
Of the delegation of 1859, Niblack, English, Kilgore, Porter, Wilson and Pettit are familiar, although Porter ap- pears for the first time. William McKee Dunn, who served in Congress from 1859 to 1863, came from the Madison bar, a contemporary of Marshall, the Brights and Sullivan. He was born there, December 12, 1814; graduated from Indiana College in 1832; served as a member of the Legislature in 1848 ; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1850; entered the army in 1861, and served as aide on General Mc- Clellan's staff in West Virginia; in 1863 was commissioned a
436
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
major and judge advocate of the United States Volunteers of the Department of Missouri. In March, 1866, he was made a brevet brigadier-general, and on December 1, 1875, was appointed judge advocate-general of the army. He held this position until 1882, when he was placed on the retired list. He resided in Washington, D. C., from 1863 until his death, July 24, 1887.
William Steele Holman began one of the longest congres- sional careers in Indiana history in 1859. He came up from the Dearborn and Ohio county bars. He was born on Sep- tember 6, 1822. After serving in various other capacities, especially in the constitutional convention of 1850, he entered Congress, where he served from March, 1859, to 1865; from 1867 to 1877; from 1881 to 1895, and from March 4, 1897, until his death in Washington, April 22, 1897-a period of over thirty years.
Such well-known lawyers as John Law, of Evansville; D. W. Voorhees, of Covington; Albert S. White, of Lafay- ette, and A. G. Porter, of Indianapolis, were in the thirty- seventh (1861-1863), the first of the war Congresses. Of the new lawyers, Dunn and Holman returned. George W. Julian, the attorney of the Free Soilers, made his initial ap- pearance from the Fifth on a fusion ticket between the Free Soilers and the Democrats. He had previously served in the thirty-first session (1849-1851). He was born near Center- ville, Indiana, May 5, 1817. He read law and practiced at the Wayne county bar. He neglected his law practice and studied for public service, which engrossed nearly all his later life. He served continuously in Congress from 1861 to 1871. He died in Irvington, July 7, 1899.
William Mitchell, who represented the Tenth district, came up from Kendallville. He was a native of Montgomery county, New York, born on January 19, 1807. He died during the Civil War at Macon, Georgia, September 11, 1865.
Another new face in the delegation of 1861 was that of John Peter Clever Shank, a young lawyer from Portland, Indiana. He was born in Virginia, June 17, 1826. He later served in the Civil War and sat in Congress for five terms, from 1861 to 1863 and from 1867 to 1875. He died in Port- land, January 23, 1901.
437
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
The thirty-eighth Congress (1863-1865) brought several changes in the Indiana delegation. Henry William Harring- ton, a Democratic lawyer, succeeded William McKee Dunn from the Third. He was born at Cooperstown, New York, September 12, 1825; graduated from Temple Hill Academy, New York, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. In 1856 he located in Indiana, where he practiced law until his death, March 20, 1882. He lived in Indianapolis from 1874 until his death.
Gen. Ebenezer Dumont, of Vevay, formerly a Democrat, but a Unionist in 1863, succeeded Albert G. Porter from the Sixth. He was a son of John and Julia Dumont, born in Vevay, November 23, 1814. He received a classical education, read law with his father and practiced in Vevay. He was in the state House of Representatives, 1838; a lieutenant- colonel in the Mexican War; colonel of the Seventh Indiana Regiment in the Civil War; served in Congress, 1863 to 1867. He died in Indianapolis, April 16, 1871.
From the Eighth district, Godlove Steiner Orth, of Lafay- ette, made his initial appearance, succeeding his fellow mem- ber of the bar, Albert S. White. He served four terms in succession, 1863 to 1871. He was born in Lebanon, Pennsyl- vania, April 22, 1817; graduated from Gettysburg College; read law there and commenced the practice in Indiana about 1840. He was in the state Senate from 1843 to 1848; a mem- ber of the peace conference of 1861; captain in the Civil War; minister to Vienna; in Congress a second time from 1879 until his death, December 16, 1882.
From the Tenth district, Joseph Ketchum Edgerton, a lawyer of the Fort Wayne bar, succeeded William Mitchell in 1863. Edgerton was born in Vergennes, Vermont, Feb- ruary 16, 1818; he studied law in Plattsburg, Vermont; prac- ticed law in New York City until 1854, when he moved to Fort Wayne. At the time of his election in 1862, he was presi- dent of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, August 25, 1893.
From the Eleventh district, James Foster McDowell, a lawyer from Marion, Indiana, succeeded General Shank. He was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, December 3, 1825;
438
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
was admitted to the bar in 1846 in Darke county, Ohio. He at once located in Marion, Indiana, where he divided his time between politics and the law until his death at Marion, April 18, 1887. He served only in the thirty-eighth session of Congress.
The return of the soldiers was evidenced by the slaughter of several young ambitions among the legal fraternity in 1864. Judge William E. Niblack served eight years from the First (1865-1873), following this by a distinguished service of twelve years (1877-1889) on the Supreme bench of the state, one of the very few men who have held both of these po- sitions.
Michael Crawford Kerr, a brilliant young lawyer from the Floyd county bar, displaced James A. Cravens from the Sec- ond. Kerr was born at Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827. He graduated from the Louisville Law School and be- gan practice at New Albany in 1852. He was prosecutor in 1855; a member of the state Legislature in 1856; reporter of the Supreme court from 1862 to 1865; in Congress from 1865 to 1873, and again from 1875 until his death, August 19, 1876. He was elected speaker in 1875.
Ralph Hill, a lawyer of Columbus, Indiana, succeeded Henry W. Harrington in 1865, serving one term. He was born in Johnson county, Ohio, October 12, 1827. He prac- ticed in Columbus and Indianapolis, and died in the latter city, August 20, 1899.
John Hanson Farquhar, of the Brookville bar, succeeded William S. Holman in the Fourth district. He was born in Carroll county, Maryland, December 20, 1818; moved to Brookville, Indiana, in 1833, where he practiced until after the war. He then engaged in the banking business in In- dianapolis until his death, October 3, 1873. Governor Baker appointed him secretary of state in 1872 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Norman Eddy.
Henry Dana Washburn, of the Clinton bar, successfully contested the seat of Voorhees from the Seventh. Washburn was a tanner by trade, and was born in Windsor, Vermont, on March 28, 1832. He studied law and began practice at Clinton, Indiana. He was colonel of the Eighteenth Indiana Regiment in the Civil War, rising to the rank of brevet major-
439
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
general, and served two terms in Congress (1865-1869). He died at Clinton, January 26, 1871.
Thomas N. Stillwell, of the Anderson bar, succeeded James F. McDowell from the Eleventh. He was born in Still- well, Ohio, August 29, 1830; began practice in Anderson, Indiana; served in the state Legislature in 1857; served in the army; was a member of Congress from 1865 to 1867; minister to Venezuela, 1867-1868; died at Anderson, January 14, 1874. There were thus seven new faces in this delegation of 1865, the first after the close of the war. Of the entire delegation all were lawyers but two, Schuyler Colfax, an editor from South Bend, and Joseph H. Defrees, an editor of Elk- hart. Both had learned the trade of printing together under John D. Defrees.
The Hoosier delegation to the fortieth Congress (1867- 1869) did not have so many new men. Morton Craig Hunter defeated Daniel W. Voorhees in the Sixth and thus made his initial appearance in Congress, a body he honored by four terms' service, 1867 to 1869 and 1873 to 1879. He came up from the Bloomington bar. He was born in Versailles, Indi- ana, February 5, 1825; graduated from Indiana University in 1849; rose to the rank of brigadier-general in the Civil War; practiced law in Bloomington until his death, October 25, 1896.
John Coburn, of the Indianapolis bar, succeeded General Dumont in the Sixth. He was born in Indianapolis, October 27, 1825, graduated from Wabash College; read law and was admitted to the bar in 1849 at Indianapolis, where he always practiced; was brigadier-general in the Civil War; was in Congress from 1867 to 1875; died in Indianapolis, January 28, 1908.
William Williams, a lawyer of the Warsaw bar, succeeded Joseph H. Defrees in the Tenth district. He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1821. He practiced all his- life at Warsaw, excent while in the army. General Shank returned from the Eleventh district. There were thus ten lawyers out of eleven in the delegation of 1867.
In the forty-first Congress (1869-1871) there were only a few changes. Daniel D. Pratt, of Logansport, succeeded Henry D. Washburn, of Clinton, but was soon transferred
440
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
to the Senate and his place was taken by James N. Tyner, of the Peru bar. He was born in Brookville, January 17, 1826; educated in the Brookville Academy; spent ten years in business in his native town; read law and located in Peru. He was in the postoffice department from 1861 to 1866; in Congress from 1869 to 1875, and spent the rest of his life in the postoffice department, being postmaster-general from 1876 to 1877. He died in Washington, D. C., December 5, 1904.
Jasper Packard, of the Laporte bar, succeeded Schuyler Colfax in the Eleventh. He was born in Austintown, Ohio, February 1, 1822; graduated from the University of Michi- gan in 1855; studied law and located in Laporte, Indiana, in 1861; went into the army and rose to the rank of a brigadier- general; was sent to Congress from 1869 to 1875; died while commandant of the Soldiers' Home at Marion, Indiana, De- cember 13, 1898. This 1869 delegation of eleven were nearly all lawyers.
The forty-second Congress (1871-1873) brought only two new men to the Indiana group. One of these, Gen. Mahlon D. Manson, of the Seventh, was not a lawyer. From the Fourth district, Jeremiah Morrow Wilson succeeded George W. Julian. Wilson was born in Warren county, Ohio, November 25, 1828; served in Congress, 1871 to 1876, and then located in Wash- ington, D. C., where he died September 24, 1901.
In the congressional apportionment of December 23, 1872, Indiana received thirteen representatives, the number which it has since retained. Two were elected at large, Godlove S. Orth, of the Lafayette bar, and William Williams, of the Warsaw bar, both of whom had seen service before.
From the Second district a new member, Simon K. Wolfe, appeared to take the place of Michael Kerr. Wolfe came from the New Albany bar, as had Kerr, his predecessor. He was born in New Albany, February 14, 1824; graduated from the law department of Indiana University in 1850; located at New Albany, where he practiced until his death, November 18, 1888. He was a state senator from 1860 to 1864, and Cir- cuit Judge by appointment from July to November, 1880.
Thomas Jefferson Cason came up from the Lebanon bar to succeed General Manson in the Seventh. He was born in
441
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
Union county, Indiana,, September 13, 1828; read law and began practice at Lebanon in 1850; served in the Legislature, 1861-1867; was Common Pleas Judge; went to Congress from 1873 to 1877, and died in Washington, D. C., July 10, 1901.
The other new member of the forty-third delegation was Henry Benton Sayler, of the Huntington bar, where he had been practicing since 1859. He was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, March 31, 1836; moved to Clinton county and, when admitted to the bar, located at Huntington. He was a major in the Civil War; in Congress, 1873-1875; Circuit Judge, 1881-1888, and died in Huntington, June 18, 1900.
After the political upheaval of 1874 cleared away, the old Indiana delegation was found to be wrecked. Only four old faces remained and one of these, M. C. Kerr, of New Albany, was soon removed by death. Of the new members, not all, thanks to the Granger uprising, were lawyers. Jeptha D. New, of the Jennings county bar, took his seat from the Fourth district. He was later on the Appellate bench, 1891- 1892. Milton Stapp Robinson, of the Anderson bar, sat from the Sixth. He was on the Appellate bench with New.
Andrew Holman Hamilton, of the Fort Wayne bar, was elected from the twelfth district. He was born in Fort Wayne, June 7, 1834. He graduated from Wabash College and later from Harvard Law School, and practiced until his death in Fort Wayne, May 9, 1895.
The last of this strange delegation was John Harris Baker, of the Goshen bar, who represented the Thirteenth district. He was born in the state of New York, February 28, 1832. Baker attended Wesleyan University and read law at Adrian, Michigan ; he commenced practice at Goshen, Indiana, in 1857; sat in Congress, 1875-1881; was appointed United States District Judge by President Harrison in 1892 and served until 1902, when he resigned.
At least five of the representatives from 1875 to 1877 were farmers, including "Blue Jeans" Williams, later Governor of the state (1877-1880). It is also noticeable that it contained two Appellate Judges and one United States Judge. It was probably the most sweeping change ever made in the state's representation.
In the representation from 1877 to 1879 there was also
442
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
considerable change, due to the recovery by the Republican party and the waning of the Granger strength. Thomas Reed Cobb, of the Vincennes bar, began a career of ten years' service from the Second district. He was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, July 2, 1828 ; educated at Indiana University ; read law and practiced at Bedford from 1853 to 1867; then moved to Vincennes, where he practiced until his death, June 23, 1892. He served in Congress from 1877 until 1887.
George Augustus Bicknell came up from the Scott county bar to represent the Third district. He was later a Supreme court commissioner, in the reference to which, elsewhere in this work, his biography may be found. He served two terms (1877-1881) in Congress.
Leonidas Sexton, of the Rushville bar, represented the Fourth district in the forty-fifth Congress. He was born in Rushville, May 19, 1827; graduated from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and practiced at Rushville. He died in Parsons, Kansas, July 4, 1880.
Thomas McClelland Browne began' a congressional career of fourteen years in 1879. He came from the Randolph bar to represent the Fifth district. He was born at New Paris, Ohio, April 19, 1829; came to Indiana in 1844; read law at Winchester and practiced there from 1849 until his death, July 17, 1891. He was a brigadier-general in the Civil War; United States attorney for Indiana, 1869-1872; in Congress from 1877 to 1891.
John Hanna, of the Greencastle bar, was elected from the Seventh to succeed Franklin Landers, the Granger, and served only one term (1877-1879). He was born in Marion county, September 3, 1827; graduated from Asbury College; read law and practiced in Greencastle from 1850 until his death, Octo- ber 24, 1882, except for a few years spent in Kansas just before the war. He was United States district attorney from 1861 to 1866.
Michael D. White, of the Crawfordsville bar, represented the ninth district, succeeding T. J. Cason. White was born in Clark county, Ohio, September 8, 1827; moved to Indiana in 1829; studied law and began practice at Crawfordsville, where he still lives.
443
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
William Henry Calkins, a young lawyer of the Laporte bar, succeeded Doctor Haymond in the tenth district. Cal- kins was born in Pike county, Ohio, February 18, 1842; read law and located at Laporte; served in the Union Army, 1861-1865; was in Congress from 1877 to 1884, when he re- signed and moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he served as Territorial Judge until his death, January 29, 1894. There were seven new men in the delegation of 1877, all lawyers. Of the entire delegation, twelve again were lawyers, only one farmer remaining, Benoni S. Fuller, of Boonville, Indiana.
There were six new men from Indiana in the Forty-sixth Congress (1879-1881), and only two of these were lawyers. The first lawyer among these, Calvin Cowgill, hailed from the Wabash county bar. He represented the Eleventh dis- trict. Cowgill was born in Ohio, January 7, 1819; came to Indiana in 1836; read law in Winchester and located in Wabash, where he practiced until his death, February 10, 1903. He was provost marshal from 1862 to 1865, and served in Congress from 1879 to 1881.
The other lawyer was Walpole Gillespie Colerick, of the Ft. Wayne bar, who represented the twelfth. He was born in Ft. Wayne, August 1, 1845; lived there all his life, dying January 11, 1911. He belonged to a family of lawyers and lived up to his traditions. Of the other four, one was a manu- facturer, one a teacher, one a Methodist preacher, and one a blacksmith. It seems to have been a hard year for the lawyers.
The election of 1880 brought seven new men into the Indi- ana delegation, all but three of whom were lawyers. From the Corydon bar came Strother M. Stockslager, to represent the third. He was born in Mauckport, Harrison county, Indi- ana, May 7, 1842; graduated from Indiana University ; rose to the rank of captain in the Civil War; was admitted to the bar in 1871; was in Congress from 1881 to 1885; and since leaving Congress has been connected with the government land office in Washington, D. C.
Courtland Cushing Matson, of the Greencastle bar, was elected from the fifth district. He was born at Brookville, April 25, 1841; graduated from Asbury College in 1862;
444
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
served in the Civil War as a colonel; was admitted to the bar at Greencastle, where he has since practiced. Matson served in Congress from 1881 to 1889.
Stanton J. Peelle, of the Indianapolis bar, was elected from the seventh district. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, February 11, 1843; served in the Civil War; studied law and was admitted to practice at Winchester ; moved to Indianapolis in 1869; went to Congress, 1881-1883 and is now Chief Jus- tice of the Court of Claims, Washington, D. C.
Mark Lindsey DeMotte came up from the Valparaiso bar to represent the tenth district in 1881. He was born in Rockville, Indiana, December 28, 1832; graduated from As- bury Law School in 1885, and began practice at Valparaiso the same year; was a captain in the Civil War; went to Lex- ington, Missouri, where he stayed until 1877; practiced law at Valparaiso until his death, September 23, 1908. He was dean of the Northern Indiana Law School after 1890.
The election of 1882 brought out five new congressmen, only one of whom, John E. Lamb, is very well known. Lamb came from the Terre Haute bar to represent the Eighth dis- trict. He was born in Terre Haute, December 26, 1852; read law and practiced there until his death, August 26, 1914.
Thomas Benson Ward, of the Lafayette bar, represented the ninth district. He was born in Union county, Ohio, April 27, 1835; came to Lafayette in 1836; graduated from Wabash College and later from Oxford College, in June, 1855; was admitted to the Lafayette bar in 1857; was elected mayor of Lafayette for the term 1861 to 1865; was Superior Judge of Tippecanoe county from 1875 to 1880, served in Congress, 1883-1887, and died in Lafayette, January 1, 1892.
Thomas Jefferson Wood, of the Lake county bar, was elected from the tenth district. He was born in Athens county, Ohio, September 30, 1844; graduated from the Michi- gan University Law School in 1867, and located at Crown Point, Indiana, where he practiced until his death, October 13, 1908.
Robert Lowry, of the Goshen bar, came from the tenth district. He was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1822; read law and came from New York to Ft. Wayne in 1843; was
445
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
admitted to the bar and located in Goshen in 1846; was appointed Circuit Judge in 1852 and was again elected Circuit Judge in 1864. Lowry was the first president of the Indiana Bar Association in 1879; served in Congress from 1883 to 1887, and died in 1904.
Five of the thirteen congressmen from Indiana in 1885 needed an introduction at Washington. From the third dis- trict, Jonas G. Howard succeeded Stockslager, and served two terms. Howard came from the Jeffersonville bar, where he had been practicing since he graduated from the State University in 1851. He was born in Floyd county, May 22, 1825, and died at Jeffersonville, Indiana, October 5, 1911.
William D. Bynum was elected from the Indianapolis bar to represent the seventh district. He was born near New- berry, Indiana, June 20, 1846; graduated from the State Uni- versity in 1869; read law and practiced at Washington, D. C., from 1869 to 1887, when he moved to Indianapolis. He sat in Congress from 1885 to 1895. Since that time he has prac- ticed in Indianapolis.
James T. Johnson, of the Rockville bar, displaced Lamb in the eighth district. Johnson was born in Putnam county, Indiana, January 19, 1839; served throughout the Civil War; was admitted to the bar in 1866 and practiced at Rockville until his death, July 19, 1904. He was in Congress from 1885 to 1889.
George Ford, of the South Bend bar, displaced Benjamin Shively in the thirteenth. He was born in South Bend, January 11, 1846; studied law and located at South Bend, where he has since practiced. He served in Congress from 1885 to 1887. He has been on the Superior Court bench of St. Joseph county since January 1, 1915.
The election of 1886 returned five strangers, counting General Hovey, who was elected from the first district and who resigned in 1888 to make a successful race for governor. His place was filled by a special election in which Frank B. Posey, of the Evansville bar, was successful.
John H. O'Neall, of the Washington bar, came up from Daviess county to represent the second district, succeeding Thomas R. Cobb. O'Neall was born at Newberry, South Caro-
1
446
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
lina, October 30, 1837; graduated from Indiana University in 1862; from the law department of Michigan University in 1864, and located at Washington, Indiana, where he practiced until his death, July 15, 1907. He was in Congress from 1887 to 1891.
Joseph B. Cheadle, of the Newport bar, was elected from the ninth district to succeed Thomas B. Ward. Cheadle was born at Perrysville, Indiana, August 14, 1842. He studied at Asbury College; served in the Civil War; graduated from the Indianapolis Law School in 1867; practiced at Newport, Indiana, until 1873, when he took up newspaper work. He died in Frankfort, Indiana, May 28, 1904. He sat in Con- gress from 1887 to 1891.
Six new members appeared with the delegation to the fifty-first Congress in 1889. At the head of the list stood Judge William Fletcher Parrett, of the Evansville bar, who represented the first district. Parrett was born near Posey- ville, Indiana, August 10, 1825; attended Asbury College; read law and began practice in Evansville. In 1852 he went to Oregon, where he remained two years. From 1855 to 1865 he practiced in Boonville, and from that time until his death, June 30, 1895, he practiced in Evansville. He was Circuit Judge for a quarter of a century (1859-1869; 1873-1888), and was in Congress from 1889 to 1893.
From the Seymour bar came the brilliant, erratic Jason Brevoort Brown to succeed Jonas Howard of the third. Brown was the John Randolph of Indiana congressmen. He was born in Dillsboro, Indiana, February 26, 1839. He read law in Indianapolis until 1860, when he was admitted to the bar and located at Seymour, where he practiced until his death, March 10, 1898. He sat in Congress from 1889 to 1895.
George William Cooper, of the Columbus bar, succeeded C. C. Matson from the fifth. Cooper was born in Bartholo- mew county, May 21, 1851 graduated from the law depart- ment of Indiana University in 1872, and practiced until his death, November 27, 1899, at Columbus, Indiana. He sat in Congress from 1889 to 1895.
Elijah Voorhees Brookshire, of the Crawfordsville bar, took the place of James T. Johnson in the eighth district.
447
THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
Brookshire was born near Ladoga, Indiana, August 15, 1856; graduated from the Central Normal College in 1878; read law and commenced practice at Crawfordsville in 1883; sat in Congress from 1889 to 1895, and since 1895 he has prac- ticed in Washington, D. C.
Augustus Newton Martin, of the Bluffton bar, succeeded George W. Steele in the eleventh district. Martin was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1847; graduated from Eastman College in 1867; served in the army during the Civil War; read law in Bluffton in 1869 and was admitted to the bar in 1870; was Supreme Court reporter from 1877- 1881; practiced law in Texas from 1881 to 1883 and then returned to Bluffton where he practiced from 1883 until his death, July 11, 1901. He was in Congress from 1889 to 1895.
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.