USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume II > Part 61
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Perry A. Randall, a well-known attorney of Fort Wayne, was born at Avilla, Noble county, Ind., July 24, 1847. His father, Edwin Ran- dall, born at Lenox, N. Y., May 18, 1807, was a son of Rodley and Amy (Rhodes) Randall. Rodley, born at Winfield, N. Y., May 24, 1783, died at the same place August 1, 1847, was a son of Nicholas R. and Content (Phillips) Randall. Nicholas, born at Uniontown, Conn., May 21, 1753, died September 23, 1814, at same place, was a son of Nathan and Eleanor (Cottrell) Randall. Edwin Randall, as early as 1836, came west and selected lands in Noble county, on which he set- tled in 1841. He married Mary A. King, who was born in New York, December 18, 1824, and who survives her husband, who died at Avilla, September 14, 1873. Of the three children of these parents, the second is Perry A. Randall. In 1867 he graduated from the Fort Wayne high school, and graduated in 1871 from the university of Michigan, then entering the law department of that university where he graduated in the spring of 1873. Coming to Fort Wayne in 1873, he was admitted to the bar and begun a practice which has been successful and lucrative. In ISSI he formed a partnership in the practice with Will J. Vesey, which still exists. Mr. Randall is one of the best business men of the
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city. He was married September 7, 1876, to Julia P. Fay, daughter and only child of Judge James A. Fay. They have three children: Fay P., Anna B., and Carrie L.
Hon. James M. Barrett, a prominent member of the bar of Allen county, and well known throughout the state as a leading member of the upper house of the legislature, was born February 7, 1852. His parents were born in Ireland. The father, Benjamin Barrett, born in 1809, son of William, who died at Peru, Ill., married Elizabeth Barrett, who was born in 1814, and in 1834, the family removed to the United States, and settled first in Belmont county, Ohio, afterward, about 1848, changing their home to LaSalle county, Ill. There James M., the eighth of eleven children, was born. The father, who was a farmer, died in Illinois in 1876, but his widow is still living. Mr. Barrett remained on the farm until 1869, also attending the common schools, and then entered Mendota college, in Illinois, where he remained one year, going then to Ann Arbor, Mich. After one year in the high school, he entered the university of Michigan and was graduated in 1875. He immediately began the study of law, and in the fall of 1875, entered the office of Mc- Cagg, Culver & Butler, of Chicago, and afterward studied at Princeton, Ill. In March, 1876, he came to Fort Wayne, and was admitted to the bar in the same year. He is now a member of the firm of Morris & Barrett, and has gained an honorable distinction as a lawyer. He is in politics an active democrat, and by that party was elected to the state senate in 1886. During his first session, he took a prominent part in securing the establishment of the asylum for feeble minded youth at Fort Wayne, and during the more important session of 1889, was the acknowledged leader of his party in the senate, as chairman of the judiciary committee, member of many other important committees, and author of a number of most important bills. He has achieved distinc- tion, not only by his merits as a ready and eloquent speaker, and force in debate, but by a reserve strength of character that assures him a brilliant and useful career. Mr. Barrett was married in 1877, to Marian A. Bond, of Fort Wayne, and they have three children: Florence E., Charles D. and Walter A.
Samuel Rockwell Alden, a prominent attorney of Fort Wayne, is the only child of Harlow Alden and his wife, Mary Ann, nee Imson. His father, a carpenter and cabinet-maker, was the youngest of ten chil- dren of Spencer Alden, a Baptist clergyman, and his wife, Miriam Rock- well. Published genealogies of the descendants of the Puritan John Alden, one of the passengers of the Mayflower, give the history of the Alden family since 1620. His mother, a teacher, was the second daugh- ter of Elias Imson, a thrifty farmer of English and Irish descent, and his wife, whose maiden name was Hunsicker, and was born February 14, 1820, at Oswego, N. Y. Their only son, Samuel Rockwell, was born at South Wilbraham, Mass., August 30, 1847. When he was nine years old his parents removed to Whitewater, Wis., and here he com- pleted the high school course at thirteen years of age, and subsequently
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studied winters, while engaged on a farm, until he was eighteen, when he went to Beloit to complete his preparation for college. Soon after- ward, he was dangerously hurt while attempting to stop a runaway team. The Whitewater normal school having been completed he en- tered it in 1868 as pupil and teacher, and during the third year held the position of professor of English and elocution, having prepared himself in the latter during vacations. From 1871 to 1874 he was associated with Prof. Horace Briggs, at Buffalo, N. Y., in conducting the Buffalo classical school, preparatory for colleges and universities, Mr. Alden having charge of mathematics and scientific studies. In July, 1874, he went to Germany, prepared for lectures and took the university courses under Windschied at Leipsig in Roman law, and under Bluntschli at Heidelberg in international law, traveling during his vacations through Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He spent part of 1875-6 in Paris, learning lectures on art, science and languages at the Sorbonne. While abroad he gave much attention to the study of people and their customs and languages, and his only use of English at that time was the reading of standard law texts. The following year was spent in Columbia law school, and in the office of Weeks & Forster, New York, and in the fall of 1877 he was admitted to practice at Milwaukee. In 1878 at the solicitation of an old friend, W. T. Jenison, he removed to Fort Wayne, and was a partner with the latter until he removed to Denver, Col., in the winter of 1879. One of his first cases was carried to a successful issue in the United States supreme court, contrary to the opinion of leading lawyers. His practice is exclusively civil, and he has been, in this field, quite successful. In studying legal questions he has adopted the plan of giving the matter full deliberation before consulting authorities to verify his conclusions or discover in what respect they are faulty. Mr. Alden was married December 17, 1884, by Rev. Charles Williams, at All Souls' church, New York, to Carrie, only daughter of Auguste Francois Savin, and his wife, Sarah Jane Staniford. Her father was a shipping merchant, commanding and sailing one of his own vessels the greater part of his life. He was the son of Augustin Pierre Savin, a lawyer of Bordeaux, France, and his wife, Sophie Marie Fran- coise, nee de Maigron, daughter of a French nobleman and army offi- cer, born July 5, 1816, on the island of Guadeloupe. Mr. Alden's wife's mother was the daughter of Samuel Thorndike Staniford, of Beverly, Mass., and his wife, Catherine Chappel, of Hackensack, N. J., born February 7, 1828, at Lansingburgh, N. Y.
Thomas E. Ellison, an attorney at law, was born at LaGrange, Ind., August 12, 1852. He is the son of Andrew and Susan (Tuttle) Ellison, now residents of this city. Andrew Ellison was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, January 12, 1817, and when three years of age emigrated with his parents to the United States. His childhood was spent in New York, where his parents first settled. In 1836 he came to Indiana and became a resident of LaGrange county. He was admitted to the bar of the court of Indiana in 1843, and continued the practice of law until
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1879, becoming widely known in the state as one of its ablest attorneys. Mrs. Susan (Tuttle) Ellison is a native of Lockport, N. Y., born Sep- tember 13, 1829. Of their seven children the oldest is Thomas E. The latter attended the LaGrange schools, was a student at Notre Dame university for some time, and in 1874 graduated from the law depart- ment of the university of Michigan. He was admitted to the La- Grange county bar, in 1873, to practice in the supreme court of Indiana, in May, 1874, and in the United States court in 1875. He remained in the practice of his profession at LaGrange until 1878, when he came to Fort Wayne, and entered into a law partnership with Judge L. M. Ninde, with whom he remained five years. Since 1883 he has been practicing his profession independently, meeting with such suc- cess that he has attained a high rank as a civil lawyer, not seeking crimi- nal practice. In 1882-3, Mr. Ellison was retained as the attorney of the county, and all the free gravel roads in the county, except one, were built during that time. Their establishment was largely due to him. During his term of office as county attorney, the board of commissioners acting on his advive, and at his suggestion, made great reductions in the fees that had been paid by the county to its various officers, by reason of which the county has saved several thousands of dollars every year while and since he was in office. While he was county attorney, the question as to whether or not the various railroads that passed through the county were properly assessed, came up for discussion, and Mr. Elli- son representing the county, appeared before the state board of equali- zation at Indianapolis, which board raised the valuation of the various. railroads in the county several hundred thousand dollars, thus giving the county a large increase of taxes. The great improvement in Allen and Huntington counties known as the Little River drainage, which was effected by constructing forty miles of large ditches, at a cost of about $200,000, was established and constructed very largely according to his advice and skill, he having been attorney and adviser of the petitioners for, and the superintendent and engineer who constructed, the same. Forty thousand acres of waste land were reclaimed, and 80,000 acres beneficially affected. He was married in January, 1879, to Emma S. Stockbridge, who died in March, 1884. They had three children: Pheobe, Andrew S. and Robert W .; the latter has since died. Decem- ber 14, 1887, he was married to Hannah Hall, a resident of Logansport, Ind., at Topeka, Kan.
William J. Vesey, attorney at law, is one of the younger members of the bar, but has won a rank highly creditable to himself. He became a resident of Fort Wayne in 1878, and entered the office of Ninde & Ellison. The same year he was admitted to the bar, and he has since been actively engaged in thepractice. In politics he is an earnest worker in the republican ranks, and socially is highly esteemed. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias, and A. O. U. W. Mr. Vesey was born in LaGrange county, at Lima, April 19, 1857, son of Benjamin W. and Sarah W. (Waterhouse) Vesey, both natives of
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New England. His father was born in Vermont, February 28, 1829, and his mother in Maine, February S, 1836, and now resides at Goshen, Ind. His grandfather, William Vesey, who was born in Vermont in ISOI, removed with his family to Ohio in 1837, and in 1839 to Goshen, where he died in 1870. William J. Vesey was raised on the farm in LaGrange county, and received a common school education. He was married July 25, 1882, to Margaret E. Studebaker, daughter of Judge David and Harriet (Evans) Studebaker, pioneers and prominent citizens of Adams county. Mr. and Mrs. Vesey have four children: Margaret S., Sallie W., Dick M. and William J.
William Straughan O'Rourke, former prosecuting attorney of the criminal court, was born at this city, January 6, 1858, son of P. S. and Eliza (Boulger) O'Rourke, being the fourth of eight children born to them. He attended the Fort Wayne public schools, and in 1875 en- tered St. Vincent's college, in Westmoreland county, Penn., at which institution he was graduated in 1877. In the fall of that year, he began the study of law in the office of Judge Allen Zollars, and in the fall of 1879 entered the law department of the university of Michigan. March 24, 1880, he graduated there. He was admitted to the Allen county bar in 1879. In politics he is a democrat and a tariff reformer. In June, 1880, he was nominated for prosecuting attorney of the criminal court of Allen county, by the democratic party, and was elected in the October following, holding the office until the abolishment of the crim- inal court, at the close of the term for which he was elected. At the time he was elected, S. M. Hench was prosecuting attorney, and refused to surrender the office, in consequence of which Mr. O'Rourke brought suit to obtain possession. Mr. Hench took a change of venue to Kos- ciusko county, where the case was tried before Judge VanLong, now chief justice of the United States court of the territory of New Mexico, resulting in favor of Mr. O'Rourke. His contestant appealed to the supreme court, where Mr. O'Rourke's title to the office was affirmed by Hon. George V. Howk, chief justice. In 1882 he was appointed attor- ney for the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad company, a position he has since held. He was married in 1883, to Margaret G. Garvey, a grad- uate of the university of Michigan, who is a native of Springfield, Mass. They have two children, Genevieve and Allen G. Mr. and Mrs. O'Rourke are members of the Catholic church.
William P. Breen, a young attorney who has won marked promi- nence in the bar of Allen county, was born at Terre Haute, Ind., Feb- ruary 13, 1859. His father, James Breen, was born in Ireland, in 1820, emigrated about 1840, and in 1845 settled at Terre Haute, removing thence to Fort Wayne in 1863. He was a merchant by occupation, and was for several years a member of the Fort Wayne city council. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Dunn, was born in Ireland in 1818, and died at Fort Wayne in 1888, having survived her husband five years. Their only child, William, was educated at the Brothers' Catholic school, and entered Notre Dame university, near South Bend,
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and graduated there in 1877. In the fall of the same year he entered the office of Coombs, Morris & Bell, as a student of law, and in May, 1879, was admitted to the bar. In September, 1879, he formed a part- nership with Warren H. Withers, which continued until the death of Judge Withers, November 15, 1882, since when Mr. Breen has had no associate in his practice. Mr. Breen is in politics a democrat, and he and wife are members of the Catholic church. He was married May 27, 1884, to Odelia Phillips, of this city, who was born March 13, 1859.
During ten years, Thomas W. Wilson has been a successful prac- titioner of law at Fort Wayne, and now has a good business, and is highly esteemed. He was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, September 26, 1837. His father, John J. Wilson, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1804, became one of the early settlers of Wells county, Ind., in 1849, and died there in 1873. He married Margaret Harris, who was born in Vermont in 1817, and died in Wells county in 1873, and they had five children, one of whom served in the Thirty-fourth Indiana infantry, as orderly sergeant. The eldest is Thomas W. The latter attended the common schools, entered a select school at Warren, Ind., in 1857, and after a period of study there taught school three months. He then attended Fort Wayne college three terms, and in 1858 taught school in Iowa. He began the study of law at Bluffton, in 1861, was admitted to the Wells county bar in 1863, and practiced there ten years, In 1873 he re- moved to his farm in Wells county, and was engaged in agriculture until 1880, when he came to Fort Wayne. He is a pronounced republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. In 1868 he was elected prosecut- ing attorney of the tenth judicial circuit, then composed of ten counties. He owns a farm in Whitley county, and has a comfortable residence in this city. Mr. Wilson was married in 1860 to Elizabeth E. Davis, a native of this state, and they have four children: George C., born in 1861 ; Colum- bus T., 1863; Frank D., 1865; and Talbott M., 1867. They are all mechanics, and one lives in Louisville, Ky .; one in Chicago, Ill .; the other two in Fort Wayne. Mr. Wilson and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
James M. Robinson was born in a log cabin in Allen county, Ind., in 1861. He remained upon the farm, attending the public schools till he was ten years of age; removing then to the city, he attended school till he was thirteen, the last two years of which time he carried news- papers and cleaned street lamps to secure books and clothes for himself. In 1875, he was collector for the. Daily News, and in 1876, began work at N. G. Olds' wheel works as a machine hand. While at work from 1877, he studied law, being kindly aided by the well known firm of " Colerick Bros.," one of whom, Mr. Thomas W. Colerick, giving him, as Mr. Robinson frequently remarks, his start in life. In 1881, the subject of this sketch left the shop and began study with the above firm, and in 1882 was admitted to practice at the bar of the United States and state courts. Mr. Robinson rose rapidly in his profession, and by industry and close application to business, secured a lucrative practice
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early in his career. He began practice before he was of age and is much attached to the profession for which he has a special adaptation. His political career began with his candidacy for prosecuting attorney before the democratic convention in 1884. His shop mates carried one- half of the city for him, but he failed. He was nominated without opposition in 1886, and again in 1888, for prosecutor of the 38th judicial circuit, the former year running 700 ahead of the state ticket and the latter year elected by 4,218 majority. As prosecuting attorney, he has made a brilliant record and is esteemed as one of the best prosecutors the county has ever had. In his first term there was over 100 con- victions for felony and but two acquitals. Mr. Robinson is forcible and brilliant as a speaker, is a trustworthy officer and is essentially a self made man. His father, David A. Robinson, and mother, Isabella (Bowen) Robinson, were born in Ohio, the father in 1834, and the mother in 1833, and came to Allen county in 1855. James M. is their youngest of three children. Mr. Robinson is a member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities.
In the list of young attorneys of Fort Wayne, the name of Owen N. Heaton deserves honorable mention. He is a native of Allen county, and was born September 2, 1860. His father, Jesse Heaton, was born in Dearborn county, Ind., September 6, 1829, and about four years later, in 1833, was brought by his parents to Marion township, this county, where he resided, following the occupation of farming and stock-raising until his death, May 5, 1889. He married Samantha C. Larcom, who was born in May, 1834, in Tompkins county, N. Y., and they have had eleven children, of whom eight are living, the fourth being Owen N. The latter began his education in the common schools, and in 1882 en- tered Fort Wayne college, where he spent three years. In 1885 he began reading law in the office of William P. Breen, and was admitted on September 5 of the same year to the bar. He is a prominent mem- ber of the K. of P., being chancellor commander of Fort Wayne lodge, No. 116. In politics he is a republican. Mr. Heaton was married De- cember 12, 1885, to Rhoda A. Webb, who was born in this county July 29, 1862. He and wife are members of the Baptist church.
Robert Brackenridge (now deceased), for many years a prominent lawyer and resident of Fort Wayne, was born at Rockville, Ind., in September, 1818. He moved to Fort Wayne with his uncle, Capt. Robert Brackenridge, in 1830, and became a clerk in his uncle's office, who was register of the United States land office. At an early age he commenced the study of law, and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. He was a partner with Charles W. Ewing until his death in 1843. He early distinguished himself at the bar, and from the first had a large and lucrative practice. From the time the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad company, and the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad company were organized, until his death, he was their attor- ney in Indiana. He died in Fort Wayne in 1873, leaving a widow, two daughters'and four sons, one of whom, Charles S., is now city civil
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engineer, and has been for many years. The day following his death the following appeared in the Fort Wayne Sentinel :
"Few men in Fort Wayne, or in the state, were better known than Robert Brackenridge, and he was a man sure to be known wherever he went, for he carried with him a marked individuality. For more than forty-two years he has gone in and out before the people of Fort Wayne until we may say, almost without exaggeration, everybody knew him, and few there are who will not miss, with a sense of sadness, his familiar form and voice. Never an office holder, we believe, nor, so far as we know, an aspirant for office, he was essentially a public man. A man of strong faculties and bold self-assertion, could not be hidden. He was a natural leader, and therefore, in his chosen profession of a lawyer, in- evitably became a leader among his brethren at the bar. It is no dis- paragement of any of the able men of the Fort Wayne bar, or of the bar of the state, to say that Robert Brackenridge was among the ablest of them, and in some elements of the highest order of forensic ability he was their superior."
In a public address a short time ago (October, IS89), Judge John. Morris, of Fort Wayne, who knew Mr. Brackenridge long and well, and who is entirely competent to speak of his abilities as a lawyer, said: " Robert Brackenridge was a young man when the courts opened in this county. He was from the beginning a good lawyer, quick, apt, and always at himself and at his best. His power of perception was remarkable. He seemed to see at a glance the bearing of every ques- tion raised or involved in a case. He appeared to be a sort of legal gladiator, clad in full armor, self assured, confident, and ready for the contest, and he who opposed him, if not thoroughly prepared at every point, was lost. He was not, hardly needed to be, studious, and yet it was surprising how much more he seemed to know than those who were. He was hardly a good speaker, and yet he was very successful. In argument he was pointed, incisive and forcible. He stood the equal of the best lawyers at the bar. He was kind and generous, and never failed to assist the young members of the bar with advice. Many now at the bar owe him much. He died comparatively young, respected and esteemed by all who knew him."
The publishers of this work have used every effort to make this mention of the leading attorneys of the Fort Wayne bar as near com- plete as possible. Some of the leading men of the profession in the earlier days of the county's history that are still living, have long since ceased the active practice. Most of these are mentioned in other portions of this work in connection with those subjects that they have made more important by their efforts. Notable among these may be named Hon. Joseph K. Edgerton, and Hon. Franklin P. Randall. Some not here mentioned that are now in the practice are omitted for want of the requi- site information. Of these Hon. Lindley M. Ninde deserves a more prominent mention. In the foremost rank of the bar of northern Indi- ana he enjoys a reputation that is at once enviable and meritorious.
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A forcible and skillful advocate, he is also distinguished for his almost unerring judgment of the law which is based upon a deep knowledge of the common law. Though lacking many of the qualities of a pol- ished orator, he is nevertheless one of the most convincing speakers before a jury that has ever practiced at the Fort Wayne bar.
Another lawyer of earlier times that stood high in the profession was Charles Case. He practiced at the Fort Wayne bar for many years and rose to distinction as an attorney of unusual high order. He represented the Fort Wayne district in congress for two terms. His popularity was sufficient to defeat Hon. James L. Worden in 1857 for that place, and the following year was elected over Hon. Reuben J. Dawson by a majority of 1,363 in the district. He is remembered by those of the bar who knew him with much kindness, and his abilities were undoubtedly strong.
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