USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 31
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It will be observed, therefore, that the Upper Peninsula at the date of this article, is divided for judicial purposes into four circuits-the Eleventh, Twelfth, Twenty-fifth and Thirty-second. The counties of Alger and Luce constitute part of the Eleventh circuit, while the county of Mackinaw is attached, as before stated, to the Northern judicial cir- cuit of the Lower Peninsula.
VETERANS OF THE BAR
In the year 1850. the birth year of the second constitution, the bar of the Upper Peninsula was numerically limited indeed. Its member- ship in that year was confined to the county of Chippewa and to the city of Marquette, and, possibly, the village of Honghton. If there were lawyers elsewhere on the peninsula, the writer has been unable to obtain any information regarding them. At the present time. the legal professional field is well filled throughout the peninsula, the counties of Houghton, Marquette, Delta, Chippewa and Menominee being partie- ularly favored by membership in the profession. The bars of these sev- eral counties, as well as those of some other counties in the peninsula. contain men of superior legal ability-men who would achieve success in the practice of their profession, anywhere and against all competi- tion. It is sometimes a subject for wonder that some of these men in-
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duced themselves to select a field for their life work such as the Upper Peninsula ; so many localities throughout the country offering superior advantages to the industrious, capable, practicing lawyer. Some of these gentlemen have devoted their whole lives to the work of their profession in this region, and have now reached and passed the oft- quoted scriptural age of three-score years and ten, though yet continu- ing in active and useful professional work. The elders of the profession in the various counties, the men who have impressed their individuality upon the courts of the Upper Peninsula while practicing in the various circuits, will be given proper notice hereafter. At this point, it will perhaps be deemed appropriate to mention the several lawyers who served upon the bench in the other circuits of the peninsula, besides the Eleventh circuit, to the judges of which notice has already been ac- corded.
JUDGES WILLIAMS AND STREETER
As above stated. the Twelfth circuit had on its bench Clarence E. Eddie and James O'Grady, in its earlier history, the latter having been succeeded by William D. Williams, of Marquette. After the decease of Judge Williams, J. A. Hubbell, the well known former representative in congress, became judge of the Twelfth circuit. Judge Hubbell had served in congress twelve years, during which time he was, of course, out of practice, and when he came upon the bench he was somewhat handicapped by reason of this fact. He had not kept as closely in touch with the decisions of the courts and with the statutory enact- ments as would a man engaged in daily practice. Notwithstanding such disadvantages, Hubbell acquitted himself in the discharge of his im- portant duties quite ably. He was a man of rigid integrity and of a strong, vigorous personality. His sense of justice was well developed, and he was universally regarded as a just judge. Judge Hubbell's health, however, while he was serving upon the bench, was somewhat feeble and grew more so as his age advanced, so that after two or three years he found himself physically unequal to the work which the beneh demanded, and he wns frequently relieved and rested by Judge Nor- man W. Haire, of Ironwood. Michigan. Judge Hnire presided at sev- eral of the terms in Houghton county, and perhaps elsewhere in the ci: cuit before Judge Hubbell vacuted the bench.
Judge Hubbell's successor is the present incumbent of the judge- ship in that cirenit, Albert T. Streeter, of Houghton. Judge Streeter was admitted to the bar upon the recommendation of a committee of examiners in the circuit court for the county of Houghton, in one of the earlier years of Judge Williams' incumbency, and immediately en- tered upon active practice at Calumet, Houghton county. For a time he practiced his profession alone, and subsequently became associated with A. W. Kerr, one of the prominent practicing attorneys in Hough- ton county at the present time. Judge Streeter's service upon the bench at the close of the present year, when he will retire from the of-
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fice, will have exceeded two terms, during which time he has presided at many important trials, civil and criminal. He is a hard-working, patient and conscientious judge; ever earnestly endeavoring to hold the balance even. He has been and is a worthy colleague of the other emi- nent men who have occupied the various benches in the Upper Penin- sula. Judge Streeter will be succeeded on the first day of January, 1912, by Patrick II. O'Brien, the circuit judge elect.
JUDGES GRANT AND STONE
The first circuit judge of the Twenty-fifth judicial circuit, consisting of Marquette, Delta, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee counties, was Hon. Claudius B. Grant, who recently retired from the supreme bench of this state. Judge Grant served in the cirenit from the first day of January, 1882, until the first day of January, 1888, a full term. At the judicial election, in the spring of 1887, Judge Grant was elected justice of the supreme court, and entered upon its service and occupied his seat on the bench of that court from the first day of January, 1888, until the first day of Jannary, 1910, a long period of unbroken service, representing in all twenty-eight years upon the circuit and supreme benches. One of the features of Judge Grant's work that would at- tract interested notice, is the tremendous industry and capacity for work which he displayed. The volumes of the reports of the cases de- cided in the supreme court of Michigan, during the years when Judge Grant was a member of the court, induces the conviction that he was one of the hardest working judges Michigan has had. The decisions handed down by Judge Grant alone, and written by him would fill many volumes, and a reading of them results in the impression that in their preparation he was not niggard of his labors in the work of re- search. Judge Grant was a vigorous trial lawyer, and appeared at the bar in many cases at every term of the courts at Marquette, Houghton and elsewhere before his promotion to the bench. The lawyers who practiced with him, either as his associates or opponents in the years of his bar work, will recall with what completeness in every detail his cases were prepared, and with what vigor and lucidity they were pre- sented. He was. for a time, associated in the practice of the law with Joseph H. Chandler, one of the foremost lawyers of Houghton in his time. The firm was then known as Chandler & Grant. Later it became, Chandler, Grant & Gray, nntil JJoseph H. Chandler moved to Chicago, when Judge Grant continued to practice as the head of the firm known as Grant & Gray. The judge also served as prosecuting attorney of Houghton county for two terms. He was exacting as judge in his de- mands upon the officers of his courts for the preservation of order, and the seemliness of the surroundings while the work of the courts was in progress, This judge needs no monument other than the many en- lightened decisions penned by his hand, to be found within the covers of the Michigan reports from the Sixty-ninth volume to and including the One Hundred Fifty-eighth.
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In the year 1888, John W. Stone, of Marquette, took his seat upon the bench of the Twenty-fifth judicial circuit, and served as its judge continuously from that time until the close of the year 1909. Judge Stone, at the judicial election of the year 1909, was elected justice of the supreme court of Michigan, and he entered upon the discharge of the duties of that exalted office on the first day of January, 1910. Judge Stone, at the bar and on the bench, was a lawyer of exceptional ability and unflagging industry. The writer is unable to recall his failure to meet any demand upon his official service and time during all the years, exceeding a score, while he was incumbent of the bench of the Twenty- fifth circuit; the fact that he took his seat upon the bench of the su- premie court after passing his seventieth year, and after a long life of continuous professional and judicial labors, presenting a vigorous, hearty appearance, speaks eloquently for the robust health and vigor with which he was liberally endowed. There is a history behind Judge Stone, in a professional and official way. Very early in life, he served the publie in the capacity of county clerk; later, as prosecuting attor- ney; still later, as circuit judge for a short term in Lower Michigan. Between the years 1880 and 1884 he filled the office of United States attorney for the Western district of Michigan, to which he was ap- pointed by President Arthur. Judge Stone also served two terms in the congress of the United States, as representative from the district in which his home town, Allegan, was located at the time of his election ; and, as before stated, he has now had a continuous judicial experience from the beginning of the year 1888 to this time. This venerable jurist gives promise of many years of valuable service to the people of Michi- gan, notwithstanding his advanced age.
JUDGE RICHARD C. FLANNIGAN
Upon the translation of John W. Stone to the supreme court, Rich- ard C. Flannigan of Norway, a man of fine legal acumen, large experi- ence at the bar, broad scholarly attainments and unassailable integrity was the very worthy selection of Governor Warner to fill that portion of the unexpired term on the circuit bench of the Twenty-fifth circuit intervening before the next general election. The appointment of Mr. Flannigan commanded the universal approval of judiciary, bar and people of the peninsula at large, and particularly of all those most closely identified with the Twenty-fifth circuit by reason of residence within its limits. So unanimous, indeed, was the sentiment of the law- yers respecting the capability, fairness and general fitness for judicial honors of Judge Flannigan, that he received the enviable compliment of a unanimous nomination for the office of circuit judge from both the Republican and Democratie judicial conventions, composed in large part of lawyers. As a consequence, he was subsequently elected to the office without opposition and bids fair to fill it for a series of years.
The present judge has made a most satisfactory beginning in the discharge of his duties and the conduct of his courts, and has im-
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pressed the members of the bar and the general public most favorably. To use the expressive vernacular, he is "making good" to such extent that it is believed by all who have interestedly observed, that his in- cumbency of the bench will depend upon his own inclinations. Born to the soil, too, there is much about this most recent acquisition to the bench of the peninsula to attract notice. Ontonagon county produced a future judge when Richard C. Flannigan was born within its limits, in the year 1857. Mentally, intellectually, he is in his prime, while, hy reason of his temperate and regular habits of life, he is also physi- cally vigorous, so that he gives promise of a long period of usefulness. in a position which he is eminently fitted to fill with eredit to himself and profit to the people. He is pre-eminently one of the people, too, having sprung from a parentage having nothing in common with those born to the purple, or those who revel in the luxuries of opulenee. It is believed with confidence, that Judge Flannigan, Providence favoring him with extended life, will achieve a fame of which his descendants and his many friends may entertain a just sentiment of pride.
THIRTY-SECOND CIRCUIT JUDGES
The Thirty-second circuit like the Eleventh, has had but two judges since its organization. Norman W. Haire was the first and Samuel S. Cooper the second, and present judge. Both were young men when they mounted the beneh, and both are still unadvanced in age while both acquitted themselves well in the discharge of the judicial duties; Judge Haire to the close of his work on the bench, and Judge Cooper to the present time. As previously stated, Judge Haire not only took care of the work of his eirenit, but also of considerable of that of the Twelfth eireuit during the latter part of Judge Hubbell's term. He retired from the bench voluntarily, and also withdrew from profes- sional practice and engaged himself in mining work. At the present time, former judge Haire is chief administrator of several important mining properties in Northern Michigan, and elsewhere; the chief of which is perhaps, the Copper Range Consolidated interests. A very competent lawyer, a judge whose judicial fairness was characteristie and a genial generous gentleman, the bar of the Upper Peninsula could not afford to lose him from its brotherhood. May he live long and prosper.
The county of Chippewa affords us with the earliest information re- garding the men, who, perhaps, first engaged in the practice of the law under recognized bar-forms within the limits of the Upper Peninsula.
J. LOGAN CHIPMAN, OF THE SOO
In the nature of things, this limited article cannot be expected to sketch every member of the bar who has practiced and who is practic- ing before the courts of the Upper Peninsula. It is not so intended, but those gentlemen who have by their personality and long association with the records in a professional sense, impressed themselves, so to
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speak, upon the courts and upon the profession, are briefly mentioned, and their records and characteristics somewhat detailed. As above stated, Chippewa county gives us examples of the earlier practitioners in this region. Among them, was the well known and it may be added, famous J. Logan Chipman, whose professional practice and history are found largely associated with the courts, the bar and the city of Detroit. We find Mr. J. Logan Chipman engaged in the work of the profession at Sault Ste. Marie, as early as the year 1849; a time when the county of Chippewa formed a part of the First circuit, of which the county of Wayne was also a part. The older residents and bar- members of the peninsula will recall that Mr. Chipman married a danghter of old Chief O-shaw-waw-no, who resided for many years at the foot of the Soo rapids, and he lived for some years thereafter at Sault Ste. Marie with his Indian wife, engaged in the practice of law.
The earliest records of the court work and law practice are found in said Chippewa county. Among them is a most interesting one regard- ing a case tried in the year 1849, before a justice of the peace, Henry M. Dodge. J. Logan Chipman represented the defendant in this case, which was entitled Poissin vs. Anthony, and the suit was brought for the recovery from Anthony of the value of a dog belonging to the plain- tiff, which had been shot by Anthony, as was claimed, while the animal was trying to escape through a fence with a ham which he had stolen from Anthony's larder. The plaintiff in the case was represented by William Norman MeCloud, who, tradition informs us, was a brilliant and highly educated ex-clergyman, who had formerly been a leading minister in one of the principal churches of Philadelphia; but, owing to intemperate habits, he had left the ministry and had taken up the law. He is further said, on the authority of tradition, to have been as learned and brilliant an advocate as ever addressed a court in Miehi- gan. But he died while comparatively young under unfortunate cir- cumstances at Mackinac. "J. Logan Chipman and McCloud having ample time on their hands, and each a keen appreciation of humor, made a function of this noted Chippewa trial, and prepared and tried the case with all the skill and ability which would have graced the Dartmouth College case. They condueted the case with great dignity and detail of erudition. Each appeared before the court in Prince Al- bert coats, wearing white cravats, and resorted to all the arts known to the profession, both in technical pleading and forensic eloquence. Much Latin was used. The declaration filed by McCloud was a marvel in pleading, being patterned after the old common-law indictment for mulder and freighted with legal phraseology. He also illustrated the document with pen sketches of the tragedy. It began in this wise: 'Before his honor, Henry M. Dodge! On this Twenty-sixth day of the month of February in the year of the nativity of our Lord, One Thou- sand Eight Hundred and Forty-ninth as by Archbishop Usher, his computation, although there be Thirty-six (36) conjectures amongst Christian chronologists on this one point alone, cometh the Plaintiff
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Poisson and Complains, etc.,'" and each statement in the pleading is thus expanded and elaborated in a most learned manner. The verdict was against Anthony, and the case was promptly appealed. This plead- ing was really a legal curiosity. The writer remembers to have read it. It contained a number of pages all formed in the same peculiar way, but it appears that it has disappeared from the files and it is now out of reach, a circumstance to be regretted. Mr. J. Logan Chipman settled in Detroit, and there practiced his profession most successfully. He became one of the judges in that city, occupied the bench with credit, and represented the district of his residence in congress for at least two terms. With his passing went one of the most noted lawyers of Michigan; a man of great ability and most genial temperament. He was one of those who won by his affability and his personality all who approached him. None is heard to say, nor has been within the knowledge of the writer, a disparaging word in relation to J. Logan Chipman. Besides these two gentlemen, George W. Brown, who was also superintendent of the Soo canal, practiced law in the earlier years at the Soo.
DAN H. BALL, OF MARQUETTE
In the year 1861, there came to the Upper Peninsula from Lower Michigan, the man who is now in the position of dean of the entire bar of the Upper Peninsula in respect to length of service and active prac- tice, Dan H. Ball, of Marquette. This gentleman has been engaged in the active practice of the profession without any intermission down to the present time in the various cirenits of the peninsula, as well as in the state at large, and in the federal and other state courts. He has therefore been engaged in the active practice of his profession for fifty years, and is hale, hearty and capable of much laborious achievement today. He is found in his office, or in the courts, during every working day, as actively and zealously at work as an ambitious man, full of in- dustry and application in the very prime of life might be. No man at the bar has won as many legal victories as Dan H. Ball. His work is as perfeet as industrious research and broad legal capacity can make it. And these qualifications are fortified by an unswerving and un- assailable integrity. He is a lawyer of the old school, capable of no petty schemes or devices-one who regards the ethics of the profession as sacred and binding upon his professional conscience. His whole professional life has been exemplary and stands as an example which might well be followed by the younger members of the profession. Mr. Ball, during his professional practice, has been from time to time as- sociated with other members of the profession. He was the head of the firm of Ball & Chandler, which conducted offices at Marquette and Houghton, and also the firm of Ball & Black, and Ball, Black & Owen. The present firm of which the subject of this short sketch is the head, is Ball & Ball, of Marquette.
At the time of Mr. Ball's coming to Marquette, there were two
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other practicing lawyers there. M. H. Maynard and Peter White, who were jointly engaged in professional business under the firm name and style of White & Maynard. Mr. Maynard went out of practice about the time James O'Grady became circuit judge. While Mr. Peter White, although admitted to the bar, was not identified with the work of the profession to any great extent, his chief business, even as early as 1861, being that at which he was engaged at the time of his decease-bank- ing. Mr. Maynard was on the peninsula as early as the year 1855, and there was also a lawyer in practice at Marquette, named Charles Saf- ford, who lived in the region, however, prior to the year 1861.
OTHER MARQUETTE COUNTY LAWYERS
A sketch of the lawyers of Marquette county, would not be com- plete were the names omitted of James M. Wilkinson, Henry D. Smith, F. O. Clark and John Q. Adams. Mr. Smith, in the seventies, moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, and Mr. Wilkinson, after a few years practice, abandoned the profession and entered the banking business. John Q. Adams practiced at Negaunee, entering upon his practice there in the early seventies; and F. O. Clark engaged in the practice at Marquette shortly after 1870, having practiced in the village of Escanaba a couple of years prior to that time.
HOUGHTON COUNTY BAR
The bar of Houghton county, in the year of the opening of the war, consisted of Charles Hascall, James B. Ross, Thomas MeEntee and J. A. Hubbell. Messrs. Hascall, Ross and MeEntee, practiced as a firm under the title of Hascall, Ross & McEntee. Either in the year 1864 or 1865, Clarence E. Eddie who became first circuit judge of the Twelfth cir- cuit eame to Houghton, and also Thomas M. Brady. Judge Eddie has already been treated of, as well as J. A. Hubbell. Thomas M. Brady had served for a time prior to his coming to Houghton, as a captain in one of the Michigan volunteer regiments. He remained in Houghton until about the year 1890, when he moved to Grand Rapids, Wisconsin. He was prosecuting attorney of Houghton county and its judge of pro- bate for a least one term. He was a strong advocate before a jury, and won many noted criminal cases tried in the circuit court of Houghton county, at the time when criminal trials were numerous there. Mr. Brady is still living at St. Paul or Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Thomas L. Chadbourne began the practice of law at Eagle River, in what is now Keweenaw county, in the year 1864, and practiced at the bar until the close of the year 1907; a period of forty-three years of active practice, though perhaps, for two or three years prior to his re- tirement, the major part of the work devolving upon him was executed by his capable assistant, Allen F. Rees, who, by-the-way, still occupies the same offices at Houghton which were used by the firm of Chad- bourne & Rees, and who, I believe, became the successor of Thomas L. Chadbourne as attorney for the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company and
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other copper mining corporations. Mr. Chadbourne was for a time as- sociated with J. A. Hubbell, the firm being known as Hubbell & Chad- bomne. Mr. Chadbourne was a very able and painstaking lawyer, and was remarkable for the completeness with which he held his cases in hand. He came into court with every point in his case thoroughly in- vestigated and fortified by text-book and case authorities, and seldom failed of success. It is believed Mr. Chadbomne retired from the prac- tiee of the profession well equipped financially, and that at his death, which occurred in the early part of April, 1911, at Palm Beach, Flor- ida, he left his wife and children amply provided for.
Henry M. Newcombe was at Eagle River engaged in the practice of law, having come there shortly after the advent of Mr. Chadbourne. He served for a time as proseenting attorney of Keweenaw county.
A. W. Henssler was another legal practitioner in Houghton county in several of the years prior to the year 1876. He was prosecuting at- torney for a time, and then moved to one of the cities of Lower Mich- igan. He was not only a lawyer by profession, but also a physician, and like the proverbial "JJack of all trades" he was not the most eminent snecess in either profession. He came to grief in Lower Michigan, having been brought to trial there for a violation of the criminal laws of the state growing out of an alleged breach of trust in connection with his professional work. The present bar of Houghton county con- sists of a number of young and middle age men, of strong personality as a rule, and of good legal ability.
ONTONAGON, SCHOOLCRAFT AND DELTA
The lawyers of Ontonagon county in the year 1861, were George C. Jones and William D. Williams. The latter, as before stated, became circuit judge. After remaining a number of years in Ontonagon county, George C. Jones went to Appleton, Wisconsin, and there I believe, he still resides at a good old age.
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