USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 13
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"Prior to his elevation to the bench, Judge Willard M. Lillibridge
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Heury 6. Swan
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was regarded as a sound business lawyer, and his advice was much sought after in the management of large business interests and in the settlement of estates. As a Judge, he is characterized by a keen sense of right and justice. He has given general satisfaction by his quick perception of the law, and by his promptness of decision; at the same time he has exhibited a suavity of demeanor, too often absent in men of earnest purpose. It is a pleasure to try a meritorious case before him, as you feel, when your cause is just, that even twelve dishonest jurors cannot beat .you. Judge Lillibridge is a gentleman of literary culture, and is well posted in the topics of the day."
From his early manhood, Mr. Lillibridge has been interested in the cause of public education. He has served two terms in the Detroit board of education, and while on the board, did much hard work in securing the appropriation for the Public Library Building of that city ; he was a strong supporter of the night-school system, and labored earnestly for the adop- tion of free-text books, and has made numerous addresses on various occasions connected with the city schools. A local paper bears this testi- mony to his sterling character: "Mr. Lillibridge is a man of liberal culture and wide sympathies. He is a well equipped, able, and profound lawyer, and eminently fitted by ability and temperament to fill the position of Circuit Judge." Since taking his position on the Bench, Judge Lillibridge has tried many important cases, among which may be mentioned: The Libel case of Randall vs. The Evening News, and the well known King Will case. His charge to the jury in the latter case attracted considerable attention throughout the State as a remarkably clear exposition of the law, bearing on such cases. He has also heard and tried many cases of espe- cial interest to the inhabitants of Detroit, among which should be men- tioned his ruling adverse to the Tax Spy System, and his opinion, holding that agreements between transportation companies, inconsistent with the rights and convenience of the public, are against public policy, and there- fore void. Judge Lillibridge affiliates with the Republican party, but is not a politician, in the office-seeking sense of the term. He is consider- ably interested in business affairs, and is a stock-holder in a number of corporations. - In December, 1882, he was married to Miss Katherine Hegeman, of New York City, and has two children, a daughter and a son, living. He, with his family, attends the Presbyterian Church.
HENRY H. SWAN, Detroit. Henry H. Swan, Judge of the U. S. District Court, is of English-Scotch and German extraction - the son of Joseph G. Swan, a native of New York, whose ancestors were Scotch and English - and Mary C. Ling, a native of Germany, whose parents emi- grated from Germany and settled at Detroit in 1832. His father was a machinist who lived at Detroit until his death, in 1873. His grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812. Henry 11. was born in Detroit, October
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2, 1840. His earliest education away from the hearthstone was obtained in the public schools. Afterwards he attended the excellent private school in Detroit, conducted by S. L. Campbell and later by Dr. C. F. Soldan. In this school he was prepared for college and in 1858 he entered the Lit- erary Department of the University of Michigan. After passing the exami- nation for admission to the senior class, and before completing the course, he left the university and went to California. Subsequently, however, the regular degree in course was conferred upon him the same as if he had remained and completed his studies. During the five years of his resi- dence in California he acquired by experience considerable knowledge of inland navigation, as he was engaged in steamboating on the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. His spare time was occupied with the study of law and he was admitted to practice in that State early in 1867. He returned to Detroit during the same year and entered the law office of D. B. and HI. M. Duffield. In October, 1867, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Michigan. He began the practice at once and very soon thereafter demonstrated his abilities, and his possession of liberal acquirements in the law. April 15, 1870, he was appointed assistant U. S. District Attorney at Detroit, and held the position seven years, when he became associated in partnership with the late A. B. Maynard, who was the United States attorney for the judicial district. Each had tested the capacity and mettle of the other, in their intimate relations while prose- cuting the pleas of the United States together, and the business partner- ship was therefore not experimental. It was entered into deliberately and continued with most satisfactory results until January 13, 1891, when Mr. Swan was appointed Judge of the United States District Court. While the practice of the firm was general, a preference was given to civil business, and many of the cases conducted by Maynard & Swan were of transcend- ant importance. Judge Swan gave the subject of maritime law especial thought and investigation. Some of the admiralty cases with which he was connected while in practice were most noteworthy. Reference to some of the more important cases may be given as follows: The J. P. Donald- son (21 U. S. 671); Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Co. vs. Boston Marine Insurance Co. (136 U. S. 408); The Manitoba (122 U. S. 97); The North Star (43 U. S. 807). At the Bar he was noted for his remark- able recollection of authorities; his persistence and thoroughness in the preparation of his cases; his sincere and candid presentation of the cause of his client. He was always above petty shifts or the taking of small advantages. His fullness of knowledge, assisted by the faculty of speech acquired by careful observation, diligent study and perseverant practice gave fluency and directness to his argument. He argued also with the keeness of an analyist and the fervor of one who believes in his cause. As a judge he is distinguisned for his wealth of learning, accurate and reten- tive memory of the decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court and the State Courts. He is a patient and attentive listener, singularly free from mere
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pride of opinion and most painstaking in his efforts to arrive at a cor- rect conclusion. His written opinions display the niceties , of discrimina- ting judgment and a high standard of morality. They may be regarded as the exegesis of legal propositions presented for consideration. His trained reason is able to test the arguments of lawyers for truth, and his trained conscience may be relied upon to test the morality of a question presented. He analyses the substance of an argument, unravels its threads and weaves them into a logical decision whose soundness and integrity can scarcely be assailed. In the Detroit City Railway case, tried in his Court, Judge Taft presiding, wrote the leading opinion. Judge Swan prepared an elaborate opinion dissenting. Upon appeal the United States Circuit Court of Appeals reached his conclusion, overruling the Circuit Judge. Judge Swan has participated in several of the important decisions of the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit, where his experience and superior knowledge in the admiralty branch of jurisprudence are of great usefulness. He enjoys in an unusual degree the esteem and affection of the Bar. April 30, 1873, he married Miss Jennie E. Clark, daughter of Rev. W. C. Clark, a retired Presbyterian clergyman. They have two children, William M. and Mary C. Swan.
SYLVESTER LARNED, late of Detroit. Col. Sylvester Larned was born in that city, September 23, 1820, and died in London, England, November 25, 1893. The three score and thirteen years of his many-sided life were so full of useful activities that their story becomes an important part of the history of the State and Nation. As a public speaker he was called the silver-tongued orator of Michigan. His was the gift of elo- quence by which he could move an audience at will. The charm of his voice, the powers of his mind and the energies of a tireless nature were continuously employed in the service of his community. He came of a family eminent for generations. His father, Gen. Charles Larned, was a graduate of Williams College in 1806, a student of law with Henry Clay, a man of more than ordinary ability and a soldier in the war of 1812. Ile made his home in Detroit and to the day of his death was the friend and confident of Gen. Lewis Cass. He was United States attorney in 1814, and the next year was trustee of Detroit. He was Probate Judge from 1818 to 1825. He was prosecuting attorney in 1821, and a second time United States attorney for the territory. He died of cholera in 1834 while actively at work for the relief of unfortunate victims of the scourge. Gen. Simon Larned, the grandfather of Sylvester, was also a distinguished citi- zen and soldier. He served in the Revolution as an aid to General Wash- ington. There are other strong characters back of him in the ancestral line, so that Sylvester Larned had a heredity of manly worth and char- acter. It is not too much to say that he lived well up to the pattern left
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by these noted men. As a boy he carly manifested the qualities that fore- shadowed his future eminence and was kindly regarded both by his teach- ers and his schoolmates. In manhood he was a good example of the scholar engaged in the activities of business life. He received his first instruction in a private school occupying a building that still stands at the southwest corner of Randolph and Congress streets. When more advanced he was sent to Kenyon College at Gambier, Ohio, then under the charge of that eminent divine and scholar, Bishop Mcilvaine. He remained there but a few months and then went to Andover, Massachusetts, where he pre- pared for Yale College. Interesting stories of his career at Andover are still part of the family lore. His career at Yale was brilliant. He was graduated in '1842 in company with some of the most prominent char- acters of the last generation. Among them were Theodore Runyan, after- wards chancellor of New Jersey and lately Minister to Germany; another was James Hadley, the celebrated Greek scholar, whose text books are familiar to all students of the language; a third was David Hennen, who served with much distinction in the Confederate army and afterwards became prominent at the New York Bar. While at Yale Mr. Earned was a member of the Greek letter fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi. On returning to Detroit he entered upon the study of law and in 1845 was admitted to practice. Equipped by a powerful assemblage of intellectual faculties and fortified by a thorough education, the young attorney entered almost at once into a good business, and was soon proclaimed the peer of any law- yer at the Bar of the county. He possessed rare gifts of oratory, was the master of elegant English, and unsurpassed in the power to sway an audi- ence at will. His voice of silver purity and sympathetic intonation was most exquisitely modulated, so as to compass the entire range of human emotions. The effect of his massive, insinuating argument upon a jury was so evident that old lawyers employed on the opposite side could not always conceal their anxiety. Such oratorical gifts, united with strong convictions, early led him into the arena of politics and his voice was heard on the hustings, pleading for the election of General Harrison, before he reached the age of twenty. As a Whig, opposed to slavery, he naturally fell in with the organization of the Republican party in 1854. He was active in its formation in Michigan and his name is fortieth on the roll of signers of its first declaration of principles. Notwithstanding his interest and activity in political movements, he never sought or would accept a nomination for any office. A single limitation of this statement is required by his acceptance of the office of school inspector for the twelfth ward of Detroit, which he held from 1876 to 1879, as a recognized duty of citizenship by one interested in the matter of education. He was not a member of any secret society except the Greek fraternity, although he won a national reputation by his conduct of Industry Lodge of Sons of Malta, of which fun-making institution he was Grand Commander for sev- cral years preceding the Civil War. When that grim-visaged monster
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appeared in the land there was no longer disposition for the comical, and what was designed to be a broad burlesque on all secret orders, died for lack of interest. In his religious convictions Mr. Larned accepted the Calvanistic tenets. He was a strong and unwavering supporter of the Westminster Church, the leading Presbyterian Church of Detroit, in which he had membership. Before the war he became interested in ship- building and commerce. For a time he was the owner of two steamers, the Minnesota and the E. Whitney. The business was not adapted to his nature. He found little room for the play of imagination or the exercise of passion and sympathy, in the transportation of passengers and merchan- dise from one lake port to another. He soon returned to the forum and his voice was again heard in the court room in all its rich variety, stirring the emotions of a jury. When the Civil War broke out the value of his services to the Union was recognized by his appointment as lieutenant colonel of the Second Michigan Infantry. Governor Blair expressed regret at the time that he could not name him for a higher position. Colonel Larned was in the service only a few months when he was stricken by a severe and exhausting brain fever, which compelled him to resign and return home. His vital energies were so impaired that longer continu- ance at the front was impossible. As a lawyer he was indefatigable in preparation, alert and keen in trial, and powerful in appeal to the jury; so that he was engaged on one side or the other in many of the most noted cases in the Michigan and Ohio courts. He was counsel for the notorious Bennett G. Burleigh, tried on the charge of piracy for endeavoring to free Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, off Sandusky. He was counsel for plaintiff in the celebrated Mollitor case, in which every consideration of honor and chivalrous devotion to outraged and defenseless womanhood inspired him to almost superhuman heights of impassioned oratory. Hardly was there an important case on the docket of the higher courts in Detroit for nearly forty years in which his influence was not felt in some way. The record of his long and conspicuous career at the Bar is a most appropriate monument to his memory, on which may truthfully be inscribed: "An Honest Lawyer, faithful to his clients, just and honorable in his dealings with all men." His personal character was equally charm- ing. Of pronounced literary taste and master of the best literature of French and English publication, he was also interested in music. He took much delight in the management of the spacious grounds of his old River Street homestead. His habits were domestic, and after business hours he could be found at home enjoying its pleasures to the utmost. He had been a confirmed smoker in early life, but after his illness in the army he never could bear tobacco in any form. He was always absteminous, using
liquors in the utmost moderation. His hereditary membership in the Order of Cincinnatus has passed to his eldest son, Charles P. Larned. As the years went by Colonel Larned felt their impress, and by the opening of: 1893 he had grown quite feeble. A voyage to England, including a
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visit to his married daughter, Mrs. Francis Arthur Bowen, residing there, was undertaken with the hope of improving his health. He reached that country and spent some time at his daughter's home in Devonshire; but while in the city of London, in Gloucester Place, Portman Square, he was prostrated with an illness that quickly proved fatal. This illness was the termination of a nervous affection contracted while in the army, which compelled his retirement from active service. He was married twice, his first wife being Ellen Lansing, whose father was the founder of the city of Lansing. His second wife, Ellen S. Lester, who survives him with three children, was the daughter of Charles Edwards Lester, the eminent his- torian, who was Consul General at Genoa, Italy, for eight years. Colonel Larned had two children by his first wife, viz: Mrs. Francis Arthur Bowen, of London, England, and Mrs. Wm. E. Fitch, of Louisville, Kentucky. By his second wife he had three children, viz: Charles Pierpont Larned, born September 30, 1863, who studied law with his father -- was admitted to the Bar in 1884, and was associated with his father in business until the death of the latter and since that time has practised alone; has devoted much of his time to dealing in real estate and is now connected with several large corporations; Lester Edwards Larned, born August 3, 1867, who is an elec- trical engineer in Detroit; Mrs. Bertram C. Whitney, of Detroit.
ALFRED RUSSEL.I., Detroit. Mr. Russell was born at Plymouth, Grafton county, New Hampshire, March 18, 1830. The Russell family from whom our subject is descended came to Massachusetts in 1660, from Bedfordshire, England. His father was William Wallace Russell, son of Hon. Moor Russell, an officer in the Revolution, and for many years State Councillor of New Hampshire. The father of Moor, who was the great- grandfather of Alfred Russell, was an officer in the Colonial army and lost " his life at the siege of Fort William Henry. Alfred's mother, Susan Carleton Webster, was the daughter of Humphrey Webster, whose great- grandfather came to America from Ipswich, England, and settled in Ips- wich, Massachusetts, in 1648. She was born in Salisbury, New Hamp- shire, in the house next to that in which her kinsman, Hon. Daniel Web- ster, was born. His paternal great-grandfather, William Webster, was colonel of the Twelfth New Hampshire regiment in the battle of Saratoga, the decisive battle of the American Revolution. Alfred Russell, with his hereditary traits of intelligence, accentuated by the union of two such families, early gave evidence of great promise. He was carefully educated in the best schools of New Hampshire, attending Holmes Academy, in Plymouth, Gilmanton Academy, in Gilmanton, Kimball Union Academy, Meriden Village, Plainfield, and Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated second in the class of 1850 (Mr. Justice Brooks, of Canada, being first). He had at an early date decided upon the profession of law
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as his life calling and on graduating from Dartmouth he entered the office of William C. Thompson at Plymouth, a son of the preceptor of Daniel Webster. Later Mr. Russell attended the Law Department of Harvard University, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, in 1852. . Ile wrote a prize essay on the law of Landlord and Tenant. He was admitted to the Bar at Meredith Bridge (now Laconia), New Hampshire, in October, 1852, when twenty-two years old, and removed to Detroit in November following. James F. Joy was then in active practice and the young man from New Hampshire found his office a safe harbor. He formed a part- nership the following year with Judge C. I. Walker and his brother, which continued until 1861, at which time, at the age of thirty-one, he was appointed by President Lincoln, United States district attorney for Michi- gan, which is the only office he ever held. This office during war time, in a frontier State, was one of great responsibility and labor. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, sent him on diplomatic missions to Canada, in connec- tion with the St. Albans Raid and the Lake Erie Raid. The suspension of the habeas corpus, the internal revenue laws, and the draft laws, during that period required a vast amount of work and judicious administration. Mr. Russell imbibed the principles of Republicanism with his earliest breath and brought with him from New Hampshire's hills that love of freedom, and that sense of justice and equality of all men before the law, which led to the formation of the Republican party in Michigan. He took an active part in its organization, being associated (although much younger) with Austin Blair, Zachariah Chandler, the two Howards, Bing- ham and others whose names afterward became identified prominently with the party and the State. He was president of the Michigan Repub- lican Club in the Fremont campaign, and also during the Lincoln cam- paigns, and spoke during the canvass at mass meetings with Hon. Salmon P. Chase. He took part in both the political campaigns of General Grant and those of Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, and indeed he has been an active participant in the great battles of the party to which he early gave adher- ence and to which he loyally clung. He has never sought political office of any kind, although he was strongly supported in 1880 and again in 1889 for a vacancy on the U. S. Supreme Court Bench. Under one administration he declined the German mission and under another an offer of membership in the Inter State Commerce Commission. He has uniformly refused judicial as well as political office. When traveling abroad Mr. Russell met Mr. Bryce, author of the " American Commonwealth," and was the first to call that author's attention to the work of Judge Cooley. His aid is acknowledged by Mr. Bryce in the preface of his third edition. He has instructed many students in the law, and some eminent lawyers have graduated from his office, including Judge Henry B. Brown, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. While he has been a very busy and active practitioner in the profession, he has found time for other and congenial occupation as a member of the Michigan Historical
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Society, as president of the Detroit Club, vice president of the Young Men's Society, president of the Michigan Political Science Association and a member of the Webster Historical Society. He was also a founder of the Detroit Boat Club, and the Detroit Light Guard which contributed eighty officers to the U. S. armies in the civil war. The study of history and literature has been his pastime and pleasure. Besides addresses at the University of Michigan be delivered the commencement address at Dart- mouth College, in 1878, his subject being " Some Effects of the Growth of Cities on our Political System," and in August, 1891, he delivered the annual address before the American Bar Association at Boston on " Avoid- able Causes of Delay and Uncertainty in our Courts." His address before so important a body was most favorably noticed and attracted wide atten- tion. He has been a contributor of numerous articles to law journals and other periodicals. Dartmouth conferred upon him in 1891 the degree of 1.I. D. Mr. Russell's career as a lawyer has been full of activity. In 1858, at the age of twenty-eight, he was admitted to the Bar of the U. S. Supreme Court and argued the case of Allen vs. Newberry (21 Howard, 244), involving a question of constitutional law, and Cordes vs. Steamer Niagara (21 Howard, 7), being the first discussion in the Supreme Court on the act of Congress of 1851 limiting the liability of ship owners. Both of these cases have been frequently cited since that time. Of other cases in which he has appeared in the U. S. Supreme Court we cannot enter into detail; but some of the more important are quoted as follows: Beaubien vs. Beaubien (23 Howard, 190); Moore vs. The American Co. (24 Howard, 1); Leonard vs. Davis (1 Black, 476); Jerome vs. McCarter (21 Wall, 20); same (94 U. S., 734); U. S. vs. Repentigny (5 Wall, 211); Allore vs. Jewell (94 U. S., 506); exparte Wilson (115 U. S., 417); Shaw vs. Quincy Co. (145 U. S., 444); Pewabic Company vs. Mason (133 U. S., 50); exparte Slayton (105 U. S., 451); Richardson vs. Hardwick (106 U. S., 252). Some of these are often cited. His name is found in every volume of the Michigan Reports from volume III. to volume CI., and in the Federal Reporter and other United States reports. He is a laborious student, preparing his cases thoroughly. His retentive memory, wide experience and long practice make his ready familiarity with decisions appear almost miraculous. A scholar who has kept fully abreast of the times, his addresses are replete with information and delivered in a style that attracts and entertains. He has great command of language and is a fluent and easy speaker on almost any subject on short notice. To these traits of mind may be added those of the heart-amiability, courtesy, kindliness, for which he is noted; and since nature has endowed him with a physique that is attractive and pleasing-standing above the medium height, straight and dignified-there is nothing wanting to fill out the per- fect man. His high position at the Bar and the universal esteem in which he is held by his brother lawyers and fellow citizens attest the histor- ical accuracy of our sketch. Mr. Russell has been a close student all his
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