USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 14
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
Andrew. Howell
411
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
life and very fond of literature, not only that of our own tongue, but also French and German. At the age of ten he wrote a translation of the first half of " Cicero de Senectute." He has been identified with the commu- nity interests of Detroit. He was a director of the Chamber of Commerce at the inception of the enterprise, and was instrumental in procuring legis- lation for it and selecting a site for the building. lle delivered the dedi- catory address at the opening of the City Hall. He has prepared and secured the passage of some amendments to the Constitution and many of the general statutes. He is general attorney in Michigan for the Wabash railroad. In religion he has been a consistent and active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He was married October 28, 1857, to Mrs. Ellen P. England (born Wells), of St. Albans, Vermont, whose family was founded in Connecticut by the first Colonial Governor, and who is herself an authoress of repute and a social leader, as well as active in benevolent and patriotic societies. She has been on the Board of every organized charity and president of the " Daughters of 1812." " London Society," " Christmas Stories," etc., are among her works. Mr. and Mrs. Russell have four daughters, all of whom possess distinct talent. The daughters are Mrs. Richard P. Paulison, of Jacksonville, Florida, Mrs. John C. Glenny, of Buffalo, New York, who attained high rank at the " Julien School " of Art in Paris, and whose productions in oil and water colors have been " hung on the line " in the New York and Paris exhibi- tions. She is president of the Art League in Buffalo and has given an impetus to art culture there. Mrs. Phoebe Hewitt Roberts, of Detroit, as Phoebe Russell, exhibited dramatic talent of high order in . Daly's Com- pany " in New York, London and Paris, receiving the approbation of the most eminent critics of those cities in Shakespearian characters; Mrs. Louisa Brooks Maugham, of Chicago. The family of Mr. Russell resided some years on the continent, where the daughters acquired their education and special accomplishments. His only surviving brother, Maj. Frank W. Russell, member of the Sixth U. S. Cavalry, was graduated from the Mili- tary Academy at West Point in 1868. At his resignation, he returned to New Hampshire, where he occupies the old homestead.
ANDREW HOWELL, Detroit. Andrew Howell, formerly Circuit Judge, was born at Covert, Seneca county, in the State of New York, December 18, 1827. His father, Dr. Joseph Howell, was a native of the. same State. His mother, whose maiden name was Lutetia Van Duyn, was born in New Jersey. His ancestors on the father's side were of Welsh extraction and settled in Rhode Island in colonial times, but prior to the Revolution the family removed to New Jersey, where some of its members became distinguished during the latter part of the last and the early part of the present century. Since that time many of them have attained
.
1
412
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
prominence in literature and law and in other pursuits, not only in New Jersey, but in other parts of the country. Several of them have occupied places on the Bench. One of them returning to Rhode Island was for a time one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of that State, and after- wards Judge of the United States Court for that District. Another was Governor of New Jersey, from 17944 to 1801. Two have been United States Senators and several of them have been members of the lower house of Congress. One of them while Territorial Judge of Arizona prepared the first code of laws for that territory, known as the "Howell Code," the most of the provisions of which are still in force. Others served in the army during the Revolution, and since then the family. has numbered among its members an admiral and other officers in the navy. Judge Howell's grandfather, Joseph Howell, senior, was a native of New Jer- sey, and served in the war of the Revolution, and a part of that time as the special agent of Washington in the military affairs of the army. In 1831 his father removed to Lenawee county, in this State, where for a long time he was one of the leading citizens of southern Michigan. He was also a member of the convention which framed the first Constitution of the State. And here young Howell's boyhood was spent, mostly on the farm and in the district schools of the vicinity, and at the academy in the neighboring village of Tecumseh; but his education was chiefly acquired at the Wesleyan Seminary at Albion, Michigan, now Albion Col- lege. Among his classmates there were Jared Patchen, afterwards Circuit Judge at Detroit ; Asley Pond, Edward C. Winans, since Governor of Mich- igan; and J. Sterling Morton, now Secretary of Agriculture in Cleveland's cabinet. He commenced his legal studies in 1850, and was graduated from the Law School of Cincinnati College in 1853, standing first in his class. He was admitted to the Bar at Adrian, Michigan, in 1854, and immediately commenced the practice of the law at that place in partner- ship with the Hon. F. C. Beaman, his former law preceptor. At that time the leading members of the Bar of Lenawee county were Judge Alexander R. Tiffany, Hon. F. C. Beaman, Gov. William L. Greenly, Judge S. C. Stacy, Judge Thomas M. Cooley, Hon. R. R. Beecher, A. 1 .. Millard and Hon. Peter Morey, the first Attorney General of the .State. These gentlemen with Hon. Warner Wing, then the presiding Circuit Judge, made a court and Bar of marked ability, learning and vigor. In 1855, Mr. Howell formed a law partnership with Hon. R. R. Beccher, which continuing through many years, was eminently successful. During that time and while he remained at the Bar he was engaged in nearly all of the important litigations at Adrian and in that part of the State. Early in his practice he was elected for three terms to the office of Circuit Court Commissioner and was City Attorney for much of the time. During the years 1865 and 1867 he was a member of the State Senate. In the session of the latter year he was chiefly instrumental in defeating the proposed railroad aid legislation, by which it was then sought to authorize all town-
-
413
BENCHI AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
ships and cities in the State to issue municipal bonds in aid of railroad construction. The Senate of 1867 was composed of a remarkably able body of men, among whom were Charles M. Croswell, David II. Jerome and Cyrus G. Luce, all of whom were afterwards Governors of the State. In 1868 Judge Howell was elected by the Legislature to recompile the general laws of the State, but by reason of some defect in the bill provid- ing for the work it was subsequently abandoned. In 1871, he was appointed by Governor Baldwin to draft and present bills to the Legisla- ture for the enactment of general laws for the incorporation of cities and villages. These bills were prepared and presented by him to the Legisla- ture of 1873, and without examination in either House and without read- ing except by their titles, they were immediately passed and approved by the Governor. These laws, with a few slight modifications to the Village Act, still remain in force and a large number of the cities and nearly all of the villages of the State are now incorporated and acting under them His friend, Judge Tiffany, the senior of the Lenawee Bar, while in prac- tice, published a couple of small works-"Tiffany's Justices' Guide" and "Tiffany's Criminal Law." After his decease Judge Howell revised and greatly enlarged both of these works, and has since carried each of them through several editions. They are now in general use throughout the State. In 1882-3, he completed and published a compilation of the Gen- eral Statutes of the State with extensive annotations from the Michigan Reports. The work was immediately authenticated and adopted by the Legislature. And in 1889 the State authorized a supplemental volume to these statutes for its use, which he has since compiled, annotated and published. These volumes known as " Howell's Annotated Statutes, " are now the authorized compilation of the General Laws of Michigan. In 1881 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of the State, com- prising the counties of Lenawee and Hillsdale, and filled that office until his resignation in 1887, when he removed to the city of Detroit, where since that time, in connection with legal authorship, he has been engaged in the practice of the law. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, with which he united in early life. In politics he is a Republican and has always been a staunch supporter of that party since its organization. Judge Howell's preferences for the law were early manifested and the work of preparation was begun at the age of twenty-three. During the subse- quent period of nearly half a century he has devoted himself entirely to jurisprudence. As a practising lawyer his cases were thoroughly prepared and presented with clearness, candor and force. As an author and reviser, he is noted for clearness and accuracy. All of his works are characterized by the assiduous application of the student and are the results of extended and careful research, and have been received with marked favor by the profession. On the Bench he filled the requirements set forth by an emi- nent legal authority : "The judge should know nothing of the parties but their names upon the docket ; nothing of the cause but from the evidence ;
.
.114
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
nothing of the results and consequences but the judgment which the law pronounces." He had the patience and gravity essential to the adminis- tration of justice. Ile was never hasty in his conclusions, was always deliberate, but prompt in his decisions, and they were very rarely reversed. Above all integrity was his portion and proper virtue; and his deportment on the Bench was such as to promote the ends of justice and equity. He possesses few of the gifts of the orator, but all the characteristics of a well informed editor; is modest in demeanor and but little given to self asser- tion; and withal is a gentleman of elevated character and unblemished reputation. In 1859 he was married to Miss Mary Adelia Beecher Tower, daughter of Rev. Philo Tower, of Rochester, New York, a young lady of rare abilities and accomplishments, who has always been his coworker in all of his literary labors and pursuits. Both of her parents were of New England origin. Her father was from Massachusetts and her mother, whose maiden name was Cynthia Beecher, was born in Connecticut, and a member of the distinguished Beecher family. They have two sons, Robert Beecher Howell, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and now State engineer of Nebraska and city engineer of Omaha in that State; and Charles Arthur Howell, a graduate of the Literary and Law Departments of the University of Michigan, and at' present engaged in the practice of the law with his father in Detroit.
EDWARD W. PENDLETON, Detroit. Mr. Pendleton was born at Camden, Maine, May 22, 1849. His father, George Pendleton, was a native of the same State. He is of English descent, in the seventh gene- ration from Maj. Brian Pendleton, of Pendleton, Lancashire, England. Major Pendleton was born in 1599 and married in 1620. His son James was born in 1622 and his daughter Mary in 1626. The family came to America in 1632 and settled in Westport, Massachusetts, which is now a suburb of Boston. Maj. Brian Pendleton therefore became the founder of the family in America. Edward W. Pendleton is descended from the Johnsons and Huntingtons on his mother's side. His mother was Susan W. Johnson, a descendant of Edward Johnson, one of the founders of Woburn, Massachusetts, a gentleman of literary ability, author of a work well known among the students of Colonial literature, entitled the "Won- der-working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England." His mother's mother belonged to the family of Huntington, members of which were conspicuous in colonial times for their ability both in civil and mili- tary life. Some of them were officers in the Revolutionary Army. Samuel Huntington was governor of Connecticut, President of the Conti- nental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The early education of Edward W. Pendleton was received at Gorham Academy, Maine, and afterwards he spent two years as a student at Bow-
1
The Lindary Publishing a Lograringet Chudger
Edwid M. Tudleton.
415
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN
doin College in the same State. In 1870 he entered the junior class of the University of Michigan and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1872, He engaged for a time in teaching, as superintendent of schools at Owosso, Michigan, remaining there during the years 1873-4. His deci- sion had been formed to enter the profession of law before his course in the University was begun, and from this time forward all of his energies were concentrated in the furtherance of that purpose. After leaving Owosso he pursued his legal studies in the Law School of the University of Michigan and made his final preparation for practice in the office of Hon. C. I. Walker, of Detroit. He was admitted to the Bar in 1876 and immediately thereafter began the practice of his profession in Detroit where he has remained continuously. During this entire period he has never formed a business partnership, but by his own natural abilities, habits of application and aptness for the law, has attained a high rank . among the solid and successful lawyers of the city. The larger part of his practice has been in connection with corporations and in chancery cases, and the management of estates, although he has had some cases of great importance in general practice. One of these was an extradition case some years ago, in the management of which he was obliged to make a trip to England. This case is familiar to the legal profession in the State. He has been singularly devoted to the law as a profession, making it his chief and only business. Ile was born into the Republican party and confirmed in the principles advocated by that party by inherited con- victions and education. - He takes a keen interest in the promotion of the policies promulgated by his party and especially that of a protective tariff. He has given much consideration to economic questions and is firmly con- vinced that the policy of protection to home manufacturers should be ad- hered to in this country. His convictions on this subject have been deepened and strengthened by personal observation and information gained in foreign travel. As an Englishman he might favor the abolition of cus- tom houses in the United States, but as an American citizen he would give the domestic manufacturer an advantage in this greatest of all the markets of the world by laying a protective duty upon imports which may be produced at home. The only office he has ever held is that of a water commissioner of the city of Detroit, to which he was appointed December 4, 1894, for a term which expires May 1, 1899. He was married Novem- ber 26, 1895, to Mary E. Leggett. He has traveled much on the Conti- nent of Europe and visited England several times. Some of Mr. Pendle- ton's characteristics may be briefly summarized : Learned in the law, honorable in the methods of his practice, trustworthy in his statements to the courts, polite and courteous in his bearing toward members of the Bar, he commands the unqualified respect of the profession. Genial, gentle and unpretentious in social intercourse, he gains the confidence and holds the esteem of all with whom he comes in contact. The dignity of his character and the breadth of his acquirements contribute to render him a
416
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
most valuable companion. With a mind capable of original thought and refined by the influences of reading and travel he is prepared at all times to lend a fascinating presence to the most cultured social circle. One of the able and distinguished members of the Bar of Detroit contributes this estimate:
" Mr. Pendleton is a scholarly lawyer, of excellent ability and sound judgment, liberalized and cultured by wide reading and much travel. A high-minded gentleman of purest character, he has, in a quiet and unassum- ing way, befriended many a struggling young professional brother. Of a happy and sunny disposition, he is a warm and steadfast friend, and a lenient enemy. Every inch a gentleman, by birth and education, with all the sterling characteristics of his Puritan ancestry, he is like a block of his native New England granite, polished outwardly, and inwardly sound, sturdy and strong.'
RALPH PHELPS, JR., Detroit. Mr. Phelps is a native of the city in which he has led such an honorable career, and here he has advanced well to the front in his chosen profession, the law. His family reaches back to the era of the Revolution, and he reflects no discredit upon his distin- guished progenitors. Mr. Phelps received his education in the Detroit public schools, whose course of instruction he fully completed. He grad- uated from the Law Department of the University of Michigan in March, 1879, before he had reached his twenty-first birthday, having been born November 14, 1859. He located in Detroit, opened his office, and at once entered upon a very flattering practice. His brilliant qualities soon attracted the public and his services were solicited for the general good of the city in the local legislature. In 1883 he was elected to the upper house of the common council, and two years afterwards was unanimously elected president of that body. Here he bore himself so well and met the requirements of the position so satisfactorily that he won a host of friends, whose warm admiration he has always retained. Owing to sick- ness which prevented Mayor Chamberlain from giving his continuous attention to official duties, Mr. Phelps acted as Mayor pro tem. During this time the question of a new post-office building came up for consid- cration and the people of Detroit were not at all satisfied with the insig- nificant structure proposed in the first plans submitted to their inspection. This dissatisfaction extended not only to the building itself, but to the size of the site on which its erection was proposed. Feeling that the good of the city required public action, acting-Mayor Phelps called a meeting of the citizens to make such expression of public sentiment as they might deem wise. This gathering selected a committee of ten prominent citizens, among whom was Mr. Phelps to proceed to Washington and there secure such modification of Congressional action as might accord with the dignity, beauty and business importance of the city. Their labors were effec-
Чер Римиев
417
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
tive, not only in the drawing of new plans and the selection of an enlarged location, but in an increase of the appropriation. This was in a very great degree the result of the earnest appeals and strong presentation of the case made by the committee. This does not exhaust the story of his political services. In 1886 he was elected treasurer of Wayne county by a handsome majority, and two years later secured his re-election by the largest majority of any one of the candidates. He was appointed assis- tant inspector general on the staff of Governor Winans. In the county, as in the city, he is deservedly popular. In 1890 he was employed by brewing companies of Detroit to manage the disposal of their extensive interests to an English syndicate, and in the course of these delicate nego- tiations he was called to London. He is now in the management of the consolidated breweries, known as the Gebel Brewing Company, both as director and attorney. He is also largely interested in the Detroit Elec- tric Light and Power Company, also vice-president of the American Injec- tor Co. and is widely recognized as a keen and capable business man. He is a shrewd financier and his management of his father's extensive busi- ness interests from boyhood has been a good school. He is interested in anything that conserves the public good and enterprises of general utility may rely upon him as a firm and active supporter. Mr. Phelps is a mem- ber of Detroit Commandery No. 1, K. T., Michigan Consistory, A. & A. S. R. 32, and of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Elks. He belongs to the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce and is an active club member in several of the most prominent organizations of the city.
FRANCIS G. RUSSELL, Detroit. Francis Granger Russell was born on the Grand River road, on the Huron river and in the midst of the beau- tiful lakes of Green Oak township, Livingston county, Michigan, April 16, 1837. His father, William S., was born in Massachusetts, and his mother, Jane A. Knox, in Vermont. They were married in Riga, Monroe county, New York, in the spring of 1834, and moved thence by ox-team and cov- ered wagon through Canada, along the Indian trail, from Detroit to their wilderness farm in Green Oak. His father was of English and his mother of Scotch descent, both representing that sturdy pioneer venture, integrity and industry, that have contributed so largely to the clearing up of a great country and the building of a great nation. His mother, from care and overwork, died in 1850, and his father in 1870, leaving five children, to-wit : The subject of this sketch; De Witt Clinton, who was a promising young man and gave his life to his country Dec. 3, 1861, as corporal in Company 1, Fifth Michigan Infantry, in the War of the Rebellion; William Henry Harrison, who was a member of Company 11, First Michigan Three Months' Volunteers, participating in the first Bull Run battle, a graduate of the Law Department of the University at Ann Arbor, a fine lawyer :7
.118
BENCH AND BAR OF MICHIGAN.
and brilliant orator, who attracted high consideration at St. Louis, Mis- souri, New York City and Detroit, and who passed away in his prime at the country resort of his brother at Island Lake, near the old homestead, July 31, 1895; Mrs. Miriam 11. Brooks, of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Helen Ulrich, of Chicago. F. G. Russell was brought up on the farm, attending the district schools during the winter until seventeen years of age, when he entered the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1858, having taken full courses in Latin, French and Ger- man. In the following November he became principal of the Middletown union school at Lansing, which, under his management, grew from a mem- bership of fifty to three hundred and fifty in the spring of 1861; he then resigned, having accepted appointment to the Census Division of the Inte- rior Department at Washington, arriving there the day before the com- mencement of the bombardment of Fort Sumter. He was soon promoted to the position of examiner of pension claims, but resigned July 1, 1864, satisfied that routine department work was of no further account to him. Hle then came to Detroit and entered upon the prosecution of military claims against the Government, soon becoming very successful. In the spring of : 1865 he was appointed the first secretary of the metropolitan police depart- ment, and had much to do with launching and organizing that important branch of the city government. Ile resigned in the spring of 1866 and went to the old homestead to care for his enfeebled father. Ile returned to Detroit in November, 1867, studied law with Hon. A. W. Buhl, one of the ablest lawyers of the State, was admitted to practice in the fall of 1868, upon rigid examination before the Supreme Court, and shortly afterwards became secretary to Governor Baldwin -so acting during his two terms. In 1872 he was elected city attorney, and re-elected in 1874. He was alderman from 1878 to 1880, and then was again elected city attorney, making in all six years of service in that position. As such officer and as alderman he was very energetic in most municipal affairs, and especially so in securing the purchase of Belle Isle for park purposes and settling the status of Washington, Madison and other wide avennes as to boundary lines and improvements. Upon the enactment of the National Bankruptcy Law, in 1867, he at once and naturally became an active participant in its execution in the capacity of assignee, having handled over one hundred cases. From that time to the present his main professional work has been of a trust nature, as receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, etc., in all the courts. Many cases handled by him have been complicated, of great importance and involving millions of dollars. He has never paid a dollar for the signing of his bond, and no charge has ever been made of negli- gence or unfaithfulness in the discharge of his duties. He is a member of the American and the Detroit Bar Association, but of no other society or club. In politics he is a Republican. He has a fine miscellaneous and law library, is familiar with all portions of his country, is a great reader, a careful observer, and is vigorous and independent in the expression of his
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.