USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 20
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LEE E. JOSLYN, Bay City. Mr. Joslyn was born July 26, 1864, at Darien, Genesee county, New York, and lived in that state for seven years afterwards. His education was begun in the primary schools of his native country, but was interrupted by the removal of the family to Penn- sylvania when he was only seven years old. The next two years were passed in the mountains of Mckean county, where he had almost no oppor- tunity for attendance at school on account of the long distance and the bad condition of the mountain roads. In 1873 the family removed to Michigan and settled in Dryden township, Lapeer county. He was at that time nine years old and his opportunities had been very meager.
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Entering the village school under a good teacher, he soon acquired a taste for study and formed the habit of close application. For eight years he attended the public schools almost daily, during the time they were in session, and worked morning and evening and Saturdays with the energy of one who realized he was obliged to earn his own living. Being one of a family of eight, whose parents were poor, he was obliged to rely mainly upon himself for whatever advancement he made. He was graduated from the union school at Dryden in 1881, at the age of seventeen. Friends advised him to engage in the study of law and he acted upon the advice. Entering the law office of Hon. William W. Stickney at Lapeer, March 28, 1881, he pursued a course of reading under instruction and remained there until September, 1883, except for such portions of the time as were spent in teaching school. He was careful and economical, not hesitating to engage in work, however menial, in order to defray his expenses. While a student of law he paid his board by serving as night watchman in a hotel from 11 P. M. to 4 A. M. He applied himself to study with such assiduity and understanding as to win a distinct compliment from his pre- ceptor, Judge Stickney, who said that he read Blackstone the best and quickest of any student ever in his office. In 1883 he engaged to teach as principal of the graded school in Otisville, where he remained two years with a creditable record satisfactory to the patrons. He then went to West Bay City as principal of the First Ward school, where he remained one year. Meantime he continued reading law with Judge George II. Durand, of Flint and Hon. Thomas A. E. Weadock, now of Detroit. Ile was admitted to the Bar June, 1886, and began the practice without any other capital than his natural ability and acquirements, being obliged to earn his own living from the start. Newspaper writing at odd times, in addition to his law practice enabled him to do this. In March, 1888, he removed his office from West Bay City to Bay City and took desk room with United States Commissioner McMath. In the fall of that year and again in 1890 he was elected Circuit Court Commissioner. In 1892 he was again nominated as the Democratic candidate for prosecuting attorney of Bay county and elected. He has been faithful to his trust in discharg- ing the duties of this office, which, as much as any other, requires a firmness of integrity in order to resist the temptations which are ever present, appeal- ing to one's cupidity. Mr. Joslyn has been and is an active supporter of the Democratic party. Since 1887 he has been a very enthusiastic Forester. In that year he was made a member of Court Miranda No. 326. During the first five years he was not prominent in the order, but when the High Court met at Bay City in 1892 he was elected High Counsellor by a vote which was almost unanimous. The following year at Saginaw he was elected High Vice Chief Ranger, and upon the death of the Chief he was promoted to the office of High Chief Ranger. Ile is a Knight of Pythias, a member of the A. O. U. W. and also a Free Mason. Ile represented his high court as a delegate to the Supreme
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Court of the Independent Order of Foresters held in London, England, in 1895. He is a ready and eloquent public speaker, and the future doubtless has in store for him the rewards which may be expected from devotion to a profession and a conscientious discharge of duties public and private. Mr. Joslyn was married June 29, 1893, to Miss Alice L. Wilson, daughter of F. L. Wilson, a manufacturer of Bay City. He is a resident of West Bay City.
STEPHEN P. FLYNN, West Bay City. Mr. Flynn was born December 24, 1856, at Thorold, Ontario. His father, Patrick Flynn, was a native of Newfoundland, and a captain of lake craft for many years. His mother, Mary Sutton, was a native of Ireland. The first eight years of his life were passed at Thorold and St. Catherines, Ontario, and then the family removed to Bay City, Michigan, where their permanent home was estab- lished. Here he grew to manhood and here he has resided to the present . time. His education was obtained entirely in the district schools and the high school of Bay City. At twenty-one he began the study of law in the office of R. B. Taylor, which was continued in the office and under the instruction of Hatch & Cooley. He was admitted to the Bar in April, 1880, and opened an office in Bay City at once for practice. The follow- ing year he was elected justice of the peace for West Bay City and the acceptance of the position necessitated a removal of his law office to the West Side, where it has since remained. He has conducted a general practice alone in the State and Federal Courts, and many of his cases have been carried to the Supreme Court. Mr. Flynn has frequently appeared before that tribunal, both in oral arguments and printed briefs. The measure of his success in all the courts has been fully up to the average of attorneys of his age. He is a member of the Democratic party and liber- ally informed on political science, as well as the history of political parties. Ile has been a careful, practical student of the problems of municipal gov- ernment. Through his instrumentality a popular movement was inaugu- rated which culminated in 1890 in the reformation of the system of tax assessments in the city, by an amendment of the charter, so as to create a board of assessors. After deliberate investigation he became impressed with the belief that private corporations were not paying their due propor- tion of taxes, and his purpose was to equalize taxation. In the spring of 1890 he was appointed city attorney and performed the duties of the office two years and a half, when he resigned on account of failing health. With a view to recuperation, he made a trip to the southwest in the fall of 1892, spending several months in California and Mexico with substantial benefit to his health. On returning home much improved he resumed the practice of his profession and went the following year to Seattle, Washington, as the legal adviser, financial agent and general manager of Mosher &
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McDonald, who had a large lumber business and timber possessions in that State. The firm failed in 1895 and Mr. Flynn was appointed receiver for the business and estate situated in Washington. His pecuniary loss on account of the firm's failure was large. Without delay he filed a com- plaint in the courts of Washington, opening a suit against Mosher & McDonald, for services and damages, in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. He returned to West Bay City in April, 1896. Mr. Flynn has possessions in timber and lands himself in the State of Washington. Ile has also valuable real estate in West Bay City; so that on the whole he has prospered financially by careful, prudent investments. He was married June 3, 1885, to Caddie E. Pierce, daughter of Benjamin F. and Jeanette R. Pierce, old and estimable residents of West Bay City. The fruit of the marriage is one daughter, Maude Ruth, eight years old. Mr. Flynn is a self-made man. Commencing work at eleven years of age, from that time until he entered upon the study of law he worked at various occupations, eight or nine months in each year, earning thereby his livelihood while at . work and in addition sufficient to keep the wolf from the door the remainder of the year while he attended school. He has gained excellent standing in his profession, achieved for his city beneficial results in the improvement of laws, and established a character that gives him good standing among the citizens where his home has been established since boyhood. He has become one of the acknowledged influences in political and local affairs as well as at the Bar, and has always stood for reform in municipal government. He has a bright legal mind and the future has yet in store for him many professional prizes. He is popular with his fellow- townsmen and being still a young man should have many years of useful activity and intellectual growth.
MILES J. PURCELL, Saginaw. Miles James Purcell was born at Zilwaukee, Saginaw county, Michigan, August 25th, 1868. His parentage, like that of many of the ablest men of our country, was of sturdy Irish stock. His father was James Purcell, a salt maker and a native of Ireland, who, with his parents, left the Green Isle in 1856. The family settled first at Syracuse, New York, attracted thither no doubt, by the rich saline deposits that would afford remunerative employment to the head of the family. His mother was born in Elmira, New York, of Irish parents. James Purcell came to Saginaw county in 1861, where he was afterwards married and where Miles J. was born as stated above. He began his edu- cation in the district schools of the township of Carrollton, Saginaw county, and later entered the schools of Saginaw. He was an apt scholar and a diligent student, eager to seek out and acquire information that would assist him to advance in life and attain an honored and responsible position in the community. In June, 1887, he graduated from the high school of
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East Saginaw, and began his active career. In 1888-9 he taught school in Saginaw county, giving every spare moment to the study of law for which he had a special liking. Leaving the school in June, 1889, he entered the law office of Tarsney & Weadock, the firm being com- posed of Hon. Timothy E. Tarsney and George W. Weadock, and on the dissolution of that firm he remained with Mr. Weadock until 1891. In September, 1891, he was admitted to the Bar after an examin- ation before the Circuit Court at Saginaw. To further fit himself for practice he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan in October, 1891, and graduated in June, 1892, a member of "The Columbian Law Class," with the degree of LL. B. Returning to Sagi- naw he re-entered the office of George W. Weadock, and in January, 1893, became associated with him as a partner, the firm being Weadock & Pur- cell. Mr. Purcell, though young, has made a reputation as a public speaker, being a master of the English language, graceful and fluent and possessing a flow of eloquence that seems characteristic of persons of true Irish lineage wherever their lines may be cast. In political belief he is a Democrat. Although ever ready to sound the slogan in political battles he has never held an office nor has he been a candidate for any, preferring the rewards of professional success at the Bar. Here he is strong in argu- ment before a jury, presenting the facts and marshalling the evidence in a manner carrying conviction to their minds and confusion to his adversaries. To the preparation of his cases he gives a painstaking care and diligence that rarely leaves him open to an unlooked-for assault, and he has a com- prehensive grasp of the law in its bearings upon any matter in hand. In religious belief Mr. Purcell is a Roman Catholic. Although one of the younger members of the Saginaw county Bar, his past success presages a most enviable future in his profession.
LESLIE B. HANCHETT, Saginaw. Leslie Benton Hanchett, a worthy son of a most worthy sire, is one of the promising lawyers of the younger generation. He is the son of Hon. Benton and Ann (Broadwell) Han- chett. His ancestors left England in 1650 settling first in Massachusetts and later in Connecticut. Members of this latter branch subsequently removed to Vermont and then to New York State where his father was born at Marshall, Oneida county, April 6, 1835. The father of the sub- ject of this sketch at the age of five years removed with his parents to Oswego county, New York, where he was raised on a farm with all the incidents usual to the life of a farmer boy in that section. He worked on the farm summers and attended the schools winters, later attending more advanced schools at Fulton and Cazenovia, New York. The taste for the law seems to have been hereditary with Leslie Benton as his father early manifested a desire to follow that profession and graduated from the State
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National Law School at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1858. Soon after his graduation he removed to Owosso, Michigan, and embarked in general practice. Here his son Leslie was born June 20, 1863. Later Benton Hanchett removed to Saginaw, where he has built up a practice that is one of the most important in the State, and a reputation that is not confined to Michigan. Leslie was educated in the public schools of Saginaw. He was a quiet, studious young man, attentive to his books, popular with his teachers and associates, and graduated from the Saginaw high school in 1881. From here he entered the University of Michigan, graduating from that institution in 1884 with the degree of Ph. B. He then entered the office of Hanchett & Stark to study law and later was admitted to the firm, which was styled Hanchett, Stark & Hlanchett. He was examined before the Circuit Court and admitted to the Bar at Saginaw in August, 1887. In 1894, Mr. Stark left the firm, which then became Hanchett & Hanchett. This is one of the leading law firms of the State of Michigan and enjoys a large practice of a very lucrative character. It is interested in many of the most important suits that are brought before the courts of the State, especially the Supreme Court, and is often retained as counsel in matters of public concern where important interests are at stake. Mr. Hanchett is quiet in his manner yet genial and approachable to all. As a student he is a tireless worker, carefully weighing in all their bearings matters entrusted to his care and is interested in making an enduring reputation at the Bar. He is a Republican in politics but has never held office nor is he an aspirant for political honors, preferring rather to con- centrate his energies on his profession. He is attorney for the Saginaw & Bay City Railway Company, a corporation recently formed for the purpose of connecting Bay City and Saginaw by a rapid transit electric railroad. In religious faith he is a Unitarian, a regular attendant at the services of that denomination and popular in social circles. On April 8, 1891, at Fulton, Missouri, he married Miss Alby P. Rickey, a daughter of Hon. Joseph K. Rickey, a prominent citizen of that State, and enjoys a refined and happy home life. Two children, Ann Howard and Joseph Benton, have blessed their union.
FRANK E. EMERICK, Saginaw. Mr. Emerick is one of the rising young men of the Saginaw Bar. He was born January 16, 1855, on a farm in Middlesex county, Ontario. His father was one of the prosperous and respected farmers of that section and his mother, born in New York State, was the daughter of a captain of a steamer plying on the waters of the romantic and picturesque St. Lawrence River. The conditions of the early life of the subject of this sketch were such as to implant and nurture in the embryo advocate, a spirit of self-reliance and energetic aspirations that, combined with perfect physical health, have enabled him to carve out
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a substantial success in his chosen profession. Mr. Emerick's career is much like that of other young men in this country where the conditions into which they are born, however humble, may lead to the highest honors and most ample successes in both social and business life. Like many another ambitious young man he began his public life as an educator of youth. At the age of nineteen years he left the farm, where the founda- tions of a liberal education had been carefully laid and engaged in teaching school. He was in every way well fitted for this work and continued at it with marked success for some time. By patient work he was at length enabled to enter college at London, Ontario, where he further perfected the education acquired by diligent and conscientious study. Like many other enterprising young men his thoughts turned to the rapidly develop- ing west and in 1875, leaving his native State, he located in Saginaw, which at that time was probably the liveliest lumber city in the United States, and where the volume of business, induced by the rapidly growing lumber trade, and its kindred industries, was growing to enormous pro- portions. Here he entered the Second National Bank as bookkeeper, but after very acceptably filling the position for some time he decided to adopt the law as his profession. In accordance with this decision he entered the office of Hon. C. H. Gage, as a law student and later read law in the office of Hon. Benton Hanchett. In 1879 he passed a very creditable examina- tion and was admitted to the Bar of Saginaw county. Shortly after his admission he was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney under Hon. L. T. Durand. He fulfilled the duties of this position so acceptably that on the expiration of Mr. Durand's term of office he was elected to fill the office of prosecuting attorney for Saginaw county and held this position for six years, leaving an excellent record for faithful and efficient service in that capacity. Subsequently he was for several years city attorney for the city of Saginaw and discharged the duties of this office with the same marked ability and success that characterized his previous efforts. Poli- tically Mr. Emerick is a Democrat and has always been an active and valuable worker for the party and much in demand as a political speaker. As a speaker he possesses a clear, resonant voice, a quick, telling and incisive manner, and a pleasing personality that quickly puts him in touch with his audience. Of late years Mr. Emerick has avoided politics and now devotes his entire time to the details of his extensive practice. He has been engaged in many important cases and is noted as an eloquent speaker and advocate. In his practice he has been eminently successful and he is a diligent and tireless worker, lucid reasoner and stands high as a pleader in the court-room before judge and jury. He has three brothers in Michigan, one of whom George W. is cashier of the American Com- mercial and Savings Bank of Saginaw, and the other two are ministers. Aside from his legal matters Mr. Emerick is interested in electric lighting, having organized the Saginaw Electric Light and Power Company of Sagi- naw, of which corporation he is vice-president and general attorney. This
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company was organized in 1889 and is very successful. Although a hard worker Mr. Emerick enjoys a brief outing occasionally, and is the owner of the "Eight Bells, " a handsome little pleasure craft and the only electric yacht on the Saginaw River. In this, accompanied by a few chosen friends, he takes an occasional respite from business cares and enjoys a day of pleasure on the Saginaw River and its tributaries. In 1883 he married Miss Emma Sceney of Saginaw, an estimable young lady, who presides with tact and grace over his domestic establishment where he enjoys a happy home life. Personally Mr. Emerick is genial and possesses social qualities that have won him a host of warm friends and well wishers. He is one of the rising young men of the Saginaw Bar-eloquent, honest, ambitious and capable, and the future bids fair to hold much in store for him in the way of high professional honors and reward.
JAMES HUGH DAVITT, Saginaw. Mr. Davitt was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, April 4, 1855. His father, Hugh Davitt, was born in Ireland and by inheritance was a true home ruler -a descendant of a family always loyal to Ireland, and himself possessed of the usual hatred of English domination and tyranny. For him, Ireland held down by a foreign soldiery, presented no future, and with the true Irish instinct for liberty his earliest thoughts were turned to America. In 1846 he bid a long adieu to the land of song and eloquence, tyranny and misery, fertile fields and starving people, where foreign rule had converted a natural garden to a waste sheep walk, and sought a home for himself and family in America. He at once established himself upon a farm in old Lenawee, upon the historic banks of the bloody Raisin, where the native Indians and white settlers so long contended for possession. Hugh Davitt belonged to the better class of emigrants; he was an educated man, a builder and con- tractor by occupation, as well as a skilled farmer. Mr. Davitt was born and reared on a farm where, as he grew older, he performed his full part of hard work. His education was like that of the youth around him, acquired in the district school, but his studious habits and his facility in acquiring knowledge soon placed him far ahead of his schoolmates, and before he was 20 years old he graduated, with marked honor, from the high school of East Hudson, having before that acquired the trade of builder and worked at it with success. During his leisure hours he had been a great reader of noted public speeches - Webster, Curran, Burke and others -and they aroused in the young reader the natural Irish ambition to imitate them, and a study of the law naturally followed. That he should succeed was a matter of course. Hard labor had made him strong and healthy; he had already a good stock of acquired information for one of his years; he was naturally diligent and studious and accustomed to labor and he was ambitious. He read law in an office at Hudson, and was admitted to the
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Bar at Adrian in 1880, after passing a very creditable examination. His first efforts at the Bar met with success, which steadily increased, but after two years at Hudson he became satisfied a larger field would be more likely to meet his expectations, and he removed to Saginaw in 1882. Mr. Davitt soon grew into notice and quickly acquired an honorable and profit- able practice. He is an able trial lawyer, and a strong advocate; his cases are always thoroughly prepared, both upon the facts and the law, and he therefore commands alike the confidence of the jury and the judge. He has been engaged in much important litigation that could be finally dis- posed of only in the Supreme Court where his candor, dignity and learning carly secured him the respectful consideration of the court, and where he has aided to settle important legal questions. The best efforts of the real lawyer lie buried from general knowledge, and not one in ten of those who make use of the cases that embody the results of his efforts, ever stop to consider what lawyer aided the court to establish the principle, or reasoning, upon which he relies to establish his own position or to contro- vert that of his opponent. The following are a few of the more important cases in which Mr. Davitt has taken a leading part in the court of last
. resort. Davies vs. City of Saginaw (87 Mich. 439), which settled the validity of the special assessment system formerly in force in East Saginaw and now in force in Saginaw. The pecuniary interest of the city in the questions there involved amounted at the time the case was decided to
over $200,000. City of Saginaw vs. McKnight (63 N. W. Rep. 985), which decided that so much of the charter and ordinances of the city of Saginaw as provided for licensing non-resident traders, was unconstitutional. Gamble vs. Gates (92 Mich. 510), which settled the construction of con- tracts for the sale of standing timber in this particular, that, where such contract provide for the removal of the timber from the lands within a fixed period cutting the timber without removing it also within the period fixed does not vest the title in the vendee. A very important question in this State. The cases of Burwitz vs. Jeffers (61 N. W. Rep. 75), Leidlein vs. Meyer (95 Mich. . 186), Cogswell vs. Mitts (90 Mich. 353), Shaw vs. Stein (79 Mich. 77) and Marskey vs. Turner (St Mich. 62), are some of the cases conducted by Mr. Davitt in the Supreme Court which involved important legal questions. Mr. Davitt is a Democrat and has always taken an active part in politics, and has freely done his share in all local, Congressional, State and National campaigns; his liberal views and ready eloquence making him much in demand as a political speaker, but he has never sought office, or held any official position except that of city attorney of East Saginaw for two years, having early determined that a man could not be an office-holder and a good lawyer at the same time. He is a Catholic in religion and has always taken an active part in all entertain- ments, meetings and work designed to raise funds for the charitable institu- tions of the church, and his best and most eloquent speeches have been delivered upon these occasions in behalf of the orphan asylums of the city,
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