USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 22
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a cultivated and accomplished woman, fitted by nature and acquirements to be his life companion. Their only child, Louise, is the wife of Mr. Charles A. Rust, of Saginaw, who much resembles her father both in features and character. Soon after his admission to the Bar Mr. Miller established himself in legal practice at Burlington, Vermont, where he remained with an increasing business and reputation until the winter of 1854 and 1855, when desire to go west was awakened in him, and he removed to Galveston, Texas. The change from the dull, methodical ways of the Green Mountain State to the excitement and push of the Texas of 1855 was not wholly distasteful to him. The population of Gal- veston was largely made up of intelligent and educated emigrants from the north animated by an ambition proportioned to the opportunities, the broad acres and boundless prospects around them. Mr. Miller liked the people and the country, and always spoke of his residence in Texas with pleasure, but the climate was not adapted to his delicate physical organ- ism, and, after a thorough trial, the state of his health compelled him to return north. He located at Niagara Falls, hoping to find relief in that healthy region where the fresh breezes of Lake Erie meet those of Onta- rio. However, he was permitted to remain at the Falls for only a short time. His uncle, Senator Miller, required the constant services of a skilled lawyer, and naturally looked to his adopted son. Mr. Miller came to Saginaw in 1859, and soon after entered into partnership with Judge Jabez G. Sutherland, then the foremost lawyer of Saginaw, under the firm name of Sutherland & Miller. The partnership continued until Sutherland was elected Judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit. The firm was a strong one, and their business large and profitable. Both were able lawyers and skillful advocates, each in his own peculiar way. Mr. Miller always urbane, courteous and mildly earnest, was a master of statement, and when he had stated his client's case or position to the jury or the Court in his frank, confidential manner, his case was half won. His posi- tions were largely supported and illustrated by facts and thoughts drawn from his extensive reading, and from the homely experiences of every day life which appealed with force to the conscience and understanding of the jury, and made his legal arguments peculiarly interesting and generally effective. He was never ignorant or unmindful of the legal principles applying to his case, but his real strength lay in reasoning from a stand- point and upon principles deemed by the average jury as upon a higher plane than the black letter law of the books. No two men ever worked better together in the practice of the law-each possessed in a marked degree what the other lacked. No one in Saginaw county regretted Suth- erland's elevation to the Bench but Mr. Miller himself; not that he envied his friend and partner's success-for he felt proud of it-but because that success deprived him of daily association with that friend and partner. This idea was expressed by Mr. Miller at Sutherland's farewell supper to the Bar given soon after his election The attendance was large, includ-
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ing lawyers from all the adjoining counties. Fortified by good cheer and good wine (not much water was drank at Saginaw in those days), the guests extended to the host their felicitations and expressed their gratifi- cation at his election in speeches distinguished for mirth, wit, good stories and much hearty good will if not for eloquence. When Mr. Miller arose to speak it was noticed that his face wore an appearance of sadness quite in contrast with his usual cheerful aspect. He said, speaking with an effort : "Gentlemen of the Bar, with you this is an occasion for rejoicing and congratulations; with me for sadness and regret. Your gain is my loss. You gain a Judge whom all honor and respect. I lose a friend and part- ner no one can appreciate so well as myself. Knowing his legal learning, independence and integrity, as you have seen it manifested in his public career, you naturally and properly rejoice at his election; yet knowing him in his private life and character, as you do not, and considering our past relations now to be terminated, I must be excused for repeating that your gain is my loss; and, gentlemen, let me propose the final toast requiring no response-God bless the Judge!" Without a signal the guests silently arose, not a sound was heard as the glasses were filled, and the toast was drank in profound silence. On the election of Sutherland to the judgeship, Mr. Miller associated himself with James R. Cook and Gardner K. Grout. Mr. Cook was a lawyer of real abil- ity and much legal learning, but with a strong predilection for curious land titles, while Mr. Grout was a young man, a recent graduate from the office of Sutherland & Miller, and but recently discharged from the army after four years honorable service. From that time on Mr. Miller grad- ually dropped out of court and gave his time and labor to the growing banking business of Miller, Braley & Co., without, however, losing his interest in public affairs, accepting and serving in the office of mayor of Saginaw for 1866 and 1867. In 1871 he changed the private banking company into the First National Bank of Saginaw, which was the last of his professional labors, his old enemy, rheumatism, finally compelling him to withdraw from all activities, and after much suffering he died on the 24th of April, 1872. No lawyer or citizen of Saginaw county ever com- manded more general respect and consideration than William M. Miller. He was a gentleman by nature and education. In speech, dress, man- ners and character he was really an aristocrat, and yet he carried his gen- tility so naturally and modestly as not to wound the self-love or excite the envy of those less fortunate than himself, He greeted a poor man of his acquaintance with as much politeness, and seemingly with more con- sideration, than a rich one. His education and abilities fitted him for the highest sphere, while his physical infirmities were a constant drag upon his natural desire to be useful. Cultured, learned and familiar with classical and current literature-history, poetry and romance-he never made any parade of his learning, and if his knowledge of books appeared in his con- versation, arguments or speeches at the Bar, it seemed only a natural inci-
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dent of the subject, a necessary and proper part of it. Wealthy, and from youth accustomed to the conveniences of wealth and the gratifications it commands, he was most democratic in his associations, and had a peculiar dislike for the wealthy dull who valued themselves for their possessions. He
"Would rather step aside and choose To talk with wits in dirty shoes."
Mr. Miller was a firm believer in Christianity and revealed religion, with a conservative tendency that had no great sympathy with creeds and dogmas. He respected the church and its ministers without yielding his private judgment to the claims of those who assume to "point the way." He held that a moral, Christian life was necessary to future happiness, but the particular path to pursue not so important; and these lines of Pope were often in his mind :
"The good must merit God's peculiar care, But who but God can tell us who they are."
He was instinctively an honest man, not only financially, but in all the relations of life, with a strong aversion for fraud, wrong and deception of . every kind, and on occasion could give his disapproval a very direct expression. He had an active sense of the ridiculous, and a quiet way of rebuking it, even on serious occasions, without seeming to intend it, nota- bly illustrated by a nearly forgotten incident. Mr. Miller and another lawyer from Saginaw, still able to tell the story, were associated as coun- sel for the defence in an important criminal case tried at Midland soon after Sutherland became judge. The charge was an aggravated one, the testimony for the people direct, and the circumstances complicated, while the defendant was a man of considerable importance in the community. The testimony for the defendant-some relevant and some not so relevant -occupied four days in its presentation to the Court. Mr. A., a well- remembered lawyer of Saginaw, then in the height of his popularity at the Bar, who had been employed by the county to assist the prosecuting attorney, on Saturday closed the argument for the people at the noon hour. The excitement was great, and the court house literally packed from the time the door was opened in the morning. Mr. A. was a stump speaker as well as a lawyer, and intending to be fair to the people who, as he fancied, had come out expressly to hear him, divided his time impartially between the jury and the audience. Addressing the jury stowed away in the southwest corner of the room, for a few minutes, A would suddenly swing around on his heels towards the audience packed, like sardines, and with his arms spread out, hands slightly turned inwards, as if intending to scoop them all in, continue his argument until some stray idea impelled him to wheel back upon the jury and resume his speech for a few moments, thus alternating for two weary hours, until noon. The Judge, the lawyers attending court, and most of the jury stopped at Ball's Hotel, and all were soon seated at the long table. Mr.
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A. sat across the board from Miller, and as soon as all were seated, and before the serious business of the hour commenced, Miller, looking up and speaking so as to be heard by all at the table, said: "A, who is that good-looking man on the jury who wears a black coat?" (there were five men on the jury wearing black coats, and all at the table.) "I don't know," said A. "Why?" "Oh!" said Miller, "I met him at the door as I came out of the Court House, and he asked me if that Mr. A. was running for Congress." The point of the joke was recognized and appre- ciated by long-continued laughter. After dinner the Judge charged the jury in his usual clear, concise and impartial manner, and they soon re- turned into Court with a verdict of "not guilty." A. was afterwards heard to affirm that Miller's little joke knocked the bottom out of his argument. The estimation in which Mr. Miller was held by his associ- ates at the Bar was feelingly and strikingly shown on the occasion of the Bar meeting called to express the general sorrow at his untimely death, and to extend the sympathy of the Bar to his family. Appropriate reso- lutions reciting his worth, and the universal respect in which he was held by his associates, his talents as a lawyer, his distinction as a scholar, expressing the regret of the Bar, and extending sympathy to his family were adopted. Eloquent and feeling speeches were made by Hon. Will- iam L. Webber, John J. Wheeler, Col. D. W. C. Gage, Benton Hanchett, W. A. Clark, William H. Sweet and others. The resolutions were pre- sented to the Court, Hon. John Moore presiding, by D. P. Foote, prose- cuting attorney, and upon being read Judge Moore responded from the Bench in a speech calling attention to the many amiable features of Mr. Miller's character, his legal and general learning, his skill as an advo- cate, the integrity of his practice as an officer of the Court, and dwelling upon his private and public worth, and at the conclusion ordering the resolutions to be spread upon the records of the court.
GEORGE B. BROOKS, Saginaw. The subject of this sketch, a mem- ber of the able and prominent law firm of Camp & Brooks, was born at Acworth, New Hampshire, July 16, 1834, where his father, Dr. Lyman Brooks, practised medicine for more than forty years, and until his death in 1866. The ancestors of the Brooks family were English who emigrated to America during the colonial period. The mother of Mr. Brooks was Mary Graham, a native of Vermont, but most of her life was spent in Acworth, where she died in 1892. Her family was of Scotch origin. The early education of Mr. Brooks was received in the public schools of Ac- worth, and later he became a student in Kimball Union Academy, at Meridan, New Hampshire. He spent three years in the academy where he was prepared for admission to the freshman class in Dartmouth College. Before matriculating, however, he spent one year in teaching at Chester-
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town, Maryland. In 1856 he entered Dartmouth, and was graduated with the class of 1860, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. It is a coincidence worthy of mention that he was the classmate of his partner, Mr. Camp, in the academy and the college; so that the lives of the two partners have been most intimately related for a period of more than forty years. After his graduation, he accepted the principalship of the North- field Institute in Vermont for one year, when he was appointed superin- tendent of schools for the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts. After serv- ing in this position for two years he removed to the west and accepted the position of superintendent of city schools at Beloit, Wisconsin. Previous to this he had determined to enter the profession of law, and after remain- ing two years in Beloit he went to Saratoga, New York, where he began the study of law in the office of Leslie & Pond. His studies were pursued under the instruction of these gentlemen until his admission to the Bar at Plattsburg, New York, in the summer of 1866. In the October following he settled in Saginaw, and formed a copartnership with his early friend and classmate, Charles II. Camp, an association that was as congenial socially, as it was advantageous in a business way. The relation has " existed without discord to the present time. It is unusual for the lives of two men to be associated so intimately from boyhood to mature age, as have been the lives of Messrs. Camp and Brooks. Their principal differ- ence is in politics, but it is a difference without a disagreement. Mr. Brooks is a Republican and has taken active interest in the affairs of his party. He was a member of the board of education of East Saginaw for several years, a position for which he was well qualified by his experience and success in teaching. In 1867 he was appointed United States Circuit Court Commissioner for the Eastern District of Michigan, and has held the position continuously to the present time. He was elected judge of the recorder's court under the act of 1873, and served six years. For a period of five years he held the office of receiver of the United States Land Office at East Saginaw, to which he was appointed by President Arthur. Soon after attaining his majority he became a member of the Order of Free and Accepted Masons, and has been connected with the Order to the present time. In 1868 he was married to Abby D. Mans- field of Gloucester, Massachusetts, who died in July, 1870, leaving an infant son, Alfred Mansfield Brooks, who graduated from Harvard University in the class of '94, and took a post-graduate course in fine arts in 1895-6. He is now an instructor in the Department of Fine Arts in the University of Indiana. Mr. Brooks was again married in 1882 to Harriet V. Bills, M. D., of Tecumseh, Michigan. Mrs. Brooks was graduated from the University of Michigan, Medical Department, with the class of 1877. Mr. Brooks is very active in the practice of his profession. He is a man full of vigorous energy, one who believes in his profession and is willing to work for the rewards of it. He is a gentleman of excellent morals and habits, of wide information in the law and affairs. He is popular in the
JaS. Galloway
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community, where he is universally esteemed as a good citizen. His social qualities are estimated on the same high plane as his legal abilities. He has strength of character and purpose, and generally is a good type of the strong man.
JAMES S. GALLOWAY, Hillsdale. James Sutton Galloway was born in Marion, New York, March 5, 1841. His father, Edgar M. Galloway, and his uncle, Samuel Galloway, were both venerated clergymen of the Christian denomination, and left an enviable reputation as consecrated and devoted servants of God. The father of the subject of this sketch died March 18, 1878, and the mother, Deborah B. (Sutton) Galloway, April 14, 1852. They gave their son James every educational advantage which their circumstances permitted. He entered the Marion Collegiate Institute at the age of thirteen, and completed its course in three years. He applied for examination for admission to the Sophomore class of Antioch College, but Horace Mann, the world-famous president of that excellent institution, objected to his extreme youth. President Mann was captivated by the high character of his conditional work, and publicly complimented him at the close of the first year. He left college in his junior year to teach mathematics and the languages in Gull Prairie Seminary, near Kalamazoo. He kept up his studies and graduated with his class, but the overwork per- manently injured his eyes. He was the youngest member of a class of forty, but ranked high, with decided literary tastes. After leaving college he spent two years teaching in the high school of his native village, and at the same time read Blackstone and other legal authorities as helps to a general business education. The deeper he delved the more he became fascinated with the subject, and in 1862 he concluded to take up the study of law in earnest. Ile went to Hillsdale and entered the office of Stacy & Edwards, and after a little more than a year of hard work was admitted to the Bar in Detroit November 7, 1863. The first day of the following year he entered into a law partnership with W. S. Edwards, and continued with him for some three years. In 1867 he became a partner of R. W. Ricaby, und was associated with him for four years. Since 1871 he has carried on his extensive professional labors without assistance other than his son has rendered, while a student and more recently as a member of the firm. The many extensive estate and trustee interests confided to his care have called forth a wide and deep knowledge of commercial law and equity, and in these important departments of jurisprudence he is regarded as standing among the very first lawyers of the State. He is noted as a safe and judi- cious adviser and counsellor rather than as a brilliant and aggressive advo- cate. Hle seeks what is safe and reliable rather than the more showy enterprises in which less trustworthy and capable lawyers delight. His reputation has risen with the advancing years until to-day there is scarcely
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an attorney in the southern part of the State who is listened to with greater deference or whose advice is more often heeded than James S. Galloway. While still a young man he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has never lost interest in its prosperity. He belongs to Eureka Com- mandery, No. 3, K. T., and was its Eminent Commander at the time of the Triennial Conclave at Chicago in 1880. The organization attended in a body, and received many compliments for its fine appearance. He is a Democrat, and affiliated with the "sound money " branch of his party in 1896. He has never sought office, but at the earnest solicitation of the peo- ple of Hillsdale, he consented to act as city attorney for two terms, which were required to settle the controversies growing out of the building of the water-works. He is a vestryman of St. Peter's Episcopal church, and he and his family are among its most liberal and earnest supporters. Mr. Gallo- way was married Jan. 25, 1865, to Miss Lizzie Edwards, a daughter of Henry Edwards, of Montgomery county, New York. She is a lady of strong domestic tastes, and gracefully presides over a beautiful home in the heart of the city. At one corner of the elegant grounds in which their home is situated, Mr. Galloway has had his office for many years. They have . one son and one daughter. The son, Edgar O., was born December 6, 1870, and was graduated from the literary department of the University of Michigan at the age of twenty-three. He received the degree of Bach- elor of Arts, and was a student of excellent standing. He read law under his father's supervision, was admitted to the Bar the following year, and is now associated with him in practice. The daughter, Ava, is a senior in the Detroit high school and a piano pupil of Professor Hahn of that city. Mr. Galloway has mainly dealt with chancery cases, and is highly esteemed in that line of his profession. As an adviser in any business transaction, he is reliable, and business men delight in the exactness with which he states their contracts. He seems to be able to read complications and to guard against them, so that his legal papers become models of simplicity and painstaking care. He does a large banking business, though owning no bank, and in the community there is no question of his business ability or his integrity. He does not decide hastily, but his conclusions are founded on reason. His life is open to the world and his word is good. lle keeps up the habit of study and is familiar with French, German and Italian, as well as with classics. He is a man of public spirit, and is wil- ling and ready to take hold of any enterprise that has in it the promise of public utility.
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HARRY B. HUTCHINS, Ann Arbor. Harry Burns Hutchins, Dean of the Law Department of the University of Michigan, was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, April 8, 1847, and came of a family long established at Haverhill, Massachusetts. His father was a manufacturer and mer- chant, and died in Detroit, November 22, 18944, at the advanced age of eighty-one. His mother who bore the maiden name of Nancy Merrill is still living in the Detroit home. He received his earlier training in the East, and was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1871. While in the University he was a leader in student affairs. He helped to found the Chronicle and acted as its editor during his junior and senior years. He was class orator, and was honored by a University appointment at the Commencement Exercises. Leaving school he betook himself to teaching, and for a year was superintendent of the city schools at Owosso. This position he resigned to return to his Alma Mater on its call to an instructorship in History and English. He remained in the Literary Fac- ulty four years, during the first year as instructor and during the last three as assistant professor. Along with his other labors he carried on the study of law and was admitted to the Bar in 1876, wherupon he resigned his University connection and became a member of the firm of Crocker & Hutchins with offices at Mt. Clemens and Detroit. He speedily rose to prominence in the legal profession and was chosen city attorney at Mt. Clemens in 1877. In 1881 he was made a member of the board of editors appointed by the Supreme Court to revise and annotate the Supreme Court reports. His editorial work will be found mainly in volumes xxx to xxxiv inclusive. It exhibits a broad and comprehensive view of the law, and it has won merited recognition. The same year he was a candi- date for Regent of the University, but went down to defeat with his party. The successful candidate was a classmate and a personal friend, whose first official act was to aid in the recall of Professor Hutchins, as successor of Judge Cooley in the "Jay Professorship of Law." This was in 1884, and for the next three years he taught and practised law with equal success. In 1887 he was called to act as secretary of the Law Department of Cor- nell University, and was for eight years its chief resident administrative officer. It is not too much to say that the great success which that department of the University has achieved was very largely due to his wise and active administration. In 1895 he was re-called to the University of Michigan to take the position of Dean of the Law School. During his brief period of service in that position he has uniformly acquitted himself with great credit. As a teacher and a lecturer, Dean Hutchins is a favor- ite with the law students. His perception of a subject is clear, and his language expresses his meaning with precision. There is neither obscurity nor ambiguity in his exposition; neither deficiency nor redundancy in his style. He employs just the words essential to clearness of statement- neither too many nor too few-and his topical lectures evidence keenness
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of analysis, orderly statement of principles and logical conclusions. He is not a stickler for a particular method, but is free to adopt any method which seems best adapted to the acquisition of a knowledge of the law. Aside from his work on the Supreme Court reports and an edition of Wil- liams on Real Property, he has not published much. The most of his energy has been given to administrative work. A treatise on the law of real property however is promised in the near future. Mr. Hutchins is person- ally much beloved; his high character and liberal views give weight to his public functions. He has a kindly spirit and a genial manner, and meets the students around him in a courteous, wholesome fashion. He was mar- ried December 26, 1872, to Miss Mary L .. Crocker, at Mt. Clemens; they have one child, Harry C., aged sixteen.
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