USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 28
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made extensive researches into the mysteries of the law, under the tutor- ship of his father, whenever the annual vacation gave time and oppor- tunity. These studies he continued while in the Treasury Department, and he entered the Law Department of the Columbian University in 1882. In 18844 he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. The next year he resigned his place in the Treasury to take the chief clerkship in the United States Land Office at Wakeeney, Kansas. In 1886 he left the Government service to engage in the active practice of his profession at Scott City, Kansas. Two years later he returned to St. Joseph, Missouri, and continued in business there nntil 1893. That year he removed to Benton Harbor; and entered almost immediately upon a large and varied practice. He makes a specialty of corporation law, and is regarded as a master of this branch of the profession. He came into Michigan as attorney for the Big Four Railroad, and acts in a similar capacity for several large corporations in the western part of the State, being also the general attorney for the St. Joseph Valley Railway. ITe has taken a a leading part in the political affairs of the community in which he lives. lle is a worker for the party, not only on the stump, but in the con- ยท ventions and councils of the leading men of the organization, and his advice is always heard and often heeded. He was united in marriage to Miss Julia Graham, May 4th, 1887, a daughter of George and Mary (Kim- mel) Graham, of Berrien Springs, Michigan. They are the parents of three daughters, and constitute a charming family.
VICTOR M. GORE, Benton Harbor. Mr. Gore is Illinois born and bred, and belongs to a family that holds a high position in the great prai- ric State. There he was born in the pleasant village of Plainview, Macou- pin county, September 29, 1858. His parents were David and Cinderella ( Keller) Gore, both natives of Kentucky. The Gores were of English ori- gin, while the Kellers came from Germany. The Gores appear in colonial history as early as the opening years of the eighteenth century, and were intimately identified with the affairs of Massachusetts. At a later period a branch of the family removed to Virginia, and finally located in Ken- tucky, where the father of our subject was born. He did not long remain in the blue grass country. but came into Illinois with his parents when only about eight years old. His early boyhood was passed in Madison county. In 1850 he removed to Macoupin county, where he has since resided. He was for many years engaged in farming, having acquired an extensive property at the time of the breaking out of the Civil War. His strong character soon made its impression on the community, and he became one of the representative men of his section. He was a member of the State Senate for some years, and was for a long period active and influential in the State board of agriculture. For four years he served as
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the president of this important organization. At the present writing he is the Auditor of the State of Illinois. The family of the mother of our subject came from Germany something over a hundred years ago and made their first home in Virginia. They did not remain there long but came across the mountains and located in Kentucky. And there Cinderella Keller, mother of the subject of this sketch was born. Like her future husband, she did not long continue her residence there, but came while still very young with her parents into Illinois, where she still resides. Victor M. Gore was quite thoroughly trained in the common schools of his native county, and at the age of sixteen was admitted into Blackburn University, a well known institution of learning at Carlinville, Illinois. He was a student for five years in this excellent school, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the last year of his college course he had already begun the study of law, and as soon as he had graduated at Carlinville, he entered the Law Department of the Univer- sity of Michigan. This was in 1880, and two years later he was graduated from that institution with honors. His class evinced appreciation of his marked ability by electing him as its alumni orator. Mr. Gore entered upon the practice of his profession at Minneapolis, and almost immediately won recognition, not only for his ability as a general practitioner of the law, but for the mastery of legal lore. In 1890 he came to Michigan and located at Benton Harbor, where he has since remained. Here his prac- tice has grown rapidly. He has been connected with many important liti- gated cases. Though always active and busy, he finds much time to devote to the general interests of the community and is a leading spirit in the political activities of his county, district and State. He is recognized as one of the leaders of the Republican party in his part of the State, and his voice is heard on the hustings during every campaign. He is an able and interesting speaker, and is considered one of the rising young men of the day. He has participated influentially as a delegate in recent State conventions of his party and had the honor to preside over the largest and most intensely interesting of such conventions held for many years. This was the Republican State convention of 1896 assembled in Grand Rapids and continuing for two days. The enthusiasm incident to Mr. Gore's election as president was renewed again during the delivery of his admirable political address on taking the chair. The speech was pub- lished in full and widely circulated. Leading newspapers pronounced it "eloquent, brilliant and logical, commanding the closest attention of the thirty-five hundred people present and eliciting rounds of applause." It was said the convention "went wild" over some of his happy allusions and eloquent periods. Mr. Gore is happily married, Miss Clara Whitaker, a resident of Carlinville, Illinois, becoming his wife, August 17, 1882. She is a daughter of Isaac and Virginia (Bennet) Whitaker, and herself the mother of two sons and two daughters.
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WILLIAM C. HICKS, Benton Harbor. Mr. Hicks is a British American by birth, but a thorough-going American in spirit and temper. His earliest childhood, and indeed his entire life to young manhood, was spent in London, Ontario, where he remained until he had reached the age of eigh- teen years. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Campbell) Hicks. His father was a native of County Armagh, in the northern part of Ireland, but his mother was Canadian born and bred. The subject of this writing attended the public schools of Ontario until he had passed his eighteenth year. He was attracted by the legal profession and devoted some time to preparation for it after leaving school. But the christian ministry drew him still more powerfully, and for the ensuing fifteen years he was actively . engaged in the ministry of the Advent Church. The most of this time was spent in the work of that denomination in Indiana and Michigan. While in the pastorate at Union City, Indiana, he discovered such a change in his religious views that he felt he could not longer continue min- isterial work. He accordingly resigned from his pastorate and from the ministry of his church, and returned to the study of the law, to which he had . partially committed himself fifteen years before. He was enrolled as a student in the office of the Hon. Freeman Church, at LaPorte, Indiana, and after a somewhat brief term of apprenticeship was admitted to the Bar in that city in 1884. There he at once began the practice of his new profession, but after a little over a year located himself anew in Berrien county, Michigan. Since that time he has remained at Benton Harbor, earnestly and successfully engaged in legal business. The fact that he has served as Circuit Court Commissioner for two years, evidences the popular estimation of his knowledge of the law, as well as his capacity and sturdy character as a man. He has also served as city attorney for Benton Har- bor, and has been solicited to be a candidate for other important positions; but he is satisfied with his practice and feels that his profession is a world large enough for all the energies that he can possibly exercise. He there- fore holds himself quite aloof from office-seeking, and devotes his time entirely to his profession. In it he has developed a very general practice, and has been connected in one way or another with nearly all the important litigation that has taken place in Berrien county during the last twelve years. Asa member of the order of Odd Fellows he has been active and influential, and during the twenty-five years in which he has been a worker in that society he has filled in succession all the chairs in the Lodge with which he has been connected. Politically, Mr. Hicks has been identified with the Democratic party, and has aimed to be an exponent of its most sacred and vital Jeffersonian principles. Consequently when the Demo- cratic party deserted those high ideals, and took up other and (as he believed) baser notions, he felt that he could no longer march under its banners, and so transferred his allegiance to the People's party of the United States-a party which he regards as representing to-day both
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Jeffersonian Democracy and Lincolnian Republicanism. Personally our subject has an attractive presence, and is a popular speaker, whose oratory is in demand not only on the stump during political campaigns, but also on the lecture platform.
EDWARD E. ANNEKE, Bay City. Mr. Anneke, though of Michigan birth, is of Prussian parentage and ancestry. His ancestors were brave men, imbued with a love of personal liberty and hatred of tyranny; who had respect for lawfully constituted authority, but did not believe that the " divine right of kings" gave them authority to oppress their subjects. They were men of strong convictions and dauntless courage, who did not hesitate to favor revolution as the remedy for despotism in their native land. When that failed they sought asylum in the land dedicated to free- dom in which a revolution had succeeded. Having fought in the Father- land for some political rights of subjects under a monarchy, they were qualified to accept the larger liberties and perform the more responsible
duties of citizenship under a republic. Hon. Emil Anneke was born at Dortmund, Prussia, December 13, 1824, and died at Bay City, Michi- gan, Oct. 22, 1888. He entered the gymnasium at Dortmund when he was ten years of age, passed examination to the University of Berlin, where he studied higher mathematics, natural science and law; was grad- uated, travelled through Germany and Austria and over the continent of Europe generally; was practising law in 1848, when the rebellion was inaugurated; was an active participant and an officer in that attempted revolution, undertaken for the purpose of freeing Germany. When the rebellion failed he came to America with Carl Schurz, Alfred Sigel and others whose advanced thought and love of freedom brought them to our shores. He taught school in Pennsylvania nine months in 1849, was then employed on the editorial staff of the New York Zeitung and afterwards as clerk of a large mercantile house until 1855, when he became managing editor of a German paper in Detroit. In 1856 he was clerk in the office of the auditor general of the State; in 1862 and again in 1864 was elected auditor general on the Republican ticket. In 1866, upon retiring from office he was admitted to the Bar and entered upon the practice of law at Grand Rapids. The following year he was appointed by President John- son receiver of public moneys in the Grand Traverse district, a position which he held until his removal to East Saginaw in 1869. Here he engaged in the practice of law until 1874, when he removed with his family to Bay City and engaged in practice there, in connection with the management of his large real estate interests. His elder brother, Gen. Frederick Anneke, was an officer in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, serving on the staff of General Sigel as colonel of a detachment of artillery. He lost his life in the Chicago fire, October, 1871. Gen. Frederick Anneke
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was also a leader in the German Revolution of 1848 and forced to flee to America when it collapsed. He was Republican in politics. Edward E. Anneke, son of Hon. Emil Anneke, was born at Lansing, September 12, 1863, and educated in Bay City, from whose high school he was graduated in 1881. He spent one year in the Literary Department of the University of Michigan and two years in the Law Department, being graduated from the latter in 1883. He was admitted to the Bar at Ann Arbor the same year and entered upon practice in the office of his father at Bay City. In 1886 he was admitted to a partnership with his father, thus constituting the firm of E. & E. E. Anneke, which continued until the death of the senior partner in 1888. He was elected Circuit Court Commissioner and re-elected twice, serving for six years. He was the candidate of the Democratic party for prosecuting attorney, but was defeated with the ticket. After the death of his father he continued in the practice alone until 1895, when he became associated in partnership with James Van Kleeck. He has been successful, not only in the management of law cases, but 'in building up a profitable business and accumulating property. He has always been a student of the principles as well as books of the law and has maintained a good standing at the Bar of Bay county. Ilis reputation for business integrity is high and he has become well established in a career which promises a large measure of professional success. In Septem- ber, 1886, he was married to Helena F. Bertch, of Lansing, daughter of Andrew Bertch, a prominent dealer in real estate, and sister of C. W. Bertch, a lawyer of Grand Rapids. He is a member of the Catholic church and quite liberal in his religious views. Mr. Anneke exhibits some of the characteristics that are popularly attributed to educated Germans: lle is disposed to be thorough, continuing his study of a subject until he has learned all that is possible to be learned. Applying this to his law cases he sedulously devotes himself to the work of preparation and is ready at all times to make strenuous contention in behalf of his own views. He sometimes wins by sheer persistency, which enables him to wear out an adversary. He reasons logically, however, from a given hypothesis, or an established premise, to an incontestible conclusion. He is inclined to be reserved and even taciturn, but when the occasion requires his speech is fluent and effective.
WILLIAM P. BENNETT, Cassopolis. Judge William P'. Bennett has served continuously on the Probate Bench of Cass county since 1868, having been elected to that office seven times. He is a native of Burmah, British East India, where he was born October 17, 1831. His parents, Rev. Cephas Bennett and Stella K. Kneeland, were natives of the State of New York. At the time of the judge's birth his father was a missionary representing the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in Burmah,
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in which service he was employed about sixty years. Both of the judge's parents died while in the mission field of Burmah. His mother in 1869, his father in 1885, and both of them were over eighty years of age. Judge Bennett received his early education in the district schools of Madison and Tompkins counties, New York, until fifteen years old. He then spent a part of one year in the academy at Cazenovia, New York, and two years in the academy at Groton, near Ithaca, which closed his education in the schools. After that he devoted several years to teaching during the winter season while the remainder of the year was occupied at work on the farm. In the early fifties he came west and settled on a farm in Cass county, Michigan, which was then a comparative wilderness. He cleared up and cultivated a farm, remaining on it until 1868, when he was elected probate judge. Since that time his residence has been kept in Cassopolis. All of his elections have been as candidate of the Republican party. In 1884 he and the representative to the State Legislature were the only candidates of that party elected in Cass county. Although the changes have been great in the political sentiment at various times, Judge Bennett has always had the good fortune to succeed when he has been a candidate. He has filled the position so acceptably to the members of all political parties that par- tisan lines are not drawn very closely on him. In the conduct of his office for the twenty-eight years there have been not more than half a dozen appeals from his decisions to the Supreme Court ; and of the cases appealed only two were reversed by that court. This record is not only creditable, but it is unique. The State of Michigan probably has not produced another record equal to it. Many large estates in Cass county have been settled under his supervision, one of which approximated half a million dollars in value, and others whose value approached the two hundred thousand dollar figure. Judge Bennett has long been a member of the Masonic order and of the order of United Workmen. He was married in 1851 to Miss Louisa Brokan, daughter of Garrett and Maria Klute Brokan, residents of Tompkins county, New York. They have three living chil- dren : Alton W., now an attorney at law and general business man at Big Rapids; Frank M., graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and an engineer in the naval service of the United States now serving on the Amphitrite, one of the new monitors stationed at Key West, Florida; and Stella, who is the wife of Lieutenant Douglas Rohen, a retired officer of the U. S. Navy, now living at Big Rapids and engaged in the practice of law and the business of real estate agent. Judge Bennett is of English and German descent on his father's side. The earliest ancestor of the family emigrated from England about 1650 and settled in Connecticut. From there the descendants scattered into other New England States and New York. One branch of the family in Connecticut has lived on the same farm from the time of the first settlement until the present. The family was represented in the Revolutionary war by Nathaniel Bennett. On his mother's side he is of Irish and Scotch descent, the Kneelands having emigrated from the
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North of Ireland and settled in Boston about the year 1700. Jonathan Kneeland, the judge's great-grandfather, was among the Continental soldiers of New England in the Revolution. Rev. Cephas Bennett learned the printer's trade early in life and most of his time while in mission work was devoted to the publishing department.
HUGO P. GEISLER, Saginaw. Mr. Geisler is one of the prominent young lawyers of Saginaw county. He was born in East Saginaw, May 20, 1866. As the name indicates he is of German extraction. His father, Peter P. Geisler, was a native of Silesia, Prussia, where he lived until 1854 and then emigrated to America, settling directly in Saginaw. He had learned the trade of ship builder in the Fatherland and pursued that occu- pation until 1867, when he was appointed superintendent of the car department of the F. & P. M. railroad. This position he retained for fifteen years. By economy and the exercise of good judgment in making investments he had managed to accumulate a comfortable fortune when he retired in 1882 in order the better to enjoy what his many years of toil had earned. Hugo's mother, whose maiden name was Kathrina Phoertner, was also a native of Silesia, Prussia, and like her husband was reared in her native town, and they were married there June 1, 1852. They are both still living in Saginaw, in comfortable affluence, respected by the people among whom they have lived more than forty years. Their family consists of two sons and a daughter. The elder son is a prominent druggist in New York; the daughter is the wife of a Saginaw business man; the younger son and youngest child, Hugo P., is the subject of this sketch. His boy- hood, up to the age of sixteen, was passed in the schools of Saginaw. He then left the high school to learn the trade of engraver, jeweler and watch- maker. During the six years following he became an expert engraver, following the trude in Detroit and Omaha, Nebraska, and Atchison, Kan- sas. This art became to him the stepping-stone or vestibule to the pro- fession of law. It provided him with the means to prosecute his studies independently. In 1888 he matriculated in the University of Michigan and while pursuing the regular course of the Law Department, took up certain elective studies in the Literary Department. He was graduated from the Department of Law with the degree of LL. B., in 1890, and immediately thereafter went to New York, where he entered the office of the late Gen. Thomas Ewing, as a clerk. This association afforded a superior opportunity to acquire a knowledge of commercial, corporation and real estate law. Mr. Geisler made a special study of the laws applica- ble to corporations and the laws relating to the title, conveyance and descent of real estate. He became interested in a suit involving the title to a large tract of land in the city of New York comprising some four hundred lots of the aggregate value of four million dollars. It was his
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duty to ascertain the parties in possession and the sources of their respec- tive titles. In 1891 he returned to Saginaw and opened an office, where he has since practised. He has a clientage also in New York, and trans- acts a general law business there as well as in Saginaw. He is a Democrat and has done some work for his party on the stump during recent cam- paigns. Ile has not been a candidate for public office. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Geisler was married November 16, 1892, to Miss Nellie O'Brien, daughter of the late P. F. O'Brien, a wealthy contractor of Brooklyn, New York. They have one child. The law business of Mr. Geisler, which is his chief con- cern, does not prevent the useful exercise of his genius for invention, which has already found practical expression in some valuable devices which he has patented. His mechanical instinct is pronounced and his friends will not be surprised if he becomes a famous inventor. He has given time to literary culture and his attainments, with his natural affability, make him an agreeable companion.
ROLLIN C. DART, Petoskey. Mr. Dart, a prominent and influential attorney of Petoskey, is a native of Potsdam, New York, where he was born June 10, 1831-the son of Alfred and Jane E. (Wright) Dart, natives of Connecticut. He is one of a family of five sons and one daugh- ter, four of whom are now living. They are Eben W., Frances E., widow of Stephen W. Longyear, Rollin C. and James R. The father came to Michigan in 1858, and settled in Lansing, where he continued to reside until his death in 1886, at the venerable age of 88 years. His wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1882, at the age of 78. Both were Univer- salists, and they occupied a warm place in the regard of their associates. Simeon Dart, the paternal grandfather of Rollin C., was a native of Con- necticut, whither his father had emigrated from England. He died at the age of 89 at Potsdam, New York. lle was a blacksmith, a farmer, and a man of means. He was a leader of men in his community. Rollin C. Dart received an academic education in his native town, and remained with his parents until he was twenty years of age. Then he entered the University of Vermont at Burlington in 1851, remaining there until 1854, when his health failed, and he was sent west to recuperate. He came to Michigan, and entered the University of Ann Arbor, where he remained until 1856. Ile began the study of law at Lansing under the direction and instruction of Judge J. W. Longyear, and was admitted to the Bar in 1859. lle then formed a partnership with S. E. Longyear, under the firm name of Dart & Longyear, which was in force until Mr. Longyear retired from practice in 1863. Mr. Dart then formed a partnership with Delos C. Wiley, as Dart & Wiley, which continued for eleven years. He then entered into a third partnership with J. C. Shields, which continued
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from 1876 to 1880, when Mr. Shields was appointed to a judgeship in Arizona. He practised alone until the fall of 1882, when, having lost his health, he removed to Petoskey, where he has since resided. He never sought political preferment, and the only offices he ever held were those of prosecuting attorney for Ingham county for two terms, and alderman of the city of Lansing for two terms. He regained his health in the bracing air of northern Michigan, and, while carrying on his professional labors with much vigor, also transacts an extensive business in real estate. He has large interests in Ingham and Emmett counties, and is a prosper, ous man. April 23, 1861, Mr. Dart was married to Miss Sarah E., daughter of Christopher and Anna E. Darling. Three children were born to them, all sons: Carlton R., James A., and Fred A. The last named died at the age of seven years. . James A. is married to Miss Florence Alger, a daughter of John L. and Mary E. (Chapin) Alger. Both of his sons are graduates of the Michigan Agricultural College. Carlton, who selected civil engineering for his life work, holds a good position in Chi- cago. . James studied law with his father, was admitted to the Bar in 1887, and is now the partner of his father under the firm name of Dart & , Dart. Mr. Dart is a Republican, but has no desire for office. He is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a good lawyer, an upright citizen, a genial companion and well liked by the community at large.
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