USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 4
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Independent of his eminence in affairs, his connection with the history of Big Rapids and Mecosta county is of a character to give him pre-eminence among their most esteemed and honored citizens. True to the obligations of manhood, solicitous for the welfare of his community, active in behalf of every enterprise which affects favorably and permanently the public welfare, he has entrenched himself in the affections and good will of the people among whom he established his home. The respect accorded to him by all is commensurate with the high position which he occupies. He was mar- ried at Davenport, Iowa, November 9, 1858, to Frank A., daughter of John Morrison, an early settler of that city. She was a native of Ohio, born August 31, 1838, at Gallipolis. By this marriage six sons, and a daughter were born at Big Rapids: Louis M., now chief clerk in general passenger office of the C. & W. M. and the D. L. & N. railroad at Grand Rapids; Herbert C., Percy II., now deceased; John E. ; Ben Hebard, first lieutenant in the U. S. Navy; Frank M. and Daisy A. Mrs. Fuller died November 12, 1872, and her baby girl, Daisy, August 4, 1873. He was married again at Ypsilanti, January 5, 1876, to Sarah E. Voorhies, who was born at Trumansburg, New York, August 2, 1849. Two sons were . born of this marriage, Charles E. and Leslie L.
CHARLES EDWARD SOULE, Grand Haven. Mr. Soule is a lineal descendant of George Soule who came to America with the Puritans in the Mayflower, and some of whose immediate descendants, the ancestors of Judge Soule, removed to Connecticut and became Quakers. His mother was Ruth Paddock, also of New England descent, and his mater- nal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution. His father was a native of Dutchess county, New York, and removed to Geauga county, Ohio, in 1840. Here the subject of our sketch was born on the farm, September 20, 1842. Ile was a pupil in the public schools of his native county and trained to all the work required of a farmer's boy at a time when work in the fields was not looked upon as degrading by men of high estate, who carried their sovereignty under their own hats. As a boy he scattered the hay laid into a swath by James A. Garfield with his old fashioned mowing scythe. It is probable the stubble was just as sharp to his bare feet, and the perspiration was just as free under his straw hat, and the July afternoons were just as long between the nooning and the supper horn, as if the swath had been cut by any other young man than the future President of the United States. And yet the association is a pleasurable memory, whose pleasure is enhanced by later associations at school. Ile was prepared for college at the " Western Reserve Eclectic Institute," subsequently Hiram College, of which Mr. Garfield was president. While attending this institute he was a boarder in the house and family of " Uncle" Zeb Rudolph, whose daughter Lucretia became the wife of
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Garfield. His preparation for college in the famous Ohio school also fitted him for a teacher and he taught his first school when only seventeen years of age. His father, a wealthy and successful farmer, removed with his family to Fonia county, Michigan, in 1855. Charles Edward entered Hillsdale College in 1860, and was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1865, not- withstanding the fact that two years of the intervening time were spent in the army, and in 1871 his Alma Mater conferred the degree of Master of Arts upon him. Ile enlisted as a private, rendered honorable service, and at the close of the war was mustered out as First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Tenth Michigan Cavalry. It was an experience worth something in the aggregate of preparation for the self-supporting business of life. He entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan in 1865, and was graduated with the class of 1866. He was admitted to the Bar of Ionia and engaged in practice there for a short time. Whether influenced by the pleasant recollections of his boyhood life on a farm, or an impulse to experiment and speculate is not related; but the fact is recorded that in 1868 he bought a fruit farm at Spring Lake in Ottawa county, and expended considerable money in improvements, giving five years to the work of demonstrating the fact that farming was not his forte. Having made the discovery at appreciable cost he left the farm, located in Grand Haven and resumed the practice of his profession. He has remained there nearly twenty years and established himself thoroughly as a successful practitioner. His first partnership was with William N. Angel, from 1876 to 1883; his second with Hon. George A. Farr in 1893-4. He has held the office of Circuit Court Commissioner three terms and Judge of Probate eight years. Judge Soule has devoted his talents and energies chiefly to chancery cases and with such singleness of purpose as to master the chancery practice in all its forms. He is referred to by the Bar of his circuit as an authority. His standing in the profession is good as evidenced by the high esteem in which he is held by his associates. He is noted not only for his knowledge of the law and his demeanor towards others in the practice, but also for his strong, practical common sense and sterling integ- rity. His personal virtues and the purity of his private life commend him to the public esteem, no less than his professional reputation commends him to his clients. He takes an interest in the proceedings of the G. A. R., has served as commander of his post and delegate to the National encampment. In religion Judge Soule was raised in the Christian church and still holds to the teachings of Alexander Campbell, but is now an attendant and supporter of the Episcopal church of which his family are members. He was married in 1867 to Linnie S. Hall of Shelburne, Ver- mont, and of Puritan extraction. Their family consists of three daughters and two sons. The eldest son is practising law in Chicago. One daughter is a student in the University of Michigan. The second son is taking a course at Hillsdale College.
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MICHAEL BROWN, Big Rapids. Judge Michael Brown was born in Indian Creek township, Pulaski county, Indiana, April 20, 1841. Hiş parents were well-to-do people, who had settled on the farm where he was born, two years in advance of his birth. He learned all the varied duties of a farmer's boy and his recreation was attendance at the district school for three months of each year, after he arrived at school age. When seventeen years old he became a student in the Cass County Seminary at Logansport, a school which, about that time, enjoyed a high reputation in central Indiana and along the upper valley of the Wabash. After a year in the seminary he attended two Indiana colleges-first, Franklin College, at Franklin, where he remained until the beginning of 1860; and second, Wabash College at Crawfordsville, where he remained until he volunteered to go as a soldier. The halls of Wabash College were almost depopulated by the stirring appeals for volunteers. The patriotism of students capable of bearing arms was aflame. They laid aside their books and studies and took up their guns and knapsacks. The second year of the war for the restoration of the Union had opened when young Brown, who had just reached his majority, enlisted. From that time until the last rebel army surrendered he was in the field and at the post of duty. He grew familiar with the fatigue of the march, the privations of the camp, the excitement and danger of the battle field, the horrors of a rebel prison. In the rank of a private he learned the duties of a soldier, and from that view point witnessed all the pomp and circumstance of war. He enlisted as a recruit in Company B, Second Regiment Indiana Cavalry. His first service was in Kentucky, where his regiment with others was halted to resist the raids carried on by Gen. John Morgan. After a march to Nashville, Tennessee, his regiment was assigned to the cavalry corps of the army of the Cumber- land. He participated in all the battles of that corps to Chickamauga and through that terrible field of blood; was with the arm of the cavalry which drove the rebel General Wheeler out of the State of Tennessee; was in many skirmishes and the battles of Mersey Creek, Dandridge and Fair Garden with his regiment, on the march to reinforce Gen. Burnside in eastern Tennessee. When the Second Regiment went from Cleveland, east Tennessee, in May, 1864, to join the advance on Atlanta, he was with it, fighting every day and almost every mile of the hazardous march. On the 9th day of May with all the soldiers and officers of the skirmish line, including the brigadier general commanding, he was captured and on the 14th sent as a prison to Andersonville, where he was confined until October 16th. He was then sent to Florence and paroled. In the middle of December, when he was permitted to return North, he was reduced almost to a skeleton and his weight was only ninety-four pounds, on reaching Annapolis. His spirit was still brave and his loyalty never faltered. Hle wanted to return to the front at the expiration of his thirty days' furlough-granted to all the survivors of the starvation policy
Mr. Brown
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of the prison pens-and reported for duty at Camp Chase, Ohio. The surgeon denied his request because his physical condition was unequal to the exhausting demands of active military duty. He was obliged to remain in camp north of the Ohio until his health and strength were suf- ficiently restored. When he reported for field duty at Nashville he was detailed as a special courier for the Military Division of the Mississippi, and served in that capacity until the war was over and he was mustered out in July, 1865, receiving an honorable discharge. No soldier ever served with a cleaner record. He chose to be a private through the war, refusing several offers of promotion. He knew the chief duty of a private soldier was obedience. In the whole period of his service he never dis- obeyed a command or avoided a duty. He was never punished, repri- manded or threatened. He was simply and all the time a brave, honest, true-hearted, strong-willed soldier, ready for any duty and any service to which he was assigned. The next year after the war closed Mr. Brown became a resident of Michigan. In October, 1866, he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in March, 1868. For a few months after leaving Ann Arbor he stopped in Grand Rapids, but in September of the same year he settled in the new and growing town of Big Rapids, which has ever since been his home. The law business alone was scarcely sufficient for a livelihood for a while, although he opened an office for practice and took care of all that came to him. In the spring of 1869 he eked out his income with the salary of superintendent of schools for Mecosta county, which he accepted and held for two years. Meanwhile he was growing in knowledge of the law and rising in the confidence of the people. Within a little while common report assigned him to a rank among the very best lawyers in all that region of the State. He served a term as mayor of the city of Big Rapids, to which he was elected in 1873. All this time the profession of law held first place in his affections and its practice was most congenial to his taste. In December, 1876, he was appointed Circuit Judge by the Governor, for a Judicial Circuit comprising the counties of Mecosta, Newaygo, Oceana and Muskegon. His judicial service was so entirely satisfactory to the public that he was chosen to succeed himself, without opposition, at the general election in 1878. In January, 1881, he resigned the Judgeship in order to resume the practice of law, which has since been continued without interruption. Among the leading cases with which Judge Brown has been connected the following at least deserve mention: Dowling vs. the National Exchange Bank of Boston, reported in 145th U. S., page 512. The question involved was, what constitutes a non-trading copart- nership and whether the question was one of law or of fact. Judge Brown
was attorney for plaintiff in error and the United States Supreme Court held with him that it was a question of fact. The case was appealed from the U. S. Circuit Court for the Western District of Michigan. The leading case regarding authority of a board of managers of a Soldiers' Home to
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say what disposition shall be made of pensions received by inmates of the home, was won by Judge Brown, and established the law. It was the case of "James Loser et al. vs. the board of managers of the Michigan Sol- diers' Home and James A. McKee commandant," (92d Michigan, page 633). The issue involved the power of the board to enforce rules for discipline, police regulations, etc. The Supreme Court decided the case in favor of respondents, for whom Judge Brown was attorney. The defi- nition of a "reasonable doubt" given by Judge Brown in a charge to the jury when he was Circuit Judge, in the case of "People vs. James Fin- ley" has been copied and accepted all over the United States. He said to the jury: "A reasonable doubt is a fair doubt growing out of the testimony in the case. It is not an imaginary, captious or possible doubt, but a fair doubt based upon reason and common sense; it is such a doubt as may leave your minds, after a careful examination of the evidence in the case, in such condition that you cannot say you have an abiding con- viction to a moral certainty of the truth of the charges here made against the respondent" (cited in 38th Michigan, page 482). As a judge he was patient and firm, diligent in his investigations, careful and conscientious in his decisions. It is asserted that no criminal case tried before him was ever reversed by the Supreme Court, and that no mandamus was ever served on him. After he had served on the Bench two years very few cases were taken from his court to the Supreme Court, and he was rarely reversed. He was appointed a member of the first board of managers of the Soldiers' Home, by Governor Alger, when the legislature made pro- vision for such a home in Michigan; was elected secretary of the board and held both positions five years. He has been a member of the G. A. R. since 1867, and held the chief offices of the post; was judge advocate of the department of Michigan in 1887 and department commander in 1889. He was married to Miss Mary Alice Osborn, of Big Rapids, August 3, 1870. Four children born of that marriage are living, one son and three daughters. Judge Brown has given much thought and study to general literature. His mind is cultured by reading the best books. He has a fine private library of miscellaneous volumes and his law library is well selected. Wabash College has conferred upon him the degree of A. M., which is unusual, because he did not remain in the college until graduation. Hle is a man of strong principles and keen susceptibilities; opposed to monopolies and a champion of individual liberty of action; loyal and true in his friendships, devoted to his family with inalienable affection; kindly and generous in disposition. As considerate of the rights of others as he is jealous of his own, he holds the esteem of his fellow-citizens and pro- fessional associates. His tastes are modest, his manner unostentatious. In politics he is a Republican ; in religion a Presbyterian ; in his personality a plain, substantial, reliable everyday christian man, without pretense; a man who loves his home for its pure atmosphere, its elevating, refining and revivifying influences. His life is one of beneficent influence and large usefulness in the community.
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GEORGE ALEXANDER FARR, Grand Haven. The subject of this biography is descended from patriotic and Puritan ancestry. He was the son of Sylvester A. Farr and Julia Alexander. His paternal ancestors were English Puritans who emigrated to America and settled in Massa- chusetts in 1677. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution- ary War; his grandfather a surgeon in the War of 1812. llis mother, as the name suggests, was of Scotch descent. Her family emigrated from Scot- land in 1760 and settled in Massachusetts. His father was a native of New York State, and George Alexander was born in Niagara county, that State, July 27, 1842. The first nine years of his life were spent in the Empire State and he had made some progress with primary studies in the public schools before the family came to Michigan in 1851. His boyhood was passed in work on his father's farm and in the common schools. When little more than eighteen years of age he enlisted in Company K First Regiment Michigan Volunteers-Hardee Cadets-and reached the seat of war in time to participate in the first battle of Bull Run. On the expira- tion of the term of enlistment of the Hardee Cadets he re-enlisted, but instead of continuing in the volunteer service, he joined the regular army and was assigned to Battery M Fourth U. S. Artillery. With this com- mand he served until the end of the war and was mustered out as first ser- geant of the battery, with honorable mention for bravery on the battle- field. This rank in the U. S. regulars is scarcely below that of colonel in the volunteer service, especially when the time required of the average private to obtain it is considered. There is little doubt that Mr. Farr, with the exercise of the same courage, energy and intelligence would have attained high rank before the war closed if he had the second time enlisted in a Michigan regiment. On returning home he entered the Agricultural College at Lansing and pursued the regular curriculum from which he was graduated in 1870. From boyhood he had a taste and talent for public speaking, a penchant for controversial discussion. Even before beginning the study of law he was equipped with one of the valued qualifications of the successful advocate. He was admitted to the Bar at Monroe, in March, 1873, after a course of study with Hon. Burton Parker. He located for practice first in Coopersville, Ottawa County, and remained there four years. In 1877 he removed to Grand Haven, which has been his home continuously since that time. For the first three years he was associated in partnership with Hon. HI. C. Akeley until the retire- ment of the latter from active practice. He has never had business rela- tions in partnership with another lawyer, except for the brief period of his association with Charles E. Soule, in 1893-4. While a successful lawyer he has not been permitted to devote all of his time to the duties of the profession. He is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court and has argued before that tribunal cases involving large interests as well as close questions of law. A recent case of the highest importance was the "City
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of Grand Haven vs. the Grand Haven Water Works," in which he appeared as counsel for the city. Ilis view of the law was concurred in by the Court, whose decision was entirely favorable to the city, saving to it one hundred thousand dollars by the annulment of the water company's char- ter. Mr. Farr is a student of history, of science and of politics, as well as law, and his stock of information on the subjects named would fit him for a professorship in any college, or qualify him generously for the lecture platform. He is fluent in private conversation, ready and eloquent in public address. His entrance into politics to the extent of holding public office was in 1878, when he was elected a Senator in the State Legislature. In 1880 he was re-elected, serving two terms and participating actively in the debates as well as the legislation of that body. For six years closing in 1891, he was a member of the board of trustees for the Northern Asy- lum for the Insane. In January last he was appointed by Governor Rich, Regent of the University of Michigan for a term of eight years. Politically he is a Republican and has had great prominence in the councils of that party in the State for many years. In 1880 he was a delegate to the National Convention and for the past sixteen years he has been chosen a
delegate to every State Convention. He was honored with the chairman- ship of the last State Convention that nominated Governor Luce for his second term. His social and benevolent traits find expression to some extent through the organized channels of fraternal and benevolent orders. He has pursued speculative Masonry for thirty years by membership in different branches; has taken a deep interest in the objects and work of the society and served as High Priest of Grand Haven Chapter. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R. His religious belief is in har- mony with the Unitarians and he is a prominent member of that society in Grand Haven. Mr. Farr was married September 24, 1879, at Stowe, Vermont, to Miss Sue C. Slayton, a niece of Hon. Dwight Cutler, of Grand Haven. His family consists of five daughters and one son. He has the capacity and qualities for leadership in any undertaking and that rank is usually conceded to him by his colleagues. He has participated in every State campaign on the stump for many years and was called to speak in thirty counties during the last campaign. As an indication of the confidence reposed in him by his party at home the fact may be men- tioned that the unanimous vote of the delegates of Ottawa county was cast for him as their choice for Congress in the last nominating convention. Hle is a director of the Grand Haven National Bank and has held the office of city attorney.
The Century Publishing & Engraving to Chicago
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JOHN H. PALMER, Big Rapids. Hon. John H. Palmer, Judge of the Twenty-seventh Judicial Circuit of Michigan, was born at Goshen, Con- necticut, June 21, 1844. His parents, Morgan L .. Palmer and Mary E. Philleo, were both natives of the State of New York. The family came to Michigan early in the fifties, locating for a time in Grand Rapids, re- moving thence to Detroit and finally settling in Big Rapids. Here they made a home as permanent as the mutations of time would permit, and here the parents remained until death. Their family consisted of five children, of whom John H. was the oldest. The rudiments of his educa- tion were obtained in the common schools; his knowledge of literature, acquired by a study of the standard authors, and his practical knowledge of affairs, which comes of contact with men and familiarity with current events, are not surpassed by the acquirements of other men and lawyers . in his section of the State, whether classically educated or not. He had the aspiration to rise above his boyhood environment, and the applica- tion, the energy and the will to make his aspiration a reality. After en- gaging in several avocations in his young manhood he decided at length to study law, and the problem of his future was solved. From that time forward he was settled. The work of the profession was congenial to his taste, and its scope equaled the measure of his ambition. The decision once reached, he found the means of accomplishing his purpose. He en- tered the Law School of the University of Michigan, and pursued the course of study one year. His course of reading and legal study was continued in the office of Fuller & Parsons, of Big Rapids. Here he was admitted to the Bar in 1874, and here he has remained continuously in the work of his profession to the present time. In 1876 he formed a part- nership with Michael Brown, which continued until the latter was elected Judge of the Twenty-seventh Judicial Circuit. Some time afterwards he associated with him in partnership his brother, Hon. L. G. Palmer, and this relation continued until he was elected judge. During all this period he was engaged in general practice in the State and United States courts. The practice included all sorts of civil cases, involving small amounts and large amounts; requiring a knowledge of commercial law, corporation law, the law affecting the rights of property, the title to real estate, and in fact every species of litigation growing out of personal controversies. It also included criminal cases. He could not take care of such a practice with- out becoming a good all round lawyer. A general practice tends to the development of such lawyers, while study and practice in a single branch of the law tends only to make an expert in that particular branch. The old lawyers who "rode the circuit " had a broader knowledge of the prin- ciples of the law, and greater facility in applying them to a great variety of cases, than many of the modern lawyers who seek only to become learned in a specialty and become famous. The law has many faces.and phases; its applications are almost infinite. Ile is the most learned in it
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