USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 5
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whose practice leads him into the labyrinths and requires investigation of the largest variety of cases, involving the most dissimilar questions. Judge Palmer was accustomed to meet in the modern forum the ablest lawyers of his section of the State. He met them on equal terms. His side of any controversy was sure of an advocate who understood it thoroughly, and maintained it with ability. This should be spoken to his credit : While he accepted every variety of cases he never encouraged litigation or advised an action that was not approved by his conscience or his judgment. He advised first the employment of every resource to secure an honorable settlement, even where the law and equities supported the contention of his client. He recognized the fact that not every man who has a grievance can afford to go into court for its redress, even though the law affords a remedy for every wrong. He served the municipality for a term as mayor, in compliance with the preference of his fellow cit- izens, as expressed through the ballot box. In 1887 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court, and was re-elected in 1893 for a second term of six years. The same qualities which united to make him a good lawyer serve him equally well in discharging the duties of judge. He is honest, pains- taking and trustworthy. In the investigations essential to a correct de- cision he is just as patient and just as thorough as if conducting a case in court, for his client. There is perhaps no judge in . the State more industrious in the examination of authorities and none more desirous of reaching a right conclusion. He has an excellent law library and spends much time in it, not only for the purpose of being informed upon the law in cases brought before him, but also for his own culture and satis- faction. Affable in manner and courteous in his deportment toward members of the Bar, he enjoys the respect and esteem of all. As a citi- zen no man is found who speaks a word against him. He is liberal in his views, and generous in his contributions to charity and the promotion of what he regards the public good. Judge Palmer was married Septem- ber 19, 1876, to Miss Fennella V. Pelton, of Grand Rapids, a lady of edu- cation, liberal culture and happy disposition. They have an interesting family of four children : John C., aged eighteen, now a student in the Lit- erary Department of the University of Michigan; Bertha M., aged sixteen; Frances, aged thirteen; and Carl P., eleven-at this writing (1896).
WALTER 1. LILLIE, Grand Haven. Mr. Lillie is the son of Joel B. and Sarah Augur (the sister of Gen. C. C. Augur) Lillie, both of whom were natives of the State of New York. His father's ancestors were Scotch-Danish and he possesses some of the characteristics of both nation- alities. Walter I. is the second in a family of five children. He was born in Ottawa county, Michigan, October 9, 1855, where his father, a success- ful farmer had settled ten years before. By enterprise, thrift and economy
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his parents accumulated some property and after the death of his mother, his father moved to Coopersville. Walter's life in boyhood was a type of the industrious son of the better class of farmers, his time divided between work of all kinds and attendance at the district schools. He like many other boys stayed from school summers and worked on the farm. Thus the time was passed until he attained his majority, when he entered the Agricultural College at Lansing, and by teaching winters and work in summer vacation paid his own way through college. Ile was graduated three years later and went straightway to Grand Haven and into the law office of Hon. George A. Farr as a student. He read the text books of the profession under the instruction of Mr. Farr and after examination was admitted to the Bar of Grand Haven in November, 1884. After teaching a term of school he returned to the office of Mr. Farr the following spring and remained with him two years, in order to acquire facility in the preparation of legal papers and become familiar with methods of procedure, before relying entirely upon himself. While thus employed he was nominated and elected prosecuting attorney for Ottawa county in 1886. The conduct of this important office was so eminently satisfactory to the public that he was renominated and re-elected for a second term, serving altogether a period of four years. His discharge of the duties of prose- cuting attorney before the grand jury and in court commended him as worthy of other honors in the line of his profession. He was soon appointed city attorney and reappointed for several terms. It was during his adminis- tration of this office that a very important case, "The City of Grand Haven vs. The Grand Haven Water Works Company " was tried and carried to the Supreme Court by appeal. His old preceptor, George A. Farr was called to assist him in the argument on behalf of the city and a complete victory was scored. The charter of the Water Company was annulled by the decision of the Supreme Court and many thousand dollars saved the municipality. During his term as prosecuting attorney the suit of Auditor General vs. Ottawa county was tried and many thousand dollars saved the county. Mr. Lillie is alert, energetic and studious; his precep- tion is quick and clear; his mental quality is analytical and he is favored with the intellectual endowments essential to marked success in the practice of law. lle has the Scotch persistence and honesty; the Danish gentle- ness and open-heartedness which make him a popular comrade and a faithful friend. Ilis professional life opens with a promise whose fulfillment will give him both prestige and prominence. Should he turn aside from a career in the law for one in politics, for which the prospect is alluring to an ambitious young man, position and honors may be achieved. He is a Republican, well informed, active and earnest in support of the party policy and principles. It will require a good deal of firmness and much hard study along professional lines to resist the temptation presented in the more "glittering generalities " of a public career. Ilis mental qualities and social traits are recognized and esteemed by his associates at the Bar and
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in the community. In the Supreme Court his record is a success, marred by the loss of but few cases. His per cent of cases won is as high as any in the State. Mr. Lillie was married September 28, 1866, to Miss Ella McGrath, of Denison, Ottawa county. They have a family of four children, all boys. Harold I., Leo C., W. Ivan and Hugh E.
FREDERICK A. NIMS, Muskegon. Mr. Nims is of English extraction. The founders of the American branch of the family came from England and settled in Massachusetts in Colonial times. His father, Dr. Dwight B. Nims, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, in 1808. His mother, Anna A. White, was a native of Madison county, New York. Dr. Nims came west and settled in the Territory of Michigan in 1835. The subject of our sketch attended the district schools until he was twelve years of age. His preparation for college was obtained in Wesleyan Seminary at Albion, where he studied several years. In 1853 he entered Hobart College, Geneva, New York, and pursued the classical course for three years, when he was obliged to desist because of weakness of his eyes. The cherished purpose of completing a college course was relinquished because of apprehension that permanent impairment of sight might result from unre- mitting application to books. He left school and abandoned literary pur- suits for nearly two years. In 1858 he entered upon the study of law in the office of Withey & Gray at Grand Rapids, and remained with them until admitted to the Bar in 1860. Immediately afterwards he became associated with Col. A. T. MeReynolds in practice, a relation whose aspect and purpose were changed a year later by the event of war. When Col. McReynolds was placed in command of a regiment in 1861, Mr. Nims received a commission as second lieutenant and afterwards was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. In 1864 he was mustered out on account of disability-illness resulting from exposure. A year was passed at Grand Rapids in the recuperation of his health. In November, 1865, he removed to Muskegon and began the practice of law alone. In 1867 he formed a partnership with Francis Smith and George Gray, from which Mr. Gray retired two years later. In 1870 Mr. D. D. Erwin was admitted to the firm, making it Smith, Nims & Erwin until 1874. Mr. HI. J. Hoyt was then admitted to the partnership and for twenty-two years the style of the firm has been Smith, Nims, Hoyt & Erwin. It is recognized by the pro- fession throughout the State and regarded in popular estimation as one of the most capable law firms in Western Michigan. In the variety of talents united, no less than the ability of the individuals, the power of the combination consists. Mr. Nims may be classed as a business lawyer. His intellectual trend is toward business and industrial enterprises. Actu- ated by a liberal public spirit he was one of the foremost citizens in pro- moting the railroad interests of his town. In 1868 he was one of the
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incorporators of the Muskegon and Ferrysburg railroad, which he served as secretary and attorney until the line was completed and equipped. This was the pioneer among railways connecting Muskegon with the world of commerce. It compelled the construction of others, with which it was consolidated in 1870, and at length became a link in the Chicago and West Michigan system. For several years Mr. Nims was a director of the First National Bank of Muskegon. Ile was also one of the incorporators of the Merchants National Bank, of whose directory he was for several years. a member. At one time he was president of the City Street Railroad Company. While giving his time and thought primarily to his profession and a considerable portion of both to business and community interests, he has reserved and devoted much to the betterment of his city by enlarging and improving the means and facilities for popular education. For twenty years he has served the city as a member of the Board of Edu- cation and for several years served the board as president. Ifis charitable impulse and fraternal spirit are suggested by membership in the order of Free and Accepted Masons for thirty years, in the Knights of Pythias and the G. A. R. He is a Knight Templar and a member of Muskegon Commandery. He is also a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the U. S. He was elected Master of his Masonic Lodge in 1888. He was married February 20, 1862, to Miss Mary, daughter of Col. A. T. MeReynolds, who became the mother of two children, both of whom died in infancy. His wife died in 1872 and he was married May 27, 1873, to Ellen S., also a daughter of Col. McReynolds, by whom he has had seven children. Mr. Nims is classed as a Democrat politically, but has never held a political office. The consensus of opinion collected from members of the profession and citizens of Muskegon warrants the estimate that his personal character is irreproachable; that his professional standing is high; that his intimate and influential relations toward enterprises which promote the public welfare afford a substantial basis of popular esteem; that his ability, scholarship and social traits qualify him for membership in the most cultured society; that his home is the nursery of progress and refinement.
HIRAM J. HOYT, Muskegon. Mr. Hoyt is a native of Michigan. He was born in Commerce, Oakland county, March 23, 1843. His father was Dr. James W. Hoyt, a native of the State of New York and for many years one of the most prominent physicians of Oakland county. His mother was Margaret Barritt, a most estimable woman, who was born in Steuben county, New York. Mr. Hoyt has not devoted time to the study of genealogy or digging up the roots of his ancestral tree. Believing that a man's position and success in life are dependent more upon personal character and individual effort than extended lineage, he has employed his
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energies with affairs of the present and preparation for the future. By this statement it must not be assumed that he has neglected to read the history of past ages or study the conditions of government and society. On the contrary he has been a student of history of the nations and the world. He has read the biographies of the men conspicuous in making the history of the different epochs. All of which is essential to great breadth and power in a profession - most of all the profession which Mr. Hoyt espoused early in life. He attended the district schools until eleven years of age, when he was ready for academic studies. He was then sent to Aurora Academy, at East Aurora, New York, in which he took the full curriculum. He was graduated in 1863 and immediately took up the study of law in the office of the late M. E. Crofoot. After spending three years in study under the direction of a capable instructor he passed the required examination before Judge Sanford M. Green, and received a license from that venerable jurist, who was then at the zenith of his fame. This was in 1866, and the following year he located in Muskegon and quietly announced that he was ready for legal business. He was well qualified for a young man and able to take care of the cases which came to him. He was able to stand alone and did manage an independent practice for seven years. In 1874 he became associated as a partner with Francis Smith, Frederick A. Nims and David D. Erwin, completing the firm of Smith, Nims, Hoyt & Erwin. The individual partners are all good lawyers, the firm is the oldest in Muskegon and one of the most reputable, as well as able and successful, in the entire State. It is entirely proper to say that it has long enjoyed the leading position in the courts of Muskegon, both in the magnitude and the character of prac- tice. Its clientage is large and liberal, making a lucrative business. The firm of which Mr. Hoyt is a member has a general practice, and they go into all of the courts of the State, as well as the United States, and, therefore, are always busy and generally successful. He has given his mind primarily to the law and not been tempted by the offer of political advancement through public office. He is a Democrat and always has been, by inheritance and personal choice. He has taken active interest in political affairs and is gratified with the success of his party, because it represents the principles which he believes should triumph in elections and dominate in administration; but this gratification is devoid of any per- sonal interest and not characterized by a self-seeking motive. He has long been affiliated with Masonry and has attained the thirty-second degree. He is a Knight Templar and member of the Muskegon com- mandery. His religious views are liberal, as indicated by membership in the Universalist Church. Mr. Hoyt was married February 26, 1867, to Miss Ada E. Smith, daughter of Benjamin Smith, Esq., of Oakland, Michigan. They have one child, Wilbur S., who is a graduate of Orchard Lake Military Academy, and settled in California, where he is engaged in business.
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The Century Publishing & Engraving to Chicago.
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CHARLES C. ROOD, deceased. Charles C. Rood, late of Grand Rapids, was born in Northern Vermont, October 24, 1815. He was the son of Ezra Rood, a farmer, and Betsy Conant, and was one of the large family of children who lost their father after they came to the wilds of the Territory of Michigan, in 1822. The family settled in Pontiac. It is pre-eminently true of a boy so situated, on the extreme verge of civiliza- tion-in the actual western wilds-that there was no royal road to learn- ing or professional distinction. To maintain life was a strenuous struggle with poverty and privation, so severe that few living at the present time have any just conception of it. Up to the time of his father's death this boy knew little of books and nothing of the English grammar. After he was left to buffet with fortune he came into possession of a copy of a text book on grammar, which he fastened to the plow with pages open, so that he might study while he worked. The same energy, devotion, fortitude and steadfastness were exhibited in pursuing his studies and laying the foundation for his professional career, so that when he came to Grand Rapids carly in 1846 he was qualified for the companionship which awaited him at the Bar. Ile had studied with eminent lawyers in Detroit and Marshall for several years. His hard work and remarkable application had qualified him for the arduous labors of the profession by the side of the able and earnest pioneers who had settled in the frontier village before him. Among his associates at the Bar in those early days were Judges Martin, Withey and Holmes, John Ball, Thomas B. Church, C. P. Cal- kins, Ralph Cole, Lucius Patterson, A. D. Rathbone, J. S. Chamberlin, and E. E. Sargent. An incident of his experience in Detroit serves to illustrate his resourcefulness. While studying law and teaching there, the new process of photographing invented by Daguerre was first introduced in Detroit. He formed a partnership with a young man whom he sent to Buffalo to learn the business, paying the expenses himself, but his partner was a failure and .Mr. Rood operated the gallery himself for some time successfully. The keynote to his character and to his mind, the index from which his career might easily have been prophesied may be dis- covered in the manner in which he selected a permanent residence as a young lawyer. He visited the United States Land Office and discovered that nearly all of the entries of land in the vicinity of Grand Rapids were in small tracts-40's, 80's and 160's,-as farms were then known. They had been taken evidently by men who were securing permanent homes for themselves; there were no speculative features in the growth of the com- munity, and with such a people in such a new country he desired to iden- tify himself. While thoroughly grounded in all the branches of his profession, and a student who could well prepare any case, he early devoted himself almost wholly to commercial practice, and held strongly to the theory that litigation should ever be only the final resort. He soon secured a large circle of clients who found him especially capable, faithful,
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industrious and honorable. Their business prospered in his care, but was so managed that when the large interests and collections of his practice are considered he seldom had occasion to appear in court. He became an authority in his branch of the profession in the young and growing city; his name was a synonym for exact dealing and unvarying performance of his promises ; his work was always good; his counsels were safe and wise, Whatsoever his hands found to do he did with his might, with a single- ness of purpose that inevitably achieved success. Although never brilliant or dashing he accomplished practical results for others, and hence for him- self, that in later life compelled him to withdraw from the more active practice and devote himself to the care of his own private interests. His only partnership in the law was with Judge J. W. Champlin. His was a tem- perament that found no pleasure in public plaudits or official stations. He gladly left to others the cares and doubtful rewards of office-holding and kindred activities. Ilis family and his professional duties secured his devo- tion ; yet he found time to serve for more than one term as president of the earliest Bar Association, prior to 1860, and gave much consideration and practical labor to his duties. He neglected no duty as a member of his profession, as a citizen, as a tax payer, as the head of a family, or as one of the pioneers in a rapidly growing city which evidently had a brilliant future. He helped earnestly in the old fashioned, solid, desirable way to conserve the proper development of the city, finding his reward in the added comfort and better opportunities thus secured for his own family and his neighbors. No member of the Michigan Bar, with which he was connected for half a century-forty-five years of the time as a leader in the Grand Rapids Bar-had a more profound sense and keen appreciation of the dignities, honors and responsibilities of what should be included in or indicated by such membership. The feeling of obligation ; the solemnity of his oath upon admission, as a sworn officer of the courts, deepened and broadened with advancing years; and he was an urgent force, most zealous and faithful in the insistence upon a high standard of professional ethics. He believed that none but the worthy should be allowed to retain mem- bership in the Bar. He held that the Bar should guard its membership as carefully as a church is expected to do and protect itself from unworthy members. His quiet, persistent effort in this direction was a potent influence which continues to live after he is gone, and through its effect upon his surviving contemporaries will mold the opinions and influence the acts of many to whom he will be but a name on the pages of history. When he rested from his labors (which continued to within two days of his death) almost the sole survivor of that earliest Bar Association, and of the brilliant pioneers of Western Michigan, his associates felt that an upright, honest lawyer, a true friend and a useful citizen had left them a precious legacy. They realized that his wise counsels and the quiet, unobtrusive deeds which characterized his life would live as a memory highly prized and cherished by a community ennobled by his simple and
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exemplary life. Charles C. Rood died February 21, 1891. The Bar Association of Grand Rapids, of which he had been an early president, held a meeting to commemorate his life and labors. Judge William E. Grove presided and Mr. Hughes acted as secretary. Resolutions were adopted expressive of the sentiment of the Bar and testifying to the emi-
Bently practical usefulness of the deceased in the community. Brief addresses were made by E. S. Eggleston, N. A. Fletcher, Edwin F. Uhl, John T. Miller, T. J. O'Brien and others. Among the virtues which all remembered were his integrity as a man and his honesty in all of the affairs of life. They referred to him as a safe counsellor, forceful and determined in the prosecution of his business, stopping at no obstacles that honorable means could overcome; his conversation, rich in reminis- cences; his punctuality, as that of a man who never forgot an obligation or failed to keep his word; and above all the kindliness and sympathy of his nature. Mr. Rood was a Democrat who never held office. He was a Royal Arch Mason. He married Cornelia Foster, daughter of F. D. A. Foster, of Grand Rapids. The three children born of this marriage, who, with the widow survive, are Mrs. Ernest B. Fisher, Charles F. Rood, and Mrs. Charles A. Renwick, all residents of Grand Rapids.
GEORGE P. WANTY, Grand Rapids. George Proctor Wanty, late presi- dent of the Michigan State Bar Association, was born March 12, 1856, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ilis father, Samuel Wanty, married Elizabeth Proctor at Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England, and came to the United States in 1853, settling first in Brooklyn and moving thence to Detroit, and finally to Ann Arbor, in 1855, where he died in 1859. His primary and academic education was received in the common and high schools of Ann Arbor. At an early age he sought employment and was engaged first as clerk in a bank at Ann Arbor, of which Judge Cooley was a director, and later he was bookkeeper for an iron manufacturing company at Bay City. His propensity and aspirations were for the law, even before he accepted other employment, and the purpose to enter the legal profes- sion was held steadily during all the years of preliminary work: This hopeful looking forward to the realization of a cherished dream relieved the labor necessary to that end from the aspect of drudgery. At length his savings enabled him to take up the desired course of study, and he was graduated in 1878 from the Law Department of the University of Michigan, entering at once upon the practice at Grand Rapids. He has been associated as co-partner with Col. Thaddeus Foote, Hon. Fred. A. Maynard and, since 1883, with Niram A. Fletcher. He has enjoyed the friendship and counsel of Judge Cooley from boyhood, and early promised this venerable jurist that he would make the law and not politics his profes- sion. The promise was regarded at the time as inviolable and has never
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been broken. Mr. Wanty has declined all political offices, although he has always been assiduous in the discharge of his duty as a citizen, in par- ticipating in all elections and doing whatever he could for the general wel- fare of the community and the Government. He is an Episcopalian in religion and a Republican in politics. The average lawyer is too prone to follow in the steps of the ante-diluvian and imagine that dust and litter are indications of thrift and thoroughness. This is not the case with Fletcher & Wanty. They regard the systematic, orderly arrangement of papers relating to all affairs as conducive to the dispatch of business. Per- fection of indexing and annotation of cases is observed in their office, so that the papers and even the letters a dozen years old, in any desired case on their books, can be found and handed to you free from dust, inside of twenty minutes. Such a lawyer's office is so rare that when found it is worthy of commendatory notice. The practice of the firm is general, but mostly confined to civil cases, and as the attorneys of large mercantile houses and corporations they are retained in the State and United States courts in suits of great importance. Mr. Wanty is essentially an advocate and attends almost exclusively to court business in the trial of cases. He is a forcible speaker, clear in his enunciation, and uses no superfluous words. His bearing is affable and dignified, his manner impressive; so that he commands the respectful attention of both judge and jury, and his argu- ment is worthy of their consideration. The secret of his success lies in his being convinced of the absolute honesty of his cause and putting the facts in evidence in their proper order, -- and in his argument placing them before the court and jury in clean-cut, well-adjusted periods, strongly fortified with fitting precedents. So earnest is he in the management of a case in court that it may be said of him, as it was of Erskine,-he manages the cases for his clients as they would themselves, having his ability. Ilis standing in the profession is evidenced by his election to the presidency of the State Bar Association in 1894. His executive management of the affairs of the association was able; his duties as presiding officer at its meetings were discharged with ability, dignity and impartiality. Mr. Wanty mar- ried in Chicago, June 22, 1886, Miss Emma Nichols, M. D. Miss Nichols occupied an enviable position as an associate of Dr. William H. Byford, of Chicago, and lecturer in the Women's Medical College, and since her marriage has maintained an office for consultation in the city of Grand Rapids. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wanty: Helen, aged nine; and Thomas Cooley, aged seven. Mr. Wanty's mother is also a member of his household.
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