USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 8
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LYMAN D. NORRIS, deceased. Hon. Lyman Decatur Norris was born in Covington, Genesee county, New York, May 4, 1823, and died at his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 6, 1894. During his three score and ten years he accomplished much for himself and the State in which his adult life was passed. His was a frank, honest, sincere, manly life, known and honored by all persons with whom he came in contact. He was of English and Welsh descent. The ancestors of his father had come from England and settled first at Hampton, New Hampshire in 1663. His mother's grandfather emigrated from Wales and settled on Long Island in 1700. His grandfather Norris was an early resident of Vermont and his father, Mark Norris, left the Vermont home and settled in New York State in 1820, where he married Roccena Vail, a woman of rare intellec- tual and social qualities, and beautiful christian life. Mark Norris emigrated to the territory of Michigan with his young family in 1827 and settled on the present site of the city of Ypsilanti. He had inherited integrity of character, an enterprising spirit and remarkable energy. He erected the first mills in the Territory of Michigan for the manufacture of woolen cloth,
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stocked them with the best modern machinery, which was propelled by water power. His business was successful and of incalculable value in the pioneer settlement which his enterprise built up. His manufactory furnished employment to labor and brought comfort to the homes of many skilled and unskilled laborers. His means were employed in building and pro- moting the material interests of the town which he founded; his patronage of the church and the school gave an impetus to the moral and educational forces of the community. He was a most liberal contributor to the Normal School, to the Presbyterian Church and such other public buildings as were designed to promote the general welfare. He was indeed the most potent instrumentality employed in founding what has become a thrifty and prosperous city. Lyman Decatur Norris was the only son of Mark and Roccena Vail Norris. Coming in to this frontier settlement as a child of four years he grew up under the refining and pure influences of an intelligent christian home in a neighborhood where there was of necessity much that was crude and new; in which the advantages of culture and instruction in the home were strong enough to impress and guide the young - life and develop in it the highest and noblest faculties, overcoming the obstacles and influences which tend to retard intellectual development and moral growth. He was trained early in the schools of Ypsilanti and was prepared for college in a Presbyterian institution at Marshall, which had appropriated to itself the name of " Michigan College." He was the first student entered in the first class of the University of Michigan, when that institution was opened in 1841. His time was so well occupied in the University and his studies were pursued there with such diligence that he was chosen by the faculty, after a competitive examination, for the purpose of comparing the standard of instruction in the University of Michigan with that of the great eastern colleges founded one hundred and fifty years before. The selection was made in the third term of the junior year and he entered the same class at Yale with the same standing he had at the home university, was graduated with the class of 1845 in time to attend the graduating exercises of his old class at Ann Arbor. He received a double degree, which made him an alumnus of Yale and of the University of Michigan. After the conclusion of his literary course he entered upon the study of law in the office of Alexander D. Fraser, of Detroit, and was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1847, after a close examination by the judges of the Supreme Court. Few young men are so admirably equipped as was Mr. Norris upon entering the profession of law. His scholarship was of the highest order, his mind well trained, his abilities first class and all his powers rendered available by the discipline of study and self-control. In 1848 he removed to St. Louis to engage in the prac- tice of law. Two years later he visited Europe on legal business and remained long enough to attend a course of lectures on civil law at Heidel- borg. When he had been a practitioner at the Bar only five years he was retained as counsel for the Emerson estate, in the case brought against the
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estate by Dred Scott, a slave who sued for his freedom. He was success- ful in the management of the case for his client in the Supreme Court of Missouri. The name of Dred Scott was perpetuated in a subsequent proceeding appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and decided by Chief Justice Taney. Mr. Norris became a journalist in St. Louis as editor and part owner of the St. Louis Times, at that time the leading Democratic newspaper of the Mississippi Valley, which he con- ducted during the Scott-Pierce campaign. He was a strong editorial writer whose information on political subjects was accurate. In 1854 he was recalled to Ypsilanti on account of the failing health of his father, and remained there for seventeen years, engaged in the practice of law and in managing the business of his father's estate. In 1871 he removed to Grand Rapids and formed a partnership with James Blair, under the style of Norris & Blair. Shortly afterwards Mr. Kingsley was admitted to the firm, which became Norris, Blair and Kingsley, and still later, Norris, Blair & Stone. For a period of twelve years beginning in 1875 he was associated in partnership with Hon. Edwin F. Uhl, late assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury and now Ambassador of the United States at the court of Germany. During his whole life he was in the best sense of the term an active politician. In 1869 he was elected State Senator, as the Democratic candidate in a district having a Republican majority. His competitor was HIon. J. Webster Childs, with whom a joint canvass of the district was made, introducing the practice of joint discussion of political issues by opposing candidates. The two men traveled together, each entertaining the other as a guest in the town where he lived and passing through the campaign without the slightest disturbance of their friendly relations. In the Senate he was more patriot than partisan and his influence secured for the nominees of the majority the united support of his few colleagues constituting the minority. Through his instrumentality the geological survey of the Northern Peninsula was resumed, with a liberal appropriation from the State treasury to carry on the work. His influence was exerted against the proposition authorizing towns of the State to vote aid to railroads, although it was powerless to prevent the passage of an act by which bonded debts aggregating six million dollars were incurred and which fortunately was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. In 1875 Mr. Norris was the nominee of his party for Justice of the Supreme Court, but was defeated in common with the remainder of his ticket. He was a popular orator and frequently called upon for public addresses. He delivered the commencement address before the Law School of the Univer- sity of Michigan in 1882, when his son Mark was a member of the graduating class. This son became his law partner in 1887 and the firm of Norris & Norris then formed was dissolved only by the death of the senior member. The business of the firm was large and profitable. In 1883 he was appointed by the Governor one of the regents of the University of Michigan and discharged the duties of the trust with unusual intelligence. At the time
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of his death he was a member of the board of visitors of the University. He was alternate commissioner for the State to the World's Columbian Exposition and was able to attend the sessions of the commission the week following the opening. Impaired health and severe illness prevented further attendance, although he lived until the following January. He was married November 22, 1854 to Miss Lucy Alsop, daughter of Gen. Chauncey Whittelsey, of Middletown, Connecticut, and a direct descendant of John Cotton, who came to America in 1632. She was the great-granddaughter of Major General Artemus Ward, who commanded the Revolutionary forces at Boston until General Washington became commander-in-chief. Mr. Norris loved his home and was devoted to his family. He had one son and two daughters. One of the latter is Dr. Maria W. Norris. No more fitting testimonial to the life of a good man, great in his profession and loved in the community, can be added than that of the Bar of his county. The following is quoted from the memorial adopted on the occasion of this death :
" His knowledge of the law was based upon a thorough knowledge of its principles, and was embellished by an exceptional scholastic training. He gained, too, a wide knowledge of men through varied experiences, and . because of his ardent love of reading, marked powers of perception, quick mental analysis and great intellectual force, was a lawyer fitted to an unusual degree to grasp clearly and deal decisively with questions of the present, while none among us was as familiar with the past both as respects the history of the law and its .enduring foundations. In his daily walk among us he was a man of marked dignity and impressive bearing. He was never a seeker for other men's praises, but those with whom his life brought him in frequent contact knew him as a sincere gentleman, generous of heart, and of ever present kindness."
When the memorial was presented to the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Montgomery on behalf of that court said, among other things:
"The accomplishments, the strength of character, the sterling worth and manly dignity of Mr. Norris are fittingly portrayed in the memorial of the Kent county Bar, which is, in my judgment, as correct an analysis of his character and life as could be embodied if a volume were written. Mr. Norris was not only a great lawyer and a scholar of unusual attainments, but he was a man of marked character and a most kindly and generous temperament to those who knew him well. He had none of the arts of a demagogue. Ile seemed to care little for popular favor. His course of life was not marked out with a view of keeping in the current of public approval, but he did value the friendship of his associates at the Bar, and above all, the esteem, respect and devotion of his family. His relations with the members of his family were the closest and most confidential. I believe it can be truly said of him that there was nothing in his daily walk or conversation which he ought to conceal from his wife or children, and that there was not the slightest of the incidents of their daily life which did not enlist his care and sympathy. Apart from his professional success which will be an inspiration to many of the younger members of the Bar who have been brought up under the influence of his example, this world will be better that Lyman D. Norris has lived, for the impress that his personal character has made and will leave upon the community where it has been felt."
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MARK NORRIS, Grand Rapids. Mark Norris was the son of the late Lyman D. Norris and Lucy Whittelsey. Ile was born July 28, 1857, at Ypsilanti; educated in the schools of his native town and at De Veaux College, Suspension Bridge, New York, where he was prepared for the university course. At this school he was each year of his attendance awarded the college gold medal for high standing in general scholarship. Upon completing the literary course in the University of Michigan, he was graduated with the class of 1879, after which he took the complete course in the Law Department of the University and was graduated with the class of 1882. Without delay he entered upon the practice of the law at Grand Rapids in the office of his father. After three years of experi- ence he was admitted to a partnership in the firm of Norris & Uhl, in 1885. Two years later, upon the dissolution of the firm and the retirement of Mr. Uhl therefrom, he continued in partnership with his father in the firm of Norris & Norris until it was dissolved by the death of the senior partner in January, 1894. Since that time he has continued the practice alone. Although doing a general law business, his specialty in the practice is liti- gation of insurance cases. He has made a special study of that class of cases, and has tried more of them than any other lawyer of his years now practising at the Michigan Bar. He is not only an expert in the manage- ment of all litigation growing out of fire insurance, but is regarded as authority on the laws pertaining to such matters. He is a close student, working assiduously and going through all of the evidence bearing upon a case, and examining all the authorities with scrupulous care. In argument of the law questions involved in any case he is clear and forcible. In 1895 the Legislature abolished the old system of admitting lawyers to practice by the Circuit Courts and made provision for the examination of applicants by a State board of examiners selected for the purpose by the Supreme Court. Under the present system every candidate for admission must pass the examination of this board or have a diploma from the Law School of the University of Michigan. The first board of examiners under this law commissioned by the governor was George HI. Durand, president; Floyd R. Meacham, two years; Phillip T. Van Zile, three years; Mark Norris, secretary of the board, four years; R. C. Ostrander, five years. Both of the law schools of the State are represented, Floyd R. Meacham for the University of Michigan, and Judge Van Zile for Detroit College of Law. Under the law the nomination of the members of this commission is by the Supreme Court of the State, and Mark Norris was chosen for the term of four years and commissioned by Governor Rich August 30, 1895. Politically Mr. Norris is a Democrat, by inheritance and choice. He is not a politician, preferring to devote his time and energies to his profession. In the campaign of 1896, as an advocate of sound money, he allied him- self with the National Democrats. He is treasurer of the Law Library of Grand Rapids, is literary in his tastes and gives considerable time to gen-
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eral reading. September 3, 1885, he married Cornella Abbott, daughter of Larmon W. Abbott, a clergyman of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Three children born of this marriage are: Margaret, aged nine; Abbott, seven; Cornella, three.
WILLIAM J. STUART, Grand Rapids. William James Stuart, a member of the Grand Rapids Bar, was born in Barry county, Michigan, November 1, 1844. His early education was received in the common schools of his native county, which he attended during the winters until he was fifteen years old. In the meantime pursuing the uneventful life of a farmer's son during the remaining portion of the year. At fifteen he entered the public schools of Hastings, and later on the high school at Kalamazoo. He was graduated from the latter in 1863. After teaching school for one year he entered the freshman class of the University of Michigan in the fall of 1864 and upon completion of the literary course was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1868. In respect of having earned the means with which to pay the expenses of a college course he was self-educated. For two years succeeding his graduation from the University he taught school at Hastings and then entered the office of Balch, Smiley & Balch, where he pursued the study of law. He had early formed the purpose to become a lawyer and while prosecuting his literary studies and employed in teaching he had constantly kept in view this acme of his hope and ambition. After his preparatory course of reading under the instruction of the firm mentioned, he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan, completed its course, and received the degree of LL. B. upon his graduation in 1872. Returning to Kalamazoo he became a partner in the firm in which he had formerly been a student, but the association was only temporary. In November of the same year he removed to Grand Rapids, and in January, 1873, was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney for Kent county under E. A. Burlingame. At the same time he formed a partnership for general prac- tice under the firm name and style of Burlingame & Stuart, which con- tinued until April 20, 1876. He was appointed city attorney of Grand Rapids in 1880 and held the position for two terms. In May, 1888, he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Kent county to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of the incumbent, and was afterwards elected for a full term. In addition to these offices, which are strictly in the line of his professional work, Mr. Stuart has held other positions, both educational and political. For three years he was a member of the board of education of Grand Rapids. In 1892 he was elected mayor of the city and re-elected in 1894, serving two terms. The University of Michigan conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, and for 1894-5 he was president of the Society of Alumni of the University. He has devoted his talents and
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energies almost without reserve to the practice of law. He was associated with Mr. E. F. Sweet, under the firm name of Stuart & Sweet for twelve years, from April, 1876, and for five years, from April, 1888, he was in partnership with Loyal E. Knappen. Since 1893 he has been engaged in the general practice alone. He conducts a large office business and also has a large number of litigated cases in the courts. All of this business receives his personal attention and is conducted in such a manner as to hold a profitable clientage. He is exceedingly methodical in the arrange- ment of his business and painstaking in the preparation of his cases. Ile is equally careful in the trial of cases in court and is also a successful advo- cate. His command of language is easy and his manner of speech agree- able. In social intercourse he is affable and courteous with everyone. lle is not a member of any secret order, but is a communicant and vestry- man of St. Mark's Episcopal church. In April, 1874, he married Miss Calista Hadley, of Hastings.
LOYAL EDWIN KNAPPEN, Grand Rapids. Mr. Knappen was born January 27, 1854, at Hastings, Mich. His father, Edwin Knappen, who was a merchant in that city, was born in Sudbury, Vermont. He died when the subject of this sketch was a babe. His grandfather, Mason Knappen, was a Congregational minister, who came into this state from Vermont in 1831, and settled at Richland, Kalamazoo county, where he resided until his death in 1857. The family is of Scotch-Welsh origin. The mother of the subject of this writing was born in Braintree, Vermont, from which place she moved with her parents to Richland, Michigan, in 1844. She still lives in Hastings, where she reared her two sons to manhood. Both became lawyers. Charles M. died in 1885. Loyal E. spent his youthful days in Hastings, attending the Union School in that place until he had reached the age of fifteen. He then entered the Literary Depart- ment of the University of Michigan, from which institution he was gradu- ated with honors in the class of 1873, receiving the degree of A.B. For six months following his graduation he was assistant principal of the Hastings high school. Teaching was not to be his life work, and he settled down to the study of law in the office of the Hon. James A. Sweezey. He read and studied the law for a period of two years, when he was admitted to the Bar in the month of August, 1875, on an examination before Judge Hoyt. His professional career was begun by a partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Sweezey, which continued until 1878. This asso- ciation was dissolved that year to give place to a partnership with his brother, Charles M. Knappen, which extended to 1883. Hle then entered into a third partnership with Christopher HI. Van Arman; under the firm name of Knappen & Van Arman. Mr. Knappen removed to Grand Rapids, April 11, 1888, and formed new business relations with Hon.
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William J. Stuart, the firm name being Stuart, Knappen & Van Arman, with offices at Grand Rapids and Hastings. This arrangement lasted until the death of Mr. Van Arman in January, 1890. Charles M. Weaver was then admitted to the firm, and remained with it a little over a year, when the office at Hastings was closed. The firm of Stuart & Knappen was dissolved in 1893, Mr. Knappen becoming a member of the present firm of Taggart, Knappen & Denison. He has always done a general practice in both State and Federal courts. He is a Republican, but has never sought office, preferring a private law practice to the turmoil of politics. He was induced, however, to accept the nomination for Prosecuting Attorney for Barry county, to which office he was elected in 1878, serving four years. Hle was appointed United States Commissioner in 1880 and held this office until his removal to Grand Rapids. He has always taken much interest in educational matters, and was a member of the Hastings Board of Education for three years, acting as its President for one year. He was Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Kent county for three years from 1888. He enjoys a large practice in all the courts of the State. He is much engaged in the Supreme Court, frequently acting as counsel with other law firms in their cases before that court. He is an accurate and clean lawyer, thorough in the preparation of his cases, and . untiring in their prosecution. He possesses the confidence of his clients, and is equally good in counsel and in pleading. He has been retained to assist in the prosecution of many of the important criminal cases in Barry county for the last ten years. In this work he has been uniformly successful. He has also had considerable land litigation in different counties of the State. Many of the cases with which he has been connected are widely known. Mr. Knappen has been a Mason for years, and is a member of Columbia Chapter of Grand Rapids. He belongs to Eureka Lodge No. 2, K. P., Grand Rapids. While at Hast- ings he was Chancellor Commander of the K. P. Lodge of Hastings. Mr. Knappen was married October 23, 1876, to Miss Amelia 1. Kenyon, of Hastings, who had for several years been a teacher in the public schools of that city. They have three children. Stuart E., aged nineteen, is now a Junior in the University of Michigan. Fred M., aged seventeen, is a Junior in the Grand Rapids High School. Florence, aged fourteen, is also a student in the same school. As a lawyer, Mr. Knappen has attained high rank, not only in Grand Rapids, but throughout the State of Michigan.
HARSON D. SMITH, Cassopolis. This subject was born March 17, 1845, at Albion, New York. He received an academic education, after which he engaged in teaching school in New York State, and Iowa. Ile was principal of the union school at Eldora, lowa, for one year, after which he was elected professor of mathematics in the lowa Lutheran Col-
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lege, situated at Albion, where he remained until the fall of 1866, when he went to Rochester, New York, and commenced the study of law with Hon. George F. Danforth, who was afterwards one of the judges of the Court of Appeals. After being admitted to the Bar he went to Jackson, Michigan, where he entered the law office of Hon. William K. Gibson, remaining there about two years. In 1870 he located at Cassopolis for the practice of his profession, and has remained there ever since. In 1873 he married Miss Sate Reed, daughter of S. T. Reed, now president of the First National Bank of Cassopolis. Mr. Smith's home is one of the pleasantest in the village. In 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Cass county, and held the office two terms. In the Blaine campaign he was the Republican nominee for State Senator, but was defeated in the election by Senator Sherwood of Berrien county, the Democratic nominee. He has a large and lucrative practice, and is regarded as one of the lead- ing lawyers of southwestern Michigan. He is a close student of the funda- mental principles of his profession, has a fine library, and his counsel is largely sought. He excels especially in the careful preparation of his cases, and the management of the same in court, and he has been very suc- cessful 'in his cases. In politics he has always been a Republican, and is one of the leaders of that party in his part of the State. He has been a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the past six years, being a member of the executive committee for the last four years. He is also chairman of the Republican County Committee, which position he has held for the past ten years. At the last State convention at Detroit he was unanimously elected by the delegates from the Fourth District as the presidential elector for that district. He is also a member of the State Board of Pardons. Mr. Smith is a prominent Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter at Cassopolis, Niles Commandery No. 12, K. T., and Saladin Shrine at Grand Rapids.
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