USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 60
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affairs of the local militia, and after the war was well under way he enlisted and saw active service. After the close of the war he re- mained in the Government service, looking after Government prop- erty in the southern States. In 1866 he returned to Grand Rapids and settled on a farm in Grand Rapids township, where he remained until 1871, when he removed to Illinois and lived at Rock Island and Hovey until his death, July 17, 1871.
John W. Champlin was born in Kingston, Ulster County, New York, Feb. 17, 1831. He lived at home and worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years of age, a period in life which meant much more seventy years ago than it does at present. His ear- ly education was received in the common schools and academy at Harpersfield, and the academies at Stamsford and Rheinbeck. After attaining his majority he pursued a course of civil engineering at Delaware Institute as a preparation of what he then conceived would be his life work. For about two years he engaged in the practical work of civil engineering in New York State. In 1854, he decided the profession of law would be more congenial and at once set about the business of qualifying himself for entering it. He came to Michi- gan and took up the study in the office of his elder brother, Stephen G., who had settled in Grand Rapids as a practicing lawyer in the previous year. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar after an exami- nation before Judge George Martin, who was afterward chief jus- tice of the Supreme Court. Without delay he entered into the prac- tice at Grand Rapids, which was continuous and constantly expanding for more than fifty years, interrupted only by judicial service. In 1856 he prepared a revision of the charter of Grand Rapids, which evidenced his ability and understanding of the law to an extent re- markable for one who had engaged in the practice less than a year. He served a term as city recorder of Grand Rapids and a term as mayor of the city. In 1883 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected justice of the Supreme Court, entering upon his judicial functions Jan. 1, 1884. For eight years he was one of the hard- working, painstaking and clear-headed judges of the court. At the end of his term he resumed private practice with the added visage which always attends honorable and praiseworthy service on the ap- pellate bench. He was one of the lecturers in the law department of the University of Michigan, holding the place until Oct. 1, 1896, when he resigned after a service of five years. Judge Champlin died July 24, 1901.
George H. White and George Gray were added to the list of Grand Rapids attorneys in 1856. The former has already been given mention in the list of circuit court commissioners. George Gray was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, June 20, 1824. In early life he was a civil engineer and took high rank in his chosen profession, hav- ing received a collegiate education. He came to Grand Rapids in 1855 and on Dec. 22, 1856, was admitted to the bar of Kent County before Judge Martin ; and at once he became a partner of Solomon L. Withey, which partnership continued until 1862. He entered the mili- tary service and became colonel of the Sixth Michigan cavalry, see- ing active service and winning distinction in the Gettysburg campaign of 1863. After the war he resumed the practice of his profession at.
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Grand Rapids and continued until 1870, when he entered the service of the Northern Pacific Railroad and removed to New York City. He afterward became general counsel for the company and remained as such until failing health compelled him to relinquish the duties. He then removed to Orange, N. J., where he died a number of years ago.
William E. Grove was born near Geneva, Ontario County, New York, Nov. 27, 1833. His early life was spent on the farm, where he developed the sturdy physique which stood him so well in hand in the later years of his life. After attending Swift's Academy and the Union High School, he entered Hobart College, in Geneva, in which school he was graduated with high honors. With his collegiate train- ing as a foundation for his future life, he left the East and came to Grand Rapids, where he took up the study of law, in 1857, in the of- fice of J. T. Holmes, afterward judge of the Superior Court. Soon after his admission to'the bar, in March, 1859, the ambitious young man became a candidate for justice of the peace and was elected. Sev- en years later the call of the West again urged him to move onward, and he went to Neosha Falls, Kan. He was elected prosecuting at- torney of Woodson County, in that State, and he also served as city attorney at Neosha Falls. After five years of Kansas life he decided that Michigan was the place for him, and he returned to Grand Rap- ids. In his legal career, before he was appointed to the Seventeenth judicial circuit, to succeed Judge Montgomery, he was associated with George W. Thompson, J. M. Harris, and J. S. Lawrence. At the next regular election after his appointment to the bench he was easily elected for the balance of the term. In 1893 he was the choice of all parties for the judgeship, although he was nominated by the Repub- licans. He retired from the bench Dec. 31, 1900. After leaving the bench he formed a law partnership with Elvert M. Davis, which con- tinued for two years, and in 1904 he formed a partnership with John S. McDonald, now judge of the Circuit Court, which continued for five years. He retired from active practice in 1915, and he died at his residence in Grand Rapids, June 3, 1918.
James A. Rogers was born in Northern Vermont, June 30, 1834. When he was a small boy his people moved to Michigan, but when he was sixteen years old he returned to Springfield, Mass., where he was graduated in the high school and learned pharmacy. From 1857 until 1859 he was in the drug business at Indianapolis, Ind. Then he studied law for a time and came to Grand Rapids, about 1860, and soon afterward was admitted to the bar. He was a partner with James Miller and afterward was a member of the firm of Rogers, Clay & Sliter. He died May 25, 1895.
G. Chase Godwin was a native-born Kent County lawyer, having first seen the light of day in Wyoming township, April 18, 1840. He was educated in the common schools of the county and the city schools of Grand Rapids. In 1862 he began the study of law in the offices of Holmes & Champlin, and was admitted in 1864. He soon afterward commenced business for himself and was a practicing lawyer in Grand Rapids until his death, Feb. 26, 1891. He was judge of the Record- er's Court from 1871 to 1875 and was city attorney in 1879. In Au- gust, 1886, he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Western District of Michigan by President Cleveland, and held the office until 1890.
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Isaac H. Parrish was born in Ontario County, New York, April 2, 1826, and came to Oakland County, Michigan, in 1834. His youth was spent in farm life, the family lived in a log house in the woods, and all his school education was acquired in a log school house in Farmington. After he was twenty years of age he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. Then for twelve years he practiced suc- cessively at Pontiac, in Wisconsin, and at Chicago. He came to Grand Rapids in 1861. In 1865 he was appointed clerk of the United States Circuit and District courts here, and held that position ten years, after which he returned to law practice. In 1881 he was elected judge of the Superior Court, and ably filled the position during the term of six years. Some two years later he removed from the city.
Augustus D. Griswold was born in Oneida County, New York, Oct. 11, 1823. He came from Rome, N. Y., to Michigan, in 1856, and soon thereafter located in Grand Rapids. He was elected to the Leg- islature in 1862, was re-elected in 1864, and served as speaker pro tem. of the house during the session of 1865, and also as chairman of the judiciary committee. He served as United States District At- torney from 1865 to 1869, except six months when he was removed by President Johnson, and afterward was reappointed by the same authority. He left Grand Rapids about 1875 and removed to Ovid, Clinton County, where he continued the active practice of his profes- sion.
James Blair and E. C. Watkins began the practice of law in Grand Rapids in 1865. The former was born on the shores of Lake George, in Putnam County, New York, Jan. 2, 1830. When he was twelve years of age his father's family moved to Michigan and stopped for a few months in Jackson County, and then located in Walker township, Kent County, where James Blair lived on a farm until he was eighteen years old. He then came to Grand Rapids and this place was his home until his death, Dec. 18, 1892. His education was obtained in the common schools. After coming to Grand Rapids he was in business with Porter & Roberts and C. C. Comstock for many years. In 1856 he was city clerk. Soon after Colonel Gray returned from the war, Mr. Blair commenced to study law with him and was admitted to the bar in 1865. He was employed by Colonel Gray until the latter left the city and then succeeded to his business. In 1871 he formed a partnership with Lyman D. Norris, under the firm name of Norris & Blair, which afterward became Norris, Blair & Kingsley, and then Blair, Stone & Kingsley, followed by Blair, Eggleston, Kings- ley & Kleinhans, and then Blair, Kingsley & Kleinhans, which con- tinued for many years, until Mr. Blair's death. Mr. Blair was a mem- ber of the Grand Rapids Board of Education for eleven years and served as its president four terms. He was appointed by Governor Begole a member of the Board of Trustees for the Industrial School for Boys and served one term. In 1885 he was appointed postmaster at Grand Rapids by President Cleveland and held the office five years.
Moses Taggart was born in Niagara County, New York. He studied law while a young man and was graduated at the University of Michigan in 1868. He began practicing his profession under his uncle, Moses Taggart, in Buffalo, but later went to Cedar Springs, Iowa, where he remained six months before locating in Grand Rap-
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ids in 1869. In 1884 he was elected to the position of attorney-general of the State of Michigan. His fame as a lawyer of note spread, and he was appointed to the office of city attorney of Grand Rapids in 1901. In 1902 he was elected to that position and held it for twelve consecutive years. He died at his summer home at White Lake, Aug. 20, 1914.
Mark M. Powers was born in Cortland County, New York, in 1845. He first came to Grand Rapids in 1868; then took a course of law at the Michigan University, after which, in 1869, he returned here and engaged in the practice of his profession. He continued so engaged until his death, May 15, 1906.
Willard A. Kingsley was born Dec. 25, 1845, at Huntington, Lorain County, Ohio. He was graduated in the literary department of the University of Michigan, in the class of 1868. He pursued his legal studies at the University of Michigan and at Harvard, and was admitted at Detroit before the Michigan Supreme Court in 1870. Lo- cating in Grand Rapids, he soon became a member of the law firm of Norris, Blair & Kingsley, which afterward became Blair, Eggle- ston, Kingsley & Kleinhans, then Blair, Kingsley & Kleinhans, and later Kingsley & Wicks. The last named partnership existed until his death, which occurred in a hospital at Waukesha, Wis., Jan. 10, 1913.
Emil A. Dapper was born in the city of New York, Feb. 21, 1844, and was admitted to the bar in that city. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in Company B, Fifty-ninth New York infantry, and served with distinction throughout the war. At its close he was mustered out as captain. He then was managing clerk in a law office in New York City from 1865 to 1869, when he came to Grand Rapids. In 1871 he was admitted to the bar here, and continued in practice until his death, which occurred Nov. 12, 1906.
Lyman D. Norris was born in Genesee County, New York, May 4, 1823, and died at his home in Grand Rapids, Jan. 6, 1894. His par- ents migrated to Michigan in 1827, and settled where now is the city of Ypsilanti. In boyhood, Lyman D. attended the schools of Ypsi- lanti, but was prepared for college in a Presbyterian school at Mar- shall, which was called "Michigan College." He entered the first class of the University of Michigan when it opened, in 1841. He spent his senior year at Yale, in which he was graduated in 1845. He at once returned to Ann Arbor and was also graduated the same year in the University of Michigan with the class in which he had entered that institution. After his double graduation he studied law in the office of Alexander D. Fraser, of Detroit, and was admitted in 1847. In 1848 he went to St. Louis, Mo., to practice law. Two years later he visited Europe on legal business and attended a course of lectures on civil law at Heidelberg. While in St. Louis Mr. Norris was also editor and part owner of the St. Louis Times, which was then the leading Democratic newspaper of the Mississippi Valley. In 1854 he returned to Ypsilanti, where for seventeen years he practiced law and managed the business of his father's estate. In 1871 he came to Grand Rapids and formed a partnership with James Blair, under the firm name of Norris & Blair, the firm afterward becoming Norris, Blair & Kingsley, and then Norris, Blair and Stone. In 1875 he
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formed a partnership with Edwin F. Uhl, which continued until 1887, when the firm of Norris & Norris was formed, and this continued un- til the death of L. D. Norris. In 1867 Mr. Norris was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and in 1869 he was elected State Senator. In 1875 he was the nominee of his party for justice of the Supreme Court. In 1883 he was appointed a regent of the Univer- sity of Michigan.
David D. Hughes was born at Camillus, Onondaga County, New York, Feb. 1, 1823. He secured his academic education at Syracuse and Canandaigua. The family came to Michigan in 1840 and settled on a farm in Eaton County, where his mother died within a year. Mr. Hughes was thrown upon his own resources at the age of seven- teen and in 1842 went to Charlotte, where he remained a year, and while there held the position of deputy county clerk, deputy county surveyor, and under sheriff. In 1843 he entered the law office of M. S. Brackett, maintaining himself in the meantime by teaching a select school for young ladies. In 1844 he went to Marshall, where he en- tered the office of Gibbs & Bradley, a leading law firm of Southern Michigan. Here he remained until his admission to the Calhoun County bar on examination in August, 1846. Beginning in 1846 and continuing for several years, Mr. Hughes was the editor of the Demo- cratic Expounder, a weekly newspaper published in Marshall. Isaac E. Crary, the first member of Congress from Michigan, and Abner Pratt, as partners under the firm name of Pratt & Crary, had built up a large business in Marshall, and by the election of Mr. Pratt as justice o fthe Supreme Court in 1850, the firm was dissolved and Mr. Hughes became Mr. Crary's partner. In 1854, Mr. Crary died, and in 1855 Mr. Hughes formed a partnership with Justin D. Woolley, and from that time his business as a trial lawyer continued to increase un- til he was compelled to abandon his local practice and devote his time exclusively to the trial of important cases throughout the State, and thenceforth until the close of his life work he was perhaps the lead- ing trial lawyer in Michigan, both in civil and criminal practice. In 1871 he was appointed general counsel of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company and the Continental Improvement Company. This placed in his hands the law business of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and of the Pennsylvania Company in Michigan, and to fa- cilitate his work he moved to Grand Rapids, where the general offices of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company were situated. Shortly before this he had formed a partnership with T. J. O'Brien, under the firm name of Hughes & O'Brien. Their business grew un- til it was necessary to add another member to the firm, and M. J. Smiley was admitted to partnership, the firm becoming Hughes, O'Brien & Smiley, which was dissolved by the death of Mr. Hughes, June 12, 1883. In politics Mr. Hughes was a Democrat, but never figured as a politician, although he served as mayor of Marshall for two terms and was for years a member of the Board of Education. While his party was in the minority in the State he decided to run for office and became a candidate for Congress and afterward for justice of the Supreme Court, but was defeated with his party.
Peter O. Voorheis was born in Oakland County. He was gradu- ated in the literary department of the Michigan University in 1870,
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and in the law department in 1872. He came at once to Grand Rap- ids and practiced law until his death, Sept. 17, 1890.
James E. McBride was born at Woodville, Sandusky County, Ohio, Nov. 16, 1847. He graduated in the scientific department of Notre Dame in June, 1868, and in the Michigan University in 1870. He was admitted to the bar in Toledo, Ohio, in April, 1870, and in June, 1872, came to Grand Rapids, where he continued in active prac- tice until his death, Dec. 8, 1912. He was the first police magistrate in Grand Rapids, serving from 1874 until 1878.
Mitchell J. Smiley was born in South Avon, N. Y., May 2, 1841, and ten years later moved with his parents to Van Buren County, Michigan, where they settled on a farm. At the age of seventeen, he became a student at Kalamazoo College, paying his expenses by teaching school a part of each year. In 1860 he began the study of law under the direction of N. A. Balch, of Kalamazoo, who was then at the height of a successful career. Two years later Mr. Smiley was admitted to the bar and at once entered into partnership with his pre- ceptor, which association was continued for ten years, when the firm dissolved and Mr. Smiley entered into co-partnership with Messrs. Hughes and O'Brien, of Grand Rapids, where he removed in 1872. Upon the death of Mr. Hughes in 1883, Mr. Smiley organized the firm of Smiley & Earle, which was dissolved in 1891 by the death of Mr. Earle. He next formed a partnership with William Alden Smith and Frederick W. Stevens, which continued until February, 1895, when this also was dissolved and Mr. Smiley removed to Chicago on ac- count of the greater facilities afforded there for the executive man- agement of corporations in another State.
John C. Fitzgerald was born in Berlin, Huron County, Ohio, in 1835, and in his infancy was brought by his parents to Springfield, Jackson County, Michigan. His early days were spent on the farm, with the privilege of attending the district schools during a few months of the year. His early education was secured with money earned by teaching school, and this enabled him to attend the Albion College. Upon leaving school, he went to Jackson and entered the office of Austin Blair, who afterward was Michigan's war Governor. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, after which he continued to prac- tice in Jackson until 1860, when he removed to Marshall, Calhoun County. He remained there until 1873, holding the office of prosecut- ing attorney from 1861 to 1865. In 1873 he entered into partnership with Champlin & Butterfield, of Grand Rapids, and this association continued for several years. Mr. Fitzgerald practiced in Grand Rap- ids until 1905, when he removed to California.
William D. Fuller was born in Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio, Sept. 3, 1840, and at the age of five years came to Grand Rapids with his parents. In 1858 the father opened a general store and in this business the son assisted until 1861, when he went to Hiram, Ohio, to attend school. Returning to Michigan in 1863, he engaged in busi- ness at Berlin. This proved an unfortunate venture and a short time afterward he took up the study of the law, reading in the office of his father-in-law, Col. John H. Standish, at Newaygo. He was ad- mitted to the Newaygo County bar in 1864, at the age of twenty-four years, and was elected prosecuting attorney in 1868, serving four
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years. He was again elected to the same office in 1882. He held a number of other State and county offices and then, in 1888, again moved to Grand Rapids, where he resided until his death, March 20, 1908. For a period of ten years he was reporter for the State Su- preme Court.
Henry J. Felker was born in Park township, St. Joseph county, Jan. 22, 1847. He was educated in the common schools of St. Joseph County and in the Three Rivers High School, and graduated at Al- bion College in 1872. Soon afterward he began to study law at Char- lotte, Mich., in the office of Philip T. VanZile, and he was admitted in April, 1874. He commenced practice in Marcellus, Cass County, but soon removed to Grand Rapids and for a time was clerk in the office of Godwin & Holmes. In 1876 he formed a partnership with A. J. Reeves, which continued until 1883, when he formed a partner- ship with E. A. Maher, which continued until 1890. In 1894 Mr. Felker was appointed city attorney and held the position five years. Soon after leaving the city attorney's office his health began to fail and he died Nov. 26, 1902. He was a member of the Grand Rapids School Board fifteen years, for three of which he was its president.
Horton H. Drury was born in Vermont, but came west when a youth. He enlisted in the Federal army at the time of the Civil War, and at the engagement at Perryville, Ky., was shot in the left shoul- der and never recovered the use of the shoulder joint. After his re- covery and discharge he entered the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a bachelor of arts and later received a diploma from the same institution as a bachelor of laws. He started the prac- tice of his profession at Escanaba and came to Grand Rapids in 1875. He was successively a member of the legal firms of Churchill & Drury, Drury & Maher, and Drury & Wolcott. In the early eighties he was twice elected a member of the Board of Education. He died March 18, 1909.
Henry B. Fallass was born at Fallassburg, a village near Lowell, this county, his parents having been among the earliest pioneers of that region. In the late '60s he came to Grand Rapids, where he taught school and was for a time county superintendent of schools. He then began the study of law and entered the University of Michi- gan, in the law department of which he was graduated in 1875. With Clark H. Gleason, a fellow-graduate, he then opened a law office in the Powers Theatre Building, and that association existed two years, after which Mr. Fallass practiced alone. He died May 16, 1907.
John W. Holcomb was born in New York State. He went to Canada when very young, and after finishing common school gradu- ated at the Toronto University with the degrees of A. B., A. M., and LL. B., in 1862. He went to New York in 1863, and practiced there until 1876, when he came to Grand Rapids. He then continued to practice here until his death, which occurred about 1908.
Frank G. Holmes was born in Albion, Calhoun County, Michi- gan, Nov. 18, 1842. He was educated in the common schools until 1855, and then attended the Wesleyan Seminary, now Albion Col- lege, until 1860. After a course in the University of Michigan law department, he was admitted to the bar in 1866, and commenced prac- tice at Marshall, Mich., continuing there until 1876. He was assistant 1-30
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United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1872. He removed to Grand Rapids in 1876, and became deputy prosecuting attorney of Kent County, following Judge J. W. Stuart, and after- wards practiced here as a member of the firm of Holmes & Holmes.
Edwin F. Uhl was born in the town of Rush, near Avon Springs, in the State of New York, Aug. 14, 1841. His parents moved to Michigan in 1844. When about thirteen years of age, Edwin entered the Ypsilanti Seminary, and was not quite seventeen when he com- pleted his preparatory course. In 1858 he entered Michigan Univer- sity in the classical course, and there his career was marked by the same qualities as his preparatory course. He gained an enviable standing in college by virtue of conscientious, hard work, and was graduated in the class of 1862, with a most honorable record. Imme- diately he took up the study of law in the office of Norris & Ninde, at Ypsilanti, and in January, 1864, was admitted to the bar of Michi- gan before the Supreme Court of the State. In 1866 he formed a partnership with Hon. Lyman D. Norris, then of Ypsilanti, under the style of Norris & Uhl, and this relation continued until 1871, when Mr. Norris removed to Grand Rapids. In 1871 and 1872 Mr. Uhl was prosecuting attorney for the county of Washtenaw, and in 1873 he became associated with Albert Crane, under the firm name of Uhl & Crane. This partnership continued until 1876, when Mr. Uhl came to Grand Rapids and renewed his partnership with Mr. Norris, which business association continued uninterrupted for a period of eleven years. At the beginning of 1887, Mr. Norris retired from the firm and Mr. Uhl once more became associated with Albert Crane, who had then also removed to Grand Rapids. Their partnership con- tinued until Mr. Uhl accepted the position of Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, in October, 1893. In 1890 he was elected mayor of Grand Rapids, and in 1891 was elected for a second term by a large majority. He left the office of mayor with the universal respect of his fellow-townsmen ; and in the Democratic State conven- tion of 1894 he received the unanimous nomination of his party for United States Senator, but as his party was in the minority in the Legislature, the nomination proved only an honorable endorsement by his party friends. Upon the resignation of Mr. Quincy as Assist- ant Secretary of State, in October, 1893, that position was tendered Mr. Uhl by the President, and accepted. As soon as he could ar- range his business and private affairs, he took up his residence at Washington and entered upon the discharge of the duties of the posi- tion. In February, 1896, the President appointed Mr. Uhl American ambassador plenipotentiary to the German Empire, and in the follow- ing month he proceeded to Berlin and entered upon his duties, which continued until the Spring of 1897, when the Hon. Andrew D. White, who had been one of Mr. Uhl's teachers, was commissioned to suc- ceed him. Returning to the United States in the Summer of 1897, Mr. Uhl resumed the practice of law, in Chicago and in Grand Rap- ids, but in 1899 he settled down for a quiet life. His health began to decline, and on Friday, May 17, 1901, he peacefully passed over to the majority.
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