USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 19
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As the common schools were developed, it was uni- versally recognized that they would supply very nearly the same kind of education which the acade- mies were designed to afford. There are now in the State about three hundred graded schools doing the work of academies. Each of these has a board of six Trustees, two of whom are elected annually for a term of three years.
General supervision of the work of education in the State is exercised by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Local supervision has, during most of the years of Michigan's history, been exercised by township or village officers chosen for the purpose.
The schools first came under county management in 1867, through the operation of a law passed at the session of the Legislature for 1866-67. This was entitled " An act to provide for County Superintend- ents of Schools." It prescribed the election of a County Superintendent in every organized county of the State having more than ten school districts. was provided that the Superintendent should be
It elected for a term of two years, and that the first elec- tion should be held on the first Monday of April, 1867. The compensation was to be decided by the Board of Supervisors. The duties of the County School Su- perintendent were explicitly defined. Among others were those of examining all persons offering them- selves as teachers, attendance in each township at least once a year, the issuance of certificates of three grades to those applicants passing examinations, and the visitation of every school in the county. He was also required to examine into the condition of school buildings, suggest plans for new or repairs on old ones, and to advance the interest in and efficiency of instruc- tion by the holding of institutes. delivery of lectures and other means in his power.
The first County Superintendent of Schools elected in Cass County was Chauney L. Whitney, elected April 1, 1867. He resigned the position in the fall of the same year, and the Rev. Albert H. Gaston was, upon October 22, appointed by Orimel Hosford, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, to fill the va- cancy. In 1869, Irvin Clendenen was elected, and in 1871 Lewis P. Rinehart. Samuel Johnson was chosen in 1873, and filled the office until 1875, when
it was abolished. From 1875 to 1881, public instruc- tion was managed by township authorities.
In 1881, the examination of teachers and other details of the supervision of educational interests was vested in a County Board, provided for in each county of the State by act of the Legislature. The board, it was specified, should be composed of three persons elected by the chairmen of the Township Boards of School Inspectors. In accordance with statutory pro- vision, a meeting was held at Cassopolis upon the 12th of August. At this meeting E. M. Stephenson was elected to serve for a term of one year, Michael Pem- berton for two years and Daniel B. Ferris for three years. Mr. Stephenson was subsequently chosen Secretary and Michael Pemberton Chairman of the Board.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BAR OF CASS COUNTY.
Alexander H. Redfield-Elias B. Sherman-Old Time Non-Resident Lawyers Sketched by one who knew Them-" Black Chip" and " White Chlp"-Biographical Sketch of James Sullivan- Ezekiel S. Smith-Henry H. Coolidge Clifford Shanahan-Daniel Blackman-George B. Turner-Andrew J. Smith-Younger At- torneys who have Practiced at the Cass County Bar.
T THE first lawyers in the county were Alexander H. Redfield and Elias B. Sherman. They were associated together in the proprietorship of Cassopolis, and it was principally through their influence that it was designated the county seat.
Alexander H. Redfield was the seventh son of Peleg Redfield, and was born in Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y., October 24, 1805. He studied three years at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., but graduated from Union College, Schenectady, in 1829. He studied law with James R. and Grove Lawrence and with Hon. Samuel Hammond, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York in July, 1831. In August of the same year, he came to Cass County. After assisting in laying out Cassopolis and securing the location of the seat of justice, he for many years made the village his home. He assisted in raising the first frame building in the town and was appointed the first Postmaster. In 1832, as a Colonel in the Michigan militla, during the Sauk or Black Hawk war, he went to Northern Illinois and for many days encamped on the site of Chicago. During his residence in Cassopolis, he not only prac- ticed law but carried on a very extensive miscella- neous business, of which, however, land speculation formed the greater part. His office was the brick building, still standing upon Broadway, in Cassopolis, next door to Capt. Joseph Harper's residence. Mr. Redfield was a man of very methodical business and
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professional habits. It is related by his friends that he could, in the darkest night, go to his office and select any book or package of papers he desired with abso- lute certainty. He was noted for his love of order. A cotemporary says that his chief excellence as a lawyer consisted of his thorough knowledge of the routine of office business. He was an able and safe counselor, but did not possess remarkable oratorical talent. His social qualities marked him as a thor- ough gentleman and made him a most genial com- panion. There was much of quiet humor in his composition, and a uniformity of good nature, which, with his rare mental characteristics, made him very popular as man and friend. His integrity was un- questioned, and he therefore possessed the almos tuni- versal respect of the people among whom he dwelt. Those persons who entertained for him any other feel- ings than those of friendship, admiration and respect, were very few, and their coldness was, almost without exception, of the kind that must arise occasionally from political differences. Mr. Redfield's large land business withdrew his attention more and more, as time went by, from the law, and interfered materially with his professional success. He also entered the field of politics, which claimed and received much of his time and energy. In 1847, he was elected State Senator from the Fourteenth District, and not long afterward moved to Detroit. An able and useful man was thus lost to Cass County. In 1856, he was elected to the State Senate from Detroit. Prior to this time, he served several years as one of the Re- gents of the State University. In 1857, he received from the President a commission appointing him as an agent among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. In this capacity, Mr. Redfield's services were responsible, arduous, and, to the Government, very valuable. Dur- ing the several years that he held the position, he made a number of expeditions through the region oc- cupied by the tribes to whose charge he had been as- signed, which included the head-waters of the Yellow- stone and the Missouri, and hield councils with thou- sands of the Indians, perfecting some beneficent meas- ures. In one journey he traveled 7,000 miles. On the expiration of his term of service as Indian Agent, he returned to Detroit and was soon afterward ap- pointed as Comptroller of the city, which office he held until failing health compelled him to resign it. He died November 24, 1869. It has been said that in every public trust imposed upon him, he gave en- tire satisfaction, and that of all the vast sums of pub- lic money disbursed by him, every penny was faith- fully accounted for. Mr. Redfield married, in 1842, Miss Phebe C. Dean. Their children, four in num- ber, were all born in Cassapolis.
Elias B. Sherman was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1803, removed with his parents to Cayuga County when four years of age, and there acquired his education. In 1825, he emigrated to Michigan, and after spending a season at Detroit went to Ann Arbor, where he was admitted to the bar in 1829. In September of that year, he first visited Cass County. In 1831, he took the leading part in the laying-out of the village of Cassopolis, and in securing the seat of justice, the story of which is told in the appropriate place in this volume. Messrs. Sherman and Red- field appeared in the first court held in the county. Mr. Sherman was appointed by Gov. Cass, November 7, 1829, as the first Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and held the position until 1836, when he was elected by the people. He was appointed Dis- trict Surveyor July 31, 1830, and held that office for six years. On March 4, 1831, he received appoint- ment to the office of Probate Judge, in which he remained until 1840. Mr. Sherman never had an extensive law practice. His time, during the earlier years of the history of the county, was devoted very largely to his official duties, and in later years he directed his attention entirely to farming. He has done much for the benefit of the village which he founded and for the county at large. Mr. Sherman was married to Sarah, daughter of Jacob Silver, on January 1, 1833, by Bishop Philander Chase, of the Episcopal Church, the ceremony being the first cele- brated in Cassopolis.
What we may call strictly the Cass County bar, was very small during the first ten or twelve years after settlement and the organization of the courts. Several of the old attorneys of adjoining counties who practiced in the Cass courts, owing to the small num- ber of the resident lawyers, have been very nicely sketched from memory by the Hon. George B. Turner :
" First, there were the two Chipmans-familiarly called " White Chip " and " Black Chip." Our im- pression is they were in no way related. The former, a resident of this county, was, we believe, a native of New England ; tall and straight as an arrow ; to a stranger he seemed rather pompous and distant in his demeanor, yet he was as companionable and good- hearted as any attorney it was our lot to meet.
" He was regarded as a fair lawyer and an honest one. At one time he was a member of the State Senate from our district, and was afterward elected County Judge for Cass County. So far as we can recollect, he gave general satisfaction in both posi- tions."
[" White Chip," Joseph N. Chipman above de- scribed, had only a short residence in Cass County,
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and lived most of the time in Niles. Ile was born in Vermont in 1803, and descended from a family in which were some of the most distinguished lawyers in that State. He settled in Niles in 1836, and died there in the year 1870.]
" John S. Chipman (" Black Chip"), of Berrien County, was, we think, a native of the State of New York. Like his namesake, he was tall and com- manding in person, but unlike him had raven black hair and eyes to match, and a facial development gen- erally, which rendered him always a terror to weak- kneed and timid witnesses. Mr. Chipman was regarded by many as one of the ablest lawyers in this judicial district, though we never believed him to be as deeply learned in the law as some others. He was a bold, impulsive and at all times an eloquent speaker ; pos- sessing a rich, full voice over which he had perfect con- trol. More than once have we heard him use it with decided effect, either to build up or demolish the char- acter of witnesses or suitor. His cloquence after all partook more of the 'spread eagle' character than of that fascinating kind, which, while it electrifies, impresses one thoroughly with the speaker's deep and scholarly attainments. He was never a favorite with the younger members of the bar, in consequence of his brusque manner of dealing with them. Toward witnesses, he was at times abusive ; but take him all in all he was a good lawyer. Elected to Congress from this district, he made a speech soon after reach- ing Washington, and, to use his own language ' planted himself on the ramparts of the Constitution' and doubtless would have remained there had not a wicked and mischievous Southern gentleman reached up and pulled all of the feathers out of his wings so that he came fluttering down to the level of his fellow- members. His morals were bad in several respects ; finally he went to California and, report says, died there an inebriate. With all his faults, John S. Chipman possessed many qualities, which his intimate personal friends might have controlled to his great advantage -to his final redemption from the principal evils which beset him-had they chosen to exert their power over him in that direction."
Charles Dana, who practiced much in this county during early years, was a resident of Berrien, and died at Niles many years ago. Mr. Turner has made the subjoined pen sketch of him : " He was a thin, dried up little man, with a remarkable feminine voice, but by all odds the best special pleader at the bar. Every- body liked Dana both for his goodness of heart and his unquestioned ability as a lawyer. In chancery practice, where plethoric bills or answers were to be drawn up or their framework dissected, he was per- fectly at home. As a speaker, he was dry and un-
interesting to the masses, yet at the same time was a close, sharp, logical reasoner. He ranked among the first lawyers of the State."
.Vincent L. Bradford was another practitioner well- known in Cass County. He settled in Niles in 1837, and did not remain very long in the West, but re- turned to Philadelphia from whence he had emigrated to Michigan. The rough and ready manners of the majority of the law practitioners of the new county and the social habits of the people were not tasteful to him. Mr. Turner considers him to have been one of the finest specimens of physical manhood he ever saw, and describes him as " always dressed with scrupulous neatness, each particular hair, pleat and ruffle being in its proper place. Withal, he was refined, sociable, gentlemanly, to an eminent degree. As a lawyer, he was thoroughly posted ; as a speaker, rapid and easy; yet we cannot say he was always interesting; on the contrary, somewhat tiresome ; his argument was usually spread over too much ground."
"Charles E. Stuart," says the writer we have above quoted, "or 'Little Charley,' as his ardent country admirers used to call him, was a native of the Empire State, and in their estimation held the first position at the bar of Kalamazoo and its adjoining counties. As a jury lawyer, he was certainly very successful ; for nearly all of the elements which go to make an attorney invincible before such a body, he possessed to a rare degree. Cool and self-possessed, with language smooth and insinuating, accompanied with an air of sincerity, and with a certain dignified and polished manner, which well-trained rhetoricians know so well how to bring to bear upon their hearers, his speeches always pleased and interested ; exer- cising strong common sense, a pretty accurate knowl- edge of the law, as well as human nature, we have the key to Mr. Stuart's success as a lawyer." He repre- sented this district in Congress at one time. and later was United States Senator from Michigan.
Samuel Clark, also of Kalamazoo County, a mem- ber of Congress from New York State before he set- tled in Michigan, " was regarded by many as the peer of Mr. Stuart at the bar, though differing from him in more respects than one. He was tall, rather slen- derly built, with black hair and eyes, always sustaining himself with a quiet, honest dignity of manner and speech, which won for him hosts of friends wherever he went. He was in truth a sound lawyer ; not really brilliant before a jury, but he possessed the happy fac- ulty of convincing that body that he was honest in the advocacy of his client's cause, and had the law and the facts on his side to sustain him. We would not detract one iota from the solid or brilliant acquire- ments of any other member of the bar, when we say
AfSmith
at Redfield
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
that Samuel Clark was our beau ideal of the gentle- man and lawyer combined."
At a later day many other attorneys, not residents of the county, have practiced in its courts, among the earlier of whom were James Brown and Nathaniel Bacon, of Niles, and Henry H. Riley, of St. Joseph County. In later years, the principal practitioner at the Cass bar, not residing in the county, was Frank- lin Muzzy, of Niles, who was admitted to the bar in Berrien County in 1842.
The name of James Sullivan recalls to the minds of those who knew him, a character in which was combined rare qualities of the mind and heart. In every sense of the word, except the chronological, he was unquestionably the first lawyer of the Cass County bar. James Sullivan, practitioner at this bar from 1838 to 1878, was born in Exeter, N. H, December 6, 1811. His ancestry was illustrious. Darcey McGee, in his history of the Irish settlers of North America, says : "In the year 1723, the Irish settlement of Belfast was established in Maine by a few families. Among them was a Limerick school- master by the name of Sullivan." His sons, John and James reached the height of civil and military authority. James was a Representative in Congress and Governor of Massachusetts; John (the grand- father of our subject), was the noted Gen. Sullivan, of the Revolution, was a Representative in Congress from New Hampshire, and Governor of the State from 1786 to 1789. His son, George, was for many years one of the most eminent members of the New Hamp- shire bar, Attorney General and successively member of the State Senate and of Congress. James Sulli- van had the fineness and the force of his fathers. It was not strange that with such an ancestry he should himself achieve eminence. He graduated from Dart- mouth College at the age of eighteen, ranking high in his class, and after practicing for a short time at Concord, N. H., he came in 1837 to Niles. He re- moved soon after to Edwardsburg, Cass County, and from there in less than a year to Cassopolis, where he achieved great success.
In 1853, he took up his residence in Dowagiac, where he resided until his death. His ability as a lawyer was of the highest order. IIe was a man of fine scholarship, of culture, and possessed a remark- ably clear and logical mind. He comprehended fully whatever subject he was considering, and seemed to recognize from the first the point upon which a case must ultimately turn. One of his brother members of the law says : "His statements were clear and his language accurate, and we can all say his logic was honest. He would not usurp or misrepresent the law, and he scorned the use of any trick or chicanery to
achieve a temporary triumph, and despised any one who would stoop to it." Another says : "That mag- netic fire of eloquence which sways the minds and hearts and passions of men, despite their reason and in defiance of logic, Mr. Sullivan did not possess ; or, certainly if he did, disdained to employ it. His elo- quence was of the higher and purer type, and was addressed to the intellect alone. His was a close-knit, logical, skillful and vigorous statement, displayed in apt and nervous language."
In moral character, Mr. Sullivan was all that the allusions to his professional honor would imply. He was unsuspecting, frank, his nature as guileless as that of a child. Some slight errors of conduct indeed ap- peared, but they could always be imputed to the nerv- ous impulses of his nature, rather than to any wrong intention. No man was ever more ready than he, when convinced of error, to make ample acknowl- edgement and reparation. He was eccentric and erratic, nervous and intense, and yet no man of gen- tler nature or kinder heart has been known to the old residents of Cass County. His nervousness was phe- nomenal, a source of much annoyance to himself, wonder to strangers and often of amusement to his friends. He seemed to have an instinctive dislike and distrust of all animals, and his morbid fear of riding behind a horse was often illustrated. The least irregularity in the gait of the animal, any slight and unusual motion of the head or ears, would throw him into a state of painful uneasiness, and sometimes a shying movement of the horse would cause him to leap from the carriage. An unfortunate deafness caused him also considerable trouble, and was a disadvantage which undoubtedly had a marked effect upon his life. It is probable that had it not been for this physical disability, the highest judicial honors in the State would have been his. His in- firmities did not disqualify him for the ordinary duties of his profession, but they contributed in no small degree to prevent his acceptance of positions which he could have well filled.
Mr. Sullivan was for a long time Prosecuting At- torney of this county ; was a State Senator and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850. While that body was in session he made a speech upon the Grand Jury system, which at the time was regarded as a master-piece of eloquence and logic, and gave evidence of the most profound study. He died in August, 1878.
John T. Adams came to the county about 1835, and settled at Edwardsburg. He had a small practice during his brief residence in the county. In 1836, he was elected Probate Judge, but did not qualify for the office. We have no biographical facts concerning K
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Mr. Adams, and about the only thing which old resi- years of age. In 1835, Sterling A. Turner emigrated dents remember concerning him is that he was a remarkably fine looking man.
Frederick Lord was a resident of the county for a short time prior to 1839, in which year he removed to Van Buren County, and settled at Paw Paw.
In the year 1839, a young man named Masters, from Albany, N. Y., became a practitioner at the Cass bar, but he soon disappeared, moving probably to the farther West.
Ezekiel S. Smith came to the county in 1840, with a commission from Gov. Woodbridge as Prosecuting Attorney. After his term was served out, he prac- ticed law more or less, until about 1852, when he removed to Chicago, where he died in 1880. While here he followed successively the occupations of editor and merchant, as well as that of the lawyer, and found time to " take a hand in politics." As a lawyer, he is described as having been energetic, almost without parallel, in getting evidence, but not so good in the management of his cases in court. He was bold and aggressive, but lacked ability as a logician. Mr. Smith was fertile in resources ; would take hold of almost any project, and was always well provided with great plans for the future. He is said to have been a man of very fine appearance.
Judge Henry H. Coolidge, now of Niles, resided in Cass County for a term of about fifteen years, and has practiced at the Cass bar and presided over its court since his removal. He was born at Leominster, Mass., in August, 1811, and educated at Amherst College. He came to Michigan and settled at Ed- wardsburg in 1836. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1850, and removed to Niles in 1859. He was elected Prosecut- ing Attorney for Berrien County in 1862. and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1867. In 1872, he was appointed as Circuit Court Judge to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Daniel Blackman, and in 1876 was elected to the same office, which he resigned about two years later. His son, Orville W., who was admitted to the bar in Cass County in 1865, now resides at Niles.
George Brunt Turner, of Cassopolis, was one of the earliest resident practitioners at this bar. He was born in Franklin County, N. Y., March 1, 1822. and was the youngest son of Ralph and Mary (Thompson) Brunt, natives of the North of Ireland, who had emigrated to America a short time before his birth. When the subject of our sketch was three years old, both of his parents died of malarial fever, and he was adopted by Sterling A. Turner, a Virginian, taking the name of his benefactor. He was educated in the public schools of New York until thirteen
to Michigan, and as he passed through Detroit he found a place for his adopted son in an auction and commission house. Mr. Turner settled in Niles, to which place George B. followed him, and, in July, 1836, they removed to Cassopolis. In this place, which, as it proved, was to be his permanent home, the lad was occupied for the first four years, or until 1840, in attending school, teaching and clerking. During the next four years, he studied law in the office of Alexander H. Redfield, Esq., and was admit- ted to the bar September 27, 1844, before Judge Epaphroditus Ransom, the Examining Committee being Ezekiel S. Smith, James Sullivan and Alexan- der H. Redfield. In the meantime, he had by the aid of his preceptor and other gentlemen, who had taken an interest in him, acquired a knowledge of the higher mathematics and the languages, and pursued a systematic course of reading in history, acting under the advice of Nathaniel (afterward Judge) Bacon. He had also practiced in the justice courts, and thus obtained not only a valuable experience, but some remuneration. An event which occurred upon the day he was admitted to the bar serves to illustrate one phase of Mr. Turner's character, and in a certain degree the state of society at that time. He had not long before stabbed with a pocket knife and danger- ously wounded a notorious bully who had made an unprovoked assault upon him to revenge a spite, Mr. Turner having made efforts to force the payment of a debt owed by the bully, which had been given to him for collection. The Sheriff who arrested him became his bondsman, and every member of the bar present at the term of court volunteered his services free of charge in his defense. There were several counts in the indictment, the first being assault with intent to kill and murder, and another, simple assault. Mr. Turner was acquitted of the more serious charge and found guilty upon the smaller offense. Public opin- ion was in favor of his entire acquittal, and the jury would doubtless have so decided had there not been a couple of Quakers in the body whose strong non-com- bative principles urged them to bestow a slight repri- mand. The same Judge before whom Mr. Turner was admitted to the bar heard the trial for murder and imposed the lightest fine allowed by law for assault. The incident was used against him by Mr. Turner's political opponents, when he was a candidate for the Legislature in 1848, but as a campaign gun it proved ineffectual. He was elected and served so satisfactorily that he was returned in 1849. In 1850, he was compelled to abandon his profession by reason of ill health, and removed to a farm in Jefferson Town- ship. In 1856, he was nominated upon the Demo-
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