USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 17
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In the celebrated burglary case, wherein Guy M. Trowbridge's house was bur- glarized, Governor Wisner aided the prosecution, and made a very fine argument in closing the case, and also made a very effective illustration in the course of it, by discharging a pistol which was claimed to be unloaded. He was careful to point it where no damage could accrue to persons, but it damaged with telling effect the defense and its theories. In 1858 Mr. Wisner was elected governor of Michigan, and served the State two years, 1859 and 1860, though he did not turn his attention to politics until after the presidential election of 1852. He was an effective speaker on the stump, as well as a powerful advocate before a jury. In the campaign of 1856 he addressed a Fremont gathering, and the opening sentence of his speech will give the key to what followed. It was delivered in the peculiar deep chest-tones of the speaker, and thrilled the audience with its earnestness and power. He said, " Two hundred and forty years ago was heard the first clank of chains on a slave on American soil !" At the close of his guberna- torial term Governor Wisner returned to Pontiac and resumed his profession, and remained so engaged until the summer of 1862, when he entered the field of war at the head of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, which was raised largely by his own exertions, as colonel, but was taken ill with typhoid fever, and died at Lexington, Kentucky, January 5, 1863. He lies in the Pontiac cemetery, and a massive monument attests his valor and patriotism. There is a good story told of the governor, which illustrates his rather reckless manner of quotation, and also his ready repartee. His knowledge of the law was good, but his general reading had not been carried to the same extent as his legal attainments, and his quotations were generally rather wide of the mark in matter of authorship, and especially so was it in relation to the Scriptures, which was his favorite source of quotation. While prosecuting a case of felony before Judge Turner, Judge Cro- foot being on the defense, the instance in question occurred. Judge Crofoot had made one of his powerful appeals to the jury for sympathy for the prisoner on account of his poverty and family, and when the governor rose to reply he at once proceeded to counteract, if possible, the evidently strong impression the op- posing counsel had made on the jury for his client. He said, " The law knows no difference between the rich criminal and the poor one, the criminal with a
family and one without, but, in the language of the Holy Scripture, he that danceth must pay the fiddler !" A shout went up from jury, counsel, bench, and audience, and Judge Turner, albeit a very dignified jurist on the bench, but en- joying a good thing when it came in his way, as soon as the merriment subsided, leaned over, and said, " Governor, give us the chapter and verse, if you please." Again the laugh went round at the expense of the statesman, but he, unabashed, and with dignity and an air of well-affected astonishment, turned to the desk, and, with his peculiar expletive, exclaimed, "Great God ! is it possible that we have upon the bench a person so ignorant of the Holy Scriptures ?" And then the laugh recoiled from his excellency to his honor, in which the latter joined heartily.
John S. Goodrich was from the State of New York, and was admitted to practice in the Oakland courts in November, 1840. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court after he removed from Oakland to Genesee county. He was unmarried, rather ungainly in personal appearance, painfully awkward in manner, but possessed of the most wonderful powers of memory, and was a library in himself. It is said he read Hume's history of England through in forty-eight hours, and from that single and rapid perusal could give every important event, and its date, recorded therein. He died in 1851, at Goodrichville, in Genesee county,-a village to which his family gave its name, and where a brother now resides.
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Calvin C. Parks was admitted February 4, 1841, and located at Pontiac. He formerly lived at Auburn, and was for many years a prominent justice of the peace of the county. He removed to Illinois, and died at the residence of his son in Waukegan, Calvin C. Parks, a prominent blooded-stock breeder.
James McCabe was admitted to the bar March, 1842. He was a mason by trade when he turned his attention to law, and afterwards was a partner for a time of James B. Hunt, and now resides in California.
Hon. Augustus C. Baldwin was admitted to the bar in May, 1842. He had for years an extensive practice, and was prosecuting attorney in 1853-54. He was in the legislature in 1844-46, and served the fifth Congressional district in the thirty-eighth Congress of the United States. He was elected to the bench of the sixth judicial circuit in 1875, and is now the presiding judge of the circuit. He is a profound jurist, and the ablest member of the Oakland bar during its entire history. His power lies in his extensive research and depth of reasoning in the law, and, always good before a jury, sometimes rises to grand periods of eloquence. He has gathered about him the best law and literary library owned by any private individual in the northwest, possessing, in 1871, one of the only three complete sets of American Reports in the United States, but which he has since disposed of.
Charles B. Lord was admitted November, 1842. He was formerly from Buf- falo, New York, and now resides in St. Louis. He was a fair lawyer and a writer of considerable note, being a frequent contributor to Harper's Magazine.
A. Bernard Cudworth was admitted to the bar in Lapeer county in November, 1842, and for twelve years was located at Rochester, when he came to Pontiac, where he has since resided. He is still actively engaged in the pursuit of his profession. He is a man of rare natural eloquence, quick at repartee, and a good lawyer. He was mayor of the city of Pontiac in 1865, and attorney of the city previously. His parents were natives of Massachusetts, but he was born in Schenectady, New York, but removed to Genesee county when quite young, and from thence to Michigan.
Ezra P. Baldwin was admitted to the bar December 11, 1843, and located at Birmingham, and removed to the west some years ago. He was a member of the legislature, but never gained a very large practice in the courts of record as a lawyer.
Loren L. Treat was admitted November 20, 1844, and located at Canandaigua, now Orion village. He was State senator, and had a good practice in the county. He now lives in Oxford township, and gives his attention to farming. He was well read, and possessed of considerable power before a jury.
Thornton F. Brodhead was admitted to the bar in August, 1843. He was subsequently postmaster of Detroit. He was also a lieutenant in the Pontiac company in the Mexican war, and colonel of the First Michigan cavalry, and was killed at the second battle of Bull Run.
De Witt C. Bancroft was admitted in December, 1845, and is now deceased.
Judge Levi B. Taft is a native of Bellingham, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, where he was born August 6, 1821. He came to Michigan in 1834, and read law with Hon. Jacob M. Howard and Messrs. Barstow & Lockwood, and graduated from Dartmouth college in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, in the supreme court, and also in the United States courts. He practiced his profession in Chicago sixteen years, and from that city came to Pontiac and continued his practice until 1873, when he was elected judge of the sixth judicial circuit, and presided over the courts of the same until December 31, 1875, when he retired from the bench and resumed his practice in Pontiac, which he still continues.
In 1845, General Hester L. Stevens, an eminent attorney of Rochester, New
48
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
York, located in Pontiac, and began the practice of his profession. He was pros- ecuting attorney in 1847-48, and with Judge Baldwin formed a law partnership in 1849 and 1850. In 1851 he was elected to Congress from the district in which he resided, and took up his residence in Washington after his congressional term expired, and practiced extensively before the court of claims. He was an able lawyer and a man of high social position, and is now deceased.
Josiah W. Crane was admitted in December, 1846, but never attained to any eminence in the profession. He removed to Milwaukee, where he became a most successful insurance manager, and amassed a fortune. He is now dead.
Edwin J. Bell was admitted at the same time with Crane. Dr. Bell, of Ox- ford, is his son. He died in Oxford.
Sardis F. Hubbell was admitted also in December, 1846, and soon after re- moved to Howell, Livingston county, where he is still in practice.
Wm. P. Yerkes also was admitted in December, 1846. He subsequently re- moved to Detroit, where he was elected judge of probate, and held the position for some time, being succeeded in the position by a nephew. He resides in that city at the present time.
W. H. Wilder was admitted in 1840, and located at Birmingham, and after- wards removed to Texas, where at last advices he was living.
Charles Rhinehart was admitted in August, 1846, and, though an Oakland boy, never practiced here, but removed to Ohio.
Albert G. White was admitted August, 1843, but practiced but little, if at all, in the county.
Wm. L. Webber, now of East Saginaw, was admitted to the bar in Oakland County in 1850, having read law with Judge Baldwin. He located first at Milford.
John D. Irvine was admitted in 1850.
John R. Sharpsteen was admitted in 1847, but did not remain in the county long. He removed to Wisconsin, and held the position of attorney-general of the State for a time, and is somewhat prominent there now.
Judge Michael E. Crofoot, one of the leading members of the Oakland bar, and whose powers as an attorney have reflected honor upon the profession of the law, was admitted to the practice of the same in Rochester, New York, previous to 1846, and in the Oakland courts February 12, 1848. His first great case was the trial of the bismuth murder case, so called, wherein he gained much celebrity in the defense of the accused, and procured the acquittal of his client. He pursued his legal studies with General H. L. Stevens. He was judge of probate eight years. He has also an office in Detroit, whither he goes every day when not en- gaged in the courts elsewhere, and has an extensive practice both in Oakland and the city. Judge Crofoot's power is greatest in getting in his proofs, but is also otherwise effective with a jury; and is always ready for his arguments, and uni- form in his manner of presenting the same. His success has been and is marked.
Mark Arnold was admitted in December, 1853, and resided in Farmington. He died some years ago.
Junius Ten Eyck, a prominent member of the bar, resides in Pontiac, and was admitted in the supreme court of the State at a session thereof held in Pontiac in October, 1852. He pursued his legal studies under Governor Wisner. He for- merly resided in Waterford, and was the prosecuting attorney of the county in 1861-62, and circuit court commissioner four years, in 1854-57. He is a good lawyer, and excels rather as a counsellor than as an advocate.
Erastus Thatcher was admitted to the bar April 16, 1853, but was not a suc- cess thereat. He was the first mayor of Pontiac, and was re-elected for a second term.
Joseph R. Bowman was admitted October 3, 1854. He was clerk of the county for six years, and deputy clerk four years. He was a good office-lawyer and a most excellent official. Mr. Bowman was an Englishman by birth, and a noble-hearted man.
Jacob Van Valkenburg came from Buffalo, New York, where he had been in the practice of the law, and was admitted to practice in the Oakland courts, April 27,1853.
Israel P. Richardson was a veteran practitioner in Vermont previous to his admission, pro forma, in the Oakland courts, December 31, 1856. He never practiced his profession in the county, but on account of his age was made presi- dent of the bar association. He was the father of the gallant General I. B. Richardson, of the army of the Potomac, who was mortally wounded in the action of Antietam, and who sleeps in the Pontiac cemetery. He is now living in Wash- ington, in sightless old age, with a daughter who is a clerk in one of the depart- ments of the government.
Henry M. Look, a prominent attorney in the county, and noted for his elo- quence throughout the State, is a native of Michigan, and of what was once Oak- land but is now Lapeer county, being born October 27, 1837, in Hadley. He began the study of the law in the office of his brother, in Kentucky, and com-
pleted the same with Messrs. Baldwin & Draper, and also attended a course of lectures at the law department of the University of Michigan in 1859,-and was admitted to the bar, while attending the lectures, by an open examination in the supreme court at Detroit in November, 1859. He was admitted to practice in the United States courts in July, 1867. Previous to this last date he followed the practice of his profession and that of teaching in the south for a time. He was a member of the legislature of Michigan in 1865-66, prosecuting attorney for Oakland County 1871-72, city attorney for Pontiac for several years, and is holding the position now, and was a member of the board of education of the city in 1864-67. Mr. Look has a wide reputation also as a writer, of which we speak more at large elsewhere. He was a partner of Judge Baldwin for a time.
Mr. Look's family originated in Scotland, and five generations back of him emigrated therefrom to Martha's Vineyard, near the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Mr. Look's father, H. M. Look, Sr., removed from western Massa- chusetts to Michigan.
Elbert Crofoot, Jr., was admitted to the bar February 14, 1859, and is now in practice in Detroit.
Thomas H. Terwilliger was admitted in January, 1860, and located in Spring- field, and is now deceased.
Oscar F. Wisner, a son of George A. Wisner, now of Saginaw, was admitted June 9, 1860. He went to Chicago and engaged in the practice of his profession for a time, and then returned to Pontiac, and subsequently removed to Saginaw, where, in company with C. Stuart Draper, he has an extensive and lucrative practice. He is a rising attorney.
James Z. Dewey was admitted at the same time as Mr. Wisner, and was circuit . judge in 1868-73, when he resigned. He is now a member of the Detroit bar.
Judge James A. Jacokes was admitted to the bar in 1861. He is a son of the veteran Methodist clergyman and presiding elder, Rev. Daniel C. Jacokes, who has been a preacher of the Michigan conference forty years and more. Judge Jacokes was circuit court commissioner in 1862-65, 1870-71, and 1874-75, and in 1876 was elected judge of probate, which position he now worthily occupies. He is an excellent counsellor.
Charles M. Dwight was admitted June 27, 1862, and located in Pontiac, and is now deceased.
William B. Jackson was admitted December 20, 1862. He read law in Mil- ford, from thence came to Pontiac, and from thence removed to Detroit, where he now resides.
Hon. Mark S. Brewer, now of Pontiac, was admitted to the practice of his profession March 10, 1864. He is a native of Addison township, in Oakland County, where he was born in October, 1837, and received his education at the schools of the county and the academy at Romeo. He read law with Governor Wisner and Judge Crofoot, and was for a term of years-from 1864-76-a partner of the latter. He was circuit court commissioner from 1867-71 inclusive; city attorney for Pontiac, 1866-67 ; State senator, 1872-74; and at the November election of 1876 was elected member of Congress for a full term. He is an able lawyer and has a fine practice.
John B. Farnham, now deceased, was admitted December, 1865.
Oscar C. Pratt was admitted in September, 1865, having been in practice pre- viously in Ohio. He committed suicide in Omaha.
C. Stuart Draper, oldest son of Charles Draper, Esq., now at Saginaw, a mem- ber of the law firm of Wisner & Draper, was admitted in December, 1865. He went to Chicago and engaged in practice there for a time, and from thence re- turned to Pontiac, and from there removed to Saginaw, where he is engaged in a lucrative practice with Oscar F. Wisner. He is an able young attorney.
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Elijah F. Dewey, now of Manistee, was admitted at the same time as Mr. Draper. He is a brother of Judge Dewey.
- Thomas Curtis, now deceased, was originally a physician in Lyon township. He was admitted to the bar late in life, and removed to Albion, Calhoun county, and from thence to Holly, in Oakland County, where he died.
Arthur R. Tripp was admitted June 9, 1876, and is at present in Judge Jacoke's office as clerk of the probate court.
George W. Brock, who died at Farmington a few years ago, was admitted to the bar January 26, 1866.
Jerome B. Short was admitted April 27, 1866, but did not build up any prac- tice of moment in the county, and shortly after removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he engaged in life insurance business, and is now deceased.
George X. M. Collier was admitted June 23, 1866, and is now in practice in Detroit.
J. E. Colby was admitted at the same time as Collier, and is now in Cleveland, Ohio, in the insurance business.
Fred. A. Baker was admitted June 14, 1867, and now resides in Detroit. He was a member of the legislature one or more terms, and is a man of promise.
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49
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
James K. Patterson was admitted June 14, 1867, and located in Pontiac, where he now resides. He was prosecuting attorney two terms.
Hira'n J. Hoyt read law with Judge Crofoot, was admitted to the bar in Sep- tember, 1866, and is now in a lucrative practice in Muskegon. He is the oldest son of Dr. James M. Hoyt, of Walled Lake.
Milton M. Burnham, now a resident of Holly, was admitted August 17, 1868. O. W. Hewitt, residing at Birmingham, was admitted to the practice of the law May 25, 1869, late in life, having been a physician previously.
Adolphus W. Burtt, now a partner of Judge Crofoot, was admitted to the bar May 25, 1869, and is a painstaking, careful lawyer.
Joseph E. Sawyer, of Pontiac, was admitted September 29, 1859, and is now in practice. Chas. B. Howell was admitted December 8, 1868. Thomas L. Patterson, of Holly, was admitted August 17, 1868, and was for several years chairman of the board of supervisors. Judson D. Holmes, now of Alpena, was admitted September 19, 1868. He studied law in Pontiac, but did not follow his profession in the county, except for a short time. M. Luther Tindall was admit- ted April 12, 1869, and removed to Memphis. Warren N. Draper, a son and partner of Hon. Charles Draper, was a student in his father's office, and admitted to the bar May 13, 1870. He is fast rising to a prominent place in the profes- sion. John Fitz Patrick, of Pontiac, was admitted February 22, 1870, and was two terms county clerk. James D. Bateman, now at Walled Lake, was admitted April 18, 1870. He was county clerk one term. E. S. Woodman, now in North- ville, Wayne county, was formerly at Novi, and was admitted April 18, 1870. He was an old man and a farmer when he turned his attention to the law.
Geo. M. Holton was admitted September 20, 1870, but is now out of practice. Cassius M. Beardsley, also, was admitted in November 20, 1870, and is not in practice.
Elliott R. Wilcox was admitted January 6, 1871, and is now residing at Roch- ester. He has served the county in the senate and house of representatives of Michigan.
Edward J. Bissell was admitted April 17, 1871, is located at Milford, and has a good and increasing practice. He is at present one of the circuit court com- missioners.
Joseph H. Wendell, now of Wisconsin, was admitted September 29, 1871. His grandfather, John Wendell, was a prominent politician of the pioneer days. He is a young man of considerable promise.
Alexander G. Comstock, formerly county clerk of Oakland County, was admit- ted to the bar in November, 1872, and located at Holly. He removed to Detroit, and is now a leading magistrate in that city.
Win. C. Hoyt, the second judge of the county court in 1848-50, was admitted to the bar September 24, 1873, but became insane, and is now an inmate of the asylum at Kalamazoo. He was located at Milford, and served one term in the legislature.
Silas T. Fenn, now of Oxford, was admitted April 14, 1873.
Henry C. Wisner was admitted September 11, 1872. He was a graduate of the naval school at Annapolis, read law with Oscar F. Wisner, and removed to Detroit, where he is at present in practice.
Jerome W. Robbins, now in practice in the county, read law in Pontiac, and was admitted Jauuary 11, 1873.
Thomas J. Davis was admitted August 29, 1874, and is still in practice in the county.
Charles Kudner, now a partner of Judge Crofoot, in Detroit, read law with that gentleman, and was admitted to the practice of his profession August 29, 1874.
George W. Smith, of Pontiac, a rising member of the bar, was admitted to the profession September 21, 1874, and is one of the circuit court commissioners of the county.
Robert J. Loundsbury, now of Pontiac, was admitted to the bar June 22, 1875.
E. S. B. Sutton, an Orion boy, was admitted to the bar in 1875, and is located at Oxford.
Aaron Perry, a partner of Judge Taft, in Pontiac, was admitted to the bar March 21, 1876. He is a native of Oakland County, and a graduate of the Uni- versity of Michigan. He was a member of the legislature of 1873-74. He is a good lawyer.
John O. Hadley, of Holly, was also admitted in 1876; and E. W. Porter, also. The latter is not now a resident of the county.
Robert Hovenden, formerly a minister of the gospel, turned his attention to the law, and was admitted to the bar September 14, 1876. He was a graduate of the law department of the university at Ann Arbor, and is now located in Pontiac.
C. D. McEwen, located at Royal Oak, was admitted May 14, 1877. 7
Washington W. Webb, an attorney in Ohio previous to his location at Orion, where he died, was once a member of the Oakland bar; as was also Cyrus A. Poole, of Clarkston. The latter removed some years since from the county.
Z. B. Knight, a son-in-law of Governor O. D. Richardson, and now a promi- nent citizen of Omaha, Nebraska, was once located at Clarkston, and practiced the profession in the county.
Judge Horace A. Noyes, for twelve years judge of probate of Calhoun county, was admitted to the bar in the Oakland circuit court, in June, 1835. He died in May, 1877. Hon. W. T. Mitchell, now one of the circuit judges of the State, was also admitted to the bar in this court, in November, 1839.
Harleigh Carter, a judge of the United States courts in one of the Territories, under President Lincoln, was admitted to the bar in the Oakland circuit court, in October, 1839. He was a resident of Utica, Macomb county. Hon. B. F. H. Witherell, the judge of the district court of Wayne, Oakland, Monroe, and Jack- son counties, used to practice in the courts of Oakland. His father, Hon. James Witherell, was one of the judges of the Territory of Michigan.
Another one of Oakland's worthy sons was William Wallace Phelps, who was born in the county, June 1, 1826, and died at Spring Lake; Michigan, August 4, 1873, of cancer of the stomach. He graduated at the University of Michigan in 1846, studied law under Judge Crofoot, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. From 1851 to 1855 he edited The Jacksonian, published at Pontiac, and was circuit court commissioner of the county 1851-52, being the first one ever elected in the county. In 1854, he was appointed by President Pierce register of the United States land-office at Red Wing, Minnesota, and held the position till 1858. In 1858-59, he served his district in Congress. In 1860, he assumed editorial control of the Red Wing Sentinel, and when the rebellion broke out abandoned a lucrative practice, and in 1862 went into the service as captain of Company D, Tenth Minnesota Infantry, and served a year, when he resigned. He was twice elected mayor of the city of Red Wing, and was one of the most popular and effective speakers in the Democratic party of Minnesota.
Hon. Charles W. Whipple, judge of the supreme court in 1839, and for many years afterwards, made his place of residence at Pontiac after his appointment to the bench, being a member of the Detroit bar previously. He was a fine speci- men of an old country gentleman, a man of fine culture and good literary taste, an excellent common law practitioner ; would split a hair with the precision of an artist, and comb down an opponent with the choicest rhetoric. He was quite as nice and precise in person as he was exalted in intellect, and was for many years an ornament to the bench. Once on a time, while he was holding court in Lapeer, some half-dozen lawyers from Pontiac were in attendance ; being detained longer than was anticipated, their linen became quite badly soiled, and they had none for a change with them. His honor one morning politely but sharply re- proved the bar for their slovenly appearance. The next morning the judge was noticed as himself wearing soiled linen, but did not seem to fully comprehend the joke till, looking down upon the bar, he discovered that his own wardrobe had been quietly invaded, and the contents thereof appropriated to the use of the bar, every member of which was encased in a clean white dickey, with high standing-collar, and white neck-tie. The bar needed no further reproof, but the judge was non est as early as practicable.
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