History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, Part 54

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1220

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I left there that morning and reached home in safety, over- taking Wilcox and Ellis and having an exciting encounter with a 'coon on the way.

As time passed settlers began to pour in. Among them may be mentioned G. W. Davis, G. W. Dearmin and Rufus H. Crum. The proprietor of Austin, Chauncey Leverich, was much op- posed to having a settlement in Moscow township, and had pub- licly threatened that he would have the timber along Turtle creek, even if he had to kill all of us and hang our hides to the

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trees. Two of our young men had built shanties in the timber and while they were away after provisions some men from Austin occupied the lands. When the young man came back they again took possession. Then we were told that a load of toughs were coming from Austin to drive us out. We gathered ready to defend ourselves, and heard the load go by. But our young men hurried to the land office and were made safe in the titles to their claims. The first preacher in Freeborn county was a young man named Sylvester N. Phelps. The next was D. D. Ingraham, both in 1856. The next minister was the Rev. S. G. Lowry, in 1857. He preached in many places and organized the first Presbyterian church in the county. The other denominations followed. Three that preached here were sent to states prison.

In 1908 I called at Adams, Mower county, to see John D. Olson, the man that helped me on that terrible night, and to talk with him after fifty-three years. I found his daughter, Mrs. Knute Gordon, and Reynold Olson, brother of the man I sought. They told me that my friend had died years ago. I stayed with them until near train time next day. That evening Mr. Gordon sat on the floor and his little children jumped at him, pushed him over and climbed over him from side to side. It took me back in memory forty years when my little ones did the same by me. Some day Mr. Gordon will realize as I do that the hours with our children are the best times of our lives. Mr. Olson and I talked of those old times. Mr. Gordon showed me the house that sheltered me that night and took me around to Adams, where we called on Mrs. Olson, the widow of John D. Olson. She showed her husband's likeness. Her maiden name was Ida Johnson, a sister of one of Mower county's sheriffs.

Thus the years are passing, and there will soon be few left 10 tell the joys and sorrows, the pains and pleasures, of those days when we came into the wilderness which is now so beautiful a country, and so teeming with all the blessings of life.

Reminiscences of D. W. Horning, D. W. Horning, a pros- perous farmer of Freeborn county, had for several years a most interesting experience in the West among the Indians and the ininers. In speaking of these experiences Mr. Horning says :

In the spring of 1862 I went to Ft. Snelling to haul hay for the fort. In the spring of 1863 Willard Eaton and Jack Waller and I started for Oregon with two yoke of oxen and one yoke of rows. After traveling for some weeks we joined a train of some eighty teams, and with this train we went over the Missouri river and up the Platte. After traveling about three weeks we en- countered the Indians. They came up on both sides of us, but after a slight brush with them, they left us, and for the next two weeks we traveled unmolested, although they kept in sight

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a larger part of the time. Then we reached a fort. The com- mander said that he had orders to forbid all trains proceeding further, for the Indians had been burning trains and killing people beyond the fort, and the soldiers could not go to their rescue, as there were scarcely enough in the command to protect the fort. However, we continued our journey. We had traveled but two days further when the Indians came down on us again, and held us at one point a day and a half. The fighting was not continuous, but consisted of a series of brushes, the Indians seem- ingly coming to try our strength from time to time and then driving out of shooting range. Evidently they found our party too large, for finally they left us, and we continued our journey, going up the Sweetwater about one hundred miles. Then we went to the Black Hills and thence to Idaho City, arriving in the fall. In the winter the city burned, and we worked the remainder of the winter building up the city. The following summer we worked in the gold mines, and in the fall Eaton and I went to Oregon and stayed all winter. There was a report that Montana was so rich that one could pick up gold anywhere, and that the mines were half a mile wide and unlimited in length. Naturally, everyone was excited to go there. Consequently a train of about 150 started for Montana, but when we reached Helena we found only three claims that were paying wages. Half of the com- pany went back to Oregon, but the rest started prospecting for gold. We prospected a year for gold but did not find it very profitable. We lived like wild Indians, on the wild game, which was very plentiful. We had no bread of any kind. For two years I lived on this kind of fare. After mining a year I teamed from Fort Benton to Helena a year, and then decided to start prospecting again. We formed a company of eight and worked about two weeks in trying to run a cut. We thought it was rich, so we worked two months placer digging. Most of the company left us, but the two or three who remained worked a day or two longer. Then the claim began to get rich. So we went to Helena to get some more men, for it took ten men under the law to hold a mining claim of that sort. We did not put up the notice as the law required, and when we returned we found that another com- pany was there, a thing they had a right to do under the miners' law. Then I went prospecting again. I made at one time $15,000, but lost nearly all of it again. Then I came home through Salt Lake City. spending about two weeks in that place. Since then I have stuck to the farm.

CHAPTER XXXV.

BENCH AND BAR.

Henry A. Morgan Writes of Those Who Have Constituted the Courts and Legal Profession of Freeborn County-Judges Who Have Administered Equity and Justice in This County- Mem- bers of the Bar-Legal and Judicial Minds Whose Eloquence Have Been at the Disposal of Freeborn County Litigants- Other Matters-Drainage of Riceland Marsh.

By an act of congress passed February 26, 1857, the people of the territory of Minnesota were authorized to form a constitution and state government, preparatory to admission into the Union. A constitution was formed August 29, 1857, and submitted to a vote of the people October 13, 1857, and adopted. This constitu- tion divided the state into six judicial districts until the legis- lature should otherwise provide. The counties of Dakota, Good- hue, Scott, Rice, Steele, Waseca, Dodge, Mower and Freeborn were made to constitute the fifth judicial district. At the first election Hon. N. M. Donaldson, of Owatonna, was elected judge of the fifth judicial district and continued to preside until he was succeeded by Hon. Samuel Lord, of Mantorville, Dodge county, Minnesota, January 1, 1872. Judge Donaldson was regarded as a fair, candid and dignified judge and highly esteemed by all who knew him or came in contact with him. He died at Owatonna a few years after his retirement from the bench. His successor, Hon. Samuel Lord, was a fair. impartial and able judge and gave general satisfaction, but presided in this county only for a short time for the reason that in 1872 a new district was created com- posed of the counties of Freeborn, Mower, Fillmore and Houston, which became and has ever since remained the tenth judicial dis- trict. Judge Lord, however, continued as judge of the fifth district. by successive elections, up to the time of his death in 1880.

At the fall election in 1872 Hon. Sherman Page, of Austin. was elected judge of the tenth judicial district and served as such during the full term of six years. He was an able man. a lawyer, lacking. perhaps, judicial temperament. but his absolute honesty and integrity was never called in question. He was always bent on dispatching business and had no patience with dilatory tactics

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HENRY A. MORGAN

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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY

or delay and seemed to have no comprehension between dilatory tactics and good faith grounds for delay. His idea or motto seems to have been: "The case is called-you should and must be ready-no delay will be tolerated." At any rate, his methods were called in question on the twenty-eighth of February, 1878, when impeachment proceedings were instituted against him in the legislature of Minnesota, which resulted in a trial which is part of the history of this state, and justifies no further comment in this article than the fact that he was acquitted. The charges were preferred as state, and in June the result was declared in his favor. A fair verdict, perhaps, would read that an able lawyer proved to be a failure as a judge. However, after the impeachment trial and at the following election, he was a candi- date for re-election with Hon. John Q. Farmer, of Spring Valley, Fillmore county, as opponent. The election was characterized by partisanship and many personal animosities engendered by the taking of sides in the impeachment trial, but it must be said to the everlasting credit of the partisans that with very few and re- mote exceptions the hatchet was soon buried and has never since been resurrected in the judicial history of this county or district. Judge Farmer was elected and served with credit to himself and supreme satisfaction to all the people of the district, until he voluntarily retired at the end of his second term, in spite of the urgent and practically unanimous request of the bar of the district and all of the people without respect to party. It has been said that Judge Farmer was not a student. He was. He was a student of human nature ; he possessed good common sense ; he had a good grasp of the law; he was well equipped by ex- perience, precept and example to perform the work imposed up- on a judge on the bench and take off his coat and do the work on the farm and not only tell others how it should be done, but show them how to do it. This was Judge Farmer. He was an admir- able man, loved and admired by everyone. What he did not know in the technical sense-and it must not be said with or by any cer- tain authority that he did not possess all the technical knowledge essential to the station which he so highly adorned-he made up by the exercise of common sense and trying to reach and usually reaching the conclusion and result that what is law is justice, and what is not justice is not law, and his decisions were gener- ally sustained by the appellate courts.

Hon. John Whytock, of Albert Lea, Minn., was elected to suc- ceed Judge Farmer and served up to the time of his death. He was elected to succeed himself, but died before his new term of office was appointed to begin. He was in every sense a fair- minded judge and well equipped for the position in a legal and

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intellectual sense, but owing to his imperfect hearing he always seemed to work at a disadvantage.

Hon. Nathan Kingsley, of Austin, Minn., was appointed by Governor Clough to succeed Judge Whytock, and by successive elections has held the position ever since. He is possessed of a keen and discriminating mind, a judicial temperament and that degree of impartiality essential to the position and the making of an ideal judge. He has served to the entire satisfaction of the bar and people of the district and has at all times been com- mended for his diligence and prompt disposition of all cases and matters presented to him or coming before him for judicial action.

THE BAR.

In fairness to all and "lest we forget" we present at the out- start the names of all the attorneys of Freeborn county, from the earliest days to the present time. This list is as complete as the records and available information can make it. No effort has been spared to make it perfect. The list follows:

A. B. Webber, J. U. Perry, A. P. Swineford, D. G. Parker, E. C. Stacy, John A. Lovely, W. T. Rambush, Augustus Arm- strong, James H. Parker, A. M. Tyrer, A. G. Wedge, Thomas H. Armstrong, John Whytock, John Anderson, D. R. P. Hibbs, D. F. Morgan, O. Mosness, Ira A. Town, Heman Blackmer, R. M. Pal- mer, W. C. McAdam, L. E. Dunn, E. A. Twitchell, W. E. Todd, Henry A. Morgan, Walter J. Trask, H. G. Day, W. M. Crane, R. S. Clements, H. C. Carlson, R. S. Farnsworth, Edwin A. Church, H. H. Dunn, John F. D. Meighen, John G. Skinner, C. E. Southwick, Clement S. Edwards, A. U. Mayland, N. E. Peterson, Augustus Armstrong, T. V. Knatvold, J. O. Peterson, E. S. Gjel- lum, J. C. McNerny, Wm. F. Schoregge, W. F. Stevens (all of Albert Lea) and A. H. Bartlett, Glenville, and H. B. Collins, H. G. Latourell and P. C. Cornish, Alden.

No pretense is here made of sketching biographically each member of the bar, and indeed the utter futility of such attempt must be apparent. In the first place accurate information is not available, and in the second place if it were the space required would extend this article beyond all reasonable limits. Such sketches as are here made are considered by the writer as sub- stantially accurate.

Augustus Armstrong, D. G. Parker, A. B. Webber, J. U. Perry and A. P. Swineford appear as the first practitioners in this county, and their active career as such appears to have com- menced at the September term, 1858. Law business was appar- ently slack. cases few and business light. While "waiting for

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something to turn up" these gentlemen naturally, if not neces- sarily, sought other means of livelihood, and it does not appear that any one of them thereafter depended for existence upon the practice of law. Mr. Armstrong in form maintained a law office up to the time of his death, which occurred in August, 1873, but he was in no sense an active practitioner. He devoted his time and energies to real estate and to politics as a side line, and apparently made a success of both. He served terms in both branches of the legislature and left an estate that would seem to indicate that he was always "glancing ahead," instead of "look- ing backward," and had full faith in the future and stability of the community in which he lived. Mr. Parker was chief prose- cutor in the Kreigler case, of which more extended mention is made in this history. J. U. Perry was appointed as assistant. The case was tried at Owatonna, Steele county, on change of venue, the then district attorney, Perkins, of Faribault, and D. G. Parker and J. U. Perry acting for the state. Mr. Parker was the first county attorney, but soon after the expiration of his term he retired from practice and engaged in other business and by frugality and industry accumulated a large estate, but unfortu- nately lost the bulk of it in later years by improvident invest- ments in remote sections of the country, and died in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1908. A. B. Webber does not appear of record in any case of importance, but distinguished himself notably so as the proprietor of the old "Webber House," one of the landmarks of the city of Albert Lea, situated on the corner now occupied by the Nelson Bros. store, the remains of the old structure having been removed to give way to this modern building. J. U. Perry does not appear to have continued in practice any great length of time, and the only important case in which he was engaged was the Kreigler case. So far as the court records are concerned, it does not appear that he practiced law here later than 1861. A. P. Swineford was admitted to practice at the September term, 1858, but his name does not appear in any litigation of public im- portance, and he soon engaged in other work and sought other environments, and became a national figure, serving as governor of Alaska for years and in many ways distinguished himself and made a commendable record which is a matter of state and na- tional history. E. C. Stacy was admitted to practice in 1859. He was a member of the constitutional convention and the first audi- tor of the county. He belonged to the old school of practitioners and continued for years as one of the leading lawyers of this sec- tion of the country, but quit the active court work about 1877. He was city justice of the city of Albert Lea continuously for up- wards of twenty years and held that position at the time of his

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death. John A. Lovely was admitted to the bar in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1864, came to Albert Lea in 1867. He was in partner- ship successively with W. T. Rambush as Lovely & Rambush and James H. Parker as Lovely & Parker, D. F. Morgan as Lovely & Morgan, D. F. Morgan and Henry A. Morgan as Lovely, Morgan & Morgan, and with Walter J. Trask as Lovely & Trask, at St. Paul, Minn., for about a year, and again with W. H. Merrick as Lovely & Merrick, at Portland, Ore., for some months, and with C. S. Edwards, as Lovely & Edwards, at Albert Lea, before going upon the supreme bench after his election in 1898. After serving on the supreme bench for the term for which he was elected he returned to Albert Lea and entered into partnership with H. H. . Dunn, as Lovely & Dunn, and continued the practice of law up to the time of his last illness, which resulted in his death on the 28th of January, 1908. He was connected with many notable cases. He was in every sense a trial lawyer, an advocate of the first class, and one of the most successful practitioners in the state. W. T. Rambush was not a trial lawyer, but an expert ab- stractor, but retired from the practice of law and removed from the state about 1874 and did not resume the practice in this state thereafter. James H. Parker came to Albert Lea from Red Wing and entered the practice of law in 1871, and continued in the practice until the fall of 1887, when he removed to the Pacific Coast. He was recognized as one of the able lawyers of this sec- tion and commanded a lucrative practice at all times. He died at Hoquiam, Wash .. in October. 1907. A. M. Tyrer came to Albert Lea from New York in the early seventies and entered into part- nership with E. C. Stacy in the name of Stacy & Tyrer, which partnership continued until his death in June. 1880. the firm of Stacy & Tyrer being one of the well known and recognized law firms of southern Minnesota and Tyrer being one of the actual trial lawyers of this section. A. G. Wedge entered the arena in the late seventies and was at one time county attorney. but he was not regarded as a trial lawyer, but chiefly as a safe counsel- lor. He was city justice of the city for some time. but removed to Becker county several years ago and now resides in Minne- apolis. where he is still engaged in the practice of his profession. Thomas H. Armstrong came to Albert Lea from High Forest in 1874. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1855. He served two terms in the lower house before coming to Albert Lea. once being speaker and one term as lieutenant governor. After remov- ing to Albert Lea he was twice chosen to represent Freeborn county in the state senate and was a member of that body at the time of the Page impeachment trial. He never engaged in the

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practice of law in this county, but entered the banking business, and followed that occupation continuously up to the time of his death in December, 1891. John Whytock came to Albert Lea in 1878 and was actively engaged in the practice of law up to the time he was elected judge of the district court, which position he occupied at the time of his death in 1898. John Anderson lo- cated in Albert Lea in 1878 and continued to practice law in this city until 1906, when he moved to Devils Lake, N. D. During the time he resided in Albert Lea he was city attorney and held other responsible positions. D. R. P. Hibbs was admitted to-the bar in 1874 and practiced until 1876, when he entered into part- nership with H. D. Brown in the banking business and thereafter made the banking business his chief occupation and seldom ap- peared in court in contested cases, although he handled, in an advisory capacity the legal interests of H. D. Brown & Co., and the different banks with which he became thereafter associated, including the Albert Lea National Bank and the Albert Lea State Bank. He died August 24, 1911. D. F. Morgan was admitted to the bar in 1878 and immediately entered into partnership with John A. Lovely, which partnership continued until July 1885, when the name was changed to Lovely, Morgan & Morgan, by reason of Henry A. Morgan becoming a member of the firm. Un- der this firm name the partnership continued until 1891, when the firm was dissolved and D. F. Morgan moved to Mankato, and from there to Minneapolis, where he continued to practice law up to the time of his death in April, 1903. He was regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in the state ; was a member of the house of representatives from Freeborn county in 1889 and of the state senate from Hennepin county from 1895 to 1897. O. Mosness located in Albert Lea in 1879 and remained here about three years, when he removed to Moorhead and never afterward re- sumed the practice of law in this county. Ira A. Town was a product of Freeborn county and opened a law office in Albert Lea about 1878; was elected judge of probate and served one term, and shortly thereafter removed to Tacoma, Wash., where he suc- ceeded abundantly, both as a lawyer and as an investor, but met with misfortunes, resulting from the financial panic of 1892-3, but ive understand always was able to make good. Heman Blackmer was admitted to the bar in 1873, was elected judge of probate in 1882, and served continuously as such judge until he was suc- ceeded by A. U. Mayland in 1909, except that W. C. McAdam was elected judge of probate and served about a year of his term, expired term. During the time mentioned he has been engaged when he resigned and Judge Blackmer was appointed for the un- in the active practice so far as his other duties would permit,

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and has been connected with many cases of local importance. R. M. Palmer located in Albert Lea in the late seventies and was one of the recognized and promising attorneys of this section of the country and commanded a large and lucrative practice and had every promise of a successful career when he was accident- ally shot in 1883 by a companion while duck hunting at Bear Lake, and died from loss of blood before medical aid was obtain- able. He was at one time a member of the firm of Palmer & Mc- Adam, W. C. McAdam being the junior member of the firm. W. C. McAdam came to Albert Lea from New York about 1881 and shortly afterwards entered into partnership with R. M. Pal- mer, which partnership continued for about a year. McAdam was a literary individual and possessed of a great deal of political ambition, but never demonstrated any marked ability as a lawyer, but was more of an essayist than lawyer. He remained here for four or five years and was elected judge of probate, but resigned before the expiration of his term and removed from the city and state and never returned to resume the practice of his profession. Heman Blackmer was appointed to fill the unexpired term, and by successive elections held the office up to the time that he was succeeded by A. U. Mayland, as before stated. L. E. Dunn, E. A. Twitchell, E. S. Gjellum, J. F. McNerney, William Schoregge, W. F. Stevens and H. G. Day are entitled to be listed among, and their several names appear among the reputable lawyers of the county, but it does not appear that any of them engaged in the trial of any cases in court, but on the contrary Mr. Dunn and Mr. Twitchell were engaged exclusively in the real estate, insur- ance and loan business, and Mr. Gjellum and Mr. McNerney opened an office in 1883 and retired from the business as silently as they came, and Mr. Schoregge and Mr. Stevens were engaged exclusively in the collection business and no records are avail- able upon which to base further remark or comment. Mr. Day purchased the "Freeborn County Standard" in 1883 and has been engaged exclusively in the newspaper business ever since, al- though he is a recognized member of the bar of this county. W. E. Todd was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin; was ad- mitted to the bar in July, 1881, and located in Albert Lea in August of the same year, when he entered into partnership with E. C. Stacy under the firm name of Stacy & Todd. This partner- ship lasted but a few months, when he engaged in practice as an individual and shortly afterwards entered into partnership with John Whytock, under the firm name of Whytock & Todd. This partnership continued but a short time, and after its dissolution Mr. Todd practiced alone until the fall of 1897, when he entered into partnership with H. C. Carlson, under the firm name of Todd

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History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, Part 54

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1220