USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 12
USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 12
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 12
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Mr. Harrington possesses a good share of public spirit, and has been identified with other enterprises than school matters, designed to benefit his adopted home. He was one of the incorporators of the Kirksville Savings Bank, and is a stock- holder of the same. In many ways he is showing himself to be a highly valuable citizen. While in the legislature the first time, he was elected mayor of the city, without his knowledge. He was reflected, and resigned to go to the thirty-first general assembly.
Mr. Harrington was married in December, 1868, to Miss Martha Dutcher, of Barry, Pike county, Illinois, and they lost one daughter in infancy, and have two sons and three daughters living,
Mr. Harrington has one of the best law libraries in the city; also a choice miscellaneous library, and he makes liberal use of both. Ile is a man of a good mind, which he has a constant desire to improve.
JOSEPH H. ALEXANDER.
OSEPHI HUGH ALEXANDER was born February 29, 1828, in East Baton J Rouge parish, Louisiana, being the youngest son of Isaac Alexander and Mary M (Miller) Alexander. His father was a Scotchman, and his mother a native of Pennsylvania, both dying when Joseph was quite young. He was taken care of at first by relatives He learned his letters when about ten years old, attended a public school, and a little later the Montpelier Academy in Saint Helena parish. Two kind friends, Rev. W. H. Parks and Hon. Robert H. Parks, took him in charge, and gave him instructions in Latin and Greek and other branches. They afterward moved to Saint Charles, Missouri.
In 1842 Joseph Alexander left Louisiana, and went to Ohio, and the next year came to Saint Charles, where he commenced teaching in 1845. His health soon failed, and he worked on a farm until the spring of 1846, when he entered the junior class of Saint Charles College, and was graduated in 1847. He taught more or less while in college, and thus supplied himself with most of his funds. He entered the law office of Hon. R. H. Parks, Saint Charles, and in 1850 was admitted to the bar, and became a partner of his preceptor, which partnership continued until 1853. Two years later he became a partner of Edward A. Lewis, now chief justice of the Saint Louis court of appeals.
Mr. Alexander had not much taste for pleading, but made an excellent office lawyer and first-class counselor.
In the winter of 1863 64, he had a severe fit of sickness, and on recovering : 13
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the following spring, he became cashier of the First National Bank of Saint Charles, and held that post until February, 1870, when, on the organization of the Union Savings Bank, he became its cashier, and banking has since been his main business
Mr. Alexander has been a notary public for many years; was public adminis- trator of the county one term; also secretary of the citizens' association for some time, and is a stockholder of the Saint Charles Car Company.
Hle is a Royal Arch Mason, and was at one time grand worthy chief templar of the order of Good Templars for the State of Missouri. In politics he has acted with the democratic party since the dissolution of the whig party.
The wife of Mr. Alexander was Miss Jane Cornforth, a native of England. They were married December 9, 1851, and have seven children, two married.
Although left an orphan when very young, Mr. Alexander was early sur- rounded by kind friends, who took an interest in his moral welfare, and he seems to have escaped entirely the vicious habits of many youths. He joined the Pres- byterian Church at fourteen years of age; was ordained an elder when only twenty-six, and that office he still holds. His religion he has worn with his week- day garments, it being carried into his law office, the bank and every mart of trade. He uses neither tobacco nor liquor, and in this respect, and indeed in all respects, sets a good example to the young. Let them study this sketch.
BENJAMIN R. DYSART. MACON.
B ENJAMIN ROBERT DYSART, one of the ablest and most respected members at the Macon county bar, was born in Howard county, this state, April 13, 1834. Ilis father, John Dysart, a farmer, was born in Tennessee, and his mother, whose maiden name was Matilda Brooks, was a native of Kentucky.
Mr. Dysart received most of his literary education at Fayette, in his native county, and McGee College, Macon county, and his legal at Cumberland Univer- sity, Lebanon, Tennessee; in 1858 opened a law office in Bloomington, Macon county, and in 1862 moved to Macon, where he has since been in successful prac- tice, and made an unblemished record. He was, at an early day, a member of the firm of Dysart and Sharp, his partner subsequently becoming a minister; later was of the firm of Dysart and Eskridge, who died about 1867; still later of the firm of Dysart and Brown, and since i878 he has been of the firm of Dysart and Mitchell, his partner being his nephew, Robert G. Mitchell.
Mr. Dysart stands high in his acquirements, as well as in his profession; has an exalted idea of the dignity of the latter; studiously aims to maintain that dig- nity in his own demeanor and acts; is high-minded in all things; has in large measure the courtesy and address of the perfect gentleman, and is a clear and concise reasoner, and happily impresses either judge or jury. Such men are an honor to any bar.
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In 1861, Mr. Dysart went into the confederate service, as captain of a com- pany, under General Sterling Price, and had his left thigh broken by a Minic " ball at the battle of Wilson's Creek, in August of that year, and that misfortune ended his war record.
Hle is a democrat, a third-degree Freemason and communicant of the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Dysart was joined in marriage, March 27, 1866, with Miss Emma V. Tur- ner, of the city of Saint Louis, and they have two children, both daughters, Mr. Dysart has never engaged in politics, but without solicitation on his part he was elected by the people of his district to the constitutional convention of Missouri in the year 1875, and took an active part in the formation of the new constitution of that state submitted and adopted by the people in 1875.
WILLIAM J. HOLLIS. MOBERLY.
W ILLIAM JOHN HOLLIS, of the firm of Hollis and Wiley, is a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, his birth being dated January 23, 1841. His father, Stephen Henry Hollis, a millwright, contractor and builder, was born in Oneida county, New York, and his mother, Sarah Ann (Bunting) Hollis, was a native of Westmoreland county, Virginia. When William was two years old the family moved to Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, and he was educated at Free- dom College in that county, taking the scientific studies, farming more or less until twenty years of age, and teaching one term. He commenced reading law in 1860.
In 1861 he was married to Miss Mary Courtright, of Cole county, Missouri, he having moved to this state; and for six or seven years he was engaged in farm- ing in Cole and Saline counties, practicing also, more or less, in justices' courts. In 1870 Mr. Hollis returned to Blackstone and other legal works, and before the close of the year was licensed to practice by Hon. George H. Burkhartt, then and now judge of the second judicial circuit, making his home at Moberly since opening an office. He has an excellent practice in Randolph and the ad- joining counties. He has held the offices of school director several years and city attorney one term (1874).
Mr. Hollis is a well read, sound lawyer, with studious habits and great tenac- ity of purpose. Once enlisted in a cause, he never abandons it while there is a possibility of success. As counselor of law and judge of law he stands in the very first rank in his county. For the last eight or nine years he has been of the firm of Hollis and Wiley, who are attorneys for what was the North Missouri Railroad Company, afterward the Kansas City and Northern, now the Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific. Theirs is a prominent firm in Randolph county, and doing a large and lucrative business.
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Mr. Hollis has always affiliated with the democracy, often attending county, district and state conventions, and works hard for the success of his party nomi- noes, without seemingly asking anything for himself. He is evidently satisfied to be a first-class lawyer. He is a Master Mason. Mr. and Mrs. Hollis have three children living, and have buried the same number
In the office of Hollis and Wiley i Willard Percy Cave, who was born in Mexico, Missouri, in 1959. He was educated at the Missouri State University, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He is a young man of promise.
RICHARD S. BLANNERHASSETT.
A MONG the lawyers at the out on peut In aise thirty and thirty five years ago. one of the tallest, figuratively Speaking, was Richard S. Blannerhassett, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, and a relative of Daniel O'Connell. He was born in 1811, educated in the old country, and was married there to a Miss Bryan in 1831. In that year he brought his young bride to this western world, and spent some time in teaching at Hamilton, Ontario, and Niagara and Wyom- ing counties, New York, studying law at the same time. He was admitted to the bar in 1835; practiced in western New York until 1841, and then settled in Saint Louis. He soon rose to distinction at the bar, and some of the older lawyers yet living here regard Mr. Blannerhassett as the ablest criminal lawyer that ever practiced at this bar. Ile had an Irishman's flow of speech, wit and sarcasm, and the logic and metaphysical acumen of a Scotchman.
He was city counselor of Saint Louis for three years ( 1848-1856), but does not seem to have been very covetous of political honors. He early allied himself with the democratic party, and aided many others in getting into office, without asking anything in that line for himself. He seemed to have a passion for the law, and no doubt secretly gloried in his triumph at the bar. His career was short but brilliant in Saint Louis, extending over a period of only sixteen years. He died in the prime of life, on Christmas day. 1857 -- cause of his death, apo- plexy. He was a second cousin of Herman Blannerhassett, whose name is linked with the Burr conspiracy.
WILLIAM BRADFORD HOMER.
SAINT LOUIS
A MONG the lawyers of New England birth and Puritan pedigree who have settled in Saint Louis, and are building up an excellent reputation in their profession, is William B. Homer, who was born in Brimfield, Hampden county, Massachusetts, July 29, 1849. His parents, Alured and Ruth ( Bliss) Homer, were descended from early settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and some of their ancestors took part in the successful struggle for freedom from the British yoke.
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The subject of this sketch is a graduate of Williston Seminary, East Hamp- ton, Massachusetts, class of 1867, and of Amberst College in 1871, he teaching a high school one term while at the latter institution. He obtained his legal education at the law school of Columbia College, New York city, receiving the degree of bachelor of laws in 1872. He was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in the summer of the same year, and in November following settled in Saint Louis. He built up a good practice in a few years, and his business is having a steady growth, being entirely in the civil courts It is largely in the United States courts, and his clientage is of such a character as any young lawyer may be proud of.
Mr. Homer has less to do with pofifties than most lawyers, his profession lying nearest to his heart, and its labors monopolizing his time. He votes the repub- lican ticket, and with voting his responsibility to party ends. He is a member of the Pilgrim Congregational Church. September 20, 1876, Mr. Homer was married to Miss H. Louise Hart of Hartford, Connecticut, and they have two children.
ANDREW M. BERRY.
SAINT LOUIS.
NDREW MOORE BERRY was born at Greenville, South Carolina, Decem-
A ber 5, 1849. He is a son of Rev. Larkin M. Berry, a Baptist minister, born in North Carolina, and Martha (Bishop) Berry, born in South Carolina. 1le received an academic education at Lincolnton, North Carolina. At the age of twenty he came to Missouri, and soon found employment as deputy circuit clerk and recorder of deeds for Livingston county. His cherished purpose was to become a lawyer, and during the period of his official employment, by diligent and determined application, he qualified himself for admission to the bar. In 1872 he moved to Saint Louis, where, in 1874, he married Ella, daughter of Wil- fiam M. Leftwich, D D., a lady whose personal, intellectual and social excellences command the affectionate admiration of a very large circle of friends. Three chil- dren have been born of this union, two of whom, a son and daughter, are living.
Mr. Berry votes the democratic ticket, and supports the democratic party's candidates. He is a member of the Legion of Honor, Royal Arcanum, and other social and benevolent societies. His religious connection is with the Garrison Avenue Baptist Church.
In 1877 Mr. Berry was appointed official law reporter of the Saint Louis court of appeals, and has since, in that capacity, published twelve volumes of law reports. Ilis work in this connection has received universal commendation, and has enhanced his reputation with bench and bar throughout the state and elsewhere. Few men have succeeded so well in establishing a high official reputation, while gaining numerous personal friendships, founded not less upon the influence of his rare social gifts, than upon the substantial evidences of sterling character and ability.
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As a lawyer, Mr. Berry is considered a devotee, as he is a most successful ex- pounder, of principles, rather than an undiscriminating searcher after precedents. Of a nature at once genial and determined, quick of perception, and prompt in action, his methods form the surest basis of successful advocacy. His analytical habits of thought, cultivated and sharpened by the necessities of his public duties, render him a safe counselor and a formidable opponent. With the older, as well as the younger members of the Saint Louis bar, his position is firmly assured, as of one of those whose talents, learning and ability are to continue the line of suc- cessful achievement for which their fraternity has long been distinguished.
HORACE P. TATE. LA GRANGE.
H ORACE PHILLIPS TATE, an extensive farmer as well as a lawyer, dates his birth in Lewis county, where he still lives, July 16, 1851. His father was Chilton B. Tate, a native of Lincoln county, Kentucky, and an extensive land owner, and a prominent politician of Lewis county for many years. He was the first sheriff of the county, and held that office, first by appointment, and then by election, in all for ten years. He was also a member of the legislature two terms, and a man greatly respected as well as honored, dying in 1879. He was married to Mrs. Louisa (Van Cleve) Davis, widow of General Cecil Davis, a graduate of West Point. She died in Lewis county in 1851.
Horace is a graduate of La Grange College, class of 1874. He taught one year in the college, and one year in Dixon, Solano county, California; read law with Blair and Marchand, of Monticello; was licensed to practice in 1876 by Judge Anderson, of the circuit court, and has his office at La Grange. His time is divided between the duties of his profession, and the care of his large farm, he having about fifteen hundred acres, seven miles east of Monticello, nearly one thousand of it under improvement. It is a mixed stock farm, This property was left to him on the death of his f. ther, he being the only heir, and he is preparing to dispose of it that he may give his whole attention to the practice of the law. He is a democrat in politics, a Knight Templar in Freemasonry, a member of the Baptist Church, a true man in all the relations of life, and well known and much respected in Lewis county. The good name of the Tate family is well kept up by him.
The wife of Mr. Tate was Miss Hagar Garnett, of California. They were mar- ried in November, 1877, and have one son.
Mr. Tate is of the firm of Tate and Ray, his partner being Robert W. Ray, who was born and educated in Lewis county, and admitted to the bar in 1882. He is a studious young man, of excellent character, and bids fair to attain a high standing at the bar of his county. Ilis maiden speech to a jury in the circuit court, made in September, 1883, was short and right to the point, and best of all, he stopped when he got through.
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Mr. Tate labors under a little disadvantage as a jury lawyer, on account of slight deafness and peculiarity of voice, but he is sound and logical, candid and sincere, never tedious on account of prolixity, and hence has great influence, holding the close attention of the jury to the end.
FREDERICK GOTTSCHALK. SAINT LOUIS.
F REDERICK GOTTSCHALK is a native of Germany, a son of Charles and Margaret (Luther) Gottschalk, and was born August 3, 1828. He was edu- cated for a school teacher, and followed that profession four years in France. In 1850 he came to this country, and taught in Frankfort, Kentucky, until 1854. While in that city, in 1851, he was married to Miss Susan Holeman. He received his legal education at the Louisville University, from which he was graduated in 1854, and in 1858 he moved to Dubuque, lowa, where he made a good record as a lawyer and city attorney, as the writer of this sketch can testify from personal knowledge. In 1861, at the first call for troops to suppress the rebellion, Mr. Gottschalk enlisted in the ist lowa infantry, and went into the field as captain of company II. He was wounded at Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in the summer of 1861. Returning to Dubuque soon, he resumed the practice of his profession.
In the spring of 1867, Captain Gottschalk came to Saint Louis, where his brother, Judge Louis Gottschalk, had been settled for some years. Here our sub- ject soon built up a paying practice, his business extending into all the courts. Hle is a painstaking, reliable business man, a good citizen, and punctual in his engagements. He is a brother of Judge Gottschalk, mentioned on other pages of the work. His politics are democratic, and at times he has been quite active, but of late years his professional duties have the priority over everything else.
The first wife of our subject died in 1870, leaving four sons, one of whom, William, has since died. Edward L. is a lawyer, in practice with his father; Alfred is in the mercantile business, Saint Louis, and Frederick is a printer, all being married. Captain Gottschalk was married a second time, in 1872, to Ottilie Seewald, widow of A. Keipschlager, and he has two children by her.
MERRITT Y. DUNCAN. MEXICO.
M ERRITT YOUNG DUNCAN, a member of the Audrain county bar for twenty years, is a native of this state, and was born in Callaway county, July 18, 1830. His father was Joseph Curd Duncan, a farmer, and a native of Buckingham county, Virginia, and his mother was Nancy (Madox) Duncan, born in Prince Edward county, that state. His grandfather, Edward Duncan, was in the continental army, and died the same year with General Washington, 1799.
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI CITIES.
Merritt was educated in part in his native county, and in part at the Eureka Col- lage, Illinois, taking a partial course, including the classics. He has wisely kept up part of his studies, and he reads Virgil, Cicen, Caesar, etc., with fluency.
In 1856 Mr. Duncan was elected clerk of Audrain county, and served in that capacity a period of five years, reading law at the same time. He was admitted to practice in October, 1863, and has made an honorable record at the county bar. He is a good advocate, above the average; is well read, not only in law, but in history and general literature, having quite a scholarly turn of mind.
Mr. Duncan was public administrator of the county in 1862-64, the only civil or political office, we understand, that he has ever held. His politics are demo- cratic, though on one or two occasions he has voted the greenback or national ticket. He was president of the Mexico Savings Bank from 1871 to 1870.
Mr. Duncan has been a member of the Christian of Disciple Church since twenty years of age, and is living a life consistent with his profession. He was for years an elder of the church
He was married October 25, 185+, to Miss Mary Baskett, of Fulton, Callaway county, and they have four children, two daughters and two sons. Sarah Caro- line, the older daughter, is the wite of John Frederick Llewellyn, druggist, Mexico, and the older son, Thurston Baskett, is clerk in the same drug store. The other two children, Walter Curd and Mary Edna, are young and attending school.
FREDERICK H. BACON. SUIVI LOUIS.
I REDERICK HAMPDEN BACON, lawyer and journalist, was born in Niles, Berrien county, Michigan, May 5, 1849. He is a son of Hon. Nathan. inf Bacon, who was born at Ballston Springs, New York, in 1862; immigrated to Berrien county in 1833, when Michigan was a territory, and was judge of the cir- cuit court, and afterward of the supreme court of that state, dying at Niles in 1800. Judge Bacon's wife was Caroline S. Lord, a niece of Doctor Nathan Lord, many years president of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
After going to the top of the Niles high school, Frederick entered the Univer- sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was in his junior year when his father died, and he had to leave. He read law with an older brother, Colonel Edward Bacon, commander of the 6th Michigan infantry in the late civil war, and now a promi- nent lawyer in Niles; and was admitted to the bar in 18;1.
Mr. Bacon practiced his profession at Niles, in his native county, until September, 1874, and opened an office in Saint Louis on the first of the fol- lowing month. His business is exclusively civil, and for the last four years, in addition to litigation, he has edited the " Saint Louis Railway Register," one of the four leading periodicals of that class in the United States. He is also editor of " The Overseer," the organ of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which
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order he was for two years chairman of the grand lodge committee on laws and supervision. He is an indefatigable worker, and lets none of his journalistic labors interfere with his practice, which, by the way, is almost entirely office and consultation. He is doing unusually well for a man of his age in the profession,
In Michigan Mr. Bacon served for two yours as circuit court commissioner, being elected on the republican ticket. Since settling in this city he appears to have had nothing to do with politics except to vote. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and president of its board of deacons.
In July, 1882, Mr. Bacon was united in marriage with Miss Clara J. Cleland, of Niles, and they have one child.
JAMES M. DE FRANCE.
AMES MONTGOMERY DE FRANCE is, as the name would indicate, of J French lineage. His great-grandfather, John De France, came to this coun- try with General La Fayette, and after helping the colonies to free themselves from the British yoke, settled in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, subsequently remov- ing to Susquehanna county, same state. The De France family is traced back to nearly the close of the fourteenth century (1387), but we cannot learn that the subject of this sketch ever undertook to do any climbing for himself by means of the family ladder. Whatever rounds there are to his ladder are of his own hands' making. He was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1826, his parents being Allison and Martha ( Montgomery) De France, both natives of Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer and a soldier in the second war with the mother country, and his paternal grandfather was a wool carder and fuller, and later in life a farmer in Mercer county. The father of Martha Montgomery was an ardent politician, and was in his prime when anti-Masonry formed one of the great parties of the day. He was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature by that party, and served two terms.
In 1845 Mr. De France came to the West, being nineteen years of age; taught school the following winter in southern Illinois; went to Grant county, Wiscon- sin, the next spring; taught a few months there; then engaged in lumbering on the Kickapoo River, and did so well that he accumulated funds enough to take him through a course of classical studies. He is a graduate of Allegheny Col- lege, Meadville, Pennsylvania, class of '54, and nearly completed his legal studies before receiving his degree of bachelor of arts. He came to this state, finished his law reading at Plattsburgh, and was then licensed to practice by Judge Dunn. Mr. De France practiced at Milan, Sullivan county, until the spring of 1862, when he went to Colorado, and while practicing low engaged also in the cattle business. In the spring of 1866 be returned to Missouri, and settled in Kirksville. He has always stood well, both as a lawyer and a citizen, and his success has been far
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