USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 21
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 21
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 21
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HON. EDWARD C. KEHR. SAINT LOUIS.
MONG the members of the Saint Louis bar who have achieved honorable dis- A tinction in the profession, and exercised considerable influence on public affairs, is Edward C. Kehr, member of the legal firm of Kehr and Tittmann. Mr. Kehr is of German parentage, but a native of Saint Louis, having been born in this county, November 5, 1837. He is the son of Adolph Kehr, a man of excel- lent social standing and of university education, who came to this country with his family in 1833. Edward received an academic education, and read law with Christian Kribben, being admitted to the bar February 18, 1858, and during twenty-five years of active practice has maintained an unsullied reputation, and won the respect and esteem of all classes of society. His practice is exclusively civil, and confined to the circuit court, court of appeals and supreme court of the state, also the federal courts, and he was enrolled in the supreme court of the United States in 1876.
Mr. Kehr, although devoted to his profession, has always exhibited a live and practical interest in public affairs. His political affiliations have been with the democratic party. During the civil war he was an unconditional Union man, and in the spring of iso1 he entered the three months' service. In 1874 he was elected to the forty fourth congress from the first district of Saint Louis, his term run- ning from March 4, 1875, to March 4, 1877, and during the second session he took part in the electoral count. For four years, commencing April, 1879, Mr. Kehr was a member of the council which is the upper branch of the municipal assem- bly of the city of Saint Louis, and for the first half of his term he was vice presi- dent of that body. He was elected president of the Saint Louis Bar Association in 1882, and is also a member of the state and national associations.
Mr. Kehr is a fluent and graceful speaker, with perfect control of the English and German languages. As a lawyer he is remarkable for accuracy and thorough- ness, and a conscientious regard for the interests of his clients. He is careful
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and deliberate in utterance and in preparing his briefs and arguments, and there are few lawyers on whose conclusions and opinions greater reliance may be placed, as they are never delivered without exhaustive examination of the points involved. He has never allowed himself to be connected with litigation of a questionable character, and enjoys the respect and confidence of his professional associates and of all classes of citizens. His personal popularity was indicated by his election to congress as a democrat in a district nearly always showing a large republican majority. During his connection with the municipal assembly, Mr. Kehr was careful and exact in all his actions, and rendered substantial service to the city.
HON. GEORGE W. LUBKE. SAINT LOUIS.
G FORGE WILLIAM LUBKE, one of the younger judges of the circuit court of the city of Saint Louis, was born in this city February 22, 1845, being a son of HI. William and Christine (Penningroth) Lubke. His parents were from Germany. He was educated in the public and private schools at Saint Louis; read law with Hon. Henry Hitchcock; was admitted to the bar in 1864; became a partner of his legal preceptor, and was in steady and successful prac- tice at the Saint Louis bar until he went on the bench as already indicated, on the first of January, 1883. He never beld any office before, having devoted him- self strictly to the practice of his profession.
An ex-judge of the circuit court in another part of the state, now a practicing lawyer in this city, a man of ripe judgment and discriminating mind, and nearly twice the age of our subject, thus speaks of him: " Judge Lubke I regard as a learned man in the law, he being unusually well read in his profession for a man of his age. He is candid, cool, impartial and conscientious; thorough in his in- vestigations, untiring in research, and a man of decided promise."
Judge Lubke affiliates with the democratic party; is a member of the Lutheran Reformed Church. He was married, in September, 1868, to Miss Henrietta Lut- tereord, who is also a native of Saint Louis. They have four children.
JOHN W. MATSON. LOUISIAN.1.
J
OHIN WELBORN MATSON, one of the younger members of the Pike county bar, is a native of the county of Ralls, Missouri, and dates his birth April 29, 1856. His father, Doctor James T. Matson, is a native of Pike county, where he is still living. He was a member of the legislature before the civil war, and of the constitutional convention of IScr. His wife was Eliza Donnelly, a native of Tennessee. She had four children, of whom John was the second child. She is still living, also all the children.
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI CITIES.
The subject of this sketch was educated in Pike county and at the state uni- versity, Columbia; was graduated at the Saint Louis Law School in May, 1878, and since that date has been in general practice at Louisiana. He has a complete set of the abstracts of Pike county, and incidentally does a good deal in real-estate law, though he makes a specialty of no one branch. He is systematic and atten- tive to his business, is very prompt, has a good reputation for integrity as well as industry, and the fullest confidence of his clients and of the community. He makes a good argument for a young man of his age, and his opinions have weight. He is as studious as he was before being admitted to the bar, hence his friends have high hopes of him. He was city attorney in 1880-81, being elected by his democratic friends. He is a Master Mason, and a member of the Knights of Honor.
November 15, 1882, Mr. Matson was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Lynott, daughter of John P. Lynott, of Pike county.
GEORGE E. MAYHALL. NEW LONDON.
G FORGE ELLOIT MAYHALL is a son of Samuel W. and Louisa (Alsop) Mayhall, his birth being dated at New London, his present home, Septem- ber 24, 1834, His father was a son of William Mayhall, a soldier of the war of 1812- 14, and came to this state in IS30, from Franklin county, Kentucky, where he was born. The father of William Mathall was from Ireland, and settled in Virginia. Louisa Alsop was a native of Caroline county, Virginia, and was a daughter of George Alsop, a native of the Old Dominion, for whom our subject was named.
Mr. Mayhall finished his education at McGee College, Macon county, where he spent two years, and took the full English course of studies. In 1859 he went to New Mexico, and was engaged in government survey one year, deriving a good deal of benefit in more than one respect from that trip. On his return, he read law at New London with J. P. Lancaster, and was licensed to practice in 1802. In that year he was elected clerk of the county court, and held the office until 1875, practicing at the same time in the circuit court.
To the law Mr. Mayhall adds real-estate and insurance business, and finan- cially as well as professionally, he has made a success. He is a safe and reliable business man, and has the confidence of the citizens of Ralls county, and of all who know him.
As a politician, Mr. Mayhall is quite independent, usually voting for the best men, irrespective of their party associations. He is not in one respect in politics himself, as he seeks no preferment. He is interested in educational matters; has been a director of the public schools the Just twelve or thirteen years, and is re- guarded as a truly useful, as well as worthy citizen. Such men are gone too numer-
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ous in any community. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
The wife of our subject was Teresa MeDonough, who was from Somerset, Perry county, Ohio. They were married October 18, 1864, and have four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters.
CLINTON B. SEBASTIAN. COLUMBIA.
C LINTON BANKS SEBASTIAN, prosecuting attorney of Boone county, is a native of Breckenridge county, Kentucky, a son of Alexander H. and Tabitha Ann (Jacobs) Sebastian, and was born March 24, 1852. In his infancy the family moved to this state, and his father engaged in farming in Boone county, six miles east of Columbia. Clinton, after advancing as far as he could in the common schools, entered the state university, and took the philosophical course. Upon finishing this course he engaged in teaching, and soon gained an enviable reputation as an educator. In the spring of 1875 he entered the law office of Hon. John H. Overall, and was soon admitted to the bar, and entered the law department of the Missouri State University, taking the full course of two years in one; was graduated with distinction in March, 1876.
Mr. Sebastian was in college very popular among his fellow students, and the position he held among them gave evidence of his success in life. He joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and is now the state president of that society.
After receiving his diploma from the law college, Mr. Sebastian at once en- tered upon the practice of his profession at Columbia, and at the April term, 1876, was appointed, in connection with his classmate, Curtis B. Rollins, by Hon. George H. Burkhartt, to defend Wright Christian, who stood indicted for murder in the first degree, for the killing of Sidney Smith. The prosecuting attorney. Mr. Shannon C. Douglass, was assisted by Colonel MeCabe, of Palmyra. The case was tried at the August term, 1876. The prevailing opinion was that the defendant would be hung; but his counsel so skillfully and successfully managed his case that he was only found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sen- teneed to fifteen years in the penitentiary. The appointment of so young a man as Mr. Sebastian by Judge Burkhartt in such an important case gave evidence of the high opinion he entertained of his ability, and the able and skillful manner in which he discharged the duties fully sustained the judge's opinion, and gave Mr. Sebastian a prominent place at the bar and a good practice, which by his indus- try, honesty and ability he has built up and maintains.
In the fall of 1882 Mr. Sebastian was, by a large majority, elected to his pres- ent county office, and among the first cases he was called upon to prosecute was that of The State as. Michael Schroyer, who stood indicted for killing his wife in the northern portion of Boone county in October, 1870. Her remains were not
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found until February, 1877. Meantime the murderer had left the state; but cir- cumstances pointed his guilt, and in the summer of Iss? he was arrested near Joplin, Missouri, and brought to Columbia for trial. In prosecuting him, Mr. Sebastian was indefatigable in procuring testimony, having to send to Kansas, Indiana and Illinois, as well as different parts of this state, and it was owing to his perseverance in this respect, and to the tact and skill in bringing out all the facts and circumstances and managing the case, that the murderer was convicted. At the same term of court (the April term, 1883), which was the first time Mr. Sebastian appeared as public prosecutor, he convicted four for the crime of murder, and has so far convicted every one who has been indicted for a felony. Ilis honest, plain and able manner of presenting the law and the facts carries conviction, and gives him alike the good opinion of the members of the bar, the judge and jury.
He is zealous in his legal work, untiring in his efforts to progress, and, if spared, can hardly fail to obtain a high and honorable rank at the bar of the state.
Mr. Sebastian is a democrat in politics, and a Methodist in religion ; is an Odd-Fellow, and has passed all the chairs in the encampment. He is not active in politics, but takes that interest in all matters which concern the good of his county and state, and the welfare of the people, which every good citizen should. He is devoted to his profession, and is a diligent student and a growing lawyer.
WILLIAM H. KENNAN. MEXICO.
W WILLIAM H. KENNAN is a native of Missouri, and was born in Boone county September 16, 1837. His father, Samuel Kennan, was a native of Fleming county, Kentucky, and his mother, Harriet W. (Rogers) Kennan, of Fayette county, that state. His grandfather, William Kennan, was a soldier under General St. Clair when the latter was defeated. William was educated at the Missouri State University, Columbia, being in the junior year when the civil war began, in the spring of 1861. In May of that year he enlisted in com- pany C, 16th Missouri confederate infantry, and served to the end of the war. During the last year he was adjutant of Seary's battalion of sharpshooters.
Mr. Kennan had read law some before going into the army, and early in 1866 went to Texas and there resumed his legal studies, teaching school at the same time. Returning, he was admitted to the bar at Columbia in 1868, and since September, 1869, he has been in practice at Mexico. His business extends into the federal as well as state courts, and is largely civil litigation. He is a sound lawyer, a safe and careful counselor, a zealous and faithful worker in the interests of his clients, and a high-toned gentleman.
Mr. Kennan held the office of prosecuting attorney of the city nearly two
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terms, and then resigned, having no partiality for criminal practice. Mr. Kennan belongs to the democratic party, and is chairman of the county central commit- tee; also a member of the Knight, of Honor, the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the Baptist Church.
Ile was married, November 2, 1871, to Miss Cordie P. Jenkins of Audrain county, near Mexico, and they have five children, four daughters and one son.
FRANK J. DONOVAN. SAINT LOUIS.
F RANK J. DONOVAN is one of the rising young lawyers of Saint Louis, with fine natural talents, which have been greatly strengthened and polished by education. His perceptions are keen; his memory is retentive, and he is well posted in the theory and practice of law. He was born in Saint Louis, Septem- ber 13, 1845, and is a son of the late Daniel H. Donovan, in his day a prominent citizen of Saint Louis, occupying various places of trust and honor. His father was a member of the city council of Saint Louis, with other members of the oldest fam- ilies, before he was twenty-three years of age. He came from Philadelphia when quite young, and when he settled in Saint Louis it was still but a small village. Half a century ago he was a member of the Missouri legislature, when the jour- ney to the state capital had to be made on horseback. He was the organizer of the first water-works system of Saint Louis, a stanch friend, organizer and mem- ber of the first fire department. He was the first to urge upon the city the met- ropolitan police system; was the author of the first mechanics' lien law, and many other law reforms. He was surveyor of the port of Saint Louis, under President Buchanan, and resigned, to cast, at great sacrifice to himself and his family, his fortunes with the confederacy. He was a powerful speaker; a man of great energy and usefulness in public and private life, and universally respected.
His son, Frank, was educated at the Saint Louis University; read law with Judge Bakewell, and afterward with the late Judge John M. Krum; subsequently took the course of law at Harvard College, graduating there in 1867, and on his return to Saint Louis in the autumn of the same year, he was admitted to the bar, and since that time has been in active and successful practice in this city.
Among the many important cases intrusted to his care may be mentioned that of Sessinghaus os. Frost, a case of a contested seat in the United States house of representatives, reported in three large volumes, containing 2,832 pages. In this case Mr. Donovan gained great credit for adroit management, practically securing a victory for his client, as Mr. Frost actually held his seat the entire term, with the exception of about thirty-six hours.
Also in the Central Savings Bank cases, arising out of one of the heaviest bank failures of Saint Louis, Mr. Donovan was of counsel for the assignee, and caused to be issued many legal proceedings in those cases, being eminently suc- cessful in all of them.
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THE BENCH AND BIR OF MISSOURI CLPIES.
Through all the varying fortunes of the old Saint Louis " Times," Mr. Done- van was the trustee, holding and executing a most dangerous and delicate trust. He was frequently called upon to assume full charge, and be responsible for the management of every department of a great newspaper. Although he sold the paper many times, still each new syndicate requested him to act as trustee for the new bondholders. In the last great struggle between contending factions for that newspaper, when there were two Sunt Louis " Times" being printed, each claiming legitimacy, he promptly decided as to his course, and steadily pur- sued it. Heedless of clamor and threats of damage suits, and libel suits, he sup- ported the old management in its effort to preserve the identity of the paper, and throughout the warfare in the courts, published it as trustee until he was relieved of the trying position by the final order of sale.
An associate of our subject at the Saint Louis bar, thus writes in regard to him: "Mr. Donovan's reputation as a careful, painstaking lawyer, stands very high. He has been largely engaged in banks and other corporation cases, and has met with gratifying success. He has also had the management of several contested election cases before the house of representatives in Washington, cases involving vast detail work and complicated questions of law, where his careful preparation, and logical presentation of his cause, met with much encomium from the congressional committees. His practice is exclusively civil."
Mr. Donovan has the polish of a gentleman, and manifests a good deal of courtesy, as well as cordiality, in his intercourse with his fellow men.
He was married, in 1874, to Miss Virginia M. Lynch, a great-granddaughter of the Count De Charleville, one of the French refugees, who settled at Kaskas- kia, Illinois, fifty years before Laclede landed at Saint Louis. They have two children.
HON. XENOPHON J. PINDALL. MEXI. O.
X ZENOPHON J. PINDALL, formerly a resident of Missouri, late judge of the eleventh judicial circuit, Arkansas, and again a resident of this state since the spring of 1883, was born in Monongalia county, West Virginia, August 13, 1835. He is a son of General Evan Shelby Pindall, who was born in the same county, being of Welsh-English lineage, and is yet living in Monroe county, this state, in his eighty-third year. In his prime he was a successful farmer and stock raiser. He was general of the Virginia state militia. Jacob Pindall, grandfather of Xenophon, a native of Maryland, settled in what is now West Virginia, fought against King George the Third, and was sheriff for many years of Monongalia county. The paternal great-grandmother of Xenophon was Rachel Shelby, daughter of Evan Shelby, and sister of General Evan Shelby, of revolutionary fame, the father of Governor Isaac Shelby, of Kentucky. The mother of our subject was Drusilla Barker, a native of Monongalia county, and daughter of an carly settler in West Virginia, where members of the family still reside.
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Judge Pindall, being raised on a stock farm, carly formed an attachment for the business of stock dealing, and tradition has it that he became a trader in cattle at twelve years of age, following that business, somewhat to the neglect of his studies, until nearly ready to pass out of his teens. His father wished to send him to col- lage, but he appears, at that age, to have had more fondness for stock than for study, and he remained on the farm, having as yet only a fair English education
In 1853 the family came into this state, and settled in Monroe county, and two years afterward our subject began to read low, and to do something at burnishing his literary armor. He was admitted to the bar at Mexico, where we now find him in the spring of 1858; he practiced one year in Monroe county, then went to Bloomington, Macon county, and was there when the civil war began. In May. 1801, he enlisted as a private in the Missouri confederate militia, under General Sterling Price, Clark's division, and was elected lieutenant of Poindex- ter's company, thus serving until Price invested Lexington He was then trans- ferred to Colonel Brevier's regiment, and served as lieutenant colonel until mus- tered out in May, 1802. He then reinlisted in the confederate army, and was appointed major and quartermaster of Marmaduke's brigade, and served on staff duty in that and Parson's brigade until the close of the war. Among the battles that he was in were Oak Hills, Lexington, Elk Horn, Hartsville, Cape Girar- dean, Bayon Meter, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Ditch Bayou, etc. He was frequently complimented by his superior officers for his gallautry
The war being over he proposed to return to the practice of the law, but the Drake " test wath" stood in his way in this state, so he went, in January, 1866, to Napoleon, Desha county, Arkansas, and on the removal of the county seat to Watson in 1875, he settled in that place. He soon rose to prominence at the bar of that state, owing his success, says a writer in " The Encyclopedia of the New West," to his thorough knowledge of Blackstone, which he began to study in boyhood " His father put that book in his hands when he found that the son would not go to college. His mother, likewise, recommended certain standard works, which he read with great benefit in early life, including the Bible, Euse- bius, etc. " These works laid the foundation of that broad culture, those compre- hensive views and discursive talents which characterize Judge Pindall, and give him a rank among leading minds "
In 1872 he was elected by his democratic constituents to the legislature from Desha county, and in 1874 he was elected to the senate for Chicot and Desha. counties. While a member of the house, in the extra session of 1874, he was chairman of the judiciary committee; and in the senate, first session, he was chair- man of the committee on railroads, and also on the judiciary committee; and in 1877 he was chairman of the judiciary committee, and on the finance committee. He is the author of the general election law of that state.
In 1878 he was elected judge of the eleventh judicial circuit, composed of Arkansas, Desha, Lincoln and Jefferson counties, and served with impartiality and decided ability for the term of four years.
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI CITIES.
The wife of Judge Pindall was Sinah A. Hootsell, daughter of John Hootsell, a planter near Natchez, Mississippi, married August 30, 1868. They have had six children, burying one of them. Mrs. Pindall is an accomplished and very domestic lady, and a member of the Episcopal Church. The judge belongs to no church, but is an adherent of the Primitive Baptists. He is a man who can give a reason for his political or religious belief in terse, clear and unmistakable lan- guage. He has a compact build, and the complexion of his face is very dark, while that of his disposition is light and sunny
GEORGE T. DUNN. TROY.
G EORGE THOMAS DUNN, of the Lincoln county bar, is a native of Calla- way county, and was born March 20, 1840, and he has always lived in this state. His father, William F. Dunn, was born in Greenbriar county, West Virginia; came to this state many years ago, and was a farmer, and judge six years of the county court of Callaway county, where he is still living. His mother, Sarah S. (Patton) Duun, died in 1869. To the ordinary drill of a common school, George added a term of two at a private of select school, fitting himself for a successful educator. After reaching his majority and leaving the farm, he taught school eight winters, most of the time in Lincoln county, reading law by himself at the same time. He was licensed by Judge Gilchrist Porter in the spring of 1872, and from that time has been in steady practice at Troy, the shire town of Lincoln county, acting also as notary public during the whole period. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the county in 1876, and held that office two years. He is a democrat, and a Master Mason.
As a lawyer Mr. Dunn handles a witness and a case well, having previously prepared himself with much care. He is not one of that class who stultify them- selves by laziness. If he has work to do, he takes time by the forelock and does it, and not in a hap hazard manner. Application being the road to success, he applies himself, and his friends will be disappointed if he does not prove to be a rising man
P. WILLIAM PROVENCHERE. SAINT LOUIS.
T THE subject of this sketch belongs to one of the oldest families in Saint Louis His great-grandfather, Pierre Provenchere, and his grandfather, Pierre Provenchere, Jr., came to this country from France near the close of the last century (at the time of the revolution there). The elder took up his residence in Philadelphia, the latter not long afterward settled in Saint Louis. Here he married, and here his son Ferdinand, father of William, was born. Ferdinand
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