USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 27
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 27
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 27
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THOMAS J. DAILEY. SAINT LOUIS
T' THIS well known lawyer is a native of New York, and was born September 8, 1832, at Penn Yan, Yates county. He is the son of Thomas and Bridget (Duffey) Dailey, and is of Irish descent He commenced his education in the common schools, and was four years under the instruction of a private tutor, Professor Manning. He removed to Saint Louis January 27, 1844; in 1855 Was elected justice of the peace, in 1857 to the board of delegates, and in 1858 to the board of aldermen. In the spring of 1858 he was elected to the office of recorder, a name formerly given to the judge of the police court. He studied law, and was admitted to the Saint Louis bar in this9, and to the United States district and circuit courts in 1800. In 180; he was elected a member of the board of alder- men, which office be held until 1864. In 1865 he was elected one of the justices. of the county court, which office he held until 1877, and was reelected to that office in 1876. He is a member of the school board.
Mr. Datley was the republican candidate for congress in 1882, but owing to a split in the party he was defeated. His republicanism dates back to the founda- tion of the party. He was an original freesoiler, voted for John P. Hale in 1852. His eloquence was heard in defense of the principles of freedom when few men dared speak their convictions. He made many thrilling speeches against seces- sion in the early days of the late war, and by his untiring devotion to his country contributed largely toward saving Missouri to the Union.
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Judge Dailey has a retentive memory, is loaded with good sound sense, and is witty, incisive and luminous as a speaker. He has a power of repartee and sar- casm when aroused that often causes his opponent to feel his presence. The judge is a kind, gentlemanly man, who addresses all with the utmost courtesy, and has many warm friends.
THOMAS IL. KEMP.
THOMAS IL. KEMP is an able lawyer. He is a native of Maryland, and was born on Kent Island, Queen Ann's county, October 2, 1836. His father, of the same name, was a farmer and a politician of prominence, having been a member of the Maryland legislature four or five terms, and was judge of the orphans' court. He was a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His grandfather, Thomas Kemp, was a prominent business man, and was, at one time, a member of the Maryland legislature. The mother of our subject, before marriage, was Miss Mary Denny. Her father also was a prominent business man. Young Kemp was educated in the high schools, and read law with Hon. John M. Robertson, one of the present judges of the supreme court of Maryland, at Centerville, Queen Aun's county, and was admitted to the bar, March 3, 1858. In 1859 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Caroline county, which position he filled with energy and ability four years. He was elected to the legislature. January 4, 1864, and, although the youngest member in that body, he advanced to a leadership at once, and his wise counsels were sought on all momentous questions, and his eloquence and power exhibited in some of the debates in that session caused his associates to applaud his efforts and prophesy his future great- ness.
In 1865 he was a candidate for circuit judge, but his party being in the minor- ity, he was defeated. In 1867 he was elected circuit clerk, which office he held six years, winning golden opinions from the court, the members of the bar, and all having business in that court, by his avemmacy and obliging courtesy. In 1873 he was elected prosecuting attorney on an independent ticket, by a majority of one hundred and one votes, being the only one on the ticket that was elected. In 1875 he removed to Missouri, and settled in Oregon, Holt county, where he practiced his profession one year. But his practice was chiefly in the United States district and circuit courts at Jefferson City. He was employed to defend John C. Bender, George M. Irving and Walter Young, indicted on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government on war claims. Mr. Kemp was successful in clearing his clients, and won renown in so doing. In March, 1877, he removed to Chillicothe, where he has been in the successful practice of the law ever since.
In the campaign of 1880, U. S. Hall, chairman of the democratic committee, challenged Hon. J. H. Burrows to a joint discussion, and Mr. Burrows chose Mr. 30
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Kemp to hold six joint discussions, and the result of the election shows the wis- dom of his choice. Mr. Kemp made some of the most powerful arguments made in the state during that campaign. He so far distanced his antagonist that Mr. Burrows was elected, although the district was largely democratic. As a political orator Mr. Kemp bas few equals in northwestern Missouri, and as an advocate before a jury, he is one of the most effective in his part of the state. He is learned in the law and in general literature; is a great reader, and has a retentive memory, and so readily can he draw from his store of useful knowledge that the opponent who misstates or misquotes is sure to receive a rebuke that will make him forever cautious thereafter, for Mr. Kemp's rejoinders are often barbed with the keenest sarcasm; yet he is fair in debate, and a courteous gentleman, affable in his manners, and a good citizen. He was married, November 25, 1858, to Miss Sally E. Turner, daughter of Doctor John Turner, an eminent physician and pol- itician, of Calvert county, Maryland.
GEORGE W. BROWN. SILVT 1.01 1S.
O NE of the most scholarly and highly polished members of the Saint Louis bar is George W. Brown. He was born September 4, 1821, at Bangor, Maine; is the son of the late George W. Brown and Sophia ( Hammond) Brown, daughter of Colonel Charles Hammond, one of the earliest settlers of that city, and an extensive real-estate owner. Her grandfather acted as commissary for the army when General Washington was at Cambridge. Mr. Brown is a brother- in-law of Daniel Talcott, professor of languages in Bangor Theological Seminary, and is also a brother of Doctor Wm. I. Brown, late mayor of Bangor, a gentle- man of high standing and fine abilities, Mr. Brown's paternal grandfather was an old resident of Concord, Massachusetts, and a soldier in the revolution.
Our subject prepared for college under the instruction of the late Owen Love- joy, formerly member of congress from Illinois, in his early days a teacher in the classical department of the theological seminary at Bangor. He entered Bowdoin College, and was graduated from that institution in 1844. He studied law with Hon. John Appleton, then a practicing lawyer in Bangor, and has since been ele- vated to the office of chief justice of the supreme court of Maine. After pursuing the study of the law three years, Mr. Brown was admitted to the bar in 1845 at Bangor, where he continued two years. He then removed to Cincinnati, where he practiced law two years. He removed to San Francisco, California, where he remained five years in practice. He returned to his native city, and after remaining long enough to enjoy a visit with his friends, he settled in Saint Louis in 1857. He is doing a large business, practicing in all the courts, both state and federal.
Mr. Brown is a well read lawyer, and discriminating in his practice. He exam-
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ines a subject very thoroughly, has an analytic mind and a good memory. He is a cogent reasoner, has a fine flow of language, and often illustrates his arguments with metaphors and similes, which follow each other in rich and varied profusion. He is energetic, without verging on extravagante.
Mr. Brown is attractive personally, being of rather stout build, with keen per- ceptions, high forehead, a well-shaped head, covered with a luxuriant growth of dark brown hair, sprinkled with grey. His beard is exceedingly heavy and long, worn full. His eyes are hazel, and features of a classical mold. He is a court- cous, friendly gentleman, and is highly respected in the community where he moves. He is a Free and Accepted Mason.
He was married in 1869 to HI. Maria Pond. They have one child, Lilly Brown.
HON. GEORGE ELLISON.
G EORGE ELLISON is the oldest son of Hon. James Ellison, whose sketch may be found in this volume. He was born in Lewis county December 9, 18.41, and was educated at the Canton Christian University, taking a partial course. He read law with his father; was admitted to the bar in 1866, and has since been in practice at Canton. He is a good judge of law, makes out his pleadings with a great deal of care, and is accurate and reliable.
Mr. Ellison was elected judge of the probate court of Lewis county in 1874; and served the full term of four years, dechning a reflection. He attended to probate business connected with his office with the utmost faithfulness, and gave excellent satisfaction to his constituents.
Ile is a widower, with one child living.
HON. HORATIO M. JONES.
H ORATIO MCLEAN JONES, late judge of the circuit court, is a son of John and Mary (Mclean) Jones, and was born in Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania, August 23, 1826, his parents being Welsh. Mr. Jones was graduated at Oberlin College in 1849, and at the Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachu - setts, in 1853. In 1854 be settled in Saint Louis, opened a law office, and while engaged in practice served for some years as reporter of the supreme court of the state.
In 1861 our subject was appointed by President Lincoln territorial governor of Nevada, and from 1863 to 1866 he had a law office at Austin, in that territory. In 1866 he returned to Saint Louis, and in the autumn of 1870 was elected judge of the circuit court, which position he held until the close of 1870. As a judge
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he showed himself to be a man of a luminous mind, of dear perceptions, deeply read in law, quick to decide points at issue, of fair and impartial rulings, and ready at all times to guard the legal rights of contestants.
Judge Jones is devoid of stiffness or primmess; is plain appearing, plain spoken, cordial and social; well read in literature and science, as well as law; upright and honorable, and robust in body as well as mind
Judge Jones was married in 1851 to Miss Amenia Strong, of Livingston county, New York, and they have no children living
COLONEL BENJAMIN DAVIES. PALMYRA
T HIE late Colonel Benjamin Davies, who died in Palmyra, April 9, 1883, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in 1813, and at ten years of age went with his father's family to Washington, District of Columbia. He was educated at Georgetown College; taught school a short time in Virginia; became a Methodist minister; married Miss Mary Jane Miller, of Berkley county, Virginia; came to this state in 1836; preached at Paris and Palmyra, and leaving the conference, returned to Paris and edited the " Sentinel" for some years. He had read law some in his native state; finished here, and was in practice at Palmyra at the time of his demise He was register of the land office under President Polk, and Indian agent under President Buchanan at Salt Lake. He was an unwavering democrat, and wrote more or less for the Palmyra " Spectator," until he came to the bed of his final sickness. He was a man very much respected in the commu- nity, and is sadly missed by his old associates. His widow is living in Palmyra. She had six children, and buried them all years ago.
WILLIAM F. SMITH.
W ILLIAM FINLEY SMITH dates his birth at Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, May 21, 1846, being a son of John 11, and Mary (Sterrett) Smith, both natives of Pennsylvania His mother was a relative of the late Judge Ster- roll of that state. She died in 1870, aged seventy-eight years, and her husband in 1877, aged eighty-five years. Our subject is an undergraduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, teaching more or less while securing his educa- tion. He read law with Colonel W. C. Cooper, Mount Vernon; attended the law department of the University of Ohio, Cincinnati, and was graduated in the spring of 1870, In May of that year he came to Saint Louis, and has been in constant practice here since that date, mainly in the civil courts. His business has been reasonably successful, and he has made for himself a good name for
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faithfulness to his clients and for integrity in all his transactions. His brother lawyers speak well of his general character, and of his standing at the bar.
Mr. Smith is a republican, but not much of a politician, his business taking the precedence over everything else. In 1878 his political confrères insisted on his being a candidate for the legislature in a newly formed strong democratic district, and, though running eight hundred ahead of his ticket, he was defeated. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church
Mr. Smith was married in October, 1874, to Miss Eliza E. Schnebly, of Knox county, Ohio, and they have three children.
COLONEL RICHARD F. RICHMOND.
PALMYR.I.
T THIRTY years ago one of the leading lawyers in Marion county was Richard Fell Richmond, a native of Franklin county, Kentucky, born February 22, 1810 His father, Ezra Richmond, was a rope maker, and the son learned the same trade. He studied law at the Lexington University, Kentucky; came to Saint Louis in 1841, and in the same year settled at Hannibal, where he rose to distinction as an advocate. He had a fine address, was courteous in manners, and a belles lettres scholar
Mr. Richmond was a member of the legislature one term, being elected in 1844, and was afterward ( 1846) beaten for the same office by Colonel T. L. Ander- son, the whig candidate, though Mr. Richmond ran far ahead of his (the demo- cratic) ticket.
Colonel Richmond was a Mason and Odd-Fellow, and well known over most of the state. He was a man of great amiability, and had many warm personal friends, who speak of him with tears in their eyes. He died in 1850, leaving a wife and two sons, two other sons having died before he did. William T., the eldest son, was a lawyer in Saint Louis, and died in 1866; Bainbridge, a printer, is living at Hannibal.
HON. G. F. ROTHWELL. MOBERLY.
G IDEON FRANKLIN ROTHWELL is descended from a very old and pat- T riotic Virginia family, his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather tak- ing part in the war for the independence of the colonies. For several generations the Rothwells have been noted not so much for brilliancy of parts as for industry and for sterling integrity of character, some of the purest Virginia blood running in their veins. Doctor John Rothwell, the father of Frank, as our subject is called by all his neighbors, was born in Virginia, came to this state in 1831, and settled in Callaway county, where the son was born April 24, 1836. The maiden name of his
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mother was China Renfro, a native of Kentucky, and a descendant of one of those hardy pioneers who were first to take up their abode on the dark and bloody ground, before Kentucky had put on the robes of state.
Doctor Rothwell was a farmer as well as a physician, and Frank was early made familiar with solid farm work. He learned the art of farming thoroughly, in all its variety and minutia, and he no doubt counts that knowledge and the development which it gave his muscle, as scarcely second in importance to the martial drill which he received, to wind up with, at the state university at Col- umbia. He was valedictorian of his class, twelve in number, in 1857. He taught a common school one term in Callaway county, while in college.
After receiving his college degree Mr. Rothwell became professor of languages in Mount Pleasant College, Huntsville, Randolph county, and occupied it for three years. He read law in Callaway county, in the country by himself, being his own preceptor, and at the end of two years ( 1864) was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Huntsville. While thus engaged he served as county commissioner of schools for two terms.
In 1872 Mr. Rothwell moved to Moberly, in the same county, a city which in 1866 had only one farm house and family, and is now the third city in northern Missouri, Saint Joseph and Hannibal being larger. Before coming to Moberly Mr. Rothwell had attained an honorable position at the Randolph county bar, and this he has continued to maintain. His whole legal career has been a credit to the fraternity.
For the last eleven or twelve years Mr. Rothwell has been engaged in real estate as well as law, dealing entirely in lands of his own, and has had note- worthy success in this branch of enterprise. Almost from the day of his settle- ment in Moberly, he has been especially identified with its interests, and if any- body has done more to build up this city than Mr. Rothwell, we cannot mention the name of that person It requires but tew such public-spirited men as he to push forward almost any town having facilities for growth. A large number of buildings, residences, and business houses, wood and brick, have been put up by Mr. Rothwell
In 1878 he was the democratic nominer for congress in the tenth district, was elected, and served through the forty sixth congress. He was on the census com - mitter, Hon. S. S. Cox, of New York, chairman, and on the committee on war claims, General E. S. Bragg, of Wisconsin, chairman. Mr. Rothwell has never been any thing else but a democrat, and that of the stanchest kind, he believing that the national prevalence of the principles of his party would be for the best interests of the country.
He is master workman of Randolph Lodge, Number 30, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
He is a member of the Baptist Church, and belongs, if we mistake not, to a long line of men and women strong in that faith. He is a brother of Rev. W. R. Rothwell, D. D., for the last ten years at the head of William Jewell College, at Liberty, this state.
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The wife of Mr. Rothwell was Bettie M. Ragland, of Monroe county, this state. They were married in August, 1859, and have four children. The oldest son, Gideon Franklin, Jr., is a graduate of William Jewell College, class of 1883. Mrs. Rothwell was, in her younger years, a popular teacher of experience, and is a woman of fine natural abilities and high culture, a model wife and mother, and an ornament to the social and religious circles of Moberly.
HON. CHARLES A. WINSLOW. JEFFERSON CITY.
T HE late Charles A. Winslow, one of the commissioners of the supreme court of Missouri, was born in Kennebec county, Maine, November 7, 1837. From eight to sixteen years of age he worked on a farm, usually attending school in the winter term. One winter he attended school in Hallowell, in his native state. In 1853 he came to this state, following his father's family, and settling in Bruns- wick, Chariton county, where he learned the trade of a marble cutter of his father. In 1855 he learned telegraphy, and the next year commenced the study of law, afterward practicing that profession at Brunswick. In 1862 he moved to Keytesville, the shire town, to take the post of deputy clerk of the circuit court. In 1863 we find him judge of the Chariton county court. In 1864 and 1865 he held the office of county attorney. In November, 1865, he became connected with a newspaper, and was an able journalist.
In 1871 the Chariton court of common pleas was established, and Governor Brown appointed Judge Winslow judge of that court. In 1874 he was elected, and filled the office from March, 1871, to September, 1875, when the court was abolished.
In December, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan V. Corby, of Brunswick, who, with five children, survives him. In 1875, having a large prac- tice in the supreme court, he formed a partnership with Colonel-L. H. Waters, of Carrollton, and the firm removed to Saint Louis, Judge Winslow remained here afterward, and had a large practice in the supreme court up to the time of his appointment as one of the supreme court commissioners, March 22, 1883, under the act of the general assembly, approved on that day. Since his appointment as commissioner, and up to a few days before being compelled to take to his bed, he performed faithfully his duties as commissioner, writing a large number of opinions in cases referred to him.
He died at Jefferson City, November 18, 1883. The day after his death, at a meeting of the members of the supreme court and the supreme court commis- sioners, Judge Martin thus spoke of the judicial character of the deceased:
" Judge Winslow was perhaps better known to the bench and bar of this state than to the public generally. As an associate with him in the labors of his posi- tion, I am an earnest and cheerful witness to his distinguished merits as a jurist.
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He was endowed with a clear and logical mind, He was thoroughly conversant with the laws of his day and age, as expounded by the courts of the country, and he was impressed with a deep sense of justice in the consideration of every case that came before him. He was possessed of a marvelous energy, which gradually lured him into the embraces of that fatal malady, consumption, which has borne him from our midst. Of him as a citizen, neighbor, husband, father, the falling tears in his darkened home to-day speak more impressively than tongue or pen.
HON. JAMES S. ROLLINS, L.L. D.
COLUMBIA
AMES SIDNEY ROLLINS is one of the historical men and statesmen of Mis- J souri He has served four terms in the lower house of the legislature, two terms in the upper house, and two terms in congress, and has been identified with several important measures having a bearing upon the interests of the state and nation. His public life was long, active and honorable, as a brief résumé will show. He is of Irish lineage on his father's side, his grandfather being born in County Tyrone. His father was Doctor Anthony Wayne Rollins, a prominent Kentucky physician, and his mother, who was a Rodes, was born in Madison county, Kentucky. James was born at Richmond, Madison county, Kentucky, April 19, 1812, and there took his academic course He spent three years in Wash- ington College, Pennsylvania, and at the end of the junior year accompanied its president, Rev. Doctor Wylie, to the state university of Indiana, at Bloomington, where he was graduated in 1830. His parents meantime had come to Boone county, in this state, and here he has lived for fifty-three years. He worked on his father's farm one season; then read law with Hon. Abiel Leonard, afterward a judge of the supreme court of this state, and he finished his legal studies at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, being a graduate of the class of 1834. Before going to Lexington he served six months in the Black Hawk war ( 1832).
Mr. Rollins commenced practice at Columbia, but his health was poor, and to improve it he worked more or less on a farm, which he had purchased near town. In 1836 he became one of the editors of the Columbia " Patriot," a whig news- paper, his law partner, Thomas Miller, being also his associate in journalism. In the spring of that year a railroad convention was held in Saint Louis, the first meeting of the kind in this commonwealth, and Mr. Rollins was chairman of the committee which drafted a memorial to congress asking for a grant of public lands to aid in constructing public works, the convention favoring the memorial. The next year, June 6, 1837, Mr. Rollins was married to Miss Mary E. Hickman, born in Howard county, this state, a model wife and mother. Eleven children were the fruit of this union, only eight of them now living.
Mr. Rollins was elected to the legislature in 1838, and reelected in 1840. In
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the first session he introduced a bill to found and endow the state university, which became a law, and Columbia was made the location of the institution. In both sessions he was active in advocating measures for internal improvement, as well as educational schemes, and there showed himself a man of broad, statesman- like views.
Mr. Rollins was a delegate to the national whig convention in 1844; helped to nominate Henry Clay for president, and earnestly advocated his election in many public speeches. Two years afterward Mr Rollins was elected to the state sen- ate to represent Boone and Audrain counties In that body be led off in advo- cating a bill to establish a lunatic asylum at Fulton. In 1848 his name was placed at the head of the whig state ticket, but Missouri was democratic, and he was defeated. In 1854 he was again called upon to represent his county in the legislature, and in the session of 1855, though a slave holder, he opposed the ex- tension of the system into the territories. Some of his speeches attracted a good deal of attention on account of the cloquence, as well as candor, of the speaker.
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