USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 33
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 33
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 33
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He entered the office of N. B. Fulton, Haverhill, New Hampshire, as a law student, in the fall of 1863, where he pursued the study of his profession with great assiduity until 1867, when he was admitted to the bar. He practiced at that place with good success until 1869, when he removed to the adjoining town " of Warren.
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In political sentiment Mr. Putnam has always been a democrat, and as such was elected to the New Hampshire legislature in 1808 and 1869, from Haverhill, and in rago, 1871 and 1872 represented Women in the legislature. In 1809-70 he was candidate for speaker of the house, but his party being in the minority he was defeated. He was a member of the constitutional convention from that town in 1876. He was prosecuting attorney for Grafton county in 1874-75; and was chairman of the New Hampshire delegation to the national democratic con- vention, held at Saint Louis in 1870, that nominated Tilden and Hendricks.
He practiced law at Warren until the spring of 1877, when he returned to Haverhill and bought ont the library and office of his instructor, Mr. Felton, who had died. Mr. Putnam's law business was very extensive, and he gained a wide reputation as an able lawyer, possessing a legal mind of high order. He has a faculty of grasping the pivotal points of a legal question with great ease; is discriminating and profound, with a retentive memory, and can enforce his views by cogent arguments. From 1873 to 1882, excepting one year, Mr. Putnam was chairman of the democratic state committee of New Hampshire. He came to Kansas City in August, 1882, where he has since been in the successful practice of the law.
He was married December 2, 1868, to Miss Mary R. Reding, a highly accom. plished lady from Haverhill, New Hampshire.
HON. ARNOLD KREKEL. KANSAS CITY.
ARNOLD KREKEL, district judge of the western district of Missouri, was ap- A pointed such by President Lincoln, his commission being dated March 9, 1805. He was born March 12, 1815, near Langenfeld, below Cologne on the Khine, in Prussia; came to the United States in 1832, and has since resided m the state of Missouri, in which his father settled. Before emigrating he had received a village-school education, to which he added three years of instruction in Saint Charles College. Among other studies, influenced thereto by President Fielding, who had charge of the college, he studied mathematics, and early became a surveyor; was appointed United States deputy surveyor, and was twice elected county surveyor of Saint Charles county. In 1842 he was elected a justice of the peace. Soon afterward he commenced the study of the law, was admitted to practice in 1844, and settled in Saint Charles, He held the office of city and county attorney a number of years In 1850 he established the " Saint Charles Democrat," and edited the paper a number of years. In 1852 he was elected a member of the legislature for Saint Charles county, and voted for the first appro- priation made by the state of Missouri for railroad purposes. He has been an ardent advocate of the internal improvement system of Missouri. On the break- ing out of the rebellion be enlisted in the home guards of Saint Charles county,
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out of whom he organized a regiment for active service, was elected colonel, and served during the war. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1865, became its president, and February 1. 1865, signed the ordinance of eman- cipation, by which the slaves of Missouri were set free. While the constitutional convention was still in session, President Lincoln appointed him one of the fede- ral judges, as stated, which made it necessary to remove from Saint Charles county, in the eastern district of Missouri, to the western district. He located at Jefferson City, and resided there until the district was divided, when he removed to Kansas City, where he now resides. In 1865, while at Jefferson City, he took a leading part in the organization of a colored school, and in 1866, together with Colonel Foster, organized the present Lincoln Institute. When Colonel Foster removed from Jefferson City, the institute was left in his and the hands of a few well wishers. He stood by it with time and means, the latter being mainly fur- nished by eastern friends. For ten years he lectured free of charge to the normal classes of the institute on civil government and political economy, delivering on an average one hundred lectures each year. The state of Missouri aided the 'work by an appropriation of $5,000 annually, and a few years since adopted it as one of its normal schools, and now maintains it as such, with a liberality which does credit to the state. The judge insists that since the colored people have been supplied with teachers of their own race, education among the colored peo- ple has made great progress While an enthusiast educationally, he is specially so regarding the colored people, looking to it as among the best and most direct means to overcome, or at least mollify, the race problem.
ALBERT C. WIDDICOMBE.
BOONTHIE.
T MIE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is a son of the late Robert Widdicombe, who was born in Devonshire, England, in 1799, came to this country about 1825, married Mary S. Gallaway, a native of Essex county, Massachusetts, and was living in Washington, District of Columbia, when Albert was born, August 5, 1841. Robert Widdicombe was a merchant for several years, and was afterward an employe in examining the accounts in the United States treasury at Washington, where he died in 1876.
Mr. Widdicombe read law at Washington, in the office of Thomas H. Dodge, and was about prepared to be admitted to practice when the civil war broke out. In 1862 he raised a company of infantry at Alexandria and Washington, and went into the army as captain company B, 16th regiment Virginia infantry. He served about a year, when the regiment was mustered ont.
Mr. Widdicombe was licensed to practice in January, 1864, and immediately opened an office at Boonville, where for twenty years he has had a creditable standing in the first judicial circuit. His business extends into the federal courts
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of this state, as well as into all the state courts, and no man at Boonville has made a cleaner record as a practicing attorney. He makes a partial specialty of land litigation, and has been remarkably successful. He has great energy and untiring industry, and his practice has become quite lucrative. He is esteemed by the profession a safe and discreet counselor, and in his preparation and man- agement of cases involving land titles and their intricacies, he has no superior in central Missouri.
Mr. Widdicombe was a delegate to the national convention which met at Bal- timore in 1864, that renominated President Lincoln. He is an Odd- Fellow, and a past grand in the order.
The wife of Mr. Widdicombe was Miss Susan P. Hedrick, of Fayette county, Indiana, their marriage taking place November 28, 1865. They have four chil- dren. Mrs. Widdicombe is a member of the Episcopal Church, where the family worship
CHARLES S. CRYSLER. INDEPENDENCE.
C HARLES SUMNER CRYSLER was born August 21, 1856, in the town of Marcellus, Onondaga county, New York, being a son of Cornell and Nancy W. (Dunlap) Crysler. His maternal grandfather, George Dunlap, was one of the largest land owners as well as one of the oldest and most honored citizens in his county, a man whose excellent qualities of mind and heart were well matched by a superb physique. Cornell Crysler was also a native of Onondaga county, and was a well known member of the New York bar. He was for many years a law partner of Judge Henry M. Reigel, of Syracuse.
After the breaking out of the war, and in response to the call for troops, he raised company D, New York infantry, and joined the 122d regiment. He served as captain through all campaigns until after the battle of Antietam, leaving the service with health greatly impaired He sought relief in change of climate and with his family removed to Independence, Missouri. His son, Charles Sumner, was at this time about eleven yours of age. His education, which had begun in the public schools of Syracuse, and at Onondaga Academy, was continued at the Independence public school, and in higher English branches, and in the classics, under his father's able supervision.
During the succeeding years of boyhood he gained considerable knowledge and experience of farm life, managing the home place for months together, when circumstances made it necessary.
lle afterward filled a clerkship in the postoffice at Independence, and later the position of bookkeeper to a firm in Saint Louis. The determination to adopt the legal profession was early fixed in his mind, and with this purpose before him he devoted all leisure time to the study of law. Finally, resigning his situa- tion that he might give himself tully to its pursuit, he entered the law office of
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Comingo and Slover, a firm widely known in western Missouri. Here he gained much practical knowledge while completing his studies. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1879, at Kansas City, by Hon. S. H. Woodson, judge, and in Octo- ber of the same year was united in marriage to Miss Harriet E. Child, of Wey- bridge, Vermont, a lady of Puritan ancestry, being a lineal descendant of William Brewster. She is a lady of high accomplishments, and an artist of considerable ability.
Mr. Crysler is regarded as a thoroughly sound lawyer, well informed in the various branches of his profession, and an excellent advocate. He is a man of unusually fine presence, and his manner as a speaker is at once forcible, graceful and convincing. Possessed of indomitable energy and perseverance and of sterling integrity, he finds his reward in a large and constantly increasing practice. Mr. Crysler is fond of out-door sports, and is an adept at casting a fly, a fine shot, a fearless swimmer, and skillful oarsman. He is also fond of literature and the drama.
HON. DE WITT C. ALLEN. LIBERTY
M R. ALLEN is a prominent lawyer, of literary tastes and acquirements. He devotes his leisure time to the pursuit of literature; has made himself familiar with the best English authors, and has acquired a style of pure English, elevated in its tone, easy and graceful. Ilis management of a case is always shrewd and well planned, He is a formidable opponent. His examination of a subject is exhaustive, and in a case to which he has given his mature deliberation, he is usually found to be correct in the courts of final resort.
Mr. Allen is a native of Missouri; born in Clay county, November 11, 1835. He has lived there all of his life, with the exception of about three years. His father, Shubael Allen, was a native of Orange county, New York, removing to Missouri in 1817. His mother, before marriage, was Dinah Ayres Trigg, of Ken- tucky. She immigrated to Missouri with her father in 1818. The ancestry of Mr. Allen are of English. Welsh extraction, and on both sides have been in this country more than a hundred and fifty years. He received the benefit of excellent primary and academic education, and entered William Jewell College, and grad- uated thereat with first honors in 1855. During the ensuing year he was engaged in teaching, and was principal of the preparatory department of Masonic College, at Lexington. He then devoted a year to the study of history, literature, and the elements of law.
In the summer of 1858 he entered the office of the late Richard R. Rees, of Leavenworth, Kansas, -sometimes appearing in cases in court,-where he assid- uously applied himself to the study of the law until May, 1800. He began prac- tice at Liberty that year, where he continues to practice, and has attained a high rank at the bar. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the fifth judicial cir-
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cuit of the state in November, 1860. In January, 1875, he was chosen, without opposition, in connection with Hon. E. H. Norton, to represent the third senato- rial district, composed of the counties of Clay, Clinton and Platte, in the constitu- tional convention called to meet in May, 1875, where his ability was acknowledged. He was placed on the committees on education and legislative department. In 1866-67 he was an officer of the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad Company, and assisted in securing the construction of its road, since known as the Kansas City branch of the Hannibal and Saint Joseph railroad, from Cameron through Clinton and Clay counties, to Kansas City. He was for ten years one of the trustees of William Jewell College, and has earnestly cooperated in the promotion of its interests.
He is a firm friend of free, popular education, and favors an increase of the facilities for the acquisition of scientific education in the West. Mr. Allen was married in May, 1864, to Miss Emily E. Settle, of Ray county, Missouri, and has three children.
JOHN H. PUGH.
UNION.
OHN HENRY PUGH has been a practicing lawyer in Franklin county since J the close of the civil war, and is one of that class of men whose character and career tend to elevate the profession in the eyes of the people. He was born in Decatur, Illinois, December 30, 1838, being a son of Isaac C. and Elvira E. (Gorin) Pugh, both natives of Kentucky. His father was a prominent farmer in Illinois, a county officer at several periods of his life, served one term in the Illinois legislature, and was postmaster at Decatur at the time of his death, in 1876. He raised a regiment at the opening of the civil war, commanding it a while, and coming out of the war as a brigadier general. This branch of the Pugh family are of Welsh extraction, and very early settlers in Virginia. The maternal great- grandfather of our subject was identified with the struggle for independence.
John II. Pugh received a first-class English education in the excellent public schools of Decatur, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc., being reared on the farm. He read law at first with Captain Post, then with Judge Gallagher, and was admitted to the bar of Decatur in the spring of 1862. . He was the first internal revenue assessor in Macon county, of which Decatur is the seat of justice, and was holding that office in 1865, when he resigned it to come to Franklin county, where he now lives, halting at first at Washington, and settling at Union in the summer of 1866. Ilere he has been in steady practice for eighteen years, going into all the courts of the state, and making a specialty of real estate, hav- ing also a general practice. He is a man of stanch integrity.
Mr. Pugh is greatly interested in educational matters, and has been a school director nearly all the time he has resided in Union. He secured the introduction of comfortable seats and other decent furniture in the school house, and has
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labored zealously and untiringly to raise the character of the public school, in which laudable endeavor he has succeeded admirably, being seconded by a few other thoughtful and considerate citizens He is still chairman of the school board. He has held other local offices, such as township trustee, etc., and is one of the most useful citizens of Union village
Hle is quite prominent and active as a politician, being chairman of the repub- lican county central committee, and was a Greeley and Brown elector in 1872. He is a Knight Templar in Masonry; has been master of the local lodge three or four terms, and belongs to the Saint Louis Commandery, No. 1, and held the po- sition of district lecturer and district deputy grand master for several years.
Mr. Pugh has a complete abstract of the titles to every foot of land in Frank- lin county, a very valuable document.
He was married in May, 1862, to Miss Sophia W. Wood, daughter of Deacon George Wood, of the Baptist Church, Decatur, and they have four sons and two daughters. Mrs. Pugh is a worthy member of the Baptist Church, and the whole family are church-going people.
JAMES A. SPURLOCK.
VERSAILLES
AMES AQUILA SPURLOCK has been a practicing lawyer in Missouri for a J quarter of a century, and a member of the Morgan county bar since 1804. His business is in all the courts, state and federal, and of all kinds, civil and criminal, as is usual in country practice. He bears an excellent name for care in his business, fidelity to his clients, and uprightness of purpose.
Mr. Spurlock was born in Cannon county, Tennessee, November 20, 1825, being a son of Josiah Spurlock, a farmer and stock dealer, a native of Virginia, and Leah ( Manier) Spurlock, a native of Kentucky. The grandfather of James was Drury Spurlock, a soldier in the continental army. James received an aca- demic education at Buell Academy in Warren county, Tennessee, and taught a select school two sessions. He read law at MeMinnville, Tennessee; was there admitted to the bar in November, 1846, and after practicing twelve years at Gainesborough, Jackson county, he left his native state and came to Marshfield, Webster county, Missouri ( 1858). There he remained until 1864, when he settled in his present home, the county seat of Morgan. He did well at Marshfield, and has done well here, being liberally rewarded for the pains he took in preparing himself for the practice of the law, and for his diligence in, and fealty to his pro- fession. He is the author of two books.
Some years ago Mr. Spurlock held the office of county treasurer one term, the only civil office, we understand, that he has held in the state. He is thoroughly wedded to his profession. He is a greenback politician, and a Master Mason.
The wife of Mr. Spurlock was Miss Clarinda Talbot, a native of Tennessee,
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they being married April 20, 1852. They have ten children living, and have lost three. They have taken a great deal of pains to educate their children, and to rear them in industrious and virtuous habits, and have occasion to rejoice in their success. Notwithstanding his large and necessarily expensive family, Mr. Spur- lock is in very comfortable circumstances, the result of a life of industry and prudence.
RUFUS I. DELANO. S.HAT LOUIS
R UFUS JUDAH DELANO, one of the busy members of the Saint Louis bar, dates his birth in the city of Dayton, Ohio, May 10, 1852. His father, William J. Delano, a journalist by profession, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, he being a son of Judah Delano, a Virginian by birth, and a cousin of Hon. Columbus Delano, ex-commissioner of internal revenue. The mother of our subject was Penelope Odlin, a native of Dayton, Ohio, her father being Hon. Peter Odlin, a prominent lawyer The family came to Saint Louis in 1859, and both parents have since died.
Mr. Delano was educated at Washington University, Saint Louis, taking his degree in civil engineering in 1873, and in law in 1877. He practiced some in engineering, during vacations, while pursuing his scientific studies. He opened an office in August, 1877, and in a short time built up a fair practice, which has had a steady growth, because he attended to his business promptly, and with fidelity to the interests of his clients.
A gentleman who has known Mr. Delano since carly manhood speaks of him as a "diligent law student, and studions since he was admitted to practice," as having "cultivated both mind and body, being at one period a noted athlete."
Mr. Delano is of the firm of Jones and Delano, the former attending to the criminal branch of their practice, the latter to the civil. They have a good business in both branches, and constitute a highly reputable firm.
MATTHEW BOLAND.
CALIFORNIA.
M ATTHEW BOLAND is a young lawyer of industrious habits and ambitious aims. He has a good library, considering his age, and, best of all, he is making good use of it. Hence the hopes of his friends in his success. He was born in the city of Saint Louis, August 22, 1852, and is the only child now living of Thomas and Lucy (Burke) Boland. They were from Ireland, and are yet alive.
Matthew was educated at the Saint Louis cathedral and the Saint Louis uni- versity; read law with Edmund Burke, of California, Moniteau county; attended one course of lectures at the Saint Louis law school, and since 1874 has been in
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practice at his present home, his business being miscellaneous, and mainly in the courts in Moniteau county He is very diligent ; never slights a brief or any part or branch of his practice, and has gained the fullest confidence of his clients in his faithfulness,
Mr. Boland has been city attorney the last four or five years, and that, if we mistake not, is the only civil office he has held. He votes the democratic ticket, but is not an active politician. His profession is his pride, and to that he gives his time and his energies. He is connected with James E. Hazell in the abstract and conveyancing business, they having the only abstract of the land in the county. In this branch he is also doing well.
Mr. Boland is a Roman Catholic, being born and reared in that faith, and is living, we believe, a life consistent with his Christian profession.
JOHN WADSWORTH MOORE.
CALIFORNIA
JOHN WADSWORTH MOORE, firm of Moore and Williams, is descended from patriotic New England families, his maternal grandfather and some of his paternal great-uncles participating in the long, bloody and successful struggles to free the colonies from the British yoke He is a son of Elizur D. and Harriet (Wadsworth) Moore, and was born at Tolland, Hampden county, Massachusetts, March 12, 1830. His father was born in the same place, and his mother in Hart- ford, Connecticut, she being a descendant of the Wadsworths who were very early and prominently identified with the history of that state.
The subject of these brief notes was educated at the Suffield Institute, near Hartford, the Westfield ( Massachusetts) Academy, and Williams College, leaving at the end of the freshman year His father was a farmer, and reared his chil- dren in habits of industry. While pursuing his studies our subject taught school one or two terms.
In 1852 he went to the state of California by the isthmus route, and spent six of seven years in mining, prospecting, etc. In 1858 he took a trip into Oregon and Washington territory, extending it across the Cascade Mountains toward the Frazer River in British America; but his party was brought to a halt on account of hostile Indians. He returned to California on a mule, alone, a distance of more than a thousand miles, and to his native state in December, 1859, having had fair success, and an experience in camp and frontier life that has been of great benefit in subsequent years.
Mr. Moore studied his profession at Westfield, with Gillette and Stevens, and also one term at Harvard law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1861, and was beginning the practice in Massachusetts when the civil war began. In Sep- tember, 1861, he enlisted as first lieutenant in company F, 27th regiment Massa- chusetts infantry; was promoted to the rank of captain in February, 1862, and
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commissioned major in June, 1864 Ths regiment operated mainly in North Carolina and Virginia At Petersburgh, in June, 1864, he was wounded in his left hand. He was mustered out at Newberne, North Carolina, March 6, 1865, and in July of the same year settled at California, Moniteau county.
Two years before coming here -- June 6, 1803 -he had married, at Westfield, Charlotte Whitney Curtis, and they have six children, most of them engaged in securing their education.
The practice of Major Moore is general, and extends into the several counties included in his judicial circuit. We learn from his neighbors, who are well qual- ified to judge, that he is not only a sound and successful lawyer, but is prompt and eminently trustworthy, and stands high in credit and moral, as well as legal, character
Major Moore was circuit attorney in 1808 1872, and as such was an active and efficient prosecutor. His politics are republican, and for ten years he was chair- man of the county central committee of his party. We cannot learn that he ever neglected a client for a political canvass. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a man of sterling worth in the community.
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SIDNEY G. BROCK. AMICOV
IDNEY G. BROCK, lawyer and journalist, was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
S April 10, 1837. Ilis parents, Eleazer A, and Margaretta ( Platt) Brock, were raised in Plattsburgh, New York, and his father was one of the leading business men in Cleveland, being engaged in different manufacturing enterprises. Up to the age of sixteen Sidney attended the public and high schools of his native city, from which he was graduated in 1853. Six years later (June, 1850) he was gradu- ated at Alleghany College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, receiving two of the highest honors - the class honor of Greek salutatory, and the Hazeltine prize goblet for excellence in English composition, which was open for competition to all stu- dents in the college.
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