USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 4
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 4
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 4
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12. Erat Urround
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University, Lexington. He entered Yale College in 1845; was graduated in 1847; studied law with his father; was graduated from Louisville Law school in 1848, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. His grandfather was Hon. John Brown, member of congress from Virginia, and for many years United States senator from Kentucky. His father, Judge Mason Brown, was an eminent lawyer of Kentucky, and his mother was a Miss Bledsoe, daughter of Hon. Jesse Bledsoe, United States senator from Kentucky from 1813 to 1815.
Ex-governor Brown is connected by relationship with the Blairs, Brecken- ridges, Baylors, Prestons and Hamptons, and most of the leading families of the South and West. As a political leader he has no superior. His mind is mathe- matical, accurate and logical. He devotes his entire time to his profession. He naturally appeals to the intellect, but is master of rhetoric, and can make good use of it if occasion requires. He is good at repartee, but is considerate of the feelings of his opponents, and seldom wounds with sarcasm, of which he pos- sesses an abundance when placed upon the defense, and is an eloquent advocate.
He was married at Jefferson City, Missouri, to a Miss Gunn, a daughter of a distinguished editor of that place. They have eight children, two sons and five daughters living.
HON. AMOS M. THAYER. SAINT LOUIS.
AMOS MADDEN THAYER, judge of the eighth judicial circuit, is descended A" from a Massachusetts family of that name, that emigrated from Braintree, Essex county, England, in 1630, and first settled at Braintree, Massachusetts, He is a son of Ichabod Thayer, a native of Milford, Massachusetts, who married Fidelia La Due, and settled in Chautauqua county, New York, where the subject of this biography was born, October 10, 1841.
Judge Thayer is a graduate of Hamilton College, class of 1862. Three weeks after receiving his diploma he entered the army as lieutenant in the 112th regi- ment New York infantry, but was subsequently transferred to the signal corps, and commissioned by the general government as first lieutenant in that branch of the regular service. He served three years in that capacity, principally in Vir- ginia and North Carolina, and at the close of the war resigned his commission to enter civil life. During his period of service he participated in several campaigns and battles of the Army of the Potomac. He was present at the capture of Petersburgh and Richmond, and at the surrender of General Robert E. Lee with his army, and for gallant and meritorious services was first breveted captain and then major, his last commission being signed by President Andrew Johnson.
Our subject removed to Saint Louis in January, 1866, shortly after resigning his commission in the army, and at the age of twenty-four began the study of the law in this city without a preceptor. He was admitted to the federal and state bar in November, 1867, and was in successful practice in this city until the close of 1876, in November of which year he was elected to the circuit bench. He was
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reelected to the same office in November, 1882, and is now serving his second term on the bench.
Judge Thayer's success at the bar was secured by hard and honest work. Reticent of speech in general conversation, retiring and modest in his bearing, and given to the companionship of books rather than men, it was some time before his talents and acquirements were recognized. But the time spent in study was not lost, and when business came -- slowly at first, but afterward with increas- ing volume - the young advocate not only found his services in flattering demand, but the older heads at the bar discovered that a well equipped and graceful athlete had stepped into the arena, whose sagacious mind and careful training showed him to be an antagonist of the highest capacity. His success was com- plete when several of the most important railway and insurance companies - corporations whose large interests and peculiarty trying position in the courts require them to be most careful and conservative in the retention of counsel - intrusted their litigation exclusively to him. He served these clients with marked ability, and evinced not only a peculiar aptness for corporation business, but a ready and successful shrewdness in the trial of cases before juries, Called, while yet very young, to the circuit bench, Judge Thayer has made even a greater suc- cess upon the woolsack than at the counsel table. At the end of his first term of six years he was reelected by a flattering vote, the members of the bar and the public, generally recognizing his eminent qualifications, uniting in his support without regard to party. As a judge he is painstaking and deliberate, but at the same time facile in the dispatch of business, both his law and trial dockets being always up to date, while matters taken under advisement never fail of a speedy determination. In the trial of a case, his marked judicial aspect, his gravity of speech, his patient courtesy, his exact impartiality, and the decorum which his dignity secures, are his chief characteristics.
Judge Thayer is a democrat, but not, we believe, a very strong partisan, and he seems to be popular with all parties.
His wife was Miss Sidney Hunton Brother, daughter of Alexander Brother, for a long time a banker in New Orleans, their union taking place December 22, 1880.
JOHN J. COCKRELL.
WARRENSBURGH.
JOHN J. COCKRELL was born in Warrensburgh, his present home, May 10, 1855. Ilis parentage and family record may be found in the sketch of his father, Hon. Francis M. Cockrell, United States senator from Missouri. John J. was educated at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, and McGee Col- lege, Macon county, this state, being graduated at the latter institution, as vale- dictorian of his class, in 1873. He read law with his father and Governor Crit- tenden; was admitted to the bar in March, 1876, and succeeded to the business of the firm on his father's being elected United States senator. His practice is
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entirely in the civil courts, and he has a first-class clientage. He is of the firm of Cockrell and Suddath.
Mr. Cockrell is studious and solid, like his father, very much of a thinker, self-poised, cool and fearless, and a rising young man in his judicial circuit. His political affiliations are with the democratic party, but we believe he has never been a candidate for any office. He is very much attached to his profession, in which he is making noteworthy success.
Mr. Cockrell has a good degree of public spirit, and does all he can to encourage local enterprises. He is president of the Warrensburgh Board of Trade, and secretary of the Warrensburgh Creamery Association. He is a third- degree Freemason, and in good standing in the Independent Order of Odd- Fellows.
The wife of Mr. Cockrell was Miss Bessie C. Cunningham, of Little Rock, Arkansas, they being married July 8, 1880.
BEVERLEY R. RICHARDSON.
VERSAILLES.
B EVERLEY ROBINSON RICHARDSON is descended from families who went to Canada at the close of the American revolution, his grandfathers on both sides being United Empire loyalists, and settling in Upper Canada, now called Ontario. Some of their descendants are still living in the Niagara district, and are among the most respectable people in that part of the province, the writer of this sketch speaking from personal acquaintance with them.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River, October 30, 1829. His father, Charles Richardson, was a lawyer, a member of the provincial parliament from the Niagara district, and a prominent citizen of Ontario. He married Eliza Clench, whose father was Ralfe Clench, who, siding with King George the Third, left the United States at the close of the war for independence.
Doctor Robert Richardson, the paternal grandfather of our subject, had been the surgeon of a distinguished Highland regiment in the British service, and settled in Canada at the close of the revolutionary war.
Mr. Richardson was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, taking the full course; read law at Toronto and Saint Catherines; was called to the bar in 1852, and practiced in Canada until 1856, when he left the province, and was engaged in railroading in the United States until 1870. In that year he came to Versailles, Morgan county, his present home, and the next year resumed the prac- tice of his profession. He has a complete abstract of the titles to all lands in Morgan county, and his practice, while general, is largely in the line of real-estate law, which he has made a special study. In this branch of the profession he represents a large non-resident clientage, and is doing an excellent business. He
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has a good reputation for punctuality and faithfulness in all his legal transactions, and is a first-class business man, He votes the republican ticket. His religious connection is with the Episcopal Church.
Mr. Richardson was married in 1858 to Miss Emma N. Johnson, daughter of Captain Andrew Johnson, of Oxford, Pennsylvania; they have one daughter living, named Dora Louise.
HON. JOHN D. S. DRYDEN. SAINT LOUIS
JOHN DEBOS SHARP DRYDEN, formerly a judge of the supreme court of J Missouri, is a native of Washington county, Virginia, born March 27, 1814. His parents, Nathaniel and Margaret (Craig) Dryden, were also born in that county. His grandfather was David Dryden, whose brother, Nathaniel, was an officer in the revolution, and fell at King's Mountain, where his name is inscribed with others on the monument erected to the memory of the heroes who there died for their country. The grandfather of Margaret Craig was also in that war, and commanded a company of Pennsylvania troops. Nathaniel Dryden was in the second war with England.
The subject of this biographical notice received a common English education; in 1829 came to Montgomery county, this state, with the family, where his father was engaged in farming, and where the son farmed and attended school until about eighteen years of age, after which he taught three years.
He commenced reading law in 1835, in Montgomery county, with Hon. Mat- thias MeGirk, then chief justice of the supreme court; was admitted to the bar in 1838, and after practicing a few months in Montgomery county, moved to Pal- myra, Marion county.
While he was a student at law he also acted as deputy for the clerk of the cir- cuit and county courts, leaving the impress of his industry and careful work on the records, which were destroyed by " bushwhackers" in 1.864.
In January, 1862, Mr. Dryden was appointed by Governor Hall to the supreme bench of the state, and the next year was elected by the people to the same office for the term of six years. But his term expired in 1865, by an ordinance vacating all the offices in the state, and Judge Dryden moved his family to Saint Louis. Here he has been in general practice since that date. At an early day he was of the firm of Dryden and Lindley. In 1868 his eldest son, John Winchell Dryden, came into the firm, when it took the name of Dryden, Lindley and Dryden. In 1871 Mr. Lindley went on the bench of the circuit court, and since that time the firm name has been Dryden and Dryden. They have usually done a heavy busi- ness, and legally and morally the firm has a high standing among the legal fra- ternity. Indeed for forty years the judge has had that standing.
In the judgment of a gentleman who has known Judge Dryden intimately for nearly forty years, he ranked years ago with the leading members of the bar in
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northern Missouri, being distinguished as sound, practical and strong, and the best special pleader in that part of the state. He was more noted for distinct enunciation of principles to the beach than for rhetorical climaxes to a jury.
Judge Dryden was attorney for the Saint Louis and Iron Mountain railroad from the time of its reorganization in 1867 until 1875, when he resigned. He helped organize the Saint Louis Law school, and for two years filled the chair of pleadings and evidence gratuitously, until the institution was put on a firm basis. He was a member of the legislature in the revising session of 1879; chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments, and on the joint revising committee of the two houses to revise the laws, and was one of the hardest workers and clearest-headed men in that body.
Judge Dryden is a democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and has long been a man of much influence in the party. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, an elder of the Central Church, and a man of substantial qualities of character.
He was first married in 1842 to Miss Sarah M. Winchell, a native of Massa- chusetts, then of Shelby county, Missouri; she dying in 1845, leaving two child- ren, only one of them, the son already mentioned, now living; and the second time, in 1847, in Marion county, Missouri, to Miss Sarah F. Barr, a native of Pennsylvania, by whom he has four children living : Nathaniel Craig, a lawyer, Troy, Missouri; Joseph L., clerk, Saint Louis; Mary C., who has finished her education at Mary Institute, and is at home, and Annie M., who is a student at that institute.
HON. WILLIAM 1. SCOTT. SAINT LOUIS.
W ILLIAM LUTHER SCOTT, a lawyer of high standing in his profession, was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, November 15, 1833. He is a son of Colonel James Scott, who died in 1838, and Eliza Jane ( Ramsey) Scott, a native of Tennessee, and sister of Doctor J. G. M. Ramsey, author of " Annals of Ten- nessee," who is still alive and in his eighty seventh year.
The subject of these notes is a graduate of the East Tennessee University, Knoxville, class of 1852. He read law in the same city with Judge Alexander, of the circuit bench; was admitted to the bar in 1855, a few months after he was of age, and practiced at Knoxville until the summer of 1860, when he moved to Memphis. In the spring of 1861 he joined the southern army, in the light artil- lery service, and commanded what was known as Scott's battery the greater por- tion of the war. He was severely wounded at the battle of Shiloh, and taken off the field, as it was supposed, to die, but he recovered in a few months and resumed command of his battery. He was in a large number of battles, includ- ing those of Perryville, Kentucky; Stone River, Tennessee; Chickamauga, and the quotidian battles for six weeks while General Johnston was falling back on Atlanta, and continued in the service until May, 1865.
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At the conclusion of the war Mr Scott resumed practice at Memphis, and in 1870 was elected by the bar of the city to the office of chancellor of the second chancery court of Shelby county, which was held in Memphis, and he occupied that position until the death of Chancellor Yerger, when our subject was appointed by the governor to fill out the unexpired term, being on the beach about two Years.
On leaving it he once more resumed practice in Memphis, remaining there until 1875, when he settled in Saint Louis. Here he has made an excellent rec- ord as an attorney at law. Says a gentleman intimately acquainted with him: "Mr. Scott has built up a very respectable business, and has been connected with some of the largest insurance and other suits ever tried in this city; is painstak- ing and punctilious, and none of his cases ever go by default." The same gen- tleman adds that "he is an upright, excellent citizen, and a solid man, as well as a sound and able lawyer."
Le was originally an old line whig, and of late years usually votes the demo- cratic ticket, but is not an active politician.
Mr. Scott was married in 1863 to Miss Susan W. Elder, daughter of James Elder, now a retired banker of Memphis, and they have four children.
HON. WILLIAM P. HARRISON. HANNIBAL ..
-W ILLIAM PRESTON HARRISON, one of the foremost lawyers in Marion county, and formerly judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit, is a native of Lynchburgh, Virginia, and was born June 29, 1818. His father was Samuel J. Harrison, of Quaker descent, and a tobacco merchant, and his mother was Sal- lie (Burton) Harrison, a native of Campbell county, Virginia. In 1833 he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he obtained the larger part of his education, much of it by his own studiousness in private.
In January, 1837, Mr. Harrison came to Saint Louis, where he was at first a merchant's clerk, and afterward a merchant, continuing in trade until 18.45. In 1847 he commenced the study of law at Hannibal with the late Richard F. Richmond, and was licensed to practice in 1848. Since 1845 Mr. Harrison has been a resident of this county, and has been in active and successful practice when not serving his senatorial district, his circuit or his country in some impor- tant capacity.
In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce register of the United States land office, and removed to Palmyra, the county seat, where he remained until 1856, when he resigned and returned to the practice of his profession at Hannibal.
Mr. Harrison was appointed aid to Governor Hall, with the rank of colonel of infantry, and he was lieutenant colonel of the 39th regiment of enrolled Missouri militia from 1862 until the close of the way. Meanwhile, in 1862, he was elected
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to the state senate as an unconditional Union man, and was chairman of the judi- ciary committee in that body, and took a bold stand for his country, voting for every measure tending to uphold the government in its efforts to save the Union. A more positive, outspoken man and truer patriot did not live in Missouri in 1861-65 and has not since lived here than Mr. Harrison
He was serving in the senate in 1860 when he was appointed to the bench of the sixteenth judicial circuit, on which he sat until 187-, making a considerate, impartial and able jurist, eminently fitted for that high position. He is regarded as the best executive officer that ever sat on the bench of this circuit, keeping the court a model of good order and all the proprieties of civilized life. Since leav- ing the bench he has devoted his time exclusively and assiduously to the duties of his profession. His practice is quite large, and he has a high reputation as a court and jury lawyer, as well as for talents and for probity of character. The Hannibal bar may well take pride to itself when it is represented by such men as Hon. William P. Harrison.
Hle was mayor of the city of Hannibal in 1852, and then and since has showed a commendable degree of public spirit. Ile is a trustee of the board of trade of Hannibal, and attorney for the Wabash and the Saint Louis, Hannibal and Keo- kuk railroads.
Judge Harrison was first married in 1839 to Miss Margaret Morton, of Saint Louis, she dying in 1852, leaving six children, and the second time in December, 1853, to Miss Nannie Bullock, daughter of Winfield Bullock, of Kentucky, having by her seven children living. He has buried eight children by the two wives, most of them in infancy, and has had twenty-one children in all.
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HON. WILLIAM C. JONES. SAINT LOUIS.
W ILLIAM CUTHBERT JONES, late judge of the criminal court of Saint Louis, is of remote Welsh descent, his great-grandfather, Gabriel Jones, coming to this country and settling in Virginia some time before the revolutionary war, in which he served as captain of a company of Virginia troops. Francis Slaughter Jones, grandfather of William Cuthbert, was an extensive planter in Virginia, and raised a family of twelve children, the maiden name of his wife being Hester Coons, Cuthbert T. Jones, the father of our subject, was born at Culpepper Court House, Virginia, in 1862; married Eliza R. Treat, daughter of Hon. Samuel Treat, formerly United States Indian agent at the Arkansas Post, and the result of this union was eleven children, William Cuthbert being the third child. He was born at Bowling Green, Kentucky, July 16, 1831, and three years afterward the family moved to Chester, Illinois, where the father, who was a prominent physician and surgeon, practiced his profession for more than forty years He is still living, being eighty one years of age, and resides with his son
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in Saint Louis. His mother, Eliza (Treat) Jones, died in March, 1883, aged nearly seventy-eight years
The subject of this sketch is a graduate of MeRendre College, Lebanon, Illi- nois, class of 1852. He read law at Bowling Green, with Hon. William V. Loving, judge of the circuit court; was admitted to practice in 1853, and the next year settled in Saint Louis, and formed a partnership with William I. Sloss, which continued one year.
In 1800 Mr. Jones became a partner of Hon. Charles F. Cady, late judge of the court of criminal correction, Saint Louis. On the breaking out of the civil war in the spring of 1861, Mr. Jones promptly enlisted in his country's defense, becoming captain of company I, New York reserve corps, under Colonel B. Gratz Brown, and served through the campaign of southwest Missouri. In October, 1862, Mr. Jones was commissioned paymaster in the army, and served three full years, being mustered out in November, 1865.
Mr. Jones was a democrat of anti-slavery leanings at the time the civil war broke out. At its close he favored the reenfranchisement of the rebel element in the southern states, acting with all honesty and sincerity of purpose with the so- called liberal party. In 1866 he was the nominee of the democratic party for clerk of the circuit court for Saint Louis county, and was defeated with the rest of the ticket. Two years later he was presidential elector of that party for the second district, and entered heartily into the campaign, speaking for Seymour and Blair, and canvassing his district thoroughly three times.
Prior to this memorable campaign, that is from the close of 1805 to 1868, he had been in the sign and steamboat-painting business, in company with Wyatt C. Hoffman, in which he made a success. He went into it because he had become disgusted with criminal practice, but the new business was detrimental to his health, and in January, 1868, he formed a law partnership with Charles G. Mauro, and later with John D. Johnson.
In November, 1874, he was elected judge of the criminal court of the city of Saint Louis, and held that office until December, 1878, when he again resumed the practice of his profession. A writer of the " United States Biographical Dic- tionary," Missouri volume, 1878, states that Judge Jones' career on the beach " was characterized by promptness, diligence, fidelity, learning, fearlessness and integrity; great skill and efficiency in the dispatch of business; and patience, attention and dignified good humor while presiding in court, which made him a great favorite with the bar."
In December, 1878, Judge Jones retired from the bench, and again entered upon the active practice of his profession, and formed a partnership with R. J. Delago, under the firm name of Jones and Delano. The business of the firm is very large and lucrative, and almost entirely civil
For the last six years Judge Jones has been quite active in the Knights of Honor, having been grand dictator of the state, and member of the supreme lodge for four years. He was chairman of the committee that framed the present con-
MG Jamison
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stitutions of the supreme and subordinate lodges, and is also chairman of the committee on appeals and grievances in the supreme lodge.
Judge Jones was united in marriage November 20, 1856, with Miss Mary A. Chester, daughter of Joseph Chester, of Chester, England, and of seven children, the fruit of this union, only four are living: Fannie S., James C., Julia M. and Giles F. The judge is an Episcopalian; his wife is a Catholic, and both are prominent in the religious and social circles of Saint Louis.
WILLIAM C. JAMISON. SAINT LOUIS.
W ILLIAM CALDWELL JAMISON, a member of the Saint Louis bar since 1845, was born in Murfreesboro, Rutherford county, Tennessee, September 25, 1822. His father, Henry D. Jamison, was an industrions and thrifty farmer, son of an immigrant from South Carolina, who settled in Clarksville, Mont- gomery county, Tennessee, in the latter part of the last century. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth Beatty, a native of Virginia, her father moving thence to Tennessee
Mr. Jamison received the usual mental drill in the public schools of his native village, working more or less on his father's farm during the busiest season and vacations, and at seventeen years of age entered Union University, Murfreesboro, at which institution he was graduated with honors in 1843. He then came to Saint Louis, read law at first with Hon. John F. Darby, and then with Judge J. M. Krum, and was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1845. He remained a short time in the office of Judge Krum, then opened an office by himself, and in 1848 formed a partnership with Franklin . Dick, which continued one year. In 1849 Mr. Jamison became a partner of James R. Lackland, and was with him about three years, when Mr. Lackland withdrew to go on the bench of the crimi- ual court of Saint Louis county. In 1853 George W. Cline joined Mr. Jamison in the practice of law, and they were together until 1883, being joined by Judge Lackland after he had left the bench. The firm of Lackland, Cline and Jamison continued for five or six years, when the judge retired on account of the state of his health. In 1800 Melville C. Day became the junior member of the firm of Cline, Jamison and Day, which firm continued until November 1, 1882.
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