USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 40
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 40
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 40
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He was born in Will county. Illinois, September 18, 1842, and received a fair English education before the civil war began. He went into the army in an lowa regiment.
As a lawyer, our subject was largely self-taught. He came to Saint Louis about 1870, was here admitted to the bar, and a few years before going on the bench he held the office of master in chancery, in the United States court, by appointment of Judge Dillon, and resigned that office on being elected to his present office in the autumn of 1880. He became at first associate editor, then editor in chief of the " Central Law Journal," and soon raised it to a high standard.
Judge Thompson is the author of several law books, among which are his treatises on " Homestead and Exemptions," " The Law of Negligence," " Liabil- ity of Stockholders," " The Law on the Carriers of Passengers," and several others, all well known to the legal fraternity. As a legal writer the judge has had a phenomenal success.
ALLEN GLENN.
HARRISONVILLE.
LLEN GLENN has been a member of the Cass county bar for ten or eleven A A years, and although but little over thirty years of age, has already reached a ueditable position among the legal fraternity of his county. He was born here, March 30, 1852, within a mile and a half of the county seat, his present home, being a son of Hugh G., and Letitia B. (Suggette) Glenn. His father was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, his mother in Kentucky.
Hugh G. Glenn was a farmer, and our subject was engaged in cultivating the
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soil until sixteen years of age, attending a country school, meantime, during the winter terms. He then entered the state university at Columbia, and was gradu- ated in the academic department in isz He taught one term after leaving that institution; read law at Harrisonville, with Daniel K. Hall and Noah M. Givan, the latter now being judge of the seventh judicial circuit, and was licensed by Judge Foster P. Wright, July 5, 1873. He is an excellent office lawyer, and a reliable business man.
About the time he was admitted to the bar Mr. Glenn was elected justice of the peace, and held that office four years. He is township collector, and may have held other local offices. His politics are democratic. His religious connec- tion is with the Baptist Church.
Mr. Glenn was joined in marriage November 8, 1879, with Miss Mary B. Kel- ler, of Kansas City, and they have two sons.
COL. JAMES C. NORMILE. SAINT LOUIS.
C OLONEL JAMES C. NORMIE was born October 6, 1844, and graduated at Georgetown University. He read law under Hon. O. H. Browning, of Illinois, then residing at Washington City as a cabinet officer. After his admis- sion to the bar he had the good fortune, through the aid of Mr. Browning, who saw the intellectual promise of his pupil, to be for three years the librarian of the interior department. This employment gave him leisure and opportunity to grat- ify his thirst for literature. He read with industry and with discrimination. He made himself familiar with the best writers in English literature in prove and poetry, and formed that affluent and scholarly style that has since characterized his eloquence. In the spring of 18og he came to Saint Louis. At the outset he encountered the struggles common to all young lawyers. He determined to labor and wait, avoiding the pleasures of the cup, pursuing with toilsome devo- tion his professional studies, and finding sweet recreation from severe work in the delights of literature. He gradually gained ground by extending acquaintance and inspiring confidence.
It was the Fore case that brought out Colonel Normile. As Munson Beach was sitting of a summer evening on his front steps, surrounded by his family, Joseph H. Fore, his brother-in-law, came up, and without a word, shot him dead. Normile, then au obscure young lawyer, was engaged to defend Fore. He deter-
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mined to plead insanity. In the estimation of parties the defense is an odious one, and in the hands of a young lawyer it is a dangerous one. Normile knew that his only safety lay in a perfect understanding of his case. He studied insanity thoroughly and fundamentally, and when he took his seat at the counsel table on Fore's trial, it hazards nothing to say that no man in Missouri was more learned on that subject. The medical experts learned to fear him, for by his merciless cross-examinations he put dogmatism and charlatanry to shame. In the pre- sentation of the testimony he was brilliantly successful. But in his argument to the jury he was magnificent. Graphic description, appeals to sympathy for the heart-broken and wretched detendant, acute and learned discriminations on the question of insanity, powerful reasonings on the application of law to the facts, wit, irony, splendid imagery, a diction chaste, scholarly and poetic; these held the jury for hours as in a trance. Fore was acquitted. Normile had leaped into reputation. But his success had been earned. Though gifted by nature as few men are, he had held his natural gifts for naught He had toiled. If Normile had not toiled, Fore had gone to the scaffold.
Colonel Normile's ability was now recognized. He was soon afterward made circuit attorney. Henceforth his rise was rapid. His ability as a prosecutor was conspicuous. One of the notable cases tried during his term was that of Julia Fortmeyer, indicted as an abortionist. The case was published in a volume of "Causes Célebres," by an eastern publishing house, and of Colonel Normile's argument to the jury the book says that was a legal effort it will stand as one of the most able and powerful appeals ever made to a jury in a court of justice."
In 18so the office of circuit attorney became vacant by the death of Mr. Beach. The jail was filled with desperate criminals, and Governor Phelps was severe in the enforcement of the law He accordingly appointed Colonel Normile to the vacancy, which he filled for nearly two years It would be profitless to speak of his successes. A learned lawyer and ready forensic debater and orator, he yet prepares his cases with the pains of a tyro. Always his triumphs are bought by toil. His path to professional distinction has been steep and laborious.
Colonel Normile is an orator. He is able to delight and convince his audi- ence. His style is elevated and pure. It is always scholarly. By its occasional quotations and by its general flavor, it constantly reminds you of books. The simple, conversational style, such as that of living, of Addison or of Goldsmith, Normile never attempts. It is dignified, rhetorical, bookich, rather like that of Burke. He has occasional flashes of wit and irony, his descriptions are frequent
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and always splendid, and in poetic sentiment and imagery it would not be easy to name an orator who is his equal. In fact his eloquence, like Moore's poetry, has been criticised for an excess of sentiment and imagery After all, the secret of his power hes in his intellectual wealth He has been, and is, a hard student. With the most valuable parts of Enghsh literature he is not only acquainted, but familiarly and critically acquainted In the tervor of forensic debate his mind overflows with rich thought expressed with force and beauty, and that is elo- quence
It took the world fifty years to learn that Buske was not simply a great orator, but was really the greatest political thinker of the age Normile has had the luck to be thought a mere rhetorician The truth is that his gorgeous rhetoric is but the covering of strong thought. He is not only a well read lawyer, but an acute and powerful reasoner It is proper to add that the same exuberance of thought and lofty and glowing diction which his public discourses exhibit, char- atterize his conversation. Colonel Nounile is of commanding stature and sym- metrical form His eye, his vous his features, in short has physique undoubtedly contributes to his effectiveness as a public speaker
HON. OWEN T. ROUSE.
() WEN THOMAS ROUSE, son of Joshua and Talitha (Souther) Rouse, was born in Florence, Boone county, Kentucky, April 5, 1845. His parents were also born in that state, and their parents were natives of Culpepper county, Virginia The Family came to Missouri in 1851. when Owe was nine years old, and settled in Monroe county, where Joshua Rouse, who had been a merchant in only hte, was a farmer for nelly that you
Owen finished his literary studies at the Monroe county high school; com- mented his legal studies at Urbana, Ilinois; continued them in Boone county. Kentucky; was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1865, and finished at the Ohio Union Law School, at Cleveland, in 1867, with the honors of the class. While pursuing his professional course he also taught school two or three win- tras, and a term of two afterward. He had practiced some under a license before going to Cleveland. In 1868 he had an office eight of nine months, in Mexico, this state. After that until 1870 he was in Monroe county, teaching
From 1870 to 1875 Mr Rouse was in Puis, the seat of justice of Monte
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county, and in the latter year settled in Moberly, where, as at Paris, he had a good run of business, extending into the United States, as well as state courts.
Mr Rouse was in the city council of Moberly two years, and in 1880 was elected, by his democratic constituents, state senator to represent the seventh district In the first session, 1881, he was chairman of the committee on privi- leges and elections, and on the committee on criminal jurisprudence, and in the next session, 1883, was chairman of the latter committee, serving in both sessions on other committees, and becoming quite a prominent member of the upper house In the last session he reported the Downing high license bill, and was active in securing its passage
Hle is a member of the Blue Lodge in Freemasonry; of the Triple Alliance, a comparatively new secret order, and of the Christian or Disciple Church. In May, 1800, he was joined in marriage with Miss Louisa Moseley, of Santa Fe, Momoe county, and they have one son living and have buried one daughter.
EDMUND BURKE
E DMUND BURKE is one of the oldest lawyers in Monteau county still in practice, and has made a good record in this part of the state He came to this country from the County of Clare, Ireland, where he was born June 3, 1829, his father being Patrick Burke, a farmer. . When in his fourteenth year, Edmund came over alone, landing at New Orleans in December, 1813, having an older brother there He remained in that city about eighteen months, attending school all the time, and then went to Saint Louis, where he entered the Saint Louis Uni- versity, and took an English course. He went thence to Dubuque, Iowa, where his brother was in trade, and was with him something like three years
Returning to Missouri, Mr Burke taught school four years at and near Monti- cello, Lewis county, and one year in Lafayette county, reading law at the same time. He was licensed by Judge Rees in 18544. and settled the next year at Cali- fornia, where he has been in active and successful practice for nearly thirty years, his business extending into the several countries in the first judicial circuit. Ile is an upright, straightforward man, and has the fullest confidence of the people in his integrity as well as ability.
Mr Burke was persuaded to serve as mayor one term, but he has no hanker- ing for political preferment He loves his profession, and would be out of his
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element did he not have constant work in that live. In politics he is a democrat, and usually votes, and that ends his duties to his party It all men were like him, Americans born would have to rule America
Mr. Burke was born and reated in the Catholic Church, and he reverences the with of his forefathers He was married. May 1. ISno, to Miss Philomela Smoot, of Howard county, and of eight children, the fruit of this union, five are still living.
CHARLES F. GALLENKAMP. IFISHING FOR
C HARLES FREDERICK GALLENKAMP, of the firm of Kiskaddon and Gallenkamp, is a native of the town in which he lives, and his birth is dated January to, 1850 His father, William Gallenkamp, came from Germany when a young man, married Mary Stumfel, who was also of German birth, and reared in Franklin county, Missouri, and he died when Charles was only five years old.
He finished his education in the Saint Louis high school; read law with J. C. Kiskaddon; was graduated at the Louisville, Kentucky, law school, in the spring of ISSo, and since that time has been in practice with his preceptor, at Washing- ton, their business extending into the several civil and criminal courts. ·
Mr. Gallenkamp has a studious disposition, an honest purpose in life to rise in his profession, and his friends have great confidence in his success. He is city attorney, appointed by the mayor in the spring of 1883. In the autumn before he was the republican candidate for judge of the probate court, before he was eligible to the office, and was not elected He was nominated in spite of his pro- test, and made a good canvass
ALEXANDER A. UNDERWOOD. BOLIVAR.
A' LEXANDER A. UNDERWOOD is one of the leading lawyers in Polk county, which has a bar of more than ordinary ability. His practice extends into the achjoming counties, and is quite remunerative He is a native of Pennsylva- nia, born in Pillsbury, York county, March 30, 1838 His parents, Israel and Elizabeth (Mumper) Underwood, were also born in that state. The Underwood family were Quakers, who came to Pennsylvania with William Penn, and settled in Bucks county. Israel Underwood was a whip manufacturer.
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Alexander received an academic education, and taught school one term in his native state. He went to Crawford county, Ohio; read law at Bucyrus, and in 1865 was there admitted to practice in the state, and subsequently at Jefferson City, in the federal courts.
Mr. Underwood practiced in Bucyrus until 1870, when he came to Missouri, and settled at Bolivar In a few years his legal business extended throughout his judicial circuit, and he is making a noteworthy success. He has an office at Union, Franklin county, as well as at Bolivar, Polk county, and seems to always have plenty of work on hand. Parties who know him best give him credit for being well read in his profession, earnest and strong in argument, and an excel- lent jury lawyer.
Mr. Underwood was married, in 1860, to Miss Martha E. Hemminger, of Craw- ford county, Ohio, and she is the mother of six children, two of whom have died
LASHLEY F. WOOD.
CALIFORNIA.
ASHLEY FOUNTAIN WOOD is a native of the county in which he still lives, being born three miles from California, October 28, 1839. His parents were Lashley L. and Sarah ( Mckenzie) Wood, the former a native of Kentucky, the latter of Missouri. Lashley I. Wood is still living, and one of the best known men in Moniteau county, being, in his prime, a merchant, a hotel keeper, and for a long period treasurer of the county. His wife died in 1881.
Our subject was educated in the common schools, the state university at Columbia, taking a partial course, and at the Louisville law school, being a grad- uate of the last named institution in March, 1861. He practiced a short time at California, then went into the confederate service as a private in the state troops. became captain m 1802, and at the end of two years was taken prisoner and paroled.
In 1865 he went to the state of California, and engaged in mining, etc., return. ing in the spring of 1867. He formed a partnership with Samuel H. Owens, and the firm of Owens and Wood lasted until February, 1882, in which month Mr. Owens died. Since that time Mr. Wood has been alone in the practice of his profession. He is doing as good a business, probably, as any lawyer in the county, it being entirely miscellaneous, and extending into adjoining counties. He is true to his clients, and reliable in all business matters
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Mr. Wood has, we believe, been a candidate for no civil office, but he has been appointedcity counselor at least one of ten times, and he is faithful in every task of duty assigned him or sell-imposed His affiliations have always been with the democracy. He is a Royal Auch Mason
Me Wood was married, May 2, 1872, to Miss Mary Kate Bishop, formerly of Boone county, this state and they have three children living.
HENRY D. ASHLEY.
IK ASHLEY is the son of an emment Episcopalian clergyman, Rev W B Ashley. D. D., of Syracuse, New York, where our subject was born, Sep. tember 19, 1856. He was graduated from Racine (Wisconsin) College in 1870; then went abroad, and studied law in King's College, London. In about one year he returned to Rochester, and continued his legal studies in the office of Malt Cook, and later under the instruction of Chief Justice Dixon, of the supreme court of Wisconsin. He came to Kansas City and entered the office of Pratt, Bromback and Ferrey, on a salary, where he remained two years. In June, 1882, he opened an office for himself, and has been in active practice since that time, doing a reasonable amount of business Mt Ashley is a well read lawyer, a close, industrious student, and will be likely some day to rank high at the bar
Mr. Ashley is ot medium height, slender and of light complexion, active in both mind and body; has a high square forehead and gray eyes, and well defined features. He is a high-minded, honorable gentleman, and has the respect and good will of all who know him
JOHN D. NEILSON.
LOUN DICKEY NEILSON is a son of Robert and Sarah Ann (Gallatin) Neilson, and was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1843. His parents were also natives of that state. Ile received an academic education, and . Lauglu school during the winter terms from fifteen until he was twenty years of age, and later also in the academy at New Bloomfield, where he had finished his education.
In 1864 Mr. Neilson went into the army, enlisting in the 208th regiment Poun-
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sylvania infantry, and served until the war closed, coming out as second lieuten- and of company I. He was in several engagements, but never wounded.
He read law at New Bloomfield; was admitted to practice in 1800, and had an office at New Bloomfield until September, 167, when he settled in Versailles. Here he has been in general practice in the circuit and supreme courts of the state; and has had good success. He does nothing at haphazard, but elaborates his professional work of all kinds, and gives good satisfaction to his clients. His character in all respects stands well
Mr. Neilson has been the republican candidate for prosecuting attorney of Morgan county once or twice, but the county is democratic, and he was defeated
He is a third degree Mason, and in religious preference he is a Presbyterian, though we believe he is connected with no church He is a man who thinks for himself, and on any subject of cause which he espouses he can give a reason for his belief
Mr Neilson was married at Versailles, October 13, 1872, to Miss Addie M Stover, a native of Pennsylvania, and they have three children, two daughters and i Soll.
HON. ROBERT D. RAY. CARROLLTON
R' OBERT DARWIN RAY, one of the judges of the supreme court, is a Ken- tuckian by birth, the light first dawning upon him in Livingston county, February 16, 1817 His father, Joseph Ray, was a farmer from Maryland, and his mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Rutter, was a native of the Key- stone State. He was educated at Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, and was graduated in 1838. He read law in the same place, and was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1839. He came directly to Carrollton, Carroll county, this state, and there made a highly commendable record as an attorney in his judicial circuit
Mr Ray was a member of the legislature in 1846 and 1847, and a member of the constitutional convention in 1801 He practiced law during the civil war. and had a well paying business. In 1886 he was elected to his present state office on the democratic ticket, his term running for ten years from January, 1881. Before going on the beach, Judge Ray became somewhat noted for his success as a real-estate lawyer, the land titles in northwestern Missouri being, years ago, very imperfect and uncertain Those lands were on the military district. Judge
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Kay has a good mind, and on the beach, as elsewhere, is conscientious in the discharge of his duties He is a lucid writer, and a thoroughly upright man.
He was married, in 1814, to Miss Frances \ Prosser, a native of Mason county, Virginia, and they have buried one daughter and have seven children living. The family attend the Baptist Church, of which most of them are mem- bets
HENRY C. LEVENS.
11 HENRY CLAY LEVENS is just the age of the state of Missouri, being born in Cooper county, in the wilderness, March 27. 1821. Red men and wild animals were then much more abundant in that part of the Missouri Valley than white people. His father, Bazlee! Wells Levens, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and was the son of Henry Levens, who served in the army through the American revolution. The latter was born in Baltimore, and was the son of an Englishman.
The mother of our subject was Rhoda Stevens, a native of Kentucky. He was educated in select schools, all there were in Cooper county forty and fifty years ago, and he had good teachers, and made good use of his opportunities, going through algebra, geometry and surveying He fitted himself for an instructor, and taught in all about ten years, in Cooper county, all but a part of one year Not long after the Mexican war began (1516) he enlisted, and his regiment en- camped at Saint Louis, but was never called into the service.
In 1848, the year before the gold fever broke out in California, Mr. Levens went to the territory of Oregon, by the overland route, partly for his health and putty to see and write up that part of the country He kept a diary of his long, tedious and perilous journey, as he has done since his carhest recollections, and that part of his diary must have many thrilling passages. He has had a somewhat checkered lite, and could, no doubt, make out an interesting autobiography.
While in Oregon he taught school between four and five months.
During the long period that he was teaching before going to the Pacific slope. Mr. Levens read law in his spare hours, and was licensed to practice in March, 1848, at Boonville, just before starting on his trip across the Rocky Mountains.
On his return to this state and Cooper county, he resumed teaching, and so continued until 185 %, when he was elected county clerk, and by repeated realce- tions held that office for twenty one consecutive years. During that long period.
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he practiced law a very little, and kept himselt well brushed in his professional readings. He was city attorney of Boonville in 0875 76 In the latter year he wrote, with the assistance of a young man, the " History of Cooper County."
Mr. Levens was the founder of Gunn City, Cass county, where he spent the years 1877-78. At the close of the latter year he went to Holden, Johnson county, and was there two years, being city attorney half of that time. In February, 1881, he settled in Sedalia, where he is working up a fair business,
Mr. Levens was originally a whig, voted the Bell and Everett ticket in 1860, and has since acted with the republican party. He has passed all the chairs in the Encampment of Odd-Fellowship, and has been a delegate to the grand lodge of the state
Mr. Levens was married in 1850, to Miss Margaret Lawton, of Cooper county, and they have two sons living, and have buried their only daughter. She died while they were at Holden, an interesting girl of twenty two summers, and that is not unlikely the reason why they left that place She was a well educated young lady, with fine musical accomplishments, and her death was a heavy blow to her parents, from which they have hardly recovered yet.
ALBERT UNDRIL FARROW.
CUBA
T' HE subject of this sketch is a native of Missouri. He was born in Mont- gomery county, August 27, 1853, the son of John P. Farrow, a promi- nent merchant, and formerly judge of the county courts of Montgomery county for a period of eighteen years, and of Crawford county six years. He was a native of Virginia, and a gentleman who enjoyed the confidence of all for his unswerv. ing integrity and intelligence. The mother of Albert before her marriage was Susan M. Smith, also a native of Virginia, and daughter of John P. Smith, a merchant of Fauquier county, a prominent and leading citizen of that county, and being of one of the first families of the state
Albert U. Farrow was raised on a farm; he attended school winters, and com- pleted his education in Steelville Academy. He read law with R. W. Jones, of Montgomery county, and Hon. E. A. Pinnell, the present judge of probate of Crawford county, and was admitted to the bar in that county in 1877. He began the practice of his profession in 1879, in Maries county, Missouri, and he was also engaged in editing the Maries county " Courier," where he gained considerable
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