USA > Missouri > Cole County > Jefferson City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 52
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 52
USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > The Bench and bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and other Missouri cities : biographical sketches > Part 52
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In the first part of the year 1865. a new constitution of the state of Missouri was submitted by the republicans for adoption. It was known as the Drake Con- stitution, because it was supposed to be the product of the brain of Charles D). Drake, of Saint Louis. By its provisions the causes of disfranchisement were enlarged, going to the extent of disfranchising voters, in addition to former causes, who had sympathized with the southern people in their effort to overthrow the government of the United States, and contained test baths of the most searching and rigid character for voters, officers, school teachers, ministers of the gospel, etc. This constitution had been presented before the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, but General Lee had surrendered before the constitution came to a vote.
The support or opposition to this measure was the greatest problem that Mr. Blair had to solve during the war. The country was in a most peculiar condition
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at the time. A bitter destructive spirit had been engendered among the Union men in Missouri during the was. They had determined that no man, whom they considered disloyal, should vote or hold office, and many southern men, for this and other causes, had been forced to leave the state, for the protection of them- selves and their property.
A number of southern men had been killed in various ways, and at the time the constitution was submitted the most bitter and intense feeling existed against the southern men who had remained at home, because of a fear upon the part of the Union men that the southern men might outvote them at the polls, and fill the offices with disloyal men. On account of this bitter feeling many southern men stood almost in daily terror of personal injury or of an order to leave the state. This being the condition of things, and the war ended, and the subject of this sketch desiring full reconciliation between the conflicting elements as soon as possible, the query presented itself to Mr. Blair as to whether he should vote for or against the constitution, Believing that the adoption of the constitution would remove all fear to the Union men of being outvoted, and be the means of allaying and finally removing the bitter feelings of the Union men, and result in a reconciliation between the conflicting elements, and that those who voted for it would the sooner thereby be enabled to move for the removal of all disa- bilities imposed by the constitution, Mr. Blair voted for the constitution as a democrat, and had no idea then of acting with the republican party after that. The constitution was adopted by a small majority. The bitter feelings gradually subsided, and the absent southern men commenced returning to their homes soon thereafter, and Mr. Blair went to the relief of the disfranchised, and was one of the main factors in the removal of their disabilities, as will hereinafter appear. Subsequent events show how well and how accurately Mr. Blair fore- casted future events and results in regard to lus voting for, and the adoption of the constitution.
It seems that every thought of his mind in regard thereto was literally ful- filled. Soon after this Mr. Blair seeing the leaders of the democratic party con- testing and fighting the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the United States, he took position with the republican party upon those measures, believing that they were but the logical result of the war, and that it was unwise and impolitie for the party to attack or resist them. The sub- sequent change of the party in 1872 upon those amendments testifies to the accuracy of Mr. Blair's foresight or sagacity in regard thereto.
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In 1866 the whites and blacks, alike, stood disfranchised in Missouri, and Mr. Blair, desiring the enfranchisement of the whites, and believing that they could not be enfranchised without enfranchising the blacks, determined to espouse the enfranchisement of the blacks, and was the first republican in northeast Missouri to make a public effort for their enfranchisement, and then campaigned northeast Missouri for the amendment to the constitution of Missouri enfranchising them. It was voted down. A party in Missouri known as conservative, made repeated efforts at enfranchising the whites, but signally failed in every effort. Mr. Blair, finally, December 29, 1869, made a public speech at Canton, in his county, es- pousing the cause of, and favoring the enfranchisement of the whites, calling on the legislature, then about to meet, to submit an amendment to the constitu- tion of Missouri for that purpose. He was the first republican in northeast Mis- souri to advocate the enfranchisement of the blacks as a means to enfranchise the whites, and we now find him the first republican in his part of the state, and probably in Missouri, publicly advocating the enfranchisement of the whites. The legislature, at its session first part of 1876, submitted an amendment enfran- chising both whites and blacks. Mr. Blair in the spring of 1870 campaigned northeast Missouri in favor of the amendment, calling upon republicans to rally to it, and adopt it, and thereby restore peace and friendship to the people of the state.
In July of the same year the republican party met in convention, and refused to recommend the adoption of the amendment, which caused a split in the party on that question, one part opposing and the other favoring the enfranchisement of the whites; those opposing were known as "radical republicans," and those favoring were known as " liberal republicans," thus forming a radical republican party and a liberal republican party. Mr Blair took sides with the liberals, was nominated and elected to congress upon the liberal republican ticket in 1870, by the aid of conservative voters, afterward known as democrats.
From 1861 to 1872 those opposing the republican party in Missouri were known as conservatives. There was no democratic party in Missouri during that period.
Mr. Blair was in congress from March 4, 1871, to March 4, 1873. He made an acceptable member to those who elected him, made a number of able speeches, remarkable alike for the sagacity of the speaker as well as the comprehensiveness ot his views upon the subjects discussed. He opposed what was generally known as the Kuklux bill, intended to intimidate and oppress the South, as he believed.
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He pronounced it unconstitutional, and made a labored argument to support his views. The United States supreme court has sustained him in every position he took upon it. He made a speech against Senator Summer's celebrated civil- rights bill. Hle challenged its constitutionality also, and was the only member of congress who contended that separate schools for white and black children, separate cars on railroads, separate tables on boats and at hotels for whites and blacks, would be no violation of the amendments to the constitution of the United States, in regard to the rights and privileges of the negro race. The bill was defeated at the session of congress of which Mr. Blair was a member, but was reintroduced at the next ensuing session, and passed with all of the objec- tionable features that Mr. Blir opposed.
The United States supreme court and other United States courts have since sustained Mr. Blair's position upon that also, and pronounced the law unconsti tutional. Mr. Blair also made a speech in congress in favor of full and complete amnesty to all who had been disfranchised by congress during the late war, in- cluding Jeff Davis, Robert E. Lee and Robert Toombs. This was very unpala- table to hard-shelled republicans. Mr. Blair introduced a bill into congress legalizing the polygamous marriages of the Mormons. Whilst he was opposed to polygamy, he, to avoid bastardizing the offspring of such marriages, favored legalizing polygamous marriages theretofore contracted. His speech upon that bill was thought by many to be the best and ablest effort of Mr. Blair during his congressional career. He made other speeches, but upon topics com- mon to all, and hence we forbear noticing them. We refer to these matters be- cause they were all new and intricate; involving some of the most abstruse and important subjects of that period, and to show the far reaching as well as far see- ing and comprehensive mind of the subject of this article, and to show what a self-made man, with an independent-thinking brain, though of limited education, with energy and perseverance may accomplish. While some would differ from the speaker upon these subjects, none would call in question the ability and mas- terly manner in which he treated them. Should any one desire to see these speeches of the log-school-house and backwoods orator, lawyer and statesman, they are referred to "Congressional Globe and Appendix," part 2, of first ses- sion of 1871-2, page 200; Appendix to " Congressional Globe," second session of 1871-2, page 142; "Congressional Globe," part 2, of second session of 1871-2, page 1ogb.
In 1872 a national liberal republican party was organized, the Missouri lib-
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erals forming the nucleus, the object of which was the relief of the southern people from the military tale and despotism then over them, and full amnesty. It met at Cincinnati, June 1872, and nominated Horace Greeley, editor of the New York " Tribune," for president, upon a platform of principles, the first two planks of which read as follows:
First, We recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is the duty of govern- ment in its dealings with the people to mete out equal and exact justice to all of whatever nativity, race, color or persuasion, religious or political.
Sound, We pledge ourselves to maintain the union of these states, including emancipation and enfranchisement, and to oppose any reopening of the questions settled by the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution.
In July of the same year the democratic party held its national convention in Baltimore, Maryland, and ratified and adopted the liberal republican platform, adopted at Cincinnati, including the first and second planks above set out, with- out a dissenting vote.
Mr. Blair says that the democratic party thus accepting the emancipation and enfranchisement of the negro, and pledging itself to oppose the reopening of all questions settled by the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution, removed all differences between himself and that party. The dem- ocratic party still stands upon those two planks of that platform, and Mr. Blair still stands with it.
The beast of the subject of this article is that he fights for principle, and cares nothing for party, only as it reflects principle, and carrying out this line of his thought, he is now battling manfully in northeast Missouri for prohibition, and against committing the democratic party against prohibition, and thereby com- mitting it in favor of the wicked, infamous and murderous alcoholic traffic of the state of Missouri and of the United States. His position is for the party to have nothing to do with it pro or ion. That it is a living growing question, and is a most dangerous undertaking for the party to try to uphold, shield or protect that monster iniquity and sum of all villanies. That as certain as slavery carried the party to defeat and ruin, just so certain will the liquor traffic carry it to defeat if the party tries to uphold, shield or protect it, affirmatively or negatively, from the slumbering indignation and condemnation of an outraged people. Slavery fell, and the democratic party tell with it. Sooner or later the whisky traffic must fall, and the party that panders to, shields or protects it must go down
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with it. Says Mr. Blair, it outrages the moral sense of every Christian and moral man, and the blighting, withering curse of Almighty God rests upon it.
Mr. Blair, like Jacob of old, married his cousin, Arabella P. Blair, daughter of Richard Blair, when young. They have had eight children born unto them, four boys and four girls. One daughter, Amanda, died in infancy. Lizzie married John P. Bourn, son of Hudson Bourn, of Lewis county, Missouri. She moved to Kansas and died. Laura married Joel B. Kerfoot, son of George Kerfoot, of Lewis county, Missouri, moved to Kansas, and is now living near Sterling, in Rice county, that state. Fannie married Burke C. Miller, of Lexington, Kentucky. She is now liv- ing in Kahoka, Clarke county, Missouri. Richard G. is single, and practicing law in Carthage, Jasper county, Missouri. Hugh N. is single, and is living near Butte City, Montana Territory. George P. is single, and living in Jasper county, Mis- souri, temporarily. Charles E. is single, and living at home with his parents.
Mr. Blair has, for many years, been a devoted, orderly member of the Christian Church. He adheres closely to the tenets of that church. He has no respect, much less sympathy for the doctrine of evolution. Entertains but little more respect for the so-called doctrine of universal salvation. Thinks if God intended to save all mankind from the beginning, the death of Christ was useless and un- meaning. Thinks from a philosophie standpoint, and from his observation of mankind, if there is no hell there ought to be one. The idea that the obedient and disobedient are alike to go to Heaven, and alike to be rewarded, is repulsive to his mind. He never wants to meet unrepentant murderers, thieves and liars in Heaven. Hell, or some other out-of the way place is their proper place of abode.
The advocates of the latter-day holiness and sanctification share the same tate at the hands of Mr. Blair. He says sin exists and abides in the flesh of man, in his appetites, desires and passions. A man who would seriously contend that God, in conversion of after conversion, by the operation of his spirit or other- wise, so changes a man or woman as to remove all liability or temptation to sin, is but ignorantly assuming that God, by miraculous power, destroys the passions and appetites of the flesh, in conversion or after, and is a religious fanatic and a fit subject for a lunatic asylum. As long as the flesh remains in its natural or normal condition, the elements and causes of sin will lie concealed or imbedded in it. These elements of causes of sin are not destroyed in conversion, or sancti- fication, hence, a man's appetites and passions live in his flesh as long as he lives, and as a consequence, as long as man lives, whether converted and sanctified or
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not, he is subject to temptation, and liable to sin. The man who, whether con- verted, sanctified, or not, wishes to escape sin, must avoid temptation.
Mr. Blair's wife and several children belong to the same church that he does.
Mr. Blair had two brothers, Josephus and Leander, whom he left in Harrison county, Kentucky. Leander is dead, leaving children, and Josephus is still resid- ing in that county, and has children. He has a half sister, Emily, who married I. M. Rodman, in Lebanon, Boone county, Indiana. Her husband died several years ago. His sister Emily has several children, and among the number a daughter named Laura Blair Rodman, who over that name sports her time occasionally in the "Saturday Night," a newspaper in the East. She is the author of several interesting serials published in that paper in the last few years, and continues to write for it. She is a fertile thinker, fluent and thrill- ing writer. It makes the hair on one's head stand on end, to read after her. Mr. Blair says that he does not indulge in that kind of literature to much extent, but to gratify his niece, has read some of her productions; but as he does not wish to die bald-headed he does not propose to read any more of them. She, we are informed, is a self-made and self-reliant young lady.
Mr. Blair has the reputation of being an honest and truthful man. Says he has ever endeavored to follow his honest convictions, but during the war he in- curred the displeasure of nearly all his old Southern friends. They thought that he, having been raised in the South, should have stood with them in that great and bloody conflict, and have never fully forgiven him for voting for the new constitution, and for the part he took with the republican party. He says he favored them, however, during the war, all he could, visited them in prisons, and out of prisons, and secured, and aided in securing the release of many of them from military custody and surveillance, and hopes that they all will yet possess a more generous spirit, and be as ready to forgive the past as he has been. He says he looks at no man through the late war, and wishes that all others were equally as magnanimous.
It is said " a bean grows up with its father on its back," but Mr. Blair did not even grow up on the back of his father. In early youth he had no one to lean upon but himself. When he began the practice of law, he virtually knew nothing save the elementary principles of law, but he has been an intent reader and laborious student. All he knows in history, politics, religion and the sciences he has acquired since he began the study and practice of law. With all the labor and study in his profession and out of it, not a grey hair is visible on his head.
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We now conclude the history of this remarkable son of nature, who by indom- itable energy, unceasing perseverance and sterling worth, has written his name high up on the pinnacle of fame. It is the energetic, self-reliant lads that make the steady-moving business men of our country. Mr. Blair is no exception to the rule.
JOHN W. DRYDEN.
SAINT LOUIS.
OHN WINCHELL DRYDEN was born in Palmyra, Missouri, January 19, - 1843. For his parentage, pedigree, etc., see sketch of his father, Judge J. D. S. Dryden, on preceding pages. The son was educated at Saint Paul's College in his native town, and seemed to have a natural liking for his father's profession. He read law partly by himself and partly with Lackland and Martin, of Saint Louis, and was admitted to practice in the United States circuit court in 1867, and in the state courts in 1868. He was a member of the firm of Dryden, Lind- ley and Dryden until Mr. Lindley went on the bench of the circuit court in 1871, since which time the firm name has been Dryden and Dryden. The junior mem- ber of the firm is well read in his profession, diligent in his studies as well as in his professional labors, is sound and solid, and stands high in the estimation of the fraternity. In integrity of purpose and purity of motive he is second to no member of the Saint Louis bar.
Mr. Dryden has carefully abstained from holding civil or political offices, and seems to let nothing distract his mind or attention from his chosen profession. Ile votes the democratic ticket, and there, usually, with him duty to party ends.
HON. JOHN C. ORRICK. SAINT LOUIS.
LOHN CROMWELL ORRICK, of the firm of Noble and Orrick, was born in J Saint Charles, this state, October 25, 1840, his parents being John and Urilla (Stonetraker) Orrick. He received his preparatory education at Avondale Acad- emy, and is a graduate of Saint Charles College, class of 1859. In August of the same year he entered Harvard Law School, and was graduated in 1861 Civil war having broken out, he helped form a military organization, and held the
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rank of captain under General Lewis Merrill for two years, and was frequently in the field. In 1862 he became counselor for the Saint Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Company, holding that position for nine years; and early in the same year he was appointed circuit attorney for the nineteenth judicial dis- trict. Two years later he was elected to the same office for four years, but resigned in 1866 to take a seat in the legislature, to which he had been elected. He was reelected to this office in iso8, and chosen speaker. The history of Speaker Orrick's brilliant career in the legislature may be found in the Missouri volume of the " United States Biographical Dictionary," published in 1878, to which the reader is referred. In this brief sketch it is mainly as a lawyer that we wish to speak of him. As a legislator he was a prominent actor in securing the removal of political restrictions from disfranchised citizens, and in his course and success in that matter he no doubt takes great pride.
From 1863 to 1860 Mr. Orrick was in partnership with W. W. Edwards, and from the latter date to 1874 his partner was Benjamin Emmons. In January, 1874, he became partner of General John W. Noble, whose sketch and portrait appear in this work. The firm of Noble and Orrick stands among the foremost in this city.
The wife of Mr. Orrick was Miss Penelope Allen, daughter of Beverly and Penelope Allen, of Saint Louis, their marriage being dated June 16, 1809.
HON. J. GABRIEL WOERNER. SAINT LOUIS.
J. ยท is a well educated man, speaking and writing the German and English lan- GABRIEL WOERNER, lawyer, judge of the probate court, and litterateur, guages with equal fluency, and with marked elegance of diction. He is a native of the kingdom of Wurtemberg, the son of Christian and Elizabeth ( Uhmner) Woerner, and was born April 28, 1826. When he was seven years old the family came to this country, remaining in Philadelphia four years, and then pushing westward to Saint Louis (1837), where the father followed the trade of a house carpenter until his death in 1849.
Gabriel was educated in the public schools of Saint Louis, acquiring a good knowledge of the English and German languages; went to Springfield, this state, in 1811, and after serving nearly three years in a country store, returned to Saint Louis in 1844. Here he learned the printer's trade, and accounts it, no doubt,
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the best part of his education. At this period he became thoroughly imbued with politics, and a disciple of Hon. Thomas H. Benton.
In 18 18 he returned to his native land, to aid in its struggle for freedom; but not agreeing with the object of the revolutionists, returned to Saint Louis near the close of 1849. In 1850 he purchased the " German Tribune," a whig paper, and made it independent at first, then a Benton democratic paper, selling out in 1852.
Mr. Woerner now read law in the office of Hon. C. C. Simmons, and was admitted to the bar in 1855, and was in steady practice in this city until he was called to the bench in 1870. During this period of fifteen years he was kept almost constantly in some civil or political office, and for two years prior to being admitted to practice he was clerk of the recorder's court. In 1856 he was clerk of the board of aldermen; in 1857 and 1858 he was elected city attorney, and has since been a state senator two terms, a member of the city council two terms, manager of the house of refuge, etc. In 1864 he was defeated for the office of mayor.
In the autumn of 1870 our subject was elected judge of the probate court of Saint Louis, and has since ably filled that office, having been elected three suc- cessive times with ever increasing numbers, which in 1882 attained the unprece- dented majority of over twenty-one thousand. He has the probate business at his finger's end; is prompt, accurate and reliable in all business transactions, and one of the most popular officials of Saint Louis city. His legal opinions are regarded as of high value, especially upon probate law.
Judge Woerner is a prominent literary, as well as a profound legal, student, and for more than thirty years has been a contributor to the newspaper and periodical press. While in Europe, in 1848-49, he wrote for American news- papers; printed a serial in the "German Tribune" in 1850-51, called "Die Sklavin," which was published in book form, and had a rapid sale; in 1870 he wrote a drama of the same name, but different in content, which was performed more than a score of times in the German theaters of Saint Louis, and was also acted in the leading cities of the West.
Judge Woerner has the reputation of being a man of refined taste, and a keen literary critic, his writings of this class being searching and incisive, as well as discriminating, attracting marked attention. He was one of the founders of the philosophical society of Saint Louis, and has in many instances been one of the foremost citizens in encouraging enterprises of all kinds designed to improve the intellectual wealth of the people
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He was married in 1852 to Miss Emelie Plass, a native of Germany, and she is the mother of five children, four of whom are yet living. The judge gives all his children an excellent education, and a fine outfit generally for the active duties of life.
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