USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
During the first year of the war, in 1861, he went south, whether to carry his negroes south or to engage in the Southern cause, I do not know. He was drowned at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, in Grand River, in that year.
Judge Leonard had as much will-power as any man I ever knew, and a large volume of brain power. He was a man of strong prejudices- his enemies could hardly do right, and his friends could scarcely do wrong. He was aware of these prejudices, and brought his strong will- power to control them on the bench, which he did successfully. He was devoted to his family, and educated his daughters with a great deal of care, regardless of expense. Rather impatient by nature, yet he was fond of legal and logical discussion, and listened with patience to lawyers of any ability. We were warm personal friends, and I deemed him a just and able judge.
GENERAL BELA M. HUGHES
was the son of General Andrew S. Hughes, herein mentioned, and born
242
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
in Nicholas County, Kentucky .. His mother was a sister to Thomas Metcalf, who was a captain in the war of 1812, a Member of Congress for many years, Governor of the State, and then a United States Senator.
Coming from such a stock on the respective sides, it would naturally be supposed that General Hughes would be a man of high order of intel- lect. Those whose anticipations were the highest have not been disap- pointed. He graduated at Augusta College, Kentucky.
Immediately after he graduated he went to Wisconsin Territory as a private secretary of the Territorial Governor. He was introduced into social and political life under favorable auspices. While there he improved his learning much from men and books. Coming to Missouri, he commenced the study of law, but having married when he was very young, and having six or eight thousand dollars in his own right, he thought it would be better to accumulate a fortune rapidly by engaging in merchandising and commerce. He located at Weston, Platte County. As he knew nothing of business, it did not take him long to lose half of his fortune. He sold out, re-engaged in the study, and finally in the practice of his profession.
He succeeded very well from the start ; was elected to the Legisla- ture from that county ; and appointed Receiver of Public Moneys at the United States Land Office at Plattsburg, Missouri. He remained there until General Taylor was elected in 1848, and although his uncle, who was then a Whig Senator from Kentucky, and myself and others, who knew General Taylor well, assured him he would not be removed, his delicate sense of propriety induced him to resign (he being a Democrat), saying that he "would not hold an office which, under the custom of parties, belonged to some Whig." He removed to St. Joseph, and lived there as long as he remained in the State. He formed a partnership, first with Solomon L. Leonard, and afterwards with Silas Woodson. Both these partnerships were remunerative. Governor Woodson was appointed Judge of that circuit, and General Hughes went to Atchison, Kansas, more for the purpose of attending to the varied interests of his cousin, Benjamin Holliday, the distinguished pioneer in steamship lines, rail- roads, and overland mail. . This business required many long and dan- gerous voyages to Colorado, Salt Lake, and San Francisco, in connection . with the Holliday mail route. Selecting Denver as a central position for the route, he finally located there, removed his family and made it his permanent home. When his connection with Holliday had term- inated, he resumed his profession, and at a bound placed himself at the head of the able bar of Colorado, which position he maintains now (1881). He is employed in all the important suits arising from railroads, mines, telegraphs, and stock operations. He has acquired a fortune by his close attention to business, and with the wonderful sucess with which he has met. I have spent six summers in Colorado ; have often heard
243
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
him in courts, and was there when he was nominated by the Democrats of that state for Governor, and during his brilliant canvas. His speeches were marked by the caustic wit, sharp repartee, and boundless humor that characterized his father, with much more learning and general attainments. He may be deemed an eminent jurist and orator, and I know personally of his receiving a letter from one of the most distin- guished jurists in New York asking his opinion in relation to his con- struction of a very ambiguous statute, saying "that he would rather have his opinion than any other lawyer, and that his clients would pay him liberally for it."
His great ability, integrity, and attention to business, assures us that he will always retain his business and practice as large as he desires.
SILAS WOODSON.
My first acquaintance with Silas Woodson was at Plattsburg, in the fall of 1854. I was then attending court and was employed to assist Hughes and Leonard and General Loan in the defense of Wm. Langston, charged with murder. The case had been pending some time in Buchanan County, and finally had been taken to Clinton County; but I was only employed in the case at the term at which it was tried. Gov- ernor Woodson had recently emigrated from Knox County, Kentucky, to St. Joseph, and some of the citizens of St. Joseph had employed him to assist in the prosecution of Langston. We had been several days engaged in examining the testimony and had closed on both sides. While I was writing some instructions at my room, General Loan and Judge Leonard came in and told me Mr. Woodson complained of being sick, and desired to make the closing argument in the case instead of the opening. I told them that I had an invariable rule that I would not depart from, that the circuit attorney must make the closing argument in every criminal case in which Iwas engaged. In a few minutes after they left Mr. Woodson came in, and told me he was not well, and being a stranger did not like to address a jury under disadvantageous circum- stances. It was a strong appeal to my courtesy and I felt somewhat inclined to accede to his request, but I had read the trial of Dr. Baker, who was tried and convicted for murder in Kentucky, and a Mr. Wood- son had been the prosecuting attorney. It occurred to me me that he might possibly be the man. I asked him if he had been prosecuting attorney when Dr. Baker was tried. He said he had. I said, "Mr. Woodson, a prosecutor who was able to meet and gain a victory over the most eminent attorneys and advocates in the Union, is able to pros- ecute against such lawyers as Langston has, even though he is sick. I regret that my duty to my client compels me to be apparently discour-
244
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY. .
teous. You cannot make the closing argument in this case." An hour afterward, the instructions had been given by the court, and Mr. Wood- son commenced his address, which for ability, brilliancy and pathos I have never heard equaled. I regret that I have not language that will. convey even the faintest idea of this torrent of eloquent invective.
In 1860, he was elected judge of the 12th Judicial Circuit, in which position he gave universal satisfaction, and at the expiration of his term .. with a most enviable reputation, again resumed the practice of law.
As a practitioner, he takes rank among the leading lawyers of the- state, and his professional associates cheerfully concede his eminent ability in criminal cases. The vital interests of the largest corporations. the equally important rights of the humblest citizen, alike command his services, and whether the fee is a fortune or a farthing, he devotes his- best abilities and his constant attention to the success of his client.
In August, 1872, quite unexpectedly to himself, he was nominated by the State Democratic Convention as candidate for Governor of Mis- souri, and was elected to that office by a large majority, and served for two years with distinguished ability.
No blemish mars the purity of his private life. He is one of the few men, who, through a long public career, have never once neglected or betrayed any trust reposed in them. His motto is, and his action has always been, to do what right and justice demand, leaving consequences to take care of themselves.
He possesses an earnest nature, great energy and firmness, a clear judgment, with comprehensive and analytical mind and a heart full of true charity and noble impulses.
ROBERT M. STEWART.
The name of Robert M. Stewart has been familiar not only to the. people of Buchanan County, but of the State of Missouri, for over forty years. In fact it has been completely indentified with the history of the state. He was born in Truxton, Courtland County, New York, on the 12th day of March, 1815. His parents being in limited circumstances, he was compelled to depend upon his own exertions for an education, a task faithfully performed. From the time he was seventeen until twenty-one years of age, he taught school part of each year, devoting the remainder of his time to preparing himself for the practice of the law. At the age of twenty-one he graduated in the legal profession and was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1837, he removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and engaged in the practice of his profession, but suffering from sickness most of the summer, he removed to his old home in New York and remained during the winter, returning to Louisville again in the spring of 1838. During that summer, in addition to the practice of the law, he was
245
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
engaged in the newspaper business with James Birney Marshall. In the fall of that year he removed to St. Charles, Missouri, where he remained some two years.
In 1839, Governor Stewart came to Buchanan County, and located at what was then known as Bloomington, but is now DeKalb, where he entered a claim. Here he continued the practice of his profession, at the. same time taking an active part in every movement to advance the pros- perity of the country, until 1845. He then removed to St. Joseph, and was shortly thereafter elected a delegate from the Senatorial District to the Convention to amend the State Constitution, over Jesse B. Thomp- son, one of the best men in the county. In the proceedings of that body his fine talents and excellent judgment gave him a prominent position .. In 1846, he was elected to the State Senate, again beating Mr. Thomp- son, and continued to hold the office until 1857, when he was elected Governor of Missouri, to fill a vacancy, occasioned by the selection of Governor Trusten Polk to the United States Senate. The duties of the latter office he discharged with ability for three years. In 1847, Governor Stewart raised a company for the "Oregon Battalion," for service in the Mexican war, and was elected as its Captain over the late Colonel Samuel Hall. He went with the battalion as far as Fort Kearney, but was com- pelled to return on account of ill-health. For some two years thereafter he suffered from severe illness, but managed to discharge his duties as State Senator. In 1848 he was appointed Register of the Land Office at Savannah, but resigned the position in a few weeks, for the purpose of engaging in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Rail- road, a task which he completed at his own expense.
In 1861, he was elected member of the convention called to consider the question of secession, in which body he took strong grounds in favor of retaining the state in the Union. His last appearance in political life was in 1862, when he announced his name as a candidate for Congress. in this district, but withdrew from the race shortly after the announce- ment.
Almost immediately after his election to the Senate, Governor Stew- art was appointed chairman of the committee on internal improvements, a position he continued to occupy as long as he remained a member of that body. He was the first to inaugurate the grand system of public improvements which has contributed so much to the prosperity of our state, and devoted himself particularly to the railroad interests. It is prin- cipally owing to his exertions that the construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road is due, and he was also the author of the "Omnibus bill." under which the railroad system of the state was projected and built up. Every measure looking to improvement and the development of the resources of Missouri received his hearty support, both while in the Sen- ate and in the executive chair.
:
246
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Governor Stewart was a man of a high order of intellect. His pros- pects at one time were by no means limited to this state. It was within his grasp to have not only made his influence more powerful in Missouri, but felt throughout the Union. In a national point of view his unrelent- ing hostility to Colonel Thos. H. Benton, effecting his defeat for the Senate, and his decided stand against secession when the great contest seemed to hinge upon the action of Missouri, were the most important passages in his history.
GENERAL J. M. BASSETT.
J. M. Bassett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, February 7. 1817. He came with his father, when a small boy, to Ohio, and at the age of ten years removed to Springfield, Illinois, where he completed his education. He read law with Governor Cailin, and was admitted to the bar by Judge Stephen A. Douglas. Afterward he opened an office in Quincy, Illinois, and after several years of successful practice came to Plattsburg, Clinton County, Missouri, in 1844, where he remained two years. While here he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Con- vention, and came to St. Joseph shortly after the labors of that convention were closed.
He soon became one of the leading lawyers of the Platte country. He served four years as prosecuting attorney of this judicial district. Was elected Mayor of St. Joseph in 1855. At the breaking out of the war he espoused the cause of the Union, and did much to rally the loyal sentiment of Northwest Missouri. He was captain of a company of mili- tia and was for two years Provost Marshal of this district.
General Bassett was a ready and powerful writer ; generous, pleas- ant, social and charitable. He was a fluent speaker, and strong in argu- ment, and his success before juries and judges was proverbial.
Keen, cool, shrewd and cautious, his speeches in court often veined with glowing sarcasm, were not only models of terseness and force, but revealed a background of study, reflection and special preparation, which stamped him as one of the foremost lawyers of Northwest Mis- souri. He seemed to rise with the occasion when the subject in hand demanded intellect and power. Then it was he would pour forth argu- ment, and hurl invective and eloquent appeals to the jury, sweeping everything before him.
Whenever he devoted his full powers to a case, no client in the West had a more safe, competent and successful advocate. General Bassett died in 1871.
BENJAMIN F. LOAN.
I first knew the late General Loan in Platte County. He was born in Hardensburg, Breckenridge County, Kentucky, in 1819. He remained
247
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
at the old home in Kentucky until 1838, when he came to Missouri and settled in Platte County. He commenced reading law in Platte City with Isaac N. Jones, in 1842. After two years spent in close study, he obtained a license and located in Buchanan County. He was an active, industrious, painstaking and conscientious attorney. He was a deep thinker and a ripe scholar in legal and political lore, and possessed great personal honor and integrity, and was admired by not only his brother attorneys but no one spoke of him but to praise.
When the late civil war broke out he took an active part in military affairs, and was appointed Brigadier General. In 1862 he was elected to a seat in the Thirty-eighth Congress, and served as a member of the committees on Pacific railroads, and Freedmen, and Debts of loyal states, and other committees. During the Fortieth Congress he was chairman of the committee on revolutionary pensions and on that of Freedmen's affairs. In 1869 he was appointed visitor to West Point. He was the Republican candidate for Congress in 1876, and was defeated by Hon. David Rea. These in brief are the salient points of one of the most pop- ular, one of the ablest and best known lawyers in the " Platte Purchase."
General Loan died at his home in St. Joseph on the 30th day of March, 1881, at the age of sixty-two years. The St. Joseph bar held a meeting on the occasion of his death, the proceedings of which we here give :
" The adjourned meeting of the Bar Association of St. Joseph was held in the Circuit Court room yesterday afternoon at half-past four. General Craig, as chairman, called the meeting to order, and requested the chairman of the committee, appointed to wait upon the family of General Loan to ascertain their desire as to the funeral arrangements, to report. Mr. Allen H. Vories then informed the meeting that General Loan's family had expressed their wish that the bar should take charge of the funeral, which was to take place at two o'clock this afternoon. Mr. Vories suggested that the bar should not monopolize the funeral arrangements, but should invite a number of citizens to assist in the obsequies.
It was moved and seconded that six members of the bar be appointed pall bearers, with authority to select four citizens to act with them in the same capacity.
Messrs. Vories and Vineyard were appointed by the chair to select the legal pall bearers, and made choice of the following gentlemen : Gov. Woodson, Gen. Craig, Judge Tutt, Gov. Hall, John D. Strong and A. H. Vories.
The committee on resolutions was then called upon to report and did so through Mr. Benj. R. Vineyard, as follows :
WHEREAS, We have learned with profound sorrow of the death of our friend and professional brother, Hon. B. F. Loan, and
248
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
WHEREAS, We deem it fitting that the living should suitably com- memorate the virtues of the dead, therefore
Resolved, That we, the members of the bar of St. Joseph bear wit- ness that through the crucial test of a long and active practice in a pro- fession which, more than any other, tries and makes known to his fellows the real character of a man, Benjamin F. Loan has passed, without an imputation of the slightest neglect of a client's interest or of the courte- sies and fair dealings due to an opponent ; that his life is a noble illus- tration of the truth that untiring industry and unswerving honesty are the essential elements of real success in our own, no less than in the other avocations of life ; and we direct the attention of every young man who would gain an enviable distinction in the legal profession to the course and career of the deceased as worthy of the highest emulation.
Resolved, That our departed brother was true to the interests com- mitted to him in all the relations of life ; that he was a faithful public servant, a steadfast friend, a devoted husband, an estimable citizen and an honest man.
Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, we request the Judge to adjourn the Circuit Court of this county, now in session, during the day of the funeral, and that the members of this bar attend the funeral in a body.
Resolved, That the secretary of this meeting furnish a copy of these resolutions to the press of the city for publication, also a copy thereof to the family of the deceased, and also a copy thereof to Alex. D. Vories, by him to be presented to the Judge of the Buchanan Circuit Court, with a request that they may, with other proceedings of this meeting, be spread in full upon the records of said court.
B. R. VINEYARD, JOHN S. CROSBY, WV. H. SHERMAN, H. M. RAMEY, JAMES CRAIG, M. R. SINGLETON, WV. P. HALL, JR.
Committee.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE MERCHANTS' BANK DIRECTORS.
At a meeting of the directors of the Merchants' Bank, with which General Loan had long been identified, held yesterday, the following resolutions were adopted :
WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God, in His divine providence, to remove from our midst our valued friend and associate, the Hon. Benjamin F. Loan, therefore be it
Resolved, by the Board of Directors of the Merchants' Bank, that in the death of the Hon. Benjamin F. Loan, this board has lost a member whose counsels were of the utmost value to the interests of the institu- tion, and that we, individually, have lost a friend and associate whose death is deeply and sincerely deplored ; and be it further
Resolved, That we sympathize most sincerely with the family and relatives of our deceased friend in this hour of their sad bereavement ; and be it further
249
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Resolved, That these resolutions be spread at length upon the min- utes of the board, and that a copy signed by the president be sent to the family of our deceased friend.
ST. JOSEPH, MO., March 31, 1881.
After reading the resolutions Mr. Vineyard said that it seemed strange to him to stand among his professional brethren and miss the form of General Loan. Only two days ago he was engaged in the active duties of his profession, and now he was no longer among us. Not very long ago General Loan had said to him that he would go soon and go suddenly, and his foreboding had proved true. He had known the deceased since 1866, and had enjoyed his disinterested friendship. Of his military and congressional record, he would let others speak, but as a lawyer he had found him frank, upright and sincere. General Loan never made a promise to a brother lawyer that he did not faithfully keep. His zeal for his clients was unbounded, while he was ever an indefatiga- ble worker. To pronounce this eulogy was a sad task, not because the subject did not deserve it, but because he was no more.
The chairman here suggested that the youngest member of the bar be selected to present the resolutions to the Circuit Court. The sug- gestion was adopted.
Mr. R. T. Davis then addressed the meeting and recalled his last conversation with General Loan. It was the opinion of the deceased that young lawyers should stick to their practice and avoid politics. He had such a high appreciation of the bar of St. Joseph that he told the speaker that nothing could induce him to reside away from this city. Free passes to Chicago and New York, a large income and nothing to do would have no temptation to him, compared with the society of his friends, if he had to give up the latter to enjoy the former.
Mr. Allen Vories next addressed the meeting; General Loan's death had not been altogether unexpected by him, but by that death he had lost his most confidential friend and he could not reconcile himself to his loss. For thirty years a close friendship had existed between himself and the deceased. If ever there was an honest man General Loan was that man. Ever faithful to his clients he was the soul of honor in his dealings with all men. Among the members of this bar he had not one enemy. Outside of his professional career he had no enjoyments, and was so attached to the members of the St. Joseph bar that he had determined to spend all his days among them. Of his proficiency as a lawyer it was not necessary to speak. The harder the case the better lawyer General Loan proved himself to be. His courtesy to other attorneys was remarkable. "By his death," concluded Mr. Vories, "I have lost my best friend."
Mr. Thomas had known General Loan for eleven years, and had frequently, as a young man, applied to him for advice, and had always
250
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
found him gracious and courteous. Whether opposed to him or associ- ated with him, he always exhibited a courtesy which was extended to all the attorneys with whom he came in contact. His loss will be greatly felt. Mr. Thomas endorsed the sentiments of the resolutions.
Mr. H. K. White said that General Loan had attained the high degree of philosophy which enabled him to endure differences of opinion without giving up pers onal regard. In his adherence to the ideas of the past upon legal matters, General Loan had many sharp conflicts with the rising generation, but from these antagonisms an unkind personal feel- ing had never once been developed.
Mr. John S. Crosby, as a younger member of the bar, paid an earnest tribute to the friendliness toward young members of his profession, which characterized General Loan. He also referred to the strong domestic affections of the deceased, which he had had occasion to witness. Carry- ing with him a heavy and constant burden of disease and suffering which would have made most men morose, he was always cheerful and good natured.
Mr. P. V. Wise said that he had so long associated with General Loan that he did not consider it inappropriate on his part to make a few remarks. The deceased was a man who took for his motto "deeds not words." He acted justly from a principle of right and not from the hope of future reward. He was satisfied to practice the golden rule. Not- withstanding the industrious habits of the deceased he enjoyed philo- sophical contemplation, and believed that the best of all lives was to so live here that when the great change came there would be nothing to repent of. He fulfilled William Cullen Bryant's noble lines :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.