USA > Missouri > The history of the bench and bar of Missouri : With reminiscences of the prominent lawyers of the past, and a record of the law's leaders of the present > Part 22
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
He had scarcely well established himself in his new home ere the embers of factional hate flared forth in the red flame of war. True to his Southern education, young Brace was a warin partisan of the Confederacy. In the first year of the war he enlisted in a regiment of Confederate cavalry, which afterwards became the Third Missouri. On being mustered in he was elected Captain of Company A, but soon demonstrating his superior qualifications of leadership, he was promoted step by step until he reached the grade of Colonel. He won the different distinctions very rapidly, as is attested by the fact that he was taken prisoner near Springfield, Missouri, in the spring of 1862, and was, perforce, thereafter a non-combatant.
Like most of his comrades, he indignantly rejected the opportunity to "re-instate" himself as a citizen of Missouri by subscribing to the requirements of the Drake Constitu- tion, or to sacrifice his manhood and honor by taking the "test oath," and he therefore did not resume practice at Paris until these odious restrictions were removed. Shortly after he had re-established himself, he held the office of City Attorney of Paris. In 1874 he was vested with an office of high responsibility, being elected to represent his district in the State Senate to fill out an unexpired term. In 1879 he was elected Judge of Probate, and administered the office with such wisdom and ability, that his party made him its can-
156
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
didate for Circuit Judge. To accept this nomination he resigned his office of Probate Judge, and was elected (1881) to preside over the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. With such impartiality, discrimination and ability did he discharge his duty as Judge, that his reputa- tion as a jurist spread beyond his circuit, and therefore when his friends placed his name before the State Democratic Convention of 1886, he was enthusiastically made the nominee of his party, and was elected to the highest judicial position in the gift of the people of the State-the Supreme Judgeship. In 1896 he was elected as his own successor, and therefore has nearly the whole of his second term yet before him.
ยท
That Judge Brace more than fulfilled the expectations of his friends, during his first term, is well known; that he will, with the wide foundation of ten years of judicial experience under him, add largely to his reputation as a profound interpreter of the law, is almost a certainty. He is a man of education and has a deep fund of general knowledge wherefrom he may draw wisdomn that is of material assistance in the solution of the law's intricate problems. Thoughtful and deliberate, he is nevertheless endowed with great decision of character, a trait of the highest value in one who is called upon to decide such grave questions as may grow out of the law's interpretation. He likewise possesses a good business head, and while he may be considered a practical man, he is enough of a theorist and thinker to give his mental constitution the proper balance. Withal, his understanding of the law, in its various bearings, is profound, and he is governed by that nice sense of equity which serves to make the written law more pliable and just. He is one of the many able men who have sat upon the Supreme Bench of Missouri.
In his social aspect the Judge is a most agreeable man. He is an adept Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is active in church circles, being a member of the Christian Church. The wife of Judge Brace is an accomplished lady and a meet companion for her distinguished husband. They have a most interesting family of seven children, and have been blessed by two pairs of twins, all living but one of the youngest pair. Mrs. Brace was formerly Miss Roana C. Penn, daughter of Major William Penn, who served as County Clerk of Monroe County for about sixteen years. Judge Brace and Miss Penn were married in October, 1858.
ROBERT B. BRISTOW,
MONROE CITY.
O NE of the most delightful and interesting members of a fraternity that has few 111em1- bers that are not notable because of their accomplishments, is he of whom a brief sketch is here appended. He is delightful and likeable because the love and charity he feels toward all mankind is to be seen as much in the everyday courtesies of life as in the acts of graver moment in his carcer. He is interesting because his life lias bridged the widest experiences, because he has observed closely and can talk well, and because he is a man of superior intellectuality. The people among whom he lives, have had oppor- tunity in the more than a quarter of a century lie has been among them, to know his many sterling qualities of head and heart and character, a recognition and appreciation that are reflected in the high respect and esteem that are accorded him.
Major R. B. Bristow is a native of Virginia and in his bearing is to be noted much of the pride and honorable self-respect that are characteristic of the worthy men and women
G
157
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
of the Old Dominion. He would never tell you so himself, considering that the influence of good blood is to be seen in manly, upright actions, rather than words, but it is a fact that he is related to some of the best families of a State that produced many whose ability was persistent and was transmitted from father to son repeatedly. The Bristows were English, and emigrated from Bristol, where they had lived for generations, to America some time prior to the Revolution. They settled in Eastern Virginia, between the Rappa- hannock and York Rivers, and from there spread westward. The Bristow family so closely associated with the history of Kentucky, is of this same stock.
Major Bristow was born near Urbana, Virginia, January 21, 1840, and is the son of James S. Bristow and Leonora Seward, his wife, the latter being a member of the prominent Seward family of New York. The son received his higher education at Alleghany College, near Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), an institution that was burned during the war and never subsequently rebuilt. His father being a lawyer, and one of the most able and successful of the local bar, his son was filled with the ambition to adopt his call- ing. In this the father encouraged him, and thus it happened that Robert entered liis father's office at Saluda, Virginia, and from thence went to Brokebrougli Virginia Law School at Lexington, Virginia, where he completed his technical studies, and returning to Middlesex County, was there licensed to practice in January, 1861. As will be noted, the Civil War befell just at a time in the lives of many of the lawyers who appear in this book when they were entering, or preparing to enter, practice. So was it with the subject of this biography. The excitement, especially in Virginia, at the time lie was admitted in Janu- ary was almost as great as when the war had begun three months later. Hence the young man did not attempt to begin practice, but was caught up by the prevalent belligerent spirit and carried into the heat of the contest. Sumter was fired on April 12, 1861; six days later, or on April 18, 1861, the subject of this sketchi had enlisted as a soldier of the Cause that was Lost. He entered the army as a private, served one year as such and was dis- charged because of disability. When he became physically sound, he re-entered the service as a volunteer of the Virginia State Line. He was soon promoted to the rank of Major of Cavalry, and as such served until the disbanding of General Floyd's command in 1863. He then at once re-enlisted in the Confederate Army and served until the last day of the war, being one of those who surrendered at Appomatox, April 9, 1865. During the contest he was for years in the very hottest part of the struggle, and passed through untold hardship and danger. He had many narrow escapes, but on all occasions conducted himself bravely and becom- ingly, and as one thoroughly convinced of the right of the principle for whichi he risked his life almost daily.
After Appomatox, he returned to Middlesex County, and on the re-opening of the courts in 1866, began practice. He continued to practice in Virginia until caught in the great tide of emigration which moved westward from war-stricken Virginia, he left his native State, and in the fall of 1870 came to Missouri and located at Monroe City in Mon- roe County, where he has ever since lived. He began practice at this place as a partner of Pierre R. Ridgely, the two shortly thereafter, besides their law business, beginning tlie publication of a Democratic weekly paper, known as the Monroe City Appeal. In the spring of 1872, the law offices of the two partners, together with the plant of their news paper, were destroyed by fire. This calamity caused Major Bristow's withdrawal from both the legal and newspaper partnership, since which he has practiced without an office associate.
158
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
Major Bristow has never held a civil office, excepting that of City Attorney of Mon- roe City, which he accepted more from a sense of public duty than from personal inclina- tion. He loves the quiet delights of private life, and thoughi possessed of a reputation and popularity that would place him in an enviable position in public life, he has never been inclined to use either to that end. He has no aspirations to assume the ills and vexations of a public servant, holding that a reputation as a lawyer is the most accurate evidence of one's ability. In 1892, however, yielding to the urgent solicitations of his friends, he permitted his name to go before the Democratic Convention of that year as a candidate for Circuit Judge, an office the acceptance of which would involve no unfaithfulness to his mistress, the Law. In that body he was defeated, by a margin so close that it was almost as much a compliment to him as the vote given his successful opponent, Judge Roy.
Major Bristow is a Democrat of the old school. He is active in politics, but his activ- ity springs solely from the desire to see triumph the principles he is convinced are right. The confidence his party yields him is to some extent shown in the fact that in 1892 he was elected to the position of Chairman of the Democratic Committee of the Eastern Judicial District of the Appellate Court of Missouri. Among Odd Fellows he is known as a respected member of that fraternity, of which he has been a member since 1872. He has served several terms as his lodge's Noble Grand. His law practice is almost alto- gether civil. In this field he has been very successful, and few important cases have come before the courts of Monroe or Ralls Counties in the last fifteen years, in which lie has not appeared as counsel.
Major Bristow was married in 1866, the year he began practice. Miss Lucinda Cau- thorn was the lady lie espoused, and the marriage proved a most felicitous one. Mrs. Bris- tow is a native of Essex County, Virginia, and is closely related to the Cauthorns of Audrain County, Missouri. The couple have never been blessed with children, but with that greatness of heart and practical philanthrophy which is characteristic of both, they have raised and educated a large number of their younger brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces.
JAMES OVERTON BROADHEAD, SAINT LOUIS.
THE abilities and merits of inen are not factors which lend themselves to exact estimate, T but were any lawyer of experience and intelligence asked who in his opinion stood first among the practitioners of the Missouri bar, he would doubtless answer, "James O. Broadhead, of St. Louis." No man lias more endeared himself to liis profession. His uscfulness as a citizen, his worth as a man, his unselfish services as a public official, and his long and honorable career as a lawyer, entitle him to the high estecm which is his. No man living within the borders of the State lias had a more notable career than Hon. James O. Broadhead. No man has played a more conspicuous part or has more years of active, useful, and unselfish service to his credit than he. Able, fearless, conscientious, just, philanthropic, he has contributed a long life-time of helpful effort in behalf of humanity and his noble life has been an inspiration to high ideals.
James O. Broadhead is a native of Virginia, having been born in Charlottesville, Albe- marle County (thic scat of Virginia learning), May 29, 1819-nearly seventy-nine years
James of Parasheas
159
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
ago. As far back as the record runs the family has shown itself possessed of a inost robust mental constitution, and that vitality of mental and moral characteristics has persisted to the present day and with each succeeding generation seems to have increased in vigor. Jonathan Broadhead, the grandfather of James O., established the family in America, com- ing from Yorkshire, England (his native place), and settling in Albemarle County, Virginia, some time during the struggle for independence. He soon took high rank and assumed an influential position among the proudest people of the commonwealth, who lived in that sec- tion. His son, Achilles Broadhead, the father of our subject, was born in Albemarle County, and was a man of the noblest human virtues and possessed of great force of char- acter. He was such an one as is instinctively trusted by his neighbors and during his career served well his fellow man. He was a planter, and for a number of years served his native county as its Surveyor. Intensely patriotic, he became a soldier of the War of 1812. At an early day he removed to St. Charles County, Missouri, where he soon took his place as one of the leading citizens of the new community. In St. Charles County he was inade County Judge, was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and was universally looked to as a resourceful friend and adviser of his pioneer neighbors. One has said of him: "A plain, earnest man, full of common sense, faithful in all the relations of life, *
* whether in public or private station, all inen trusted him." Achilles Broadhead married Mary Winston Carr, a member of the noted family of that name in the Old Dominion. She was of Scottish descent, and her family settling in America at an early day occupied large estates in Albemarle County. She was a woman of rare virtues, of right hereditary ten- dencies and fine intelligence, sensitive, noble, of strong feelings and impulses, and devoted to her children, of whom she bore five, three sons and two daughters. Of these James O. was the eldest. That the splendid characteristics of the family were inherent is shown by their persistency. Garland C. Broadhead, the noted geologist, has done no less to sustain the family record of high accomplishments, than has his elder brother, James.
The latter received a good classical education, acquiring his preparatory training under his uncle, Dr. Frank Carr, a highly educated gentleman, then keeping a select school at Red Hills, Virginia. In 1835, when sixteen years of age, he entered the University of Virginia, where, as his father believed that the lesson of self-reliance was the most import- ant in life, he was compelled to be self-sustaining. At the end of a year of close applica- tion at this institution, he was offered an opportunity to contribute to his further support and education, as the teacher of a private school in Baltimore. It was while engaged in this work that he received a letter from what was then the far outpost of civilization, telling of the serious illness of his mother. He closed his school and started West, reaching St. Louis in June, 1837, and went at once to his father's farmi in St. Charles County. Several months after he reached Missouri he had the rare good fortune to make the acquaintance of that gifted lawyer and distinguished man, Hon. Edward Bates. Mr. Bates was favorably impressed by the young man and engaged him as tutor of his children. During the next three years he was an inmate of the Bates household, and appreciated to the fullest this opportunity for study, and the manifest advantages of intimate association with such a great and cultured man as Mr. Bates. Inspired by such a notable example, the young man decided to adopt the law as a profession. Mr. Bates became his instructor, and under him he completed his legal education.
Mr. Broadhead was admitted to the bar in 1842-fifty-six years ago-by Judge Ezra Hunt, at Bowling Green, Pike County, Missouri. He at once located at this town and
160
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
began practice in the circuit composed of St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Montgomery, Ralls and Warren Counties. The bar of Northeast Missouri was then composed of some of the mnost gifted and brilliant men that ever graced the bar of the State. That the young man made progress rapidly in competition with such experienced men, speaks emphatically of his former diligence as a student, his native ability and his natural graces of manner.
He soon became interested in the political events of the time, and so far had he acquired the confidence of his fellow-citizens, that in 1845 he was sent as a delegate from the Second Senatorial District to the Constitutional Convention of that year-a high com- pliment to a man of his years. In 1847 he was the Whig candidate of Pike County for the Legislature, running against Nicholas P. Minor. Although the latter was very popular and the county was nominally Democratic, young Broadhead reversed this condition and was elected. He made a step forward in 1850 when he was elected to the State Senate, his reputation for ability and eloquence having by this time spread beyond his own section.
The year 1859 marks an epoch in the life of Colonel Broadhead, as in that year he located in St. Louis. A few years previous to this he had been married to an estimable Pike County lady. She was at the time of the marriage (1847) Miss Mary S. Dorsey, a native of Maryland and a member of an excellent family. Of the children born of this union, there are two daughters and one son, the latter now a promising young lawyer of St. Louis, who has inherited many of his father's sterling characteristics.
On first coming to St. Louis, Mr. Broadhead formed a partnership with Fidelio C. Sharp, and in the many years that have intervened since then Mr. Broadhead has been a leading factor in every movement to advance the city and to benefit humanity. What time has not been given to the public service has been devoted to private practice, and although now almost an octogenarian, he daily transacts a volume of legal business that might tax the strength of many lawyers of half his age.
In the agitation and ferment that preceded the Civil War, he took a leading part. Although a Virginian he held the Union above all else, and in 1860 and 1861 when all was consternation in St. Louis, his qualities as a born leader of men were made conspicuous by those events. He was one of those strong men who took the initiative, and used his whole influence to prevent Missouri going out of the Union. Through the efforts of himself and other brave spirits the Union sentiment of St. Louis was consolidated and given a head. He acted in conjunction with Frank P. Blair, Lyons, Gamble, Giles and O. H. Filley and otliers, and at a meeting held at Washington Hall, St. Louis, in February, 1861, it was determined to meet force with force, and from that meeting the Committee of Safety was crystallized. Mr. Broadhead, at the suggestion of Hon. Frank P. Blair, was named as one of the five persons who constituted this responsible committee. The decisive and energetic action of himself and colleagues beyond doubt kept Missouri in the Union, as when they assumed charge there were but two companies of United States troops west of the Missis- sippi, but with such good effect did they act that in a short time there were six full regi- ments in Missouri.
The Legislature of 1860-61 provided for the assembly of a convention "To consider the relations of the State to the Federal Government." The contest between the Union and Southern men in St. Louis was very bitter, but the Union delegation of fifteen leading citizens, of whom Mr. Broadhead was one, was elected by over 6,000 majority. The conven- tion assembled at Jefferson City in April, 1861, and in July, 1861, that body's committee, of which Mr. Broadhead was Chairman, reported advising that the offices of Governor,
161
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
Lieutenant-Governor and Secretary of State be declared vacant, and that a provisional government be established favorable to the Union. This report was adopted by the con- vention, on July 30, by a vote of fifty-six to twenty-five and Hamilton R. Gamble was elected Governor. The convention met frequently during the next two years and in all these sessions Mr. Broadhead took a leading part.
In 1861 he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri to fill the term made vacant by the death of Asa Jones. He resigned within a few months and was appointed Provost Marshal General of the department comprising Missouri, Southern Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and the Indian Territory. This was a most responsible position and his decisiveness, tact, courage and ability in the administration of its affairs, undoubtedly proved of inestimable benefit to his country. Nor were the duties he dis- charged within the scope of this office all that he unselfishly gave in behalf of the republic. He was one of the strong, virile figures of that troublous time, and a leader whose wisdom and decision of character inspired the confidence of all men.
His public services since the war have been no less conspicuous than during that struggle. In 1875 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and at once took his place as a leader of that body of able men. In 1876 the Missouri Democracy thought seriously of presenting his name to the National Convention as a candidate for President. He was one of the members of the Commission which framed the Scheme and Charter of St. Louis, under the Constitution of 1875, which is pronounced by William C. Marshall, the authority on municipal matters, one of the inost perfect instruments of the kind extant. He was one of the attorneys retained by the United States Government to prosecute the Whisky Ring cases. In 1882 he was elected by the Democracy of the Ninth District to represent that constituency in the Forty-eighth Congress, and during that session reflected credit on his State.
In 1885 President Cleveland paid a deserved tribute to Colonel Broadhead's worth and ability by appointing him Special Commissioner, under the provisions of an act of Congress, to visit France and examine the archives of the government in relation to the French Spoilation Claims, which had long been pressing for adjustment. At the beginning of Cleveland's second term he appointed Colonel Broadhead Minister to Switzerland. He held the office for a time, but as the residence in Switzerland necessitated separation from his family, and as he felt that he was growing old, le resigned the office in 1895, much to the regret of the administration, and was succeeded by John L. Peak, of Kansas City. Returning to St. Louis, he has since engaged in practice with his only son, Charles S. Broadhead.
A former biographer, who was intimately acquainted with this inan of strong and com- manding character, says of him: "In seeking to analyze his mind and character, he should be described as strong, direct, straightforward, open, candid, truthful, severely logical, and yet graceful at times, and eloquent as well as forcible in speech. He would be found to be more wise than witty, and yet possessing a fine fund of humor; remarkable rather for strength than for agility; full of sympathy for the unfortunate and the suffering; of inex- haustible kindness of heart and charity; of unfailing fidelity in friendship; fond of nature, and of simple tastes, his industry and energy, his courage and fidelity to principle are illus- trated in his career."
162
THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
WILLIAM CARTER,
FARMINGTON.
JUDGE WILLIAM CARTER, of Farmington, comes of a genealogical tree that has long drawn its sustenance from American soil. The Carters were originally English, and the earliest American representative of this branch of the family, of whom there is definite record, was King Carter, who located in Virginia in the Seventeenth century, and was, perhaps, the English emigrant who brought the family name to the new colony. From Virginia a branch of the family spread to South Carolina, where Zimri Carter, the father of Judge William Carter, was born. He married Clementine Chilton and came to Missouri in 1807, a very early day in the history of the commonwealth. He lived for many years in Southeast Missouri, and in the latter years of his. life was known and respected as one of the sturdy, early pioneers of the State.
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.