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 65
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Warner & Dean and so remained until 1886, when James Hagerman, then General Attorney of the Santa Fe System, became a member of the firm. In 1888 W. D. McLeod, who had been associated with the firm since 1886, was also admitted as a partner. Upon Mr. Hagerman, in 1893, being appointed General Solicitor for the M., K. & T. Railway, he sev- ered his relations with the old firm and removed to St. Louis. About that time Judge James Gibson, then on the Circuit Bench in Jackson County, resigned, taking Mr. Hager- man's place in the firm, which became as it now is- Warner, Dean, Gibson & McLeod. Later Mr. Hale Holden was admitted as a partner in the firm, although his name does not appear. The law firm of which Mr. Dean is a member ranks as one of the first in the State. Its general practice is large, and in corporation litigation few firmns have a more extensive business.
Mr. Dean has been President of the Southwestern Alumni Association of the Univer- sity of Michigan. He is a firm believer in maintaining the esprit du corps among college men, and it is no exaggeration to say that he has done as much to that end as any other man in the West. He has also occupied the position of President of the Kansas City Bar Association.
Mr. Dean's opinions on legal questions are received with due consideration by his fellow members of the bar, and by the courts before which he practices. In the prepar- ation and trial of cases he knows no interest but that of his client's. In argument before a court or jury lie is earnest, logical and forcible. In briefing and presenting cases to the higher courts, his marked ability is recognized. Of him it may be truthfully said that he is a trained, industrious and conscientious lawyer.
DAVID A. DEARMOND,
BUTLER.
O NE of the ablest men from the West now in Congress is the Hon. David A. De- Armond, Representative from the Sixth Missouri District. Mr. DeArmond was born in Blair County, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1844. He was reared on the farm, and there laid the foundation of industry and self-reliance which so many mnen have found of value in fuller tests of life. He attended the commnon school, and finished his education at Dickin- son Seminary, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was ambitious to adopt the bar as a pro- fession and taught school to that end until 1867. About that time the great tide of emigra- tion moving westward caught him and landed him at Davenport, Iowa. There he was admitted to the bar in 1867. In 1869 he came to Missouri, locating at Greenfield, Dade County. He evidently made a good impresssion on the people of that section, for in 1878 that district elected him to the State Senate, his record therein and his vigilance and activity in that body during his four years' term served to place him before the people of the State as nothing else could. Shortly after the end of his term, or in 1883, he moved to Rich Hill, Bates County, Missouri, where, just prior to that date, a small city had sprung up almost in a night, owing to the rich coal deposits that had been discovered. After a year spent in this booming place, he changed his location to Butler, the county seat of Bates County, and there he has since lived.
The sphere of his personal prestige and political influence has constantly increased and widened from almost the first year of his residence in the State. An intense Democrat,
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of strong convictions, he could not resist the impulse to do what he could for the political canse in which he believed. Thus it was, that on account of his efforts in behalf of the party and his standing as a Democrat, he was, in 1884, placed on the ticket as one of the Presidential Electors. A most flattering recognition was extended to him the following ycar (1885), when lic was made a member of the special Commission created to assist the Supreme Court in its docket, which had fallen behind. In 1886 he took his seat on the beneh of the Twenty-second Judicial Circuit, and until 1890, on a circuit that had formerly been presided over by Judge Foster P. Wright and Judge James B. Gantt, he administered its affairs in a manner that fully reached the high judicial plane on which it had been placed by these able predecessors. Judge DeArmond was first elected to Congress in 1890, re- clected in 1892, again in 1894, and for the fourth time in 1896.
CHARLES LEE DOBSON, KANSAS CITY.
MONG the lawyers of the State who have risen to a position of high judicial dignity, A carly in life, is Charles Lee Dobson, formerly Judge of the Circuit Court at Kansas City, or, more properly speaking, the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Missouri.
Judge Dobson was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, February 8, 1848. His father was of Scotch-English ancestry and descended from a family that settled in Virginia at an early day. The family of his mother came from England among the earliest settlers, also locating in thic Old Dominion, in Fairfax County. His maternal great grandmother was a daughter of Col. Charles Lewis, brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis of the Revolution. In 1854 his parents removed to Missouri and settled in Linn County, where the subject of this biography grew to manhood. After passing through the common schools he entered the State University at Columbia. Prior to his matriculation there he had commenced the study of law, and on leaving the University in 1869, continued the work of preparing himself for the bar. While still reading law in 1869, he was appointed Clerk of the Linn County Court of Common Pleas, and this being a court of general jurisdiction, concurrent with the Circuit Court, this position was of great practical value to him and greatly facilitated his legal education.
Hc was admitted to thic bar, February 10, 1870, two days after his twenty-second birth- day. It was but a short time until hc had an excellent practice for one so young. But another interruption of the course he had laid out for himself occurred, when in 1874, at the age of twenty-six, such confidence did the bar and public repose in his probity and legal attainments that the Legislature was moved, by special act, to remove his disability of age and permit him to take a seat on the Common Pleas Bench of Linn County. The law creating that court required the Judge to possess all the qualifications of a Circuit Judge, but in response to a unanimous request of the bar, the Legislature passed an act authorizing Mr. Dobson to hold the office. It is not known that any other man so young ever held so important a judicial position. He was appointed to fill a vacancy, and so well did he fill it that at the end of the term hc had no opposition for the nomination in his own party - the Democratic. However, he declined to become a candidate, or further to fill the office, and resumed the practice of his profession at Linneus, the county seat, Jan- mary 1, 1875. He practiced his profession in Linn and surrounding counties until the
Chos. L. Dobson.
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spring of 1879, when attracted by the great development Kansas City was manifesting and the chances it offered to young men with capacity and energy, he removed to that city, where he has since resided.
In 1883 his success was such that his former schoolinate, Shannon C. Douglass, of Columbia, removed to Kansas City and entered into partnership with him under the firm name of Dobson & Douglass. In 1886 their business had so grown that J. McD. Trimble, of Mexico, removed to Kansas City and entered the firm, under the firm name of Dobson, Douglass & Trimble. This firm continued until 1890, when by mutual consent, it was dissolved, and Judge Dobson associated with himself Henry L. McCune and Herbert L. Doggett, the latter one of his former law students, under the firin name of Dobson, McCune & Doggett. This firm continued till January 1, 1894, when Governor Stone appointed Judge Dobson to the bench of the Circuit Court to succeed Judge James Gibson, resigned. The appointment was ratified at the next general election when Judge Dobson was unanimously elected by the Democratic party as his own successor. He received the largest number of votes cast for any candidate on the same ticket, though in neither case was he, in any sense, a candidate, or applicant, for the position to which he was chosen. He filled the delicate and important position of Circuit Judge with entire satisfaction to the bar, which recognizes his fine legal attainments, and to the public, which is convinced of his probity and honor. During his incumbency of the office many knotty and difficult questions came before him for adjudication, all of which he decided according to law and in a manner that showed his inclusive grasp of the law, the facts, and the evidence.
An acquaintance with the Judge naturally begets confidence. He is a man to whoni as a practitioner, the execution and administration of wills, the settlement of estates and other affairs of public and private trust, naturally come; and before his elevation to the bench he disposed of many such cases, though the law firms, of which he was the liead, always had their full share of the general law practice in Kansas City.
In 1894 Judge Dobson was given a place in the faculty of the University of Kansas as lecturer on the law of private corporations, which position he still holds.
Early in the year 1896 he declined to be considered further as a possible candidate for the judicial position he then held and announced his intention to again resume the practice of law January 1, 1897; and at the latter date he again entered into business association with his former partner, Henry L. McCune, under the firm name of Dobson & McCune, and the firm is now engaged in the general practice of law at Kansas City. Mr. McCune's portrait and biography appear elsewhere in this volume.
THOMAS DOLAN, JOPLIN.
MONG the brilliant and promising younger attorneys of Southwest Missouri, that region A to which nature has been so partial and kindly, and which is destined some day to support a population twenty times as great as the present number, is Thomas Dolan, of Joplin, who although a native of the State metropolis, has spent all but the first dozen years of his life in the thriving city in the center of the greatest lead district of the world.
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He was born February 8, 1861, and therefore still has the best part of his life before him. His parents, Michael Dolan and Mary (Fitzgerald) Dolan, when he was about five years old, left St. Louis, his native place, to settle at Des Moines, Iowa. There the mother died in the fall of 1868, and shortly thereafter the father, with his son, removed to Keokuk, Iowa, whence after about a year's residence, he removed to Monmouth, Illinois. The re- mnoval to Monmouth was made in the fall of 1871, and there Thomas was sent to school. In 1873 the little family again moved - this time to Joplin, Missouri, which was to prove the permanent home of the young lawyer.
'The latter, beginning his schooling at Monmouth, continued it in the common schools of Joplin, where he also studied law and was admitted to practice at Carthage, the judicial seat of Jasper County, in March, 1881. He at once opened an office in Joplin and has continued in practice there since, excepting the period between 1889 and 1892, when he practiced at Kansas City, retaining however his residence at Joplin, returning there to vote and always regarding it as his home. In 1881 he was elected City Attorney of Joplin, and in 1882 re-elected, serving as such until 1883. He was again elected in 1886 and again re-elected in 1887 and served for a fourth term in the same office. He is a Republican in politics, and his strong convictions and enthusiasm give him weight with his party in that section. In 1896 Mr. Dolan was the candidate of his party for Judge of the Twenty-fifth Judicial District, but owing to the fact that the district was overwhelmingly for the free silver fusion forces he was not elected. However, he did valiant work in the canvass, a labor that has increased his prestige with his party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and since 1886 has been a member of Joplin Lodge, No. 335.
Mr. Dolan has been married twice. In February, 1883, he was wedded to Elizabetlı M. Crawford, who died in November, 1885, leaving him one child, a son named Jolin. In August, 1896, he was married to Miss Susie R. George.
WILLIAM M. EADS, CARROLLTON.
APT. WILLIAM M. EADS, of Carrollton, was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, C May 10, 1832. Martin L. Eads, his father, and Elizabeth (Collins) Eads, his mother, were both natives of Virginia, were there wedded and then sought a home in Kell- tucky. The father was for fifty-four years a traveling minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and from him the son inherited his talent as a public speaker.
While yet a boy, Captain Eads moved with his family to Missouri. Finishing his education at Central College, at Fayette, Missouri, he then returned to Carrollton, where when he had signified his intention of teaching school, he was elected principal of the Carrollton Academy. He acted in this capacity about three years, from 1854 to 1857, and resigned to accept the office of County Commissioner of Schools. His experience as a teacher proved valuable to him in the discharge of his duties as Commissioner, but all his work as an educator was made to converge to one purpose -the law. Therefore, hc pursued his legal studies while acting as School Commissioner and was admitted to the bar at Carrollton in 1858. About that time the contentions over the slavery question and of secession began to approach fever heat. Under the stress of these critical times the strongest and best rose to the surface, and the young lawyer was one of these. He was urged to become a candidate
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for the Legislature, assented, and was elected to represent Carroll County, in 1859. He took a leading part in the stormy debates of that session and became one of the chief opponents of the schemes to take the State out of the Union, which were then coming to a head. On the breaking out of the war he organized Company E, Sixty-fifth Missouri State Guard, and was elected its Captain.
His first partnership in the practice of his profession was entered into with Col. John B. Hale, an account of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. This business asso- ciation, began in 1861, lasted almost twenty years, or until 1880. From 1880 to 1885 Captain Eads conducted his office with J. F. Graham. Mrs. Eads' health had been failing for some time and as a change of climate was imperative, Captain Eads in the year last named, on her account, removed to the milder climate of New Mexico. The change was of benefit to the invalid, but the disease was too far advanced for the dry air of that country to bring about her recovery, and she died in 1891. Las Vegas was chosen as the place of residence, and as he had been very successful in his practice and had made money outside of the law, Captain Eads determined to enter the banking business. He was elected President of the San Miguel National Bank, and this venture proving remunerative, he subsequently organized the First National Bank of Raton and the Las Vegas Savings Bank of New Mexico, being elected President of each bank. As he went to New Mexico for the sake of his wife's health, he was constrained to return to Missouri on account of his own, which had been failing for some time, and therefore, in July, 1892, he resigned the Presi- dency of all three banks and returned to Carrollton. The extent to which Captain Eads succeeded in winning the hearts of the people of New Mexico is indicated in the following appended notice from the leading paper of the Territory:
"As will be seen by the announcement and resolution in another place, Capt. William M. Eads has resigned the Presidency of the San Miguel National Bank and the Las Vegas Savings Bank. The resolutions passed by the Board of Directors are exceedingly compli- mentary and must be highly gratifying alike to the Captain, his family and his friends. The growth of the San Miguel Bank under his Presidency has certainly been remarkable, if not phenomenal; and the entire community can but regret the severance of a connection which has been thus beneficial to the financial reputation of the city. To make the inat- ter worse, Captain Eads proposes to return to Missouri to reside, thus taking away his citizenship from this community. A man active in every department of community life, by ability and position placed among the leaders of men, ready and convincing in speech and active in deed and council- such a citizen it is difficult to duplicate, and is lost with much regret. The general feeling of this section will be a wish that Captain Eads had seen his way clear to a different determination."
Since his return to his old home Captain Eads has not engaged in practice or active business, being content to rest after having attained such an enviable success as a lawyer and business man.
Captain Eads has always shown an ardent interest in public affairs, and although he has not held the public positions to which his signal merits entitle him, his worthiness has met with unsolicited appreciation in several instances. After his return from New Mex- ico he was appointed by Governor Stone, Curator of the University of Missouri, a worthy recognition of his life-long interest in and service to the cause of education. He is a sterling Democrat and his party has taken occasion a number of times to demand honor- able service of him, but he has always refused to enter political life, although frequently
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importuned to run for Congress, with an assurance of nomination and election. In 1896 lic was a delegate from the Second Congressional District to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, which nominated William J. Bryan. Afterward he campaigned the State from the Arkansas to the Iowa lines in the interest of Bryan and free silver. In 1893 liis claims were urged for the Governorship of New Mexico, and he at once became the most prominent candidate for that office; and although he had left the Territory, a large 111111ber of his friends from New Mexico went to Washington City and in person urged his appointment, which was acknowledged by President Cleveland, and the appointment practically made, much to the satisfaction of the people of the Territory, but about the time Governor Prince's term expired, President Cleveland was advised of the fact that Captain Eads was a free silver man, and had stumped the Territory in behalf of that cause. 'The appointment was at once pigeon-lioled, although urged by all the Federal office hold- ers, such as Judge of the Supreme Court, United States Attorney, and a host of citizens and business men of the Territory, of all political complexions.
Captain Eads has long been known as one of the leading members of the Masonic fraternity of his portion of the State, having been connected with the order since 1854.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah F. Bayne, of Chariton County, Missouri, to whom he was wedded September 21, 1854, and who died May 8, 1856. Sub- sequently, on June 25, 1857, he married Laura Blackwell, of Carroll County. As noted above, Mrs. Laura Blackwell Eads died at Las Vegas, New Mexico, January 22, 1891.
FRANK BURT ELLIS,
PLATTSBURG.
IBERTY, in Clay County, Missouri, was the scene of Frank Burt Ellis' birth, and the L date was August 20, 1855. James Ellis, his father, married Susan T. Bonton. The father, a prominent farmer of Clay County, Missouri, now lives at Plattsburg, Missouri. The Bontons were originally Virginians, our subject's Grandfather Bonton emigrating to Missouri in 1838. Frank Ellis' great grandfather on his mother's side was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His grandmother on his mother's side was a Dabney. The Dabneys were an historie family in Virginia, dating their advent from the days of Sir Walter Raleigh. The Ellises came later, in the Eighteenth century. Mr. Ellis' paternal grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812, and settled in Kentucky. His grandmother Ellis was a Deshea, a cousin of the famous Governor Deshea, of Kentucky. She enjoyed the distinction of being the first white child born in Mason County, Kentucky.
Mr. Ellis was educated at Cameron and studied law with Col. J. F. Harwood, now of Maysville, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere. He was admitted to the bar at Kingston, Missouri, in 1881. Lathrop was the scene of his legal labors for ten years. They were ten years of success and triumph. Six years ago Mr. Ellis settled in Platts- burg, and has lived and toiled there continuously since.
It is to his neighbors you must go to find out what kind of a man Mr. Ellis is. He is too modest to speak for himself. The appreciation of his fellow-citizens has been shown in his election to the Mayoralty of Lathrop and his present position of Alderman in Plattsburg. In 1885 he was a delegate to the convention that nominated Judge Bar- clay for the Supreme Court and the Kansas City Court of Appeals. In 1892 he was a
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delegate to the convention that nominated Sherwood, Burgess and Macfarlane to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Ellis has never had any political aspirations, accepting office only when it was forced upon him, as he prefers to be known and remembered strictly as a lawyer. He has never had too many irons in the fire, therefore he has succeeded in life. He is a Democrat, and his activity in politics has always been the result of his wish to see the best men elected.
His fame rests chiefly on his victories as a jury lawyer. Much of the notable criminal pleading around Plattsburg has been done by Mr. Ellis. As a speaker he possesses and exercises the high twin effects of thrilling and convincing.
Missouri Reports, volume 102, contain a noteworthy instance of Mr. Ellis' legal genius- the case of Hughes versus McDevitt. The litigation turned on the wording of the acknowl- edgment of an administrator's deed. The omission of the word "personally" caused the trouble. Mr. Ellis represented the plaintiff and won the case before the Supreme Court, thereby establishing an eminent precedent in the cases of these acknowledgments.
ANDREW ELLISON, KIRKSVILLE.
ANDREW ELLISON, Judge of the Second Judicial District, was born at Monticello, Lewis County, Missouri, November 6, 1846, and is the son of Judge James Ellison and Martha (Cowgill) Ellison. Judge James Ellison was in his day one of the most pro- found lawyers and eminent jurists of this State, and, in fact, is one of the Titans of Mis- souri legal history. Born in Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parentage, he came to America with his parents when a child, and to Missouri about 1835, settling at Canton. From there his rep- utation spread throughout the State. He was contemporary and the peer of any of that old school of lawyers who shed such luster on the Missouri bar. His wife was Martha Cowgill, of Clark County, Missouri, who bore him thirteen children, seven of whom are now living. She was a woman of superior mind and great dignity of person. Four of the sons are law- yers, and all are men of ability and learning.
The subject of this sketch was educated at Christian University, at Canton, and after- ward completed his studies at Christian Brothers College, St. Louis. In preparing for the law he had a splendid tutor in his father, in whose office lie studied at Canton. He was admitted to the bar in Lewis County in 1866, and in April, 1867, located at Kirksville, Adair County. There he entered into practice with his brother, Judge Jaines Ellison, now on the bench of the Kansas City Court of Appeals. It was only a short time until the firin enjoyed the reputation of being the strongest legal combination in that section of the State. They appeared in every case of importance in the county during their practice, and handled many of those on the circuit, winning a percentage of cases tliat was a surprise to the older law- yers. This period of practice extended over a term of ten years, and was then concluded by Judge Andrew Ellison being called to official position. In December, 1876, he was elected Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, to succeed Judge Henry, who had been ele- vated to the Supreme Bench. Since then he has served continuously in that high capac- ity, in which he is without a peer or an opponent in the Second District to dispute the honor with him.
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While lie proved brilliant and successful as a practitioner, it is in his judicial capacity that his highest talents have been developed and illustrated. It is a peculiarity of the Elli- sons that they have the talent both of the lawyer and Judge, but in the last named field they are without superiors. Judge Andrew Ellison has the judicial faculty in an eminent degrec. Of a strong and virile mind, impartial in all things, he is able to grasp and ana- lyze all the points of a case to the elucidation of its most involved and intricate details. A giant in stature and intellect, tall and handsome, of magnificent head and strong features, liis presence aloue is expressive, even eloquent. He has that peculiar magnetic quality which interests at once, and when he speaks, men always listen. The most superficial student of character would select him at once in any crowd as a man of a most superior type. Thic people and practicing lawyers of his circuit almost adore him, and although the circuit is really Republican, and frequently elects all other officers of that party, Judge Ellison, thonghi a Democrat, is always returned. He has sat on the same bench for twenty ycars continuously, and can doubtless continue to occupy the place as long as he lives, or as long as lie wislies. He is held in the highest esteem and honor by all classes, and to the people of that part of the State lie speaks as an oracle, both on and off the bench.
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