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 68
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In the early part of 1889 he was, by the Governor, appointed Judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, and at the next election, in 1890, was elected to the same posi- tion by the largest majority of any candidate on any ticket in the county. In this position
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he served with eminent ability until January 1, 1894, giving entire satisfaction to attorneys and litigants and winning the warmest commendation for his patience, painstaking labor, his rugged honesty of purpose and his fearless decision of the many important and compli- cated questions presented to him for determination. He was exceedingly popular with the bar, and his rulings were affirmed in nearly all the cases appealed from his court. He resigned January 1, 1894, to return to the practice of his profession. Upon his retirement the highi esteem by which he was held by the bar was evinced by the adoption of most com- mendatory resolutions by them, and by the presentation to him of an elegant gold watch, and it can be truly said that no Judge ever enjoyed the confidence of the people to a greater extent than did Judge Gibson.
As a practitioner he commands the highest respect of both bench and bar; as an advo- cate he is intensely earnest, and no lawyer in the State makes his client's cause so sincerely his own as does Judge Gibson. He has been eminently successful as a lawyer and a jurist, and deservedly stands to-day in the front rank of the bar of Missouri.
His paternal great grandfather, John Gibson, was a Pennsylvanian, served in the Revo- lutionary War and was wounded at the battle of Brandywine. Judge John Bannister Gib- son, the noted Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, was also a member of this family. Hugh Gibson, the grandfather of Judge Gibson, was born in Pennsylvania, and in early life removed to Montgomery County, Virginia, served as a Captain in the War of 1812, married Elizabeth B. Rutledge, daughter of General Rutledge, a member of the famous Rutledge family of South Carolina, and one of the heroes of "King's Mountain," an engagement fought during the Revolutionary War. General Rutledge died in 1821 of a wound received at the siege of Yorktown. Jolin Hugh Gibson, the father of Judge Gibson, was born in Virginia, and removed to Missouri at an early age, where he followed the vocation of a farmer.
Judge Gibson's mother, Mary A. Hill, was a lineal descendant of Robert Hill, of North Carolina, who was born in Virginia in 1750 and served in the Revolutionary War as a Captain in the North Carolina forces. She was born in Cooper County, Missouri, December 15, 1818, while it was yet a Territory, was a granddangliter of Samuel Peters, who served in the War of 1812, and who was one of the earliest settlers of Missouri. Petersburg, in Cooper County, bears the name of this worthy pioneer.
On November 18, 1880, Judge Gibson married Miss Mary Todd Pence, of Platte County, a daughter of Lewis W. Pence, one of the leading farmers of Northwest Missouri.
'The Judge is intensely a man of the people and proud of the fact that he is a native Missourian. Socially, Judge Gibson is exceedingly pleasant and affable, though a man of great determination and force of character.
TURNER ANDERSON GILL, KANSAS CITY.
O NE of the able jurists of the Western Missouri metropolis, and one who for years has occupied a position of commanding influence as a citizen, is Judge Turner Ander- son Gill, who after many years of service in publie life and as an official in various capacities, now fills a place of honor and responsibility as Judge of the Court of Appeals of Jackson County.
F
James Wilson
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Judge Gill, the son of Marcus Gill and Sarah Gill, nee Bruton, was born in Bath County, Kentucky, December 8, 1841. His father was originally engaged in the milling business and came to Missouri in March, 1854, settling in Jackson County, where he profited by the wonderfully rapid development of that section and became one of the county's most influential and wealthy citizens. Both parents are now dead. The remote ancestor of the Gill branch of the house was the Rev. John Gill, D. D., an English Presby- terian divine and pulpit orator of ability and force, who came to America late in the last century and settled in New York.
Judge Turner Anderson Gill was twelve years of age when he came to Jackson County in 1854. A few years later he had progressed in his studies until it was determined that he should enter the University of the State of Missouri, where he was at the breaking out of tlie Rebellion. The sympathies of the family were naturally with the South, and fired with enthusiasm, the young man left his books and in 1861 enlisted in the Confederate Army. He was in active service during the entire four years of hostilities, and his gallant bearing won him promotion. On the declaration of peace, he was Captain of Company K, Second Missouri Cavalry-the famous "Shelby Brigade."
After the war he studied law in the office of J. V. C. Karnes, at Kansas City, finish- ing his course at Kentucky University, graduating in 1868. The City of the Kaw's Mouth, at the time when he returned and was admitted to the bar, was little more than a country town, and its development did not begin until several years after the war. Although its citizens did not, in 1875, realize its final high destiny, they did realize, at that critical period of the city's upward start, that the municipality required a live and progressive man at its head, and to that fact was largely due the election of Mr. Gill as Mayor of Kansas City in the year above named. He was elected as his own successor in 1876, and on the expiration of his second term he was appointed City Counselor-1878-9. About this time he formed a partnership with Judge Gardiner Lathrop, an eminent lawyer of Kansas City, the firm being Lathrop, Gill & Smith, and this arrangement continued up to July 1, 1881, when he was appointed Judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, by Gov. T. T. Crittenden, to fill the unexpired terin caused by the death of Judge Samuel H. Woodson. This appointment was made at the solicitation of the Jackson County bar. In this responsible place he served eight years, being elected and re-elected; and at his last election as Circuit Judge was complimented by the indorsement of all political parties. He could doubtless have held the Circuit Judgeship for life, but the people demanded that he accept promotion at their hands, and in 1889, resigning liis office, he was elected to the place he now holds-Judge of the Court of Appeals of Jackson County.
Judge Gill's attention has not wholly been absorbed by the details of his office or his profession. He is an enthusiastic believer in the future of Kansas City. He was one of those who assisted to create this urban wonder. He was a charter member of the Kansas City Board of Trade, a member of the Fair Association and has been identified with numerous smaller enterprises for the upbuilding of the city.
He was married March, 1871, to Miss Lizzie Campbell, of Kansas City. She is a native of that city, where her father was one of the earliest pioneers and established the first ferry across the Missouri at that place. The couple have three children, all boys, namely: Charles S., twenty-five, married and engaged in the brokerage and banking business, at Kansas City; George S., twenty-three, associated with the Posey-Brobeck Mercantile Company, as a part owner; William E., fourteen, yet going to school.
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Judge Gill politically has always affiliated with the Democratic party, yet he is not an active partisan. In his profession as a lawyer he has covered a wide field, having paid attention to every department of the law, excepting criminal practice, in which he took no special interest. He lias won a most enviable reputation as a Judge, his decisions being characterized by a clearness and discrimination that betokens deep study and a profound knowledge of the law; but he is possessed of that which is more essential than any other quality in a Judge: He is a man of absolute honesty and the loftiest integrity. No one ever questioned the uprightness or sincerity of Judge Turner A. Gill.
NOAH MONROE GIVAN, HARRISONVILLE.
BORN in Indiana, Judge Noalı Monroe Givan, of Harrisonville, spent the first twenty- six years of his life there, but for the last thirty-one years has been an honored and respected citizen and official of this State. The Givans are of Irish extraction, but for over a century and a half have been residents of Maryland. They were here when our patriot forefathers determined to resist the tyranny of England, and several of them bore arms in the Revolution. Judge Givan's father, George Givan, was born in Worcester County, Maryland, December 1, 1816. Joshua Givan, his father, was born at the same place July 2, 1788; George Givan, his father, likewise a native of Worcester County, was born in 1750; Jolın Givan, his father, born in Ireland, date unknown, was the ancestor who brought the family name to America. Thus Judge Givan is representative of the fourth generation of his house in both paternal and maternal branches, of American birth. His mother's maiden name was Sabrina J. Hall. She was a native of Indiana, but her father, Daniel Hall, was born in Maine, and his grandfather, whose name was Hateevil Hall, was born in Belfast, Ireland.
Judge Givan was born December 1, 1840 (his father's twenty-fourth birthday), at the little town of Manchester, Dearborn County, Indiana. His father was a farmer and his son enjoyed those healthful, simple and natural surroundings in which have been laid the solid foundations of character whereon were builded the success of many of our strong, able and upright thinkers and actors in American life. He received his education at the comnon schools and at Franklin College, Indiana, attending the latter up to his senior year, and left Franklin College to enter the University of Indiana, where he completed his education and graduated July 3, 1862. During his college days, and even prior to thein, he sup- ported himself by teaching school, having opened his first school on December 1, 1856, tlie day he was sixteen years old. From the work done in those days, it is reasonable to assume, that had not his heart been set on another profession, he would have made a name as an educator, for at the age of nineteen lie was principal of Manchester Academy, Manchester, Indiana, and during 1862-3 was principal of the Lawrenceburg graded schools of the town of that name.
When his other duties permitted, he prosecuted his legal studies in the office of Jamies T. Brown, at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and passed his examination and was licensed to prac- tice May 19, 1863. He was too ambitious to sit in his office and wait for the growth of business, which is the main difficulty of the beginning in law practice. No time hung idly on his hands, for when clients did not demand it in legal service, hie cuployed it in other channels. He secured the Lawrenceburg "Register, " a Democratic paper, and published
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and edited it during the Presidential campaign of 1864-one of the fiercest and most excit- ing in American political history. During this same year he secured the appoiniment as Deputy Treasurer of Dearborn County, Indiana, acting as such during 1864-65. In 1864 he was likewise inade County School Examiner of Dearborn County, serving as such during 1864-5-6. The decade in his life from 1856 to 1866, as the foregoing will show, was a period filled with quick and moving activities, and as student, principal teacher, law student in chambers, Deputy Treasurer, County School Examiner, editor and lawyer-these moving phases of his life, crowded close together and often over-lapping, served vividly to illus- trate his industry, resourcefulness and versatility.
Although he was forging to the front in his native county, the new and boundless West was a land which fancy painted with the mnost rosy possibilities, and he determined to explore thein. In the spring of 1866 he resigned the office of School Examiner, and in May reached Harrisonville, which has since been the scene of his labors, excepting the years 1886-8, when he was a resident of St. Louis and a member of the law firm of Torrey & Givan. The law not occupying his time fully after he went to Harrisonville, he estab- lished and published for some time a newspaper, which was the first Democratic paper pub lished in Harrisonville after the war. Acting on the almost unanimous initiative of the bar, he became a candidate in 1877 for Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, was re-elected in 1880 and served until November, 1886, when he resigned to remove to St. Louis. As Judge he was the first to sustain the constitutionality of the "back tax laws" of 1877, after they had been pronounced unconstitutional by other Circuit Judges. Another noted decision of his sustained the validity of what was known as the "Cotty law," which had been other- wise decided by the Federal Courts, but was finally sustained by the Supreme Court of Missouri.
Judge Givan has been a conspicuous leader in all measures of a public nature contem- plating the public welfare. He is interested in several local enterprises, and was the first President and one of the main promoters of Harrisonville's first railroad, then known as the St. Louis & Santa Fe, running from Holden, Missouri, to Paola, Kansas.
He is one of the "brightest" Masons in the State. He has been a member of that fra- ternity since he was twenty-one, and has received about all the official honors of that body. He is also a prominent Knight of Honor, has been Grand Dictator of that body, and has acted as representative from Missouri to the Supreme Lodge. He is and always has been a Dem- ocrat, was a delegate from Missouri to the New York Convention which nominated Sey- mour for President in 1868 and lias served his party in many ways.
August 7, 1862, Judge Givan was married to Lizzie C. Jackson, a sister of Rev. H. G. Jackson, D.D., of Chicago. Four children have been born to the union, but one of whom survives - Mabel G., now the wife of Charles E. Allen, of Harrisonville.
WALLER WASHINGTON GRAVES,
BUTLER.
O NE of the most promising and popular lawyers of that section of the State known as Southwest Missouri, is Waller Washington Graves, of Butler. He is a native Mis- sourian; born in Lafayette County, December 17, 1860. His father, Abram L. Graves, was a prosperous farmer of tliat county, but afterwards moved to Bates County. He was
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left an orphan at a tender age and was reared by his grandfather, Abram Larsh, one of the earliest pioneers of Lafayette County. The Larshes eame from Maryland and was a fam- ily known as old residents of that State at the time of the Revolution. The Graves fam- ily were mostly from North Carolina, and were owners and cultivators of large cotton plan- tations in ante-bellum days. Mr. Graves' mother was Martha E. Pollard, a native of Ken- tucky, but chiefly reared in Missouri, whose parents, although they came to this State from Kentucky, were of Virginian origin. Her mother was a Waller and her ancestors were nearly all people who were among the colonists of this country, and many of them with their flint-loeks helped found the republic in the War of the Revolution.
'The subject of this sketeh was educated in the publie sehools of Lafayette County. His father, though a good liver, had a large family dependent upon him and could not afford his son the advantages his education required. Mr. Graves has often said that the most impressive sehooling of his early years was when, as a barefooted boy, he drove a mule team with the construction gang on the C. & A. Railroad. There he gained that sturdy character and self-reliance which has stood him in such good stead in his later forensie battles. After completing the preseribed course in the publie sehools, he spent two years at the University of Missouri, at Columbia. He then taught sehool and studied law at nights and during vacations.
After serving an apprenticeship in the law office of Parkinson & Abernathy, two of the best lawyers of that seetion of the State, lie was admitted to practice by the Circuit Court at Butler, in 1885. He at onee entered into partnership with his preceptor, Judge Parkin- son, which partnership continued until 1893, when it was dissolved by the senior partner's removal to Kansas City, and the firm of Graves & Clark was formed, consisting of the subjeet of this biography and Harvey C. Clark, now a son-in-law of Congressman DeArmond, of Butler. This is recognized by the people as the coming legal firin of that section of the State.
Governor Marmaduke appointed Mr. Graves School Commissioner of Bates County to fill a vaeaney, and the end of his terin he was elected to the same office by a handsome majority, and during his succeeding administration gave splendid satisfaction. Through beginning reform at the top, he brought the schools of the county to a high grade of efficieney, not assuning the attitude that liis offiee was largely honorary, as is too often the case with this position, but realizing its responsibilities fully, and bringing to bear his fine executive talent in the discharge of his duties. He served as City Attorney for Butler from 1890 to 1892.
Mr. Graves is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias and stands high in the Masonie fraternity.
He was married at Butler, June 30, 1892, to Miss Aliee Ludwick, an educated, highly accomplished and amiable lady, daughter of Jolin L. Ludwiek, of splendid German anees- try and one of the first settlers of Bates County. To this union, one eliild, a boy, was born, July 8, 1893. Ludwick is a bright, manly little fellow of five summers.
Mr. Graves is one of Butler's most patriotie and enterprising citizens. Seldom is any plan instituted for the benefit of his town with which he is not identified. His progressive- ness follows a course of the widest civic patriotism, in which there is no alloy of special self interest, as is too often true of enterprises intended to benefit the community. The same distinction applies to his connection with politics, in which he engages solely because of his interests in and desire of good government. Although a lifelong and ardent Demo-
w. w. Graves
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crat, he lets it be known that he is not an office seeker, and the only ambition cherished by him is that of ranking high as a lawyer. He is a leader of his party, and is always willing to give his services to the cause, on the stump or in council.
Those who know him do not wonder that he is so thoroughly en rapport with the work of his profession, for he has been eminently fitted therefor, both by nature and training. Tall and large, handsome, of commanding presence, with a rich, full and strong voice, which has been highly cultivated, ready of speech and with an ample fund of words on which to draw, it is no exaggeration to state that he is one of the most pleasing, logical and convincing speakers among the lawyers of Missouri. In presenting a case to court or jury his arguments are always strong, forcible and clear, abounding in concise statements and logical reasoning. As a counsellor his judgment may always be depended upon, and he is noted for his ready tact in the trial of a case. One of his strongest points is his thorough preparation in all cases that he undertakes, and as a result he knows the strength and weakness of both sides of the contention, and thus he is always ready for any eventu- ality. In the trial of a case he never takes extensive notes, but is possessed of the rare faculty of remembering the evidence in detail of all witnesses, their bearing on the stand, etc., and months afterwards can readily call it to mind. This alone makes him formidable, as always being ready to take advantage of any discrepancies or conflicting statements. He is an expert technician and abounds with ready references, precedents and decisions; in fact he treats his profession as a technical science. The case that is so poor it has to depend upon the ability of the lawyer rather than evidence is fortunate if Mr. Graves appears in its behalf.
He has appeared as counsel in many of the important trials of that part of the State, but one worthy of special mention was the case of the State ex rel. versus Hostetter. This case was interesting because it was to determine for the first time the right of a woman to hold office in Missouri. Mr. Graves appeared for Maggie B. Wheeler, who had been elected County Clerk of St. Clair County, Missouri. The office was refused her on the ground that under our statutory and constitutional provisions, women could not hold office in this State. Mr. Graves took the case before the Supreme Court, which not only sus- tained his position and gave the office to Mrs. Wheeler, but accorded him a high compli- ment on his brief and the method of its preparation.
As Mr. Graves is a young man, is eloquent, gifted and popular, it is not too much to assume that his reputation will widen and increase year by year .*
THOMAS HACKNEY,
CARTHAGE.
O )F Scotch and Irish ancestry, Thomas Hackney is naturally robust both in mind and body, and this sturdiness exhibits itself at many points in his professional career. He was born December 11, 1861, in Giles County, Tennessee. His father, Edward Jones Hackney, married Frances Josephine Langham, that being his mother's maiden name. The original Hackneys settled in North Carolina and afterwards emigrated to Tennessee, while the Langhams are an old Tennessee family.
* Since the above was written, Mr. Graves has loomed up as available timber for the Supreme Court, and his appointment to the present vacancy on the bench is being urged by Southwest Missouri.
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In youth Thomas Hackney was not so well provided with chances as gifted with per- sistency. He proved this when as an orphan boy living on an Illinois farm he developed the ambition to become a lawyer, and made the necessary amount of money to pay for his legal tuition by teaching school in the rural districts of Southeast Missouri. He was edu- cated at the Southern Illinois Normal University and the University of Missouri, obtaining as thorough an education as those celebrated colleges could afford. Settling for a time in Keytesville, Missouri, he began the study of law with Hon. W. W. Rucker and afterwards pursued his course in various other offices in that section, finishing in the office of A. L. Thomas, at Carthage, Missouri, and being there admitted to the bar in September, 1886. Immediately upon his admission, he became the partner of Mr. Thomas, under the firm name of Thomas & Hackney, and they are still connected, Mr. Hackney owning a half interest in the business and being one of the most successful lawyers in Jasper County, with a practice enviably large and lucrative.
It would be safe to say that Mr. Hackney is not only a lawyer of the higher class, but also one whose native talents will enable him to continually climb still higher. Self-made 111e11 arc more rare in these days of facility and convenience than in the rugged time of the pioneers, but Mr. Hackney has certainly himself to thank entirely for the position he has reached in life. Hc sceins to be naturally gifted with progressiveness and energy, and he has never had a hard struggle that he has not entered into and come out of with enjoy- ment and profit. In fact, the harder the task set before him the better he is pleased and the more brightly his native genius shines out in consequence. He is not yet beyond thirty-six years of age, but he has attained in the past eleven years a place which many of thic older brethren of the bar have not as yet 'reached. The reason for this can be found in the faculty he has of being exclusively a lawyer, and being that to the fullest extent, he never having entered the field of politics, although several times urged thereto by appreciative fellow-citizens. However, he approached once to the verge of a political career, the event being the battle between Webb City and Carthage over a county court house. Carthage won, and one of the reasons for this victory lies in the fact that Mr. Hackney was a leader on the side of Carthage and opposed to Webb City. In this fight he was a host in himself, being as indcfatigable as he was wise and resourceful. More largely to him than any other man, perhaps, is Carthage indebted for the existence there to-day of one of the most expensive, beautiful and well-ordered court houses in Missouri. Many other instances could be cited illustrating the public spirit of Mr. Hackney, all being attributable to his natural desire for improvement in the community and the welfare of the people, but in this brief sketch that enumeration would reach an uncommon and unneccs- sary length. Still it would be well to refer to him here as a model citizen who has never failed to obey the call to duty.
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