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 72
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When the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railway was being built through the sec- tion embracing Worth County, Mr. Hudson was foremost among those who advocated the building. The development of the county's resources and the eloser relations with the rest of the State which it thereby obtained are obvious demonstrations of his enterprise and publie spirit.
Among the secret orders he holds a prominent place, being an active and earnest member of the Masonie fraternity and a conspicuous Knight of Pythias in his community. He is a straight Demoerat of the later school, which means that he forgets and diseards all effete issnes, and lives and aets for present and future welfare only.
His marriage took place in New York City, on April 21, 1897. His wife was Esther M. Loughlin, who is the daughter of Edward Loughlin, a merchant of some standing in New York. She is a handsome lady, well fitted by her mental gifts to be the life partner of Mr. Hudson, and is distinguished as being the nieee of Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn.
IRA BARNES HYDE,
'PRINCETON.
LD England and New England elaim the ancestry of Ira Barnes Hyde. The founder of the American branch of the family, who landed in America in 1640, settled in the young colony of Massachusetts, and three years later, when the colonies of Massa- chusetts, Plymouth, Connectieut and New Haven formed their memorable confederacy, under the name of the United Colonies of New England, he was to be found in the councils of the projectors. The Hydes multiplied and flourished in that region, and many of them bore a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary War. Emily Lewis Hyde, the mother of Ira, had an ancestry almost similar to the Hydes. The Lewises, originally English, were among the first settlers on the shores of America, Mrs. Hyde's father, William Lewis, who was reared in Connecticut, served through the Revolutionary War as a soldier in the patriot army, and distinguished himself at the battle of Yorktown.
Mr. Hyde was born in Guilford, New York, January 18, 1838. His rudimentary edi- cation was obtained in the common schools of New York and Ohio. His training was com- pleted at Oberlin College, Ohio. He removed to Cleveland, Ohio, when sixteen years old, and later went West and entered the law office of Daniels & Grant, at St. Paul, Minnesota,
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where he thoroughly qualified himself for the profession of his choice. He was admitted to the bar in July, 1861, by the Supreme Court of Minnesota, and was enrolled as an attorney in the Supreme Court of the United States five years later. Meanwhile he practiced one year in Washington, District of Columbia. In April, 1866, he began law practice in Mer- cer County, Missouri, and has since continued to be a leading barrister of Princeton.
Mr. Hyde has been a soldier and a member of Congress, but throughout his varied career he has always been, first and foremost, a lawyer. He was a soldier from a sense of patriotic duty, and a National legislator to gratify the wishes of his neighbors, but the calm judgment and the clear decisiveness necessary in the legal profession have always been marked traits in his mental tendencies.
Mr. Hyde may have studied his eloquence at Oberlin, but it was not at Oberlin he learned his power of persuasion. The rare faculty of convincing, which is such a potent factor in moulding the opinions of the juries, is his through natural endowment. His eloquence is of the kind which is the outcome of training as much as of native ability, for it is a matter of public comment in Mercer County that, as occasion requires, he can make an impromptu address with the same readiness that he delivers a studied and finished oration. His inborn aptitude is at the bottom of all his success in life.
The inilitary record of Mr. Hyde is worthy of favorable mention here. After his admission to the bar in St. Paul he practiced about a year there, and in 1862 enlisted in the First Regiment of Minnesota Cavalry, and was in active service during the term of his enlistment and until the final muster out of his regiment. About the time of his enlistment the great Indian outbreak occurred in Minnesota. A great part of the State was overrun and devastated by the Indians, and Mr. Hyde's regiment was retained in the Northwest, and after driving the Indians from Minnesota, in subsequent campaigns pursued them through Dakota and Montana, then mostly unexplored territory. When the strife ended he went to Washington, District of Columbia, where he practiced law for a year, going then to Missouri and locating in Princeton.
The only political office ever held by him has been that of Member of Congress fromn his district, being elected in 1872, and bringing back from Washington an enviable record. He was renominated by acclamation by the Republican Convention of his district, but although his course in Congress had made him extremely popular, he was defeated in the great Democratic landslide of 1874, when Missouri failed to elect a single Republican mem- ber of Congress, and in the country at large the Democrats obtained more than two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives. Mr. Hyde bore a conspicuous part in the debates of Congress, and his speeches upon the National finances, Inter-State commerce and other topics then prominent attracted general attention and approval.
It is to his credit that he was one of the organizers and directors of the Des Moines & Chillicothe Railroad, which is now a part of the Rock Island system. He not only aided in the building of the line, but was its first Secretary and General Attorney. He was also one of the founders of the Bank of Mercer County, located at Princeton, and is now its President. Formerly he held the Presidency of the Bank of Princeton. Being an old sol- dier with a good military record, it is not surprising that he is a leading member of the Grand Army of the Republic in his county, and also one of the Sons of the American Revo- lution. He is a Republican in politics, and has always been heeded in the councils of his party.
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His first marriage took place in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where he was wedded to Miss Sophie Clymer, one of the belles of that city. Mrs. Hyde died in 1871 and left lim one child, Edward Clymer Hyde, who is now a lawyer in Mercer County, Missouri, with a flourishing practice. Edward married Miss Minnie Scott, of Princeton, by whom he is the father of two finc boys, Edward and Scott. In 1873 Mr. Hyde's second marriage occurred at Rockport, Ohio, the bride being Miss Carrie E. Mastick, daughter of Col. Ben- jamin Mastick, of Rockport. She died in 1889, and left him two children. They are Ben- jamin C., who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Mercer County, and Arthur M., a student at the University of Michigan. Arthur is a promising youth, having won the first prize at Oberlin and the second prize at Ann Arbor for oratory. Benjamin married Miss Jes- sic Bellew, the daughter of T. W. Bellew, who commercially and financially is a conspicu- ons citizen of Mercer County. Mr. Hyde was married a third time, in 1891, to Miss Eliza T. Mastick, at Alameda, California. She is the daughter of E. B. Mastick, of San Francisco, who is a lawyer of wide celebrity on the Pacific coast. There are three living children by this marriage, Lawrence M., Ira B., Junior, and Frances E.
MACHIR THOMAS JANUARY, NEVADA.
A
L'THOUGH he has scarce turned liis fortietli year, and in appearance is even younger,
there is no man of mature age and long residence who wields a larger influence, or as a lawyer is rated higher in that rich and populous section, Southwest Missouri, than Machir Thomas Jannary, of Nevada. His reputation is deserved, for he is a lawyer of splendid ability, brilliant and versatile. Resourceful and skillful in the conduct of a case, and a thorough pleader, it is no more strange that he is admired and envied by his brother practitioners, than that his masterful and strong character, marked individuality and great personal magnetism have made him popular with the general public. He is a man with a future before him, and is destined to become an honor to the State and an ornament to her bar.
Mr. January is a native Missourian, having been born in St. Louis County, March 5, 1857. He is thic son of Thomas Thruston and Maria Jannary. Both parents were of splendid Kentucky stock, their ancestors having long been prominently identified with the social and political life of the Blue Grass State. His paternal grandmother was Mary B. Thruston, of Virginia, a member of a family who were active participants in the Revolution. His father left Kentucky and settled at Jackson- ville, Illinois, where lic engaged in merchandising, and with that energy and strength of character which has been a noteworthy quality in the family through many generations, soon became one of the most influential and active men of that part of Illinois. It was he who organized and built the Mcredosia & Springfield Railroad, the first line constructed in the State of Illinois. He resided during most of his life at Ferguson, the beautiful St. Louis suburb, anl owned considerable land in St. Louis County. He carried on the busi- ness of a farmer and a dealer and brecder of finc stock, and also owned land in Missis- sippi and was an extensive cotton planter there. The family name of the mother of the subject of this sketch was Machir.
Machir T. received the rudiments of his education in the schools of St. Louis County, and when prepared entered Baptist College, at Columbia, Missouri. After studying some
M.J. January
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time at that institution he changed to Racine College, at Racine, Wisconsin, where in due time he obtained his diploma. Having decided to become a lawyer, he returned to his home and at the beginning of the next term entered St. Louis Law School, which has finished so many of the bright lawyers of Missouri. He graduated from the Law School in 1880, and then was admitted to the bar in St. Louis County.
In seeking a location he was attracted by the prospects of Nevada, which was just then beginning the development which has since made her one of the chief towns of the State. Accordingly in July, 1880, he opened an office there and has since made it the scene of his labors. From 1885 to 1889 he was the partner of Hon. E. E. Kimball, who was in 1888 the Republican candidate for Governor, and was afterward United States Dis- trict Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. In 1891 Mr. January formed a part- nership with E. P. Lindley, another able lawyer of that section, and this agreement was dissolved in 1893. Since then he has practiced alone.
Mr. January has all of that devotion to his profession which is a qualification precedent to success in any line. He is a Democrat, and although he is prominent in his party in that part of the State, with one exception he has never consented to accept aught but wholly honorary office. That exception was when he was elected Mayor of Nevada. He made a splendid executive and though he could have had the office for the asking inany terms, lie resigned before his first term lad expired, the duties of such a position not being congenial. Since then, notwithstanding opportunities have been plenty, he has never con- sented to become a candidate for any place, much to the regret of some of his friends who believe he would reflect honor on Missouri as one of her representatives in Congress.
Mr. January is a man of sincerity and high purpose, of a studious bent of mind and the lofty ambition to make a name for himself as a lawyer. He is a young man of signal ability and a thorough understanding of human nature, a qualification most valuable in Judge or practitioner. He has that suavity and geniality of manner, which has made him popular with all classes, and may be partially the secret of his success. Of vigorous intel- lect, clear understanding, his ambition and hope of a yet higher success are altogether laudable, reasonable and certain.
Mr. January was married March 15, 1883, to Jeannie Thornburgh, daughter of Josiah Thornburgh, who was for a number of years Clerk of the Supreme Court and of the St. Louis Court of Appeals. He returned to his native place for a wife and the wedding took place at Ferguson. The couple have five children, the eldest, Josiah Thornburgh, is now a student of Nevada high school. The others are named, respectively, George Baird, Samuel, Nancy and Laura .*
JERROLD MAJOR JOHNSON, BROOKFIELD.
A LAWYER who at the age of thirty-three has inade a reputation, gives guarantee that he is admirably adapted to that profession, and has within him the elements to com- pel a still greater success. Jerrold Major Johnson, of whoin this memoir treats, has arrived
*If anyone should know a man thoroughly, it is his family physician. Dr. E. N. Priest, of Nevada, who has borne that relation for nuauy years and is critical in his judgment of men, writes this of him: "I know him well. As far as I am capable of judging, he is oue of the very best judges of law I have ever known. Being well versed in the law and of a comprehensive, analytical turn of mind, his judgment on a law proposition is excelled by but few. He is studious in his habits, aud devotes his time and energies to his profession. He pays his debts, and his honesty of purpose and integrity of character can not be questioncd by anyone. He has the force of character to follow his honest convictions, and I believe in all of his dealings is governed by the highest and best of all motives-honesty of purpose."
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at that age, and is well entered on a career which has already achieved much. He was born July 30, 1865, in Scottsville, Sullivan County, Missouri.
His father, Albert Cave Johnson, a Kentuckian by birth, came to Missouri when seven years old, settled in Sullivan County and there learned the trade of cabinet maker and after- wards became a merchant. The Johnsons are of English and Irish extraction and were among the early settlers of Kentucky, having done much toward building up that common- wealth. The maiden name of Mr. Johnson's mother was Zylpha Katharine McCowen, the McCowens being originally Scotch. The family emigrated to Virginia before the Revolu- tion. Caney Bagwell, a granduncle of Mr. Johnson, served in the Continental army and achieved distinction on many fields for personal bravery.
Mr. Johnson's education was obtained in the public schools of Sullivan County, Mis- souri, and by private instruction under Prof. H. N. Peterson, a worthy tutor of the same county. His law studies were conducted at Linneus, Missouri, first with T. M. Brinkley, then with A. W. Mullins. Young Johnson was admitted to the bar at Brookfield, Missouri, in February, 1889, and at once began the business of his life by opening a law office at Bucklin, Missouri. He practiced in Bucklin three years, building up quite a name for himself, and then returned to Brookfield, where he became connected in partnership with Harry Lander, under the firm name of Lander, Johnson & Lander, the senior member being noted for his knowledge of land laws, some hint of which may be obtained from his special article on that subject herein.
Linn County contains several able barristers, old and young, but none more promis- ing and energetic than Mr. Johnson. Commencing his legal career equipped only with native talent and a cheerful perseverance, he very readily converted himself into a lawyer with accomplishments to command respect. Perhaps much of this success can be attributed to his aspiration to be simply a lawyer, and to win fame within the limits of that profes- sion. He has never held political position-not that opportunities have not offered-but lie fears that a division of interests might impair his efficiency in both directions, and his determination to succeed at the law is too firmly fixed for him to consent to any- thing that might lessen his chance of reaching the high position to which he aspires. He takes that pride in his profession, which is the mainspring of success in any field. As a high private he has proven himself one of the most earnest and active workers in the Democratic party in his section, never faltering when his services were needed, but always lending them gladly and freely and never despairing of the ultimate triumph of Democratic principles .* Every enterprise having as a final result the material welfare of Linn County finds in Mr. Johnson an immediate friend and warin supporter.
For six years immediately preceding 1887 wlien he began the study of law, Mr. Jolin- so11, to nsc his own expression, "was being buffetted about the Pacific Coast, up and down the Territorics and Rocky Mountains." During part of this period lie was occupied as a mining engineer, which, excepting the law and school teaching, was the only line of work lic lias ever essayed. During these years hc had a diverse and valuable experience. They gave him a practical idea of inen, matters and things, that places him at an advan- tage to tlic ordinary boy or college graduate who has had no experience of the world. This, added to a natural insight into human nature, he holds to be the foundation of his
* Since the above was written it is learned that the Democrats of his circuit are pressing Mr. Johnson to become a candidate for Circuit Judge, and that it is altogether probable he will be nominated and elected. As this is considered a professional rather than a political office, Mr. Johnson may thus accept without deviating from his resolution or any departure from the law.
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Jill Johnson
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success as a lawyer; and he gives it as a suggestion to the young lawyer or student, that they become acquainted with mnen and the world, holding that the value of actual experience in the rough school of the world's affairs cannot be over-rated by the boy who would succeed at the law.
Mr. Johnson is essentially a trial lawyer. It is the actual test of a case before a court or a jury that arouses his enthusiasm, brings out his matchless resources. In cross- examination he displays a skill before which even the coolest and most unexcitable wit- ness is likely to "lose his head." His custom sometimes is to lead the witness on by his suave and innocent way, until he has made some admission apparently of no conse- quence, but really of the first importance. When he gets him into such a cul de sac he pours the questions at him with a speed and vigor, that through his confused efforts to extricate himself, sends the witness deeper into the mire of uncertainty. His mind grasps all the points of his case with an inclusiveness that scarcely admits of surprise from the opposing attorneys. He is as quick at repartee as he is skillful in taking ad- vantage of every point that is possible to his side of the case. His manner of presenting his case is bold and decisive and his entire bearing demonstrates the confidence he has in himself and in his contention, which serves to inspire others with the same certainty. He is a fluent speaker, is strong in argument and expert in presenting a proposition in the best possible light. In fact, he is considered the best trial lawyer in his part of the State. He is no less popular as a man than he is able as a lawyer, and holds a high place in the confidence of the people of Sullivan County, where he was born, and in Linn County, where he resides.
Mr. Johnson was married at Bucklin, Missouri, on January 7, 1891, to Miss Amma Frances Atwater, the beautiful daughter of R. H. Atwater, of Raleigh, North Carolina. Three fine children are the result of the union: Ruth Atwater Johnson, Albert Lander Johnson and Jerrold Page Johnson.
WALDO P. JOHNSON, OSCEOLA.
W ALDO PORTER JOHNSON was a native of Virginia and was born in the village of Bridgeport, in Harrison County, on the sixteenth of September, 1817. His father, William Johnson, was a merchant and farmer. The maiden name of his mother was Olive Waldo. His brothers and sisters were Mortimer H., William T., Jedediah W., Thomas B., John C., Abigail A., Emily and Olive. After preliminary studies in private schools, he entered Rector College, at Pruntytown, Virginia, and graduated therefrom in the year 1839. The buildings of this college were subsequently destroyed, and the institution itself abandoned. On the eighteenth of September, 1842, lie was admitted to practice law, as the license reads, "in the superior and inferior courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia." In the spring of 1843 he came to Missouri, and located at Osceola, in St. Clair County, influenced, probably, by the fact that two of his maternal uncles resided in that vicinity. Osceola was then a hamlet of some ten or twelve houses and fifty people; yet, it was a county seat in a region rich in natural resources, and offered some attractions to a young lawyer.
His practice of the law was interrupted, in the spring of 1846, by the call for volun- teers for the war with Mexico. He enlisted in a company organized by Capt. David Waldo
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THE HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MISSOURI.
(liis nucle), and this company became a part of the "First Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers," commanded by Col. A. W. Doniphan. While in Southern New Mexico, he was mustered out of service, because intelligence of his election to the next Legislature of Missouri had been received. A long journey lay before him; but by constant and rapid travel, he arrived in Jefferson City the day before the meeting of the General Assembly. In the proceedings of the session that followed, he took an active and prominent part.
In 1848, he was chosen Circuit Attorney; and, in 1851, was elected Judge of the Seventh Circuit, but resigned after a year's service, to resume his law practice. In 1854, he was the candidate of the "Benton Democrats" for Congress against Hon. John S. Phelps, but was defeated by a small majority. Thenceforward until 1861, Judge Johnson pursued industriously and with marked success, the practice of his profession, and acquired a large landed estate in Southwest Missouri.
On the first day of February, 1861, he was appointed by the Legislature as one of the five Commissioners from Missouri, to the "Peace Congress," which met at Washington on February 4, 1861, for the purpose of attempting to agree upon some plan to avert the Civil War, then impending. On the eighteenth of March, 1861, he was, by the General Assem- bly of Missouri, elected to the Senate of the United States to succeed the Hon. James S. Green. It has been asserted by some that Waldo P. Johnson was elected as a Union man. This was true, in that he was opposed to secession, if the controversy could be settled in any other way, without a sacrifice of the rights and liberties of the Southern people; and he, at that time, believed that all difficulties could be amicably adjusted without disunion and without war. With these sentiments, yet resolved that if war came he would enlist on the side of the South, he took his place in the Senate at the special session, called by Mr. Lincoln, to meet July 4, 1861.
He was not in that Senate long before he discovered a determined purpose on the part of the majority to insist upon war, but after the battle of Manassas, in which the Federal troops were overwhelmingly defeated, and on the day before the special session adjourned (August 5, 1861), he offered the following as an amendment to a bill then pending: "And, be it further enacted, that this Congress recommends the Governors of the several States to convene their Legislatures, for the purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each Congressional district, to meet in a general convention, at Louisville, in Kell- tucky, on the first Monday in September next; the purpose of the said convention to be to devise measures for the restoration of peace to our country." This proposition was defeated, there being nine votes cast for it and twenty-nine against it. Mr. Greeley, in his "American Conflict," notes the offering of this resolution and the vote upon it, but makes 10 cominent, further than to say in a foot note that the author and his colleagues soon thereafter entered the Confederate armny. Looking backward at it now, it is easy to see that the adoption of it would, in all probability, have prevented thie inost destructive war that ever took place between people calling themselves civilized; the numerous outrages upon liberty would have been avoided, and neither the assassination of Lincoln nor the assassination of those charged with his assassination, would have crimsoned the pages of our history.
'The rejection of the proposition for peace determined finally Judge Johnson's course. After the adjournment of the special session he made a short visit to western Virginia, where his family was, and then went to Missouri and entered the Confederate army. He was wounded twice while leading his regiment in the battle of Elkhorn, or Pea Ridge.
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