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 80
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A residence of fifty-three years in one place should certainly reveal what and who a man may be. In Judge Norton's case, the honors accorded him have increased with tlie years, and the high esteem in which he is held has grown as time revealed the great and noble attributes of his character. The people of Platte City, with that sagacity and quick- ness of perception peculiar to the people of the new West, recognized in the new comer of 1845 a young man of no common ability and of high ideals and ambitions, and as he thus impressed his worth on the public mind his material fortunes improved relatively, and he was soon enjoying a good practice. A general appreciation of his learning and merit was made evident in 1852, when he was elected Circuit Judge to preside over the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, then composed of the counties of Platte, Buchanan, Andrew, Holt, Atchi- son, Nodaway and Gentry, constituting the extreme Northwestern corner of the State. This may be considered the real beginning of his long career of public and official life, though he manifested an interest in politics which made him a local leader and moulder of public opinion at a time long before he was entitled to vote. Though but
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thirty-one years of age when he took his seat on the bench, he displayed a well-balanced judgment and a knowledge of law which merited the general opinion that the office had been given to one most liberally qualified by nature and education to fill it. As a conse- quence he was re-elected to the office at the end of his terin in 1856, for a term of six years, without opposition, as his would-be opponents realized that it would be useless to try to defeat hin1.
It was while serving his second term as Circuit Judge that his party drafted him to act as its candidate in the Congressional campaign of 1860, one of the inost heated political contests of American history. No stronger person could have been found to uphold the cause of Democracy, as was proved by his triumphant election, and as a further attestation of his splendid popularity the district gave him a majority of 8,000. This majority was a great one for that day, when Congressional apportionments were smaller than now, although the district in which he was elected was of much greater area, being composed of the counties in his judicial district, above named, and the counties of Clay, Clinton, Ray, Caldwell, Daviess, DeKalb and Harrison, besides.
Judge Norton resigned from the Circuit Bench in August, 1860, to make the race for Congress. During this same fall, a further honor awaited him in his election as a delegate to the "Convention to Consider the Relation of Missouri to the Federal Government," called by the Legislature. Though this was a gathering of the ablest and most dis- tinguished men of the State, Judge Norton by tacit consent at once assumed a place among the leaders. He labored and voted against the ordinance of secession and had the satisfac- tion of seeing it defeated. He was likewise one of the ablest of the State's Representa- tives in the stormy Thirty-seventh Congress, but on the expiration of his terin, the bitter- ness of the war and the proscriptive influences of those times, decided him not to allow his name to be used as a candidate to succeed himself. He returned to his law practice at Platte City, building up an excellent clientele, which was not again interfered with by a call to public duty until 1875, when he was delegated as a member of the Convention which formulated the present Constitution of Missouri.
In October of 1876, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Henry M. Vories. This term ending in 1879, he was regu- larly nominated for the office and elected for a terin of ten years. Again his great pop- ularity and the loyal esteem in which the people held him were testified, as well as the fact that such sentiments were not confined to any district, but extended over the whole State. He went into office with a phenomenal plurality of about 100,000. He served out his full term on the Supreme Bench, where he inade a reputation as one of the wisest jurists who ever sat in that exalted place, and on the expiration of his ten years (January 1, 1889), declined a re-election, which would have been gladly given. Since then he has frequently been named as a possible candidate for Governor and other high offices, but without consent or prompting from him, as he prefers to and has since 1889 lived a retired life.
In point of membership, Judge Norton is perhaps one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the State. He is a member of Nebraska Lodge, of Platte City, and has been for over fifty years. He is also an Encampment member.
E. H. Norton
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In 1850 Judge Norton was united in marriage to Malinda C. Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, of Platte City, wlio in times past was one of the most prominent lawyers of North- west Missouri. The old age of Judge Norton is blessed and supported by seven surviving children, five sons and two daughters, his wife having died in 1873. He was again united in marriage in 1877 to Mrs. Missouri A. Marshall, of Platte City, a most estimable and lovable woman.
PEYTON ALLEN PARKS, CLINTON.
DEYTON ALLEN PARKS, of Clinton, is a lawyer both by instinct and education. He is the third of his generation in the male line that has essayed the law and been suc- cessful in that field. His father is perhaps the oldest lawyer in commission in Henry County.
Peyton A. Parks comes of excellent stock, and both his paternal and maternal branches are families who were among the first settlers of Henry County. He is the son of James Parks and Mary Allen, his wife, the former being a man of higli worth, in whose integrity the people of his home have almost unlimited confidence. He has been a resident of Henry County and a practicing attorney at Clinton for over thirty-five years and for the past twen- ty-five years has been Probate Judge. So solidly grounded is he in the esteem of the peo- ple, that they have come to look upon him as the natural incumbent of the office, and although he has made the effort to retire more than once, so urgent has been the demand for his retention of the office, that he has always acquiesced. Men named Parks were among the Cavaliers who settled Virginia in pre-Revolutionary times. A number of Mr. Parks' ancestors were well known soldiers in the great contest for American freedom. His Grandfather Parks moved from Virginia to Kentucky, and there read law under "Black Bob " Letcher, who was Governor of Kentucky. The grandfather, in 1827, came to Mis- souri and settled in Cooper, afterward removing to Henry County.
The Allens, which is the maternal branch of Mr. Parks' ancestry, are of Scotch-Irish origin, and on coming to America they settled in Tennessee. The immediate ancestors of our subject on this side came to Missouri and settled in Henry County when it was little more than a broad stretch of blossoming prairie, and they are therefore rated as among the earliest pioneers of Southwest Missouri, and as a family are held in the highest esteem by all who know them.
Peyton Allen Parks was born in Henry County, August 27, 1855. He was educated in the common and private schools of Clinton, which are justly celebrated for their excel- lence. As a boy he was of a studious turn of mind and was a student who always stood well in his class. During the final years of his attendance at the public schools he was always the one selected by the principal to assist him when the work grew pressing. As I remember him then, he was always willing and helpful both to teachers and pupils. Kind- liness was even then one of his marked traits. To everybody he yielded a patient con- ยท sideration, which is after all, full measure of gentility. There was none more popular with his school-fellows and the corps of teachers than Peyton A. Parks. These traits and characteristics have been developed by his contact with the world.
After his own academic schooling was finished, he spent four years (from 1876 to 1879) in imparting knowledge to others in the schools of Henry County. Then he entered his
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father's office, and after reading a time went to Chicago, entered the Chicago Law School and completed his legal education. He was admitted to the bar at Clinton in August, 1880, by Judge Foster P. Wright and has been in practice at Clinton ever since.
Mr. Parks has risen steadily from the time he was licensed to practice. Becoming at once the partner of his father, who had a good practice, he was given plenty to do in the legal line. At the present time he is unquestionably one of the most successful lawyers of his section. The confidence of the people in him has grown with the years. People know that they can depend on him absolutely and that his word is considered by him inviolable. He is a ready speaker and at times even eloquent, but in presenting his side of a case, is inclined rather to emphasize the facts of the evidence than to depend on the effect of unsup- ported flights of oratory. His sagacity and quickness are apparent in his cross-examinations, in which he seeks to gain the confidence of a witness, and although he may be severe at times, his coolness and courtesy are more exasperating to the entangled witness than the most fierce and threatening attitude. I would say that his present success is largely due to the determination with which he concentrates his mind on the work before him. He knows the value of close observation, and has the patience to take infinite pains.
A case which did much to increase his prestige was the suit of the City of Clinton to the use of Thornton & Company versus Henry County. It was a suit brought to charge county property (the court house, etc.) with the payment of a special tax for macadamiz- ing the streets around the court house square. Mr. Parks held that the county was not so liable. The suit was hotly contested and finally reached the Supreme Court, which sus- tained Mr. Parks' view of the case. The case is important because it now stands as a pre- cedent, being the first case ever decided involving those questions.
Excepting the School Commissionership of Henry County, in which capacity he served from 1879 to 1881, Mr. Parks has never held a public office of any kind. That he is sincere when he says that he does not desire to serve the public in that way, 110 citizen of Henry County doubts. Nevertheless, he does more, perhaps, to shape the action of liis party than any other man in the county. He is a thorough Democrat, and that party has always dominated the political affairs of the county. He is neither a politician or anything approaching a boss, but by general consent lie is looked to as a leader in all the campaigns of his party.
Mr. Parks was married September 21, 1882, at Montrose, Missouri, to Miss Mary, daughter of James W. Gatright, of Calloway, Missouri. The Gatrights are of the old, tlie "Virginian school " of Missourians. Mr. and Mrs. Parks have one child, James Allen Parks, born October 13, 1883.
St. Louis, Mo., February, 1898.
A SCHOOL-FELLOW.
JOHN LEE PEAK,
KANSAS CITY.
JOHN LEE PEAK, of Kansas City, lawyer and diplomat, was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in April, 1839. He comes of the most virile Kentucky stock, both branches of his ancestry being people of influence and standing in the Blue Grass State. The Peaks were originally English, but emigrated to this country some time in the Seven-
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teenth Century. They settled in Virginia, and from there the grandfather of the present Mr. Peak emigrated in Kentucky about 1780, and since that time, more than a century, the name has been widely known and respected in that State. The father of Mr. Peak, Jordan J. Peak, was a farmer (as were his ancestors before him), and married Eliza A. Bradley, a member of a family no less prominent than his own. Her brother, Benjamin F. Bradley, was a member in the Confederate Congress, and fought bravely throughout the late war as a Colonel in the Confederate service. He was one of the most prominent Kentucky law- yers of his day, and after the war served his State as a member of the Kentucky Senate. The Bradleys, like the Peaks, were of English origin and also settled in Virginia. This settlement was made some time prior to the Revolution, and from that State the family spread to Kentucky.
John Lee Peak was born and spent his boyhood on the old homestead plantation in Scott County. He was educated at the private schools then maintained in Kentucky. He later entered Georgetown University and graduated in a class that was noted for the num- ber of its students who afterward made reputations; among others such able Kentuckians as Lieutenant-Governor Cantrill, Judge Reed and J. Q. A. Ward, all noted jurists. Mr. Peak was nineteen years old when he graduated from Georgetown University in 1858. Although he had partly decided on the law as a career, he did not take up its study until 1860, in which year he entered the Louisville Law School. In 1861 he entered the law office of M. Polk, at Georgetown, Kentucky, and was admitted to regular practice in 1862 by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. His oratorical talents were early made apparent. While at college he was the champion of the society debates, and his accomplishments in that line received signal recognition in his election as the Washington Birthday orator in 1860 at the Louisville Law School. He opened in the same year an office in Georgetown and began practice, remaining there until 1868, when he acted on the decision to seek a better field in the new and expanding West. In May, 1868, he reached Kansas City, then a crude and unfinished place which could scarcely be considered more than a hustling river town. He believed then that the wild and undeveloped place had a future before it, and he accordingly settled there and was soon established in the practice which he yet follows. His first partnership in Kansas City was with Joseph M. Rodgers, now manager of the Queen Insurance Company, and resident of Chicago, as association which lasted two years. He next entered into a partnership with Caldwell Yeaman, now a Circuit Judge of Denver, Colorado, which was followed by a professional association with the late L. O. Boggess, which continued up to 1875. Mr. Peak was alone until 1877, when the firm of Peak & Yeager was organized. In 1884, R. E. Ball was admitted to the firin, which was known as Peak, Yeager & Ball until 1892, when Hon. R. L. Yeager withdrew, and the firm became Peak & Ball, as which it is still known.
Mr. Peak has always claimed that the legal field was wide enough to satisfy even the ambitions of an Alexander the Great, who wept because he found the trade of war too narrow for his vaulting aspirations. He has always been governed by the conviction tliat one who would attain an eminent success in the law must devote his time, effort and life thereto, and therefore he has put aside many tempting offers of political preferment. But it is the fortune of almost every young lawyer who shows more than ordinary qualifica- tions to pass through the Prosecuting Attorneyship, which may be considered as a school of professional experience rather than a mere political position. Mr. Peak was no excep- tion to the rule, though the school of that official experience was with him wider than
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that which falls to the lot of most young lawyers; for Jackson County in 1876, when he was first elected, was then one of the richest and most populous counties of the State, but was still in a rather unsettled state owing to the changes incidental to its rapid de- velopment then taking place. The young Prosecuting Attorney entered upon his duties zealously and did his duty well. In 1878 he was re-elected, thus holding the office four years. He retired to private practice until 1895, when he was persuaded to accept the high honor of Minister to Switzerland, tendered him by President Grover Cleveland. Thus Mr. Peak became the successor of the venerable James O. Broadhead, who resigned, and held the position until after the inauguration of Mckinley. Differing with the new administration politically, and always a firm believer in the theory that every administra- tion should have officials in political harmony with it to satisfactorily carry out its policy, lie gave a practical demonstration of his principles by at once tendering his resignation. The resignation was not accepted, so he again proffered it in June, 1897, when it was accepted to take place in August, but was coupled with the request from the State De- partment that Mr. Peak serve until his successor was appointed. This was finally done, and Mr. Peak at once returned home and took up his practice where he had left off.
Mr. Peak is very influential locally in Masonic circles, of which order he has been a member for several years. He is a Knight Templar, and has been Eminent Commander of Oriental Commandery, No. 45, Kansas City. Religiously he is an active member of the Baptist Church, and is politically a Democrat.
It was while a student at Georgetown, Kentucky, that Mr. Peak met the lady who became his life partner and to whom he was married in November, 1862, a few months after his admission to the bar. She was Miss Martha Daviess, daughter of James H. Daviess, one of Kentucky's mnost able and distinguised lawyers, and the grandniece of Joseph Hamilton Daviess, a lawyer of still wider celebrity. It was he who proved him- self the equal of Henry Clay in the famous trial for treason of Aaron Burr, whom Clay defended. Daviess conducted the prosecution, and the meeting of these two legal and intellectual giants is one of the most notable contests of the kind in American history. Joseph H. Daviess has a lasting monument in Daviess County, Missouri, which was named for him. Mr. and Mrs. Peak have three children, all daughters and now young ladies, who are the pride of their parents' hearts.
Although Mr. Peak stands in the front rank of his profession, it cannot be doubted that he is endowed with a capacity for large affairs and a statesman-like quality which would have won him celebrity had his ambitions led him toward a public career. At Berne lic succeeded in winning the respect and esteem of the Swiss in a remarkable degrec, and represented the United States with both dignity and ability. Although he has refused to enter politics, except in the capacity of a personally disinterested private citizen, he has nevertheless exerted an influence in that arena. Although never a miem- ber of the legislative branch of the Government, he has left his impress on the laws of the State. It was while Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson County that he observed inany defects in the law, one of which was the lack of adequate provisions relating to insolvent banks, and likewise a deficiency in the laws defining the responsibilities of State officers. He at once began a campaign to awaken public sentiment on these questions, setting forth his views whenever opportunity offered, and as a result the Legislature embodied his ideas on both questions in laws which are now operative. His principal contention
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is expressed in the act making it a felony for the officer of a bank to receive deposits when he knows his bank is in a failing condition.
Mr. Peak's practice is both criminal and civil, and in both branches he has been very successful. He has appeared as the prosecutor in no less than twenty-nine murder cases since he has been in Kansas City, and out of this number he has twenty-two con- victions to his credit-a remarkable record.
JUNIUS WOODSON PEERY, ALBANY.
JUNIUS WOODSON PEERY was born in Grundy County, Missouri, June 28, 1855, and is the son of William and Lucy A. (Forkner) Peery. The father was a respected and influential citizen of his county, and was extensively engaged in the mercantile and live stock business. The Peerys were of Scotch-Irish extraction and came to this coun- try prior to the Revolution. Three brothers of that namne settled in Virginia, and as the stock proved very virile and persistent, their descendants are to be found all over the West. The Peery who located in Missouri about sixty years ago was the grand- father of our subject, and thus it will be noted that the family must be placed with the oldest pioneers of the State. The Forkners, the maternal branch, were of Irish origin, and came from North Carolina, where Mr. Peery's grandfather was an extensive planter. The panic of 1837 induced a change in his affairs, and as a result he emigrated to Missouri.
The subject of this biography received his education in the common schools of Grundy County, and at Grand River College, at Edinburg, Grundy County, an institution that was established and built by his father. After his graduation he went to Albany, about sixty miles westward, and entered the office of his uncle, Judge George W. Lewis, to fit himself for the bar. He was regularly admitted in November, 1877, and in the following March, 1878, he located at Bloomington, Nebraska, to practice his profession. He remained at that place until 1882, and then returned to Albany, where he has since successfully practiced.
Mr. Peery has never had the political aspirations characteristic of some lawyers. His ambitions are wholly professional, but he is vitally interested in good governinent, and therefore his concern with politics is altruistic and disinterested. In 1896 he attended the Chicago Convention as an alternate delegate from his district. He is a Democrat of ancient faith and strict principles. He is sensible of his duty to his town and county, and to all civic enterprises of advancement he lends his influence and assistance. He is prom- inent locally in Knights of Pythias circles and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His practice is largely civil, but he is an adept in all departments of law. He has been engaged in a number of criminal cases and is noted for his conscientious efforts and fidelity in behalf of his clients. He has appeared in many of the more important cases that have come up within his field of practice, and of these may be cited the cases of the State versus Gibson, 111 Missouri Reports, 92; State versus Pettit, 119 Missouri Reports, 410; Bird versus Sellers, 122 Missouri Reports, 23.
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Mr. Peery was married in April, 1890, at Chillicothe, Missouri, to Miss Leora, daughter of F. W. Trent, a retired merchant of Chillicothe. The Trents are an old Virginian family of French extraction. Mr. and Mrs. Peery have one child, a daughter, six years old, named Louise Trent.
WILLIAM H. PHELPS,
CARTHAGE.
NE of the best known men in Missouri is the Hon. William H. Phelps, of Carthage,
he perhaps, being able to meet and greet by name a larger number of Missourians than any other man of the commonwealth. For years he has been a ruling influence in the affairs of the Democratic party, although he has never but once been a candidate for any office.
Colonel Phelps, as he is universally called, was born October 16, 1845, at Hinsdale, Cat- taraugus County, New York, and is the son of Cyrus and Charlotte Phelps. His mother's family name was Howe, and her father was a soldier of the War of 1812. The great grand- fathers of Mr. Phelps, in both houses, were among those American patriot-soldiers, who in the War of 1776 gave this country its form and being. Mr. Phelps passed his youth on his father's farin and like most boys so situated, sandwiched much hard, strength-developing labor between his terms of attendance at the district school. But the boy's life was ani- mated by high plans and hopes for the future, as he early decided that agriculture as a calling was not suited to him. He therefore took the scientific and classical course at Olean Academy and then read law under Hon. M. B. Champlain, a lawyer of the highest attainments, who was twice Attorney General of New York. The finishing courses of legal instruction were given by the Albany Law School, at Albany, New York, and he was admitted to the bar in October, 1866.
As soon as he could make the necessary preparations and bid his boyhood friends adieu, he left for the West, ready to accept the best that Fortune had to offer in that land where the foundation of a great civilization was being laid. He reached Carthage, Missouri, in the spring of 1867, liked the town and the years he has continued to reside there since have in nowise operated to decrease his good opinion. He opened an office and got a reasonable amount of practice. In 1874 he was induced to become a candidate for the Legislature, was elected, and being one of those uncommon men of initiative energy, disposed to act while others think, and have a definite plan to propose while other men are wondering what is best to do, he naturally wielded great influence with his colleagues. He was applied to for advice and his native capacity as a law maker was readily acknowl- edged. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee, the Committee on Criminal Juris- prudence, and served as Chairman of the Committee on Local Bills.
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