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 93
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The subject of this biography was educated in the district schools of Illinois, and the Illinois State Normal, at Normal, near the place where he was reared. After attending the
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institution last named, he entered Hillsdale College, at Hillsdale, Michigan, where he graduated in 1873. Having prior to this fixed on the law as his profession, he became a student in the law department of the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, from which he received his degree in 1873. He selected Missouri as the field in which he would seek his professional fortune, and coming to the State immediately from the Michigan University, located at Moberly. Although qualified otherwise, he was too young to be admitted to the bar, and thus he practiced in the courts without a license almost a year before he was admitted at Huntsville, the county seat of Randolph County, in March, 1874. In the same year he entered into partnership with William L. McCart, and thus continued practice at Moberly until the following year, when he became the partner of Judge H. S. Priest, now one of the best-known jurists of St. Louis, which relationship continued until 1877. His next partnership was with William J. Hallis, the firm having a duration of ten years and was finally dissolved by Mr. Hallis' removal to Kansas City, since which Mr. Wiley has practiced alone.
Mr. Wiley was elected City Attorney of Moberly in 1876, and in 1878 was elected to the House of the General Assembly, where his ability as a legislator and leader was tested in a way that made his county proud of him. During his first session he was Chairman of the special committee appointed to bring impeachment proceedings against State Treasurer Elijah Gates, in connection with the shortage of State funds due to the failure of the Mas- tin Bank of Kansas City. The session of 1879 was called the "Revision Session, " and was charged with the work of revising and remodeling the statutes under the provisions of the Constitutional Convention of 1875. Mr. Wiley served on the Judiciary Committee, both at this session and at the session of 1881. Prior to the meeting of the last named Assembly, he was generally mentioned as a candidate for Speaker of the House. In 1888 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Randolph County, and was chosen as his own suc- cessor in 1890.
Since the expiration of his second term he has been frequently urged by his friends to become a candidate for various offices, and although he is a Democrat and his party is dom- inant in his State and county, his practice has grown to that extent that following political aspirations would involve a sacrifice of his law business. Therefore, he has declined all promptings of that nature and has devoted liis attention exclusively to the law.
An evidence of his standing as a lawyer is discovered in the fact that he is the local attorney of both the Wabash and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railways, and as is well known, these corporations are influenced by but one consideration in selecting attorneys to represent their interests-the talent and legal accomplishment of the practitioners from among whoin the selection is made. The positions held by Mr. Wiley as representative of these roads is given added weight and importance when it is understood that both lines make Moberly the end of divisions, and that the Wabash has extensive repair shops there. Although the bulk of Mr. Wiley's practice is civil, he is noted as one of the most success- ful criminal lawyers in his part of the State, and before his extensive corporation practice so largely consumed his time, he appeared as the advocate in many cases of this character. As a man he is noted for his agreeable characteristics, and his staunch reliability. He has a lively sense of his duties as a citizen, and any local measure of public benefit may expect his support. Most thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Americanism, he is both patriotic and progressive.
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In fraternal circles, Mr. Wiley is known for the leading and influential standing he has attained with the Knights of Pythias. He is Past Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pytliias of Missouri, having served as Grand Chancellor in 1879.
Mr. Wiley was married November 28, 1882, to Miss Bettie B. Hammett, of Hunts- ville, Missouri, a member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of that portion of the State. The couple have one child, a daughter, nine years old, named Nadine.
BURWELL GOODE WILKERSON,
SEDALIA.
A PROMINENT Sedalian, a gifted attorney and one of the ablest members of the bar of Pettis County, is Burwell Goode Wilkerson, who is a native of Ohio, born in Warren County, May 11, 1836. Mr. Wilkerson's ancestors were of those who helped create this great country-hardy pioneers who made possible by their unfaltering courage and fortitude, the liberty and civilization we of this later day cnjoy. His father, Charles N., and his inother, Martha A. (Goode) Wilkerson, were born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1810, lived there all their lives and died there full of years and universally loved and respected. The mother died in 1877, at the age of sixty-seven. Her husband survived her but four years, dying in 1881. The four grandparents of Mr. Wilkerson were born and brought up in Virginia, emigrating to Warren County, Ohio, about 1805, a day when that country was little else than a wilderness. But both families were of pioneer stock, hardy and courageous, and the wildness of nature and the ever-lurking red man dismayed not in the least their stout hearts. Both sides of the house trace their origin back to England, and were of those who caine over to assist civilization in establishing a foothold on this continent. The Goodes descended from an English gentleman of that name who settled on the James River about 1650. It is not known positively wlien the Wilkersons reached Virginia, as a full record of the family has not survived the changes and stirring events of the early days of the Republic, but they were undoubtedly among the first who reached the then wild and inhospitable shores of the colony, as it is known that the great great grand- father of the subject of this biography was born there. On both sides of the house all his ancestors, as far into the past as history reaches, were intelligent, thrifty, brave and honest.
Mr. Wilkerson received his first schooling at the district school near his father's farin in Warren County, where he was born and brought up. He prepared for college at Dela- ware, Ohio, and entered the freshman class of Ohio Wesleyan University in 1856, and next entered the junior class in 1858 in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. At the college last named he graduated in July, 1860, taking the degree of A. B., and later was honored by the degrec of A. M. He studied law in an office at Wilmington, Clinton County, Ohio, and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio at Columbus, in March, 1862. Hc began practice in Wilmington, where he had prosecuted his studies, but after a few years determined to seek a new field in the Great West, then as ever filled with limitless possibilities to the young man of energy and ability. He reached Sedalia in February, 1867, and at once nailed his shingle to the door post. In that city he has since resided, practiced his profession continuously and has attained a success fully merited by his ability and many years of industry.
B. y. Wilkerson
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Although from Ohio, Mr. Wilkerson, notwithstanding also his Virginian antecedents, has never been an office seeker, and beyond acting as County Attorney of Pettis County, and City Attorney of Sedalia, he has never held other official place. His appointment as County Attorney was made January, 1868, the term extending by annual re-appointment for four years. He acted as City Attorney of Sedalia in 1869 and 1870, and two or three years later was appointed for a second term. These offices were then appointive.
Mr. Wilkerson is a Mason of high standing. He joined the Masonic fraternity at Clarksville, Ohio, in 1866. In a short time after coming to Sedalia he took the cliapter, council and commandery degrees and has been Master of his lodge, High Priest of his chapter, Thrice Illustrious Grand Master of his council and Commander of his com- mandery at different times. At college he was a Beta Theta Pi, and ever since graduation day has maintained an interest in that fraternity.
He was married, August 17, 1870, at Painesville, Ohio, to Miss Sarah E. Doolittle, daughter of John T. Doolittle, a respected lawyer of that town. The latter's father was Judge Joel Doolittle, for many years one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Vermont. Mrs. Wilkerson died in August, 1891, leaving two sons. These boys, now young inen, are the hope of their father's life. Frederick D., the eldest, graduated from Michigan University in 1894, while George R. was educated at Missouri University, at Columbia, graduating in the class of '97.
WILLIAM M. WILLIAMS, BOONVILLE.
JUDGE WILLIAM M. WILLIAMS, Judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri, was born in Boonville, Missouri, February 4, 1850, botli of his parents being Virginians. His father, Marcus Williams, was one of the foremost citizens of Cooper County, and took a leading part in building up his neighborhood in the days of change and develop- ment before the war. Marcus Williams married Mary Littlepage, who like many of the mothers of that period, combined firinness with kindness in the rearing of children. The sequence is seen in the moral vigor and common sense exhibited in the character of Judge Williams.
The latter was educated at Kemper School, in Boonville, and then, choosing the law as his profession, lie studied in the office of Draffen & Muir, two Boonville lawyers of renown. He was admitted to the bar in Boonville in March, 1873, and began at once the practice of law in his native town, and on the 1st of July following, Mr. Muir having died, he entered into partnership with Mr. Draffen, his old tutor, under the firm name of Draffen & Williams. This partnership continued until April, 1896, when Mr. Draffen also died, and after that date Judge Williams practiced alone. He practiced continu- ously in one community for twenty-four years, and in that time achieved a wonderful degree of eminence. He has arrived at his present prominence, not through fortuitous circuin- stances, but by genuine merit and natural ability. He is comparatively young at the bar, but is a diligent student as well as a successful practitioner, and his mind enlarges with every day that he lives, for he is thoroughly progressive. While he lays proper stress on the value of modern ideas, he likewise recognizes the importance of the wisdom and experience of the past, and does not hesitate to profit by it, advantageously amalgamnat- ing the results of yesterday with the practical knowledge of to-day. Perhaps this broad-
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minded facility for rejecting nothing as wholly useless, but accepting everything on trial, could be mentioned as another of the reasons for his uninterrupted success as a lawyer. As a practitioner he was much of his time away from home on professional business, and was a familiar figure in the Supreme Court of the State, as well as in the Federal Courts. Indeed, he was engaged in nearly every important case to which any citizen of Central Mis- souri was a party, no matter in what court it might be pending.
In the social circle Mr. Williams is a very entertaining gentleman, noted among his neighbors for a blunt honesty of speech and geniality of disposition which are refreshing and captivating. Like many another lawyer of talent, he enlivens his leisure moments by dropping into lighter vein, and is a most agreeable companion. It is a pleasant thing to meet a man who can practice law, sit upon the highest bench, or banish gloom with equal ease and cleverness.
In 1889 Judge Williams was appointed by Governor Francis to the position of President of the Board of Managers of the Reform School for Boys, and was reappointed by Governor Stone. He is still President, and has acquitted himself with signal ability in the discharge of his responsible duties, promoting the welfare of the youthful and gaining credit for him- self. He is a Mason, and as a member of that fraternity has achieved eminence, having been Grand Master of the State in 1888, and is now one of the directors of the Masonic Home, in St. Louis. Indeed, he is one of the brightest, best informed and most influential members of the fraternity.
On January 29, 1898, Mr. Williams was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Chief Justice Barclay .* He was a lawyer for whose accomplishments Governor Stephens had long entertained warmest admiration, and his appointment was in the highest degree satisfactory to the people of the State. His brethren of the bar, almost without exception, commended the wisdom of the Governor's choice, and took occasion to state that he was in every way fitted to adorn that high position.
Judge Williams' marriage to Miss Jessie Evans, the daughter of Dr. Edwin C. Evans, a prominent physician of Sedalia, took place December 16, 1875. Their household is a happy one, Mrs. Williams being a woman in whom the domestic and social virtues are inost pleasingly commingled. Judge Williams is an official member of the Old School Presby- terian Church, and though deeply engrossed in secular affairs, finds time to look after all the business of his church, and is one of its most faithful communicants.
DAVID McCONAUGHY WILSON,
MILAN.
D AVID McCONAUGHY WILSON, of Milan, was born September 26, 1853, on the spot where a few months less than ten years later the tried veterans of Meade met the flower of the Confederacy under Lee, and where 50,000 men gave up their lives as sacrifice to the principles they believed were right-immortal Gettysburg. He comes of one of the oldest and most reputable families of Pennsylvania, the Wilsons having come
*Judge Barclay resigned, and his connection with the Supreme Court ceased February 1, 1898. James B. Gantt was elected to his position as Chief Justice. Judge Barclay, after stepping down from the bench, returned to St. Louis, entered into partnership with Judge John F. MeKeighan and M. F. Watts, and is there in regular practice. The statement of these facts iu this part of the work is made necessary because these changes in the membership of the Supreme Court have occurred since the sketches of the Judges of the Court were printed.
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from the North of Ireland and settled in the Keystone State, about eight miles fromn Gettys- burg, as early as 1730. Mr. Wilson's great grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, was born, lived and died on the old Marsh Creek homestead, having reached at the time of his death the advanced age of ninety-five years. His valiant service in the Continental Ariny won him the rank of Captain. His grandson, David A. Wilson, father of our sub- ject, is a Presbyterian minister, now too old for active service, though he has given of his effort generously in the cause of religion throughout a long life. He is a graduate of Mar- shall College, at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania (since moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and now known as Franklin and Marshall College), as well as of Princeton Theological Semi- nary, and for eight years was a missionary in Africa.
The maternal branch of Mr. Wilson's family is no less notable than the male line. His mother was Martha E. McConaughy, of a family likewise of Scotch-Irish extraction. The American founder was Robert McConaughy, who settled in York County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1735, five years after the Wilsons located at Gettysburg. David McConaughy, the granduncle of Mr. Wilson, was in his day one of the ablest educators and divines of the Presbyterian Church, and for twenty years was President of Washington College, Penn- sylvania. He was a pulpit orator of great power, and many of his sermons have been pub- lished in book form. The great grandfather of Mr. Wilson, also named David McConaughy, was an able man and endowed with many qualities of leadership. From 1753 to 1764 he was conspicuous in the affairs of his Colony as a member of the Colonial Legislature. He was again elected a member of that body in 1783, just at the close of the Revolution, serv- ing in that capacity until 1786. He was the first Treasurer of York County and was Excise Collector in 1779. These repeated honors conferred by his fellow-citizens prove his integ- rity and worth as a man and patriot.
Mr. Wilson's parents moved westward while he was yet a child and located in Iron County, Missouri. There the boy received his education in the common school, to pass fromn that to the State University, at Columbia, where he graduated in the class of 1875. Having moved to Sullivan County, Missouri, and having settled on the law as his pro- fession, he entered the office of Swallow & Cover, at Milan, to fit himself therefor. After a short course of study he revisited the scenes of his birth place, and this resulted in an arrangement with his uncle, David McConaughy, who was a practicing lawyer at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, whereby under his tutelage he completed his legal studies. He was admitted to the bar at that historic town in 1877, and there entered upon prac- tice, but once having known the superior advantages of the West, he could not resist the impulse to return. It was in 1881 that he again reached Milan and opened an office there for business, which with him has increased yearly in volume since.
"Mac" Wilson, as he is universally known in his section of the State, is a man who undoubtedly could have secured many official honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens had he preferred such distinctions to the fame that comes of ability and success at the bar. At the beginning of his practice he was persuaded to accept office, but since the volume of his practice has increased, he finds satisfaction in the law of an ambition higher than any aspiration of a political character. The first office he held was that of School Commissioner of Sullivan County, to which he was elected in 1883, serving until 1885, when he resigned to become a candidate for Prosecuting Attorney, to which position he was elected three consecutive times, holding the office from 1885 to 1891. Since 1891 lie hias attended exclusively to his private practice.
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Mr. Wilson is a straight "sixteen to one" Democrat, and is one on whom his party can always depend for a measure of assistance to the extent of his fullest effort. He is a man of scholarly attainments and culture, is generous, and into his life he has brought those nobler humanities which are the worthiest objects of existence. He is cultured, affable and smoothi, kindly and charitable, and no taint of misanthropy mars a nature whose agreeable and fine characteristics are the delight of all his friends.
As a lawyer Mr. Wilson is the peer of any in his section of the State. His connec- tion with a number of notable cases has given him opportunity to prove his ability and talent in a conspicuous manner. One of these was the celebrated Taylor murder trial, in which Mr. Wilson appeared as the counsel of the defendants, William P. and George E. Taylor, accused of murdering the Meeks family. He was the chief of a distinguished array of talent, consisting, besides himself, of Ralph E. Lozier, John B. Hale and Virgil Conkling. The trial was one of the most bitterly contested legal battles of the State's history, and the brief filed by Mr. Wilson and his colleagues before the Supreme Court of Missouri, which is to be found in Volume 134, Missouri Reports, is a model of exhaustive argument and logical reasoning. The brief covers 128 pages. Another notable case was that of the State of Missouri, ex rel. Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railway Company versus Anderson W. Har- ris, George T. Todd and Thomas Montgomery, Judges of the County Court of Sullivan County. Mr. Wilson was the counsel of the court, and in its behalf appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States. Reported in Volume 144, Supreme Court Reports.
At Milan, Missouri, in 1885, Mr. Wilson married Selena, daughter of Robert McClary, of Sullivan County. They have four children, named respectively, Mary Emeline, David McConaughy, Faith and Robert McClary.
ARCHELAUS MARIUS WOODSON, SAINT JOSEPH.
N May 28, 1892, there died at St. Joseph a man full of years and honors and of a strength and character to sustain in all respects the reputation of a distinguished famn- ily. He was the venerable Benjamin Jourdan Woodson, the father of the subject of this sketch, who at his death was eighty-four years old. He was a remarkable man and leaves behind him a remarkable family, every one of the five sons now living having inherited the family's characteristics, and are strong, virile and able. Deceased was twice married; the first time, in 1832, to Miss Rebecca Redd, who died within a year. In 1837 he was mar- ried to Miss Margaret Fulkerson, likewise of a noted Virginian family. The latter is the mother of the children now living, the five sons and one daughter being the only ones that survive of eleven children. These survivors all live in St. Joseph and are successful and influential in every walk of life. They are: Stephen C. Woodson, President of the Sax- ton National Bank; Judge A. M. Woodson, Judge of the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, the subject of this biography; Dr. C. R. Woodson, Superintendent of State Insane Asylum, No. 2; B. J. Woodson, Jr., a leading lawyer of St. Joseph and ex-Prosecuting Attorney of the county; W. E. Woodson and Calla E. Woodson, who became the wife of Dr. John B. Reynolds, County Physician of Buchanan County. The Hon. Silas B. Wood- son, who was at one time Governor of Missouri, was the half-brother of Judge Archelaus M. Woodson's fatlier.
A.J. Wray
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As is well known, the Woodson family is a noted one, and various incmbers thereof have played a conspicuous part in the history of their time. The earliest history of the family tells of Jolin Woodson, of Dorsetshire, England, who after marriage came to America and settled in Virginia in 1624. From him came descendants who intermarried with almost every leading family of Virginia and Kentucky, thus placing the contemporary representatives of the family in line of relationship with the Lewises, the Tuckers, the Turpins, the Ferrises, the Nethertons of Virginia, thie Crittendens of Kentucky, and many other families of like distinction.
Archelaus Marius Woodson was born January 30, 1854, in Knox County, Kentucky, where his father was born at the beginning of the century. When our subject was but nine months old (November, 1854), his father moved to Missouri, settling on a farin near Lexington, in Lafayette County. The family only remained there a year, however, remov- ing in the fall of 1855 to Buchanan County and settling near Sparta. On the Buchanan County farin the subject of this sketch spent his youth and there received the rudiments of his education, attending the district school in winter and assisting with the farm work in summer. In March, 1869, his father removed to Platte County, settling near Caniden Point, where he lived until 1886, wlien he moved to St. Joseph. The son, however, left the farin in 1873. He was ambitious and had determined to adopt the law as a profession. To that end he bade a temporary farewell to the home folks and entered Plattsburg College at Plattsburg, Clinton County, Missouri. In 1875 he completed the prescribed course. In 1876 he entered the law department of Washington University, St. Louis, graduating in 1877.
In April, 1876, he was admitted to the bar at Platte City, and after his graduation from the St. Louis Law School, began the practice of law in the metropolis; but he yielded to the longing for a view of home scenes and familiar surroundings, and although he had built up a satisfactory practice in St. Louis, early in 1883 he removed to Platte City, where he practiced his profession until November, 1884, at which time he located in St. Joseph. There he was very successful until December 18, 1889, on which date Gov. David R. Francis appointed him Circuit Judge of Buchanan County, which sus- pended entirely his legal practice for the time being. The appointment was for a term of two years and on its expiration, Judge Woodson, in 1892, was elected as his own successor for a term of six years. As a Judge on the bench he has made a reputation for fairness and has displayed profound legal lore. His decisions are based on the soundest legal reasons and few of them have been reversed by higher courts. He is of a studious turn of mind, a hard worker, and has, indeed, impaired his health by too close application to the law.
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