USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 56
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 56
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entson holding a leading position as members of the bar in this section of the State.
In the fall of 1868, Mr. Clementson was elected district attorney, and held that office for four years. After that he was repeatedly solicited to accept the nomination for office, but steadily refused, preferring to devote all his time to the interests of his profession. However, he could not well refuse the call of friends to run for judge of this judicial circuit, and was elected, still holding that office. He was united in marriage May 10, 1869, to Mary Burr, a native of Vermont. They have four children: George B., Joseph A., Martha and Bessie.
The counties in the fifth circuit, the times of holding court in each and the places where held, are set forth in the following tabular state- ment:
FIFTH CIRCUIT. JUDGE-George Clementson, Lancaster. Term expires first Monday of January, 1889.
Counties.
Terms.
Where held.
Laws.
Grant
Ist Tuesday in Feb ... Ist Tuesday in Sept ...
Laneaster.
Sec.2424, R.S. Ch.43, L 1879.
lowa
4th Tuesday in March } Ist Tuesday in Oct ..
Dodgeville .. Sec.2424, R.S.
La Fayette 4th Tuesday in June .. ¿ Ist Tuesday in Dec ...
Darlington ..
Sec.2424. R.S.
Richland. . 2d Tuesday in April .. ¿ 4th Tuesday in Oct. .. .
Richland
} See.2424. R.S.
Centre
Crawford .. 4th Tuesday in May .. } 2d Tuesday in Nov.
Pr. du Chien See.2424, R.S.
Every term in each of said counties shall be a special term for the whole circuit .- Sec. 2424, R. S.
COUNTY COURT OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
It will be remembered that mention has already been made that, among other courts provided for by the constitution, was one en- titled court of probate, now very generally known as county court, as, in the act establish- ing the court, it is so designated.
The first proceedings of this court taken from the record are as follows:
"STATE OF WISCONSIN,
COUNTY OF CRAWFORD. S
"MONDAY, JAN. 7, A. D., 1850.
"This being the day appointed for the hold- ing and organizing of the county court of the
.
Henry Otto
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
389
county of Crawford, in the State of Wisconsin, agreeable to and in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, approved March 31, A. D., 1849, entitled 'An act estab- fishing a system of county courts in and for the State of Wisconsin.'
"Whereupon the Ilon. Daniel G. Fenton, judge elect, took his seat as judge of this said county court, and produced his certificate of election as judge of said county court, by virtue of an election held on the 7th day of September, A. D., 1849, for the election of county judges, together with his oath of office endorsed there- on, which said certificate and oath of office was read in open court and filed in the clerk's office of this court in words and figures following, to wit:
"STATE OF WISCONSIN, ss.
COUNTY OF CRAWFORD.
"We the undersigned, clerk of the county board of supervisiors and justice of the peace in and for said county aforesaid, hereby certify that on the 14th day of September, A. D. 1849, we procured and canvassed the returns of the election held in said county on the 3d day of September, A. D. 1849, for the election of county judge, and the following is the result of said canvass, to-wit:
"For the office of county julge, Daniel G. Fenton received the greatest number of votes, and is declared by us duly elected judge of the county court in and for the said county of Craw- ford, and forthe county of Chippewa, thereunto attached for judicial purposes."
"In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands the day and year above written.
II. BALDWIN, Clerk of the Board of County Supervisors.
WIRAM KNOWLTON, Justice of the Peace. AARON HOGAN, Justice of the Peace.
"The above is certified to as correct, by the clerk."
Judge Daniel G. Fenton then took the oath of office, and his first order as judge was this:
"Ordered that Alexander Leclerc be appoint- ed inspector of this court."
Mr Leclerc was duly sworn into office, and court adjourned until the following day at 11 o'clock A. M.
At the next day's session the court ordered that "the rules of the circuit in and for the State of Wisconsin, be adopted as the rules of this court until otherwise ordered." The court then adjourned until court in course.
The next session occurred on February 4th and 5th, 1850; and adjourned at the end of the second day without doing any business.
The next session convened on March 4th, and the first business was the examination and ad- mission to the bar of Hiram Wright, as attor- ney and counselor at law. The record shows considerable business done at this term.
Judge Fenton died the 11th day of Aug. 1851. Hiram A. Wright was appointed as his success- or, on Nov. 3d, 1851, by Gov. Nelson Dewey, 'and took the oath of office on that day, on the opening of the November term of court. Judge Wright resigned the office after the close of the November term, of 1853; and on Jan. 18, 1851, Gov. William A. Barstow appoint- ed Ira B. Brunson as Judge Wright's successor. Judge Brunson held the office until his death, Aug. 21, 1883. His successor, and the one now (1884) in oflice,is C. S. Fuller, who was appointed county judge, Sept. 1, 1883.
Ira B. Brunson was the oldest son of Rev. Alfred Brunson. IIe was born at Fowler, Ohio, on the 5th day of November, A. D. 1815, and at the time of death was in his sixty-eighth year. He came to Wisconsin and settled at Prairie du Chien in the year 1836. He was a man of strong mind, of great energy, and possessed of that kindness of heart and disposition and hon- esty of purpose that has endeared him to all the community. The people among whom he lived for nearly a half century appreciating his intel- lectual greatness and his incorruptibility have from time to time forced upon him its official positions, many times to his great pecuniary
24
390
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
disadvantages, the duties of which have, how- ever, always been so acceptably performed by him that the people refused to take no for an answer. Coming into what was the extreme limits of the western frontier when a young man, he was at once recognized as capable, brilliant and upright, and was by almost a un- animous vote elected a representative from Crawford county to the first Legislature of the territory of Wisconsin. The territory at that time consisted of the counties of Brown, Iowa, Crawford, Des Moines, Dubuque and Milwaukee, and being the same territory now comprising the two States of Wisconsin and Towa. During the Legislative session of 1837 and 1838, con vened at Burlington, Des Moines county, he attended as such representative, his associate from this county being Jean Brunet. The jour- nals of the House of Representatives for these two sessions show that none was more active than he, and none better understood the wants of the people of the vast territory over which their laws were to operate. Some of the best statutory provisions possessed to-day by these two great States were inspired by him. He was also elected from Crawford county to the sec- ond Legislative assembly which convened at Madison in 1839, and was a member of the Leg- islature of 1840. In looking over the record he appears to be the last of all those who con- posed the Council and House of Representatives that assembled at Burlington Nov. 6, 1837. Soon after returning from his legislative duties he was appointed postmaster at Prairie du Chien, which office he held for several years; then he was elected register of deeds, county surveyor, sheriff of Crawford county, clerk of the cireuit court, and in 1854 county judge, which last named position he has held to the time of his death, making nearly thirty years service in that office. His kindness to those in want, his care for the rights, and his sympathy for the distress of those with whom he came in con- tact in this office, his just judicial mind as ex- hibited in his judicial decisions have endeared
him to the entire people of the county, who will sincerely mourn his loss, a loss that is es- pecially felt to be irreparable by his old settler friends. The judge, in politics, was a democrat, and during the War of the Rebellion, was a prominent war democrat. Being too far ad- vanced in years to go himself, he readily as- sented to the enlistment of his three sons, who volunteered with his approbation, and all of whom to the great joy of the father were gal- lant Union soldiers. The judge, socially, was one of the most genial and affable of men, one who, by his manners and his conversation, left the impression upon all, of his broadness of mind and extreme kindness of heart, and he in fact was a great broad-minded man with a heart and conscience as tender as a child's. He is gone; like the mighty monarch of the forest, around which vines had wound themselves and smaller trees had grown up in the shadow of its branches, that has been prostrated by violent storms, and in its fall has carried vines and trees down with it, so to-day as death lays low this kindly and good man, around whom his wife and children clung, and his innumerable admirers and friends so loved and trusted, they too lie crushed and prostrate with grief.
CLERKS OF THE TERRITORIAL COUNTY COURT.
John L. Findly, 1823-1829.
Joseph Brisbois, 1830-1836.
CLERKS OF UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.
Thomas P. Street, 1837.
Daniel G. Fenton, 1841-1848.
CLERKS OF STATE CIRCUIT COURT.
Daniel G. Fenton, 1848.
Hiram Baldwin, 1849-1850.
Tra B. Brunson, 1851-1853.
O. B. Thomas, 1854-1855.
Samuel Cowden, 1856-1857.
James Fisher, (Nov. Term) 1857.
Walter B. Hunt, 1858-1860.
N. McCartney, 1861-1862.
P. S. Bibbs, 1863-1864.
N. McCartney, 1865-1868. James E. Campbell, 1869-1875.
WV. A. Vanghn, 1875-1876.
David B. Richardson, 1877-1878.
T. G. Brunson, 1879-1880.
James E. Campbell, 1881-1882.
William G. Campbell, 1883 (in office).
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
391
CHAPTER XVII.
THE BAR-PAST AND PRESENT.
The history of the bar of any county deals | of the profession, and attended the courts of with men who, as a rule, rank high in intelli- genee, and who have been, and are among the most potent forces in shaping its intellectual and social standard. Crawford county is not an exception to this rule. During the last half century there have been a number of attorneys who have lived within its limits and practiced law in its courts, who have earned enviable places in the annals of the State and Nation.
James 11. Lockwood was the pioneer lawyer in Crawford county, he having settled in Prai- rie du Chien, Sept. 16, 1816, though he did not engage in the practice of law till several year: later, being employed in mercantile business in the meantime. Ile was not only the first to practice law in Crawford county, but the first to be admitted to the bar and the first to prac- tice the profession within the limits of what is now the State of Wisconsin.
In his anto-biographical writings, Lockwood says that Judge Doty held a term of court in Crawford county, in May, 1824. In speaking of his first legal experiences, he further says: "As there were then no attorneys here, and Judge Doty, learning that I had at one time studied law, and had relinquished the profession for mercantile pursuits, suggested that I had better resume the practice of law, and kindly tendered me the use of his library and any instructions I might require, in order to refresh my studies. Not being extensively engaged in business at this time, I availed myself of Judge Doty's suggestions, and studied hard all the following winter and spring. I commenced the practice
Brown and Mackinaw, and found no attorneys in Brown. But, he says he found several at Mackinaw, whom he names, and among them Henry S. Baird, who did not move from Mack- inaw to Green Bay until September, 1824, and was admitted to practice in Brown county dis- trict court on the 4th of October following, that being the first day of the term. Mr. Lockwood, therefore, was not only the first lawyer in the territory now included in Wisconsin, but was the first to practice within what are now the limits of the State."
The subject of this sketch was a native of Peru, Clinton Co., N. Y, and was born Dec. 7. 1793. He came to Mackinaw in the summer of 1815. lle went to Green Bay in July, 1816, and came to Prairie du Chien two months later. He filled the office of justice of the peace for a number of years. In the year 1831, he was ap- pointed associate justice of the county court of Crawford county, and held the office until the court was abrogated. Ile died Aug. 24, 1857.
The early years of Mr. Lockwood's life being passed on a farm, he did not enjoy the advan- tages of a classical education, but his great innate abilities largely compensated for his lack of scholastic training, so that he was a man of marked characteristics and extraordinary in- tellectual power. Judge Lockwood's wife, Mrs. Sarah Ann Lockwood, was born June 12, 1803, and died Feb. 12, 1877.
Thomas Pendleton Burnett, one of the very carly practicing attorneys in Crawford county, was born in Pittsylvania Co., Va., Sept. 3, 1800.
392
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
In his early childhood his parents moved to Kentucky, where he was reared on a farm, with very meagre opportunities for obtaining an education. But having a taste and aspirations for the law he improved every facility to study, and in spite of poverty and lack of tutors, he acquired an academic education, read law, was admitted to the bar, and engaged in the prac- tice of his profession in Paris, Ky., where he was elected and served as district attorney. Mr. Burnett took an active part in politics during the presidential campaign between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, on the side of "Old llickory." President Jackson afterwards recognized his services by appointing him sub- Indian agent, under the agency of J. M. Street, at Prairie du Chien, his appointment, dating Oct. 15, 1829. He arrived and entered upon the duties of his position in June, 1830, at a salary of $500 a year. Besides doing most of the active work of the agency he did some- thing in the law practice, by permission.
In 1834 he severed his connected with the agency and devoted himself entirely to his pro- fession. In January, 1835, he was appointed district attorney for the counties of Crawford, Iowa, Dubuque and Des Moines, but resigned the office the following September. In October, 1835, Mr. Burnett was elected a member of the Territorial Council of Michigan territory, which was to meet at Green Bay, and was cho- sen its president.
Upon the organization of Wisconsin territory in 1836, Mr. Burnett was appointed district at- torney for Crawford county, which he promptly declined upon the receipt of his commission, in December, 1836. On the 29th of the same month he married Lucia M. Brunson, and the next spring moved to Cassville, Grant county. Upon the organization of the territorial supreme conrt Mr. Burnett was made reporter, and pub- lished his first report in 1841. He was elected to the General Assembly from Grant county in 1844 ; was chosen a member of the first con- vention, and during its session was summoned
home to the bedside of his dying mother and his sick wife. He made the trip, eighty five miles, in a lumber wagon, in a day and night. His mother died November 1. The fatigue and exposure of the twenty-four hours' ride proved too much for Mr. Burnett, and he was taken violently ill, and he breathed his last on Nov. 5, 1846. His wife soon followed him only living three hours after his death. As a lawyer, Wisconsin has furnished few peers of Thomas Pendleton Burnett. He possessed a broad, analytical mind, and devoted his large capabilities and energies assiduously to his pro- fession. He first mastered his case, and then presented it with a clearness and logical force that carried conviction with his arguments.
James B. Dallam came to Prairie dn Chien in 1827. He had been reading law before he came to Crawford county, but had not been ad- mitted to the bar. He engaged in clerking for a sutler in Fort Crawford, after his arrival in Prairie du Chien, and subsequently was sutler in Capt. Dead's company. He went to Florida and was killed there by the Indians.
O. B. Thomas is the oldest member of the bar of Crawford county, now resident of the county, having been in practice here twenty-six years. Mr. Thomas is the son of John and Caro- line C. Thomas, and was born in Bennington Co., Vt., Aug. 21,1832. He came to Prairie du Chien when four years of age (1836) in company with his parents. He received his literary edu- cation at the common schools, and then took a regular course at the National Law School, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.,and graduated in 1856. Ile returned to Prairie du Chien, and entered upon the practice of his profession in 1857. Ile raised a company for the late war and was commission- ed captain of company D. 31st regiment Wiscon- sin Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. During this time he was with his com- pany and regiment in all battles participated in by them. He was elected district attorney of Crawford county, in an early day, was re-elected and served several terms. He was
393
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
elected as a republican to represent Crawford county in the State Legislature and served during the years 1862-5-7. He was a presi- dential elector on the republican ticket in 1872. Ile was elected to the State senate for the term of 1880-1, and served on import- ant committees, was admitted to the supreme court of the State in 1860, and to the United States courts the same year. He has an exten- sive practice throughout the State, and is justly ranked as one of the leading attorneys of Wis- consin. In 1876, he formed a law partnership with Mr C. S. Fuller, at Prairie du Chien, under the firm name of Thomas & Fuller, which has been continued to the present time. Mr. Thomas was married at Prairie du Chien in June, 1875 to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Rosen- erantz. Mrs. Thomas is a native of Grant county, Wisconsin. They have two children- John, aged four years, and Carrie, aged two years.
Charles Learned located in Prairie du Chien and commenced the practice of law in 1838. After continuing in active practice a number of years, was appointed county judge, in which capacity he officiated eight years. After retir- ing from office he resumed his profession, and some years later removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and died there.
I'. R. Brace settled in Prairie du Chien about 1839. He engaged in the practice of law a number of years in Crawford county, and sub- sequently removed np north, somewhere in Min- nesota, where he died not long after.
D. G. Fenton settled in Prairie du Chien in 1840 and commenced the practice of law. Sev- eral years afterwards he was elected clerk of the United States district and cirenit territo- rial court, and held the office a number of years. Ile was subsequently elected county judge to succeed Learned. At the expiration of his first term he was re-elected, and died while in office.
Leander Leclerc was . a French Canadian, who came from the Dominion and settled
in Prairie du Chien in 1842. Hle brought a stock of goods with him, and engaged in the mercantile business several years after his arri- val. Having a partiality for the legal profes- sion he read law, and served a number of years as justice of the peace. In 1852 he was elected sheriff of Crawford county, serving one term of two years. Subsequently he devoted his at- tention to the practice of law. Mr. Leclerc was not a great lawyer, but he was a man of great industry and energy and worked into quite an extensive practice, especially in the lower courts. lle married before leaving Canada, and had a family of three daughters and one son. HIe died Sept. 14, 1872.
Wiram Knowlton, one of Wisconsin's emi- nent lawyers practiced first in Grant county, then in Crawford, In the chapter of this his- tory entitled "The Courts -Past and Present," will be found a more extended biographical notice of Judge Knowlton.
Bnel E. Hutchinson, who held a prominent place in the bar of Crawford county for fifteen years, is a native of Jefferson Co., N. Y., born Nov. 26, 1829. Ile received an academic edu- cation, studied law and came west, settling in Prairie du Chien, Wis., in 1848, where he pur- sued the practice of his profession until he re- moved to Madison, in 1863, save while in the Legislature and in the army. He was elected district attorney for Crawford county in 1857 for the term of two years. lle was elected to the General Assembly of Wisconsin in 1857 and to the State Senate from the thirtieth dis- triet in 1800-1.
In August, 1861, Mr. Hutchinson entered the army as commissary, with the rank of captain, and remained in the service with Gen's. Curtis and Steele's commands until September, 1863. Since that time he has resided in Madison; and, in 1879, represented the capital county in the Legislature, being elected by a large majority over two competitors, a democrat and a green- backer. He is now (1884) receiver in the land office at Aberdeen, Dak.
394
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
Willard Merrill arrived in Crawford county in 1856, and in July of that year settled down to the practice of law as a partner of Buel E. Hutchinson. Mr. Merrill was born at Rome, N. Y., Jan. 16, 1831. He was graduated from Amherst College, in Massachusetts, in 1854, and studied law at the Poughkeepsie law school. Ile was admitted to practice in the supreme court at Watertown, April 1, 1856. He came to Prairie du Chien shortly afterward, and dur- ing the succeeding four years struggled man- fully to place himself among the prominent at- torneys of Crawford connty. In April, 1860, he removed to Janesville, Wis., and opened a law office, where he continued to practice until his removal to Milwaukee in Jan. 1873. Ile was a member of the lower branch of the State Legislature in 1871. In the fall of 1870, and after his election to the Assembly, he was ap- pointment a member of the joint-Legislative committee, whose duty it was to visit and ex- amine into the condition of the penal and be- nevolent institutions of the State In the spring of 1871, he was appointed a member of the State board of charities and reform, which po- sition he satisfactorily filled until 1874, when business matters prevented the proper discharge of his duties on the board, and he resigned. On Jan. 1, 1868, he had formed a law partnership with IIon. J. B. Cassoday, now associate justice on the bench of the supreme court. This part- nership continued until his removal to Milwau- kee in January, 1873. He then accepted the posi- tion of secretary to the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, which office he filled until his promotion, in December, 1881, to the position of superintendent of the agencies. In the summer of 1880 Mr. Merrill was elected president of the Amherst College Allumni As- sociation, and presided at their annual meeting during commencement week, on the 30th of June, 1880. Ile is at present a trustee of Ripon College, of Wisconsin, also filling similar posi- tions on the official board of the Milwaukee Female College and the University of Milwau-
kee, the latter of which is struggling to rise from its its inceptive limits. Mr. Merrill has been a member of the Presbyterian denomina- tion for the past thirty years, and politically is a radical republican. While practicing at the bar, his legal talents were unquestioned, and as an advocate he was able and meritorious. His gentlemanly qualifications endear him to a host of friends, and, to use his own expression, "my life has been uneventful, but very pleasant."
Iliram A. Wright was admitted to the bar of Crawford county, after examination, on May 6, 1851.
Benjamin Bull came from Grant Co, Wis., and settled in Prairie du Chien in 1852, at once engaging in the practice.of law. lle was actively connected with the bar of Crawford county a quarter of a century. Mr Bull was a native of Virginia, born in Harper's Ferry, Jan. 1, 1798. He came with his parents to Xenia, Ohio, was there educated, and read law aud was admitted to the bar. In 1824, he went to Martinsville, Ind., and remained there until 1848, most of the time in active practice. Ile took somewhat of an active part in politics as a member of the old whig party, and held several local offices among which was probate judge. Coming west, he settled a few months in Mineral Point, then went to Grant county, practised law as a partner with Col. A. Cobb, while there, and from thence removed to Prairie du Chien. Mr. Bull was elected to the State senate from this district in 1865, and served two years in that body. He continued to ply himself to his profession until his death, Jan. 23, 1879. He married Miss Elenor Garrison, in Indiana. They were the parents of ten children, four of whom are residents of Crawford county.
Daniel H. Johnson located in Prairie du Chien about 1845, a young man fresh from an Illinois college, and engaged in teaching school, and studying law in the meantime. When prepared to pass an examination he was admitted to the bar in Crawford county, and commenced the practice of law. Some time previous to 1854 he
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