USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. I > Part 50
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Mr. Markham's father was engaged in the manufacture of iron at Wilmington in Essex county, N. Y., for a period of about forty-five years and, while that business afforded a comfortable support for him- self and family, he did not succeed in the accumulation of property.
920 C Markham
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In those days charcoal was used in the manufacture of iron, and on this account the elder Markham acquired title to a good deal of land, a small portion of which could be cultivated, therefore Mr. Markham's early days were those of a farmer boy. By working on the farm and then by teaching school he managed to acquire the means to pursue a legal education and studied in the office of Hale & Smith, at Elizabeth- town, New York, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1868, at Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. A few months afterwards, drawn by the opportunities that have beckoned so many to the west as to the land of promise, he moved to Milwaukee in March, 1869, and has made his home there ever since. The story of Mr. Markham's life is a simple one. It is the chronicle of years devoted to the practice of his chosen profession, of energies unsparingly given to laying deep and solid foun- dations of careful preparation and of building on them with thought- fulness and labor; of untiring devotion to the interests of those who have confided their business to his care and of unfaltering effort to attain honorable success. He has given his undivided attention to business, turning a deaf ear to repeated solicitations to assume public office. His clients have ever found in him a safe and reliable counselor, and, by his careful attention to business and thorough knowledge of the various duties of his profession, he has built up a most desirable clientage and secured a comfortable competence.
Soon after Mr. Markham's arrival in Milwaukee he entered into partnership with his older brother, Henry H. Markham, and so con- tinued till 1879, when the connection was dissolved by the removal of Henry H. to California. He then became associated in practice with Mr. George H. Noyes; this partnership lasted till Mr. Noyes became judge of the superior court of Milwaukee county.
After remaining in practice by himself for several years Mr. Harold W. Nickerson was associated with him in 1894, and in 1896 Mr. John F. Harper was admitted and the firm became Markham, Nickerson & Harper, which it still remains.
As a lawyer, Mr. Markham is distinguished by qualities which are solid and enduring rather than showy and ephemeral, and by thorough-
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ness of work. He brings to the trial of his cases an experience gained by years of practice and a knowledge of the law and of the particular facts of the case, reached after most earnest and careful study. The thoroughness of preparation and the complete mastery of the underly- ing principles exhibited in a practice covering a wide diversity of cases in courts of many different states has secured the confidence of a large number of clients. In his extensive practice in the admiralty courts of the great lakes Mr. Markham has participated in many of the notable trials and in nearly all of the important cases of the last quarter of a century.
At different times he has been largely interested in real estate and has contributed to the growth and development of Milwaukee. For many years he has been one of the largest stockholders in the Milwaukee Dry Dock company. At one time and another he has had extensive interests in vessels and steamers. In these different activities he has always shown good business sense and a wise judgment that rank him as a first-class man of affairs.
In 1895 he was elected one of the trustees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company, a company ranking second to none, and im- mediately placed in most important and honorable positions among the trusted counselors of this very safe, conservative and most successful institution.
In August, 1870, Mr. Markham was married to Rose S. Smith, of Elizabethtown, N. Y. She died in 1893. Three children were born to them, a daughter, Susie May, and two sons, Stuart H. and George F. The home on Grand avenue is a comfortable residence in the most desirable part of the city, and is the scene not only of domestic comfort but of a refined and delightful hospitality that has secured the lasting friendship of an extended circle of acquaintances.
GLENWAY MAXON.
Mr. Maxon is a native of Cedar Creek, Washington county, Wis- consin, where he was born on the Ist of December, 1851. The village is located upon his father's farm and connected with the property is a
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valuable water power. Mr. Maxon, Sr., in fact, surveyed most of the land in that section of the state and, for many years, was one of the most widely known and influential men of southern Wisconsin.
Densmore W. Maxon, the father of Glenway Maxon, was born in Verona, Oneida county, New York, September 30, 1820; he studied law in his younger days but never practiced the profession. He was, in fact, of too active a disposition to confine himself to any one field. Coming to Wisconsin in 1843 he first settled in Milwaukee, and three years later located in Cedar Creek. Soon after becoming a resident of the state he was appointed deputy surveyor of Washington county, and took up land upon what afterward became the site of Cedar Creek. He called himself a farmer, but was in reality for many years a man of public affairs. In 1848 he was elected to the popular branch of the first legislature, after the formation of the state constitution, and was re- elected in 1852, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1882 and 1883. For four years, 1857-1861, he served in the state senate, making a total period of thirteen years which he gave to the service of the common- wealth-a record surpassed but once in the history of Wisconsin. He was a candidate for lieutenant governor in 1865. Among the laws of which he is the father is that which substitutes in place of commissioners of the county the present board of supervisors.
It is acknowledged that one of the great engineering and public works of the northwest is the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal, but it was many years from the time that the enterprise was con- ceived before it was completed, the company being long embarrassed for lack of funds. It secured a land grant for the encouragement of the work, but the sales so languished that by 1879 the canal company was on the verge of bankruptcy and was considering the propriety of abandoning the project. During that year Mr. Maxon was placed in charge of the land grant and pushed the sales with such energy and ability that a large fund was realized, the canal being completed in 1884. For fifteen years he was also president of the Wisconsin Railway Farm Mortgage Land company, remaining at its head until its affairs were
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wound up by the legislature. He further served as president of the board of trustees of the northern hospital of Wisconsin.
Glenway Maxon's mother was, before marriage, Miss Elizabeth Truck, and is a woman of rare force and vivacity. She is of both French and Dutch ancestry, undoubtedly a fact which is a partial ex- planation of her character. The boy lived at the old homestead, at- tending first the public schools of Cedar Creek and then those of Mil- waukee. Afterward he graduated both from the general department of the University of Wisconsin (1873) and the law school of the same insti- tution (1874).
Mr. Maxon began the practice of his profession in Milwaukee dur- ing 1876 and has devoted much of his time to railroad litigation. One of the noteworthy cases in which he has been retained is that of the Madison & Portage Ry. Co. vs. the North Wisconsin Ry. Co. The contest was over certain grants covering about 1,000,000 acres of land, which passed from the general government to the state in 1856 and which was subsequently donated by the commonwealth for the en- couragement of railroad construction. The case was finally taken to the United States supreme court and settled by compromise.
As a democrat Mr. Maxon has been an acknowledged force in his party, believing that political principles should chiefly guide questions of national concern and that party lines should not be tightly drawn in municipal affairs. Although defeated for the mayoralty on this plat- form in 1896 he made a remarkable run, reducing the usual republican majority about two-thirds. He is a member of the executive committee of the municipal league, which has done so much to elevate the stand- ard of local politics. He is also upon the board of associated charities of Milwaukee and a director of the Wisconsin training school for nurses.
Mr. Maxon was married on the 8th of February, 1888, at New Orleans, to Annbelle V. Horner, daughter of Joseph P. Horner, a prominent lawyer of the Crescent city. Mr. Horner was a native of the state of New York, being born March 18, 1837, and moving to the south in the early 'Sos. Mr. and Mrs. Maxon have two living children
W. M. Jimlee
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-Harriet and Glenway Maxon, Jr .; another son, Joseph Horner, died December 26, 1895. when five years of age.
WILLIAM H. TIMLIN.
William Henry Timlin was born May 28, 1852, in Mequon, Ozau- kee county, Wisconsin. His father, Edward Timlin, was a native of Ireland, a farmer, and at one time held the office of county treasurer of Washington (then including Ozaukee) county.
W. H. Timlin had a common school education, was school teacher, county superintendent of schools in Kewaunee county, studied law with G. G. Sedgwick, and later with the firm of H. G. and W. J. Turner; was admitted to the bar in 1878; married in 1880 at Kewaunee, Wisconsin, to Celia L. Arpin. He practiced law first at Kewaunee, a short time at Green Bay, and in 1886 moved to Milwaukee, where he has since been engaged in the practice of law.
FRANK M. HOYT.
Mr. Hoyt is a native of Milwaukee; date of birth, August 25, 1853. His father, Charles M. Hoyt, was one of the early and prominent mer- chants of the Cream city who have enabled the metropolis to assume that air of substantial elegance which has given the city a national repu- tation. He was, however, educated as a lawyer and admitted to the bar of Milwaukee county, and, although he never practiced, his legal train- ing was of undoubted assistance to him in the conduct of his large busi- ness interests.
The mother, Catherine E. Robinson, was of English descent, the family emigrating from Connecticut at an early day, being known in the vicinity of Rochester, N. Y., in 1730.
Frank M. Hoyt attended the public schools of Milwaukee, also the Christina cadet school, Markham's academy, Beloit college (two years), and the law department of the Michigan state university, at Ann Arbor. After studying law in the office of Mariner, Smith & Ord- way, Milwaukee, he was admitted to the bar on the 9th of July, 1877;
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to practice before the state supreme court, September 13, 1878, and before the United States supreme court, September 23, 1878.
Mr. Hoyt is most versatile as a practitioner, his duties taking him into all courts, high and low, where he is equally successful. He is an active Mason and an influential democrat, having served for several terms as chairman of the democratic county committee.
On the 10th of November, 1880, Mr. Hoyt was married to Miss Hattie P. Jones, his wife being a representative of an old and influential New England family. They have lost two children and two are living- Annette and Constance.
CHARLES FREDERICK HUNTER.
Charles F. Hunter, member of the firm of Nath. Pereles & Sons, was born in Milwaukee in 1862, where his father, Edward M. Hunter, was known for so many years as United States court commissioner and a whole-souled, refined gentleman. The latter was born in Blooming- burg, Sullivan county, N. Y., February 19, 1826, his parents, David and Elizabeth (Smith) Hunter, being natives of the Empire state. The Hunters originally came from the north of Ireland and the Smiths, Mrs. Hunter's ancestors, were of pure Scotch blood, both families settling in America during the seventeenth century.
Edward M. Hunter was educated in the public schools and the acad- emy at Montgomery, Orange county, being admitted to the bar in New York city when twenty-one years of age. Two years later he removed to Milwaukee and formed a partnership with S. Park Coon, afterward attorney general of the state, and Charles James, subsequently collector of the port of San Francisco. He served as private secretary during Governor Barstow's short term of office and was also a member of the state senate in 1853, when the famous impeachment trial of Judge Levi Hubbell, of the Milwaukee circuit court, was brought before the legislature for its consideration. As previously stated, Mr. Hunter spent most of his long professional life in Milwaukee in the discharge of his duties as United States court commissioner, holding that office at the time of his death, on the 13th of September, 1878.
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The son, Charles F. Hunter, spent his boyhood in Milwaukee at- tending the city schools, the high school and Markham's academy, one of the best known educational establishments in Wisconsin. At an early day he decided to adopt the legal profession, entering the office of Flanders & Bottum as a student and remaining with the firm for three years-from 1878 to 1881. He became deputy clerk of the circuit court in 1882, assiduously continuing his legal studies while performing his clerical duties. Mr. Hunter was admitted to the bar in 1884, but held his official position for two years thereafter. In 1886 he became a clerk in the office of Nath. Pereles & Sons. Here he remained until January I, 1889, and then formed a professional connection with Lewis M. Ogden under the firm style of Ogden & Hunter. This latter was changed to Ogden, Hunter & Bottum, by the admission of E. H. Bottum, and so continued until May 1, 1894. At that time Mr. Hunter became asso- ciated with J. M. Pereles and T. J. Pereles, continuing the firm name of Nath. Pereles & Sons, being now, as stated, a member of that old and stanch firm. Its practice is virtually confined to real estate law and equity, and within this province there is no firm in Milwaukee which has a higher legal standing. In this connection it should perhaps be stated that since 1896 Guy Despard Goff has also been added to the firm.
Charles F. Hunter is certainly a member of the bar whose promi- nence is due to hard and conscientious work, methodically and ably performed. He has concentrated his energies, has eschewed politics and secret societies and given little of his time to anything outside of his profession. He is, however, a member of the Milwaukee, Country and Lawyers clubs, of Milwaukee, as well as of the reform club of New York, the Milwaukee bar association and the American bar association.
HENRY J. KILLILEA.
Henry J. Killilea came to the Milwaukee bar in . 1885, and at the end of thirteen years of active practice has taken a place among the leading lawyers of the city and state. Like a few other members of the local bar who have achieved distinction, he is a native son of Wisconsin, having been born in the town of Poygan, Winnebago county, June 30,
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1863. His father, Mathew Killilea, and his mother-who, before her marriage, was Miss Mary Muray-were born in Ireland, and came to Wisconsin in 1849. They were worthy pioneers of Winnebago county, settling in what was then practically a wilderness and carving out of the forests of that region the farm upon which they still continue to reside.
As a boy Henry James Killilea-as he was christened by his parents -was an apt pupil, fond of books and the local debating societies, and gave early evidence of the fact that the bent of his mind was toward the law. Until he was twelve years of age he attended the country schools; after that he was sent to the graded schools of Winneconne, and still later to the normal school at Oshkosh, where he was fitted for college. When not in school he did his share of work on the farm; his home training was always of the kind which inculcates the idea that industry is a cardinal virtue. After completing his preparatory course of study at the normal school he taught school for a time at Clay Banks, in Door county, and for two years thereafter taught what is now the Oakwood high school at Oakwood, Wisconsin. As an educator he was thorough, competent and entirely successful. Although he liked the work, it was never his intention to continue teaching, but, like many others, he used it as a stepping stone to the profession for which he had determined to fit himself. A spirit of independence led him to prefer that his higher education should be acquired through his own efforts, although his parents were in full sympathy with his aims and purposes and by no means averse in supplying needed funds.
In the fall of 1882 he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and remained there until he had completed his law studies, graduating from that institution in the class of 1885. While in college he was a close student, and at the same time was conspicuous for his devotion to college sports. Active in all kinds of athletics, he was cap- tain of a college football team, an. enthusiastic patron of the gymna- sium, and a warm advocate of the importance of physical culture. Leav- ing the university fully equipped physically and mentally for the pro- fessional work upon which he proposed to enter, he came at once to Milwaukee, and in the summer of 1885 began the practice of law, form-
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ing a copartnership with Paul M. Weil. This partnership was dissolved in 1887, and, later, he formed a partnership with Oscar Fiebing, the firm thus constituted building up a very large and lucrative practice in a comparatively short time. At the outset of his career as a practi- tioner Mr. Killilea demonstrated his signal ability as a trial lawyer. For several years he gave a large share of his attention to criminal practice, and it is doubtful if any lawyer who has practiced at the Milwaukee bar has been more uniformly successful than has he, in the management of this class of cases. Admirable tact, good judgment, and thorough knowledge of the law involved in cases at bar have been notable among his characteristics as a lawyer, and as an advocate of peculiar power and effectiveness in addressing a jury he has few equals among the younger members of the Wisconsin bar. A clear reasoner, he addresses himself, in his arguments, to material points and wastes no time on matters immaterial to the issues involved. Jealous of the interests of clients and absolutely fearless in the defense of their rights, quick to perceive the bearing of a proposition or the trend of evidence, he is no less skillful and resourceful as an examiner than he is forceful and eloquent as an advocate.
While he has been remarkably successful as a criminal lawyer he has also built up a large general practice, and as a counselor and advisor has steadily grown in popular favor. As one of the attorneys of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway company he has entered a field of practice which gives a broad scope to his abilities, and as a corporation lawyer he promises to be no less successful than he has been in other branches of the practice.
Devoting himself conscientiously to his profession, sparing himself no effort to promote the interests of clients and to broaden his knowl- edge of jurisprudence, he has declined official preferment but at the same time has taken an active interest in politics. A democrat in his partisan affiliations, he has helped to formulate the principles and poli- cies of his party in local and state campaigns for some years past, and has also not infrequently taken a prominent part in the conduct of the party campaigns. For three years he was a member of the democratic state
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central committee, and served three years also as chairman of the Mil- waukee county central committee, proving himself capable and sa- gacious as a political leader as he is successful as a lawyer. The only public office which he has allowed himself to hold is that of member of the Milwaukee school board, to which he was appointed in 1892 for a term of three years. He was one of the organizers of the West Side bank, in 1894, and is now one of the directors of that bank.
Genial in manner, frank and outspoken, and as fond of all kinds of sports now as in his college days, Mr. Killilea has a peculiarly happy faculty of making and retaining friends among all classes of people, and at thirty-five years of age his professional, social and political future may be said to be full of promise.
He was married, in 1888, to Miss Louise M. Meinderman, who was born in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan in the class of 1888.
THOMAS HENRY GILL.
Thomas H. Gill, general attorney for the receivers of the Wisconsin Central lines of railroad, is a native of Wisconsin, born at Madison on April 7th, 1858. His parents were William J. Gill, a native of Canada, and Hannah (Lantry) Gill, who was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, and who still lives at Madison.
Mr. Gill received his preliminary education in the Madison public schools, and entered the Wisconsin state university in 1872, where he graduated with the class of '77, at the age of nineteen. He immediately entered the university law school at Madison, and upon his gradua- tion in the following year was admitted to the bar, when still but twenty years of age. During his entire college and professional courses he worked in the office of the clerk of the United States courts, who was a close personal friend. About the year 1874, he was appointed deputy clerk and master in chancery of these courts, continuing in those offices for several years after his admission to the bar.
He began the practice of his profession at Madison in 1879. In 1880 he formed a partnership there with H. J. Taylor, now of the Sioux City,
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Iowa, bar. In 1883 he became associated in practice with E. W. Keyes, at Madison, under the firm name of Keyes & Gill. In a short time, however, important business interests required him temporarily to abandon the practice, and to devote his entire time for about four years to the management of an extensive wholesale tobacco trade.
In April, 1887, he entered the service of the Wisconsin Central companies as claim agent, and has been continuously in the service of these lines of railroad to the present time. He has risen step by step to his present responsible position, always enjoying the confidence of the officers and directors. In 1890 he became assistant general solici- tor, and when the Wisconsin Central lines passed into the control of the Northern Pacific railroad company as lessee, in 1891, he was appointed to the same office for the lessee company, with headquarters at Chi- cago. When the lease was surrendered in 1893, and the receivers of the Wisconsin Central companies were appointed, he was retained by the receivers as their general attorney, returning to Milwaukee. This office he still fills.
Mr. Gill has led a life too busy to indulge extensively in the amuse- ments of society, although he enjoys the warm devotion of a wide circle of friends. He is a member of the college fraternity of Psi Upsilon, and is a loyal son of his alma mater. College sports and athletics, and all gentlemanly sports, find in him a warm sympathizer and supporter. Politically, while in conviction and sympathy a republican, he has never sought nor desired political preferment or notoriety, and has always maintained an attitude of independence. He is unmarried, but main- tains his own home, where he loves to receive and entertain his friends, and to gather about him works of art, in the collection of which he loves to spend his leisure hours.
CONRAD KREZ.
Conrad Krez, lawyer, legislator, soldier and poet, was born in the palatinate of Bavaria, a province on the Rhine in Germany, April 27, 1828; educated at Spires and in the universities of Munich and Heidel- berg. He came to the United States in 1851, and resided in New York
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city from the opening of that year until August, 1854, when he came to Wisconsin and settled at Sheboygan, where he resided until 1885, when he became a resident of Milwaukee, where he remained until his death. From the time he settled in Sheboygan county he practiced law except while in the military service or holding an office which re- quired all his time. He was city attorney of Sheboygan in 1857-'58; district attorney of Sheboygan county to the fall of 1862, and from 1870 to 1876 inclusive. Mr. Krez resigned the district attorneyship in 1862 and enlisted in the twenty-seventh Wisconsin when that regiment was organized; he was commissioned its colonel. During his military career he was brevetted brigadier general. On concluding his military service he returned to Sheboygan, resumed the practice of the law and continued therein until 1885, when he was appointed collector of customs of the port of Milwaukee, to which city he removed his resi- dence; at the expiration of his official term he began the practice of the law, and continued therein until his death. In 1891 he was a member of the assembly and in 1892 was elected city attorney for Milwaukee and served out his term. He died March 8, 1897.
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