USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 19
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Opening an office at Platteville during the succeeding month, he conducted his business alone until 1887, when he formed a partnership with J. W. Murphy, under the firm name of Murphy & Gardner. The firm remained unchanged for eight years, when (in 1895) Mr. Murphy withdrew.
About half the period of his practice, therefore, covering a term of sixteen years, has been passed in independent professional work. Of the noteworthy cases in which he has been engaged may be mentioned that of Jones vs. Oates, in which case he was associated with J. W. Murphy, Esq. This case fixed several important questions of state law with reference to elections and in mandamus proceedings. Mr. Gard- ner was one of the attorneys in the case of Koop vs. Burris. He was for the defense in the suit of the State vs. Jacob and Butler Hoosier, the crime charged being an attempt to poison an entire family, and the proceedings constituting one of the hardest fought battles in the legal history of the county. Another case in the management of which he obtained prominence was that of the State vs. Woodward.
In his younger days Mr. Gardner was an active participant in local military movements, being a member of the Platteville normal guards, famous for its soldierly discipline, which disbanded in 1873. Later, as a firm democrat, he came into unusual prominence and has held nearly all the local offices, from justice of the peace to city attorney. He was president of the first democratic club ever organized in Platteville, and in 1892 was put forth as a candidate for the legislature. He has served as a delegate to several state conventions. He was a member of the convention which nominated George W. Peck for governor and was an alternate to the national convention of 1888 at St. Louis. Mr. Gardner has naturally taken a deep interest in state normal schools, having served upon the board of regents from 1891 to 1896, holding the posi- tion of vice president when his term of office expired. He is an author- ity upon educational, and especially normal school, management. When it is also stated that Mr. Gardner is a director and the vice president of the Platteville state bank the conclusion is patent that he is a man of unusual versatility and of large caliber.
In fact, intense and persistent work, joined to native acumen and
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uprightness of purpose and of conduct, are traits of Mr. Gardner's character, which partially account for his substantial standing as a law- yer and a financier. He is especially considered a splendid trial at- torney and a brilliant orator, possessing the faculty in a superlative de- gree of obtaining and retaining the complete confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.
ELIHU B. GOODSELL.
This representative of the legal confraternity of the state of which he is a native, and who has made his location in Lancaster, was born at Highland, Wisconsin, June 21st, 1860. His father, whose name was similar to his own, and who married Isabel Oaks, had settled in Wis- consin as far back as 1836. He was a mine owner, his chief properties being lead mines in this state, and his consideration among the com- munity was shown in his selection as a member of the first constitu- tional convention, held at Madison in 1846. For two terms he was a member of the legislature and for a number of years was county com- missioner of Iowa county.
The subject of this sketch comes of historical stock. Thomas Good- sell came from Wales about 1678, and settled in Branford, Connecticut, in 1679. There he married, in 1684, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Hem- ingway, and among their children was one John, born December 21st, 1705, who married on the 20th day of July, 1725, Mary Lewis, daughter of James Lewis, and died in Greenfield, Connecticut, December 26th, 1763. He graduated from Yale college in 1724, and was ordained first pastor of Greenfield May 18th, 1726. Among the latter's children was another John, born April 14th, 1730, and baptized in Greenfield, April 19th, 1730. He married, first, Sarah Bradley, who died August 27th, 1755, and, second, Grace (family name not given). He was a private in Captain Thomas Nash's company, fourth regiment, Connecticut mil- itia, and was killed by the British in the attack on Fairfield. July 7th, 1779. His children were Sarah, born 1749; Mary, 1751; Judson, 1757; Hannah, 1760; Ephraim, baptized July 11th, 1762: Grace, 1764; Rachel, 1768; Abigail, 1770; Phœbe, 1771; Abigail, 1773. and Elihu,
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baptized December 8th, 1776. Of these, Ephraim was grandfather of our subject's mother, and Elihu was his father's father. Ancestors on both sides also fought in the revolutionary war.
Elihu B. Goodsell received his earlier education in the village school of his native place, later teaching for five years in the high school there and while so doing, graduating at the Highland high school. At the end of this time, during President Cleveland's administration, he re- ceived an appointment in the railroad mail service, remaining there three years and then obtaining a position in the postoffice at Rockford. Determined, however, to make the law his profession, he entered the office and studied for two years at Dodgeville under the well-known Aldro Jenks, graduating at the end of the time, in 1891, from the col- lege of law of the Wisconsin university. At once locating in Lancaster, Mr. Goodsell formed, July Ist of the same year, a partnership with H. Buchner, which was dissolved three years later, and he then entered into his present association with H. W. Brown.
Mr. Goodsell has always been a democrat in his political views. In the spring election of 1897 he secured election as county judge of Grant county, and, while in the preceding year the county had gone republican by seventeen hundred votes, in this election he obtained a democratic majority of fourteen hundred and ninety-eight.
Of secret organizations with which he is associated, he joined the Masons in 1887; became a charter member of the Knights of Phythias in 1892; in the Modern Woodmen he holds the chair of venerable counsel; belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters, the Rathbone Sisters, and the Law Confraternity, Harlan Chapter of Phi Delta Phi of the university of Wisconsin.
Mrs. Goodsell, formerly Lena Oswald, to whom he ivas married at Lancaster, June 19th, 1895, is a musician of very exceptional abilities. She was formerly a pupil of the Chicago college of music and was later at the New England conservatory of music at Boston. Her husband's tastes, being of a literary order, and both possessed of extremely social dispositions, the congeniality of interests makes their home a very bright and happy one. They are members of the Episcopal church.
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GEORGE C. HAZELTON.
George Cochrane Hazelton was born in Chester, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, January 3, 1833; the first sixteen years of his life were passed upon his father's farm; he received an academic and collegiate education, being graduated from Union college in 1858, the means for which were very largely obtained by his own efforts in teach- ing and by manual labor. He was admitted to the bar at Malone, New York, in 1858. The following five years, except a few months during which he was employed in the treasury department at Washington, were devoted to the practice of the law at Amsterdam and Schenectady, New York. In 1863 he located at Boscobel, Grant county, Wisconsin, and opened a law office; he served as district attorney of that county in 1865-1869; in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1871 he was state senator, and part of the time president pro tem. of the senate; from 1877 to 1883 he represented the third district in Congress. In his campaign for a fourth term he was beaten by Burr W. Jones. Soon after the close of his congressional career Mr. Hazelton removed to Washington, D. C., where he has continued to reside and practice law. For a time he held a position under the government of the District of Columbia. In con- nection with John A. Hayward, Mr. Hazelton has prepared two vol- umes of reports of cases adjudged in the circuit court of the District of Columbia, covering the period from 1840 to 1863.
As an advocate Mr. Hazelton had a pleasing, tactful manner and was possessed of many of the qualities which lead to distinguished success in that direction. He was an effective "stump speaker," and in de- mand by political managers of other states as well as of his own. As a legislator he was faithful and successful.
JAMES T. HOGAN.
Born June 15th, 1871, on a farm in the town of Hazel Green, Grant county, Wisconsin, this young member of the legal fraternity has al- ready succeeded in making himself very favorably known, and if the promise he gives in the present finds fulfillment he is assured a high place in his profession as the years go by.
Vol. II .- 13
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He received his education at the common schools and the state normal school at Platteville, Wisconsin, afterwards attending the uni- versity of Wisconsin. He decided to enter the legal profession and in 1891 he began the study of law with Thomas L. Cleary, of Platteville, Wisconsin, and later took a full course at the law department of the uni- versity of Wisconsin. During his course at the law school he held the position of librarian of the law school and later a position in the law office of Erdall & Swansen, Madison, Wisconsin. He was admitted to the bar at Madison in June, 1893.
Mr. Hogan began the practice of his profession June 26, 1893, in partnership with T. M. Casey. Later he formed a partnership with J. B. Campbell, who was then district attorney of La Fayette county, which partnership continued until January, 1897. He has since the latter date practiced alone and now enjoys a lucrative practice through- out that section.
An unalterable democrat, he has been city attorney of Darlington since 1894. In his religious views Mr. Hogan is a member of the Ro- man Catholic church.
WILLIAM E. HOWE.
William E. Howe, of Boscobel, the present district attorney of Grant county, is a son of Henry E. and Mary A. Howe, and was born at Monona, Clayton county, Iowa, on the 17th of January, 1851. He spent the early portion of his life in his native town, and after he had exhausted the educational facilities to be found at home he removed to Madison, Wisconsin, to enable him to attend the university of Wiscon- sin, an institution unrivaled by any in the west. There his thorough- ness and brilliancy as a student were rewarded at his graduation in 1873 by receiving first honors in the scientific course. "Having previously decided upon his life work, the day after graduating he commenced the study of his profession in the office of J. H. Carpenter, of Madison. His studies under Mr. Carpenter's supervision were supplemented by a reg- ular course at the university law school, and in June, 1874, he was ad- mitted to practice before the state supreme court at Madison.
Mr. Howe first opened an office in St. Louis, Missouri, and during
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the two years of his practice in that city was either alone or in partner- ship with O. B. Givens. On account of ill health he was obliged to re- move to a more northerly climate, and in June, 1876, settled at La . Crosse, Wisconsin. In August of that year he formed a professional connection with Mills Tourtellotte, the partnership continuing until 1881. From that time until June, 1885, when he removed from the city, he practiced alone. For the succeeding two years Mr. Howe was located at Madison, South Dakota, but on account of sickness was then obliged for a time to abandon his profession. In the spring of 1892 he resumed practice at Boscobel, Wis., which has since been his home and where he has engaged in much important and lucrative litigation.
Since becoming a resident of Wisconsin Mr. Howe has held not a few prominent public positions, both of honor and of profit. While living in La Crosse (1881-1882) he served as police justice of the city, the emoluments of that position amounting to from $3,000 to $3,500 per annum. In 1893 and 1894 he was elected city attorney of Boscobel, and in November, 1896, district attorney of Grant county, of which office he is still the incumbent. He has always been a republican and an influential and a popular leader of his party.
On June 23, 1875, Mr. Howe was married to Mary I. Carrier, daugh- ter of T. Carrier, of Boscobel.
JAMES J. HOSKINS.
The subject of this sketch is a native of the village, now city, of Dodgeville, Iowa county, Wisconsin, having been born there June 15, 1849. His parents, John and Elizabeth Hoskins, natives of Camborne, Cornwall, England, emigrated to America in 1837, and came directly to the lead mines, at Dodgeville.
His father immediately engaged in the mining and mercantile busi- ness; becoming a member of the old and well-known firm of Hoskins, Thomas & Company, and continuing as a member of such firm up to the time of his death, June 13th, 1851, caused while working in a mine, on what is locally known as the "Lamb Lead," by the falling of a large stone, which overhung the passage to a drift, as Mr. Hoskins was pass- ing, thus crushing him to death.
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Young Hoskins was given a common school education in his native village until 1866, when he entered Bryant & Stratton's business col- · lege at Chicago, Illinois, where he took a thorough business course. In 1869 he entered Lawrence university, Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was graduated in June, 1874. In the fall of the latter year, although the trend of his mind and his inclination toward the legal profession had been shown long before by his close study of whatever law books he could borrow from his lawyer friends, he entered the department of law, Union University, Albany, New York. His B. L. degree was taken in the spring of 1875, and in the same year he was admitted to the bar at Albany, New York, and later in the same year he took the further examination for admission in Wisconsin.
In the fall of 1875 he opened an office in the village, now city, of Dodgeville, and has continued to practice there ever since. With the exception of two years, from 1887 to 1889, when he formed a copart- nership with M. J. Briggs, under the firm name of Briggs & Hoskins, he has had no associate. His practice, though extensive and varied in its character, has not carried him into cases of special interest or which acquired any national or state importance.
He has been simply an energetic and persevering attorney, whose earnestness and absolute fidelity to the interests of whatever cases he undertook gained the confidence and respect of every one with whom he was brought into contact. In 1880 he was appointed court com- missioner and held that office continuously until 1889. He was city attorney for two terms and has served several times as a member of the county board of supervisors and of the city council. He was also for several years officially connected with the Iowa county agricultural society as its treasurer and secretary.
Mr. Hoskins has not confined himself exclusively to the legal pro- fession. He retained his interests in the Hoskins, Thomas & Company mercantile and smelting company and also in the Bennett, George & Company smelting company when the former was merged into the lat- ter, and also in the succeeding firm of Bennett & Hoskins smelting company until it ceased doing business in 1890. He has also been a large dealer in real estate, being interested for several years in a large
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tract of pine land at and in the vicinity of Auburndale, Wood county, Wisconsin; and, in fact, is at the present time one of the largest realty holders in Iowa county.
In politics Mr. Hoskins is an ardent republican and during every political campaign since 1876, both national and state, he has never failed to contribute a large share of his time to the advancement of his party's principles and the election of his party's representatives. In the campaign of 1880 he was chairman of the republican county committee.
In religion Mr. Hoskins describes himself as a liberalist, belonging to no particular church, or a devotee to any particular creed, but contribut- ing to the support of all.
Mr. Hoskins is a Free Mason, having joined that order in 1876, and is a member of Dodgeville lodge, No. 119, and Iowa chapter, No. 6, R. A. M., Mineral Point, Wisconsin. He has filled every office of the blue lodge, except that of tyler, and represented his lodge as a delegate to the grand lodge.
Mr. Hoskins married Cory A. Schell, September 11th, 1889, and re- sides in the old homestead, built by his father in the summer of 1845. They have one child, Eunice S., born November 27th, 1890.
JAMES H. KNOWLTON.
James H. Knowlton was born at Canandaigua, New York, August 22, 1813. His early educational advantages were extremely limited, but were improved to the utmost. So far as is known he first studied law after he had attained the age of twenty-six, at which time he first came to Wisconsin. His first location, at Janesville, was for a brief time, whence he removed to Mineral Point, and soon afterward to Shullsburg. Here he studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced until 1856, when he became a resident of Janesville again, and remained there in practice until 1861, when he removed to Chicago, engaged in the prac- tice of the law and so continued until his last illness.
He was the first probate judge of La Fayette county; was an unsuc- cessful candidate for associate justice of the supreme court after its separate organization was provided for; was a member of the assembly from La Fayette county in 1854 and 1856; a presidential elector from
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the state at large in 1856, and in 1858 a member of the assembly from Rock county. He was engaged in the notable case of Hungerford vs. Caleb Cushing, et al., involving the property at the Falls of St. Croix in this state, and was, with Jonathan E. Arnold, counsel for Judge Hub- bell, in the impeachment trial of the latter in 1853.
After making a reputation in Wisconsin he went to Chicago some time before the great fire in that city, in which he lost his library. He had but little success there, and, after a long illness, died January 29, 1879. He left no children and his wife survived him but a short time.
It has been said of Mr. Knowlton by one who knew him well that his career furnishes a remarkable illustration of the effects of the mere force of industrious application to professional pursuits. Although his natural intellect was of an average standard, it was not extraordinary; while his education was not of a pre-eminent order, yet his industrious habits were remarkable, and the result was the attainment of a profes- sional standing which gave him a high rank among the lawyers of Wis- consin.
Of his labors as a member of the legislature it has been said that at the extra session in 1856 he was chairman of a committee to draft a bill for the disposition of the lands granted by Congress to aid in the con- struction of railroads. He was also a member of the legislature in 1858 and took charge of the investigation into alleged bribery in the disposi- tion of the grant. Without doubt the successful result of this investiga- tion was owing largely to his persistent and laborious work upon the committee. To accomplish the full purpose of the investigation it was necessary to provide additional laws to compel the attendance of wit- nesses and to compel them to testify. He was obliged to frame a mode of procedure, to get up interrogatories, to supply forms of commitment for contempt in cases of refusals of witnesses to answer, after commit- ment to attend, and argue and defend applications for the writ of habeas corpus, and, at the same time, keep his attention on the committee work proper. His labor during this investigation was most exhausting, but he proved equal to the task.
During twenty years Mr. Knowlton had the largest practice in the fifth circuit. In addressing the court or the jury his style was plain,
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natural and easy, straightforward, strong and dignified. He was some- times lofty in his speeches, but used no borrowed phrases and had but little imagination. He was a case winner, though there was nothing in his manner to fascinate the jury, and everything to displease a judge. He was at times offensively dictatorial to the court and would inferen- tially inform the judge that he was ignorant of the law. He rarely smiled, and his attempts at humor were grewsome failures.
Mr. Knowlton was ungainly in person and awkward in his walk. He was honest, confiding, and a pleasant companion. He was a good musician and often, when he had a perplexing case, would sit astride a trunk and play hour after hour on the violin. When worn out he has been known to go into a tin-shop and sleep with the clatter of tinner's tools as a lullaby.
Reed's Bench and Bar is authority for the statement that Mr. Knowlton, in his will, made in 1875 and bequeathing about $3,000, used this language: "I have labored too continuously for others and ne- glected the collection of many demands justly due me. The result is evidenced by my estate. Sickness and disease have, the greater por- tion of my life, attended me with great fidelity and I have suffered much from pain. That will cease; when it does, I urgently request that no prayer be made, and that no sermon be preached or delivered over my remains by any one who professes to believe that there is an all-wise, all-powerful and infinitely just Being who now is, and always has been, abundantly able to prevent human suffering and all wrong-doing, but who does nothing, and never has done anything, to stay or diminish either."
JAMES H. LOCKWOOD.
The earliest permanent resident of Wisconsin who was admitted to the bar and practiced law, was James H. Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien. He was born in Peru, Clinton county, New York, December 7, 1793. He lived with his father there and at other places in the vicinity, and worked on a farm until he was sixteen years old, his only educational ad- vantages being the common schools, which he attended alternately with his work on his father's farm, until he was seventeen years of age, when
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he commenced the study of law. He did not pursue his law studies very long before he concluded that he "should never make a great lawyer," and abandoned them, as he then supposed forever, and sought and obtained a situation as a merchant's clerk. His employer was a sutler in the army, and as a result of that employment he went imme- diately after the war of 1812-15 up the lakes to Mackinac, where he taught school during the winter of 1815-16. The next year he visited Green Bay with the first American troops that went there to establish a garrison, and he became engaged in the Indian trade. In September, 1816, he arrived at Prairie du Chien, but, still trading with the Sioux Indians, he did not make that his permanent residence until the fall of 1819.
Upon the organization of Crawford county in 1819 Mr. Lockwood was tendered the appointment of probate judge, but declined it, accept- ing that of justice of the peace. During the winter of 1823-24 he resumed the study of law under Judge Doty, who had recently arrived there as "additional judge," and spent the winter and spring there and gave to. Mr. Lockwood the benefit of his library. There was then no lawyer in Crawford or Brown counties, and at the first court at Prairie du Chien in May, 1824, he was admitted as an attorney and appointed prosecuting attorney and attended the courts there and in Brown and Mackinac counties. In 1824 he was appointed postmaster, and continued to prac- tice law in connection with his mercantile pursuits for many years. He was elected a member of the house of representatives in the first ter- ritorial legislature, which met at Belmont in 1836. He died at Prairie du Chien, August 24, 1857, enjoying the friendship and esteem of all who knew him.
HENRY S. MAGOON.
Henry Sterling Magoon was born in what is now the township of Monticello, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, January 31, 1832; he was educated at Mount Morris seminary in Illinois and the Western Mili- tary college at Drennon, Kentucky, graduating from the latter with the highest honors of his class in June, 1853; subsequently he attended the Montrose law school at Frankfort, Kentucky; in 1855 he was professor
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of ancient languages in the Nashville university, Tennessee; in 1857 he returned to Wisconsin and began the practice of the law at Shullsburg, where he remained until 1864, when he removed to Darlington, to which place the county seat had been transferred.
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