USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 2
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139
Rose, James R ..
207
Rose, J. R. & D. S.
203
Rosenberg, M. B.
.580
Ross, Frank A ....... 457 (Biog. 466-468), 469
Ross & Dwyer.
457, 467
Ross, Dwyer & Hanitch .... 456, 457, 459, 467
Ross, Dwyer & Smith ..
.457, 459
Ross, Dwyer, Smith, Hanitch & Douglas, 457.
Rountree, John H. 229
Rowley, Eugene.
427
Rublee, Horace.
.98, 174
Ruger, Thomas H
498, 509
Ruger, William ..
487 (Biog. 508-511), 512
Runkle, Henry C.
.60
Rusk, Jeremiah M. .238, 356, 384, 468 Rusk, Lycurgus, J .. 34, 36, 238 (Biog. 468-469) Rusk & Vinje .468
Rusk & Wyman 238, 468
Ryan, Edward G.
.. 7, 379, 413, 501, 502, 551
Ryan. Hugh
57
Paine, Stephen O.
.164 (Biog. 210)
Ryan, Timothy E
Rycraft, John.
.542 (Biog. 545-547)
Palmer, Henry L ...... 46 (Biog. 47-48), 49, 68
Parish, John
K.
115
Salomon, Edward
69
Park, B. B
282
Sale, Linas B
563
Sanborn, A. L.
36
Sanborn, Alden S.
.348, 363
Sanborn, A. W.
282
Sawyer, Philetus
.74, 135
.
XV
PERSONAL INDEX.
Schmitz, A. J ... 140
Seaman & Williams. 14
Seaton, J. W. 229
Sedgwick, G. G. & C. H. 142
Sedgwick & Forrest .. 143
Semmes, McMillan & Lewis.
370
Servis, Charles E
261
Sessions, M. H
464, 465
Sharpstein, John R.
.47
Shea. W. F. 144
Sheldon, H. W. .587
Siebecker, Robert G., 317, 320 (Biog. 324-326), 366.
Sibree, Henry.
.117
Silverthorn, Willis C ..... 325 (Biog. 578-579)
Silverthorn & Bump .. .579
Silverthorn & Hurley
.104,
583
Silverthorn, Hurley & Ryan
584
Simpson, Jefferson B .. .210
Sloan, A. Scott. 71, 116, 485, 488 (Biog. 523- 526). 527.
Sloan, George W
.526 (Biog. 548-549)
Sloan, Harry C .... .523 Sloan, I. C., 16, 17, 320, 348, 379. 401, 475, 479, 501, 523.
Sloan, Stevens & Morris.
.373
Spooner, John C., 58, 305. 306, 338 (Biog. 381-
399), 454.
Spooner, Philip L., 248, 341, 344, 382 (Biog. 399-402).
Spooner & Lamb 132, 328
Spooner, Sanborn & Kerr .. .394, 506
Sprague, Ezra T., 73, 340, 429 (Biog. 432- 433).
Smith, Abram D. 47
Smith, Amos A. L .. .28
Smith. Charles .... 457, 459, 467 (Biog. 469-472)
Smith, Charles J .273 (Biog. 275-276)
Smith, E. P
.523, 526
Smith. George B., 16, 356 (Biog. 377-381), 430 Smith, J. Montgomery, 154. 157 (Biog. 213- 214).
Smith, John Y. 327
Smith, Nicholas 216
Smith, R. B. .320
Smith
William
.487
Smith, William E. .68
Smith, William R., 153, 154, 213 (Biog. 214- 216).
Smith, Winfield. .69
Smith & Buell 427
Smith & Collins. 430
Smith & Keyes .432
Somers, Peter J
59
Stark, Joshua.
.30, 34, 47, 63
Start. R. H. 301, 598 Stevens, E. Ray. .363
Stevens, B. J. .370
Stevens, Flower & Morris. .373
Stevens & Morris.
.373
Steward, Frank C 96
Stewart, Alva, 237, 317 (Biog. 318-323), 324, 403.
Stow, Alexander W
.71, 72, 73, 112
Street, Thomas P. 151 Strong, Moses M., 34, 36, 148. 153, 164, 205 (Biog. 224-227), 327, 342, 365, 429.
Stroud, James N
151
Sumner, C. B.
507
Sumner. D. H.
.550
Sumner & Tullar.
.550
Sumner, Tullar & Hemlock. 550
Swanson, S. T
346
Taggard, F.
518
Talmadge, I. K. 463
Taylor, David.
.63, 112, 113, 202, 418
Taylor, Emmons
(Biog. 403-406), 407
Taylor, H. A.
... 299
Taylor, S. H.
183
Tenney, C. K.
370
Tenney, H. W
408
Tenney, H. W. & D. K. 409
Terhune, William F.
260
Thomas, Ormsby B ..
. (Biog. 216-217), 274
Thompson, A. E ..
130
Thompson, Harshaw & Davidson. .94
Thurston, John M.
526
Tichenor, V. H.
529
Tierney, P. R.
.320
Timlin. William H. 63, 143
Timlin & Mansean
144
Todd, Samuel J
.475 (Biog. 518-510)
Tomkins, William M ..
.. 573 (Biog. 575-577)
Tomkins & Merrill.
.573, 577
Tourtellotte, Mills
195 (Biog. 276-278)
Treat, E. B.
132, 140
Truesdell, John C.
.109
Tucker, William H
258, 259, 260
Turner, E. S.
523, 526
Turner, J ..
236
Turner, W. J ..
.63
Turner & Barney .239
Van Alstyne, C. H. 537
Van Dyke & Van Dyke. .546
Vinje, Aad J ..
445 (Biog. 447-451)
Vinje, T. J.
468
Vineyard, James R ...
437
Vilas, William F., 16, 236, 337, 356, 363, 396, 397 (Biog. 415-424), 562, 602.
Vilas & Bryant.
.. 307
Vilas & Remington. 370
Troman, Charles E
.. 554 (Biog. 562-564)
Wakeley. Charles T
409, 416
Wakeley. Eleazer.
.416
Walworth, Clinton
40, 65
Wallber, Emil
.60 (Biog. 69-70)
Warden, A. M ..
452
Warden & Alvord.
.452
Waring, George D.
.584
Washburn, C. C.
.148, 431
Washburn, Ganen W., 73, 75, 76, 77. 429 (Biog. 431-432).
Webb, Charles M .... 280 (Biog. 286-287), 293
xvi
PERSONAL INDEX.
Weeks. T. D. .. 508
Wegg, David S. 52
Wilson & Martin .. 223
Weisbrod, Charles A ...... 96 (Biog. 110-111)
Winans, John. 487 (Biog. 520-521)
Welch & Botkin .329
Winans & Dixon 521
Winans & Fethers. .283, 521
Winans, Fethers & Jeffris .521
Winans & Hyzer. 490, 521
Winans & McElroy 521
Winans & Russell. 521
Wing. Merrick P .261 (Biog. 278)
White, F. M. 309
Wing & Prentiss 273
White, J. S .. 467. 469
Winkler, Frederick C
28
White & Forrest. .132
Winslow, John B.
325
White & Smith 467
Whiton. Edward V. .511
Whitehead, Matheson & Smith. 506
Woodward, Gilbert M., 36, 268 (Biog. 278- 279).
Wilde, R. W. .94
Wootton & Engeset. 427
Willard, V. A. .579
Wright, Alpheus. 228
Williams, Francis. .14
Wyman, Orvis B., 232 (Biog. 237-238), 262, 275.
Williams, George L. .293
Williams, O. T.
134
York, H. D.
229
-
.
Wells, Daniel, Jr. 40
Wells & Crocker 44
Wheeler, Edwin, 72, 73, 75, 95, 429 (Biog. 430-431).
Wheeler, E. G. .263
White, C. M. .132
Woodle, Isaac ..
498 (Biog. 521-522)
Woodle. Eldredge & Pease .. 498
Wigman & Martin .566
Wilson, Robert J. .203 (Biog. 221-224)
THE ΜΙΣΜΑΤΙΚΕΣ ITH & ENG C
10
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN
VOLUME II.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FEDERAL COURTS IN WISCONSIN.
THE DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN AND THE EASTERN DISTRICT.
When Wisconsin was admitted into the Union as a state in June, 1848, it was made by the act of Congress one judicial district of the United States to be called the district of Wisconsin. A district court was required to be held therein, to consist of one judge, who should reside in the district and be called the district judge. The district was not attached to, or made part of, any federal circuit; but the act pro- vided that the district judge should have and exercise the same juris- diction and powers in his district vested by law in the circuit courts of the United States-except jurisdiction of appeals and writs of error -its decisions being subject to review only by the supreme court of the United States.
ANDREW G. MILLER.
Andrew Galbraith Miller, who, from November, 1838, had served as territorial judge, succeeding Judge Frazer in that office, was ap- pointed district judge of the new district, and for fourteen years dis- charged all the functions of the federal judiciary in the state. His de- cisions during all this time were virtually the end of the law for litigants,
2
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
as the difficulties and expense of appeal to the only court competent to correct his errors, sitting at the national capital, were in most cases insuperable. The business of the court embraced the whole range of federal jurisdiction, legal and equitable, including patent cases, cases in admiralty and bankruptcy, and all actions and prosecutions arising under the revenue and criminal statutes of the United States. The large and nearly absolute power vested in the district judge could not fail to excite the jealousy of lawyers and their clients, especially those living at a distance from the seat of justice. This feeling was greatly increased by the fact that eastern merchants found the court, and its process and officers, efficient help in enforcing payment of their demands by delin- quent debtors. It is just to say that during this period the great powers of the court were exercised with signal ability and a sincere purpose and effort to do equal and exact justice within the rules and limitations of the law. The court had to deal with questions of the gravest import- ance. In 1854 an effort to enforce the odious fugitive slave act of 1850 led to a series of proceedings in the federal courts and the courts of the state which assumed national importance and contributed not a little to preparing the way for the conflict of arms between the free and the slave states in 1861. A negro named Glover, claimed by one Gar- land of Missouri to be his fugitive slave, was arrested by a United States deputy marshal at his home in Racine county, under process issued by the district judge, and was brought to the jail of Milwaukee county. The news of the arrest quickly spread, and it was reported that the negro had been roughly beaten by his captors, and might be turned over to the supposed owner and hurried out of the state without a public examination. A crowd of excited and sympathetic citizens was drawn together in the courthouse park by the efforts of two or three men- Sherman M. Booth and John Rycraft being the most active-and after listening to brief addresses, proceeded to break into the county jail and liberate Glover and aid his escape from United States territory. The chief rescuers, Booth and Rycraft, were prosecuted criminally in the district court for violation of the act of Congress for the rendition of fugitive slaves, and were both convicted. These trials excited the most intense interest, and were attended by. crowds of citizens. The feeling
3
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
in the city against the law was very strong, and most of those who thronged the courtroom daily were in warm sympathy with the ac- cused. Judge Miller presided with calm dignity and unflinching firm- ness and courage. He believed the law to be valid and his duty to en- force it plain under his official oath, whatever he might think of its wisdom or abstract justice. In these cases and others which grew out of the same rescue Judge Miller exhibited in a remarkable degree the qualities of firmness and unswerving devotion to duty as he saw and apprehended it, which always characterized him.
In 1859 bills were filed in the district court for the foreclosure of trust mortgages upon the road, property, and franchises of the La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad company, including the lands granted by Con- gress to the state and by the state to that company in 1856, to aid in the construction of portions of the road. These suits were the beginning of a prolonged struggle for the possession and title of the mortgaged property, in which every effort which the talent and skill of very able lawyers could suggest was employed to secure advantage, and, if pos- sible, victory. Novel and intricate questions were pressed upon the court for solution. The management of the road by the court through its receiver, and the adjustment of conflicting equities between contest- ing claimants were matters of the gravest difficulty, and little help could be derived from the practice of other courts in like cases, for precedents at that day were few. Here the calm, deliberate and unruf- fled temper of the presiding judge was maintained throughout the con- test. His decisions were often bitterly assailed. Appeal after appeal was taken to the supreme court, but he was rarely reversed. Feeling ran so high at one time that one of the parties interested attempted to set on foot impeachment proceedings. The effort, however, utterly failed for lack of the slightest evidence of improper conduct or unworthy motive in any official act of the judge.
Judge Miller's paternal ancestors came from the north of Ireland and were of Scotch-Irish stock. His mother's maiden name was Jane Galbraith, and she was of English ancestry. Both families emigrated to America in colonial days and settled in Pennsylvania on lands which they bought of William Penn. They were active in the struggle of
4
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the colonies for independence and in the colonial army during the revo- lutionary war. Matthew Miller, father of Andrew G., served with the Pennsylvania militia in the Niagara campaign of 1814.
Born near the present site of Carlisle, in Cumberland county, Penn- sylvania, on September 18, 1801, Andrew G. Miller was the eldest of a family of ten children. He prepared for college at an academy in his native town, matriculated at Dickinson college, went from there to Washington college of Pennsylvania, and was graduated from that in- stitution September 19, 1819. He read law in the office of Mr. An- drew Carruthers, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1822. His father died soon after and the care of the large family devolved largely upon him, a burden which he bore with cheerful, manly mien. In 1827 he married Miss Caroline E. Kurtz, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whose father, Benjamin Kurtz, helped to establish the Lutheran church in America.
Mr. Miller practiced his profession in his own and adjoining coun- ties with good success until 1838, and for three years held the office of attorney general. November 8, 1838, President Van Buren com- missioned him associate justice of the supreme court of Wisconsin, to succeed William C. Frazer, deceased, and he at once repaired to his new field of work. He reached Milwaukee after a tedious journey of a month, took the oath of office December 10, 1838, and entered upon his duties, which he discharged with signal ability for many years.
After Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, in 1848, President Polk appointed him judge of the United States district court for the Wisconsin district, which then comprised all the territory in the new state, and so continued until 1870, when the state was divided into the eastern and western districts. Judge Miller was then assigned to the eastern district, and there continued his service, giving honor and dig- nity to his office and profession until near the close of his long and use- ful life. He had a high ideal of his profession and of what a lawyer should be; was always a close student, a profound thinker and reasoner, and to him, perhaps, more than to any other man, is this state indebted for the acknowledged high standing of her judiciary. He had a nobil- ity and strength of character that nerved him to stand firmly by what
5
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
he believed to be right, and passion or prejudice were never known to swerve him from his fixed purpose to uphold and enforce the law. It is true that his decisions did not always accord with popular sentiment. But the fact that nearly all of his judgments that were reviewed by the supreme court of the United States were affirmed, sufficiently vindicates his course and establishes the soundness of his judicial opinions. Actu- ated as he was by high and pure motives, he endured adverse criticism and popular clamor, that at times rose to censure, unmoved. No man ever had more complete mastery of himself. Whatever he may have thought or felt at such times, he bore it patiently and made no sign. If at times he seemed unsympathetic and self-reliant, there was never- theless running through his sedate temperament a deep undercurrent of feeling that only on rare occasions came to the surface. With him, constancy was an inborn quality; one could not have had a friend more faithful than was he, and his devotion to those near and dear to him was as beautiful as it was tender and true. He was a learned and sagacious judge and an upright and just man. In everything he recog- nized his responsibility to God and his dependence upon Him; and with simple, yet sublime, faith he leaned upon the scriptural promise, "If any man lack wisdom let him ask God that giveth to all men lib- erally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." In all personal and social relations he was genial and companionable and always mind- ful of his duty to others, bearing himself with a quiet, dignified and Christian mien that challenged admiration and respect.
After honoring his office for a period of thirty-five years, Judge Mil- ler, on November II, 1873, announced his determination to retire from the bench in the language following: "Two years ago, then of the age when federal judges are allowed to resign on a continuance of their salaries, I was inclined to accept the terms of the law, but being blessed with good health, and not having the plea of infirmity, in response to the expressed wishes of numerous highly respectable and influential gentlemen of all parties and professions, to retain my place, and not be- lieving it proper to retire immediately upon arriving at the specified . age, I concluded to continue in office until the expiration of thirty-five years from the date of my first commission. The time set for my resig-
6
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
nation has arrived, and I make the announcement to the president of the bar association that this day I resign the office of district judge of the United States for the eastern district of Wisconsin, to take effect on the first day of January next. An earlier day for my retiring would be agreeable to me, and should have been set, but for an amount of busi- ness pending, or submitted and not disposed of, which requires my at- tention in the meantime.
"I am the oldest federal judge in commission and the sole surviving judge who administered the bankrupt act of 1841. As judge of the ter- ritorial supreme court, I attended its annual terms at Madison and held the district courts in the third district of the territory, which, before the admission of the state into the Union, was composed of nine counties, and also the terms of the district court as judge of the United States, without missing a term from sickness or any other cause.
"Although the infirmities of age cannot be pleaded as an excuse for my resignation, yet after passing fifty-four years of my life in the law, as a student in a law office, as a member of the bar, and, as a judge, thirty-five years of the time in public service, I hope that the members of the bar and my fellow-citizens generally may approve of my retiring from official duty in the evening of my days.
"I love the legal profession and esteem the worthy practitioner as holding the most honorable position in the country. And I shall retire with thankfulness to the bar for the aid they have rendered me by their briefs and arguments in my judicial investigations, and with my best wishes for their prosperity and happiness."
In accordance with this announcement he retired from the bench in the full vigor of his mental and physical powers, carrying with him the highest esteem of those who had been associated with him in his official relations; of the members of the bar whose professional duties had brought them into close contact with him; and of his fellow-citizens of all classes, who, by long acquaintance, had come to love him for his genuine worth. And all were united in the wish that he might live to enjoy in Milwaukee, the home of his adoption, the rich fruitage of his ripe experience and all the happiness of a peaceful, green old age. But he had fulfilled his mission. His work was done. Suddenly, and with-
7
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
out premonition, on September 30, 1874, while in apparent health, he was stricken down and his spirit took its flight to that bourne whence no traveler returns.
His decease was the occasion of universal grief that found expres- sion in the highest tributes that a noble and honored life could inspire.
The following from the lips of the late Chief Justice Ryan but voices the universal sentiment regarding him: "From whatever point of view we look back upon Judge Miller's professional career in Wis- consin, it must be conceded that for the greatness of his office, for the remarkable length of his official life, for the public importance of his administration, for the vast aggregate of his judicial labors, few judges have higher claims to eminence. Think what men may of his adminis- tration, there was something grand in the lonely self-reliance and stead- fastness of the man which none could fail to admire. Regardless of all outcry, he held his way, and so he appeared to others arbitrary when he was only true to his own sense of the duty and dignity of his office. And I am happy to be a witness to my own belief, founded, I think, on thorough knowledge of the man and his administration, that Judge Miller left the bench without a sense of wilful wrong done upon it."
Judge Miller was a consistent member of the Episcopal church and carried his religion into all the concerns of his daily life. He feared God and loved his fellow-men. He was domestic in his tastes, and loved his home, and under its genial influences the austerity of the bench relaxed and he appeared the devoted husband, the kind, indulgent father and the faithful companion.
Judge Miller served as district judge until January 1, 1874. He was succeeded by
JAMES H. HOWE.
Mr. Howe was born in Turner, Maine, December 5, 1827, and re- ceived his general education at academies in that state. He read law with Bradley & Eastman at Saco, Maine, and Timothy O. Howe, at Green Bay, Wisconsin; was admitted to the bar there in 1848. He practiced his profession in partnership with the latter and with Mr. Norris, also a resident of Green Bay. He was general solicitor for the
8
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
Chicago & Northwestern railway, with headquarters at Chicago; was attorney general of Wisconsin from January 2, 1860, until October 7, 1862. He resigned that office and became colonel of the thirty-second Wisconsin volunteer infantry, serving with his regiment till some time in 1864. He was commissioned United States district judge for the eastern district of Wisconsin January 3. 1874, and resigned that office January 1, 1875. His death occurred in 1893. It was understood that he accepted the judgeship as a relief from the strain of professional labor; but judicial life and duties proved less congenial than he ex- pected. He is said to have been a courteous gentleman and a sound and able lawyer.
Judge Howe's successor was
CHARLES E. DYER.
In the annals of the bench and bar of the country there are few men whose personal, professional and thoroughly reliable character was so fixed from early manhood as that of Charles E. Dyer, judge for thirteen years of the United States district court for the eastern district of Wis- consin, and now general counsel of the Northwestern Mutual Life In- surance Company. He is a native of the state of New York, and was born in the town of Cicero, Onondaga county, on the 5th of October, 1834. Dr. Edward G. Dyer, his father, was a pioneer of the west and a physician well known in southern Wisconsin long before it had as- sumed the dignity of statehood. Emigrating from New York to Ohio in 1835, he evidently believed that his destiny lay in the country even further to the west, for, as early as 1836, he explored much of the re- gion with which, after its settlement, he became identified in the prac- tice of his profession. At this time, before the establishment of any regular passenger service by water, he came on horseback from Ohio to Chicago, and walked the entire distance from Chicago to the place in Wisconsin territory which afterward became his home, now known as Burlington, Racine county. He followed Indian trails, or the in- structions of stray settlers, and spent the first night of his arrival in a shanty on the bank of the Fox river. Dr. Dyer was so pleased with the prospects of this locality that, in 1839, he returned with his family and
Nelke & Co. Publishers.
Charles & Oyen
9
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
located in what had by this time become a little settlement, then known as Foxville. Here he lived until 1888, dying in September of that year, full of years and honors as a physician and prominent member of the community of which he was one of the principal founders.
Judge Dyer's paternal ancestry comes of that branch of the family which settled originally in Rhode Island and was transplanted to Ver- mont. Some members of the Rhode Island family were connected collaterally with Roger Williams, the founder of the state and the father of religious liberty in America. One of the ancestors of the subject of this sketch, in the direct line, was Mary Dyer, who was hung for heresy on Boston Common, June 1, 1660. Dr. Dyer's mother was Mary Galusha, a relative of Jonas Galusha, one of the early governors of the Green Mountain state.
Dr. Dyer's wife, before marriage Ann Eliza Morse, daughter of Wil- liam Morse, was of an old Massachusetts family. Her father was born in the Old Bay state in 1780, removed to Ohio in 1834 and died in 1845. Mrs. Dyer died in 1880, when Racine county, which was but a frontier district when she first settled in Burlington, had become thickly popu- lated and among the most prosperous sections of the northwest. Both Dr. and Mrs. Dyer were pioneers combining the hardihood and intelli- gence which have done so much to make Wisconsin a commonwealth of distinction in the sisterhood of states.
It was in the rude log cabin which was his first home in Burlington that the son was taught to read by this pioneer mother. The evening light by which the instruction was imparted was usually furnished by the blazing logs heaped in the rude fireplace. It is stated that, after mastering his primers, the boy's first attempt at continuous reading was, with maternal assistance, to decipher the sixth chapter of Matthew and the twenty-third psalm. He afterward attended the district schools of the locality, acquired such knowledge of the higher mathematics and Latin as the limited advantages of that early day afforded, and from natural inclination became a diligent student of history and general literature.
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