USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 21
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P. B. SIMPSON.
P. B. Simpson came to Shullsburg on July 4, 1847, having left In- diana, where he had practiced law for several years. He was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, October 13, 1819, but was raised in Jefferson county, New York. He was admitted to the bar from the Cincinnati law college in 1843 and commenced practice in Peru, Indiana. After arriving in Wisconsin he soon became one of the prominent members of the bar; he also took an active part in politics. He was a democrat from his early life and was a personal friend of Stephen A. Douglas, of whom he was a great admirer. He held different village, town and county offices and was a member of the assembly in 1853 and of the senate from 1856 to 1860, being chairman of the judiciary committee in each house while a member. He was a candidate for Congress in 1863, but was defeated by Amasa Cobb by a small majority. As a lawyer he always held a high standing, but became incapacitated from active practice during the last thirty years of his life by deafness, which gradually grew worse as his age advanced. He was a large, dignified and fine-looking man; was strictly honest and highly respected by his neighbors. He was married to Mary A. Baird at Tiffin, Ohio, in Sep- tember, 1843 .. She was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on May 25,
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1822, and they had three children, only one of whom, Jefferson B., lived beyond childhood. He took an active part in much of the early mining litigation of that portion of the state and was the chairman of the assem- bly committee to whom was referred the charges made against Levi Hubbell in the celebrated impeachment proceedings against that judge in 1853.
Mr. Simpson died of appendicitis in Mobile, Alabama, on April 28, · 1895, to which city he had taken his wife, who was in poor health. His wife and son yet survive him and reside in Shullsburg, Wisconsin.
J. MONTGOMERY SMITH.
J. Montgomery Smith was born at Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, on February 26th, 1834. His parents were William R. and Mary (Van- dyke) Smith, of whom the first mentioned, also a member of the legal profession, was a native of Philadelphia, who, coming to Wisconsin in 1836, in connection with the Winnebago Indians, was so favorably im- pressed with the country and its possibilities that two years later he brought his family and settled at Mineral Point. In the preceding year he had assisted Governor Dodge in negotiating the treaty with the Chippewa Indians at Fort Snelling. William R. Smith died in 1868 while on a visit at Quincy, Illinois. He had been appointed adjutant general by Governor Dodge and was a member of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin.
Having received a common school education at Mineral Point, the subject of this sketch became a victim to the fever for gold and the de- sire for independence, and went to California in 1852 by land, where he stayed four years. Then returning to Mineral Point, the study of law was begun with his father, who at that period was attorney general; J. H. Clary and Judge Crawford, all of whom were practicing in that town. In 1862, having taken his examination and been admitted to the bar, he went for a time into the office of Judge Crawford, but since that time has always been in business for himself. There have been few im- portant cases in his portion of the country with which he has not been connected. His practice, which has been of the general order, is large and he has at all times been successful.
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From his earliest years a strong democrat in his political views, he has taken a prominent part in the working of his party. He was a delegate to the democratic national convention at Cincinnati in 1880, to that of St. Louis in 1888, and in 1892 was elected a presidential elector and voted for Grover Cleveland for President. The estimation in which he was held by his party and the community may be gathered from the numerous public positions he has held. He was justice of the peace in 1862, elected superintendent of schools in 1864, a position he retained for two years; was district attorney from 1868 to 1872; mayor of his city in 1879, 1880 and 1885; city attorney in 1891 and 1892, and a member of the county board in 1892, in which year he was also a member of the legislature. He was appointed member of the southern Ute Indian commission under President Cleveland's first administra- tion and a member of the Chippewa Indian commission during the same President's latter administration.
Mr. Smith was married at Mineral Point in 1862 to Antonia Hilde- brand, by whom he had one child, Richard M. She died in 1868, and two years later he married Jennie M. Crawford, of Mineral Point, widow of Judge Crawford of the supreme court, by whom he has one daughter, Etta M., who is the wife of H. N. Laflin, of Milwaukee. His second wife, who was very prominent in all charitable duties and social organi- zations, was a member of the world's fair commission as alternate to Mrs. Lynde, of Milwaukee. The duties she was called upon to perform and the anxieties attending thereto so affected her health that on her return to her home in 1893 she had an attack of apoplexy, to which she succumbed. Mr. Smith's prominence in business circles and his well recognized ability have found other outcome as well as that entailed upon him by his professional duties. He has been largely interested in mining matters and was formerly interested as a stockholder in the woolen mills at Mineral Point.
WILLIAM R. SMITH.
William Rudolph Smith was born at La Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1787; in 1792 his father removed to Philadelphia, where the son was given institutional and private instruc-
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tion until 1803, when, as private secretary, he accompanied his father- William Moore Smith-one of the commissioners under the sixth ar- ticle of Jay's treaty to adjust and settle the demands of the British claimants, to England. While there young Smith began a course of legal study under the direction of a competent teacher, which he con- tinued on his return to America. In 1808 he became a member of the Philadelphia bar, and in 1809 entered upon the practice of his profes- sion in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He served as deputy attorney gen- eral for Cambria county under appointment from three attorneys gen- eral, his first service being rendered in 1811. In the war with Great Britain he was colonel of the sixty-second regiment of the Pennsyl- vania reserves and was in command when it was ordered to Erie to support General Scott in the movement on Canada. He was in Balti- more during the siege of that city and witnessed the disaster at Bladens- burg and the burning of Washington. He served as a member of both branches of the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1828 he removed to Bed- ford county; his residence there continued until 1836 or 1837, when he was appointed commissioner, in conjunction with Henry Dodge, to treat with the Chippewa Indians for the purchase of their Wisconsin lands. This led to his removal to the west, and in 1838 he settled at Mineral Point, Wisconsin. In 1839 he was appointed by Governor Dodge adjutant general, a position he held about twelve years; he was also district attorney of Iowa county for several years. In 1840 he presided over the first democratic convention held at the seat of gov- ernment and drafted the address of that body to the electors; in 1846 he was clerk of the legislative council and in the same year was a dele- gate to the constitutional convention; in 1849 and 1850 he was chief clerk of the senate. In 1852 the legislature authorized General Smith to compile a documentary history of Wisconsin from its earliest settle- ment to that time. This work was prosecuted with such diligence that it was ready for publication in 1854, and was published by the state. In 1856 and 1857 he served as attorney general, having been elected in 1855. At the expiration of his term, having passed his seventieth year, he retired from active life. His death occurred at Quincy, Illinois, whence he had gone on a visit to a daughter, August 22, 1868.
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After his retirement from public life General Smith enjoyed the · quiet of his home and the society of his friends. He had touched life at many points; had seen much more of the world than the great ma- jority of his associates among the early settlers. Mr. Reed says in his - Bench and Bar that his reminiscences of Washington and the states- men of his day and many incidents and anecdotes of historical interest " were related with dramatic effect. The hands of Washington had rested on his head: he had listened to the reading of the farewell ad- dress; he was present in the German Lutheran church in Philadelphia when Major General Lee, by the appointment of Congress, pronounced the funeral oration of Washington, and he was in the theater on the night when the national anthem of "Hail Columbia" was first sung, and was witness to the enthusiasm with which the song was greeted. He had seen every President from Washington to Lincoln.
O. B. THOMAS.
Ormsby Brunson Thomas, of Prairie du Chien, has long been a leading member of the bar of the fifth circuit, and has occupied posi- tions of influence and honor in the state. He was born at Sandgate, Bennington county, Vermont, August 21, 1832. In 1836 his parents came west and settled at Prairie du Chien, where he has resided ever since. His general education was obtained at the common schools and at Burr seminary, Manchester, Vermont; he prepared for admission to the bar at the National law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, whence he was graduated in 1856. In 1857 he entered upon the practice of his profession at Prairie du Chien, which was continued until 1862, in which year he entered the military service as captain of company D, thirty-first Wisconsin infantry. On being mustered out in 1864, at the close of his term of service, he entered into a law partnership with Nicholas Smith, which continued about two years, after which he practiced alone until 1875, when he and Charles S. Fuller became part- ners and so remained until the latter's death in 1897.
Mr. Thomas has been prominent as a republican ever since he at- tained his majority. He has served several terms as district attorney of Crawford county; was a member of the assembly in 1862, 1865 and
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1867; a presidential elector in 1872; state senator in 1880 and 1881; a member of the house of representatives in the forty-ninth, fiftieth and fifty-first Congresses.
June 5, 1875, Mr. Thomas married Miss Sarah P. Rosencrantz, of Crawford county; her death occurred in 1884. Two children survive her, John and Carrie C.
R. A. WATKINS.
R. A. Watkins is a native of this state, having been born in an old log house on a farm in Grant county, January 15th, 1853. He is the son of Stephen D. and Florinda (Hirst) Watkins, of whom the first named, a farmer by occupation, moved into Lancaster in 1866 and died there two years later. He had settled in Ohio in 1837, when he was about sixteen years old, and there he remained for eight years, then moving into Grant county and for a great many years farming during the summer and teaching schools during the winter. His father, John Watkins, had died in Windsor county, Vermont, about 1829, while the great grandfather of the subject of this sketch had served his country in the revolutionary war.
R. A. Watkins received the ordinary education of the common school in his native town, and whatever has been added to this is the result of his own energy and determination to make a place for him- self in the world. The knowledge of law necessary to pass his exam- ination was obtained from Bushnell & Clark, at Lancaster, and in the fall of 1876 he was admitted to practice by Judge Mills of the circuit court during his last term on the bench. For three years he con- tinued his law studies, at the end of that time being offered and ac- cepting a partnership in the firm. Two years later, July, 1892, on the withdrawal of John G. Clark, it became Bushnell & Watkins. Later Mr. Moses became a partner and the firm assumed its present title, Bushnell, Watkins & Moses. A general practice is handled and while Mr. Watkins recalls no case of more than local importance, the number of cases peculiarly interesting to that section of the country has been very large.
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A democrat in his political opinions and an earnest worker for his party, Mr. Watkins has neither sought nor held any political prefer- ment. He has been a member of the Masonic body since 1890, and is now junior warden of his lodge.
He was married in 1881 at Lancaster to Ellen M., niece of Colonel Clark and daughter of Charles I. Clark, who then lived in Texas and entered the civil war on the side of the south, though sympathizing with the north, and died in Texas before the organization of his regi- ment was complete. They have five children, Charles S., Ralph B., Margaret, Ellen and John C. Both Mr. Watkins and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
ALBERT S. WHITE.
Albert S. White was born at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, June 27th, 1868, his parents being Samuel and Mary (Coad) White. Samuel White, who was a lumberman and grain dealer, had accompanied his parents from Cornwall, England, to Wisconsin, about 1840. In 1849 he was, like thousands of others, stricken with the California fever and went to and remained in that state for some time. On his return to Mineral Point that town was again made his home, and there he re- mained until his decease in 1885.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the high school of his native town. Law was then studied by him under Alexander Wilson, of Mineral Point, and he later attended the law department of Michigan university, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, entering in 1887, and was graduated in 1889. He was admitted to practice before the su- preme court of Wisconsin at Madison in the following year. For a short time he resided in Chicago, having obtained a position in the office of the law firm of Miller, Starr & Lehman. The following year, 1891, he went to Sioux City, Iowa, twelve months later returning to his old home at Mineral Point. He opened his present office in 1892 and, as has been stated, carries on a good general practice.
In his political views he belongs to the democratic party and is an unflinching advocate of the free silver doctrine. He was the democratic nominee for district attorney of Iowa county in 1892, but was defeated
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for that office; was elected justice of the peace in 1892, and in 1895 city attorney of Mineral Point, and mayor of the city in 1896.
Mr. White was married in September, 1891, at Platteville, Wiscon- sin, to Mary Lanyon. They have three children, one boy, Cyrus L., and two girls, Shirley M. and Gladys T.
Of secret societies with which he is connected, he joined the Knights of Pythias in -1893, and is a member of Mineral Point division, No. 15, U. R. K. P., having passed through all the chairs and being chosen in 1896 as representative to grand lodge. He joined the Masons in 1895, and is a member of Royal Arch Masons. Mr. White is also an Odd Fellow, a member of Modern Woodmen of America, Independent Or- der of Foresters, Knights of the Globe, and an honorary member of the Rathbone Sisters, an auxiliary order of the Knights of Pythias.
JOHN K. WILLIAMS.
John K. Williams was born at Smithfield, McKean county, Penn- sylvania, and was "brought up on a farm;" his education was acquired in the common schools, and in his early manhood he taught school and read law; his admission to the bar occurred in 1845. In 1846 he left his native state and became a resident of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, then in a high state of prosperity in common with all the lead mining region. He opened an office there, resided there and practiced there until his death. He was especially an office lawyer,; though his abilities as an advocate were fair, and if he had cultivated a taste for the conflicts of the forum he would probably have succeeded as an advocate.
During his professional career Mr. Williams discharged the duties of numerous public offices with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public. He was district attorney of La Fayette county immediately after its organization; a member of the assembly in 1850, chief clerk of the senate in 1852 and 1853. clerk of the circuit court in 1855 and 1856, and a member of the board of regents of the state university in 1876 and 1877. His death occurred April 4. 1880.
Another has well said of him that "he carried with him through life a well-deserved reputation for integrity and truth and for fidelity to the court, to the bar, to his clients, to jurors, to witnesses, to society,
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and to himself, which was his sure passport not only to professional success, but to the respect and esteem of all good men. He assumed the ever-varying responsibilities of his profession incited by love for its perfection and beauties, respect for its dignity, as well as admiration for the noble army of its votaries whose names are inscribed on the roll of fame, and he entered upon and unfalteringly continued in its practice with studiousness, industry, zeal, patience, perseverance and entire de- votion to every duty, controlled in all things by thoughts which were pure, words which were true and deeds which were just; and the re- ward which he secured was a large measure of success, an honorable distinction in the profession, the good opinion of all who knew him and, of more value than all, the approval of his conscience."
ALEXANDER WILSON.
Alexander Wilson was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, August, 1833; was graduated from Union college in 1854; after teaching school at Huntley Station, Illinois, in the winter of 1854-55 he went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he read law for a time; in the sum- mer of 1855 he was engaged in surveying public lands in Iowa; in the fall of that year he was admitted to the Dubuque bar, and went from there to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and taught school in the winter of 1859-60; began the practice of the law there in 1860. He served Min- eral Point as superintendent of schools and as a member of the board of education for several years; was district attorney of Iowa county three terms, beginning in 1861; resigned that office in 1867 and became county judge by appointment in December, 1867, and served about two years; was county superintendent of schools in 1864. In 1877 Mr. Wilson was placed on the republican ticket as a candidate for attorney general, the nominee of the convention, William E. Carter, then of Platteville, having declined to become a candidate. Mr. Wilson was re-elected in 1879.
At the expiration of his term he returned to Mineral Point and re- sumed his practice. In 1887 he left the state and went to Nebraska; his death occurred at Lincoln early in 1888. Mr. Wilson's record as attorney general was unexceptionable. He was not a brilliant man
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nor was he largely endowed by nature with mental powers; he was con- servative, patient in making investigations, and ordinarily a safe counselor.
JOHN D. WILSON.
John Darlin Wilson, late of Boscobel, Grant county, was born at Johnston, Lanarkshire, Scotland, June 19, 1851; in 1864 he came to the United States, settling at Concord, New Hampshire, where he at- tended an academy for a time; in 1865 he came to Wisconsin, locating in La Fayette county, and engaging in teaching school; "read law" with Henry S. Magoon, of Darlington, and M. M. Cothren, of Min- eral Point ; was admitted to the bar of La Fayette county June 22, 1873; in July, 1875, formed a partnership with Mr. Cothren and opened an office at Boscobel, Grant county; this partnership was terminated in 1876 by the election of Mr. Cothren as circuit judge; since that time Mr. Wilson practiced alone, except that for about three years he was in partnership with the late Alexander Provis.
Mr. Wilson's health caused his friends anxiety some time before his death, and he took every means which promised its restoration; but without much avail. He died at his home March 21, 1897.
Mr. Wilson acquired a good practice as the result of his great in- dustry and continued perseverance. With proper fitting for the pro- fession he would have been one of the most successful lawyers of his years in the fifth circuit. But few men laboring under the disadvan- tages which circumstances beyond his control placed upon him would have accomplished a small fraction of what he achieved. He was hon- est, frank, careful, true to his friends, faithful to his clients and a useful man in the community. He was ardently attached to the republican party, and in 1892 and 1894 was warmly supported by many friends as a candidate for the nomination for attorney general.
ROBERT J. WILSON.
Robert J. Wilson was born in Shullsburg, La Fayette county, Wis- consin, a little more than thirty-seven years ago. His father, William Wilson, who died June 2d, 1896, at the city of Darlington, in said
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county, was a Scotchman. His mother, Mary Ann (McKay) Wilson, was born in Ireland and reared to womanhood in Scotland. His parents were married in Scotland, where their first-born child, a son, died. They then came to this country, arriving at Galena, Illinois, in 1853; soon after they settled in New Diggings, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, and later settled in Shullsburg, where the subject of this sketch was born. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, all of whom are living in La Fayette county, except the first born.
William Wilson followed the occupation of lead mining and smelt- ing in Shullsburg and vicinity for several years after coming to this country ; then he moved to Gratiot, in said county, where he engaged in farming for a short time; later he removed to a farm in Darlington, in said county, where he followed the occupation of farming and acquired a large farm and accumulated considerable property. A few years be- fore his death he removed to the city of Darlington.
Even as a boy attending the common school, and later the high school in Darlington, Robert J. Wilson was fixed in his determination that he would become a lawyer. For some time after his education was completed he taught school and later engaged in the mercantile business in Darlington, which business he followed successfully for a time, but his strong inclination to the legal profession led him to enter the law offices of Orton & Osborn, where he remained for several years, and even for one year after he had gained admission to the bar. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1883, before the circuit court at Dar- lington, and afterwards was admitted to practice in the supreme court.
Shullsburg had been left in his early boyhood, and in Darlington, where his youth had been passed and manhood reached, and where every man, woman and child was his friend, he began, a year after he was admitted to the bar, the active practice of his profession. In 1884 he was elected district attorney of La Fayette county and two years later was re-elected to that office, on each occasion by an unprecedented majority.
In 1887 he formed a partnership with H. C. Martin which has con- tinued uninterruptedly to the present time. In 1888 he resigned the
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district attorneyship and was appointed county judge by Governor Rusk; he was elected to that office in 1889, serving upon the bench six years, and on the expiration of his term was tendered a renomination but the requirements of his law practice led him to decline. For three terms also he was elected and served the city of Darlington as its at- torney.
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The firm of Wilson & Martin enjoys a large and lucrative practice and has been connected with a great many of the most important cases in the county. Possibly the most notable was the defense of seven persons charged with lynching a man named Seibolt in the public square in the city of Darlington in the day time. All of the defendants were acquitted on the ground of insanity.
Mr. Wilson has seen some military service. He enlisted in com- pany K, first regiment, Wisconsin national guard, for a term of five years and at the end of his term was honorably discharged, having been promoted to orderly sergeant of his company. He is also a member of a number of secret organizations-the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen and Knights of the Globe.
Mr. Wilson is a live, energetic, active republican and wields consid- erable influence in his party, while in his religious views he affiliates with the Congregationalists.
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