USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 27
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Mr. Woodward was a republican in politics until 1872; since then he has acted with the democratic party; in 1896 he voted for Palmer and Buckner. His public service includes the offices of alderman, may- or and city attorney of La Crosse; district attorney of La Crosse county; membership in the house of representatives in the forty-eighth Con- gress, and of the state board of examiners for admission to the bar, the latter position now being occupied by him.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT, ITS JUDGES AND LAWYERS.
The seventh circuit was provided for in 1853, and an election held for judge thereof in April, 1854. It was originally composed of the counties of Adams, Waushara, Waupaca, Portage and Marathon, and is now constituted of the counties of Adams, Portage, Waupaca, Wau- shara and Wood. George W. Cate was the first judge, Gilbert L. Park the second, and Charles M. Webb the third.
THE BENCH.
GEORGE W. CATE.
The editor acknowledges his obligations to George W. Cate, of Stevens Point, for the following sketch of his life. Mr. Cate's career in Wisconsin extends over more than half a century. As a citizen, lawyer, legislator and judge he has left a marked impress on the history of the state and made a record which ought to inspire young men and which is highly creditable to him and the state.
"Born September 17th, 1823, at the town of Montpelier, Vermont, my parents were Isaac Cate and Clarrisa Cate. My father was a farmer; in politics a Jacksonian democrat, and a soldier in the war of 1812. His father, Enoch Cate, was a soldier in the war of the revolution and served in the army of Washington.
"I was desirous of going to West Point military school and my father made application to Secretary of War Joel R. Poinsett, but the humble farmer lacked the 'pull' necessary to obtain such position for his son, and no attention was paid to his efforts.
"Was educated at the common schools of the country and the so- called private schools, extending to the common branches, reading, writing and spelling, arithmetic (including algebra), geography, history and English grammar. These constituted about all that was taught in those schools at that time. No examination was given those applying
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to teach as to their qualifications, and so, when seventeen years of age, I became a school teacher winters.
"In the winter of 1840 I began the study of law in the office of Joseph A. Wing. Plainfield, Vermont, and remained in his office about three years, and a little more than a year in the office of H. Lucius B. Peck, then a leading lawyer in the central portion of the state. I was admitted to the bar in Montpelier, Vermont, in April, 1844, before Judge Isaac F. Redfield, after being critically examined as to my quali- fications by a committee consisting of Newell Kinsman, of Barre; Harvey Carpenter, of Northfield, and Oliver H. Smith, of Montpelier.
"During that year I attempted to do business in the little villages about my home because my friends thought that was better for me than to go into a new country without means; but it was up-hill business, and I soon learned that legal business of any magnitude or that was worth doing was controlled by the old established lawyers, who not only wanted it, but were able to keep it. Greeley had not then made his famous saying, but it occurred to me that was the thing to do, and so by the spring of 1845 I had determined to cast my fortune in the then far west, and very soon put it in execution and arrived at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, near the close of the season, without money, which fact I imparted to one Lathrop, keeper of the Franklin house, to which he suggested that I chop for him some cordwood, and it finally resulted that I took a two months' job at five shillings per cord, building myself a sod shanty and boarding myself. At the completion of such work, and lacking the nerve to open a law office without cash in reserve, I hired to Abraham Brawley, a lumberman of the upper Wisconsin, to go there, nearly two hundred miles, which I did by driving a team of four oxen and Hoosier wagon loaded with supplies, camping at nights. Arriving in the pinery I worked for two years in the woods, in sawmills and running lumber down the river to St. Louis, and, finally, on the first of January, 1848, I opened a law office at Plover, then the county seat of Portage county. Considerable legal business and plenty of of- fices came to me. The same year I was made deputy postmaster, deputy register of deeds and deputy clerk of the board of supervisors. The next year I was elected district attorney and held the office two
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terms. I was elected register of deeds and county clerk and several times chairman of the county board. During my term of district at- torney I prosecuted several cases of high crimes and one charge of murder. The county of Portage at that time embraced the present county of Adams, western half of Waushara, the counties of Wood, Portage, Marathon and Lincoln. At the general election in the fall of 1851 I was elected to the assembly from the county of Portage, then composed of the territory within Lincoln, Marathon, Portage and Wood counties, and re-elected the next year. In the latter session I was chairman of the judiciary committee and one of the managers in the im- peachment trial of Judge Hubbell.
"In 1850 I formed a partnership with the late Chauncey Abbott, of Madison, under the firm name of Abbott & Cate. In 1852 I formed a law partnership with the late Luther Hanchett, under the name of Cate & Hanchett, which continued until my election to the judgeship as hereinafter stated. On the first day of January, 1886, was formed the law firm of Cate, Jones & Sanborn, composed of G. W. Cate, D. Lloyd Jones and A. W. Sanborn, and continued until the first day of January, 1896, when was formed the firm of Cate, Sanborn, Lamoreux & Park, composed of G. W. Cate, A. W. Sanborn, F. B. Lamoreux and B. B. Park, still in existence, which proved to be the most happy business association in every respect.
"I draw from memory some of the more important criminal cases that I and my partners have been engaged in: Mead, a prosperous banker in the city of Waupaca, was found dead in his office Sunday morning, May 7th, 1883, no doubt brutally murdered. A man named Vandecar was arrested, charged with the murder; he was prosecuted by J. F. Dufur, district attorney, and defended by the writer, and ac- quitted after a laborious trial. Ten years later four other persons, citi- zens of the city of Waupaca, were arrested, charged with the murder. The prosecution was conducted by B. M. Goldberg, district attorney, and Joseph V. Quarles, and the said firm of Cate, Jones & Sanborn conducted the defense. After a trial lasting nearly sixty days the defendants were acquitted.
"Louis LaMere, a respectable man, suspecting that his wife was un-
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true to him, staid away from his house, but went in one morning and found a man there whom he suspected of having passed the night there. He shot him dead on the spot. He was prosecuted for murder. He was defended by the firm of Cate, Jones & Sanborn and acquitted.
"W. W. Haseltine, an attorney at law, suspecting that one Morse, a banker, was having improper relations with his wife, beckoned Morse, who was passing in a buggy, up to the sidewalk, when Haseltine seized the braces of the buggy top and commenced firing at Morse with the other hand. The horse ran, but Haseltine hung on, firing as he ran until his gun was emptied. Morse fell out dead. Haseltine was prose- cuted by Winans & Fethers, of Janesville, and Cate, Jones & Sanborn had charge of the defense, and the defendant was acquitted.
"Haseltine, pretending to believe that John D. Curran was impli- cated in the intimacy between Morse and his wife, meeting Curran in the street, a fight occurred, both parties being armed, and Haseltine was killed. Henry Curran, being near by at the time of the affray, both the Currans were prosecuted for murder, and the case was tried in the county of Waupaca and resulted in an acquittal of the defendants. Cate, Jones & Sanborn were principal counsel for the defense.
"I was employed in the trial of important cases, civil and criminal, in most of the counties north of Portage City, among which the most noted was that arising out of the robbery of the Iron Exchange bank, of Hurley, of four thousand dollars. Several trials were had, finally resulting in the conviction of the defendants. The money was never discovered. I was engaged in the defense. The first trial occupied more than a month and resulted in a disagreement, the jury standing nine for acquittal.
"I became a member of the Masonic fraternity in 1856, Evergreen lodge, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, speedily advancing to the degree of Master Mason; beyond I never had ambition to go, and held no official positions in the lodge. I have not been connected with charitable, mercantile or financial institutions; my time and thoughts were wholly occupied with professional duties, and I had no taste in that direction.
"I was married October 24th, 1851, to Levara S. Brown. Eight
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children have been born, six of whom are alive, Albert G., Lynn Boyd, Henry B., Carrie Levara, Ruth Gray and Georgiana.
"My parents were Universalists and so were their friends and rel- atives mostly, and I was taught to believe with them, and if there had been a church of that persuasion near me, at the time I realized the pro- priety of uniting with some church, I should have united with such church as being in accordance with early teachings and associations, but none such existed, and in 1861 I united with the Episcopal church, and have since maintained my relations as a member with it a large portion of the time, at present holding the position of senior warden. I am liberal in my religion and permit one to join any church he pleases, or none at all, holding that one can be a good enough Christian without being taught from any pulpit.
"In April, 1854, I was elected circuit judge of the seventh judicial circuit and re-elected three times thereafter, holding and exercising the duties of the office until November, 1874, when I resigned to take a seat in the forty-fourth Congress, to which I had been elected at the general election in November, 1874, taking my seat March 4th, 1875. This Congress has more than ordinary interest by reason of the contest as to whether Hayes or Tilden had been elected President coming before it for decision. I was a democrat and believed that Tilden was elected, as everyone believes to-day, and that the scheme to create an electoral commission to pass upon the questions involved was because they knew that by the method of counting the vote in force theretofore Hayes could not be counted in. The electoral commission was a scheme to do what could not otherwise be done. The whole scheme was a fraud, and therefore I opposed the passage of the bill. The democrats had the power to prevent the bill becoming a law, but they were over- matched by the republicans and wheedled into electing a majority of the commission republicans, eight republicans to seven democrats. When the vote on the passage of the bill was taken I voted 'no,' and sixteen others voted with me. I take pride in that vote from the fact, now apparent, that Hayes was not elected, and could not have been counted in but by aid of the machinery of this new piece of pure par- tisanship where the members were expected to lose their integrity.
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"I attribute whatever of professional success has attended me to hard work, constant and unremitting attention to business, which in- cludes, of course, thorough preparation and understanding of the case in hand. I make it a point when at home to be found in the office and not on the curbstone. It has been, perhaps, a fad of mine that men will not wear out by mere labor; may rust out, but not wear out, hence I have never taken a 'vacation,' not even for a day. And while never a strong man, I now, at seventy-five, can do as much work in my pro- fession as ever; and while my young partners count upon the annual vacation of a few weeks I prefer to take my usual place in the office daily."
GILBERT L. PARK.
One who knew Gilbert L. Park for twenty-five years said of him that, "probably no man that has ever resided in northern Wisconsin counted more personal friends than the late Judge Park. He was honored for his uprightness on the bench, admired for his legal learn- ing and loved for his true, manly qualities. This section of the state suffered an irreparable loss by his death."
He of whom this was said was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, August 31, 1824; his boyhood days were passed on his father's farm, work thereon being intermingled with attendance at school in the winter. At fifteen young Park ran away from school, enlisted in the Hudson's Bay company's service and went up the Ottawa river to Hud- son's bay and Fort Churchill on the Severn river .. At the end of a year he returned from the north and went to Port Dover, where his father's family had settled. Three years were spent at an academy in Millville, Orleans county, New York, after which Mr. Park returned to Canada and engaged in business as a lumberman for two years, meeting with success for a time; but in 1848 a reverse came, he closed out his business and went to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he prepared for admission to the bar and was admitted in September, 1851.
In November, 1851, he removed to Wisconsin, and engaged in cut- ting saw logs on the Wisconsin river, which was his business until Sep- tember, 1852, when he formed a law partnership with James T. Alban and began practice at Plover, where he remained nearly four years. In
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June, 1855, he removed to Stevens Point, then a growing town, five miles north ; here he continued his practice and earned a prominent posi- tion at the bar. He served as district attorney of Portage county from 1854 until 1858. He resigned the mayoralty of Stevens Point early in the period of the civil war and became adjutant of the eighteenth regi- ment Wisconsin infantry; later he was captain of company G of that regiment, serving with it nearly three and a half years. In 1865 he re- turned to Stevens Point and resumed his professional career, practicing from 1872 until he went on the circuit bench in partnership with D. Lloyd Jones.
In March, 1875, Governor Taylor appointed Judge Park to the cir- cuit judgeship of the seventh circuit to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Cate, who had been elected a member of Congress. At the election to fill the unexpired term, in April, 1875, the appoint- ment was ratified by 7,657 votes to 5,939 in favor of J. O. Raymond. In 1878 Judge Park was elected for a full term, the vote in his favor being 7.799 to 4,182 for Henry Hayden. In 1883 he resigned on ac- count of ill health and sought recuperation in travel, but his illness ivas too serious for his constitution, and he died in Waukesha, Wisconsin, June 5, 1884. As a judge he was discriminating, cool, clear-headed, candid and logical; he presided with easy dignity, and was a great fa- vorite with the lawyers who practiced before him.
Politically Judge Park was a democrat, during the civil war be- longing to the portion of that party designated as war democrats. While he was with his regiment he was, without his knowledge, nom- inated for the state senate; he was also nominated for lieutenant gov- ernor and was twice a candidate for Congress. In 1876 he was a dele- gate to the national democratic convention.
CHARLES M. WEBB.
Charles Morton Webb, judge of the seventh circuit, was born at Tonawanda. Bradford county, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1833. His father, John L. Webb, was, in his later years, a merchant and prominent politician, and at the time of his death, in 1846, was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. The son's education was confined to that af-
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forded by the public schools, and his attendance on these terminated about the time he was twelve years of age, after which he entered a printing office at Troy and subsequently at Wellsboro, in his native state, and later at Washington, D. C. In 1850 he entered the West Point military academy, remaining there a year and a half. In 1855 he began the study of the law with Ulysses Mercur, who, later, became a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. In 1857 he became a member of the bar. The same year he came to Wisconsin, and in 1858 located at Grand Rapids, where he has continuously resided; was elected district attorney of Wood county the same year and re-elected in 1860; was elected clerk of the county board of supervisors in 1864 and re-elected in 1866; served in the state senate in 1869 and 1870. On the creation of the western judicial district of Wisconsin by act of Congress in 1870 Mr. Webb was appointed United States district at- torney ; was reappointed in 1874; resigned that office in 1877. In 1880 and 1881 was mayor of Grand Rapids, and in the fall of 1881 was ap- pointed register of the United States land office at Deadwood, South Dakota; in the summer of 1882 resigned that office, and in the fall of that year was elected state senator. He resigned that office in 1884 to accept the appointment to the circuit judgeship, a position which he has held up to this time. In 1893 Judge Webb was nominated by a convention of lawyers as a candidate for justice of the supreme court, but was unsuc- cessful at the polls. In 1895 he was tendered, by Governor Upham, an appointment to a justiceship of that court, but declined it.
Judge Webb entered the military service in September, 1861, as first lieutenant of company G, twelfth Wisconsin, but resigned in May, 1862.
The statement of his record bears with it convincing proof of Judge Webb's worth as a man, lawyer and officer. It cannot be emphasized by words.
THE BAR.
JAMES S. ALBAN.
James S. Alban was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, October 30, 1809; was a farmer until he attained the years of manhood; his educa-
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tional advantages were limited to those of the common schools. He came to Wisconsin in 1837, remained a short time at Prairie du Sac and removed from there to Plover, Portage county, where he continued to reside, and where he practiced law. He served in the senate in 1852 and 1853; was commissioned colonel of the sixteenth Wisconsin in- fantry and in the first engagement in which his regiment participated- the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862-he fell mortally wounded.
JOHN HENRY BRENNAN.
The father of John H. Brennan was born in Ireland, but at the break- ing out of the civil war went enthusiastically to the front as a defender of his adopted country. When but twenty-five years of age, as first lieutenant of the third Wisconsin infantry, he sacrificed his life to the northern cause, being killed at the battle of Winchester, Virginia, Octo- ber 19, 1864. The family thus left to battle with the world consisted of a widow and three children, the youngest of the latter, then one year old, being the subject of this sketch.
Upon the mother (Katherine Martin before marriage, and an Irish- Canadian) now devolved the responsibilities of providing for those who were left virtually without means of support. Fortunately she was a woman of tact, common sense, industry and general strength of char- acter, and nobly did she carry out the trust which necessity imposed upon her, not only teaching her children habits of virtue and industry, but furnishing them with the means of securing a good education. She still lives in Oshkosh, taking especial pride in the career of her youngest son.
John H. Brennan was born in the city above named September 3, 1861, receiving his education in its public and normal schools and at the Wisconsin state university, Madison. His first serious studies in the law were pursued in the office of Charles Barber, Oshkosh, and that he possessed marked natural ability in mastering the principles of the profession, as well as intellectual strength to apply and concentrate his mind, was evident when he appeared before the state board of exam- iners, recently created and then sitting at Eau Claire. In October, 1885. he passed an examination before that body which was as near
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perfect as has ever been undergone by any applicant in the legal history of the state.
After being thus admitted to the bar in 1886 Mr. Brennan entered the office of Hudd & Wigman, of Green Bay, and was rapidly advanced to trusts of greater and greater responsibility. Being desirous of estab- lishing an independent practice, however, he removed to Kewaunee, where he remained for a short time, and afterward (1889) settled in Stevens Point, his present home, and the scene of his professional activities. He has been in partnership with James O. Raymond and with Messrs. Lyon & Frost, but is now alone, and no one of his years has a more promising future.
He has conducted the prosecution, by appointment of the court, in several notable criminal cases, among which is the State vs. Henry Kolleck, a wealthy farmer, for arson, and the defense in State vs. Welch and State vs. Morris, in each of which he successfully interposed the defense of temporary insanity. He has had charge of all the proceed- ings in equity arising out of the insolvency of the Commercial bank of Stevens Point, in which litigation several of the most prominent legal minds in Wisconsin have been engaged.
Mr. Brennan is an independent democrat in politics and by his voice and pen has demonstrated that he has at ready command a wide fund of information and eloquence of a high order. He has served twice as city attorney of Stevens Point under a republican mayor-an indication both of his personal popularity and his official ability. He came into greater prominence, however, during the Peck-Hoard-Bennett cam- paign, his communications to the press, especially his open letter to the bishops of Wisconsin, attracting general attention and causing wide comment. In July, 1896, he went to Chicago as a delegate to the na- tional convention, but declined to support the "free silver" plank of the platform, his address in support of the minority report of the com- mittee on resolutions being strong and eloquent. One result of his efforts there put forth with such ability was the choice of Mr. Brennan as a delegate to the convention of the "gold democrats," held in Mil- waukee, August 26, 1896. As temporary chairman of that convention he had the honor of making the standpoint of his party. Subsequently
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he did yeoman's service in the cause, serving as a delegate to the na- tional convention which met at Indianapolis in September and being honored with the important chairmanship of the committee on cre- dentials.
In 1888 Mr. Brennan was married to Miss Katherine Shields, of Appleton.
CHARLES CHURCHILL.
Under burdens which would have crushed most men Mr. Churchill has risen to an honorable prominence in the working ranks of his pro- fession. He was born on a farm in Fulton county, New York, on the 24th of December, 1846. His father, Elijah W. Churchill, was a mer- chant, coming to Wisconsin with his family in 1850 and locating at Waupaca. The paternal ancestry is English, the establishment of the family in America dating from 1640. Eliza Judson, the mother of our subject, is a member of the family which founded Gloversville, New York, known in all parts of the world where gloves and mittens are re- quired.
At the age of five years the boy had the misfortune to be paralyzed, and since the stroke has never walked without crutches. But what would have proven an insurmountable obstacle to advancement in the case of a less indomitable nature served as an incentive to intellectual exertion with Mr. Churchill. Reaching the educational limit fixed by the common schools of Waupaca, he removed to Chicago and pursued a business course at the Eastman commercial college. He returned to his home in 1869 and was elected clerk of the circuit court of Waupaca county, serving in this capacity for twelve years. While thus engaged he had the foresight and determination to make a full set of abstracts of title from the county records, which not only proved to him of definite financial value but of almost incalculable assistance in his future prac- tice as a real estate lawyer. His admission to the bar dates from 1883, and he has since engaged in practice more as counsel than an advocate, the bulk of his business being, as intimated, in the abstract and real estate lines. In these specialties there is no member of the profession in his section of the state more reliable, more fully equipped or more successful.
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