USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 3
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At the age of fifteen he left home to learn the printer's trade in the office of the "Western Citizen," an anti-slavery paper published in Chi-
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HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
cago by Zebina Eastman. For nearly two years he faithfully served his employer as devil, compositor, paper-carrier and news-writer. He had been apprenticed for four years at a salary of $50.00 for the first year, $62.50 for the second, $75.00 for the third, and $100.00 for the fourth, with board included. But, as Judge Dyer bluntly expresses it, he "didn't like the business, broke the contract and quit." He yet has a copy in print of the New Year's address which he sold on the streets of Chicago, January 1, 1850, with the profits of which he bought a new suit of clothes. Returning home he commenced the study of phonogra- phy (Pitman system) and became sufficiently expert to write one hun- dred and seventy-five words a minute. This accomplishment was the stepping-stone to his professional career.
Again leaving home, in the autumn of 1851, he removed to San- dusky, Ohio, entering the office of Rice Harper, a family friend, and then, as well as for a number of years afterward, clerk of the court of common pleas of Erie county. While thus employed he adopted courses of reading and study in the classics, the higher mathematics and history, pursuing these lines of investigation in connection with his daily work. It is this persistent self-culture, an early trait of Judge Dyer's character, which sharply defines the uncommon from the aver- age man.
While in Mr. Harper's office he became acquainted with Ebenezer Lane, who was formerly a judge of the Ohio supreme court, and who had taken a deep interest in the welfare of the studious youth, already evincing such unusual traits of a mature mind. Judge Lane strongly advised him to take up the study of law, throwing open his extensive library to him, as well as placing him under the especial tutorship of his son, William G. Lane. In 1857, after an invaluable training of three years, he was admitted to the bar, entering into partnership with Walter F. Stone, afterward one of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio, and with whom he had also previously studied. . He thus continued in the practice of his profession in Sandusky, Ohio, until January, 1859, when, deciding that the west was the place for a young man who had deter- mined to hew out for himself an independent career, he came to Wiscon- sin and established himself at Racine, where he resided until he earned
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a reputation second to no member of the bar for breadth and solidity of mind, both as a lawyer and a man of general information. Judge Dyer practiced alone until the autumn of 1864, when he formed a part- nership with Henry T. Fuller, formerly of the firm of Strong & Fuller, which continued until February, 1875. On the 10th of that month President Grant appointed him United States district judge for the eastern district of Wisconsin. He held this position until May, 1888, when he resigned to accept that of counsel for the Northwestern Mu- tual Life Insurance Company. Since that date he has been identified with the affairs of this giant corporation, not only in his capacity as counsel, but as a trustee, and has made Milwaukee his home.
As United States district judge there has never been an occupant of the bench who has been more admired for his absolute fairness, his courteous firmness and the ability and breadth of his decisions, couched in language as admirable for its force and directness as it is classic in its diction. Assuming the duties of that high function with the hesitancy which is characteristic of the conscientious lawyer, however capable and learned, he brought to the accomplishment of his tasks the whole strength of his mind, with the old-time determination to spare no labor to make a record which his own conscience should approve. Hard
work, steadily, persistently and methodically pursued, is the only expla- nation which he modestly gives for his splendid standing as a member of the bench and bar of Wisconsin. The duties of his position as dis- trict judge were constant and arduous. The first two years of his judicial work were largely employed in trying what were known as the "whiskey fraud cases," which became notorious throughout the coun- try. His term of office covered a period which immediately ,preceded the creation of the present United States circuit courts of appeals, and, consequently, in most instances, except where the amount involved en-
abled the parties litigant to take appeals to the supreme court of the United States, his judgments were final, a fact greatly emphasizing the responsibility of the position. Moreover, under acts of Congress afford- ing facilities (since restricted by subsequent legislation) for the removal of causes from the state courts to the federal courts, the dockets of the latter court in the eastern district of Wisconsin, as elsewhere, were large
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and laborious. The volumes of the federal reports contain many of Judge Dyer's decisions in important cases, covering the field of bank- ruptcy, maritime, equity, corporation and commercial law, and are rec- ognized as authoritative adjudications upon the questions involved.
Aside, also, from the chief record of his life, which has been made within the limits of his chosen profession, Judge Dyer served as city attorney of Racine in 1859 and 1860, and as a member of the assembly in 1867 and 1868. At the latter session he was chairman of the judi- ciary committee. Had he been so inclined, he might also have been called to serve his constituents in the national councils. Judge Dyer has always been a republican in politics, but not a partisan to the ex- tent of yielding independent views and convictions to mere party alle- giance. His first vote was cast in 1855 for Salmon P. Chase, as gov- ernor of Ohio, and his first vote for President, in 1856, was given to John C. Fremont.
Judge Dyer was married, on April 6, 1859, to Sarah E. Root, of Sandusky, Ohio. She was the daughter of Joseph M. and Mary S. Root, of that place, both of whom are deceased. Her father was a member of Congress during the Mexican war, holding that position three terms. Originally a whig, he became subsequently a prominent free-soiler, and in his time was one of the most distinguished lawyers in Ohio. As an orator and stump speaker he was esteemed the peer of Corwin. The children of Judge Dyer's family are William Bucking- ham, Joseph Root and Cornelia (now Mrs. Thomas L. Parker).
In his tastes Judge Dyer is simple and plain, and his habits decidedly domestic. By nature he has no ambition for prominence. He be- lieves that the home is better than the club, the country purer and sweeter than the city. Fields, flowers, trees, the song-birds of the meadow, and brooks "o'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning, green," are companions he loves better than the struggles for gain and the ephemeral pleasures of cosmopolitan life. He has always been a lover and reader of books, and has acquired his wide information in the se- clusion of personal study and by severe methods of self-discipline, ob- servation and reflection. At an early age he began the formation of a library of carefully selected books, which now numbers nearly fifteen
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hundred volumes. His favorite books and authors are the Bible, Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Burns, Emerson, Hawthorne, Thackeray and George Eliot. From all of which it may be truthfully inferred that Judge Dyer's domestic life is both serene and helpful, a constant inspira- tion, and calculated to keep him calm and self-poised in the midst of professional and business activities. He is not a subscriber to any creed, or articles of religious faith, but a firm believer in a Su- preme Power, which executes unerringly and impartially the law of justice and right, with bestowal or infliction of the consequences of ob- servance or violation of that law, whether by individuals or nations.
WILLIAM HENRY SEAMAN.
William H. Seaman, present judge of the United States court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, became the successor of James G. Jenk- ins, who had been promoted to the rank of circuit judge of the sev- enth judicial circuit. He was born at New Berlin, Waukesha county, Wisconsin, on the 15th of November, 1842. In 1841, his father, Wil- liams Seaman, emigrated from Buffalo, New York, to Milwaukee, with a stock of goods, but the goods were lost by shipwreck, and he decided to locate at New Berlin, which was then in Milwaukee county, and on the outskirts of civilization. He there built a sawmill and the log house in which the son was born. Unfortunately, the mill burned in the winter of 1842-43, at which calamity he packed his household goods and removed his family to Milwaukee, taking up his trade as harness maker. The next year they moved to Ceresco, by ox team, and finally, in 1845, to Sheboygan, where Mr. Seaman continued to reside for many years, highly respected as citizen, tradesman and merchant.
The grandfather of W. H. Seaman was Williams Seaman, of Cats- kill, New York, for many years a state senator from Green county. Through him the paternal ancestry is English and Dutch.
Arelisle (Crane) Seaman, the mother of our subject, was of English Puritan ancestry, her forefathers being among the first settlers of Bos- ton and she herself a native of Massachusetts. She was a woman of most refined character and lovable disposition and in Sheboygan was ever the leader in social, charitable and religious movements.
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Judge Seaman has virtually passed his life as a resident of She- boygan. He attended its public schools until he was sixteen years of age, learning the printer's trade afterward and following that occupa- tion until the breaking out of the civil war. For two years previous to the opening of the rebellion, however, his evenings and spare time were devoted to the study of law, under the tutelage of Crosby W. Ellis, of Sheboygan. But with the firing of the first gun upon Sumter both work and study were abandoned, and on September 19, 1861, he en- listed as a private in company H, first Wisconsin volunteer infantry. At the expiration of his term of service, in October, 1864, he was mus- tered out as sergeant, and thereupon returned to the headquarters of the department of the Cumberland, where he continued to give his best services to his country and to General George H. Thomas until the close of hostilities enabled him to return to his home, in September, I866.
Returning to Sheboygan, Mr. Seaman resumed his legal studies with J. A. Bentley, remaining in his office until his admission to the bar in June, 1868. He commenced practice as Mr. Bentley's partner, the firm being Bentley & Seaman, and continuing until 1876. Later, after Mr. Bentley became United States commissioner of pensions, Judge Seaman established, with Francis Williams, the firm of Seaman & Williams. This connection continued until the former's elevation to the bench of the United States district court, on April 3, 1893, to suc- ceed Judge James G. Jenkins, an appointment which came entirely un- solicited and met with the universal approval of the bar, as a recogni- tion of professional attainments and fitness.
As a lawyer, Judge Seaman's practice was general and in later years extended over much of eastern and northern Wisconsin. He was painstaking, firm in his grasp of salient points, clear in their presenta- tion, and was of judicial mind, even as an advocate. One of the ear- liest cases by which he came into prominence was that entitled Whiting vs. Fond du Lac County Supervisors, involving the validity of bonds issued by the county in aid of the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Rail- road Company. Although it was held by the state supreme court that the grant for aid had called for public taxation in support of a private
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. . 15 enterprise, the United States supreme court overruled the decision and sustained the contention of Bentley & Seaman.
Mr. Seaman also successfully conducted the noted Ehle case. The aged testator, son and wife, and infant children had all perished in the fire which burned the homestead. The property was claimed by the maternal grandparents of the infants, on one side, and by the lineal heirs of the testator and son, on the other. Mr. Seaman represented the former and gained his case, although the evidence as to the order in which the deaths occurred (upon which point hinged the descent of the property) was purely circumstantial.
Since 1893 Judge Seaman has been president of the state bar asso- ciation, and for several years preceding his elevation to the bench he served. as regent of the state university. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been a Mason since 1864. Although he has never abandoned the democratic party, he has held no political offices-in fact, his life has chiefly been occupied with the duties due to his profession and his family, with active interest in municipal and school affairs. One other exception to the rule should perhaps be noted in the interest which he also has taken in the development of the chair manufacturing industries of Sheboygan. He was one of the in- corporators of the first factory of that kind established there (the She- boygan Manufacturing company) and is now a considerable stockholder in the Sheboygan Chair company.
On December 17, 1868, a few months after his admission to the bar, Judge Seaman was married to Mary A. Peat, at Glens Falls, New York. Their children are Arelisle, Charles and Mary.
THE WESTERN DISTRICT.
This district, embracing the counties of Adams, Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Grant, Green, Iowa, Iron, Jackson, Jeffer- son, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Lincoln, Marathon, Monroe, Oneida, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Price, Richland, Rock, St. Croix, Sauk, Sawyer, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Vilas, Washburn and Wood, was created June 29, 1870. The first judge was James C. Hopkins.
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JAMES C. HOPKINS.
James Campbell Hopkins was born in Pawlet, Vermont, April 27, 1819. In his early life his father's family became residents of Wash- ington county, New York. Up to the time of attaining his majority the son engaged in the labor of the farm. He attended an academy for a limited period of time, but otherwise enjoyed only such advantages as the common schools afforded. He began the study of law in 1840 with James McCall, and on being admitted to the bar opened an office at Granville, Washington county, New York, where he remained six- teen years. He served as postmaster there, and in 1853 was elected state senator; he served two years, being, for at least one session, a member of the judiciary committee. He was a candidate for re-elec- tion, but was unsuccessful. In 1856 he became a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, and soon thereafter formed a partnership with Harlow S. Orton, and later was a member of the firms of Orton, Hopkins & Firmin; Hopkins & Johnson, and Hopkins & Foot. He continued a practicing lawyer until he was appointed judge of the newly created United States district court for the western district of Wisconsin, in 1870, his commission being dated July 9. He held that position until his decease, September 3, 1877.
At a meeting of the bar held the next day, S. U. Pinney, Esq., pre- siding, a committee consisting of Harlow S. Orton, George B. Smith, William F. Vilas, J. C. Gregory and Henry M. Lewis was appointed to prepare resolutions commemorative of the character and services of the deceased, and I. C. Sloan was requested to present the same to the su- preme court. The resolutions as adopted expressed "that in the death of our lamented friend the bench has lost an able and an upright judge, our profession one of its most honored and distinguished lawyers, so- ciety one of its most useful and respected members, and the state one of its best and most prominent citizens. That the community has seldom been called to mourn the loss of one so perfect in all the ele- ments and accomplishments of manhood, whose mental structure and acquirements were so symmetrical and available; whose social qualities and manners were so agreeable and attractive, and who was alike able
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and eminent as a lawyer and judge. He was cut off in the midst of his arduous judicial labors, and in the full maturity of his intellect and judg- ment, and when he had already achieved high honors and attained great success in the high position he occupied, with the promise and prospect of still greater usefulness and higher eminence in the future. Our memories of Judge Hopkins will always be agreeable. In all social relations he was ever courteous and kind, and it seemed to him a pleas- ure to render personal and professional favors. Upon the bench he was prompt, systematic, studious and attentive, patient and impartial, modest and forbearing, yet dignified and firm. He had great mental aptitude and vast and varied learning as a lawyer, uncommon mental strength and resources, readiness of apprehension and perception, clear and honest judgment, and remarkable powers of reasoning, analysis and discrimination in the investigation of all subjects and questions brought to the bar of his court or examined in judicial consultation."
In presenting the resolutions of the bar to the supreme court, Mr. Sloan said, after reviewing Judge Hopkins' career: "Such a career in- dicates unusual qualities of mind and character. The resolution which he formed and executed on attaining his majority, of abandoning the labors of the farm for a professional life, shows that he possessed to a large degree self-reliance and decision of character. Subsequent events proved that in choosing the legal profession as his field of labor he exer- cised an intelligent judgment, and justly estimated his own intellectual resources and capacity. Having adopted that profession as the busi- ness of his life, he pursued it with an energy, industry and ability which could not fail to command success. He possessed naturally what is called a legal mind. He acquired a love for the investigation of legal questions; he had strong and clear discriminating powers in distinguish- ing cases and in examining and applying legal principles. One of the leading traits of his character, which contributed largely to his suc- cess, was his untiring industry, his love of labor in his profession. He was always, when there was opportunity, thoroughly prepared. His investigation of questions and cases submitted to his care was persever- ing and exhaustive. With no marked powers of eloquence or special gift of oratory, he could not command those brilliant qualities of the
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eloquent advocate by which members of our profession sometimes rise rapidly to eminence and distinction.
"All his mental qualities were solid and consequently enduring. By industry, a determined will and naturally strong powers of mind, he rose steadily and surely to eminence in his profession. His whole pro- fessional life exemplified Burke's apothegm, that 'being diligent is the gate by which men must pass to knowledge and fortune.'
"By diligence and unremitting labor he had acquired a large store of legal knowledge, and was imbued with the spirit of a true lawyer, without which any real success in the profession is impossible. He re- garded the law as a science founded on general principles, which could only be understood and rightly applied by laborious research and per- severing deliberation. Practicing his profession at the capital of our state, he made his way into its front rank. When the western judicial district was created he had acquired such reputation and position that his appointment to the honorable judicial position which he held was regarded by the members of our profession and the people of the state as fit and appropriate to be made. As a judge he was affable, patient and just. During his judicial career he steadily rose in reputation and influence as a jurist. By the learning and ability which he brought to the discharge of his official duties he won the confidence and respect of the eminent judges of the United States courts, with whom, during cer- tain recurring periods in each year, he was associated in the perform- ance of his judicial labors; and he was called upon to occupy the bench of the United States circuit courts out of his district, in Indiana and Il- linois, for considerable periods of time, which he did acceptably to the members of the bar and suitors in those courts, with a constant increas- ing reputation as a learned and impartial judge.
"The published opinions of Judge Hopkins are characterized by force, clearness of reasoning, and by a full collection and just apprecia- tion of authorities. He was removed by death while in the full posses- sion of his intellectual vigor, and at an age when he might reasonably have expected to continue his judicial labors for many years. Had his life been spared his steady advancement in public esteem and judicial reputation while he was on the bench gave the highest assurance that
American Ging Pub.Lo Chgo
Roman
Bunn
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his reputation as a jurist would be widened and grown until he would have taken rank among the distinguished judges which this country has produced."
ROMANZO BUNN.
The vacancy caused by the death of Judge Hopkins was filled by the appointment of the gentleman named.
For nearly thirty years Judge Bunn has honored the bench of state and nation, and has served as United States district judge of the western district of Wisconsin since October 30, 1877. He is a man of remarkable strength of mind and character, and his physical sound- ness is as remarkable as his intellectual. Although not of a robust con- stitution, his temperate habits and his love of exercise have ensured him uniform good health. In fact, during his long and arduous service upon the bench he has never lost an hour on account of sickness.
Judge Bunn has never indulged in the use of ardent spirits or to- bacco. In a word, he has few indulgences, or, in his own language, there are few things beside hard work in which he indulges and which he enjoys, his principal recreations being fly-fishing, playing whist and bicycle riding. Characteristic, also, of the man, was his reply when asked to state to what causes he attributes success in his calling: "I suppose in general if a man succeeds it is because of the innate force he is born with. Aside from this, of which I cannot speak as regards my- self, probably the moderate success I have had may be attributed to many concurring causes, among which the following may have played some part: Temperate habits, a not robust but rather tenacious consti- tution, plenty of outdoor exercise, with good health, a somewhat kind of dogged and unreasoning perseverance in plodding and a fair instinct for guessing at the truth."
Judge Bunn's long, useful and well-balanced life may also, in great part, be attributed to his faculty of thoroughly immersing himself in in- tellectual pursuits outside of his professional work. When a boy of sixteen he contracted the habit of reading the poets and dramatists of the Elizabethan age, and, when business does not press, it is still a never- failing source of instruction and delight for him to draw inspiration and strength at the fountain supplied by the genius of Chaucer, Milton,
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Shakespeare, Beaumont, Keats and Tennyson. From these and from the English Bible he asserts that he has derived more comfort than from all other literature combined.
The salient facts in Judge Bunn's life are that he was born at South Hartwick, Otsego county, New York, September 24. 1829. His father, Peter Bunn, was a farmer, and is said to trace his ancestry from two brothers who came from Holland at an early day. Polly Ann Jack- son (his mother in maidenhood) was of English and Scotch descent, her ancestors being with those who were of the Mayflower emigrants. Both his parents were persons of pronounced individuality, the father being a firm Methodist, a radical abolitionist and an occasional lecturer on temperance. He died at the comparatively early age of fifty-four.
In September, 1832, the family removed to Cattaraugus county, New York, and settled on a hundred-acre tract of heavily timbered land in the town of Mansfield, on the Holland Land purchase. There the boy resided on a farm, attending district school until he was sixteen years old, when (in the fall of 1846), he went to the Springville academy. That is, he attended school as he could; but, as his parents were very poor, he worked in the hayfield, harvested, cleared land, split rails, chopped wood, and otherwise "worked his way." For several sum- mers he traveled on foot from Cattaraugus county to the Genesee val- ley to be on hand for the wheat harvest, carrying a favorite grain cradle on his back a distance of eighty miles, and (without having up to this time received credit for it in history) he is reported to have cut as many acres of wheat and oats, at three shillings an acre, and split as many rails and chopped as much wood, at twenty-five cents a cord, and peeled as much hemlock bark for the tanneries, as ever Abraham Lincoln did. His people being unable to assist him, in these ways he earned enough money to take him through school and to study law. He com- menced to teach in East Otto, after he had been attending the Spring- ville academy about three months. One of the proudest moments in his life was when the district trustees called upon him to announce that by vote of the board his wages had been raised from twelve dollars to: thirteen dollars per month. This was especially gratifying, since it gave him an additional six and a half dollars with which to assist him through
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