USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 32
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His honesty, sterling integrity and reliability were of the highest order.
"Of commanding stature and striking personal appearance, he at once fixed the attention of those who were strangers to him. His bearing was always courtly and gentle, and it may be truthfully asserted that he was a gentleman under all circumstances and in all places.
"With him strict honesty was an essential prerequisite to his confi- dence, and without it none could secure his esteem. His name was the synonym of integrity and spotless honor wherever he was known. In his death the state lost one of its purest, ablest and most exemplary citizens, his family a most devoted husband and father and the com- munity a fitting example of the noblest work of God-an honest man."
ARTHUR B. BRALEY.
Arthur B. Braley, formerly judge of the municipal court of Dane county, was born in Perry, New York, February 1Ith, 1824; was largely self-educated; taught school for a time in the Wyoming valley, Penn- sylvania; began the study of law in his native state in 1844; came to Wisconsin in 1846 and settled at Delavan, where he completed his legal studies; was admitted to the bar at Madison in 1848; made the latter city his residence in 1852; in 1856 was chosen police justice and held that office six years; in 1864, 1865 and 1866 was alderman, and city attorney in 1868. In 1869 he removed to Waukesha, but returned to Madison in the fall of 1870 and continued to reside there until his, death. In 1872 he was chosen police justice without opposition, and in 1874, 1880 and 1886 was elected judge of the municipal court of Dane county, which office he held at the time of his death, in 1889.
Judge Braley was a frequent contributor to the newspapers and other periodicals on political and literary topics, and attained some dis- tinction as a Shakspearean scholar. As a judge, though never a very diligent student of the law, he gave considerable satisfaction.
DAVID BRIGHAM.
Mr. Brigham was born at Shrewsbury, Worcester county, Massa- chusetts, August 15, 1786; graduated at Harvard in 1810; taught in Leicester academy and was tutor in Bowdoin college. He first prac-
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ticed law at Greenfield in his native state, and subsequently at Fitch- burg. In 1839 he removed from there to Wisconsin, settling at Madi- son, where he resided until his death, August 16, 1843. He was the father of the late Jerome R. Brigham, Esq., of Milwaukee.
E. E. BRYANT.
Edwin Eustace Bryant, dean of the college of law of the university of Wisconsin, a law writer of experience, a legislator, soldier and law- yer, was born January 10, 1835, in Milton, Chittenden county, Vermont; received an academic education in the New Hampshire institute, spend- ing two years in the classical department. In 1857 he came to Wis- consin, locating for a time at Janesville, where he was admitted to the bar in the fall of that year; he soon removed to Monroe, where he began the practice of his profession and engaged in journalism as joint editor with James Bintliff of the Monroe Sentinel. He remained there until the civil war broke out, when he enlisted as a private in company C, third Wisconsin infantry, declining a commission; was promoted to ser- geant major before leaving the state; served three years, first as lieu- tenant, and in 1862 became adjutant of the regiment under Colonel, now General, Thomas H. Ruger. July 1, 1864, was appointed by the secretary of war commissioner of enrollment for the third district of Wisconsin, and in February, 1865, was commissioned lieutenant colonel fiftieth Wisconsin, and in that capacity served one year in Missouri, a considerable part of the time as judge advocate at department head- quarters.
On leaving the military service by resignation in 1866 Colonel Bry- ant returned to Monroe, where he resumed the practice of the law, and continued therein until 1868, when he became adjutant general of Wis- consin and private secretary to Governor Fairchild. Since that date he has lived in Madison. In 1872, after the close of Governor Fairchild's administration, Colonel Bryant formed a law partnership with William F. Vilas, which continued until 1883. From 1876 until 1882 he was adjutant general. In 1878 he served as a member of the assembly, being chairman of the joint committee on the revision of the statutes. In conjunction with Mr. Vilas, Mr. Bryant was appointed in 1872 by Vol. II .- 22
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the justices of the supreme court to revise and annotate eighteen vol -. umes of the Wisconsin reports; he also reported volume thirty-seven for the reporter. In 1884 Mr. Bryant was appointed assistant United States attorney general for the postoffice department, the duties of which position he discharged for four years. In 1889 he became dean of the college of law of the university of Wisconsin, a position now held by him. Since 1893 he has been a member of the commissioners of fisheries and president thereof, as he now is, and also a member of the board of commissioners of the geological and natural history survey and vice president of that board.
Mr. Bryant has written on legal topics quite extensively and very acceptably. His first effort in that direction was made in 1869 in con- junction with John C. Spooner, in compiling the town laws and prepar- ing forms and notes for the same. In 1884 he completed his Wiscon- sin Justice; in 1894, a treatise on Code Pleading; in 1895, a work on Elementary Law; in 1898, a treatise on Practice in Civil Actions Under the Wisconsin Code, besides a work on Code Forms which has passed through three editions. (These books are more particularly mentioned in chapter IX.) While occupying the position of assistant attorney general of the United States he prepared a volume of postal laws and regulations and a manual of instructions to postoffice inspectors; at the same time he edited the Postal Guide. In 1897 he wrote a very inter- esting history of the supreme court of Wisconsin for the Green Bag, a valuable magazine for lawyers, published in Boston. His military experiences are recorded in the History of the Third Regiment Wis- consin Volunteers, written by him and published in 1891.
Besides achieving success in the numerous and somewhat diverse avocations in which he has been engaged, Mr. Bryant has been much in demand as an orator. Before he ceased to take an active part in politics he was often called upon to give his reasons on "the stump" for the faith that was his. Since that time the calls have been for divers occasions, such as Memorial day and the Fourth of July. A very pop- ular lecture of his is that on the battle of Gettysburg. His talents as a lecturer have been generously given for worthy public and charitable
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purposes. Few men have touched life at more points than Mr. Bryant and very few have met its responsibilities with more credit than he.
June 29, 1859, Mr. Bryant married Louisa S. Boynton, of Monroe. They have four children.
J. H. CARPENTER.
Jairus Harvlin Carpenter was born February 14, 1822, at Ashford (now Eastford), in Windham county, Connecticut, and is of English and Scotch descent. His father, Palmer Carpenter, who served as a soldier in the war of 1812, was a son of Uriah Carpenter, who, with his father before him, Hezekiah Carpenter, were both sturdy puritan resi- dents of Connecticut. Palmer Carpenter married Martha Brown, who, during the civil war, went to her grave with her motherly heart filled with anxiety as to the fate of her youngest boy, who, while serving in the army, had been attacked by fever and lay unconscious in a hospital. Palmer Carpenter died in 1873 at Saint Charles, Winona county, Min- nesota, to which state he went in 1856.
The subject of this sketch was the third of a family of nine children, of whom eight grew to maturity. The eldest of these, Uriah, now sev- enty-nine years of age, is living at Dover, in Minnesota, while another brother is in Connecticut. Of six sons, four entered the army; of these one died at Key West of yellow fever and another succumbed to in- juries received through exposure.
Young Jairus, whose father was a farmer, passed his boyhood in Eastford, spending some portion of his time in work on the farm until he was twenty-two years of age. As for his schooling, it was of a some- what irregular description, being obtained in the district school and academy during the fall terms. Having decided to become a member of the legal profession, he commenced to read law in the office of Fred- erick Hovey, in his native town, and completed his studies with Loren P. Waldo, afterwards for some time pension commissioner at Tolland, Connecticut. It was in the latter town that, in 1847, he took his exam- ination and was admitted to the bar. To pay the way for his legal studies, industry had become a most necessary virtue. During the winter months he had taught school and in summer worked in the
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harvest field, in that way being enabled to live until his profession should bear some fruit. The active practice of his profession was immediately begun in Willimantic, Connecticut, and there he remained for some nine or ten years. During that time a large number of the more important cases in his state were handled by him and he was associated for some time with La Fayette S. Foster, later president of the senate during the administration of Andrew Johnson. His successful practice quickly won for him a place in his profession. Among other notable cases with which Mr. Carpenter was connected may be mentioned the trial of the robbers of Windom bank, in which his associate was Mr. Waite, cousin of Chief Justice Waite of the United States supreme court and nephew of Chief Justice Waite, of Connecticut. Another case attracting much attention was Kelly vs. The Town of Lebanon, in which his associate was ex-Governor Cleveland of Connecticut, and in which a verdict was won for an amount larger than up to that time had ever been recovered in the state of Connecticut in a case of similar kind. In 1852 he was married to Martha C. Kendall, of Palmer, Massachusetts, a lady of puritan ancestry. Three years later, and again in 1856, he visited in the west, and was so favorably impressed with the location of Madison, Wisconsin, that he determined to make that town his future home. To his energetic mind to think was to act, and in 1857 he carried out his resolve and settled there.
Once more he took up his profession and quickly made himself a power in the community. His first partnership was with John W. Johnson, the firm name being Johnson & Carpenter, but this was of short duration, and six months later he associated himself with the well- known General E. T. Sprague, now with the majority, and the connec- tion continued until the breaking out of the war, when General Sprague went into the military service. In 1868 a partnership was formed by him with Captain R. J. Chase, now of Sioux City, Iowa, which con- tinued until 1883, when Mr. Chase decided to move to Iowa.
In 1877 Mr. Carpenter was appointed by the justices of the supreme court a member of the commission to revise the statutes of Wisconsin. In that capacity he became responsible for the title of the revised stat- utes of 1878 known as "proceedings in county courts." This work,
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vastly important as it was, he performed so well that but little change has been made in it to this time.
Mr. Carpenter continued to practice alone until 1885, when Governor Rusk, recognizing his superior abilities and peculiar aptitude for the position, appointed him county judge. This was, however, for the bal- ance of a term, from November until the January following, and when the time for election arrived he was elected for the full term of four years. For two succeeding terms he was elected without opposition, but in April, 1897, a candidate was placed in opposition. However, success was again with him and he was elected for the full term, from January Ist, 1898, to December 31st, 1901.
His power in the community was, as has been said before, recog- nized almost immediately upon his settling in Madison. In 1868 he became dean of the law school of the university of Wisconsin, of which he was one of the organizers, being succeeded in that honor twelve months later by H. S. Orton and afterwards by P. L. Spooner. In 1875 Mr. Carpenter was again made dean, and held the office continuously until 1884, when he resigned. He has continued to lecture up to the present time, chiefly on contracts, including contracts of agency, bail- ment and partnership, and feels intense pride in his nearly thirty years' connection with that noble institution. In 1862 he was appointed a member of the city board of education, in which capacity he remained for twenty-eight years, and for the last twenty-three years of that time served as its president. There are eight schools in all which owe their foundation to the activity and energy of his disposition.
His legal standing was honored in 1874 by the university of Yale with the degree of A. M., and in 1876 the university of Wisconsin gave him his degree of LL. D.
A great book lover, Judge Carpenter has at all times taken the greatest interest in the formation of libraries. Throughout the various school districts in which he has been interested he has founded schools and when he was elected to the bench he signalized the occasion by dis- tributing his library among students, and at the same time gave one hundred volumes to the university of Wisconsin.
In his political opinions he has never swerved from the principles of
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the republican party, and for a number of years his party recognized his services by electing him as a member of the city council.
Judge Carpenter attends the Presbyterian church, and is a great temperance advocate. During his earlier years he was extremely active as a member of the Good Templars.
An honest man, an upright judge, an able and distinguished lawyer, hie possesses a high and most honorable position, with the additional gratification of knowing that whatever he enjoys of success and high standing has been the result of his strict integrity, his honorable con- duct, his absolute regard for justice and his wonderful industry.
JOHN CATLIN.
John Catlin was born at Orwell, Addison county, Vermont, October 13, 1803. His educational advantages were quite limited, being only such as the common district school afforded, with the exception of one year at the academy in Shoreham. At the age of eighteen he quit school and adopted the business of teaching. He taught school for nine successive winters, devoting his summers to self-culture and the study of law in the office of Augustus C. Hand, of Elizabethtown, Essex county, New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1833.
In May, 1836, Mr. Catlin left New York with a view to locating in some western state or territory and there engaging in the practice of his profession. He had no settled plans, but was inclined to go to Grand Rapids, in Michigan. At Detroit he met Moses M. Strong, who was on his way to Mineral Point, Wis., in pursuance of an engagement into which he had entered of investing money for eastern capitalists in the public lands then recently opened for sale at that place. The two, having a slight previous acquaintance, determined upon the formation of a partnership as lawyers and land agents, and, after a weary journey, arrived at Mineral Point early in June and were present at the organi- zation of the new territorial government at that place, on the Fourth of July, 1836.
Mr. Catlin was present, as a looker-on, at the first session of the legis- lature, held at Belmont in October, 1836, and took an active interest in the location of the capital at Madison, and was one of the first to
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purchase lots there. At the same time he was appointed clerk of the supreme court, which involved the necessity of his ultimate residence at that place. In the spring of 1838 a postoffice was established at Madison, and Mr. Catlin was appointed the first postmaster and soon after removed there to reside permanently. At the second session of the territorial legislature, which met at Burlington, Des Moines county, November 6, 1837, he was elected clerk of the house of representatives and was re-elected at each subsequent session until 1844, when he was elected a member of the council, and held that office during the years 1845 and 1846. In February, 1846, he was appointed by President Polk secretary of the territory, in place of George R. C. Flloyd, re- moved, and continued to hold that office until the admission of the state into the Union in 1848. Mr. Catlin was also the first district at- torney of Dane county. After the organization of the state govern- ment he was elected judge of the probate court of Dane county, which office he held until 1851, when he resigned it to accept the presidency of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad company, when he removed to Milwaukee, and subsequently to Elizabeth, N. J., where he died August 4, 1874, having been in very poor health for about ten years.
O. M. CONOVER.
O. M. Conover, from 1864 to 1884 reporter of the supreme court of Wisconsin, was born at Dayton, Ohio, October 8, 1825; graduated from Princeton college in 1844; taught in Kentucky and in the Dayton academy; in 1846 entered Princeton theological seminary, from which he graduated in 1849. In 1850 he settled at Madison, Wisconsin; be- came one of three members of the faculty of the state university, with which his connection continued until 1858, most of that time occupying the chair of ancient languages and literature. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar; August 11, 1864, was appointed official reporter of the su- preme court, which position he held until his death; he was also for some years state librarian. His labors as reporter cover volumes 16 to 58, both inclusive. In the summer of 1882 Mr. Conover went abroad to recruit his health; as he was about to return to his home he was taken ill in London and died there April 29, 1884.
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In making to the supreme court formal announcement of Mr. Conover's death, Judge P. L. Spooner said: "In the reports prepared and issued under his supervision Dr. Conover has paid the debt which it has been said every lawyer owes to his profession. These reports furnish enduring evidence of legal learning as well as of literary taste.
In breadth and thoroughness of scholarship, it is not too much to say that among the members of the [Dane county legal] association he was easily chief, and some productions of his pen, in the rare hours of leisure which came to him, leave us in doubt whether, in the exclu- siveness of his devotion to official duty, literature has not lost even more than jurisprudence has gained. But it is not for his legal learning nor for his literary attainments, however great, that our tribute of respect and admiration is due, so much as for his moral worth, for his conscien- tiousness, for his love of truth which made insincerity impossible to him, for his purity, for his integrity, for the example of a life in which no duty seems to have been left unperformed and whose record is without a stain."
Chief Justice Cole, responding for the court, said, in part, that the excellence of Dr. Conover's work as a reporter is equal to its extent. "Generally the facts are given in a brief, accurate and perspicuous man- ner, clothed in language singularly clear and attractive. We venture the assertion that his reports will compare favorably in manner, ac- curacy of statement and literary merits with the best American reports of the day. It is not easy for me to speak of the character of Dr. Conover in the various relations of life in that calm, judicial tone which is most appropriate to this place and to an occasion like this. For nearly thirty years he was my intimate friend, and our cordial rela- tions were never disturbed for a day. Therefore, when I come to speak of him, warm words of praise and commendation instinctively come to my lips and seek expression. But I do not intend to indulge in any eulogy or to say one word about Dr. Conover which is not absolutely just and merited. I know he would not wish me to. Could he express a desire, I am sure he would say let the maxim de mortuis nil nisi bonum be changed when applied to me by substituting the word verum for bonum: 'Let nothing be said but what is true.' He was truly a
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good man, as free from meanness, envy, malice or uncharitableness as any person I ever knew. There was united in him entire rectitude of judgment, a nice sense of honor and great purity of heart. He was true to principle, honest in his dealings with his fellows, and a lover of all that was virtuous and good in human nature. He was a genuine pa- triot, loving his country and his whole country with a devotion which did not falter or faint. He was also warm in his affections, 'an invalu- able and faithful friend, a devoted husband and father, and toward his fellow-men exhibiting an enlarged and comprehensive affection and reverence for their rights and liberties.' He was deeply interested in all the currents of thought and feeling which agitated the intellectual and political world, studied their tendency and marked their progress. He was remarkably well informed in history and literature; read the Ger- man and French languages with facility, and was a very fine classical scholar, especially in Greek."
JOHN L. ERDALL.
John L. Erdall, senior member of the firm of Erdall & Swanson, was born in Dane county on June 5, 1863. His father, Lars J. Erdall, was a native of Norway, and came direct to Wisconsin when only seven years of age. Subsequently he cultivated a farm in Dane county, upon which John L. was born. His mother's maiden name was Anna Lee- land.
The first seven years of his life the boy passed upon the farm, but in 1870 his father removed with the family to Madison and was employed for many years as a bookkeeper. The son was thereby enabled to secure the benefits of a thorough education, passing through the public and high schools of Madison and graduating in 1885 from the collegiate department of the university of Wisconsin. He studied law under the special tutelage of John M. Olin and enjoyed a two years' course in the university law school, graduating from the latter and commencing prac- tice at Madison in 1887.
Mr. Erdall commenced his career in association with the firm of Ol- lis & Helms, but after an experience of nine months he decided upon . an independent course. Until 1893 he continued alone, when he
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formed the partnership with S. T. Swanson which still exists under the firm name of Erdall & Swanson. He has always been a strong and active republican and was elected district attorney of Dane county in 1889 and appointed assistant attorney general of the state in 1895. At the time of his appointment to this position there was but one assistant to the chief official, so that his duties were unusually arduous and his responsibilities great.
Throughout his career Mr. Erdall, both in behalf of the state and in his individual capacity, has been the attorney in much important litigation. He has been especially identified with many insurance cases involving interesting points of law and is considered an authority in this specialty. His public and private duties have been such that he has found little time to devote to society matters, although he is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Erdall was married on August II, 1885, at Madison, to Bertha T. Swanson. They have four children-Agnes, Leonard, Arthur and Marie.
JAMES MONROE FLOWER.
James M. Flower, senior member of the prominent Chicago firm of Flower, Smith & Musgrave, has a special claim upon the affections of Wisconsin lawyers, and especially those who have secured their degree from the state university. He has been president of the alumni associa- tion of the Wisconsin university and, aside from his high standing in the profession, it is most appropriate that he should be thus honored.
On the 5th of February, 1849, that institution first opened its doors to the world, and Mr. Flower was one of the few who passed through them. He graduated in 1856, taking the degrees of A. B. and A. M., and of the thousands who have since gone from the university into the world of thought and action none have been more generally esteemed and honored for their intellectual, spiritual and professional attain- ments than Mr. Flower.
A native of the Empire state, he was born in Hannibal, Oswego county, March 10, 1835. The birthplace of his parents, Calvin and Hannah (Phillips) Flower, was Ashfield, Massachusetts, and their an-
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