USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 38
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A eulogistic address was made by F. J. Lamb, and remarks were made by I. C. Sloan: Chief Justice Cole responded for the court:
"The members of this court sincerely unite in the expression of re- gret and sorrow at the death of P. L. Spooner, which are contained in the memorial of the Dane county bar. This tribute of respect is justly due to his memory who was for so many years one of their most dis- tinguished and worthy members.
"At one time Mr. Spooner held a close official relation to this court, being its authorized reporter for some years. How well, how acceptably he performed his duty in that capacity is known to all who have had occasion to consult the volumes he reported. It is but just and the strict truth to say that he was an excellent reporter, and his volumes bear ample testimony of his industry, accuracy and correct understanding of what is essential to make a valuable law report. His statement of the facts upon which the decision turns is always ample, clear and pre- cise, excluding all irrelevant matter. It is unnecessary to add that he had a just comprehension of the reasons and principles upon which the decision rested. He voluntarily resigned the office of reporter when it was the general desire that he should continue in the office.
"I became acquainted with Mr. Spooner in 1859, soon after he came to Madison to reside. In that year I had the satisfaction and pleasure of listening to several of his arguments made before this tribunal. I distinctly remember the impression which his first argument made upon
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my mind. The case involved some question of commercial law, and it was at once apparent that Mr. Spooner was quite at home in that branch of jurisprudence which affected his case. Indeed, he might be said to be master of every branch of law. He certainly was distinguished for great professional learning and attainments. In arguing cases his man- ner was calm, deliberate and unimpassioned. His language was clear, plain and forcible. He never indulged in rhetoric or made any appeal to the emotions. He had great power of analysis, and possessed the rare faculty of being able to grasp a legal or abstract proposition, and of holding it before the mind, so to speak, as one might a visible object before the eye,contemplating it from all points of view,eliminating what- ever was immaterial or nonessential, and finally extracting the real prin- ciple-the heart and core of the matter-and applying it to the facts of his case. He was a consummate master of pure reasoning; his prop- ositions were bound together like chain armor, by close, severe logic, and one who would overthrow his propositions must have strength to crush the entire argument, for the propositions could not be answered in detail. I know of no reported argument which does him justice or gives an adequate idea of his extraordinary reasoning powers. He was engaged in many important causes before this court, and his arguments were always remarkable for clearness and acuteness, and for that pecu- liar faculty which we have alluded to, of deducing the controlling prin- ciple of law from apparently conflicting authorities and applying it to his case. His quiet, calm manner and courteous address never failed to command attention or produce a deep impression upon a court.
"This is not the occasion to speak of him in any other relation than as a lawyer, but I cannot withhold a remark upon his pure and blameless life; his broad, active sympathies for struggling merit and every good cause; his constancy to his friends, his fidelity to duty, and his prompt and cheerful recognition and response to all the claims of civil and social life. He was a true patriot and a true man in all relations. He came to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season, leaving a name without a stain, and an example of professional conduct worthy of all imitation by every lawyer, young or old."
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EMMONS TAYLOR.
In the death of Emmons Taylor, on the 13th of April, 1874, passed away not only one of the most eminent citizens of Portage City but an eloquent, faithful lawyer, and a modest man of true metal, who was an honor to the profession of the northwest and the country. Although the members of the Columbia county bar had no organized association a committee was appointed to prepare resolutions and receive tributes in memory of the deceased. From all portions of the state came lawyers and judges of eminence to testify to his high character, such as could not be present in person sending letters expressive of their sentiments of admiration, esteem or love. Of those who had even more than a state reputation may be mentioned Luther S. Dixon, Harlow S. Orton, Gerry W. Hazelton, G. C. Prentiss, S. U. Pinney, Alva Stewart and J. P. C. Cottrill. Perhaps it is not too much to say that the first named is as strong a character as any in the list, and from his letter, addressed to the chairman, are taken the following extracts:
"He was an able, earnest, fearless, and often eloquent, advocate of the cause he espoused, always choosing his positions with caution and sound judgment, and ever guarding and defending them with unflag- ging zeal and energy. He was quick to discover and take advantage of the weak points of his adversary and to secure and protect his client by all proper means against the strong ones. He scorned all mean and dishonest advantages, and hence his trial of causes was always fair and honorable. He was there, as everywhere else, a strictly honest man. His advocacy, and it was in that he most excelled, was, therefore, of that kind which aids most in the administration of justice-in the discovery of truth and the exposure of falsehood. It was that advocacy which is the right hand of justice-which vindicates and protects innocence and right, and exposes and punishes oppression and wrong. Courts and juries would make most feeble and unsatisfactory progress in the ad- ministration of justice in litigated causes, without the assistance of such advocates. They are ministers as useful and indispensable in the temple of justice as the judge on the bench or the jury in the box. It would almost seem that they are even more useful, for in their capacity of
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attorneys and advocates the whole machinery is moved by their exer- tions and carried into successful action under their guidance. From your temple of justice such a minister has been withdrawn, to be seen and heard there no more forever. A master workman, one tried and experienced, has gone, leaving a void which many revolving years will not suffice to fill. The vacant chair, the genial smile, the friendly greet- ing, the dignified and able conduct and advocacy, often marked by wit and repartee, will not be forgotten until the present generation of law- yers among you have passed away. It is no disparagement to survivors to say that no more graceful, able and successful advocate has appeared in Columbia county than was Mr. Taylor.
"As a lawyer, I think it may be truly said, that Mr. Taylor was thoroughly taught and versed in the elementary principles of our law. In his practice, though not discarding books, but taking more than ordinary pains to provide himself with a library, I still think he belonged rather to that class who depend more upon their clear perceptions of what is just and true than upon books and cases-more upon principles than precedents. Juvat accedere fontes.
"Any sketch of him, as a lawyer, would also be defective which failed to notice his urbane and courteous manners-that deference and respect which he always observed in his intercourse with others, the court, the jury, the counsel opposed, the parties and the witnesses, and all with whom he came in contact. This was habitual with him at all times, and under all circumstances, and sprang from that kindly disposition, and gentleness, and evenness of temper, which were prevailing char- acteristics. He was never rude or offensive, and I do not remember ever to have heard him speak a harsh or unkind word even to the most menial or insignificant.
"In his capacity of counsel-'in his office, where every lawyer is a judge, and where, in matters not litigated, vastly exceeding those which are, he decides all questions,' the learning, the ability, the truth and integrity of our deceased friend were invaluable. How many lawsuits has he not saved, how much litigation, strife and bitterness, and useless expense, by his prudent and sagacious advice. He was always a pacifi- cator, where pacification was proper and possible. He knew nothing
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about that art, vicious in itself, and disgraceful in those who practice it, which fosters and foments useless litigation. The number of people in your county, and elsewhere, under obligation to him for the exercise of this excellent quality, is almost countless.
"His abilities were such, and such the generous and disinterested qualities of his heart and judgment, drawing and attaching to himself by the ties of the warmest friendship all who knew him, that had he aspired in the least to political distinction there could have been no doubt of his success. But he had absolutely no ambition for preferment or distinction of that kind. He preferred the more unostentatious and at the same time more noble and useful walk of his profession. His face was rarely seen in the caucus or the convention, and his voice never heard from the 'stump' or at the hustings. He abhorred the tricks and chicanery in which our politics are too much involved and by which they are too frequently governed, as much as he did the subterfuges and mean and unfair artifices of the pettifogger."
The salient facts of Mr. Taylor's life are these: He was born at Rupert, Bennington county, Vermont, on the 26th of June, 1828. Graduating from Williams college (Massachusetts) at the age of nine- teen he read law in the office of J. C. Hopkins, Granville, New York, who subsequently became judge of the United States court for the western judicial district of Wisconsin, and performed the sad duty, nearly forty years thereafter, of testifying to his unchanging and ster- ling qualities of heart and head. Of this period in Mr. Taylor's life Judge Hopkins says:
"It was in 1849 that he entered my office as a student. He was then but lately from college,-and, although unschooled in the ways of busi- ness, he was still so pleasant and agreeable in his manner, and so fine a conversationalist that he soon became very popular with all classes of society, and as he possessed a large share of what is called good sense he readily secured the confidence of the business portion of the com- munity. His course of study differed materially from that of most other students.
"His ambition, from the start, was to become an advocate, and he therefore selected and pursued a course of study which he deemed best
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calculated to develop and cultivate that quality. He took little interest in the works of practice, or the mere practice, and I presume he never became noted for a nice or technical practice.
"He looked upon the law as embodying the principles and rules that control and regulate the relations of human life and society, and he ap- plied himself diligently to learn them, and selected and read for that purpose the works of the best and most profound law writers without, however, neglecting the study of the most approved literary and poeti- cal works; indeed, he stored his mind with such material as was best calculated to perfect him as an advocate; and so great was his success that, before he was admitted to the bar, he had won and enjoyed a most enviable reputation as an accomplished and polished speaker."
Being admitted to the bar in 1857, Mr. Taylor had a short expe- rience as an insurance agent, but, although successfully conducted, the business was not according to his tastes, and he came west to practice the profession which he loved. Fortunately he at once became the associate of Luther S. Dixon, of Portage City, then, as for years, one of the giants of his profession. To his encouragement and influence the modest young Vermonter acknowledged much of his after progress. Two years thereafter Judge Dixon was elevated to the bench, and the partnership was dissolved. In 1868 Mr. Taylor formed a professional connection with his younger brother (James B.), which was only severed with death. A stanch republican, although never a partisan, he served as district attorney for three terms, being elected in 1868, 1870 and 1872. If his ambition had been directed toward political preferment he would undoubtedly have made a national mark, but his profession was the one serious purpose of his life, and the position which he reached is proof that he did not misjudge the importance of his mission or his ability to reach the height of his aim.
JAMES B. TAYLOR.
If the present is a true promise of the future, the career of James B. Taylor will have as lasting and as beneficial an effect upon the com- munity in which he has resided for so many years, as that of his la- mented brother, Emmons Taylor, who was accounted one of the most
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talented lawyers as well as among the truest of men in the northwest. His parents were Stephen and Harriet (Sheldon) Taylor, both natives of Vermont. On his father's side his grandparents were Joel and Han- nah Taylor, who were descended from an old English family and were for many years prominent residents of Concord, New Hampshire. They afterward removed to the Green Mountain state, where the parents of James B. Taylor were born, as well as our subject himself.
Mr. Taylor is a native of Rupert, Bennington county, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1840. After attending the public schools of this locality and working upon his father's farm in season, he set out to devote all his time and energies to the task of acquiring a thorough higher education. He therefore entered the Burr and Burton seminary, at Manchester, Vermont. The studies which he there industriously prosecuted prepared him for entrance to Union college, Schenectady, New York, from which he graduated in 1865.
In the meantime his brother Emmons, twelve years his senior, had taken up his residence at Portage, as a progressive attorney and citizen. After graduating from college, therefore, Mr. Taylor made that city his home, entering his brother's office as a student of law and being ad- mitted to practice in 1868. At this time the two formed a partnership, which continued uninterruptedly until the death of Emmons, on the 13th of April, 1874. Since that time he has practiced alone, both civil and criminal cases receiving his close professional attention. He has served as city attorney for a number of years, has been honored with the mayoralty of Portage for one term and has twice been elected county judge-in 1893 and 1897. In politics he is a republican.
Mr. Taylor is high in the councils of both the Masons and Knights of Pythias. In the former order he has held all the offices to those of eminent commander and grand captain general in the Grand Com- mandery, having joined the fraternity in 1861. He is at present a mem- ber of Fort Winnebago Commandery No. 4. The organization with which he is connected as a member of the Knights of Pythias is Mc- Queeny Lodge No. 104.
Married on the 16th of September, 1873, at Portage, to Julia A. !
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Davidson, Mr. Taylor has had four children-Emmons H., James Dixon, Dwight D. and Caroline M.
DANIEL KENT TENNEY.
Daniel K. Tenney, member of the prosperous and prominent Chi- cago firm, Tenney, McConnell & Coffeen, was born in Plattsburg, New York, December 31, 1834. His father, Daniel, was a Universalist clergyman who preached for many years in northern Ohio, his paternal ancestry being English. As early as 1620 members of the family emi- grated to Massachusetts where they became prominent in various walks of life. Mr. Tenney's mother, Sylvia Kent before marriage, was a cousin of the great Chancellor Kent, of the Empire state, so that Mr. Tenney perhaps comes by his legal ability partly from inheritance.
The family moved to La Porte, northern Ohio, in 1836, when Daniel was but two years of age. In his fifth year he commenced to attend school and, strange to say, those times when the very young ideas began to shoot are distinct in his memory. At the age of eight he was ap- prenticed as a printer in Elyria, Ohio, his brother, Major H. A. Tenney, being owner of the paper which furnished the chief business of the es- tablishment. For the succeeding decade he followed the printer's trade, when he worked, but obtained considerable schooling, intermittent though it was, at Elyria and Hudson, Ohio. At the age of fifteen he went to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the state university then recently organized. By working vacations and Saturdays at his trade he man- aged to pay his way in that institution, and pursued the course there for four years, returning then to his old occupation and serving for one year as foreman of the Wisconsin State Journal. His bent of mind, however, was more intellectual than mechanical, and he therefore re- moved to Portage and began his legal studies with H. W. Tenney, now of Appleton.
Mr. Tenney was next appointed deputy clerk of the circuit court of Dane county, holding that position in the year 1855. While thus em- ployed he continued his legal studies and on the 11th of December, 1855, at the age of twenty, was admitted to the practice of his profes- sion. A partnership with Thomas Hood followed, which was termi-
Sevi B. Vilas
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nated about two years later, when Mr. Hood as a general solicitor be- came identified with railroad work. Mr. Tenney then formed a part- nership with Charles T. Wakeley, which continued until 1860, when he organized the firm of H. W. & D. K. Tenney. For a decade the firm enjoyed perhaps the largest and most lucrative practice of any in Dane county.
But this measure of professional success did not satisfy the junior member, who, in 1870, removed to Chicago. In association with other excellent men as partners he has since that time assumed a command- ing position in the field of commercial law. Especially during the five years which succeeded his going to Chicago was his success most marked, and the records covering that period will show that the firm of which he was a member had a decided lead over all others engaged in the specialty mentioned. He subsequently became senior in the firm of Tenney, McConnell & Coffeen, which still exists. Mr. Tenney him- self has partially withdrawn from active practice, his services as coun- sellor and as adjuster of insolvencies being in constant demand. It should be stated, however, that during his younger years he was a stal- wart fighter in the legal arena. He was honest in argument and pro- cedure, determined to win and a good judge of human nature-suffi- cient reasons why he should have succeeded. He has always been inde- pendent of all creeds-in fact, what may be denominated a free thinker -and has written much upon the subjects indicated.
Originally a democrat, Mr. Tenney has been a republican since the founding of that party. He has repeatedly refused office, declining even to have his name mentioned as a congressional candidate.
In 1857 Mr. Tenney was married, at Madison, to Mary Jane Mars- ton, a native of Montpelier, Vermont. They have two children-John Marston Tenney, a resident of Seattle, and Mary Sylvia Tenney.
LEVI B. VILAS.
July 1, 1880, S. U. Pinney made formal announcement to the su- preme court of the death of Levi B. Vilas, which occurred at his resi- dence in Madison, February 6, 1879. Mr. Pinney referred to the de- ceased as "one of the eminent and most venerable members of the bar
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of this court, and a distinguished and respected citizen of this state." Upon the announcement of the sad event, the court, in respect for his memory, adjourned for the day, without transacting any business, and attended his funeral in a body. In both houses of the legislature, then in session, like appropriate action was had in relation to his death. The resolutions of the Dane county bar, presented to the court by Mr. Pinney, expressed "that the deceased was distinguished in the pro- fession, of which he was a member. He was able, indefatigable and zealous in behalf of his clients, and his professional integrity was un- questioned and beyond suspicion. That in public and private life his faithfulness and probity were equally conspicuous, and that he ever regarded and acted upon the theory that the betrayal of a public trust was treason to the state."
Mr. Vilas was born in Sterling, Lamoille county, Vermont, Feb- ruary 25, 18II ; he received an academic education, but was prevented by ill health from completing his collegiate course. He was admitted to the bar at St. Albans and practiced successively at Morristown, Johnson and Chelsea in his native state. During 1834 he was the first postmaster at Morristown. In 1835 he represented Johnson in the constitutional convention, and in 1836 and 1837 was the representative of that town in the legislature. In 1837 he was chosen by the legis- lature one of the state commissioners of the deaf, dumb and blind; during the same period he held the office of register of probate. In 1838 he removed to Chelsea and represented that town in the legislature from 1840 to 1843, serving on the judiciary committee, being its chair- man in 1843. In 1845 he was elected state senator from Orange county, and re-elected in 1846; during the last year he was president of the senate; he was also judge of probate, for three years, of that county. In 1850 he represented Chelsea in the constitutional convention of 1850. He was the democratic candidate for Congress in 1844 against Jacob Collamer, and in 1848 was supported by the representatives of his party in the legislature for United States senator. He came to Wisconsin and settled at Madison in 1851; in 1855, 1868 and 1873 he was a member of the assembly from the Madison district. From April, 1861, to April, 1862, he was mayor of Madison; in 1862 he served as draft commis-
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sioner under appointment from Governor Salomon, and served as a regent of the state university for twelve years.
In presenting the resolutions of the Dane county bar to the supreme court Mr. Pinney said, after having stated most of the facts contained in the preceding paragraph:
"The employment of Judge Vilas in strictly active, professional pur- suits extended but little over eighteen years, although at the time of his death he had been in and out of the profession for a period of about forty-six years. After his settlement in Wisconsin he gave his atten- tion mainly to the investment and management of the very considerable fortune he had acquired as the reward of professional services during his practice in his native state, and to the discharge of other duties of a public and private character. He retired entirely from the field of professional labor in 1856. During the five years he was engaged in practice in Wisconsin, in the portion of the state in which he resided there was but little ·litigation, and that of a comparatively unimportant character, as business interests were small and in their infancy; hence but little opportunity was afforded for the exhibition of his ability, skill and learning as a lawyer, and a knowledge of his true merit and rank as a member of our profession is confined to those of us most intimately acquainted with him. He enjoyed an extensive and lucra- tive practice in his native state where, as a young man, he entered the lists in competition with the members of an able, learned and accom- plished bar. Without other than his own resources, in a period of eighteen years' practice, he acquired great wealth, and a professional reputation of the highest order; and the Vermont reports during that period bear abundant testimony both to the diversity of legal topics discussed by him in the court of last resort, and to the ability, learning and vigor with which he treated them.
"Judge Vilas possessed a strong physical organization, and in the main was blessed with robust health. He had a fine personal presence. His mental powers were active and vigorous, and of a high order. With an ardent and almost vehement, but not impulsive temperament, and a strength of will and persistency of purpose that yielded to no opposition; with a judgment prudent, clear and positive, but essentially
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practical in all things, and regarding steadily the actual and the practi- cal in life, he united the elements essential to an unusually strong and positive character, and necessary to make him, as he was, an able, safe and successful lawyer, and in public life a man of great usefulness, in- fluence and power. He was fond of society, and as a conversationalist he was both entertaining and instructive; mingling with the pleasant- ries and anecdotes which characterized his social intercourse, sugges- tions of practical wisdom gleaned from a wide experience, improved by the observation and reflection of an active and vigorous mind, quick to perceive and comprehend whatever might be of interest. In all the concerns of life he was eminently prudent, wise and practical, and in relation to business concerns he had great sagacity and foresight. He was strict and punctilious in meeting all his duties and obligations, and exacted the same degree of fidelity and promptness from others. His fidelity, integrity and patriotism as a citizen and public servant, honored so often and so conspicuously with the public confidence, were not only beyond question, but were unsullied by even the breath of suspicion. The long list of important public trusts from time to time committed to his care and keeping during a long, useful life, and the eminent ability and spirit of fairness he displayed in meeting their exacting require- ments, bear abundant testimony to his public worth and the great loss the public have sustained in the death of so distinguished and useful a citizen, and in being deprived of that accumulated experience and wisdom which comes only with many years. He belonged to a class, now unfortunately too few in number, who understand that public trusts are not private estates, and that a betrayal of them is not merely an error or mistake to be condoned by a majority at the next election, but a crime against the social and civil state of the most serious char- acter. He was sincerely attached to and firmly believed in the principles and traditions of the democratic party; and, but for the fact that his party, for the last twenty years of his life, was in a minority in the state and nation, he would no doubt have been called to fill official positions of still greater dignity, influence and power. Although thus debarred in some degree from place and power, the influence of such a life and character in the community and in the state cannot be overestimated.
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