USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
"Mr. Goodland has served the people among whom he has lived in the capacity of town clerk, town treasurer and justice of the peace. In 1879 he was clerk of the judiciary committee of the assembly, and from 1888 to 1891 was district attorney of Outagamie county. In August, 1891, he was appointed judge of the tenth circuit to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of George H. Myers, and in April, 1892, was elected for the full term and re-elected in April, 1897.
Until 1872 Mr. Goodland was a republican in politics; since then he has been a democrat; was always a free trader. He was brought up in the church of England, but is not a member of any denomination. He had seven children, all grown. Mrs. Goodland died in October, 1893.
The career of Mr. Goodland is a marked instance of the fact that
436
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
industry and integrity are the keys which open the doors to public con fidence and success.
THE BAR.
· DAVID AGRY.
David Agry was born at Pittston, Kennebec county, Maine, Aug- ust 2, 1794. He removed with his parents from Pittston to Hallowell in 1801. He was highly educated, having been graduated at Dartmouth college in 1815, and had fine literary taste. He studied law at Bangor, Maine, where he was admitted to the bar and practiced until he was about thirty years of age, when he removed to New Orleans, Louisiana. After spending some time there he opened an office at Shreveport, where he resided for a number of years. He subsequently returned north and located for a time in New York city. He was induced by the representatives of Jos. Rolette, a fur trader of Prairie du Chien, whose acquaintance he made in New York, to remove to Green Bay, where he arrived in September, 1840.
Here he resumed the practice of law, and continued it for many years. He was a lawyer of superior erudition and an assiduous reader of general literature, and his character for probity and integrity was above reproach.
In 1842 he was elected a member of the house of representatives from Brown county, and served during the years 1843 and 1844. He was elected, in 1846, a member of the convention which framed the first state constitution, and took an active and useful part in that work.
In 1850 he was elected judge of the county court of Brown county, which office he held until the time of his death, on the 30th of Jan- uary, 1877, at the age of eighty-two and a half years.
CHARLES C. P. ARNDT.
Charles Coatsworth Pinckney Arndt was born on the 31st day of October, 1811, at Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. While still in youth he came with his father's family to Michigan. In 1824 he removed with the family to Green Bay, where he continued to reside
437
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
until his death, except during the period spent in acquiring his collegiate education and in completing his professional studies.
Having received a suitable preparatory education, he entered Rut- ger's college, New Brunswick, N. J., from which he was graduated an A. B. in 1832, and where he subsequently received his Master's de- gree. He studied law with Joel Jones, of Easton, Pa., and was there admitted to the bar in April, 1835. Subsequently, during the same year, he returned to his home at Green Bay, where he was admitted to practice in the courts of the then territory of Michigan. During the next six or seven years, and until his tragic death, he continued to practice at that place, and was beginning to take a high standing at the bar, and bade fair, if his life had not been cut short, to attain distinction. In 1839 he was elected a member of the council in the second legislative assembly for the unexpired term (three years) of Alexander J. Irwin, and served at four sessions, one of which-in Aug- ust, 1840-was a short extra session of only eleven days.
During this time-and indeed, previously, ever since the first elec- tion in 1836-James R. Vineyard had been a member of the same body. At the session of 1841-2, Gov. Doty had nominated, for the advice and consent of the council, one Enos S. Baker, for the office of sheriff of Grant county. Mr. Vineyard was opposed to his con- firmation, and Mr. Arndt in favor of it. On the IIth of February, 1842, upon a motion to postpone for a few days the consideration of the nomination, a discussion ensued in which angry and offensive words were exchanged between the two, in the midst of which the council was adjourned, when they met in close proximity; threats of violence ensued, and the result was that Vineyard took from his pocket a pistol from which he instantly discharged a bullet, that went directly to the heart of Arndt, who immediately fell to the floor and expired at once without the utterance of a sound. This event naturally caused great excitement. Vineyard was soon after brought before Judge Dunn on habeas corpus to be admitted to bail; this motion was granted, and he was subsequently tried and acquitted on the ground that he had acted in self-defense.
438
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
HENRY S. BAIRD.
Mr. Baird was the first lawyer who settled within the limits of the present state of Wisconsin, and was the first attorney general of the territory, having been appointed to that office by Gov. Dodge in 1836. Mr. Baird was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1800, and came to the United States with his father's family four years later. His general education was limited to such as the common schools afforded. In 1818 he began his legal education in the office of S. Douglas, a lawyer in Pittsburg, Pa. In the following year he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and prepared for admission to the bar in the office of Reuben Wood, who served as a judge of the supreme court and governor of that state. In 1822 he removed to Mackinac and in June, 1823, was admitted as a member of the bar of Michigan courts by Judge Doty. He attended the first term of court held in Green Bay and also the first term held in Crawford county, in 1824. He married Elizabeth L. Fisher at Mackinaw during the same year, and took up his resi- dence in Green Bay, where he continued to reside. In 1836 Mr. Baird was elected a member of the territorial council and was its president. December 8 of that year he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court, his name appearing first in the list of attorneys of the territorial court. Mr. Baird's service as attorney general con-
tinued until March, 1839. In 1846 he was elected a member of the
constitutional convention. His committee assignments in that body included the chairmanship of the committee on the organization and officers of counties and towns and their powers and duties, and member- ship on the committee on the constitution and organization of the legis- lature. Of his services in the convention it has been said that they "were of a highly important character, and marked him as one of the most conspicuous among the very able members composing the body."* The work referred to says of Mr. Baird: "After the or- ganization of the state he was for a long period kept in numerous public positions of local usefulness, but declined all solicitations to
*Fathers of Wisconsin, p. 38.
Душан Е. Вашен
439
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
embark in political life,t preferring the practice of his profession. His career throughout was marked by every quality of true manhood, up- rightness of purpose and a faithful discharge of every duty, public and private. He died, full of years and honors, April 28, 1875, lamented by all who had known him."
In politics Mr. Baird was a whig until that organization disappeared, when he became a republican; he continued to be attached to the prin- ciples of that party. He was an active member of the Masonic or- ganization. In 1862 or thereabout Mr. Baird retired from the active practice of the law and devoted himself to his other business inter- ests, including the management of the Astor estate in and about Green Bay. He was survived by two daughters, Mrs. John A. Baker, of Green Bay, and Mrs. John Favill, of Madison.
LYMAN EDDY BARNES.
For many years Lyman E. Barnes has been considered one of the foremost attorneys of Wisconsin in the litigation growing out of ri- parian disagreements among lessees and owners of water powers on the Fox river. In such suits property rights are involved to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the questions at issue are of such moment that they are as a rule carried to the supreme courts of the state and of the United States. He has been identified with much of this important legal business, has been and is counsel for many of the leading corporations of the Fox River valley, and has been generally successful in the suits which he has undertaken. And the secret of his present standing is found in the estimate which he himself places upon the comparative value of legal qualifications.
"I do not believe much," he says, "in genius as applied to men of my profession. The only genius I recognize is the genius for hard work and attention to business. I believe that these are the ele- ments that go to make up a good modern lawyer. Eloquence, as such, is worthless, unless a man has something to say about his case.
tIn 1853 he was the whig candidate for governor.
440
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
He cannot say things of the first importance unless he has thoroughly studied and briefed his case-which means hard work."
The above has been the platform upon which Mr. Barnes has based his professional conduct and his career has fully justified his principles. No detail is ever neglected, no stone left unturned, no work considered too laborious in the preparation and trial of a case intrusted to him. After the laying of such a foundation, if eloquence is necessary to further the suit it is of the most effective kind, based as it is upon the bedrock of facts and truth.
It may be that Mr. Barnes has inherited some of these views from a famous ancestry, since on his father's side he is descended from the Clays, the Bentons and the Harts, of Kentucky. It will be admitted, without contention, that no lawyers ever lived who based their elo- quence more solidly on facts than Thomas A. Benton and Henry Clay.
Mr. Barnes' father, William W., was a lumberman and a native of Kentucky ; his mother, Lucy Eddy Thomas, was born in Massachusetts. Samuel Fuller, one of her ancestors, was a pilgrim of the Mayflower. Both parents are now dead. At an early day they settled in the then wild lumber region of Wisconsin, where their son, Lyman E., was born in Waupaca county, on the 30th of June, 1855. The family afterwards removed to Oshkosh, where the latter's boyhood and early manhood were passed. After receiving a good education, both pri- mary and in the higher branches, he commenced the study of law in the offices of Earl P. Finch and Finch & Barber, of that city, and com- pleted the regular legal course at the Columbia college law school, New York, from which he was graduated in 1876.
Upon obtaining his diploma Mr. Barnes settled in Appleton to practice his profession. During the succeeding year he formed a part- nership with John Goodland, now circuit judge, and the firm thus organized continued until 1882. He then removed to Rockledge, Florida, and practiced until 1886, when he returned to Appleton, where he has since continuously resided. As stated, Mr. Barnes has not only become a leader of broad reputation at the bar, but his abilities have been recognized by the public at large. In 1891-92 he was district attorney of Outagamie county, and as a prosecuting officer
441
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
· his record is almost unique, in that, although he tried more cases than usually fall to such an official, he did not fail to convict in a single instance.
In the fall of the latter year (1892) Mr. Barnes was elected to Congress by the democracy and served one term with credit to him- self and benefit to his constituents. As a member of the committee on rivers and harbors, his experience, his industry and his knowledge were also of especial value to his confreres at Washington.
But to return to the law-as Mr. Barnes has always done. Al- though his large and lucrative practice has been of a general nature, it has during the later years drifted into the channel of corporation law, and, as already intimated, more especially into litigation connected with riparian rights. He is retained as their counsel by many of the large corporations of the Fox River valley. He is the regular counsel for the Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Company, which is involved in a series of important litigations with the Kaukauna Water Power Company, some of which cases are still undecided and will be taken to the highest courts.
In the year 1880 Mr. Barnes was married to Helen B. Conkey, daughter of Col. Theodore Conkey, of Appleton. They have four children-Alice, Thomas Hart, Edward T. and Lyman E., Jr.
FRANK WILSON HARRIMAN.
Frank W. Harriman resides at Appleton and is a native of that city, where he was born on the 22d day of September, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of Appleton and was graduated from the high school at the age of sixteen; taught school_ for three years. serving as principal of the sixth ward school of Appleton in 1880 and 1881; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1883; served as register in probate from 1882 to 1889, and as county judge from April, 1889, to January 1, 1890, and as postmaster of Appleton from 1891 to 1895. Mr. Harriman has always been an active republican, and has represented his party as a delegate to city, county, congressional and state conventions,. and was an alternate delegate to the republican convention at Chicago in 1888 from his district. Judge Harriman
442
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
has a large clientage and devotes his time now exclusively to the prac- tice of his profession, in which he is very successful.
On September 10, 1884, Mr. Harriman was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Waterhouse, and two bright little girls have blessed their union. Mrs. Harriman is a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of the Appleton high school, and was engaged in teaching in the public schools prior to her marriage. She is a member of the Congrega- tional church and very active in church, social and literary work.
In addition to his work as a lawyer, Judge Harriman is at present performing the duties of the following positions: Secretary and treas- urer of Appleton cemetery association, court commissioner of Outa- gamie county, clerk of school district No. 2 of the city of Appleton, trustee of First Congregational church and society, and trustee of Konemic Lodge, No. 47, I. O. O. F., of Appleton.
Frank W. Harriman is the oldest son of the late Judge Joseph E. Harriman, one of the early settlers at Appleton.
JOSEPH E. HARRIMAN.
The subject of this sketch was born at Louisville, St. Lawrence county, New York, August 16, 1834, and died at Appleton, Wisconsin, April 12, 1889. In May, 1852, he removed to Wisconsin, residing in Walworth county and attending Milton college until 1856, when he located at Appleton. He studied law with Jewett & Hudd at Appleton and the late Judge Cotton of Green Bay, Wis., and was ad- initted to the bar. In 1873 he was elected county judge of Outa- gamie county for a term of four years and re-elected in 1877, 1881 and 1885. In politics he was a republican, but was very liberal in his views and popular with the people, as is attested by his election repeatedly to offices of honor and trust in a strongly democratic community.
In 1860 he was married to Celia Pratt, of Milton, Wis., and was survived by her and four adult children, Frank W. Harriman, Fred E. Harriman, Florian J. Harriman and Mrs. Flora L. Jones.
Judge Joseph E. Harriman was a very active, public spirited citi-
443
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
zen, and much of the prosperity of Appleton is due to his early work and enterprise. It was through his energies that the beautiful "Riv- erside" cemetery at Appleton was located and embellished and he or- ganized and constructed the electric street railway at Appleton, the first electric road in the northwest.
Judge Harriman's demise was mourned by the plain people as well as the bar and public at large, as he was very unostentatious in his manners and truly regarded as a friend to the masses.
THOMAS LYNCH.
Thomas Lynch was born in Granville, Milwaukee county, Wiscon- sin, November 21, 1844; was educated in the public schools; removed to Chilton in 1864, where he worked on a farm in summers and taught school in the winters from 1867 to 1871. During those years he was chairman of the town board and one year was chairman of the county board. In 1873 he was a member of the assembly, and in that year began to study law with J. E. McMullen, of Chilton; graduated from the college of law of the Wisconsin state university in 1875, and im- mediately began the practice with Mr. McMullen; their partnership relations continued until January, 1878, in which year Mr. Lynch was elected district attorney and re-elected in 1880. He served a sec- ond term in the assembly in 1883. In 1882 he moved to Antigo, Langlade county ; in 1885 and 1888 he was mayor of Antigo; was elected to Congress in 1890 and again in 1892. Since the close of his con- gressional service Mr. Lynch has given close attention to his practice. For about a year before his death his health was somewhat impaired, but not to such an extent as prepared his friends for so early a death. Ile was removed May 4, 1898.
HENRY D. RYAN.
Henry D. Ryan was born October 7, 1837, at Fort Howard, Brown county, Wisconsin, where his boyhood was spent. He began the
-
444 HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
printer's trade at Appleton (where he has since resided, with the ex- ception of one year in Colorado "gold seeking") in 1853, serving as "devil," compositor and editor, interlarded with collegiate work of three years. Studied at law nearly four years; was admitted in 1867, and has ever since practiced as an attorney in all branches of the law. He has taken an interest in politics and has held various minor local offices.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, ITS JUDGES AND LAWYERS.
In 1864 the counties of Ashland, Burnett, Dallas, Polk, Douglas and La Pointe were constituted the eleventh judicial circuit. The first election for judge was held on the first Tuesday of May, 1864, and on the first of July the person elected entered upon the duties of his office. As it now is that circuit consists of the counties of Bar- ron, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Polk and Washburn. Its judges have been S. H. Clough, H. D. Barron, S. H. Clough, R. D. Mar- shall; the present judge is A. J. Vinje. A sketch of Judge Marshall is given in another chapter.
THE BENCH.
S. H. CLOUGH.
Solon H. Clough, the first judge of the eleventh circuit, was born in Madison county, New York, August 31, 1828; his education was obtained in the common schools, Fulton academy and Hamilton col- lege, but one year being passed in the latter. About three years were employed in teaching in the south. In 1850 Mr. Clough re- turned to New York, and thereafter read law in Syracuse and Ful- ton. After admission to the bar he practiced his profession in Oswego county until 1857, when he left his native state and settled at Hudson, Wisconsin, where he formed a partnership with H. C. Baker, the vet- eran of the St. Croix county bar. In the course of time they ob- tained a large practice and established for themselves excellent repu- tations.
Some time previous to 1864 Mr. Clough removed to Polk county. In that year the eleventh circuit was created, and Mr. Clough was elected judge. He remained in Polk county five years and then re- moved to Superior. He was re-elected circuit judge and at the close of his second term returned to Hudson and became a member of
445
446
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
the law firm of Clough & Hayes. Subsequently Judge Clough re- turned to Superior and early in 1882 was appointed circuit judge to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Barron. He was elected to that office and served until 1889.
Judge Clough's judicial record has established, beyond question, his character for impartiality, courtesy, patience and love of justice. He was not as expeditious as some judges in the transaction of busi- ness, but none surpassed him in firmness of purpose to do justice.
In politics Mr. Clough is a republican; in religious sentiment a Baptist. He married, at Fulton, New York, Miss Kate E. Taylor. To them three children have been born, two of whom are living.
HENRY D. BARRON.
Henry Danforth Barron was a native of New York, having been born in Wilton, Saratoga county, April 10, 1833. After obtaining such education as the common schools afforded he entered the law school at Ballston Spa, New York, and graduated therefrom. In 1851 he became a resident of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and conducted a newspaper there for some time; the paper was known as the "Wau- kesha Democrat" until its name was changed to the "Chronotype." In 1853 Mr. Barron was postmaster of Waukesha. In 1857 he re- moved to Pepin, Pepin county, and practiced law there until July, 1860, when he became, by appointment of Governor Randall, judge of the eighth circuit. His service in that capacity was brief-lasting only till the vacancy he was appointed to fill could be filled by an election. It does not appear that Judge Barron was voted for at the election. In a short time he removed to St. Croix Falls, Polk county. In 1862 he was unanimously elected a member of the as- sembly from the district comprising the counties of Ashland, Bay- field, Burnett, Barron, Douglas and Polk. He served as a member of the assembly in 1864. 1866, 1867, 1868, 1872 and 1873, and was the presiding officer of that body in 1866 and 1873. In 1868 and 1872 he was chosen one of the presidential electors at large on the republican ticket; from February, 1863, till his election as circuit judge in 1876, he was a regent of the state university. In March, 1869,
447
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
President Grant nominated Judge Barron for chief justice of the ter- ritory of Dakota, which office was declined. In April, 1869, the President appointed him fifth auditor of the treasury, and he dis- charged the duties of that office till January 1, 1872, when he resigned to take a seat in the assembly. In May. 1871, he was appointed by Governor Fairchild Wisconsin's trustee of the Antietam cemetery as- sociation. In 1874, 1875 and 1876 Mr. Barron was a member of the state senate, and president pro tem. of that body in 1876. In the spring of that year he was elected judge of the eleventh circuit, re- ceiving 2,673 votes against 1,363 for W. F. Bailey and 960 for Solon H. Clough. He discharged his judicial duties until his -last illness. His death occurred before the expiration of his term at St. Croix Falls, January 23, 1882; his remains were interred at Waukesha.
As a legislator Mr. Barron was prominent and influential especially in looking after local interests. His district embraced large areas of territory, which, during the years of his earlier legislative career, was being developed with great rapidity. He served on leading com- mittees and was often heard in debate.
A. J. VINJE.
Aad John Vinje, of Superior, judge of the eleventh judicial circuit, was born November 10, 1857, at Voss, Norway. On his father's side he is descended from several generations of well-to-do Norwegian farm- ers, and on his mother's side from a family of influence and high stand- ing, belonging to the Norwegian nobility while distinctions of this class existed in that country. His mother's maiden name was Inge- borg Klove, a lineal descendent of the bishop of Ulvick, who emigrated from Denmark to Norway in 1654. Judge Vinje's great-grandfather, Aad Klove, was a member of the constitutional convention held at Eids- vold in 1814, where the independence of Norway was declared, and a signer of the constitution there adopted. His grandfather, David Klove, was for several years an active member of the Norse storthing. or congress, and throughout his life a man of prominence and wide influence in the county where he lived. Judge Vinje's father died from the effects of an accident in 1859, but in 1864 his mother re-
448
HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
married and in 1869 the family emigrated from their home in Norway to Marshall county, Iowa, where they still reside.
From his earliest years young Vinje exhibited an aptitude for study and evinced qualities of mind that have become the dominant traits in the character of the mature man. The gentle blood and family traditions of the mother naturally inspired her with an ambition for the liberal education of her son, and her sympathetic intelligence early discovered the even, but unmistakable, marks of his ability. She is a warm admirer of the American school system, and gladly availed herself of the opportunities it afforded for the education of her children. Like many a man of higher fortune, Judge Vinje's greatest debt of gratitude is due to the intelligent guidance and self-denying zeal of a good mother, and the liberal opportunities of our public school sys- tem. To these twin sources he owes and cheerfully ascribes his prog- ress and success.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.