USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 43
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Mr. Hanitch is the local attorney for the Northern Pacific Railway Company. He is a director of the Commercial Club and a trustee of the First Presbyterian church. Furthermore he is a Mason-in a word, a live, earnest, able lawyer and citizen.
Studious and domestic in his tastes, his life is rounded by the ele- vating influences of a refined home. To his wife, formerly Miss Eliza-
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beth Farquhar, of Los Angeles, California, he was married in the year 1890. They have two children-Mary and Katherine.
HIRAM HAYES.
This veteran of the bar of northwestern Wisconsin was born in the town of Industry, Maine, May 24, 1832. His father's name was Jacob, and his mother's Ruth. The family settled in that region about 1816, and was of English stock. They were farmers. Hard work, plain living, and high thinking were the heritage of the youth of that section. Mr. Hayes was educated in the common schools, at Farmington academy and Bowdoin college. Industry and thrift en- abled him to complete his course. He graduated from Bowdoin in the class of 1851; at that time Gen. O. O. Howard, William P. Frye, Melville W. Fuller, now chief justice of the United States supreme court, were students there. Mr. Hayes studied law with Robert Goodenow, of Farmington, and in 1856 was admitted to the bar at Superior, Wisconsin, to which place he went a year or so before. That year he formed a partnership with Michael S. Bright, formerly an Indiana lawyer, who stood high in his profession and in public esti- mation. In 1860 he went to New York city and Mr. Hayes went to Washington and secured the clerkship of a senate committee of which Jefferson Davis and others well up in secession were members. Later he served in clerical positions in the interior and treasury de- partments.
In the fall of 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln captain and assistant quartermaster; he went into the military service with the army of the Potomac. In May, 1863, he was assigned to duty with Gen. Howard's command, next with Gibbon's command; following this he became chief quartermaster of the eleventh army corps, and then of the fourth corps, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, in the Atlanta cam- paign, at Franklin and Nashville, and in many minor engagements.
In the spring of 1866 Col. Hayes returned to Superior, and, with sundry intervals of time excepted, has continued to reside there. He has been a prominent figure in the development of that city; indeed,
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has been foremost in much that has been done to develop and sus- tain it. He has prospered with it, and has suffered in fortune as its prosperity has lagged. His extensive business interests have en- gaged so large a part of his time that it has been necessary for him to withdraw from the active practice of the law. To some branches of the law, as taxation, special assessments, real property and corpora- tions, he has given continued attention.
Politically, Col. Hayes is a republican. The family attend the Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Hayes is a member. Her maiden name was Mary E. Newton, and was exchanged for that she now bears November 29, 1860. Their only son, Frank, is a graduate of the Massachusetts institute of technology, and is in business as a mas- ter mechanic at Superior.
Col. Hayes is a member of the Greek letter college society of Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic.
JOHN J. JENKINS.
John J. Jenkins was born in Weymouth, England, August 20, 1843, settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in June, 1852, attended the common schools there a few terms, and also studied law and was admitted to the bar in that place. He served during the civil war as a mem- ber of company A, sixth Wisconsin; was clerk of the Sauk county cir- cuit court from 1867 to 1870, when he resigned and removed to Chip- pewa Falls, where he has since resided and practiced law, having for partners at different times the late James M. Bingham, W. R. Hoyt, R. D. Marshall, and his brother W. W. Jenkins, lately deceased. Since changing his residence Mr. Jenkins has served the public as city clerk and city attorney of Chippewa Falls, as member of assembly (1872) and county judge. In 1876 he was appointed by President Grant United States attorney for the territory of Wyoming. In 1894 he was elected a member of Congress, re-elected in 1896, and in 1898 was nominated for a third term.
Mr. Jenkins has had large experience as a lawyer and been suc- cessful in building up and retaining his business. In public office he has been diligent and faithful.
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WALTER WARREN JENKINS.
Mr. Jenkins, formerly of the Chippewa county bar, was a son of Major Francis K. Jenkins and Mary M. Jenkins, who came to America from Weymouth. England, in 1853, and settled in Sauk county, Wis- consin. The father was a gallant soldier during the civil war, being a member of the 6th Wisconsin, forming part of the Iron Brigade, with the rank of captain and brevet rank of major. The oldest brother of Walter W. is John J. Jenkins, member of Congress from the 10th dis- trict. The subject of this sketch was born October 10, 1864, at Bara- boo, Wisconsin, and moved to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in 1878; graduated from the Chippewa Falls high school June 8, 1883, and the college of law, university of Wisconsin, June, 1887. He was ad- mitted to practice the profession of law by the supreme court of Wis- consin immediately after his graduation at the law school and com- menced practice with Marshall & Jenkins at Chippewa Falls. In January, 1889, he formed a partnership with his brother, John J., the firm being Jenkins & Jenkins, which continued till the death of Walter WV., which occurred on the 9th day of April, 1898.
Mr. Jenkins, while not having the advantage of a full university course, was a well educated man, he having supplemented his high school course and university law course by years of careful study and self-culture. He loved to dwell in an intellectual atmosphere, be sur- rounded by his books and to spend his time in intellectual improve- ment, particularly in the line of his profession and in the field of eco- nomics, history and English literature. As a lawyer, from his first entering the profession, he was exceptionally active, industrious and successful, and had, at the time of his death, a large clientage, espe- cially among business men.
GEORGE PERRY KNOWLES.
George P. Knowles has been engaged in active practice at the bar of Wisconsin for over thirty-five years, and during all that time he has so conducted himself, in both business and private life, as to merit
Two Rurales.
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the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has been brought into contact. He was born in Sullivan, Madison county, New York, September 17, 1840. His father, James Knowles, a native of Troy, New York, was a member of an old New England family, members of which participated in the colonial and revolutionary wars. The fore- bears of the mother of George P. Knowles, whose name previous to her marriage was Elizabeth Duygert, were from Holland. They were among those early settlers of the New Netherlands whose descendants have become a force in the control of "enterprises of great pith and moment" in the fields of finance, transportation and politics.
Reared upon a farm until fourteen years of age, during which time he attended the district school, the foundation for his physical strength and elementary education was laid at the same time. In 1854 he entered the seminary at Cazenovia, and a year later became a student at the Yates polytechnic institute at Chittenango, New York. Instead of taking a complete college course, he determined to devote his time and attention to the study of the law, and for that purpose he entered the office of D. D. Walrath, of Chittenango, New York. During part of the time, however, he taught school. He was ad- mitted to the bar at a general term of the supreme court of New York held at Binghamton in 1861, and in the fall of that year began the active practice of his profession in Tunkhannock. Pennsylvania, where he succeeded to the business of his brother-in-law. A. K. Peckham, who had just been elected judge of the district court of Pennsylvania.
Believing that the west offered more and better opportunities for the success of a young man, Mr. Knowles determined to seek a field for his labor in that section. In the spring of 1863 he left Pennsyl- vania and came to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he entered the office of I. K. Talmadge and began his career as a member of the Wis- consin bar. Shortly thereafter a partnership, which continued for many years, was formed with David Babcock, and later Mr. Knowles became associated with Edward Phelps. In 1890 he determined to locate in West Superior, Wisconsin, and upon his arrival there formed the partnership of Knowles, Graham & Wilson. A year later Dick- inson & Buchanan joined the firm, which then became known as
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Knowles, Dickinson, Graham, Buchanan & Wilson. In 1895 Mr. Buchanan retired and returned to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and March 1, 1897, Messrs. Dickinson & Graham withdrew, leaving the present firm of Knowles & Wilson.
The records of the supreme court show that Mr. Knowles has been engaged in the trial of many cases involving large interests and some of them important questions of law. In all branches of his profes- sion, whether before judge or jury, in courts of last resort or as coun- sel in his office, he conducts his business with equal skill.
Politically Mr. Knowles is not affiliated with any party. He has never been an aggressive partisan in any sense, and with the excep- tion of one term as district attorney for Fond du Lac county, he has never held any elective office. He is associated with the Masonic fra- ternity, as a member of both the chapter and commandery.
Mr. Knowles was married December 14, 1876, to Katherine M. French of Fond du Lac. They have one son, Edwin C. F. Knowles. Mr. Knowles is a member of the Episcopal church.
MYRON REED.
Myron Reed was born at Massena, St. Lawrence county, New York, September 19, 1836, his parents being Heman L. and Sophia Reed. He was educated at Union academy, Belleville, Jefferson county, New York, and commenced the study of law in the office of D. D. Mott, Massena, in 1856, and afterwards attended the law school at Albany in 1857 and 1858, and was admitted to the bar of the su- preme court of New York in 1858 after passing the requisite exam- ination therefor. In the spring of 1859 he came to Waupaca, Wis- consin, and commenced practice in company with M. H. Sessions with whom he continued for about five years. A few years after coming to Waupaca he was married to Miss Julia Hampson, a woman whose graciousness and intelligence have added not a little to the suc- cess of her husband. From 1880 to 1885 he was associated with George Lines, and in 1889 came to Superior where for several years he was connected with H. H. Grace and A. T. Rock in the practice
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of his profession, but is at present in partnership with his son, J. M. Reed, under the firm name of Reed & Reed.
Mr. Reed, though averse to holding office, has always manifested an interest in politics, being one of the most reliable and faithful dem- ocrats in northern Wisconsin. At one time he served as district at- torney of Waupaca county, having been appointed to that 'position by Gov. Fairchild to fill a vacancy. He was state senator in 1871 and 1872, being elected over his partner, M. H. Sessions, and served upon the judiciary and other important committees. To him belongs the credit of securing the passage of the constitutional amendment re- stricting local legislation. He was mayor of the city of Waupaca, and several times a member of the board of supervisors of that county. To his influence, skill and management Waupaca county is indebted for the fine courthouse which it now has. He has ever been deeply interested in Masonry, and for a great many years was master of the lodge at Waupaca, and for two terms, in 1888 and 1889, was grand master of that order in Wisconsin. He has been identified with several public and private enterprises in his part of the state, all of which have prospered. He was appointed United States alternate commissioner for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1892. He served as city attorney of the city of Superior in 1895, the year of its greatest financial distress, and had much to do with settling a large number of important questions concerning its wel- fare and conducting a large amount of important litigation. He has filled many positions of public trust and confidence, and has never been charged with being recreant to any. He is a member of the American bar association, and has for several years been a member of the executive committee of the state bar association.
Professionally Mr. Reed always has the respect of the court and his brethren of the bar. He is not a natural advocate; has not the quickness of perception, the elasticity of action, the brilliancy of ora- tory and personal magnetism to excel in this phase of professional service. His strength is before the court, and in the consultation room. In the latter place his intelligence, sound sense and courtesy impress every lawyer who is so fortunate as to be associated with him. There Vol. II .- 30
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is perhaps no member of the bar in his circuit that is his equal in busi- ness habits. Promptness, accuracy, system, mark everything he touches. He would have excelled as a business man. His name has been mentioned for the supreme bench. He has the judicial tone and temper. Though 'never having held a judicial position, people call him "Judge" as matter of course-judge by brevet. In this era of "catch as catch can" Judge Reed maintains that professional dignity, that chivalry of the bar that so adorned the aristocracy of the legal "cloth" in his early manhood.
On his social side the judge is one of the most charming of men, and the generous hospitality of his home is remarked and remembered by all who are so happy as to breathe its atmosphere. He is an old time patrician gentleman, clothed with "that chastity of honor which feels a stain like a wound."
FRANK A. ROSS.
In more respects than appears upon the surface is the saying true that agriculture is at the basis of American prosperity. Not only does the material wealth of the country find its root in the soil, but its intellectual and professional strength is largely drawn from those whose early days have been passed in agricultural pursuits, or whose ancestry have been trained in the healthful conflicts with nature.
Mr. Ross' parents were of the industrious, intelligent, hardworking agricultural class of Pennsylvania, his father, George N. Ross, being a native of Susquehanna county, and his mother, Sarah A. Hyatt, of Erie county. Before the railway systems had penetrated as far west as Illinois (in 1845) they left the fertile, but confining, valleys of the Keystone state for the broad prairies of Illinois, making their home in Grundy county. Here Mr. Ross engaged in farming for about four years before being seized with the gold fever which especially raged throughout the country in 1849-50. It was during the latter year that he was swept across the plains to California; but being one of the many whom fortune did not favor, he returned to the Illinois homestead in 1853 and bravely resumed the occupation for which he was fitted.
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Frank A. Ross was born in Grundy county, on the 24th of March, 1856; during the following year his parents removed to Pierce county, in Wisconsin. Here he led the uneventful but invigorating life of the farmer's boy, working in the summer and attending the district school in the winter. But the intellectual outstripped the physical health, ambition asserted itself, and the boy, as he approached man- hood, aspired to enter the professional field. Whatever he endeav- ored to do he did with his might, so that, after taking a course of studies with White & Smith and J. S. White, of Prescott, he passed a most creditable examination before Judge Bundy and the examin- ing committee, and was admitted to the bar, at that place, December 13, 1879.
Mr. Ross at once assumed the responsibilities of his profession and was successful from the first, his business being materially increased by the departure for the west of his former preceptor, J. S. White, to whose practice he succeeded. He remained in Prescott until March 17, 1887, when he removed to his present residence, West Superior.
Mr. Ross practiced alone until October, 1888, when he formed a partnership with W. D. Dwyer. Under the firm name of Ross & Dwyer it continued until 1890, when C. Smith, now judge of the su- perior court of Douglas county, became a third partner. Two years thereafter Louis Hanitch and George J. Douglas were received into the firm, but during the spring of 1893 Mr. Smith was elevated to the bench and Mr. Douglas soon after retired. At the present time the partnership is styled Ross, Dwyer & Hanitch, and it represents some of the heaviest interests in this portion of the state-such as the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the Superior Water, Light & Power Company, the Superior Street Railway Company, the North- western National Bank, the American Steel Barge Company, etc., etc.
Besides the extensive law business which Mr. Ross has conducted, both independently and as a firm member, he has been influential in the politics of the republican party. From January 1. 1881, to Jan- uary 1, 1887, he served as district attorney of Pierce county and per- formed the duties of his position with his usual faithfulness and ability.
Outside of his profession his life is purely domestic. He has a
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family of four children-Leslie Garfield, Myrtle Paulina, Wayne Mc- Veagh and Mildred Sarah. To his first wife, Henrietta Viroqua New- ell, he was married December 19, 1878. She died October 17, 1894, and he was married a second time to a sister of his first wife, Carrie Blanche Newell, on the 18th of June, 1896.
On March 8, 1898, he was appointed by Governor Scofield a mem- ' ber of the state board of normal school regents for the term of three years.
LYCURGUS J. RUSK.
Lycurgus James Rusk was born in Morgan county, Ohio, March 13, 1851. Of the career of his father, Jeremiah M. Rusk, soldier and statesman, all readers of history have knowledge. Lycurgus was brought by his parents to Viroqua, Wisconsin, in 1852. There the child grew to manhood. He attended district school at Viroqua and then entered the university of Wisconsin, from which he was gradu- ated in 1870. He then began the study of law and in the fall of 1870 entered Harvard law school. In June, 1871, he left the law school and entered the "government survey" as deputy United States sur- veyor and for four summers he was engaged in running township lines in North Dakota and South Dakota. During the winters he con- tinued to study law, most of the time in the office of Cameron & Losey, in La Crosse. He was admitted to the bar in 1873. before Romanzo Bunn, then a judge of the Wisconsin circuit court. In 1875 he discontinued surveying and entered the office of Cameron & Losey as a clerk. In 1876 he began the practice of law in the office of Judge Hugh Cameron. In the fall of that year he opened an office in Viroqua as the senior member of the firm of Rusk & Vinje. T. J. Vinje, his partner, died in 1879, and the firm of Rusk & Wyman was organized and continued until May 1, 1885. Mr. Rusk then lo- cated at Chippewa Falls where he has since practiced his profession and in addition has become actively interested in manufacturing es- tablishments and financial institutions. From January, 1882, to May, 1885, he acted as private secretary to Governor Rusk and as military secretary of the national guards of the state with title and rank of colonel. At that time the national guard formed a small, undisci-
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plined body. He always took a deep interest in the organization and did much to improve it. In 1885 Mr. Rusk became a member of the state board of examiners of applicants for admission to the bar and was elected secretary of the board. He has been continuously reappointed since then and in April, 1897, was elected president of the board. Politically he is a republican, but with the exception of two terms as city attorney of Chippewa Falls has held no elective office.
Created a Mason in 1875, he has passed through the various degrees up to and including the 32d degree of Scottish Rites. He was married in 1877 to Ada M. Robson, of Evansville, Wisconsin. She died in 1889, leaving three daughters, Ethel M., now Mrs. E. O. Beach of Milwaukee, Minnie and Alice.
CHARLES SMITH.
Judge Smith is a native of New Hampshire, born of old Puritan stock. He completed two years of the classical course at Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn. He thereupon came to Wisconsin. His father's name was Robert Smith, his mother's, Hannah Marston Smith.
He studied law with J. S. White, of Prescott, Pierce county, and was admitted to the bar in 1869. For a time he was in partnership with Mr. White, later with Mr. Wellington Vannatta, at River Falls. He was also at one time in partnership with Frank L. Gilson (later judge of the superior court of Milwaukee) and N. P. Haugen. In 1890 he removed to Superior and became associated with Messrs. Frank A. Ross and W. D. Dwyer.
Judge Smith's health was impaired when at school, and this sub- stantially interfered with his progress and development in the earlier years of his practice. He was forced to favor himself in trials, not being physically able to hold himself at the high tension essential to the highest efficiency. In forensic eloquence, nevertheless, he frequently rose to a plane rarely reached. This was specially remarked when his addresses to the jury in important cases followed immediately upon the close of the evidence, and he was compelled to speak impromptu. He would then be often almost resistless. He says of himself that any
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preparation of an address to the jury was fatal to his highest success. His thoughts would lack the freshness, fire and force that those had conceived in the warmth of the argument. Absolute fairness and mag- nanimity in dealing with an opponent was his crowning grace. A mem- ber of the bar who had many times sat on the opposite side of the table with him in trials often remarked that at any point in the progress of a cause he would as soon leave it with Mr. Smith to decide as arbitrator as with anyone else. He never resorted to dilatory motions but in- variably went straight to the merits of the case. He always had the confidence of the court in a marked degree, the respect and friendship of the brothers of the bar, and usually the verdict of the jury. Not strong as a case lawyer, he has always been an enthusiastic student of the principles of the common law.
Upon the establishment of the superior court of Douglas county, in 1893, Mr. Smith was almost unanimously nominated at a meeting of the Douglas county bar for the first judge of the court, and at the election in April was overwhelmingly elected. The same intelligence, courtesy, kindliness, sincerity and intuitive conception of what is just, that characterized him at the bar, adorn him on the bench. He has made some innovations in the administration of justice, the most marked being his method of dealing with criminals. He believes that the majority of men that are brought to justice fall through weakness rather than wickedness. The penniless and friendless find a friend and guardian in Judge Smith when brought before him for trial and punish- ment. They find that their forlorn condition pleads as powerfully with him for consideration and mercy as can the friends of the influential culprit. He has deep conviction that reformation of the criminal should be regarded as a very important, if not a predominant, element in pun- ishment, and never fails to impress upon the offender that laws and their penalties are necessary to the preservation of society. He then passes sentence, and no man leaves the courtroom for the cell without feeling that he has been in the hands of a judge that inflicts punishment in the spirit of the Christian religion. He realizes that his punishment is just, a necessity. The law and its administration appear to him in a new light. The judge makes it a rule to have a private interview with every
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