USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 47
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In 1846 he was elected a member of the council and served until the organization of the state government, in 1848, when he was elected lieutenant governor, which office he held until January 1, 1850. Sub- sequently he was a member of the assembly in 1853.
Governor Holmes went into the army as quartermaster of the 22d regiment Wisconsin infantry, was taken prisoner at Brentwood, Ten- nessee, March 25, 1863, and sent to Libby prison where he was con- fined until the fifth of May, when he was exchanged. He was immedi- ately sent to Annapolis, where he died on the 8th of May, 1863. His remains were brought to Jefferson, and there buried according to the rites of the Masonic order.
MALCOLM GEORGE JEFFRIS.
Mr. Jeffris, one of the younger leaders of the Wisconsin bar, is es- pecially prominent as a trial lawyer of rare ability. He is a native of Rock county, Wisconsin, and was born August 18, 1862. His father, David Jeffris, traces his American ancestry to the early settlers of Vir- ginia, who emigrated to the Old Dominion about 1700 and subse- quently became active participants in the revolutionary war. Thomas Jeffris, his great-grandfather, was a sergeant under Washington. Mr. Jeffris' mother-Grace Mouat before marriage-was born in the Ork- ney islands, and is therefore of the purest Scotch.
Although as a boy not physically strong, Malcolm was remarkably bright, enterprising and determined. He made good progress in his studies despite many interruptions, but finally determined to leave
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school when only fourteen years of age and establish himself in busi- ness. With borrowed money he bought a stock of groceries valued at about $4,000, and bravely faced the world as a merchant. For two years he continued the business, carrying along his studies with it, and was prepared to enter Beloit college when his health gave way through over-exertion. Selling his business, and after a brief period of rest. he commenced the study of law, being at this time only seventeen years of age.
Mr. Jeffris celebrated his twenty-first birthday by his admission to the bar and immediately formed a partnership with Ogden H. Feth- ers which still continues. The present style of the firm is Fethers, Jeffris, Fifield & Mouat. They are employed throughout the north- west and the firm is conceded to be one of the strongest in the state.
Mr. Jeffris' mind is analytical as well as alert, and he adds to these qualities a most charming and persuasive manner. Notwithstanding his success in the special province of the law, he has always been a wide reader and deep student of general literature. He has a large private library which he constantly uses and his reading has been supplemented by extensive travel in all portions of the United States and Canada as well as in many of the countries of Europe, Asia and Africa.
The wide range of his activities is indicated by the facts that he has served as grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of Wisconsin (1889); was president of the national fraternal congress at Washington in 1892; and during the same year was chairman of the republican state convention. For fourteen years he has advocated the principles of his party in every campaign with eloquence and practical results. Mr. Jeffris also has large agricultural interests in Rock county, is iden- ' tified with the water works of Stevens Point and Menomonie, and also with the mills of Janesville. At all times and in all places he is public spirited and generous.
When we add to these various pursuits the pleasures and respon- sibilities of domestic life we have the picture of a busy, able, broad minded and successful American gentleman and lawyer. Mr. Jeffris was married January 22, 1885, to Miss Nancy Roys, of Janesville.
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They have two children, Malcolm Roys and Helen. Their home life is elegant and refined and their beautiful home, enriched by works of art secured during their travels, is a favorite resort for the best social and artistic elements of society in Janesville.
ALEXANDER E. MATHESON.
Alexander E. Matheson, junior member of the law firm of White- head & Matheson, Janesville, was born at Eagle, Wisconsin, on July II, 1868. His paternal grandparents were Alexander and Barbara C. Matheson, who, in 1840, emigrated from their native place, Rosshire, in Scotland, and settled in Walworth county, Wisconsin. They lo- cated upon a farm, where their son John, the father of our subject, was born.
Said John Matheson was married to Mary Bentley in 1866. He became a well-to-do dealer in lumber. From 1862 to 1865 he faith- fully served his country as a private in company I, 28th Wisconsin in- fantry. He died at Elkhorn, Wisconsin, on the 17th of November, 1890.
Alexander E., the son, received a thorough primary education, re- moving with his parents to Elkhorn in. 1882. He also took a course in Beloit college, being graduated in 1890 with the degree of Ph. B. Upon the death of his father he succeeded to his business, and con- (lucted it for two years. His ambition, however, was to engage in some occupation which offered greater opportunities for intellectual growth and general advancement. He obtained the degree of M. A. from his alma mater in 1893. He pursued the regular legal course in the state university, from which he graduated in 1894. He also studied in the law office of Spooner. Sanborn & Kerr, Madison, and commenced practice in Janesville, whither he removed in June of that year.
Mr. Matheson first became a partner in the firm of Fethers, Fifield, Jeffris & Matheson, but, after practicing a year, decided upon a Euro- pean tour. In October, 1895, after an absence of about three months, he became a member of the firm of Whitehead, Matheson & Smith. Subsequently Mr. Smith retired, leaving it as it is at the present time. Mr. Matheson is now a lecturer on international law at Beloit col- -
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lege. He is a republican, and is superintendent of the department of good citizenship of the Y. P. S. C. E. in Wisconsin. He is also a member of the Masonic order, having, during the nine years of his membership, been junior and senior warden of the blue lodge, and scribe of the chapter; he is a member of Wisconsin consistory and of Tripoli temple.
In September, 1894, Mr. Matheson was married to Georgia L. Hub- bard, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. They have one child, Marian B.
SILAS W. MENZIE.
This gentleman was born in 1842 at Schoharie, Schoharie county, New York, where his father, Robert R. Menzie, was also a member of the legal profession. . The last named, who was a colonel in the Mexican war, practiced in the town of Schoharie, then in Prattsville, later in Catskill, and finally, in 1849, moved to Delavan in this state, where he continued his profession until his death in 1882. His wife, formerly Rebecca Thorp, was of good Scottish descent, as indeed he was, both his grandparents having lived and died in the old Scottish land. The Thorp family settled in New York about 1790.
The early education of the subject of this sketch was received in the high school at Delavan, Wisconsin, following which he attended the law school at Albany, from which he graduated. After an exam- ination by the circuit court of Walworth county in September. 1866, he was admitted to practice. That his father was in the same pro- fession, of course, gave him exceptional advantages for the study of his profession, and even after his admission to the bar he continued his studies. Among the interesting recollections of his youth is the fact that he was a passenger on the "Golden Gate" when it was burned in 1862.
Still associated with his father, he practiced his profession until the death of the latter in 1882, when, after continuing for three years alone, he formed a partnership with C. B. Sumner until 1890, in which year he removed to Beloit. Since that time he has had no partner. The recognition of his superior abilities was shown by his election in 1882
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as district attorney, a position he held for two terms of two years each. For twelve years, from 1867 to 1879, he was court commissioner.
The two most notable cases with which, in his opinion, he has been professionally connected, were the Nellie Horan poisoning case and the Pierce murder trial. In the first, which Mr. Menzie handled as prosecuting attorney of Walworth county, the accused was charged with having poisoned her sister. The case became celebrated all over the state. J. V. Quarles, John T. Fish and T. D. Weeks were attor- neys for the defense, and after a trial lasting twelve days, procured a verdict of acquittal. In the second case, which was a Walworth county case, the subject of this sketch was associated with J. V. Quarles for the defense, and secured the acquittal of accused.
Mr. Menzie is an Episcopalian in his religious belief, while for his political opinions he has always belonged to the republican party. He has been a Mason since 1883; has held the offices of Master and Senior Warden of Delavan Lodge and Junior Warden and Captain General in Beloit Commandery No. 6. In 1887 he joined the Knights of Pythias, and was the first chancellor commander of Delavan Lodge.
For fine horses Mr. Menzie admits the strongest partiality, and tells a story of how, in 1861, he started overland from Delavan with a drove of horses for Sacramento, taking one hundred and five days to make the trip. Three years later he made the same journey with another drove from Marengo, Iowa, this time in ninety-two days.
Mr. Menzie was married June 26, 1883, at Milwaukee, to Laura McCormack. They have one daughter, Anna T.
The kindly disposition which at all times has led him to assist others when the opportunity offered, as well as his strict attention to his business and absolute fidelity towards the interests of his clients, has won him the esteem and respect of every one brought into connection with him either socially or professionally.
WILLIAM RUGER.
Mr. Ruger's paternal ancestors were residents of the Empire state. His grandfather, Francis Ruger, settled in the Mohawk valley and was one of its enterprising and influential pioneers. His father, the Rev.
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Thomas J. Ruger, was a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church and officiated as such, and taught as professor of mathematics in aca- demic institutions in New York, until the year 1844, when he removed to the territory of Wisconsin, and settled in Janesville where he re- sided the remainder of his life. He took charge of the mission of his church there established and became rector of the same when organ- ized as a parish, and continued his charge as rector until the year 1855 In 1846 he established an academic school in Janesville and conducted it successfully for a considerable time. The sons and daughters of many of the prominent pioneers of the territory attended this school.
In his earlier life he undertook, with his brother William Ruger, the preparation of a series of mathematical books, but this work was interrupted by the death of this brother, so that only the arithmetic known as Ruger's Arithmetic, was completed and published.
This brother William was a lawyer of note and served as a mem- ber of the court of errors of New York in the years 1841 and 1842.
Another brother, John Ruger, was a prominent lawyer in prac- tice for many years in the state of New York-his last residence be- ing in Syracuse. His son William C. Ruger became chief justice of New York in 1890, served as such until his death, and acquired high rank as a lawyer and jurist.
Mr. Ruger's mother's maiden name was Maria Hutchins-a mem- ber of the Hutchins family of Connecticut and related to the Jewell and Bradley families of that state. Members of her family have oc- cupied judicial and other important public positions.
The subject of this sketch is the third in age of four brothers now living. The eldest is Major General Thomas H. Ruger, who was the second officer in rank in our army when he reached the age limit of sixty-four years and retired from active service. His brother Edward Ruger is a civil engineer devoting his attention to hydraulic engineer- ing exclusively, and in that branch of his profession has attained a na- tional reputation. His brother, H. H. Ruger, is a physician residing in North Dakota. He was graduated with high honor at the Jeffer- son medical college of Philadelphia, served as a surgeon in the army during the war of the rebellion, and afterwards for a considerable num-
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ber of years. While serving in the army he accompanied the Yellow- stone and other expeditions in the far northwest. and loving frontier life, made his home in North Dakota, where his practice as a surgeon extends over a wide range of country.
The subject of this sketch was admitted to the bar in 1859. Upon the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, he co-operated with his brother Edward in raising a company of volunteers at Janesville, first known as the Ruger guards, and afterwards as Company A of the 13th regiment of Wisconsin volunteers. Upon its organization he became second lieutenant, and upon the formation of the regiment was com- missioned first lieutenant and adjutant. After serving something more than a year with his regiment he was, by President Lincoln, commis- sioned as an assistant adjutant general of United States volunteers, with the rank of captain. At the battle of New Hope Church in Geor- gia he was seriously wounded and soon after received a brevet com- mission as major for gallant and meritorious service in that battle and the prior battle at Resaca, Georgia. He was mustered out in Novem- ber, 1865, and immediately resumed the practice of law in Janes- ville, and has ever since devoted himself to it exclusively. He has had special experience in those branches of the law involved in the litigations of railway companies and other corporations, and the law of real estate and waters. He took part in cases which have settled the law in Wisconsin respecting the liability of railway companies for fires, their duties and liabilities to passengers and to persons upon their tracks. Although not its acknowledged author, he prepared a brief which was used in the argument of the celebrated Granger cases in the United States supreme court, and another brief which was in part used on the trial of the impeachment of President Johnson. He was a pioneer in the work of devising legal remedies for adjusting rights respecting the use of water for hydraulic power. Formerly the reme- dies sought for interferences with water rights were by the recovery of damages or by injunction. Finding these inadequate Mr. Ruger sought and obtained a remedy through the partition of water by prac- tical measurement and delivery of the same to the parties entitled. In this he was aided by his brother Edward, who devised a system of ap-
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pliances by means of which the water is practically measured and de- livered to the parties by an officer of the court, appointed for that purpose, in accordance with the judgment determining their rights and manner of exercising the same. In aid of this jurisdiction Mr. Ruger drafted the statutory provisions respecting the partition of water so that the jurisdiction in such cases is continuous, and the court author- ized to modify its judgment from time to time as occasion may arise.
His briefs in Kellogg vs. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Com- pany, 26 Wis. 223-prepared in the early part of his career as a law- ver-were most highly complimented by Chief Justice Dixon in his opinion on the motion for a rehearing in that case.
As a layman of the Episcopal church be has been active, usually at- tending its councils, and for several years has been chancellor of the diocese of Milwaukee, and legal adviser of the bishop and other eccle- siastical authorities in matters involving civil, ecclesiastical and canoni- cal law.
The style of his firm is now Ruger, Norcross & Ruger-the second member being John V. Norcross and the third William Ruger, Jr.
JOHN J. R. PEASE.
John J. R. Pease was born in Enfield, Connecticut, June 25, 1817, and is of the New England puritan stock. His residence in Wisconsin dates back to 1840, in time to be numbered in the United States census of that year among its small body of settlers. For over three years he resided in Green Bay, spending his time as a law student and as a clerk in the United States land office, while he also engaged in the survey of government lands. In the winter of 1843-4 he reported for the Argus newspaper of Madison, the proceedings of the lower house of the territorial legislature of Wisconsin. About the first of February, 1844, Mr. Pease settled in Janesville and for a few months was a student in the law office of E. V. Whiton, then the leading lawyer in the terri- tory. During the summer of 1844, much against his will, the law books were laid aside and for two years his time was given to sur- veying, there being a great rush of new settlers to Janesville and the surrounding country who wanted work done in that line, and Mr.
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Pease was the only person available and experienced in such work, or who would undertake it. In 1846, at the beginning of the Mexican war, he was tendered a clerkship by an early friend, in the navy office at Washington, which offer he accepted, and remained in that posi- tion until the close of the war. He then returned to Janesville and was soon after admitted to the bar, after which time he engaged in the practice of law. From November, 1850, until January, 1866, he was associated with B. B. Eldredge and from that time until his retire- ment he was a partner of William Ruger.
On the 14th day of July, 1851, Mr. Pease was united in marriage with Miss Cornelia Ruger, a daughter of Rev. Thomas J. Ruger, de- ceased, late of Janesville, Wisconsin. Three children living. daughters, were born to them.
From the early days of his settlement Mr. Pease was identified with the moral, educational, social and business interests of Janesville and Rock county. Religiously he was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, to which his parents also belonged. In politics he was a Jeffersonian democrat and was elected by the people to various town, county and city offices.
Mr. Pease was interested in the establishment of the Rock County National Bank of Janesville, which was first organized as a state bank in 1855. At its organization he was elected vice president of the com- pany, serving in that capacity for ten years and was also a member of the board of directors. In the month of October, 1855, he became a director in the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railway Company, and for twelve years was an active working member of that board, filling the position after the above mentioned road had become a part of the property of the Chicago & Northern Railway Company. He was also a director of the Land Grant Railway Company, known as the Wisconsin & Superior company, until its consolidation with the . Northwestern company. He also served as secretary of the Southern Wisconsin Railroad.
In the manufacturing interests of the community Mr. Pease was also an active promoter. For a quarter of a century he was one of the trustees of the Oak Hill cemetery association, and for several years
at
Js. R. Peek
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served as its president, and for twenty-eight years was one of the trus- tees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company of Milwau- kee. Wisconsin. He retired from the practice of his profession about a dozen years before his death, devoting his time to his personal inter- ests, and to the duties of his position with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
GEORGE R. PECK.
The pre-eminence of Chicago is due not only to the men of light and leading who controlled her affairs in the early days, but even more to those whom she is constantly attracting from other cities. In March, 1893, George R. Peck, then general solicitor of the Atchison Railroad system, removed his office and family from Topeka, Kansas, to Chi- cago. This seemed to many a hazardous change. Would the first lawyer of Kansas be able to maintain his leadership among the lawyers of the metropolis? But those who knew him never doubted that his past achievements would be surpassed in the larger field; and already this has occurred.
Born in Steuben county, New York, in 1843, he spent his child- hood among the hardships of farm life in a Wisconsin clearing. At sixteen, with only a common school education, he left the work of the farm to become a district school teacher that he might add to the scant income of his father and free the farm from debt. At nineteen he enlisted in the First Wisconsin heavy artillery, was promoted to cap- tain of the Thirty-first Wisconsin infantry, and marched with Sher- man's army to the sea. After three years' service he was mustered out and immediately returned to Wisconsin. He began at Janesville his preparation for that perennial war, the practice of law, in which he has won the highest honors. Six years were spent there, as law stu- dent, circuit court clerk and practicing lawyer. Then he sought larger opportunities in the new state of Kansas, and from 1871 to 1874 pur- sued his profession with signal success at Independence. Then he was appointed by President Grant United States attorney for the Dis- trict of Kansas, at Topeka, where for nineteeen years he gained ever- increasing distinction as a lawyer, an influential citizen and a man of Vol. II .- 33
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letters. Within a month after his appointment he was directed by the attorney general to bring suit involving the title to 960,000 acres of land. The ability with which he brought this and other cases to a successful issue soon made him the leading lawyer of his state. In 1879 the greater rewards of private practice led him to resign the office of district attorney. In 1881 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company elected him its general solicitor. From then until September, 1895, with the exception of two years, that great system of railroads was created and developed under his masterful counsel and direction.
Mr. Peck's connection with Kansas politics during the entire period of his residence there was of the most influential and honorable char- acter. For more than ten years his leadership of the republican party in that state was unquestioned, and he might have had any office its people controlled. Upon the death of Senator Plumb in 1892 Gov- ernor Humphrey offered the vacant seat in the United States senate to Mr. Peck, but the splendid honor was declined. During the early months of 1893, in the beginning of Governor Lewelling's adminis- tration, the capitol at Topeka was filled with legislators contending, not only with parliamentary weapons, but with arms, for the control of the legislative halls. The state house and the surrounding grounds were an armed camp. Sentinels guarded the entrances, and members of the opposing parties were flocking thither as to a war. Then it was that .George R. Peck, by the force of his commanding character and influence, controlled the situation, and by his wise counsel and indomitable will averted the anarchy and bloodshed that were impend- ing.
During his residence in Chicago his political experience and learn- ing and his fine literary art have become familiar to the public through his occasional addresses. The more notable of these are his response on Abraham Lincoln at the Marquette banquet in February, 1895, and his address on General George H. Thomas before the Loyal Legion at Indianapolis. The extent and character of his reputation as a states- man is evinced by the fact that leading newspapers of half a dozen
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states east and west proposed him as the presidential candidate of the republican party in 1896.
As a lawyer he ranks with the greatest that this country has pro- duced, and few of these can show such a list of professional triumphs in important cases. When the Atchison company attempted to se- cure the control of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company, and also of the Atlantic & Pacific, in 1891, by the purchase of the former, Eastman, a stockholder of the 'Frisco, sought to enjoin the sale on the ground that the 'Frisco was a parallel and competing line with the Atchison. The case was bitterly contested in the circuit and supreme courts of the United States. Mr. Peck's successful han- dling of this litigation, in which the formation of the Atchison system was involved, gave him a place among the first railroad lawyers of the time.
When, in 1892, the attorney general of the United States attacked the Trans-Missouri Freight Association as a violation of the anti- trust act, the western railroads composing this association confidently committed to Mr. Peck the defense of the association. His argument before the district court and before the court of appeals was a mas- terpiece of legal learning, convincing argument and noble eloquence. At both hearings he was successful.
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