USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 53
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In that active and progressive city he formed a partnership with W. M. Tomkins, and the firm of Tomkins & Merrill, which was then . organized, has for over fifteen years been recognized as the leading law firm of northwestern Wisconsin. They have participated in most of the important litigation of their section of the state. Although en- gaged in general practice, much of their time and attention has been devoted to corporation and real estate law and to cases involving ri- parian rights and tax titles. Several notable cases in which they have appeared related to the litigation over the lands of the Wisconsin Cen- tral railroad.
An unswerving republican in his political opinions, he has at all times taken an active and prominent part in the concerns of his party and of his native state. For one term, 1887 to 1889, he served in the state senate; and in the latter session acted as chairman of the judiciary committee and bears the honorable responsibility for a number
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of highly meritorious measures. For a number of years he has been a member of the school board and there also his strong personality is felt.
Legal matters alone do not claim all Mr. Merrill's time. He is a director in the Northern National bank and secretary and treasurer of the Ashland light, power and street railway company, both of which are among the leading business institutions of his city.
Mr. Merrill is an old time Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias; he is also a member of the Elks.
He was married October 14, 1875, to Ellen Byrne, of Madison. They are the parents of four charming daughters-Grace, Agnes, Elinor and Winifred.
GABRIEL E. SCHWINDT.
Born in a small village near the city of Coblenz, Rhenish Prussia, on the 28th of December, 1848, Mr. Schwindt's career is pre-eminently that of a self-made man. His parents, Jacob and Catherine (Kratz) Schwindt, emigrated to the United States when he was but four years old, settling in Waukesha county. Gabriel's schooling was indeed scant, since, because of the family's straitened condition, at the age of twelve he was sent to Milwaukee to learn the barber's trade.
But, notwithstanding his lack of education, he had the true ambition to make the most of himself which was possible. Moreover, he had the confidence, which is the sure forerunner of success, that by industry and intelligent expenditure of time he could supply those deficiencies in his early training which otherwise would prevent him from reaching such a station in life as he desired. After he had served an apprentice- ship of one and a half years, therefore, he ran away to Chicago, where he could be master of his own person and destiny. Here, while working at his trade, he attended night school, and by the time of the Chicago fire was in a position to seek a further improvement in his educational requirements.
At Waukesha he found the advantages which he had long been denied, and enjoyed, in all senses of the word, a thorough course of instruction in Carroll college, covering the period from 1872 to 1877.
H. M. Tomkins
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While at Carroll he was local reporter of the Milwaukee Sentinel and Chicago Times, and began reading law before his course at college was completed. Subsequently Mr. Schwindt studied law with W. S. Haw- kins and S. A. Randals, of that place, and was admitted to practice in the circuit court during 1878 and to the supreme court in 1880.
During the latter year he removed to Kimball, Dakota, and formed a partnership with J. B. Long, the firm of Schwindt & Long gaining a wide and enviable reputation for fair dealing and success in conducting litigation. Besides, not only establishing a reputation for himself in the profession, Mr. Schwindt was honored by his fellow citizens in a public fashion, being chosen a member of the state constitutional con- vention, which assembled at Sioux Falls in 1882, and was also called to serve them as director of schools.
After his removal from Dakota, in 1887. he spent several years in travel and in searching for a more promising location. But he finally drifted back to Wisconsin, and after residing for a time at Medford. Taylor county, and at Fifield. Price county, settled in 1891 at Prentice, where he is now practicing-an industrious, prosperous, prominent representative of the profession, still in the prime of life, with probabili- ties that the future will bring to him even more honor than the past has accorded him.
Mr. Schwindt has been twice married-the first time when only twenty years of age, his wife dying two years after. In 1878 he was again married to Miss Alice C. Doane.
WILLIAM MAWBY TOMKINS.
William Mawby Tomkins was born at Loosely Row, Buckingham- shire. England, February 24, 1845. When he was only five years old his parents emigrated to this country and located at Shullsburg, then a brisk mining town in the lead regions of Wisconsin. His father, the Rev. William Tomkins, was a minister of the Methodist faith, who did valiant service for God and the church in those early days when to be a clergyman meant a life of toil and self-denial. The faithful labors and ill-paid services of the pioneer minister are matters of recent history and familiar to all. With unswerving devotion to duty and
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principle, he kindly delivered his message in the face of difficulties that would appal the boasted self-control of the business man of to-day.
It was in such a school as this that the subject of this sketch early learned the lessons of endurance and self-reliance that were to serve him well in the coming years. Like many others who have been archi- tects of their own fortunes, he worked in the harvest fields in order to earn for himself the means to prosecute his studies, and in this way was enabled to take a classical course at Brunson institute, and later a scientific course at the state university at Madison.
During the next few years he followed the example of most am- bitious youths and taught the village school. In 1872 he married Elizabeth A. Pearce, of Iowa county, and in April, 1873, removed to Ashland.
Ashland at that time was but an unambitious hamlet, offering but few opportunities to the new comer, and hence Mr. Tomkins should- ered his ax and spade and lent a helping hand in clearing the site of the future city.
In December, 1873, he was elected town clerk, and re-elected to the same office in 1874 and 1875. About this time Ashland began to be a place of refuge for criminals and "tough" .men generally, who threatened to control the destinies of the town: and at a time when to hold such an office required some courage, Mr. Tomkins was elected justice of the peace, and administered the law with such a firm hand that the "toughs" were obliged to emigrate to a more congenial climate.
This experience turned Mr. Tomkins' attention to the study of law, which he prosecuted with so much diligence that in 1875 he was admitted to the bar, and in November of that year elected district attorney. This office he held for five successive years. During the first period of the growth of Ashland he also held the offices of county clerk and county treasurer, in all of which he made a faithful and trust- worthy official.
Mr. Tomkins has from the first been identified with the growth of 'Ashland, and the positions of trust he has received at the hands of his fellow citizens testify to his integrity and business ability. He is at the present time a director of the Ashland National bank, of the
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Ashland Water company, and of the Ashland Street Railway & Light- ing company.
As a lawyer Mr. Tomkins stands high in his profession, his early experience in town and county offices giving him pre-eminence as a real estate lawyer. The law firm of Tomkins & Merrill, of which our subject is the senior member, is the leading firm of Ashland. Among its more prominent clients may be mentioned the Chicago & North- western railway company, the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad company, the Ashland Water company, the Ashland Railway & Light- ing company, the First National bank of Ashland, and the Ashland National bank, as well as a majority of the lumber concerns in Ashland and the contiguous cities on the Chequamegon bay.
Among the important cases in which Mr. Tomkins has been retained may be cited that of the Northern Pine Land company vs. A. A. Bige- low & Co., to determine the rule governing riparian boundaries on the great lakes; and also Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Rail- road Company vs. Bayfield Company, the question involved in this case being the exemption from taxation of elevators and coal docks.
Mr. Tomkins' position as a leader of the Ashland bar is due to per- sistent hard work and thorough and careful research. By industry and judicious investments he has secured a competency which insures com- fort for the remainder of his life.
Mr. and Mrs. Tomkins are the parents of five children: Andrew Pearce, William Clark, Orville Scott, Matthew Clair and Grace Eliza- beth.
Vol. II .- 37
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SIXTEENTH CIRCUIT, ITS JUDGES AND LAWYERS.
The sixteenth circuit was created in 1891 out of the counties of Marathon, Lincoln and Oneida. The first election, held on the first Tuesday of April, 1891, resulted in the choice of Charles V. Bardeen as judge. He occupied that position until his appointment as a justice of the supreme court in 1898. (A sketch of him appears in another chapter.) Judge Bardeen was succeeded by Willis C. Silverthorn, ap- pointed by Governor Scofield, and elected to fill the unexpired term in April, 1898.
THE BENCH. WILLIS C. SILVERTHORN.
Mr. Silverthorn was born in Toronto, Canada, August 30, 1838; in 1842 his parents removed to Wisconsin and settled at Oakland, Jef- ferson county, where he resided until his removal to Wausau, in 1864. The public schools, Albion academy and the state university have af- forded Mr. Silverthorn ample preparation for the discharge of his pro- fessional duties. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, and soon after- ward removed to Wausau, where he has ever since resided, and where he has been highly honored as a citizen.
In 1864 he was elected district attorney of Marathon county, and was twice re-elected. In 1868 and 1874 he served as a member of the popular branch of the legislature, and in 1875 and 1876 as state senator. In 1896 he was the democratic candidate for governor; and though beaten by a large majority, the vote by no means measured the personal regard which the people of the state entertained for him. Under dif- ferent political conditions Mr. Silverthorn's strength would have made a much more favorable showing. In 1898 he was appointed judge of the sixteenth circuit to succeed Charles V. Bardeen, promoted to the su-
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preme bench. The appointment was made by Governor Scofield, who was opposed as a candidate by Mr. Silverthorn in 1896, the latter being the democratic candidate. This appointment may be taken as indicat- ing that there is a very strong sentiment in the state in favor of disre- garding political considerations in connection with judicial offices. It was one eminently fit to be made so far as the qualifications of the ap- pointee are concerned.
Mr. Silverthorn was first married to Maggie V. Meyers, who died January 29, 1878; he took for his second wife Miss Ida M. Single.
THE BAR.
ELISHA L. BUMP.
The great and increasing interests of northern Wisconsin, both of an industrial and public character, develop strong characters, or, at least, in their management strong characters are brought to notice. Unavoidable friction occurs between conflicting interests, and the best ability of the legal fraternity is required to reconcile them. In this litigation and in the development of the thriving communities within the lumber regions of Wisconsin none have borne a more credit- able part than Elisha L. Bump, of Wausau, senior member of the prominent firm of Bump, Kreutzer & Rosenberry.
Mr. Bump is a native of the Empire state, being born in Otsego county on July 10, 1849. He was educated in the common schools of New York, and afterward enjoyed a season of training in the higher branches at the Lake Mills (Wisconsin) high school and the Allegany institute, located in Allegany county, New York. In 1868 he com- menced the study of law in the office of V. A. Willard, Belmont, New York, completing his course with E. L. Browne, of Waupaca. In De- cember, 1870, he was admitted to practice before the circuit court of Waupaca county, the state supreme and the United States courts ac- cording him a like privilege in February, 1874.
First settling in Wausau, in November, 1871, he formed a partner- ship with W. C. Silverthorn, an able man, prominently identified with the public affairs of the state, and as a member of the firm of Silverthorn
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& Bump came at once into notice. It was during this period-1873 and 1874-that he held the office of district attorney for Marathon county, thereby increasing his reputation as an able lawyer and execu- tive official.
In May, 1875, Mr. Bump removed to Waupaca and, in partnership with E. L. Browne, remained in business at, that point until March, 1879. He not only faithfully performed the legal duties intrusted to him, but was honored with such public trusts as those reposed in the chairman of the county board of supervisors, serving in this capacity in 1877 and 1878. After residing in Merrill for a time, during which period he practiced as a member of the firm of Bump & Hetzel and served as mayor of the city, he returned to Wausau where he has since resided.
The other members of the firm of which he is the senior are A. L. Kreutzer (who was first received into the partnership) and M. B. Rosen- berry. By his untiring and well-directed labors Mr. Bump has largely contributed to its present high standing and, as the records will show, has personally carried a large number of cases to the higher courts. Since returning to Wausau he has also served the city in several re- sponsible positions.
Mr. Bump was married in 1873, at Waupaca, to Miss Lillie A. Gurley, by whom he has had three children: Franklin E. is a graduate of the Merrill high school, was a student for three years in the university of Wisconsin, and graduated from the Leland Stanford Junior univer- sity in California with the degree of B. A., and from the university of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with that of LL. B. He is now practicing at Wausau and, if the future can be based upon the past, will make a strong and high mark. Mary E. is also a graduate of the Merrill high school and the state university; Florence, the third child, having passed through the high school at Wausau, is at present at the university of Wisconsin.
CHARLES F. CROSBY.
Charles F. Crosby, formerly of the Wausau bar, was born in Water- loo, Jefferson county, Wisconsin, December 12, 1847; educated in the
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common schools, the Bronson institute and the Kilbourn institute; re- ceived his preliminary legal training in the office of Jonathan Bowman, at Kilbourn City; admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1870, soon after which he removed to Luverne, Minnesota. While resident in that state Mr. Crosby held the offices of county and district attorney for Rock county and served in the Minnesota assembly in 1874. In 1875 he returned to Wisconsin and settled at Wausau, where he practiced law, having B. W. James for a partner; in 1877 he was elected district attorney for Marathon county; and served as state senator in 1881 and 1882. Mr. Crosby died November 28, 1889.
M. A. HURLEY.
Michael Angelo Hurley, of the firm of Hurley, Ryan & Jones, of Wausau, was born in Ottawa, Canada, October 22, 1840; while he was an infant his parents became residents of Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence county, New York, where he prepared for college. Failing health prevented the immediate pursuit of a college education. In the spring of 1856 Mr. Hurley came to Wisconsin; he worked for the next year at Eau Claire, after which he went east and spent four years in completing his education, which was done under a private tutor. In 1869 he was admitted to the bar; he practiced his profession at Berlin, Wisconsin, until the fall of 1873, when he removed to Wausau, where he has since resided, except about seven years passed in California superintending mining operations. During the time of his residence in Wausau he has been associated in business with Mr. Silverthorn. They were interested in the iron mines at Hurley, Wisconsin, and be- fore the collapse of the mining industry were reputed to have accumu- lated large fortunes.
Mr. Hurley has never sought office, though he has always been actively interested in politics, taking the republican view. He served several years as a member of the state board of law examiners.
ยท As a lawyer he has long maintained a good position, and as a man enjoys the high respect of his fellow men.
In 1874 Mr. Hurley was married to Clara H. Leonard, of Berlin. They have one child-Judson B., born in 1880.
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B. W. JAMES.
This gentleman, during his professional lifetime a member of the Wausau bar, was born in Otsego, Columbia county, Wisconsin, Sep- tember 2, 1847; was for two years a student at Wayland college, Beaver Dam, and graduated with honors from the Wisconsin state university in 1872, and from the college of law thereof in 1873. In the same year he located at Wausau and practiced his profession, most of the time with Charles F. Crosby. His promising career was cut off by early death, on the 8th of February, 1885.
WILLIAM H. MYLREA.
William Henry Mylrea, of the Wausau bar, now attorney general of Wisconsin, was born at Rochester, New York, January 1, 1853, and three years later came to Wisconsin with his parents. They located in Columbia county. Mr. Mylrea obtained his general education in the public schools of Kilbourn City and at Lawrence university. He studied law in the office of Jonathan Bowman at Kilbourn City and the state university college of law; he left the latter before finishing the course and hence was not graduated. In 1883 he changed his place of resi- dence to Wausau, where he has continued to reside and practice his profession. Until the election of Charles V. Bardeen to the bench he and Mr. Mylrea were partners, after which the firm of Mylrea, Marchetti & Bird was formed.
In 1886 Mr. Mylrea was elected district attorney of Marathon county, and in 1894 was chosen attorney general, being re-elected two years later. His performance of the duties of that responsible office has fully met the requirements of an exacting public, and reflected credit upon him and his assistants.
In politics Mr. Mylrea is a republican. His services as a "stumper" have been much in demand by party managers, and have been freely given.
His family consists of a wife and one son, the former having been Miss Minnie Ostrander.
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LOUIS A. PRADT.
L. A. Pradt, of the Wausau bar and assistant attorney general of the United States, was born in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1851. His father (Charles R.) was a carpenter. In 1856 the family, consisting of the father, mother (Esther Emmons), Henry, Louis and Walter, came to Wisconsin and settled at Plymouth, Sheboygan county, where they lived until 1865. During their residence there Louis at- tended the public schools and, for one year, the grammar school de- partment of Racine college. The next change of residence was to a farm near Glenbeulah, Sheboygan county, where the family remained until 1873, when a change was made to the western part of Marathon county, then a wilderness just opened by the building of the Wisconsin Central railroad. Here homesteads were entered under the laws of the United States. From the time Louis was fifteen years of age until 1879 he worked on the farm in summer and taught school in winter. In 1879 he entered the law department of the Wisconsin state university; his expenses there were paid with the proceeds realized from the sale of his homestead. He was graduated in June, 1881. In the fall of that year Mr. Pradt formed a partnership with M. C. Mead, and they opened an office at Wausau. Their partnership was of brief duration, Mr. Mead concluding that he preferred to practice in his own county. Sheboygan. Mr. Pradt then entered the office of Silverthorn & Hurley, where he remained until 1883, when he opened an office of his own. In 1885 he became a partner in the Wausau Land & Lumber association, of which Neal Brown was also a member.
Previous to his appointment to the office of assistant attorney gen- eral of the United States in June, 1897, the only office held by Mr. Pradt was that of city attorney of Wausau in 1893. He has always been a republican, and from 1890 to 1896 was chairman of the county committee of that party for Marathon county. In his present capacity Mr. Pradt has charge of the defense of suits brought in the court of claims against the United States.
In 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Atwater,
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daughter of M. B. and Charlotte Atwater. They have one son-Louis Atwater. Mr. Pradt is a member of the Episcopal church.
THOMAS C. RYAN.
Thomas Curran Ryan, of the firm of Hurley, Ryan & Jones, of Wau- sau, was born at Utica, New York, July 4, 1841. At an early age he was orphaned, and in consequence spent his boyhood with a grand- father in Canada. He became a resident of Wisconsin in 1854, and from 1854 to 1861 worked as a shoemaker during the winter months and on farms during the summer seasons. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in company G, fifth Wisconsin, and served two years. He was so seriously wounded at the battle of Williamsburg that he was unfitted for further military service and was discharged. Returning to Green Lake county, Wisconsin, he taught school and prepared himself for admission to the bar: his practice was begun in Berlin in 1865. He had for partners while there M. L. Kimball, and, subsequently. George D. Waring. While there he served as district attorney and county judge. In 1881 he removed to Wausau and formed a partnership with Neal Brown. In 1882 he removed to Merrill and entered into partnership with George Curtis, Jr., which relation continued about one year. Returning to Wausau Mr. Ryan became a member of the firm of Silverthorn, Hurley & Ryan, and has been with that firm to this time.
Mr. Ryan's specialty is the examination of legal questions, the preparation and trial of equity cases, and the briefing and argument of cases in the supreme court. He had charge of the litigation known as the "Marathon county land cases," which involved the title to about forty thousand acres of land in Marathon county, and was successful - in them.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE SEVENTEENTH CIRCUIT, ITS JUDGES AND LAW- YERS.
In 1891 the counties of Clark and Jackson were detached from the sixth circuit, and the county of Eau Claire from the eighth circuit. These counties were constituted the seventeenth circuit. The election for the first judge was held on the first Tuesday of April, 1891, and he . entered upon the duties of his office on the first Monday in January, 1892. The first judge was William F. Bailey.
THE BENCH.
WILLIAM F. BAILEY.
Mr. Bailey was born in Carmel, Putnam county, New York, June 20, 1842. His father, Benjamin, was a lawyer and prominent politician ; he served in the New York legislature several times and was the candi- date of his party for speaker of the assembly at the session presided over by the know-nothing candidate for that office, who was chosen after a contest of six weeks.
The subject of this sketch was educated in an academy in Columbia county, New York, and soon after finishing his course there enlisted. in May, 1861, in company D, thirty-eighth New York infantry. In the fall of 1861 he was appointed captain of company K, ninety-fifth New York. He was a participant in the battles of Bull Run, Rappahannock. Sulphur Springs, Gainesville, Manassas, second Bull Run and Chan- tilly.
In September, 1864, Mr. Bailey married, at Carmel, New York, Mercy S. Cole; she died in September, 1882. In 1884 he married Frances Gillette. There were no children of the first marriage. William F., Jr., is the only child of the second marriage.
Mr. Bailey obtained his legal education in New York, and was ad- mitted to the bar in Brooklyn in 1863. His health was much impaired
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by his military service, and this led to his removal to Wisconsin in 1867. He settled at Eau Claire, where he has continued to reside. His ability as a lawyer was soon recognized and his practice became very extensive and covered business of the most important character.
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