USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. II > Part 20
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"Judge Conger, having passed an excellent examination, was admitted to the bar in 1844, and commenced the practice of his profession at Cortland. He possessed the respect and confidence of the people among whom he resided in so high a degree that he had already been called upon to discharge responsible public duties. He had been elected treasurer of Cortland county several years before, and he had been successively re-elected until, in 1845, he declined further service in that office. He was, however, destined to remain a private citizen but for a short period of time. In 1846 he was put in nomination by the Whig party of the district in which he resided as a candidate for representative in congress, and was elected to that office. During his first term he discharged his duties as a member of congress with such fidelity and ability that, in 1848, he was again nominated and re-elected. All his impulses were in favor of freedom and of the best interests of the people in enacting national laws, and his best judgment coincided with his impulses. When the bill for the organization of a government in the territory of Oregon was before congress, he strongly advocated the exclusion of slavery therefrom. And when the famous compromise measures were being agitated on the floor of the house of representatives he denied the right of congress to make any compacts or agreements by which the cause of human slavery was to be extended into new territory. He was a zealous advocate of cheap postage both on letters and newspapers. His probity and sterling integrity of character were proof against every temptation to betray the interests of the people, or to pander to political corruption. No
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cleaner or purer congressional record than his has ever been made.
"At the close of his second congressional term, in 1851, he retired from political life and devoted himself assiduously to the practice of his profession at Cortland, until 1855, when he removed to Janesville, Rock county, where he continued the practice of law until he was elected judge of this judicial circuit in 1870, to which office he was re-elected without opposition in 1876, and he may be said almost literally to have died in the discharge of his judicial duties. Although he had been in failing health for a year or two, he was not disabled from performing the duties of his office, and was stricken down with his fatal sick- ness while holding the September term of the Jefferson county circuit court, and came home only to die. He never again left his house, and scarcely his bed, until he died on the 22d day of Ocotber, 1882.
"Such is the brief and meager outline of a highly useful and honorable life. When we look into his character for the purpose of discovering those qualities which so commanded the respect and confidence of his fellowmen, and carried him onward in his successful career, we find they were of the most substantial and solid kind. He was a man of strong will and firm purpose. There was no frivolity or vacillation in his character. He pressed for- ward to the accomplishment of all objects which he thought worthy and within the sphere of his duty with an unfaltering de- termination. No obstacles deterred, no difficulties discouraged him. He was a hard student and pursued the study and practice of his profession with laborious and unremitting industry. As the result, his mind was stored with the solid and accurate learn- ing of his profession. Whilst in its processes his mind moved somewhat slowly, but with the methodical and untiring industry which it was the habit of his life to bring to the investigation of legal questions and legal principles, it moved surely to the accomplishment of the highest objects of the true lawyer's labors and ambition-the accurate knownedge and elucidation of those principles which have raised the law into a science and have made it a safeguard and protection to the highest human interests, life, liberty and property. He was a quiet, unassuming man. There were no elements of noisy self-assertion or of arrogant as- sumption of knowledge which he did not possess, in his char-
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acter. He derived no aid from the showy and fascinating gifts of popular oratory. He had little imagination and his manner and style in public speaking were without ornament, and would have been considered dry and uninteresting but for the learning and weight of argument which characterized his forensic efforts. He moved steadily onward with a firm purpose. and persistent determination, gaining and keeping the respect and confidence of all who were brought within the sphere of his action. During the period of nearly twelve years in which he occupied the bench as presiding judge of this judicial circuit, he held the scales of justice with a firm and impartial hand. No member of our profession, no person within the limits of the district can say, and we do not believe that there are any who think, that his judicial action during that long period was ever swayed by any unworthy or improper motive."
John R. Bennett. It is a well attested maxim that the great- ness of a state lies not in its machinery of government, not even in its institutions, but in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. Among those who are justly entitled to be enrolled among the makers of the great commonwealth of Wisconsin is Judge John R. Bennett, whose fifty years' resi- dence in the state has left its impress upon the commonwealth and nation. Although born in New York and surrounded by that charming and picturesque region, he saw the great possibilities of the West, and as a consequence left his home within six months after he was admitted to the bar, on May 8, 1848, with only sufficient money to take him to his place of destination-Janes- ville, Wis.
From the beginning he occupied a place among the leaders of the Rock county bar, and was afterward a peer of the brightest and ablest in the profession. He possessed no rich inheritance or influential friends, but he was filled with high hopes and laudable ambitions to succeed. His life was one of ceaseless toil and labor, and his success was commensurate with his labors.
Judge Bennett's ancestors were Puritans, who, in 1668, made their appearance in Connecticut, and from that day to this the family history is illustrated with bright examples in all walks of life. His father, Daniel Bennett, who was born at Stonington, Conn., February 16, 1793, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and
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participated in the battle of Lundy's Lane which was one of the severest ever fought on this continent. He was a patriotic, gallant soldier. He was wounded at the battle of Lake Erie and lost the sight of his right eye. His mother, Deborah Leeds Ben- nett, nee Spicer, was a grand-daughter of Gideon Leeds, of Leeds, England, and was born at Groton, Conn., April 15, 1792.
The father and mother of Judge Bennett lived in the rural community of Rodman, Jefferson county, N. Y., where, on the first day of November, 1820, the subject of this sketch was born.
Western New York was then almost an unbroken wilderness, there being but few settlers between his birthplace and Buffalo. His early years were spent in assisting his father in clearing the land and in other work on the farm. He attended the country school and attained proficiency in the common branches.
In the fall of 1839 he became a student in the Black River literary and religious institute, of Watertown, N. Y., where he fitted himself for the profession of teaching, in which he engaged at intervals until April, 1844, in connection with his attendance at the institute. At the date named he entered upon a course of law studies under the preceptorship of W. W. Wager, of Brownville, Jefferson county, N. Y., which continued for a period of six months. In April, 1845, Mr. Bennett commenced reading law in the office of Dyre N. Burnham, of Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., and pursued his studies with that gentleman until May 8, 1848, when he was admitted to practice in the courts of that state, at Oswego, N. Y.
Soon after his admission to the bar he came west and settled at Janesville, Wis., arriving October 13, 1848, and from that time until elected to the bench, in April, 1882, he zealously pursued his profession, and his efforts were rewarded with success.
He was re-elected in April, 1888. In 1862 he was elected district attorney for Rock county, and served until 1867, dis- tinguishing his administration of that office by the energy and ability with which he conducted the legal business of the county. Without being a candidate, he was nominated by the Republican state convention, 1875, for the office of attorney general of the state, but he was defeated with the balance of the ticket.
Judge Bennett was a stanch Republican and a faithful ad- herent to the principles governing the party since its organiza- tion. In 1860 he was a delegate to the national convention which
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nominated Abraham Lincoln, and looked back upon those stirring times with considerable interest. In April, 1894, he was a candi- date for re-election as judge of the Twelfth judicial circuit and was re-elected, by a majority of over 2,000, to the bench which he had graced with so much ability, honesty and industry for nearly twelve years. As a lawyer Judge Bennett practiced in all courts of the state and federal courts and displayed ability which placed his name with such men as Carpenter, Whiton, Knowlton, Noggle and Jordan. His business in the Supreme court of the state became so extensive that, it is said, no volume of the Wisconsin reports was issued while he was in practice that did not connect his name with some important cases.
On November 28, 1844, Judge Bennett was united in mar- riage, at Hounsfield, Jefferson county, N. Y., to Miss Elsie L. Holloway, daughter of Charles Holloway, Esq. She departed this life May 28, 1893, universally beloved and mourned. Her sweet and gentle influence left an impress upon the life of her hus- band which time could not efface. A tribute to her memory, offered by the members of the Rock County Bar Association, was most appropriate.
Judge Bennett had during his entire life consistently refused political preferment, though the entire community desired to bestow upon him such honors as were within its gifts. When he was requested to become a candidate for congress, he declined in favor of his partner, I. C. Sloan, who was elected. This illustrated forcibly the modesty and unselfish nature of the man.
He was, for more than a decade, one of the hardest-working judges in the country, and the general sentiment of the bar toward him was that of unqualified respect as an upright, con- scientious and painstaking judge. In his charges to juries he was guided solely by the facts in evidence and the law applicable to them. His decisions were stated in perspicuous and simple lan- guage, without any ornament of style, and in such a manner as not to be misunderstood. They were always terse and concise, and embodied the exact words necessary to express clearly and unmistakably his meaning.
His transaction of public business received the highest praise, and he won the distinction of being not only a most learned and accomplished jurist but a most worthy citizen. Judge Bennett
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was an ornament to the bench and bar of Wisconsin and the United States.
It has often been truthfully said that the fame of all great lawyers and advocates is written in water. The most learned and astute lawyers of the last generation are hardly heard of beyond the immediate neighborhood in which they lived. But the goal toward which Judge Bennett hastened during his many years of toil and labor was with "those who by patriotism and wise counsel had given the world a direction toward good, and they might have their names inscribed upon the bright page of history and be enduring."
In closing this sketch we cannot do better than to quote the words of a famous judge in commemorating the virtues and achievements of a brother judge and a co-laborer, which ex- presses most clearly the lofty ideas Judge Bennett always pur- sued and the example he wished to set :
"May our successors," he said, "look back upon our times not without some kind regret and some tender recollection. May they cherish our memories with that gentle reverence which belongs to those who have labored earnestly for the advance- ment of the law. May they catch a holy enthusiasm from the review of our attainment, however limited it may be, which shall inspire them with the loftiest possession of human learning. And thus may they be able to advance our jurisprudence to that de- gree of perfection which shall make it a blessing and a protection through our own country and excite the admiration of mankind."
Judge Bennett's death occurred January 9, 1899.
Benjamin F. Dunwiddie was born on a farm in the town of Decatur, Green county, Wis., July 15, 1848. He received his early education in the country district schools and subsequently took a course at the University of Wisconsin, graduating from the classical department in 1874 and from the law department in 1875.
He entered into practice at Janesville as member of the firm of Norcross & Dunwiddie upon his graduation and remained in active practice until the death of John R. Bennett, judge of the Twelfth judicial district, on June 9, 1899, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1901 he was elected for a full term and was succeeded by George Grimm, of Jefferson, in January, 1907.
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At the expiration of his term as judge he engaged in the prac- tice of his profession and is now associated with Mr. William G. Wheeler under the firm name of Dunwiddie & Wheeler.
George Grimm, circuit judge, born September 11, 1859, in the town of Jefferson, Jefferson county, Wis. Received his education at public and parochial schools, Jefferson Liberal Institute and Northwestern University at Watertown, Wis. Entered the law school at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1877, and was graduated in 1879. Was elected member of the assembly in 1886. Practiced law at Jefferson, Wis., from 1884 until 1896, when he was appointed county judge for Jefferson county. Was thereafter three times elected to the same position without opposition. In 1906 was elected circuit judge of the Twelfth judicial circuit, comprising Rock, Jefferson and Green counties.
Amos P. Prichard was born in Bradford, Orange county, Vt., May 26, 1827, the son of George W. and Elizabeth Pearson Prichard.
After graduating from the University of Vermont and the Cambridge Law School, of Harvard, he continued his studies with John Gregory Smith, of St. Albans, Vt., until 1850, when he came to Janesville, Wis. He was promptly admitted to practice in the courts of this state and formed a partnership with his brother, Moses S. Prichard, and Judge David Noggle, under the firm name of Noggle, Prichard & Prichard, which later became Noggle, Prichard & Berry. Elected city clerk, he held that office several years and in 1857 was elected county judge, his term beginning January 1, 1858. His administration was so satisfactory that with each succeeding election he was re-elected for a continuous service of twenty-eight years until his death, September 15, 1886.
Judge Prichard was married September 15, 1854, to Miss Augusta Dearborn, daughter of Lyman Dearborn, of Concord, N. H. Their four children were Charlotte, Lyman D., Abbie and Helen M.
Judge Prichard was a Republican in politics, an attendant with his family at All Souls' church and a man of genial, kindly nature. He had an affable manner, was upright and honorable in a marked degree, and enjoyed the confidence and good opinion of all with whom he had to do.
Matthew H. Carpenter. (Given before the Wisconsin State
JOIN D. KING.
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Bar Association in 1906 by the late Chief Justice James B. Casso- day.) "The purpose of my address is to give a sketch of Matthew HIale Carpenter as a lawyer, and not as a politician or statesman. In fact, his best friends never claimed that he possessed the apti- tude of finesse essential to become a successful politician. He himself once said: 'Politics is one of the strangest subjects that ever perplexed the human mind. When politics comes in, reason and justice go out.' Mr. Carpenter's childhood was limited by the environments of Moretown, Vt., a little village with small opportunities for learning. Two traits of character developed in him early, an aversion to manual labor, and a strong avidity for books. His mother's early training gave him a religious cast of mind, and this accounts for his frequent references to the scrip- tures in his arguments and public speeches.
"At fourteen he went to live with Paul Dillingham, who after- ward became governor of Vermont. Here he studied law for four years, and was then admitted to West Point, where he stayed two years, resigning to again take up law. Admitted to the bar in 1847 he started a few days later for Boston, where his letters of introduction gained him a place in the private office of Rufus Choate. The first morning he was at work, Mr. Choate, to test his ability, handed him a letter asking a legal opinion, and told the youth to answer it. After diligent study of the question involved, he submitted an answer written in clear, concise form. Mr. Choate read it and said : 'Well, Judge, I guess I can sign R. Choate to that opinion and forward it with a bill for $100.' Ever after that Mr. Choate referred to the youth as 'Judge.' "
Strong Letter by Rufus Choate
"On motion of Mr. Choate Mr. Carpenter was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1848, soon after starting for Wisconsin. As the youth had no means, Mr. Choate gave him an order on Uittle, Brown & Co., for $1,000 worth of law books, marking the list him- self, and also providing him with money to defray expenses and giving him a letter of introduction, which read: 'I take great pleasure in stating that M. H. Carpenter, Esq., is well known to me; that his character is excellent, his talents of a high order, his legal attainments great for his time of life, and that his love of labor and his fondness for his profession insure his success
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wheresoever he may establish himself. I part with him with regret. To the profession and the public I recommend him as worthy of the utmost confidence, honor and patronage.
" 'Rufus Choate.'
"In May, 1848, Mr. Carpenter reached Beloit. After a few months' practice his eyes became inflamed and, local physicians giving him improper treatment, he was compelled to go to New York, where he remained in an infirmary sixteen months, Mr. Choate providing him with funds during that time. Then Mr. Carpenter went to his old home in Vermont and visited Mr. Dillingham, under promise not to read or write for another six months. After an absence of eighteen months he returned to Beloit, although he did not regain the full use of his eyes until he was twenty-six years old. Carpenter met the situation with a courage that could not be daunted and a manly enthusiasm which commanded respect and attracted business. His office was soon crowded with all the business he could handle with the aid of clerks. Upon being beaten in two cases by Chief Justice Whiton, sitting at the circuit, he took them both to the old Supreme court on writs of error, and both were reversed at the June term of 1852. Such early double victories gave him prestige with the people, the bar, and the courts. During the first five years he had fourteen cases in the Supreme court, winning eleven of them.
Marries Miss Dillingham
"Being established in business, he went east to claim his bride, Caroline, the daughter of Governor Dillingham, and on returning to Wisconsin was retained in a case which made him famous throughout the United States, the fight for the governorship be- tween Barstow and Bashford. Carpenter at the time was only thirty-one, and was associated in the case with Jonathan E. Arnold and Harlow S. Orton, being pitted against Timothy O. Howe, James H. Knowlton, Edward G. Ryan and A. W. Randall. That Mr. Carpenter, years younger than any of the attorneys on either side of this important contest, was chosen to make the opening and principal argument in behalf of the governor was an honor that might have been coveted by the entire bar.
"As Carpenter's field of labor widened his cases extended into the federal and United States Supreme Court, and he argued
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two cases before that tribunal as early as 1863. On his first appearance before that august court Justice Greer inquired of Justice Miller, 'Who is that young Mr. Carpenter? I want to know him, for I have heard nothing to equal his effort today since Mr. Webster was before us.' Chief Justice Chase said: 'We regard that boy as one of the ablest jurists in the country. I am not the only justice on this bench who delights in his eloquence and his reasoning.' Before he was elected to the United States senate, at the age of forty-four, he had argued twenty-two cases before the Supreme Court, among them several government cases of national importance, being engaged to represent the govern- ment by Secretary of War Stanton.
Stands by Lincoln
"While Mr. Carpenter was intense and persistent in his pro- fessional labors, he had time to express himself as a citizen on most public questions. Although a Democrat, he supported the Emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln at a mass meet- ing held in Chicago in these words :
" 'We need not discuss the propriety or necessity of the President's proclamation. Upon that subject there were differ- ences of opinion in the cabinet, and there are probably differences of opinion in this meeting. But wise or unwise, necessary or unnecessary, it has gone forth, and the only question now is, shall the government be sustained ? Our national existence hangs on the results of military operations, and the necessities of success require subordinations to one guiding mind, and any policy, even the worst, is preferable to no policy. Our captain sees a port, and directs us to make for it. It may not be the best that could be selected, but we must unite in our efforts to get to it. I do not believe the proclamation unwise. The President is charged with the duty of bringing the war to a successful end, and if it be necessary to desolate the South, then let the South be desolated.'
"March 4, 1869, he took his seat in the United States senate. His fame had gone before him and he needed no introduction to that body. He was immediately placed upon three of the most important committees, having for his associates Thurman, Conk- ling, Sumner, Bayard, Trumbull and Edmunds. During his first term he argued thirty-one cases before the Supreme Court, and
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during the next six years he carried thirty-six cases there, mak- ing a total of ninety-seven cases taken before that court in seven- teen years' practice. On the death of Mr. Carpenter at the age of fifty-six, committees of both houses of congress accompanied the remains to Milwaukee, and Roscoe Conkling delivered the ad- dress. Mr. Carpenter had faults, as well as other mortals, but no one has ever intimated that he was wanting in professional integrity or honor.
Tribute of Justice Field
"On his death Mr. Justice Field wrote: 'He was one of the most remarkable men that ever appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States.' Jeremiah S. Black, his opponent in the McCall and other famous cases, said of him: 'He never acted upon motives of lucre or malice. He would use no falsehood to gain his case. He was the least mercenary of all lawyers. To what height his professional career might have reached had he lived can only be a speculative question.' As it was he distanced those who started long before him, and became the peer of the greatest among them.' "
Ithamah C. Sloan was born in Morrisville, Madison county, N. Y., May 9, 1822, and received a common school and academic education, after which he entered upon the study of law with Timothy Jenkins, a distinguished lawyer at Oneida, N. Y .; was admitted to the bar as an attorney at Ithaca in 1848 at the second term of the Supreme court of that district after the adoption of the code of procedure in New York, by which the forms of action and practice as established by the common law were abolished and the code of procedure, the same that now prevails in Wis- consin, was established. From the time of his admission until 1854 he practiced law at Oneida, during which year he came to Wisconsin and located at Janesville in the prictice of his pro- fession. In 1858 he was elected district attorney of Rock county and was again elected to the same office in 1860. Two years later he was elected by the Republican party member of congress and re-elected in 1864. During his service in the house of repre- sentatives he was a member of the committee on public lands, on claims and on expenses of the War Department committee, that were of the first importance at that period of the war of the Rebellion. The career of Mr. Sloan while in congress was alike
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