CHAPTER X

THE COURT AND THE BAR OF BUCHANAN COUNTY

IN THE year 1847, there stood a small wooden building on the corner of Main and Court streets, in the city of Independence, the spot where what is called the Brewer block now stands. The small, dingy front room of this building was used as the county clerk's office and court room. The bank end was occupied by Dr. Edward Brewer and family.

In the fall of that year, a gruff-looking man, in a one-horse buggy, drove up to the front door of this building and from his seat called for the clerk of the court to appear. Dr. Brewer modestly stepped to the door, when the following colloquy took place:

"Is this the clerk of the court?"

"It is."

"I am Judge Grant. Are there any cases on the docket?"

"Yes; there are two. One an original case; the other an appealed case from a justice of the peace."

"Bring the docket out here."

The doctor carried the docket out to the buggy. Says the judge:

"Do you know anything about these cases?"

"I do. One is an original case against myself; that is to be dismissed. The other is an appeal from a justice by the defendant. I am counsel for the plaintiff. That is to be affirmed."

"All right. Enter them up accordingly."

And the judge drove off. Thus ended the first court ever held in Buchanan county.

Dr. Brewer had just been elected county clerk, the first clerk of the county, and a position which he held contnuously for the next twenty-one years.

Cout was held the following year by Judge Grant, in a log building just south of the Dr. House dwelling, in what is now the street. The year followiong, it was held in an old building occupying the ground where the First National Bank now stands.

It was at this place that a scene occurred which illustrates the practice of the times, likewise the peculiarities of Judge Grant, and the summary manner of dispensing with justice.

Two men from Black Hawk county were here on trial for disturbing the peace. As was usual in those days, a large number of neighbors and friends of the parties, and a host of witnesses, were on hand. As teh skirmish was about to commence, the judge said to Dr. Brewer:

"Call out all the men from Black Hawk county, an dhave them stand in a row."

This was done, and enough stood in the row to make a good-size militia company.

"Now," says Judge Grant, "Put all those men under bonds to keep the peace." It was done at once, and court adjourned.

The next year T. S. Wilson was elected judge of the district court. His first term was held in the old Methodist curch, just back of the present church. This building resembled a nine-pin alley, and was just about as large. The year following, it was held in the upper room of the stone building now occupied by Tom Curtis as a liver stable, and in a school building where the jail now stands. It was afterwards held in a wooden building just south of Orville Fonda's store, on the west side of the river, and afterwards, in 1856, in the new court house.

The first judge of the district court of this county was James Grant, who held his position from 1847 to 1853. The second judge was T. S. Wilson, of Dubuque, who held his first term in June, 1853, and his last term in September, 1862. The third judge was James Burt, of Dubuque, who held his first term in fourth judge was J. M. Brayton, of Delaware county, who held his first term in April, 1871, and his last term in April, 1872. The fifth judge was D. S. Wilson, of Dubuque, who held his first term in October, 1872, and his last term in September, 1878. The sixth and present judge is S. Bagg, of Waterloo, whose term commenced January 1, 1879.

The first term of the first circuit court of Buchanan county was held in March, 1869, S. Bagg, of Waterloo, judge. The first case tried in this court was D. D. Holdridge vs. Andrew Nicolia.

B. W. Lacy was appointed circuit judge to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of S. Bagg to fill the position of district judge, and held his first term in February, 1879. He was reelected in the fall of 1880 for a term of four years, commencing January 1, 1881.

The first sheriff was Eli Phelps, term commenced January 1, 1849, expire January 1, 1850. Second sheriff H. W. Hatch; term commenced January 1, 1850, expired January 1, 1852. Third sheriff, O. B. King; term commenced January 1, 1852, expired January 1, 1853. Fourth sheriff, Norman Picket; term commenced January 1, 1853, expired January 1, 1854. Fifth sheriff, Eli Phelps; term commenced January 1, 1854, expired January 1, 1856. Sixth sheriff, Leander Keyes; term commenced January 1, 1856, expired January 1, 1858. Seventh sheriff, William Martin; term commenced Janusary 1, 1858, expired January 1, 1860. Eighth sheriff, Byron Hale; term commenced January 1, 1860, expired January 1, 1862. Ninth sheriff, John M. Westfall; term

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commenced January 1, 1862, expired January 1, 1866. Tenth sheriff, A. Crooks; term commenced January 1, 1866, expired January 1, 1868. Eleventh sheriff, John A. Davis; term commenced January 1, 1868, expired January 1, 1872. Twelfth sheriff, George O. Farr; term commenced January 1, 1872, expired January 1, 1876. Thirteenth sheriff, W. S. Van Orsdol; term commenced January 1, 1877, expired January 1, 1880. Fourteenth sheriff, E. L. Currier; term commenced January 1, 1880.

Dr. Edward Brewer was elected clerk of the court in 1847, and served until 1868; D. L. Smith was elected in 1868, and served until 1878; R. J. Williamson was elected in 1878, and served until 1880; O. M. Gillette was elected in the fall of 1880.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LAWYERS

JAMES JAMISON was born, February 14, 1828, in the county of Armstrong, Pennsylvania. Of his father we can learn but little, except that he was very poor, and died when James was two years of age, leaving a widow and two children. James was given to his uncle with whom he lived until he was eighteen years of age, working on the farm summers and attending school winters. At eighteen he cut loose from his uncle and commenced the struggle of life alone and unaided.

Like so many others, in the vast army of self-made men, he gained discipline and money by teaching district school winters. His summers were devoted to study. In 1850 he entered Alleghany college, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he remained for two years, working his way. He then commenced the study of law with the Hon. David Derickson at Meadville, and was admitted to the bar, August 18, 1853. He immediately took his diploma and started west. With no particular point in view, he threw himself into the great wave sweeping toward the west, trusting more to chance than to design, as to where he should land.

Independence was the place, and without hesitation, but with an assurance that success awaited him, he at once opened an office. His first case was tried for Orrin Lewis, October 18, 1853, for which he received a fee of three dollars. His business for the first month amounted to five dollars and seventy-five cents.

A more uncouth, awkward, unpromising young man, in personal appearance, than Jamison was at that time, never threw his shingle to the public. Tall and angular, with light hair, a face not molden for beauty, awkward in every move, a gesticulation that defied all rules, a hesitancy of speech that was painful, he was at once, by superficial observers, set down as a failure. To the young men he was a subject of ridicule; to the young ladies a curiosity.

The public soon began to observe that, from early morning until late at night, he never left his office except for meals. People soon lelarned that if they ever should want anything of Jamison, they would always know where to find him. The value of the adage, "Keep your office and your office will keep you," was well known and appreciated by him. Clients began to drop in. Their business was dispatched with wonderful promptness and accuracy. His knowledge of the law, his sound judgement, and his keen insight into the affairs of men, amzaed the people. Beneath that ugly exterior, a broad, comprehensive mind was discovered. Clients thickened around him; business accumulated, and he was soon in the midst of an extensive and lucrative practice. Fortune and fame increased. But few cases were tried in our county in which he was not interested. He was largely engaged in the real estate transactions of the county. As a counselor he had but few equals in the State. The quaint and witty sayings of Jamison would fill a volume. One must be preserved. One of his objections was overruled by the court in a trial of a case. Jamison very drily remarked "your honor is right and I am wrong, as your honor most always is."

As a citizen he was just and honest. He set a noble example of filial attachment. His widowed mother presided over his home (for he never married), and her life was made happy by his constant love and devotion. But for one enemy Jamison would have been living today; have been in the front ranks of his profession, and a highly honored and wealthy citizen. Having no family to call forth and cultivate his domestic nature, his social qualities gradually found relaxation in the society of those whose tendencies were downward. The sequel need not be told. It is useless to follow him down the road we have all seen so many travel. It is the same old path; once entered it is seldom forsaken. It leads all classes to the same goal. The talented, noble James Jamison, died a victim to intemperance the second day of August, 1878.

CAPTAIN D. S. LEE was born in Genessee county, New York, October 16, 1817. When he was sixteen years old his mother died. The family was scattered, and young Daniel was left to shift for himself. He was employed as a farm hand summers, and attended school winters, until he was twenty-one, when he entered Leroy academy, where he remained for two years. The following winter he taught school and, with his earnings, started, in the spring of 1842, for the west. He made his way to Akron, Ohio, where he studied law in the office of the Hon. William C. Dodge, at the same time teaching, until the fall of 1846, when he was admitted to the bar. He practiced his profession at that place until the summer of 1851, when he came to Dubuque, Iowa, and in the winter taught Dubuque's first free school. March 3, 1852, he was admitted to the bar of the Iowa supreme court. In the same spring he commenced the practice of law in connection with the real estate business at Independence. In 1855, in connection with P. A. and E. B. Older, he established the first bank in Independence. The latter business was very successful until the year 1857, when the firm wen tdown with so many others in the general crash. All of Mr. Lee's ample fortune was swept away, and financially he never recovered. Lee attested his patriotism and fidelity to the Government by being the first man to volunteer from this county in the late war. On the organization of company E, of the Fifth regiment Iowa infantry, he was unanimously elected captain, which position he held for

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three years. He was almost constantly engaged in active campaigns, and participated in many hard fought battles. On the field he was brave as a knight, in camp tender and kind, belived by all his men. In the fall of 1864, immediately after his term of office expired, he was elected the first mayor of the city of Independence, and was reelected the year following. In the year 1869 he was chosen a member of the Iowa legislature, and performed the duties of that office with much ability. At the close of the session he resumed the practice of law, and continued in the same until he was prostrated by disease in 1875. Afer a lingering illness he died, May 25, 1878. Captain Lee was married to Miss Fannie L. Brooks, who is still living. In physique, the captain was of medium height, straight as an arrow, with a well developed head, and was a strikingly handsome man, easy and graceful in every movement, affable and kind; he was, in every sense, a gentleman. As a speaker he was easy, fluent, and forcible. Had he confined himself strictly to the profession of law, and applied himself more closely to its study, he would have had but few equales in the State.

O. H. P. ROSZELL—One of the most conspicuous and remarkable characters identified with the history of our county was the Hon. O. H. P. Roszell. With his commanding presence, superior ability and strict integrity, he would have been a marked character anywhere. He was born December 21, 1827, in Canandaigua, New York. His father died when he was nine years of age. His education was completed at the Cary Collegiate seminary, where he attended for several years. When he was twenty-one years of age he determined to find himaself a home in the great west. His first summer was spent with a Government surveying party in Wisconsin. December, 1849, found him in Independence, where he remained until his death. The first few years of his western life were spent in various pursuits, principally in teaching and surveying. In 1851 he was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he was elected the first county judge of Buchanan county, which position he occupied for six years. The county judge at that time was a very important functionary. His powers, in reference to all business pertaining to county matters, were almost exclusive and unlimited. In 1858 Judge Roszell was elected county superintendent of public schools, holding the position for two years. He was, also, in the same year, elected a member of the State school board of education, and was a member of that body when the present free school system was adopted, and one of the committee who drafted the original bill. He was elected mayor of the city of Independence, on three different occasions. He was married in Independence, in 1852, to Miss Mary E. Whait, by whom he had nine children. Judge Roszell was of extraordinary personal appearance, tall, dignified and commanding. The expression of his face was always grave and thoughtful, but good humored. His fine presence and brilliant talents at once commanded respect, even among strangers. In his speeches he was clear, logical and forcible, rather than abounding in rhetorical embellishment. He was a strong partisan, always taking great interest in political affairs, and always an ardent Democrat, of the old school. Yet such was the esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens, that he was rarely, beaten in a political race, although his party was in a hopeless minority. As a lawyer, he did not meet with brilliant success. His life was so much taken up with other matters that others, with less ability, outstripped him at the bar. Probably no man in Buchanan county did so much for popular education as he. He was always an enthusiast in advancing the efficiency of our public schools. He died the fifth day of October, 1877. A vast concourse of people, from all parts of the county, gathered at the funeral to shed a tear over the remains of one of Buchanan county's greatest and best men. He is one of the few, comparatively, who have left their impress for good in the community in which he lived.

ALBERT CLARKE was born in Conway, Massachusetts in 1810. He was brought up in the old fashioned New England style, on his father's farm, with fair school advantages, until the age of eighteen, when, exhibiting more than ordinary aptitude for an education, he commenced the study of the languages, preparatory to entering college, which he did in 1830, when he entered Amherst college, and was in the same class with Henry Ward Beecher and Fowler, the phrenologist. His standing as a scholar was good, being most distinguished in those branches that require close thinking and deep research. He graduated in 1834. He was then principal of the academy in Oswego, New York, one year, and afterwards filled a similar place in Dunkirk, where he also gave considerable attention to the law, and filled for some time the office of justice in that youong and growing village. He then moved to Virginia, where he taught in several institutions of learning, principally in Smithfield, for about ten years. He then returned to Massachusetts and completed his law studies in Westfield, with William G. Bates, and practiced several years in his native town. He then for several years owned a drug store in Worcester, Massachusetts, and from thence moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he wen tinto the land business, (emigration then being nearly at its height), engaging at the sam etime, more or less, in the law. Having been interested, to a considerable extent, in lands in Buchanan county, in 1854 he moved to Independence, and gave his attention to its intersets, and also to agencies of land belonging to eastern men, and attending to various public interests with which he was intrusted. He accumulated a fair property, and was considered as possesssing good financial abilities. Being possessed of stern integrity and good judgment, he was often called upon to give counsel and aid to those who had come to this land of promise with little means, and were struggling to obtain a foothold; and he is still held in grateful remembrance by many who have risen to prosperous circumstances. He took great interest in the growth and development of the county, especially in its educational and religious interests, and was one of the principal founders and supporters of the First Presbyterian church of Independence. He was married in 1847 to Miss

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Elizabeth Adams, and left one son, who lives in Independence. He died in the year 1868, aged fifty-eight years.

JAMES W. WEART was born in Hopewell, Mercer county, New Jersey, in a house occupied by General Washington as his headquarters during a period of the Revolutionary war. He was lieutentant in the Twenty-first regiment New Jersey volunteers. He came to Independence December 25, 1863, and at once commenced the practice of law. He was city clerk for a number of years; also clerk of the Iowa senate for three terms. He came to his deth by the accidental discharge of a gun while hunting, on Thanksgiving day, which badly mutilated both his hands. He survived the accident about one week, dying in December, 1874. He was married to Jennie E. Taylor, of Philadelphia, in 1866, by whom he had five children. We are very sorry that we are not able to give a more complete history of this interesting young man, but the data are not at hand. He was exceedingly popular with all classes, especially the young, and is held in grateful remembrance by the citizens of Independence.

S. S. ALLEN, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Buchanan county, was born May 1, 1828, in Franklin county, Massachusetts. He resided there until he was about nineteen years of age, when he came west, stopping in Waukegan, Wisconsin, and engaging in teaching. In 1851 he entered the law office of Bennett & Hudson, Janesville, Wisconsin, where he studied two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and immediately came to this county and settled at Independence, where he practiced law three years, exclusively, though he was engaged in law and real estated business until 1875, when he left Independence and moved to Homer township, upon the farm where he at present. He has the largest farm in the township, consisting of six hundred acres of excellent land. He is principally engaged in stock raising, keeping from one hudnred to two hundred head of cattle, and about the same number of hogs. He has a pleasant and beautiful home surrounded by a "Centennial grove," set out by himself in 1876. Mr. Allen was an early proprietor of the first newspaper in Independence, the Civilian, with which he was connected from 1855 to 1859. He built the first three-story brick block west of Dubuque, also established the first broker's office west of that place. Mr. Allen was in business as a merchant from 1856 to 1859. He had a drug store, hardware store, dry goods store, and a book store, the latter the first in Independence. He dealt quite extensively in real estate for many years, and many acres of land passed through his hands.

Mr. Allen married Miss Martha Smiley, of Rock county, February 21, 1854. They have had seven children, six of whom are living: Emery S. S., born July 5, 1858; Charles, born February 2, 1860, died when about four years old; John B., born February 15, 1865; Willie H., born December 15, 1866; Andrew J., born august 27, 1868; Mattie, born January 10, 1874; Augusta M. W., born April 2, 1877. Mr. Allen is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a firm Democrat, and has held several local offices, though he never sought them.

J. S. WOODWARD, esq., was born in Middleburgh, Schoharie county, New York, in 1830. He lived until he attained the age of seven years at Hoanover, New Hampshire, the home of his father, Stephen Woodward. He then went to Turnbridge, Vermont, where he lived until he came west. His father died in 1865, his mother is still living at Albany, New York. She is at present over eighty years of age, and is healthy and active. Mr. Woodward was educated at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, one of New England's first-class schools. He fitted for Dartmouth college, but he did not pursue the course, as he had made up his mind to follow Horace Greeley's advice to young men. When about twenty years old he went to Wisconsin, where he read law in the office of Geoge B. Ely, of Janesville; and in August, 1853, was admitted to the bar in that place. He came to Buchanan county the same fall, and located at Independence, then a place of perhaps twenty or thirty inhabitants. At the time of his arrival his entire capital consisted of a yankee ninepence and six law books. Of course his business was very small at first, but by diligently attending to it, Mr. Woodwrd gained the confidence of the people, and rose rapidly as the county became more thickly settled. In 1854 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and from that time onwoard his business steadily increased. In 1857, he was elected a member of the State legislature, and represented his district with much credit. In 1864, he was a delegate to the Baltimore ocnvention. He has twice been mayor of the city of Independence. Mr. Woodward has done a large business for many years. He has practised law six years longer than any other layer in the city. Many of the prominent lalwyers of this vicinity have been students in his office, as well as several who are now practising in other States. Mr. Woodward has always been a constant worker, and is at present doing as large business as any lawyer in the county. It is unnecessary to add that he stands high in the community, and possesses the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. In physique Woodward is a little below the medium height; sparely but well built; coal black eyes and hair to match. He has untiring energy, is ever active, never cuaght napping, always on the alert and diligent. His characteristics as a lawyer may be gathered from the above. He is untiring and ceseless in the cause of his clients, and never forsakes them until he is victorious or hopelessly defeted. In speaking, his whole body is in motion. there is no circumlocution, no hitching and hesitating, to pick out smooth and elegant expressions: the only object is to hit the mark. If he sometimes scatters, his shots are so rapid that some are sure to hit. When Jamison ws living, there was rarely a case in which both were not engaged, and generally on opposite sides. A detailed history of the legal contests between these two would fill a volulme with rich and rare reading. Woodward is the prince of good fellows, social, genial and generous. His humor is proverbial. His organ of mirth is developed to such a degree that it has been said of him

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that he would smile the longest and loudest of any man in Iowa. Woodward's high standing at the bar, his integrty [integrity] as a citizen, his sparkling wit and social qualities would have commanded for him almost any official position. He has never asked, but steadily refused political preferment. Last year, Mr. Woodward commenced building a splendid residence, which, when completed, will be the finest house in the county. It is very tastefully planned, and is both beautiful and convenient. Mr. Woodward was married, in 1855, to Miss Caroline Morse, who was born at Rochester, New York, in 1835. they have three children living and two deceased. Anna died when nine months old; Jerome when nineteen months old. Agnes was born March 26, 1861. Will M. ws born June 29, 1865; Katie, born March 21, 1872. Al lare at home with their parents. Mr. Woodward is a member of the Odd fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He has been a staunch Repuclican since the organization of the party.

Chapter X cont.

 

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