only to the most careful preparation. His resources appeared exhaustless." Spring died, while still a young man, in 1851. He was at that time a judge of the Cook County Common Pleas Court, had been prominent in politics as a member of the Whig party, and sat as a delegate in the "Free Soil" Convention of 1848 at Buffalo. Edward W. Casey, a native of New Hampshire, practiced in Chicago four or five years prior to 1838, when he returned to New England. He is said to have been a scholarly man and a thorough lawyer, but given to conviviality to such an extent that on one occasion, when he was serving in an official capacity, an objection was raised to his prosecution of a vagrancy case, on the ground that one vagrant could not legally prosecute another. James Grant, a North Carolinian by birth, began practicing in Chicago in 1839. At a later date he removed to Iowa-where judicial honors were conferred upon him and still lives at Davenport, in that State. A. N. Fullerton, born in Vermont, who was known as one of the pioneer lawyers, after practicing three or four years, abandoned his profession, engaged in commercial business, and at his death in Chicago, in 1880, left a large fortune. James H. Collins came from New York State, and located in Chicago at the solicitation of his former pupil, John D. Caton. He was chiefly noted for industry and perseverance as a lawyer, and for his uncompromising hostility to slavery as a politician. He continued to practice law in Chicago until 1854, when he died of cholera. Henry Moore, a scholarly and brilliant young lawyer from Massachusetts, opened a law office in Chicago very early in the history of the town, but left in 1839 on account of failing health, and died some years later at his home in New England. Buckner S. Morris, of Kentucky, came to Chicago in 1834, having previously served as a member of the legislature of his native State, and acquired considerable distinction as a lawyer. He was a successful pioneer practitioner, and served with credit as a judge of the circuit court of Cook county, and also as mayor of the city. Grant Goodrich, who came from New York to Chicago in 1834, lived in the city and practiced law up to the time of his death, some years since. He was a public-spirited citizen, an accomplished lawyer, and for several years an honored member of the Cook county judiciary. Royal Stewart, of the same State, came early to the city, and was enrolled for a time among the pioneer lawyers. He returned to New York State, however, and not much is known in the west of his later life. Wm. H. Brown, a native of Connecticut, was first known in Illinois as the editor of the Illinois Intelligencer, published at Vandalia. He came to Chicago in 1835, as cashier of a branch of the State bank, established here at that time. Although a lawyer by profession, he was known here as financier rather than lawyer. He served as a member of the State legislature during the war, and died while traveling abroad in 1867. James Curtiss, a member of the pioneer bar, was never an active practitioner. He held numerous local offices, and was twice mayor of the city. Wm. Stuart was registered as a lawyer during the same period. He was better known, however, as editor of the Chicago American and postmaster of the city during the administrations of Presidents Harrison and Tyler. He returned to New York, his native State, in 1846, and turned his attention to editing a newspaper at Binghampton. Ebenezer Peck, born in Portland, Maine, came to Chicago in 1835, and for many years was one of the most distinguished members of the bar, and also a prominent business man of the city. He was an intimate personal friend of President Lincoln; was appointed by him judge of the Court of Claims at Washington, and served in this capacity until he reached the age of retirement, after which he returned to Chicago, and died here in 1881. Alonzo Huntington, of Vermont, came to Chicago at the same time that Judge Peck located here, and died in the same year that the latter passed away, after a long and honorable career at the bar. Jonathan Young Scammon, whose useful life ended but a short time since, was another of the pioneers whose career has previously been sketched in this connection. Joseph Hubbard, of Vermont, Thomas Hubbard and G. A. O. Beaumont, of Connecticut, were numbered among the pioneers for a short time, but all returned to the east without having filled any important place at the bar. Foster Ames Harding, of Rhode Island, and Fletcher Webster, of Massachusetts, a son of Daniel Webster, were two out of a very few of the early members of the Chicago bar, who were college graduates and classical scholars. Harding graduated at Brown University and Webster at Dartmouth College. They practiced in Chicago a short time in partnership, and then removed to Detroit, Michigan. Harding abandoned the law, and gained renown as a journalist, while Webster's ambition. seems to have been satisfied later by an appointment as United States Minister to China. Henry Brown, born in Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College, was identified with the bar from 1836 to 1849, when he fell a victim to the cholera scourge. In addition to practicing law he had a fondness for writing history, and was the author of one of the early histories of Illinois. Samuel Lisle Smith, of Pennsylvania, said to have been one of the most brilliant public speakers and ablest advocates at the Chicago bar during the period of his connection with it, died of cholera in 1854, while still a young man. Justin Butterfield, born in New Hampshire, was one of the acknowledged leaders of the bar for many years. Among all his contemporaries none wielded a greater influence, none acquitted himself more creditably under all circumstances, none was better entitled to rank among the great lawyers of the west. He served as commissioner of the general land office at Washington under President Tyler, and died in 1855. Isaac N. Arnold, noted as lawyer, statesman and author, began the practice of law in Chicago in 1835, and died here in 1884. He was born in New York, and after receiving an academic education, studied law. He was not only an able lawyer, but took an active interest in public affairs. He was elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and served two terms in that body. Afterward he served as auditor of the treasury for the postal department during a portion of President Johnson's administration. He was not only an admirable public. speaker, but an admirable writer. After his retirement from public life he wrote a history of Abraham Lincoln, a work for which his many years of intimate association with the "great emancipator" peculiarly fitted him. Afterward he published a life of Benedict Arnold, and made many valuable contributions to historical literature. Mark Skinner, who served the public as one of the judges of the Cook County Common Pleas Court one or more terms, Hugh T. Dickey, who also sat on the bench, and E. G. Ryan, late chief justice of Wisconsin, were also among the lawyers who practiced in the pioneer courts of this city. Norman B. Judd, minister to Berlin during President Lincoln's first administration, and later collector of the port of Chicago, began his professional career also in 1836, and his name is one which sheds lustre upon the bar, with which he was identified. Judge George Maniere, also a lawyer of great ability and high charac ter; Thomas Hoyne, whose tragic death in a railway accident some years since cast a gloom over a circle of personal friends, larger, perhaps, than had any other old resident of Chicago; John Wentworth, noted as lawyer, politician and journalist, of Titanic physique, and mind proportionately strong; and George W. Meeker, a scholarly man and thorough lawyer, but afflicted with physical infirmities, were also members of the bar during the pioneer period. All these came to Chicago as young men. A majority of them began their professional careers here, and a remarkably large proportion of them developed into able and widely known members of their profession. |