Macoupin County, Illinois - Chapter 16: Bench and Bar, 1911

Chapter 16: Bench and Bar

Perhaps no body of men, not excepting the clergy, may exercise a greater influence for good in a community than those who follow the profession of the law, and it must be admitted that to no other body, not even to the so-called criminal classes, are committed greater possibilities for an influence for evil. What that influence shall be depends upon the character of the men who constitute the bar of the community - not merely on their ability or learning but on their character. If the standard of morality among the members of the bar is high, the whole community learns to look at questions of right and wrong from a higher plane. If the bar consciously or unconsciously adopts a low standard of morality, it almost inevitably contaminates the conscience of the community. And this is true not only in the practice of the profession itself, not only because of the influence of members of the bar as men rather than lawyers, but in the effect upon other professions and occupations to which the bar acts as a feeder. The members of the legislature are recruited largely from the legal profession. How can legislation, designed solely for the welfare of the public, be expected from one whose honor as a lawyer has not been above suspicion? And since lawyers, outside of the legislature, have a great influence in shaping the law, how can the people expect that influence to be exerted in their behalf when the bar itself is unworthy? Still more does the character of the bar affect the judiciary, which is supplied from its ranks. It is not always, perhaps not generally, the case that members of the bench are chosen from those lawyers who have attained the highest rank in their profession. If a judge be industrious and honest, but not of great ability, or if he be able and honest, though lacking industry, the rights of the litigants are not likely to suffer seriously at his hands. But there have been instances where judicial office was bestowed solely as a reward for political service ; and while it is sometimes realized that one who has been a strenuous and not too scrupulous politician up to the moment of his elevation to the bench, has thereafter forgotten that there was such a trade as politics and has administered justice without fear or favor, the experiment is a dangerous one. No one need be surprised if in such a case the old maxim holds true : "He who buys the office of judge must of necessity sell justice." Let our judges be men who are subject to other influences than those of the facts submitted to them and the law applicable to those facts, let them lack that independence which is an imperative requisite toi one who holds the scale of justice, let a well founded suspicion arise that their decisions are dictated by something outside of their own minds and consciences, and the confidence of the people in the maintenance of their rights through the agency of the courts is destroyed.

It has been the good fortune of the city of Carlinville and the county of Macoupin that the members of the bar here have been, for the most part, men of high character as well as of ability and learning, so that its bar has won a high and honorable reputation throughout the rest of the state and because of the high character of the bar it has followed that those of its members who have been elevated to the bench have enjoyed the confidence and respect of the public and have been honored not only in their own locality but in many cases throughout the state and in other states.

Yet the preparation of a history of the bar, so far at least as that part of it which lies back of one's own generation is concerned, is attended with considerable difficulty. Probably few men who in their time play important parts in the community or even in the state or nation, leave so transient a reputation as lawyers do. A writer on this subject who took for his text the Lawyers of Fifty Years Ago, said: "In thinking over the names of these distinguished men of whom I have been speaking, the thought has come to me how evanescent and limited is the lawyer's reputation, both in time and space. I doubt very much if a lawyer, whatever his standing, is much known to the profession outside of his own state." Those who attain high rank in the profession must realize that with rare exceptions their names are "writ in water." One may turn over the leaves of old reports and find repeated again and again as counsel in different cases the name of some lawyer who must have been in his time a power in the courts, only to wonder if he has ever seen that name outside of the covers of the dusty reports in which it appears. Hamilton, in the conventions, in the Federalist and in the treasury, and Webster, in the senate and in public orations, have perpetuated and increased the fame of lawyers Hamilton and Webster; but were it not for their services outside the strict limits of their profession one might come upon their names at this date with much the same lack of recognition as that with which one finds in a reported case the names of some counsel, great perhaps in his own time, but long since forgotten.

And there is another difficulty in preparing such a history as this, brief and therefore necessarily limited to a few names, and that is that some may be omitted who are quite as worthy of mention as those whose names appear. It is not often that any one man stands as a lawyer head and shoulders above the other members of the profession; and the same may be said of any half dozen men. In many cases the most careful measurement would fail to disclose a difference of more than a fraction of an inch, if any. Lives of eminent men who have at some period been practicing lawyers have contained the assertion that while they were engaged in the practice of their profession they were the "leaders of the bar;" but there is almost always room for doubt as to whether the title is now a brevet bestowed by the biographer alone. Therefore the mention in this article of certain lawyers must not be taken as any disparagement of those who are not mentioned, and, finally, it is to be observed that this article, so far as the bar is concerned, will treat not only of those members who are past and gone but will make mention of some of those now in the flesh.

General John M. Palmer was one of the early members of the Macoupin county bar and about a year before his death, or in 1899, wrote a history of the bench and bar of Illinois, in which he devoted considerable space to members of the bar of his day and generation and those who came before him, who practiced in the courts of this county. He wrote understandingly and entertainingly. He, himself, became famous in his profession and in other walks 'of public life and anything coming from his pen, relating to the men who followed the profession of the law at this bar, is deemed of more than ordinary importance and worthy of preservation. Hence, his remembrances upon the subject are transcribed to these pages and appear below :

"Macoupin county was organized under an act of the legislature approved January 17, 1829. Thomas Carlin was then a state senator from Greene county, and was active in procuring the passage of the act, and the county seat of the* new county was named in his honor, Carlinville.

"Senator Carlin afterward became governor of the state, elected in 1838. It is not certain whether Palemon H. Winchester or John S. Greathouse was the first lawyer to settle in Carlinville; they were both residents here in 1831. Judge Scott, in his volume 'Supreme Court of Illinois, 1818,' refers to him as 'Winchester, named as counsel for appellee in same case (Coleen and Claypole versus Figgins), was evidently P. H. Winchester, a teritorial lawyer.'

"Palemon H. Winchester, who was referred to by Judge Scott, was a native of Tennessee and was reputed to have been a nephew of General James Winchester, who commanded the American forces at Frenchtown, or Raisin river, and surrendered them to the British commander, Procter. Major Winchester, as he was called, came to Illinois in 1817, and settled in Edwardsville, where later he married a daughter of Colonel Benjamin Stevenson, who was then one of the leading citizens of Madison county. Colonel Stevenson was so intimate with Governor Edwards that the late Judge Benjamin Stevenson Edwards was named for him.

"In 1822 Winchester was indicted for the murder of one Smith, and Felix Grundy defended him. Judge Scott speaks of him as 'Solomon' H. Winchester, and says, 'The trial created a good deal of local excitement ; defendant belonged to a highly respectable family and had many influential friends.' Winchester was acquitted and after Macoupin county was established, he removed to Carlinville, where he died. He was regarded by the people of the county as a good lawyer but later he became intemperate and unreasonable. He died many years ago.

"John S. Greathouse also came to Carlinville before 1831. He was born in Shelby county, Kentucky. It has been impossible to obtain the date of his birth. He lived and practiced law a short time in Anderson county, Kentucky, at Lawrenceburg, and then removed to Illinois, and settled in Carlinville, or near the town, upon a tract of land of sixty acres. He built a good house and kept an office in town. Mr. Palmer entered the law office of Mr. Greathouse in March, 1839, and found what was then regarded as an excellent law library - Breese's Reports, published in 1831. He also found Coke on Littleton, with Hargrave and Butler's Notes, Blackstone's Commentaries, Coke and Raymond's Reports, Chitty's Pleadings - then a new work - Starkie and McNally on Evidence, Buller's Nisi Prius, and the lawyer's Vade Mecum.

"When the writer came to Carlinville on the 26th of March, 1839, he found here Palemon H. Winchester and John S. Greathouse, of whom mention has been made, John A. Chestnut, John W. Bainbridge and John Wilson, practicing lawyers. Mr. Wilson had been clerk of what was then called the county commissioners' court. He was removed from office for what I always regarded as insufficient reasons, and Mr. Chesnut was appointed in his place. He remained in Carlinville for a short time afterward, and then removed to Carroll county, where he died many years ago.

"John W. Bainbridge had emigrated to Illinois from Lincoln county, Kentucky. He was master in chancery for some time and was a whig in politics, having been appointed master by Judge William Thomas. He died in California.

"Samuel S. Gilbert was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His father first settled in Pike county, in or near Griggsville. Mr. Gilbert studied law with John A. Chesnut, and after his admission to the bar formed a partnership with his preceptor, under the firm name of Chesnut & Gilbert. The partnership was dissolved by the removal of Mr. Chesnut to Springfield. Mr. Gilbert remained in Carlinville and was afterward elected county judge. He died many years ago. He married a Miss McClure, who died prior to his death. He left several sons, among whom was Edward Gilbert, a practicing lawyer of York, Nebraska.

"John S. Lauderdale remained in Macoupin county only a short time. He came from Tennesee, went south, and became a captain in the Confederate service.

"Horace Gwin came to Carlinville from Tennessee in 1859. The first time the writer ever saw Mr. Gwin, although he had heard of him as a young lawyer from Tennessee, he had occasion to go to the court house in the evening, court being in session, and there listened to the most abusive and vindictive attack upon himself personally that he had ever heard. Mr. Gwin was the speaker and after he was through with his speech the writer took the stand, and while he declared that he did not know Mr. Gwin, but hoped to know him better and that he would, when he knew him better, think better of him, and said no more. He did get to know Mr. Gwin better and they became warm friends. Mr. Gwin was state's attorney under the constitution of 1848, and was the author of that fine definition of a qui tarn action, 'one half to the county and one half to the lawyer, and nothing to the plaintiff.' Mr. Gwin

Isaac Hendershot was another early lawyer of Carlinville. He had lived in Staunton before coming to this place. In 1836 he was a candidate for the legislature. He went to Iowa from Carlinville.

Samuel Pitman began the practice of law in Carlinville in 1854. During the succeeding ten years he was associated in business as a partner of John M. Palmer. From 1865 until 1870 he was not engaged in practice but in 1872 formed a partnership with John Mayo Palmer, thus continuing for many years. He is now deceased.

Asa Potter was born in New York, in 1829. His education was obtained at Aurora Academy and at Springfield Academy, both in Erie county, New York. In 1857 he came to Brighton, Macoupin county, and took charge of the school as principal. He was admitted to the bar in 1862 and practiced at Brighton for a number of years. He is now deceased.

Balfour Cowan began the practice of law at Virden, in the spring of 1867. He was a native of New Hampshire and moved with his parents to Illinois in 1835. In 1858 he became a citizen of Virden, where he embarked in the mercantile business with a brother. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar and gained a leading position among the members of the fraternity in Macoupin county. He is now deceased.

Mahlon Ross was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1821, and attended the public schools of his native place. Leaving school, he taught for a while, in the meantime reading law. He was admitted to practice in 1850. In 1854 he came to Virden, where he rose to prominence in his profession. He is now deceased.

William Weer was one of the early lawyers of Carlinville. He was educated in McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois. At one time he ably filled the office of prosecuting attorney and also filled the office of county judge. After leaving Carlinville he practiced his profession in St. Louis. He has been dead many years.

Thomas Jayne, after serving as probate justice for some years, read law and practiced his profession in Carlinville. He was a good lawyer but he began too late in life to attain to an eminent position among the members of the bar. He is now deceased.

Judge J. R. Welch was born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, January 22, 1828. He received a good education in the common schools and academy of the state, and in 1845 matriculated at Transylvania University at Lexington, graduating therefrom with the degree of A. B. In 1849 he entered the law department of the same university and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and immediately thereafter entered upon the practice of his profession in Nicholasville, Kentucky, where he remained until 1864. In that year he came to Carlinville and soon secured a large clientele. While in Kentucky he was elected state's attorney and served in that capacity four years. In 1877 ne was elected judge of the fifth judicial district and succeeded himself in 1879. Judge Welch had an astute legal mind, was a clear, forceful and convincing speaker, incisive in style and always logical. In politics he was a democrat. On the 6th of April, 1854, Judge Welch married Miss Ann Mary Corn, a native of Kentucky.

John Mayo Palmer, the eldest son of John M. Palmer, was born in Carlinville, March 10, 1848. He was educated in the common schools and was one of the first students of Blackburn University. In 1861 at the age of thirteen, he went with his father, who was the colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment, to Jacksonville, and remained with him during the whole war. In 1866-67 he attended Shurtleff College at Upper Alton. Returning home, he studied law with his father and a portion of the time with General John I. Rinaker and was soon after admitted to the bar. He then entered the law department of Harvard University and graduated therefrom with the degree of LL. B. Immediately after his graduation at Harvard he returned to Carlinville and took up practice of law, first in partnership with John A. Harris, who had been reared in Carlinville. Later Mr. Palmer formed a partnership with Samuel Pitman, who had been a former partner of his father. In 1869 John Mayo Palmer married Miss Helen Robertson, daughter of Dr. W. A. Robertson. In the spring of 1870 he was elected city attorney on the republican ticket. In the spring of 1872 he removed to Springfield to take up the practice of law with his father. In 1875 he was elected a member of the city council at Springfield and in 1876 was returned a member of the general assembly from Macoupin county. Mr. Palmer died in 1903.

F. H. Chapman, who was born in Staunton township in 1828, was a son of Richard Chapman, who came to the county in 1819. In 1858 the son became county surveyor and later read law. He had a splendid military record and came out of the Civil war after four years' service with the brevet of major, which he received for meritorious service. From 1869 until 1873 Major Chapman filled the office of county superintendent of schools. Previously, in 1869, he was admitted to the bar and in 1873 opened a law office in Carlinville. In 1878 he formed a partnership with General John M. Palmer, who in 1896 became governor of the state, United States senator and candidate for the presidency on the gold standard democratic ticket. As a lawyer F. H. Chapman won honors at the local bar. He was a clear, logical thinker, good pleader and faithful to his clients. Up to the war Major Chapman was a democrat. He then joined the ranks of the Lincoln party and remained true to its tenets throughout the remainder of his life.

Archelaus N. Yancey was born March 24, 1844, in Montpeher, Virginia. When he was twelve years of age his father removed from Virginia to Oldham county, Kentucky, where the young man attended an academy at Middletown in preparation for college. He entered Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in January, 1864, but previous to this time had pursued preparatory studies in the law office of Nathaniel Wolf, a prominent lawyer 'of Louisville, Kentucky. He left Dartmouth College in 1864 and entered the University of Michigan, graduating from the law department of that institution in the spring of 1867. He then took up the practice of his chosen profession in Oldham county, Kentucky, and that same fall settled at Bunker Hill. Here he resided many years and in the practice of his profession acquired an excellent reputation as a lawyer. He was a man of sound legal learning, successful in the management of his cases. For several years he was attorney for the Indianapolis and St. Louis railway.

Daniel D. Goodell was a native of New York and removed with his widowed mother to Michigan, where he began the study of law. He entered the practice of his profession at Brighton in 1879, where he soon built up a lucrative business.

John M. Brown, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, came to Carlinville in an early day. He began the study of law in the office of Palmer & Harris and continued with Palmer & Pitman. He was admitted to practice in 1870 and for three years served as city attorney of Carlinville. He is now deceased.

A. J. Plowman began the study of law in the office of Balfour Cowan and was graduated from the Union College of Law at Chicago in 1876. He located for practice in Virden and for three years served as city attorney of that place. He is now deceased.

A. L. Mayfield began the study of law in Carlinville under the direction of William R. Welch and was graduated from the Transylvania Law School of Kentucky, being admitted to practice in 1877. He is now deceased.

Lawyers Of Note Now Living

Hon. Charles A. Walker, one of the oldest members of the Illinois bar, in years of actual practice, is a citizen of Carlinville. Fifty-two years ago he passed the required examinations and was duly admitted to the bar, since which time he has been an active worker in the profession. While the Civil war was in progress he was elected to the lower house of the Illinois legislature on the democratic ticket. To that party he has always given his allegiance, and has been recognized as an influential factor in local state campaigns. When he was a member of the state assembly he took an active part in opposing the building of the new court house in this county and was prominently connected with many important measures which received the consideration of our statesmen of the early war period.

Mr. Walker is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred in Nashville, August 21, 1826. He is a son of Abraham S. and Rosina (Phelps) Walker, who were natives of Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively. The father was a man of prominence in his community and was respected and admired by all who knew him. In 1844, at a special election, he ran as a whig candidate against John M. Palmer, democrat, for the county judgeship of Macoupin county.

At the age of two years Charles A. Walker became a resident of Illinois and in this state he received his education. Having finished the curriculum of the common schools, he entered Shurtleff College and was still a student there at the time that the gold fever of 1849 swept the country. Like thousands of others, he decided to try his fortune in the far west, and before the summer of 1849 was ushered in, he was starting on the long journey, accompanied by Charles Palmer (brother of John M.) and John F. Kellar, son of Samuel Kellar, an old citizen of Macoupin county. Mr. Walker remained on the Pacific coast about two years and then returned to Illinois, settling in Carlinville. In 1852 he wedded Miss Permelia A. Dick, a daughter of Daniel and Susan Dick, respected citizens of Sangamon county, Illinois.

In 1856 Mr. Walker took up the study of law under Messrs. Gilbert & Rinaker, of Carlinville, and two years later, having been admitted to the bar, he opened an office and began a lucrative practice, which has extended to the present time. In 1862 he became associated in partnership with John N. Woodson, son of Judge D. M. Woodson, of Carrollton. When Mr. Woodson removed to St. Louis six years later, their business connection was dissolved by mutual consent. Early in his professional life Mr. Walker gained an enviable position as a trial lawyer and in the esteem of his legal brethren and by strict application and energy became thoroughly posted in the intricacies of the law. For years his practice has been extensive and remunerative and his standing as a lawyer is above question.

In 1871 Mr. Walker was honored by his fellow citizens in being elected to the mayoralty of Carlinville. Seven years later he was elcted to the state senate. During his senatorial career he succeeded in introducing and getting passed the first compulsory educational bill enacted in this state. From his early manhood he has taken a great interest in the cause of education and for a number of years served as president of the Carlinville school board.

For some time Mr. Walker's business associate was James B. Searcy, the firm name being Walker & Searcy. Today the junior member of the firm of Walker & Woods is Charles H. Woods, a grandson. (See second volume).

General John I. Rinaker was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1830, and by the death of his parents was early thrown upon his own resources. In 1837 he became a resident of Illinois and lived in Sangamon county until 1840, after which he worked on a farm in Morgan county until he was nineteen years of age, attending the common school during a part of each winter. Earning the money for his tuition and board by farm labor, he entered Illinois College at Jacksonville and during his attendance there taught school at intervals. He became a student of McKendree College, at Lebanon. Illinois, in 1850, and graduated from that institution in 1851. He became a resident of Carlinville in 1852, when he entered the law office of John M. Palmer and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He at once began the practice of his profession, in which he continued until the outbreak of the Civil war. Through his efforts in 1862 the One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry was organized and he became its colonel. The regiment was mustered into the service September 4, 1862, and reported for duty at Columbus, Kentucky, when it was ordered to Trenton, Tennessee. During his career in the army, which continued until hostilities ceased in the spring of 1865, he made for himself an honorable record. At the close of the war General Rinaker returned to Carlinville and resumed the practice of law. He attained prominence at the bar and during the years of his activity was recognized by members of the profession as a good lawyer, a man of ability and an effective speaker both before court and jury. (See second volume.)

Lewis P. Peebles was born in Chesterfield, Macoupin county, July 13, 1836. His father, Jesse Peebles, was a native of Camden, South Carolina, and emigrated to Illinois in 1834, taking up his residence in Chesterfield township, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1864. Judge Peebles worked upon a farm and attended country schools, receiving such an education as the school room of those days afforded. He remained at home until 1861, when he spent the succeeding winter in the office of William A. Grimshaw, at Pittsfield, Illinois, reading law with a view of adopting that profession. He remained there until the summer of 1862, when he raised a company of soldiers in Chesterfield and Brighton townships and tendered them to the government. After his return from the battlefields in 1865 the subject of this sketch entered Judge Welch's law office and resumed his studies. In December, 1867, he was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he was appointed deputy sheriff. He afterward formed a law partnership with R. C. Smalley and continued the practice until 1872. In his profession Judge Peebles has attained distinction at the local bar and is today still in the harness, being the senior member of the firm of Peebles & Peebles, the junior member being Jesse, a son. (See second volume.)

W. E. P. Anderson is a son of Erasmus S. and Mary E. Anderson, who were among the pioneer settlers of Macoupin county. His parents died when he was fifteen months old and he was taken in charge by his uncle, C. H. C. Anderson, who reared him. After obtaining a common-school education he became a student at Blackburn University and at the age of seventeen entered Wesleyan University at Bloomington. After two years spent in the latter college he entered the law office of John Mayo Palmer, and after an interval read law in the office of Judge William R. Welch and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1871. In the summer of 1872 he opened an office in Carlinville, where he has practiced his profession with success and distinction to the present time. (See second volume.)

When They Came Or Thereabouts

Lawyers who were here at the organization of the county : John S. Greathouse, Palemon H. Winchester, John W. Bainbridge, Colonel Ben Stevenson.

Those who came during the '305 : John M. Palmer, Thomas Jayne, John A. Chesnut, Robert Foster, Edward Y. Rice, C. D. Hodges, David A. Smith, known as "Bully" Smith.

Those who came in the '505 : James Lee, Horace Gwin, John A. Lauderale, John McMillan, C. M. Morrison, J. B. White, John S. Wolf, David B. Haider-

Those who came during the '6os : W. R. Welch, Archelaus F. Yancey, E. W. Hayes, Asa Potter, M. Duncan, John M. Brown, A. J. Plowman, George A. Eastham, John Moran, F. Zimmerman, Tevis Greathouse, John M. Woodson, W. L. Mounts.

Those who came after the '6os : John Mayo Palmer, long since deceased ; William H. Steward, Martin Keplinger, W. E. P. Anderson, Judge Robert B. Shirley.