Buffalo County, Wisconsin - Chapter 15: Bench and Bar, 1919

When Buffalo County was created, July 6, 1853, it was included in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, and court was ordered held at such times as the circuit judge should appoint. Hon. Hiram Knowlton was the first judge. He was followed in 1857 by Hon. George Gale of Galesville. Judge Gale, writing April 9, 1860, said of his earlier courts:

"The Circuit Court commenced its session yesterday with a small docket, but quite a large attendance of lawyers from La Crosse, Galesville, Trempealeau and Winona, among whom were E. F. Cook and Judge Lord from La Crosse and G. Y. Freeman of Galesville, and F. A. Utter of Trem¬ pealeau. The forenoon was principally occupied by the court in empanel¬ ling the Grand Jury and in naturalizing fifteen Germans, who were in attendance with their witnesses for that purpose.

"The Court House is at the lower town and is a very respectable brick building, but not yet plastered or finished inside. This building is, how¬ ever, quite an improvement over the building in which Judge Gale held his first court in this county in 1857. That building was the old pioneer log house, and the court was held in the parlor, fourteen feet square, with the old fashioned Dutch chimney back for the fireplace. Imagine, Mr. Editor, Judge Gale sitting behind a board table, in an old rocking-chair, with a straight back, on a floor too rough for the chair to rock; the walls hung round with rifles, coon skins, powder horns, Elk horns, and other collaterals of a hunter's shanty, with a docket of law cases numbering three, all stand¬ ing on default, and one divorce case standing on a bill taken as confessed for want of an answer, with a bar consisting of one loud-voiced attorney, arguing strenuously for judgment in all the cases without proof, and Judge Gale refusing them on account of the irregularity of the proceedings, for which Judge Gale's lack of knowledge of the practice is much deplored, and Judge Gale's predecessor, Judge Knowlton, often quoted and sustained with flattering compliments for his wisdom in always granting judgments in all such cases ; and a small German audience, talking their own language aloud in spite of the rebukes of the German sheriff - poor souls, supposing they did not disturb the court and bar with their noise, inasmuch as their conversation was not understood; - and you will get a fair picture of the first court held by Judge Gale. But Judge Gale is now law to the parties, audiences are still and kindly, the lawyers obedient and gentlemanly, jurors prompt, not only in attendance, but in following instructions, and Judge Gale experiences as little trouble among the Germans of Buffalo County as in any of the eight counties composing his extensive circuit." had been elected for the six years beginning January 1, 1857, as judge of the Sixth District, then embracing Crawford, Bad Axe, La Crosse, Monroe, Jackson, Clark, Buffalo and Trempealeau counties. But by an act of the legislature (approved March 30, 1861) the counties of Crawford, Bad Axe, La Crosse, Monroe and Jackson were constituted the Sixth District, and the counties of Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, Dunn, Dallas, Chippewa, Clark and Eau Claire were constituted the Eleventh District. Judge Gale was by this act made judge of the Eleventh District. The governor on April 10, 1861, appointed Isaac E. Messmore judge of the Sixth District. The matter went to the Supreme Court (14 Wis. 164), and it was determined that the legislature had no authority to assign Gale to the Eleventh Dis¬ trict, and that the governor had no power to appoint Messmore to the Sixth. Judge Gale, therefore, remained the judge of the counties which consti¬ tuted his district at the time of his election. In 1862 the legislature placed Crawford, La Crosse, Monroe, Jackson, Clark, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Rich¬ land and Vernon in the Sixth District.

Judge Gale served until the end of 1862. Hon. Edwin Flint became judge January 1, 1863, and served six years. Hon. Romanzo Bunn went on the bench January 1, 1869, and served eight years, retiring to go on the bench of the United States Federal Court for the western district of Wis¬ consin. A. W. Neuman succeeded Judge Bunn late in 1869. He served seventeen years and resigned late in 1893 to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. When the county was placed in the Eighth Circuit, Egbert B. Bundy was on the bench of that district, serving from 1878 to 1897. He was followed in 1897 by Eugene W. Helms. Judge Helms resigned in November, 1913, on account of poor health, and died soon afterward. Governor Francis E. McGovern appointed George Thomp¬ son of Ellsworth. In April, 1914, Judge Thompson was elected to the full term which expires in January, 1921. The Eighth Circuit comprises the counties of Buffalo, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce and St. Croix.

W. H. Gates was the first lawyer in Buffalo County. He was also a physician. He came to Nelson's Landing in 1852, built the first store in Alma in 1855, and was the first postmaster. He was a j ustice of the peace and performed many marriages. After a long life here he moved to Gary, South Dakota, where he died.

The next attorney in Buffalo County was Marvin Pierce, who came here from Montoville, now Trempealeau, in 1853, after he had succeeded in lobbying a bill through the legislature creating Buffalo County, and locating the county seat on a stretch of sand owned by his brother, James A. Pierce, above Fountain City. Pierce had land interests in Bennett Valley and elsewhere in the county. He was the first county judge, elected in the fall of 1853, and was a prominent figure in Buffalo County life for many years.

So far as is now known, Wesley Pierce, brother of Marvin Pierce, was not a lawyer. However, he was elected as county attorney in 1855. His predecessor in the office, J. Adam Raetz, was a sturdy pioneer who made no pretense to legal education or training. It is also doubtful whether L. Seals, who became district attorney in 1857, was an attorney.

Augustus Finkelnburg came to Fountain City in 1855. A man of wide experience and education, he at once took a leading part in public affairs. He was the first county superintendent of schools in 1861, became county judge in 1865, was elected district attorney in 1869 and 1875; in 1874 served in the assembly, and in 1881-82 in the senate. He died in 1892. His son, W. A. Finkelnburg, likewise took up the practice of law. He moved to Winona, and continued in practice there until his death. His son, Karl, has succeeded him. W. A. Finkelnburg occupied several official positions in Winona, edited several editions of the ordinances of that city, was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the beautiful Levee Park there, and was an authority on archaeology, anthropology and geology.

Edward Lees came to Buffalo County in 1855 from Waukesha County, this state, which, in 1853, he had represented in the legislature. He settled about three miles east of Fountain City and at once became a leading citi¬ zen. When Belvidere Township was created in 1856 he became its first chairman, and as such served on the county board, of which he was chair¬ man. When Cross was set off from Belvidere the following year, he was likewise first chairman of that town. He was a dominant factor on the county board for many years. He practiced law as a partner of Ferdinand Fetter, but continued to live on his farm. He was a shrewd lawyer and a stickler for a strict interpretation of the law in county affairs. He was elected district attorney in 1859 and served until 1867. Elected again in 1871, he served four years more. In 1875 and 1876 he served in the assembly, of which he had been a member twenty-three years before.

Robert Lees, son of Edward Lees, came to Buffalo County with his parents in 1855, and settled with them in Cross Township. Upon his return from the Civil War, he took up teaching and the study of law, making his home in Gilmanton Township. In 1864 he became county superintendent of schools. In 1873 he served in the assembly. In 1881 he was elected county judge and served until his death, a period of nearly thirty years. In the meantime, in 1887 and 1889 he served in the state senate.

Conrad Moser, Jr., came to Alma Township in 1855. He was appointed county clerk in 1861, and was twice thereafter elected. At the close of his term he began the practice of law. In 1867-68 he served in the legis¬ lature, and in 1877 was elected county judge. In the middle eighties he went to California and died there in 1917.

John W. Whelan, the first lawyer in Mondovi, came to Mondovi in the fall of 1876. He had graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1871, and had studied law in Ft. Worth, Texas, and Eau Claire, Wis. He was the first university graduate to practice law in this county. In time he became the leading citizen of Mondovi and one of the leading men of the county. He started the first bank in the county, and was prominent in everything that favored progress and betterment.

J. W. McKay came to Alma in 1857. After the war he wandered about for a while, and in 1877 settled at Mondovi, opened an office, and the same year was elected district attorney. He was re-elected the next term.

The present bar of the county consists of Theodore Buehler, of Alma ; P. H. Umess, S. G. Gilman and G. W. Gilman, of Mondovi ; Oliver R. Weinandy, of Cochrane; M. L. Fugina, of Fountain City, and Grover Broadfoot, G. L. Pattison and Emil Buehler with the Colors.

A number of attorneys have been admitted to the bar here who have practiced but little here. Several were the sons of lawyers. Andrew and Edward Lees, both prominent attorneys, are the sons of Robert Lees and grandsons of Edward Lees. Edward Lees, now a member of the Supreme Bench of Minnesota, read law in his father's office here as a young man. Andrew Lees also read law in his father's office. He practiced with his father for a while, and then went to La Crosse where he now resides. For a time he was in the office of Losey & Woodward there, then he was a partner in the law firm of Woodward & Lees, and now in the firm of Lees & Bunge, local attorneys for the C., B. & Q. Railroad. Theodore Buehler, the dean of the Buffalo County Bar, is himself the son of John Buehler, one of the principal organizers of the county, and his son Emil is now in the service. Ferdinand Fetter, the pioneer lawyer, has a son, Ferdinand Fetter, who is a lawyer of high repute. He is the author of "The Law of Equity," and the "Law of Common Carriers." He is now credit man for a leading firm in St. Paul, having formerly practiced in that city.

John McDonough was admitted to the bar in this county and practiced for a short time in Alma. He moved to Chippewa Falls in the early eighties, and then to Idaho, where he is a prominent figure in politics. He visited here and renewed his old friendships several years ago.