SECTION XIV.
THE PROFESSIONS.
submitted by Linda Stoddard, March 2, 2011, pages 492-498

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LAW

In following the professions from the first settlements it will be unnecessary to repeat what is said concerning men in other situations when they have been chosen to fill some important position outside their usual vocation.

To discuss the county in its relation to the state and general government is to discuss the men who lead in any occupation or profession and therefore the part dealing with men aside from their social or political connection must be very brief. Law, medicine, and dentistry hold certain definite relations to the life of a community and have a history of their own. The ministry cannot be separated from its connection with the church history, nor more the teaching from the educational history. Not all lawyers reach political preferment, but very many have. Many physicians are chosen to occupy high positions in state and national affairs, and the associations of all these professions must have at their head the leaders of the day.

Lawyers were called to exercise much influence in the organization and conduct of the first affairs of the county. The departments of legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government were supposed to be represented in the very beginning, and while it was often in a very crude way these may be traced from the start. The commissioners in the territorial day assumed the department of legislation, the sheriff appointed by the governor and regularly commissioned carried out the will of the executive, and the justice of the peace, also under appointment by the authority of the governor, was located conveniently near to the centers of population that the man who felt himself wronged might have a place of refuge. But it was essential that some one should be at hand to plead his case, and this brought to the vicinity the practicing attorney, who came with his saddle bags even as the itinerant preacher only on a smaller circuit and usually with more remuneration.

"To constitute the earliest bar there came from Muscatine Stephen Whicher, smooth-shaven, sharp-featured, slow-spoken, with a deep voice." 310   In the case of Clark vs. Gibson (Morris 328) Whicher was for the defendant and was then a partner of Rorer in Bloomington (Muscatine), and he was then mentioned as a lawyer of great industry and acumen, one of the stars of the bar of that town. He figured in the Switzer case, mentioned elsewhere very fully. This man came to Kentucky from Vermont and read law with Henry Clay in Lexington. From there he went to Indiana and in 1839 came to this territory. He was appointed by President Fillmore United States district attorney.


Judge Scott Richman, as he was known afterwards, was admitted to the bar in this county. He came here from Illinois in 1839, but soon removed to the river town, Bloomington, where so many went to begin their professional career. He was a partner of S. Clinton Hastings, fully written about in his official capacity of legislator and judge of the state court here and in California. Judge Richman was a member of the convention that framed the constitution under which Iowa was admitted as a state. In the fall of 1863 he became judge of the district court by appointment to fill a vacancy, afterward being elected to the same position. He resigned this position in 1870 and returned to the practice of his profession. His son, Irving Richman, has achieved a reputation as a writer on historical topics, some of them belonging in this county.


"There came also Henry O'Connor, the Irishman, with the wit and blarney of his countrymen. He was young then and figured conspicuously during the Civil War and later. Whoever heard him would have remembered him. 311   He was born in Dublin and came to this country very soon after becoming of age. He entered the political arena early and achieved prominence. In 1857 he became district attorney, and when the war began was one of the first to enlist in the First Iowa Regiment which went out for ninety days as was supposed. Later he was made Major of the Thirty-sixth Iowa and served until discharged. He became attorney general of the state in 1867, and before him came the question whether a woman could hold the office of county superintendent of schools, which so far as known was the first of its kind in the country. He decided in the affirmative, which decision has furnished a guide to other states. In 1872 he went to Washington as solicitor for the Department of State, remaining there under the secretaries, Fish, Frelinghuysen, Evarts and Blaine.


"And there was M. G. Woodward, solid and able. This man was the son of the plaintiff in the celebrated case of Woodward vs. Dartmouth College, one of the leading cases in constitutional law. He afterwards became a judge of the state supreme court.


"Of Tipton's own, Hon. John P. Cook stood at the head. Among the foremost in business, in politics, early elected to the county offices and to the assembly he represented his district in congress after he had removed to Davenport. This was in 1853-55. When he left the county seat he sold his house, one of the best of its time, to Mr. John Starr. The house now stands just across the C. & N. W. track on Sixth street.


"For years Judge Bissell might have been seen walking the streets with his cane under his arm." He was known as the "old war horse." But as one has put it: "No longer seek his merits to disclose or draw his frailties from their dread abode."


"Wells Spicer began his career with the rising city, and was school teacher, lawyer, county judge, editor, being identified in many ways with public affairs." Upon the books in the office of county clerk his signature frequently appears during the years of 1856-7. He went to the far west soon after and was associated in the trial of John D. Lee, for the Mountain Meadow massacre, the noted Mormon event. "He became interested in mining and going out into the mountains he disappeared from the sight and knowledge of the living." 312  


"H. C. Piatt came from the east with classical and legal learning, but as he himself has said, 'with only money enough to get him here.' He came to Iowa in 1853 and walked from Iowa City to Tipton. Elected treasurer of the county, he served in that office from 1856-59. At the time of his death he was a member of the legislature.


"It was not an infrequent custom of the legal lights, especially in the earliest times, after the business of the court was finished and something of the day yet remained, but not enough to warrant the starting by carriage to Muscatine or Davenport, to constitute themselves a legislature or lyceum to discuss such questions as 'the right of habeas corpus,' of 'trial by jury,' or some question relating to the structure of the government. A wondering boy was sometimes an interested listener." 313  

In the first cases tried in the county Judge Williams was the presiding officer, a man very popular with his associates and afterwards a member of the supreme court. R. P. Lowe was prosecuting attorney and appeared in the county at stated intervals. He was governor of the state 1858-60.

There was Wm. H. Tuthill, whose name is mentioned on almost every occasion in which the public affairs were concerned. He was judge of the district court from 1855-7. One name among the attorneys who came to practice here and who served the people of the county in the railroad bond case, has become a name that stands for authority in the study of jurisprudence, that is the name of John F. Dillon. He began his career as a physician and practiced about two years. when he turned his attention to the law and this study he began in the office of Hon. J. P. Cook in Davenport. He reached a very high place in the courts of the country, being a member of the supreme court of the state and then in 1870 was appointed by President Grant judge of the United States Circuit Court.

J. H. Rothrock came to Tipton in 1860, from Ohio. The very next year he was elected to the assembly and became speaker pro tem of the house. At the special session called during the beginning of the war, Judge Rothrock took his seat, but before the session closed volunteered and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Infantry. On his return from the field he became a partner in the practice of law with W. P. Wolf. In the fall of 1866 he was elected to the position of district judge. He was twice reelected to this office, and without opposition. During his third term he was appointed to the supreme bench, where he served for twenty years after repeated re-elections.

W. P. Wolf began teaching in this county in 1856. Later he studied law with Rush Clark, of Iowa City, and after being admitted to the bar he opened an office in Tipton, where he continued to reside until his death. He served in the senate and house as mentioned, and was elected judge of the district court in 1894 where he served until his death. Tributes were paid to his memory at that time by W. R. Boyd and Judge Rothrock.

Sylvanus Yates was the only member of the bar to be elected to the office of Circuit Judge, which position he held during the years 1869-72. He held several other offices in the course of his career as a practicing attorney.

Judge W. N. Treichler is the present occupant of the district bench from this county. He served in this position one term, commencing in 1899, and closing in 1903, and was reelected in the fall of 1906 to the same position. He has practiced in the county since 1880.

E. M. Brink, at the time of his death in 1907, was the oldest member of the Cedar County Bar, having been admitted by Judge Rothrock in 1868. He held the office of county auditor.

John T. Moffit graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan after his preparation by a college course at Cornell. He was granted the degree of M. A. later by the Iowa College. He began the practice of law here in 1887 and has continued it to the present time. His military and legislative records are found under those topics. He has served as county attorney.

Colonel Rowell, as he is now known, began the practice of law in 1896 and soon after formed the partnership which now exists in the firm of France and Rowell. The military record of this firm has been mentioned and their law history is part of the court record at every session. J. C. France is the present county attorney.

Robert G. Cousins began his practice here in 1882 and soon after was elected to the assembly. Was chosen prosecuting attorney in 1888. His service in Congress for the long period of seven terms has been mentioned.

Henry L. Huber read law with Wolf and Landt and commenced the practice of his profession in 1886. At one time the firm was Treichler and Huber. He has held the office of mayor.

One of the promising young attorneys of the county, who had won his own way through the University after a hard struggle and commenced his practice in 1884, was the son of Wm. and Barbara Coutts of Red Oak township. He was of a character that stands the test of prosperity and yet is not afraid of adversity, and his future outlook upon life was most favorable when that rude reaper of youth, death, came to take him away. He was of a keen mind and strong personality, lovable in disposition and popular among all friends. Early in life he had a definite purpose, a high respect for his chosen calling and fitted by nature and preparation to succeed. William Coutts was a young man when called, having begun his life in 1856 and leaving it in 1889. Such men are to be remembered for their examples of true endeavor. His gift of speech, his high ideals in thought, his calm submission leaves a life for fine remembrance.

W. G. W. Geiger began the study of law in the office of Wolf and Landt, afterwards continuing it in the office of Blake and Hormel of Cedar Rapids. He had been admitted to the bar before this last study and opened an office in Tipton in 1881. He is a graduate of Carthage College, holding the degree of M. A. from that institution. He has been nominated for county attorney and judge of the district court, losing the first office by a small vote in a county where the majority is usually much greater.

C. O. Boling, a member of the bar of the county for some years, holds the office of city solicitor. T. B. Hanley was a former member but has removed to Des Moines in the interests of the fraternity he represents. F. J. Casterline is in active practice and holds the city office of superintendent of water works. Hamiel and Mather are a new firm in the county seat, although both the individual members have been active in the county in separate offices. They maintain an office in Clarence. The former firm of Wright, Leech and Wright has been dissolved and R. R. Leech continues the practice. Isaac Landt has been referred to many times as the partner of Judge Wolf, and it was in their office that several young attorneys began their study. S. S. Crittenden of Clarence is the only resident attorney of the place. C. J. Lynch of Mechanicsville was the former county attorney and is one of the two attorneys in the town, the other being W. H. Smith.

Geo. C. Hoover is the only attorney in West Branch, while Springdale has two in the persons of C. E. Mather and Tillman Todd. Lowden has but one member of this profession in the person of D. D. McGillivray.

In connection with the old-time history John Huber was mentioned in the office of assistant prosecuting attorney in the Switzer case. John L. Fyan was the member who was buried by the Tipton guards before they went to the field. J. W. Bagley announced himself an attorney in 1858.

MEDICINE

Among the earliest physicians to come to the county there appears the name of Harvey G. Whitlock, whose name figures also in the court records to an alarming extent when one gives them a careful examination.

"He was a frontier product, a doctor without skill and a man without character. He lived on Cedar street, Tipton, between Sixth and Seventh. He soon disappeared."


"Then Dr. Swan, a real physician, came on the field. He lived in a frame house with a large green lawn. The Drs. Chambers, father and son, followed soon after and the latter lived in the brick house opposite the reformed church, now owned by Mr. McBurney. He carried saddle bags and rode 'Old Fox, a loping horse.' He might have been the model for the faithful and excellent physician described in the 'Bonnie Brier Bush.' He served as surgeon in the Civil War and afterwards removed to Cedar Rapids for a more remunerative field." 314  

Alexander and James Turner were among the earlier members of this profession and Turner and Carpenter are a firm of 1858. The method of getting about then was on horseback and some of these men were swift riders. Mc Henry Hecht gives an illustration of this on the occasion when he came for Dr. Chambers, and having difficulty in awakening him on account of his sleeping so heavily after long service; the doctor once aroused put on so much speed that the messenger had hard work to keep up, such was the gait of the "loping horse."

Dr. J. F. Kennedy came to practice in Tipton in 1858 and had his office over C. L. Chambers' drug store. He was for twenty-five years the secretary of the State Board of Health and in this position did much for the sanitary conditions of the city, the county, and the state. During the Civil War he sent frequent letters from the hospital where he was on duty.

The first physician to come to Durant, Dr. E. B. Bills, was also the first justice of the peace to try a case" in that town, and he did public service, as mentioned, in the senate of the state.

One of the county judges, W. P. Cowan, was by profession a physician and surgeon. It is a little difficult to understand, just now, how he filled both these duties at the same time.

H. E. Samson announced himself as a botanical physician in the later fifties, who one supposes to be in ordinary language an "herb doctor."

At this same time I. Smith was practicing in Rochester.

Mrs. Campbell of the town of Tipton announced herself as a hydropathic physician, which is a commendable method of curing a good many things.

J. M. Long of Cedar Bluffs (Gower's Ferry) issued his card in 1859.

Other physicians that may be mentioned among the members of the profession that have practiced in the county are Drs. H. H. Maynard, W. H. Axline, G. S. Focht, S. Ensign, Dr. Sansom of Tipton, Thomas Coats, E. D. Yule, William Hills, and Mrs. Dr. Williams of Clarence, J. C. Batdorf, Samuel Keith, N. S. Hubbell, E. H. Lockwood, and Scott Russell, of Mechanicsville, the latter one of the oldest physicians in point of practice in this county; Drs. E. W. Savage, H. J. Minthorn, J. F. Houser, and J. I. Bailey, of West Branch. The latter has just closed his earthly life and at a well-advanced age. He came to the state in 1851, locating in this county, moving to West Branch in 1874. He served for a time in the Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry. Dr. H. C. Gill located in Springdale in 1850 and was once a member of the Board of Supervisors of the county.

Of the present county medical association Dr. Runkle of Lowden is the president and Dr. P. M. Hoffman of Tipton the secretary. The members include the present practicing physicians of the county. From Lowden, Dr. Kelling; Clarence, Drs. D. T. Nicoll and J. E. Smith; Stanwood, Dr. C. W. Baker; Mechanicsville, Drs. Scott Russell and C. G. Stookey; West Branch, Drs. L. J. Leech, recently representative, as mentioned before, and J. C. McGregor; Tipton, the secretary of the association, Drs. Van Metre, Hender, Peters, Griffis, and W. M. Furnish, the only osteopathic physician in this county; Bennett, Drs. H. R. Chapman, the present senator from this district, and Rohrig, a young man just commencing his practice; Durant, Dr. E. B. Bills, the son of the first physician in the place, Drs. Meyhaus and Schumacher.

DENTISTRY

Of the dentists who have practiced here Dr. N. H. Tulloss advertised to do such work in 1858. He had an office in the old brick hotel built by John Bireley, which is now standing on Third street in Tipton. Mr. R. A. Davidson, one of the early comers to the county went to this office for treatment which resulted in the extraction of his tooth. Mr. Davidson relates his experience today since they are still fresh in his memory. The office of Dr. Tulloss was later over Childs' grocery. Dr. Tulloss was president of the State Dental Association in 1864 and 1865, or at the time it was first organized. Drs. Garber and Lattig were a firm in Tipton established in the seventies. Dr. Gould came here in 1877. In 1869 Dr. P. T. Smith of Tipton was the vice-president of the state association. Dr. Garber was the president in 1885. Dr. E. T. Rigby was secretary in 1875. Dr. Bandy was the president in 1903. Other members of the association in the county are Dr. W. A. Grove of Tipton, who has been chosen mayor of the town; Dr. Bessie S. Casebeer, who has recently returned to her former practice, and Dr. Pitman.

Dr. Shuck of Clarence is one of the long-time dentists in the county, his card appearing in the early seventies. He does not now attempt an extensive practice. Dr. G. W. Hageman has recently opened an office in Clarence. His collegiate work was taken in the University of Missouri, and he was a teacher in the high schools of Iowa. Dr. Davis is also a member of the profession practicing in Clarence. O. L. Whitson and M. J. Reidy are the dental surgeons of Mechanicsville. Dr. W. E. Haller is alone in Durant. Milo W. Munger has pleasant offices in West Branch, in the new bank building.

Dr. F. A. Neil is the resident dentist at Lowden.