of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 373-374
J. SCOTT RICHMAN. As a jurist Hon. J. Scott Richman early won a prominent place among the judges of Iowa and was noted for the fairness and impartiality of his rulings. He possessed a keen, perceptive mind and rarely failed to reach an accurate conclusion. He was born at Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, March 11, 1820, and was the son of Rev. Evert and Mary Richman. His father died in 1828 when he was but eight years of age, and the mother with her family of little ones, returned to the old home in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where her children were given the best education that the country afforded. In 1839 she removed to Muscatine, where her eldest son, John W., was a successful business man. J. Scott, en route to Muscatine, stopped in Knoxville, Illinois, where he began the study of law, but soon after came to this city and was admitted to the bar before he had reached his majority. He died May 17, 1908.
In 1863 J. Scott Richman was elevated to the district bench, at which time the partnership between himself and his brother De Witt C. Richman was terminated. For nine years he sat on the bench, and in 1872 resigned to resume the practice of his profession, which was more to his inclination. Judge Richman was admitted to the bar in 1839 and early rose to distinction, having been chosen in 1846 a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Iowa. A year later he was elected chief clerk of the house of representatives. He began his practice in the state in Cedar county but returned to Muscatine in 1840 and some time after formed a partnership with Hon. S. Clinton Hastings. This partnership was dissolved when Mr. Hastings was appointed to the supreme bench and for some years Judge Richman remained alone in practice. It was in 1855 that he formed a partnership with his younger brother, De Witt C. Richman. After retiring from the bench in 1872 he entered into a partnership with E. E. Cook at Davenport, under the name of Cook & Richman. This was dissolved in 1880, when Judge Richman returned to Muscatine and associated himself in practice with Messrs. Burke and Russell. At the time of his death he was undoubtedly entitled to the appellation of the dean of the Iowa bar.
Judge Carskaddan has this to say of him: "Judge J. Scott Richman was one of the first members of the Muscatine bar whom I met and with whom I became acquainted in Muscatine in June, 1853. The district court of this county was then in session, the presiding judge being Hon. William E. Leffingwell. Among the lawyers then present in court were Judge Joseph Williams, William G. Woodward, Stephen Whicher, D. C. Cloud, Henry O'Connor, Auley McAuley, A. 0. Patterson and others, whose names I do not at this time recall. J. Scott Richman was then about thirty-three years of age and had apparently stepped to the front among the lawyers of Muscatine. It was said that at that term of court (June term of 1853) he tried thirty cases, in some of which he was for the plaintiff and in some for the defendant, and that he was victor in every one. I became quite intimately acquainted with him and was greatly impressed with his ability and charmed by his encoUraging kindness to me, a young beginner at the bar, and from our first acquaintance until his death our personal relations were extremely friendly and pleasant. His eminent ability and standing as a lawyer and as a judge on our district bench were unquestioned. Among his distinguishing traits of character was a sturdy independence, which occasionally manifested itself in a marked degree."
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