Lawyers

Source: from reprint of "Clarke County History", Lewis Pub., Chicago, 1886. p. 245-248.

This excerpt proves lawyer jokes are nothing new!

The law is a profession which ever attracts a certain percentage of our brightest minds into its ranks. It is now rather more crowded than the other avocations, but this is in itself a proof of the advantages it offers. Of late years it has become curiously common for people to disparage lawyers, applying every sort of epithet, and making them the excuses for hundreds of jokes and stories; yet these same citizens who profess to have a contempt for lawyers will, when in any kind of difficulty, run promptly to one of the profession, place themselves and their property entirely in his guidance, and eagerly follow his suggestions in the weightiest affairs.

The first lawyer to fix his residence at Osceola was P.J. Goss, who came in 1852, directly from Ottumwa, but originally from east central Illinois. He practiced continuously at Osceola until 1885, when he went to Oberlin, Kansas. he is now about sixty-seven years old and has a wife and several children.

During the year 1855 three lawyers located at Osceola. D.W. Scoville, the first, was a native of New York, and removed from here to California during the war. He commenced practice in the Golden State, and continued for three or four years, when he died. He was a middle-aged man and had a wife but no children.

R.B. Parrott was a native of Ohio. He practiced in Clarke County about ten years, and was then taken with the Western fever. He was gone to the mountains three or four years, and then returned to Osceola, where he remained till 1876. Since that date he has resided and practiced law at Indianola, Warren County. He had a wife and four children.

A.L. Sprague, the third of those who came in 1855, located here in the last part of that year. He was originally from Ohio. He remained in Clarke County, but three years, and then removed to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, to live. He is still practicing law in Saunders County, Nebraska.

James Rice, commonly known as "Judge Rice," came to this county in 1857, and has practiced law continously since. He held the position of county judge from 1861 to 1868, when the office was abolished, but his official duties did not prevent his performing the regular legal business that came to him. He has become as thoroughly acquainted with Clarke County during his twenty-nine years of residence, and especially during his incumbency as county judge, as any man that has ever resided in it.

John Clark studied with Mr. Scoville, and in 1858 commenced the practice of law. He was married while residing here, and removed with Mr. Scoville to California.

J.J. Hider came here from Sigourney, Iowa, in 1859 or '60. He was a German by nationality. After about two years' residence here he removed to Burlington, where he now resides.

Charles C. Millard located here in 1860, removing from Indianola, and after some four years' residence made another change of home, to Glenwood, Mills County, in the western art of the State. From here he went to Texas, returned to Osceola, then made another trip to Texas, and finally returned once more to this place, where he died. He was paralytic to a disabling extent for some time before his death, which was the only one that has occurred at Osceola of an attorney in practice.

M.B. Reese studied law in 1864, with Judge Rice, and in 1865 was admitted to the bar. He was a partner of the judge for the next two years. This relation was then discontinued, and he remained three or four years more, before removing to Nebraska, of which State he is now a supreme judge. He is a Republican, and has a family.

E.F. Riley came to Osceola in the latter part of 1864, and has practiced more or less since. He has, however, been principally engaged in the land business, and for some years has also been a banker.

R.A. Dague came with Mr. Riley, and was for two or three years a partner. Since then he has been "coming and going," and is hardly considered a permanent resident of any place. Of late he has held an interest in the Independent American, published at Creston, but he has sold that, and is now unsettled.

Philip Likes, a native of Ohio, became a resident of Clarke County some thirty years ago, and during the war, or about its close, commenced the practice of law, remaining in it at Osceola, until 1881. He then removed to Nebraska, where he now resides. He is a man of family, and politically a Republican. [according to an article in the April 14, 1904 Osceola Sentinel Mr. Likes came to the county in 1865]

John Chaney's residence at Osceola dates from 1867, and he followed his profession continuously until 1884, when the people recognized the reputation he had earned, by electing him circuit judge of the Third Judicial District, including the counties of Clarke, Union, Adams, Montgomery, Page, Taylor, Ringgold and Decatur.

H.L. Karr became a resident in 1868, and is still in the practice of his profession. He has given considerable attention to real estate and financial matters, and has been unusually successful thereat. He is one of the most substantial, as well as respected citizens of Osceola.

J.V. Banta came here in 1868, directly from Vinton, this State, but originally from Indiana. He is still a resident, but has given less attention to the law as a profession, than to land and money matters. He is now president of the Clarke County Bank.

S.P. Ayres came to the county seat in the winter of 1867-'8, and remained until 1882. He is now at Knoxville, running a newspaper. H.S. Kaley, an Ohioan, located here at the same time, and entered into a partnerhisp with Mr. Ayres. In 1872 he removed to Nebraska, where he engaged in real-estate dealing, and made money rapidly until his death, a few years since. He left a family in comfortable circumstances.

C.C. McIntire is among the oldest of the Clarke County bar, actively devoted to the legal profession. He commenced practice here in 1871, and has acquired an extensive practice, and an excellent reputation. H.C. Ayres preceded Mr. McIntire about three years, and shortly after the latter's arrival, entered into partnership relations with him. This continued three or four years, when Mr. Ayres became connected with a newspaper at Osceola. He afterward removed to Hastings, Iowa, and still later to Dakota, where he is now.

J.J. McIntire came about eight years ago, and has since been in partnership with his brother, C.C. McIntire. Dell Stuart, of the firm of Stuart Bros., came to Osceola about 1870, from Chariton, and after a time T.B. Stuart followed. Another brother, Frank, came still later. About 1878 they left, Dell going back to Chariton, and the other two to Denver, Colorado.

Henry Stivers was admitted to the bar at Osceola in 1870, and practiced for about ten years, when he became connected with the Des Moines, Osceola & Southern Railroad, as superintendent. Since April, 1885, he has devoted himself to journalism, being editor and owner of the Osceola Sentinel.

James A. Woodbury and Charles W. White purchased the interests of Stuart Bros., in 1883, and have since been in parnerhsip in the practice of law. W.M. Wilson has been in practice in Clarke County more than fifteen years, and has taken a prominent position in the bar of Southern Iowa. He is a Republican, and has served a term in the State Senate. M.L. Temple, from West Virginia, has been a resident practitioner about ten years. J.N. Estes and W.B. Tallman are among the later recruits to the Clarke County bar.

Many of the above have been given space in the biographical department of this work. Some are not mentioned in this chapter, but they are those who remained in the county too brief a time to entitle them to a place in this record. The roll of resident attorneys at Osceola in 1886 includes: James Rice, E.F. Riley, H.L. Karr, J.V. Banta, C.C. McIntire, W.M. Wilson, M.L. Temple, J.J. McIntire, James A. Woodbury, C.W. White, J.N. Estes and W.B. Tallman.


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