Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-10-18
REM ARKS
B. +. SIMPS ON, ESQ,
IN THE
Supreme Court of Kansas,
ON THE DEATH OF
HON. WILSON SHANNON.
May it Please the Court.

Nay it Please the Court:
The members of the Bar of this State have
adopted resolutions expressive of their sorrow
at the death of the Honorable Wilson Shan.
non, and have commanded me to present them
to this Court, and request that they be entered
on its Journal. This command Of my brethren,
and the indulgence of the Court, gives me an
opportunity for apublc expression of gratitude
to the memory of one who, however dear he
may have been to family, however trusted he
may have been by friends, however respected
he may have been by his professional associates,
TO me there is pleasing recollection as strong
and fond as any and all of these, for she was
kind to me when | was boy" Would that
could clOthe the attributes of his true manhood
in the roses of rhetoric, and strew over his
new-made grave the flowers of language, but
of necessity, must leave eulogy to my BROTH
ers Kingman and Thacher, with smooth tongues
aud classic diction, and indulge myself, in an
attempt at the biography of great man and a
good citizen-the dearest treasure of State.
An Irish merchant by the name of Shannon,
with his wife and boy, sailed for this country
about the year 1850. The wife died during
the voyage, and the father leaving the boy
d III,
Delaware. re embarked for Ireland, aud was
lost at sea. The boy grew to manhood, went
20 bradford county, Pennsylvania, married a
Miss Bradford, lived there for six years, then
moved to Ohio county, Virginia, with view
of ultimately going to Kentucky; but the In
dian difficulties there induced him to remain
for some years near Wheeling. Fond of hunt
ing, he frequently crossed the Ohio and pene-
trated the wilderness for miles, and thus be-
came familiar with the surrounding country.
About the year 1894, he settled in the Terri
tory of Ohio, in what is now the southwest
portion OF Belmont county, where, on the 24th
day of February, 1902, his ninth child was
born, and named Wilson Shannon. The next
winter after the birth of this child the father
died, frozen 70 death while out on hunting
expedition, leaving the mother with seven boys
and two girls. and the eldest not yet twenty
years old. These boys grew up to manhood
on rough farm among the chesnut hills, only
partially cleared and improved, some distance
from the great travelled highway between
Wheeling and GAINESVILLE, that afterwards be-
came part of the ''National Road" and still
further away from the river, without establish
ed schools about them. through early days of
toll, in gloomy poverty, to be
members of the Legislature, United States dis
trict attorneys, judges of the State and Federal
courts, governors of States and Territories
members of Congress, and Ministers to foreign
countries.
After the death of the father, John, the old
est son, took charge of the farm and dedicated
his years to his brothers. He labored inces-
sanity to procure means with which to educate
them, this labor of love never being interrupt
ed but once. and that for patriotic service in
the army during the war of 1912. John was
<NE ofo T..
the army, he attained the rank of captain, and
might have attained high position in civil life
but for his manly devotion to the interests of
his brothers. George, the second son, while
yet lad, joined Lewis and Clarke's expedition
to the Rocky Mountains, and while on the
Upper Missouri river, in an engagement with
The Indians, was wounded in the leg. and, on
his arrival at st. Charles, had it ampu;ated.-
He was taken to Philadelphia by Lewis and
Clarke, and had charge of the publication of
heir journal. While there he studied law,
aw, was admitted to the Bar, and afterwards
ocated in Lexington, Kentucky. Able as the
Bar was there, in few years he was chosen
Circuit Judge, ard served IN that capacity for
hree years. In 1928, he went to Missouri,
md located at Hannibal; was sent to the State
Senate, made United States District Attorney
ior Missouri, and was candidate for the Uni
H. q
he time of his second reelection. He was
criminal-law lawyer, and in August,
1886, while engaged in the defense of man
charged with murder, he died in the court
house at Palmyra, in the forty ninth year of
lis age, having been born in Pennsylvania in
1877. The Legislature of Missouri, shortly
lfter his death, named county in the southern
,art of the State for him.
BY the time George had become fairly estab-
ished in practice at Lexington he was Joined
" James, the third son, whom John had edu-
,ated and sent out into the world. James, it
S said, was the most brilliant of all the BROTH
RS. He practiced law with great success at
Lexington for ten years, and became promin- |
mt as political leader, but the Wing majori- |
les were too great to be overcome, and he, be-
ng Democrat. was always defeated for local |
position. While residing at Lexington he |
married a daughter of ex-Gov Shelby; and on |
he 9th day Of February, 1882, the President |
him as Charge d Affaires TO the |
Federation of Central America, but he died |
'efore reaching his post. In the meantime, |
Thomas, the fourth son, by the aid of the de- |
'oted John, had embarked in merchandise at |
GAINESVILLE, a growing town near the home |
tead, ard was remarkably successful. He |
vice represented Belmont county IN the |
Legislature, and in the fall of 1926, the same
'ear in which Wilson was admitted to the bar, |
ie was elected to Congress from that district. |
serving out his term of two years he retired |
rom politics, and from that time on never |
vearied in pushing the fortunes of the young
st brother. David, the fifth son, studied law |
With George at Lexington, and after his ad- |
mission settled in Tennessee, where he prac- |
iced with success until President jackson ap- |
,ointed him Judge in the Territory of Flori- ]
la but he died before he cOuld close his busl- |