Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-03-15

taken violently i'll with the grip. JOS
Cph III. Sawyer his court reporter, was
with him and wanted TO call Il ply
stefan but the judge would not listen to
it. His wife, who was in Florida, was no
titled Of his condition and came to Mil
waukec Immediately and intended to
take him to Florida for the balance of
the winter but the physicians advised
her to go to their home i'll this city,
which they did.
Judge Dick when elected to the Judge
ship, had Il large law practice. He often
refused to take Il case where he thought
his client was in the wrong.
He was superintendent Of the Beaver
Dam schools for nearly a quarter of a
century.
The funeral of Judge Dick will be
held Monday afternoon at o'clock and
will he Masonic of which order he was
an honored member.
Came to Wisconsin in 1856
James j. Dick was born in WestficId,
Chautauqua county, n. Y. September 8,
1896. lie received his elementary edu-
cation in the common schools and the
academy Of his native town. He located
in Beaver Dam in 1886 and from then
until 1889 was teacher in the high
school. 1t was during this period that
ne commenced to study law, to which
he devoted all his spare time.
In 1889 he went to Albany, New York,
to enter the Albany university, from
which he was graduated in 1861 and adj
mittcd to practice in all the courts of
the state. He Immediately returned to
Beaver Dam, where he formed a part
nership with the late Ii. W. Lander,
which continued about three years. Aft
or the dissolution of this partnership
Judge Dick continued to practice until
his elevation to the bench.
Father of Beaver Dam Schools.
Judge Dick may be justly called the
Father Of the Beaver Dam public
schools" for their present high standard
If efficiency is largely the result of his
iab0rs and foresight, when in his ca
pacity of superintendent of schools for
upwards Of quarter of Il century, he
acted as 4 pilot of those institutions
and by the aid of his experience and abil-
ity developed them slowly but surely
into such Il condition as to equal any
public schools in Wisconsin. Although
engaged at that time i'll the practice of
law, he placed the prosperity and hap
pinesS of the youth of the community
above his own personal affairs, and al
ways found time to visit the schools and
take an active interest in the welfare Of
the students. He bent all his energies
to placing the school system upon Il solid
foundations; and the city schools today
SHOW how well his part OF the work was
accomplished.
Judge of Thirteenth Circuit.
Judge Dick continued to act as SUI
perintendent of schools until 1896, when
he resigned to accept Il new and higher
position, namely. that of judge of the
Thirteenth judicial circuit of Wisconsin.
to succeed Judge Warham Parks. BY
virtue of his impartiality, honesty and
knowledge of the law, he has been re-
peatedly elected to this office, by deci-
Sive majority of the voters of the four
counties of which his district is com
posed.
Judge Dicks last decision was rem
dered during this present illness, the
famous Horizon marsh drainage case.
He decided that it should be drained.
thus reclaiming $4,000 acres of land.
His wife is Il daughter of the late
William Drown, one of the donors of
the Williams Free library.