The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1920-11-11
PIONEER COURTS AND
LAWYERS OF MANITOWOC co.
Collections and RecOIlections
BY j. S. ANDERSON
'FJrsan ct haec olim meminisse juvabit'
NUMBER 3

DenCh ana par hau been working
smoothly In the intervening years,
the county had received large influx
of settlers, largely German, who had
left their country on account of the
Revolutionary troubles of 1913. The
village of Manitowoc was increasing in
population and business Importance
and in those respects had outstripped
the Rapids.
The court calendars grew longer
each term, and litigation of an impor-
tant character was increasing a
change had taken place in the court,
caused by the retirement of Judge
Stow, on Jan l, 1851, As he was
rather a remarkable man, have com
piled the following sketch of him,
drawn from various sources:
Hon. Alexander w. Stow.
Judge Stow was the first chief jus
tice of the state of Wisconsin, and at
the same time the first judge of the
Fourth circuit To understand this ap-
parently anomolous situation, it is nee
cssary to explain the judicial system
then existing.
Then the several circuit judges held
courts in the counties of their circuit,
hearing and deciding causes as at pres
emit On appeals being taken, all, or at
least four of them, sat togethcr-en
banc, as it is called, and the appeal was
argued and heard before the full
bench, constituting the Supreme Court,
Thus each judge was trial judge
for his circuit in the first instance and
also a justice of the Supreme Court
which met at stated terms to consider
appeals at the capitol in Madison.
The term of Office for these judges
was fixed at six years, but the law gov
erning their first election provided that
the judges then chosen should be di-
vidcd into five classes, class one to hold
'll'O lOl tNp vars, NldoA lMD luI thI'N
years and so on, so that one of the
judges of the five circuits should be
elected each year. The terms of the
first judges were decided by the sccre-
tary of state drawing lots. In this pro-
cceding Judge Stow drew the short
term of little over two years, cxpr-
ing Jan. !, 1851. His associates unani-
mously chose him chief justice.
Alexander w. Stow was born at
Lowville, N. Y, Feb. 8, 1905 His
father, Silas Stow, was prominent
Federalist in the early political strug-
giles of that state. lie was chief justice
of the county court and associate
judge of the Supreme Court, and also
served term in congress lie appears
to have been considered man of su-
perior ability and culture.
The son inherited much of the talent
Of the father His studies appear to
have been under his fathers superyis-
ion and the association with, and in
huence Of, the eminent men with whom
he was brought in contact made him
| almost by intuition an accomplished
scholar. His only regular schooling OF
which mention is made is that at the
age Of lG, he was placed in the military
academy at West Point where he re-
mained only a year and then returned
TO enter law Office in his native vii
lage
In due time he was admitted to prac.
licc and formed a partnership with
Hon. Justin Buttcrfcld at Saskett,
IIarbor, New York Here he had sew.
cral years of general practice, In the
intervals of practice he spent som,
: months Of travel in Europe which
brought him to the period when h,
came to Wisconsin Territory Som,
two or three years before its admission
as q state.
He settled at Fond du Lac, and be
ing for those days a man of consider
able wealth, purchased a large number
Of tracts Of land near that city, on on,
of which he founded large farm
though he was never considered mucl
of a farmer lie entered upon the prac
ticc Of law in Fond du Lac and alst
opened an Office in Milwaukee, diyidinl
his time between the two places s,
that he became widely known through
out the Territory.
All accounts agree tha, ms eccen
tricites were many and peculiar II
was by turns rough. uncouth, hars
and vulgar needless Of form and con
yentionality, and then the polished gen
tlcman, polite in manner, careful an
exact in expression, dignihed in bear
ing.
The late Judge Morgan l.. Martin o
! Green Bay, who had known him /
New York, in a monograph wrote o
these mannerismsi "rhere were som
by which his general character wa
Judged Of harshly and unfavorahly b
those little acquainted with him, ther
were many which should go far to r,
deem it from reproach,"
[ And Chief Justice L. c. Ryan, III
| greatest of those men who followe
: him in the exercise Of the great oflc
also Mriles: nIhe writer Is nrnnl