The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1920-12-09
PIONEER COURTS AND
LAWYERS OF MANITOWOC co.
Collections and RecoIIections
BY j. S, ANDERSON
.F0rsan ct haec olim meminiSse juvabit'
NUMBER I
THE BAR
N q NJ II III
THE BAR

NUMBER I
THE BAR
One of the first acts of the commits
sioners of Manitowoc county after its
organization in 1889 at which time the
first election was held, was to erect a
county building at the Rapids. Here
the county Offices were located and
records kept, but it did not attain the
dignity of courthouse" until ls4s
when, as stated, the judicial power
which had been retained by Brown
county was bestowed upon us. The
original county house" cost the sum
Of $3.50 When it became Il court
house" it was enlarged and changed
somewhat, and that indispensable an
mex to well ordered judicial system
"a county jail, was built on. 1t had
been used also as a schoolhouSe and
hence the early records, speak of JUS
tice Stow and Judge Howe, holding
court in the schoolhouse. On April 80,
1852, it was destroyed by fire and adj
vantage was taken of the fact to bring
about the removal of the county seat
to Manitowoc. This was duly accom-
plished in 1853 and thereafter the
courts we're held in that village. The
sessions were held in various tempo
rary places. Once at the private resi-
dence of Col. Pelez Glover, other times
in the South Side schoolhouse and the
dance hall of George Dusold at the
corner of Seventh and Jay streets, un-
til the courthouse was completed in
1856 on the site now occupied by the
present county building,
The first two papers of this series
brought the history of the bar to the
year 1854, at which time it consisted
of six members, three of the original
four present at the organization of the
court in 1913 and the addition of Geo.
Reed, Me, Wollmer and S. A. Wood.
Meanwhile the county had been devel-
Oping rapidly. The food of German
immigration brought many desirable
citizens, some of them persons of con-
siderable wealth and also good buSi-
ness ability This was supplemented
by a considerable Bohemian immigra-
tion which settled up large tract of
territory now comprised in the towns
of Kossuth, Franklin and Gibson. All
| this made for business and in one way
and another the little bar had plenty
of profitable work.
But 1854 was tragic year in tho
legal history of Manitowoc. The chol-
era epidemic which made its first ap-
pcarancc in 1850 and made its pres
cnce known by sporadic cases from
time to time afterwards, broke out
with great virulence that year all over
Wisconsin. Among many other deaths
were those of Ezekiel Kicker and james
L. Kyle within few days of eacl
other, Judge J. II. Colby had died ii
May of the previous year and Il
Holmes Ellis had returned to Greer
Bay to take up practice there. Their,
were left only two trained lawyers il
the county, George Reed and S. A
| Wood. George Reed was never, il
fact, a general practitioner and to thu
best Of my recollection had ceaset
even then to maintain an Office. III,
was busy in corporation projects. Ill
had organized the Manitowoc ant
Menasha Plank Road company, tol
road, and constructed about five mile
of IT, lie had also organized a rail
way corporation, the Manitowoc ant
Mississippi Railway company to whicl
he devoted a great deal Of his time
and in addition had established a quit
extensive mercantile business which
however, only lasted two or thre
years.
This situation accounts largely 70
the fact that at the September term o
the court for 1854, s. A. Wood wa
sole attorney for sixteen of the twenty
three cases on the calendar, and wa
sole attorney in six of the seven chan
Gerry cases at special term the follow
ing January.
The rapid growth of the county an
village, the breaking of ground for tn
building of railway, much talk q
other projects, and especially the los
| by death and removal, of two-thirds O
the working lawyers of the GROWN
section, soon became known through
out the state, and lawyers looking fo
a location thought the chances good.
So IN the late fall and winter of 1856
came to the Manitowoc bar, l.. 2
Warren, George c. Lee and Charles |
Walker from outside places, while Et
ward Solomon, resident of Mantle
voc, later governor of Wisconsin, al
pears TO have come to the bar abo,
the same time, though the date of h
license to practice does not appear.
George c. Lee and Charles IL. Wa