The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1921-03-24
PIONEER COURTS AND
LAWYERS OF MANIT0WOC co
Collections and RecOIIections
BY j. S. ANDERSON
'Forsan ct haec olm nemiuisse luvabi t.
NUMBER ri
Odds and Ends.


These papers would be incomplete
if left without reference to Rufus p.
Eaton. He came to the Manitowoc bar
from Fond du Lac some time in 1873
He was then in advanced years and had
but little general practice during his
residence here He was a lawyer of
old Territorial times. ! find traces of
him in the southwestern part of the
state as having been in the lead min
ing district in the early '4O'S. He was
then contemporary with Chief Justice
Dunn, Justices Irwin and Frazer, Thos.
p. Burnett, Moses Stury and others. A
little later he located at Fond du Lac,
being associated with Chief Justice
Stow, Henry S Baird, s. Cotton and
others of the old Fourth circuit.
In one of the Pinney's Reports, there
is a case where Eaton was sued for
SANDER and Justice Stow was his attor-
ney, and unsuccessfully defended him.
He was taX-title Spectator and
lawyer and like one of Walter SCOTS
heroes fought for his own hand" n
good deal of the time. He was a de
termined and tenacious fighter of the
bull dog type, getting his hold and
never letting 60 until every resource of
the law had been exhausted.
His tenacity is commented on by the
Supreme court in the case of Eaton VS..
Lyman, 33 Wis. p. SO, where Justice
Lyon says, "this action now makes its
fifth and it is earnestly hoped its last
appearance in this court The student
who is anxious to learn something of
the vicissitudes to which a lawsuit of
even moderate dimensions may be sub
iect when manipulated by skillful
hands, can crafty his curiosity to
some extent by carefully perusing the
reports in this case"
There is a long line of cases in the
Supreme court reports in which he was
of counsel either for himself or others,
beginning in the 2nd Pinney, and ex-
tending to the 42nd Wisconsin.
| was opposed to him twice in the
Supreme court and he was associated
with me in the case of Watts VS. Owens,
but died before that case went to the
Supreme court.
Although Mr.. Eaton was much in my
office using my library, and would talk
freely on most subjects, learned little
of his early life. To the best of my
recollection he was from Vermont. He
had a daughter who was student at
Lawrence College, Appleton, and mar
ried a claSsmate, j. A. Loomis, and
went to live in Kansas.
After coming to Manitowoc he mar
ried a widow, Rachel Holmes Hill, and
by her had son, who now lives in
Louisiana His last wife died before
him several years.
He died in Manitowoc in the autumn
of 1884.
The County Court.
The county court, or as it was first
called the "Court of Probate" was
founded in 1913 upon the adoption of
the state constitution, and the act of
the legislature passed at the same time
dissolving the previous connection of
ManitowoC County to Brown County
for judicial purposes. From the time
of its organization until Jan. |, 1865,
every judge of that court had been
trained lawyer elected from the mem
bership of the bar The following law
yers held the judgeship in the order
named: j. II W. Colby, Ezekiel Rick
er, George Reed, George c. Lee, Isaac
Parrish, Charles II. Walker and Harry
S. Piepont. The term Of office at that
time was two years.
From 1865 to 1878 the office was
held by laymen, chosen haphazard from
among the citizens at large Some Of
them were capable men, who conducted
the affairs Of the office fairly well and
needing the advice of a good bar, kept
records in good shape, but some were
decidedly negligent and the records and
files of the Office. fell into a deplorable
condition. Then there happened some
litigation In the circuit court involving
land titles which resulted dIsastrously,
to purchasers under probate proceed
ings. This called public attention to
the Importance of the court and the
necessity of having a judge who knew
something Of law. On Jan. |, 1878
Hon. Michael Kirwan, who had short
time before been admitted to the bar
entered upon the office as Judge and
during his term of four years with
some clerical assistance furnished him
by the county board, labored hard to
bring order and system out of the great
mass of scattered files and defective
records he found. Before the end of
his term he had perfected a system of
filing and recording which has been
followed with slight notifications ever
since.
He was not Immediately followed by
trained lawyers; but In 1887, the peo-
pie again took the matter Of fitness into
consideration by electing an educated
lawyer, Hon. Emil Baensch as Judge OF