History of Linn County Iowa / From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]

by Luther Albertus Brewer; Barthinius L. Wick

D. M. McIntosh was a native of South Carolina, and located in Cedar Rapids in the '40s. He was small of stature, with a ruddy face and long hair, making an imposing figure in the court room. He possessed considerable legal ability, had many friends, and was one of the best known men in Cedar Rapids. He died in 1859, mourned by a large circle of friends, who for years remembered how this brilliant son of the south had on many occasions lighted up the dull path of the law with a glow of fancy and spiced his remarks by the charm of frontier oratory.

Colonel J. M. May was another attorney who was well known in Cedar Rapids, and who located here at an early date, and after him May's Island is named. He was erratic and wasted a large fortune in litigation with his relatives and neighbors over rights of various kinds. He died in Cedar Rapids a short time ago.

I. N. Whittam was another of the pioneer lawyers who died a few years ago, having located in Cedar Rapids in 1854. He assisted Judge Greene in getting out "Greene's Reports of Iowa." He was in continuous practice up to the time of his death.

Ellsworth N. Bates, coming to Linn county in the early fifties, was quickly known as the silver tongued orator of the Cedar Valley. He was the first city attorney, appointed in 1856, at $20.00 a year. He served till 1860. Mr. Bates won fame and honor as a lawyer and editor, and being a person of tact and force of character, he won many friends. His glowing tribute to the men who built the railway, at the June celebration in 1859, gave him prestige as a great orator. Mr. Bates enlisted in the Civil war and died from exposure a short time afterwards.

George Greene, who died in 1880 at the age of sixty-three, was one of the best known men in Iowa at the time of his death. Born in England, Mr. Greene educated himself in Buffalo, studying with George P. Baker. In 1838 he came to Davenport and began to make a geological survey of Iowa. After he had worked for six months at this kind of work, which was not at all congenial, he located in Ivanhoe, Linn county, and taught the first term of school in that vicinity. In 1840 he was admitted to the bar at Iowa City, locating later at Marion, where he began the practice of law. The next year he was sent to the legislature. Here he became acquainted with the prominent men of the state, and as the law business was not flourishing he removed in 1845 to Dubuque, and while nominally in the practice he became editor of the Miner's Express, which was then one of the nourishing papers of the territory. Three years later he formed a partnership for the practice of law with J. J. Dyer. In October, 1847, Judge Wilson resigned his office of associate justice and the governor filled the vacancy by appointing George Greene, who from that day to the day of his death became a figure of importance in politics as well as in financial affairs in Iowa. Judge Greene was a man of marked ability, having had excellent opportunities and being possessed of untiring industry. In 1848 he was elected one of the supreme court judges by the joint vote of the two houses of the General Assembly and served for six years from January 15, 1849. During his term of office he reported the decisions of the court. These decisions were published in four volumes and are known as "Greene's Reports of Iowa." In 1851 Judge Greene removed to Cedar Rapids, where he engaged in banking and where he was one of the most active citizens in persuading manufacturers to come to this city. He was instrumental in securing the Chicago & Northwestern, and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railways to pass through Cedar Rapids. In politics Judge Greene was a democrat until the Greely campaign, when he became a republican. Few, if any, have done so much among the early settlers in securing capital to be invested in Iowa. Judge Greene travelled much and personally knew many financiers in this country and in England, many of whom invested much funds in farm lands, town lots, in bonds, and stocks, in Linn and adjoining counties. After locating in Cedar Rapids Judge Greene had a number of partners. While he, himself, did not devote himself actively to the law business, the firm generally had a large practice. He was in partnership with Judge Hubbard, Cyrus Benley, A. S. Belt, and with Judge Dudley.

A. Sidney Belt was a southerner by birth, a person of much ability, of engaging manners, and well known in his day throughout Linn and adjoining counties.

Colonel Isaac M. Preston was born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1813, the son of a revolutionary soldier. He learned the trade of cabinet-making. At an early age he drifted west, remained for awhile in Ohio, and finally located in Marion in 1842, where he began the practice of law. Three years later he was appointed district attorney, serving two years. In February, 1846, he was commissioned colonel to organize troops for the Mexican war. He served as probate judge of Linn county for four years. He was appointed by President Polk, United States attorney for Iowa in 1847. In 1850 he was elected to the house of the Third General Assembly, and after serving one term was elected to the state senate where, during four years in the Fourth and Fifth General Assemblies, he was one of the most prominent legislators of that body and took an active part in the enactment of the Code of 1851. Colonel Preston had more litigation in his day and generation than any one person in this and adjoining counties. He was strong before a court, tactful and invincible before a jury, and especially in the defense of criminal cases he had no superior. The bar of Linn county during the early days was one of the strongest in the state, and Colonel Preston during his long and active practice before the supreme court, held a high place and was recognized as one of the leading attorneys of eastern Iowa, a position to which he early attained and which he continuously held up to the time of his death.

William Smythe was born in Tyrone county, Ireland, in 1824. He emigrated with his parents at the age of fifteen to America and located in Linn county in 1840. He studied law at Iowa City, and in 1848 opened an office in Marion. In 1853 he was appointed judge of the fourth judicial district, serving four years. In 1858 he was chosen by the Seventh General Assembly one of the three commissioners to revise and codify the laws of the state. This work was accepted by the legislature and became what is known as the "Code of 1860." Judge Smythe was also appointed upon a commission of legal inquiry, and was one of the commissioners to negotiate bonds by the state to provide a war defense fund. He served two years in the army as colonel of the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry. In politics Judge Smythe was a republican, and from the beginning of his legal career he took more or less interest in politics. In 1868 he and Judge Hubbard were the republican candidates for congress, a campaign which was waged with much bitterness, so much so that friend turned against friend and neighbor against neighbor. It is said that a few days after Hubbard's defeat he met a shoe-maker on the street who had been a former friend but who had been persuaded to vote for Smythe, and Hubbard said to him, "Jack, you will not need to buy any bristles any more, just reach your hand over your shoulder and you can pull them out of your back, for there is nothing about you but a hog anyway."

After Judge Smythe's nomination William Leffingwell was put up by the democrats to beat him, Leffingwell being one of the noted orators of the state, but Judge Smythe was victorious. He attained to a high place as lawyer and as a constructive statesman. He possessed a profound intellect, was popular among the masses, and a just and honorable man. He passed away when he had just reached middle life, one of the ablest and most versatile men in Linn county at the time of his untimely death.