James Brooks Dill.
A sturdy Scotch ancestry has given to the lawyer, James Brooks Dill, that pertinacity and determination which successfully overcomes all obstacles. He was born in Spencerport, New York, July 25, 1854, the oldest child of the Rev. James Horton and Catherine (Brooks) Dill. Four years after his birth his parents removed to Chicago, but upon the death of his father, in 1863, he removed with his mother to New Haven, Connecticut, continuing his studies in the elementary branches. After studying at Oberlin, Ohio, from 1868 to 1872, he entered Yale, graduating in the class of 1876. He now taught school and studied law, and in 1877 came to New York, where he obtained a position as instructor in Stevens’ Institute, Hoboken. Mr. Dill was graduated with the degree of LL.D. from the University law school in 1878, as salutatorian, and was then admitted to the bar of New York. Corporation law was made one of his special studies, and, in 1879, he won an important corporation case which soon established his reputation as a corporation lawyer and an authority on this particular subject. His marked business ability, combined with a clear legal mind, made his services sought by the many large and influential corporate interests. He was married in 1880 to Miss Mary W. Hansell, daughter of a Philadelphia merchant, thereupon removing to Orange, New Jersey. He became an active worker in the municipal and social improvement of the Oranges, organizing a People’s Bank, of which he has always been a director and counsel. He also assisted in establishing the Savings Investment and Trust Co., becoming director and vice-president. He is now director in the Seventh National Bank of New York City, the Corporation Trust Company of New Jersey, the American School of Architecture at Rome, the New England State Railway Company of Boston, the Central Teresa Sugar Company and others.
Melville Weston Fuller.
The most notable figure of the judiciary of this country is undoubtedly Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is in every way the ideal dignitary of the bench, impressive as to appearance, forceful in forensic oratory, learned in the law and unblemished as to reputation, personal and professional. He was born February 11, 1833, at Augusta, Maine, coming of sterling New England stock. Graduating from Bowdoin college in 1853, and later educated at Harvard law school, he, in 1855, was admitted to the bar. Forming a law partnership in the town of his birth, he later established there a Democratic paper known as The Age, of which he became assistant editor. The venture was successful and The Age became a power in political circles in Maine. Young Fuller was also elected president of the common council, and city attorney for the town. But Augusta was too small a sphere for the rising young lawyer, so in 1859 he went to Chicago, where he opened a law office. Simultaneously he took an active part in Illinois politics. It was not long before he became a recognized political leader locally. In 1863 he became a member of the Illinois legislature, in which capacity he confirmed the beliefs of those who regarded him as a coming man. He was delegate to a number of Democratic national conventions, in each of which he was a prominent figure. President Cleveland appointed him chief justice on April 30, 1888, and he was confirmed and seated the year following.
John William Griggs.
John William Griggs was born at Newton, New Jersey, July 10, 1849. He was graduated from Lafayette college in 1868, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1871. He practiced law at Paterson until 1876, in which year he was elected a member of the New Jersey general assembly. In 1886 he was president of the New Jersey senate. He was elected governor of New Jersey in 1896, which office he resigned to accept the office of attorney-general of the United States. He resigned the attorney-generalship in 1901.
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the son of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poet and essayist, was born at Boston, March 8, 1841. He graduated from Harvard in 1861, and from the Harvard law school in 1866. During the Civil war he served three years with the Massachusetts volunteers, and was wounded in the breast in the battle of Balls Bluff, and again wounded at the battle of Antietam. At the close of the war he engaged in the practice of law in Boston, and was editor of the Law Review from 1870 to 1873. In 1882 he became professor at the Harvard law school. In the same year he was made assistant justice in the Supreme judicial court, Massachusetts, and on August 2, 1899, he was made chief justice of the same court.
William Travers Jerome.
William Travers Jerome, who, by reason of being the district attorney of the metropolis, his power of pungent political oratory and his strenuous work as a municipal reformer, is one of the best known and decidedly one of the most interesting figures in the current history of New York, is still a young man. He was born April 18, 1859, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, receiving his initial education at the local public school and from private tutors; he took a classical course at Amherst college, and next was a student at the Columbia university law school of New York city. He was admitted to the bar in 1884 and became connected with a New York law firm. From the first he gave evidence of being the possessor of those qualities which later made him famous. As a lawyer his learnedly aggressive methods brought him popularity and many fees. As a justice of the court of special sessions, he lived up to the reputation that he had established on the bench. When, a few years since, he threw himself into the political whirlpool, he gave the country-at-large an excellent example of the man who has waited for his opportunity, recognizes it when he sees it and grasps it forthwith. It is not too much to say that Mr. Jerome did more than any one man, or, for that matter, any one group of men to free New York from certain evil influences which had fastened themselves upon it and its citizens. Here is what he says relative to his political success, but his remarks apply equally to success of all kinds: “A young man must have strong convictions of the right kind, hold to them through thick and thin, be willing to accept defeats smilingly, if necessary begin his work all over again, but still stick to it—and victory is assured.”