History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

CHIEF JUSTICE MOORE'S PICTURES
Chief Justice Joseph B. Moore, a native of Commerce, where he was
born November 3, 1845, was educated at Hillsdale College and in the law
department of the State University, afterward became a leading lawyer
of Lapeer (whither he moved in 1868), prosecuting attorney of the
county and a prominent member of the state senate in 1879. He served
as judge of the sixth judicial circuit for eight years and was elected
justice of the state supreme court on the Republican ticket in the spring
of I895. On June 8, 1904, he delivered an address before the joint meeting of the Michigan State Judges Association and the Michigan State
Bar Association, and, as his narrative progresses, it is evident how well
qualified he is to speak of the early-time judges and lawyers who have
given fame and dignity to the bench and bar of Oakland county.
"In reply to a query put by me to a prominent member of the Ingham
county bar," says Judge Moore, "I was informed that in the trial of cases
in justice's court the interest of the parties litigant are now attended to
by men who have been regularly admitted to practice of the law. When
my recollection of the trial of lawsuits first began the practice was very
different. I then lived in southwestern Oakland county. The county was
comparatively new. There was a disposition upon the part of the individual to assert his rights and to resent any interference therewith.
Brawls and personal encounters were much more frequent than they are
now and trials growing out of these occurrences, as well as civil cases before justices of the peace, were very frequent and attracted wide attention. The interest of the respective parties were usually attended to by
bright, clever men who were not, however, regularly trained in the law
and who had not been admitted to practice and were frequently called
pettifoggers. I remember one of these men with feelings of gratitude
and respect. He was by occupation a harness-maker who lived in the
village of Walled Lake. He had a serious lung trouble and was advised
by his physicians to relinquish his trade and get out into the air and sunlight, if he hoped to live. He was a bright, quick-witted man, with an excellent vocabulary, a musical voice and a clever way of putting things.
He got together a few law books and devoted himself to them with
assiduity. He bought himself a gun and a dog, tried what lawsuits he
could get before the local magistrates in three or four townships and
spent what time he could in the open air. He was afterward elected
county clerk, was regularly admitted to the Oakland county bar and died
after I became presiding judge of that circuit. He was a kind man, and
while I was yet a boy at work in my father's saw-mill he suggested to me
to become a lawyer and placed at my disposal his little library of law
books. While working twelve hours a day, I read the two volumes of
Blackstone loaned me by James D. Bateman, for that was his name.
There was great rivalry in the trial of cases before justices of the peace
between Mr. Bateman living at Walled Lake, Mark Arnold living at
Farmington and Elias Woodman living in Novi. Mr. Woodman was a
man of considerable property who has served in the legislature of the
state and was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of 1850. His son Hamilton had an excellent record as a soldier in