Henry D. Laughlin

As printed in 1899

Laughlin, Henry D., lawyer, was born in Bath County, Kentucky, January 21, 1848, son of Tarleton C. and Ann (Hopkins) Laughlin. Reared in the country, he received his early education in one of the primitive log school houses ‘of the region in which he lived, and beyond this was mainly indebted to the process vf self-education for his scholastic attainments. Two years after the close of the Civil War ‘he left the farm on which he had worked for some time previously, and, going to Lexington, Kentucky, he entered the law department of. Transylvania University. At the end of a thorough course of: study at that famous old institution, which has since been merged into the. Agricultural & Mechanical College of Kentucky, he was graduated in the class of 1869 and immediately afterward came to St. Louis., Here he was formally admitted to the bar by Judge Irwin Z. Smith, of the circuit court, and began the practice of his profession in this city in partnership with Charles G. Mauro. This professional association was dissolved by Mr. Mauro’s death in 1873, and Mr. Laughlin continued alone in a practice which kept him actively engaged and won for him constantly increasing prominence and prestige at the bar. In 1878 he was chosen judge of the Criminal Court of St. Louis, and entered upon a term of service which entailed upon him many arduous duties and responsibilities. He served four years as judge of the criminal court, and, within that time, presided at the trials of fifty-two men charged with murder in the first degree. The volume of criminal business less grave in character was also large, and in consequence of his zealous labors, Judge Laughlin retired from the bench, broken in health, and did not return to the practice of law for a year afterward, devoting his attention, in the meantime, to the tobacco warehouse business. In 1883 he resumed the active practice of law, broadened by his experience on the bench and strongly entrenched in popular favor by his clean and able administration of the affairs of the court over which he had presided. He associated with himself at that time R. H. Kern, thus constituting the firm of Laughlin & Kern, which later became Martin, Laughlin & Kern, Judge Alexander Martin, now dean of the law school of the State University, of Columbia, Missouri, becoming head of the firm. The dissolution of this able and widely known law firm was brought about by the removal of Judge Martin to Columbia and Mr. Kern to Chicago, and Judge Laughlin then associated with himself George J. Tansey, the firm of Laughlin & Tansey being thus constituted. To this firm a son of Judge Laughlin was afterward admitted and it became Laughlin, Tansey & Laughlin, the elder Laughlin acting only as advisory counsel to his younger associates. In later years corporate interests with which he is identified have demanded the larger share of his attention and he has been a less familiar figure at the bar of St. Louis than formerly, but he has left upon it the strong impress of his individuality, both as juristeand lawyer. Corporate and commercial law received his special attention during the later years of his active practice, and it was in consequence of this tendency that he became connected officially with the corporation which now commands his services. In connection with other gentlemen, he organized some years since the National Hollow Brake-Beam Company, a corporation which established its general offices in Chicago and of which Senator William H, Barnum, of Connecticut, was first president. At the death of Senator Barnum, Judge Laughlin succeeded to the presidency of the corporation, and has since devoted himself to its interests, spending the major portion of his time in Chicago. Early in life Judge Laughlin fixed the age of forty-five years as the pe: riod at which he would voluntarily quit th, practice of the law and give way to younger men. This he has practically done, except as above stated. He married, in 1874, Miss Ella Haynes, daughter of J. E. Haynes, of St Louis. Their children are Randolph, Hester Bates, Elmer Adams and Robert Tansey Laughlin.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Laughlin well regard him as a pre-eminently many man, with a healthy mind and a sound body.

his best when taking his summer outings with rod and gun, by lake or stream, with a few chosen spirits of kindred tastes. With untiring energy and with “a heart for any fate,” he is always the life of the hunters’ camp, where his ready fund of anecdote and poetry brighten the darkest hours of day or night. ° While Judge Laughlin's family residence in St. Louis is famous for its elegant and refined hospitality, his farm in St. Louis County, with its deer park and fishing pounds, is the frequent resort of friends from far and near, who recognize in him a prince of good fellows and a genial and generous host, and who unite in the earnest hope that he may—

“Crown, in shades like these, A youth of labor with an age of ease."

As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 3) (1899). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.