Theodore L. Montgomery

THEODORE LEONARD MONTGOMERY,

SUCCESS which is the result of hard work and integrity is the success that exists substantially and permanently. This truth is simply illustrated in the legal and social career of Theodore Leonard IMontgomery, one of the foremost barristers of Clark County. He was born on a farm in Pendleton County, Kentucky, on January 22, 1855, and he enjoyed the advantages of farm life in Kentucky and Missouri until he reached the age of twenty-one. His father, John W. Montgomery, was a native of Kentucky, but of Scotch and Irish descent, he being the son of James A. Montgomery. Mary S. Dicken was the maiden name of Theodore L. Montgomery's mother, and she was married in Pendleton County, Kentucky, in 1853. She was of English and Welsh extraction, daughter of Cliarlcs and Mary Dicken and was born in Campbell County, Kentucky. The Montgomerys removed to Missouri in 1869, taking up a farm in Clark County near the present town of Kahoka. The father was a farmer and stock raiser and died there four years ago, at the age of sixty-eight, but the mother still lives, aged sixty-eight years.

To his daily legal duties Mr. Montgomery brings the reinforcement of a thorough education. He passed through a full course in the public and high schools of Kahoka, graduating with honors in the high school class of 1875, and is also a graduate of Missouri State University in the class of 1879, where he took a complete scientific and normal course, taking the degrees of Ph. B. and Pe. B. Then he studied law at Kahoka, in the office of Judge Benjamin E. Turner, being admitted to the bar at Unionville, September 13, 1880, by Judge Andrew Ellison. Returning to Kahoka, he immediately began the practice of law, and he has practiced there uninterruptedly ever since. For eight years he had as his partner. Judge John M. Wood, now of St. louis, and formerly Attorney General of Missouri. He next formed a partnership with his brother, Sidney J. Montgomery, in August, 1892, under the firm name of T. ly. & S. J. Montgomery, and this firm still exists.

Practicing in all the courts, State and Federal, including the United States Supreme Court, there can be no question of his ability and continued success. He is a powerful leader and one of the most earnest of advocates, being especially proficient in cases involving abstruse and difficult points of law. One of his notable triumphs was obtained in the United States courts in the case of the Keokuk & Western Railway versus Clark, Scotland and other counties in North Missouri, to resist the payment of taxes by the plaintiff to the counties, $300,000 being at state. As one of the counsel for the defense, he conducted his side of the question so ably as to win a decisive victory in the Federal Courts at St. louis and Hannibal and on appeal to the United States Supreme Court. From 1887 to 1891 he served two terms as Prosecuting Attorney of Clark County, filling both in the most acceptable manner. In October, 1896, he was a candidate for nomination on the Democratic ticket for Judge of the First Judicial Circuit to succeed Hon. Benjamin E. Turner, deceased, as Judge of that circuit, there being one candidate from each of the four counties in said circuit. After balloting for more than twenty-four hours without a choice, the Hon. E. R. McKee, Chairman of the Convention, was nominated on the one thousand and thirty-sixth ballot. With the above exception he has never aspired to public office, but has devoted his time exclusively to his profession.

He is closely identified with the principal enterprises of his section, being attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; attorney for the Clark County Savings Bank and Director therein; President and Director of the Kahoka Telephone and Construction Company, and half owner of the Opera House Block, the most beautiful piece of architecture in Kahoka. In public esteem no man in his part of the State stands higher, either as lawyer or citizen. This fact has been continually attested during the past twenty years. He belongs to the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Baptist Church. He is also a Democrat and exercises a leading influence in the deliberations of his party, being always ready to make self-sacrifices to further its interests in that part of the State.

Mr. Montgomery is a genial companion and a true friend. He is sincere, frank and open, and there is none of that duplicity or cunning about him to lessen the excellence of his character. It is natural to one of such traits to be generous, philanthropic and kindly and he is no exception to this rule. His personality impresses one at once, and as his natural good will to all mankind is apparent, his friends are numerous and warm.

Mr. Montgomery was married December 1, 1881, to Miss Mary M. Jordan, the charming daughter of John and Mary J. Jordan, of Kahoka. Four children bless the union, two boys and two girls. They are: Ieonard J., aged fourteen; Lenna G., aged twelve; Olive F., aged nine, and Sidney J., aged five.

HOMAS EDWARD MULVIHIIvIv, Prosecuting Attorney of the Court of Criminal Cor-

1 rection of St. Ivouis, is a native of Ireland, having been born in County Clair, on the banks of the "lyordly Shannon," May 25, 1862. He is the son of lawrence and Mattie (Finncan) Mulvihill. The former was a prosperous and well-to-do farmer in Ireland until the expiration of his leasehold. This could not be renewed, owing to the hard conditions imposed by the inconscionable landlord, and therefore lawrence Mulvihill, though far advanced in years, was compelled to leave his family, home and country and seek a livelihood in a foreign land. He embarked for America in 1863. Two years later the balance of the family, consisting of the mother and four boys, two older and one younger than our subject, followed him. On reaching New York in 1865 a great calamity befell the newly arrived family, being, indeed, the death of the mother and the baby boy. The elder Mulvihill and his three remaining sons, afterward continued their journey westward, finding a resting place at Farina, Fayette County, Illinois. Thomas Edward being still a babe, could not receive the proper attention from his father, and it thus fell to his lot to be cared for and reared by his father's sister and her husband, Bridget and John Collins. The father lived until 1872, dying at Farina at the advanced age of eighty.

When Thomas Edward grew old enough he began attendance at the Farina public school, working on the farm in summer. This manner of life continued until 1880, when he was eighteen years old. In that year, on the solicitation of his cousin, Michael Collins, he went to Peotone, Will County, Illinois, where he continued to attend the public school, sustaining himself by working on the farm during vacations and by clerking in a country store. In 1882 he was persuaded by his eldest brother, Michael, to join him in St. Louis. Through the kindness and valuable assistance of that brother (now dead), Mr. Mulvihill was enabled to enter the St. Louis Law School, from which he graduated in 1885, and in June of the same year was admitted to practice in the State and Federal Courts, at St. Louis.

It is characteristic of the people of the Emerald Isle that they rise to the top in spite of every obstacle, wherever placed. It takes a certain amount of resistance always, to bring their best qualities to the surface, and in politics they find that resistance or opposition which acts as a developed of character. Politics has a charm for them they cannot resist, and Mr. Mulvihill was no exception to this nile. He had been here but a few years before he was in the thick of the fight, and on May 20, 1891, he was appointed Assistant City Attorney by Mayor Edward A, Noonan. While still holding this office, he was elected (November 6, 1894), Prosecuting Attorney of the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correction, an office of which he is still the incumbent. The result of that election demonstrates more emphatically than anything else could Mr. Mulvihill 's splendid popularity, as he received a majority of 2,374, although the balance of his ticket was defeated by overwhelming majorities. It is, ]icrliaps, unnecossnn to add that he is a Democrat of the old school, strictly

As printed in The history of the bench and bar of Missouri : With reminiscences of the prominent lawyers of the past, and a record of the law's leaders of the present (1898). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.