Charles Alvord Bishop (1854 - 1908)

Born 22 May 1854 in Eagle, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Della Mary (Dow) Bishop — married 2 Nov 1873 (to 12 Jan 1900) in Jefferson, Wisconsin, United States

Descendants

Died 9 Jul 1908 at age 54 in Waterloo, Black Hawk, Iowa, United States

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Biography

Charles A. Bishop of Black Hawk County

CHARLES ALVORD BISHOP was born near Waukesha, Wisconsin, May 22, 1854;

He married Della Mary Dow 2 Nov 1873 (to 12 Jan 1900) in Jefferson, Wisconsin, United States.^[1]

he died while in attendance at the meeting of the Iowa State Bar Association at Waterloo, July 9, 1908, and was buried at Woodland cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa, July 14. His parents were Mathew Patrick and Roxanna (Alvord) Bishop.

He gained his education in the public schools of Palmyra and La Grange, Wisconsin, and studied law in the office of Mr. Weed at Palmyra, being admitted to the bar at Waupeca, Wisconsin, in 1875.

He came to Iowa in 1875 locating at La Porte, in Black Hawk county, entering into the law practice and becoming editor of the Review of that place. He was elected to the legislature from Black Hawk county in 1881 serving in the House through the Nineteenth General Assembly. He served on the committees on Judiciary, Insurance, Libraries, Institute for the Education of the Blind and Asylum for Feeble-minded Children.

He continued both as lawyer and editor for eight years, when he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to devote his attention exclusively to the law. His associate was Judge Bagg of the Dubuque bar who died shortly after the new venture began. Judge Bishop soon returned to Cherokee, Iowa, to publish the Times of that city, which, however, he disposed of in a few months, removing permanently to Des Moines.

His career as a lawyer may be dated from his arrival at Des Moines in 1885. He entered the firm of Baker & Kavanaugh which consisted of Hon. A. J. Baker, now of Centerville, Iowa then Attorney General of Iowa, and Marcus Kavanaugh, now judge of the Cook county superior court of Chicago. Judge Kavanaugh retired when elected to the Polk county district bench and Judge Bishop joined the firm, which became Baker, Bishop & Haskins by the admission to the firm of Alvin A. Haskins, now deceased. Attorney General Bakers administration included among its tasks that of advising Governor Larrabee in carrying into effect the railroad legislation for which the Larrabee administrations are remembered.

Judge Bishop, as assistant counsel, is to be given much of the credit to which the Attorney General’s office is entitled. In the disposition of the Chester Tourney case Governor Larrabee relied solely upon Judge Bishop as counsel and in the trial work that ended with credit to both the client and attorney.

In 1889 Judge Bishop was appointed by Governor Larrabee Judge of the Polk county district court a vacancy existing by reason of the elevation of Judge Josiah Given to the supreme bench. He was defeated of election the next year. He was again appointed to the district bench in 1897 by Governor Drake to a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of W. A. Spurrier. The next year he was elected and served to March 3, 1902, when he resigned and entered the practice at Des Moines in the firm of Bishop Dowell & Parish.

Governor Cummins appointed him to the vacancy on the supreme bench made by the resignation of Judge C. M. Waterman in June 1902. He was nominated and elected to fill out the term then nominated and elected to serve for the current term ending January 1, 1911.

Judge Bishop was one of the most gentle and affable of men. He was active and popular in fraternal societies and social clubs. He was a distinguished public speaker, in particular on memorial occasions, when some of his addresses have been almost classic in character. His record as a judge is most excellent. To the law he was devoted, caring but little for financial undertakings or success along those lines. He was one of the largest hearted, most companionable of men, charitable toward all, censuring the wrong rather than the individual, tempering justice with mercy during his judicial career. Hence a model husband and father, not only loved by his family, his friends and his associates, but by all who really knew him. His modesty was proverbial. He might have been a member of the supreme court during Governor Larrabee’s administration, but having some misgivings as to his own ability, he advocated the appointment of another and with his own hands wrote and delivered the commission that he himself might have retained.

Sources

1. ↑ "Wisconsin Marriages, 1836-1930", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XR8C-1L4 : 30 January 2020), Charles Bishop, 1873.

• Volume 8 (1907-1909) Annals of Iowa Obituary; [1]
• Information from State Historical Society of Iowa resources; [2]
• Iowa Legislature biographies; [3]
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27272060/charles-alvord_lawrence-bishop