Lincoln links
Mills continues to share Lincoln lore
During a Law Day program on May 15 in Georgia, Judge Richard Mills of U.S. District Court in Springfield spoke on “Lincoln: At the Bar and on the Bench” during a meeting of the Macon Bar Association.
Moreover, the lead article in a recent issue of The Bencher, a magazine devoted to the legal legacy of Abraham Lincoln, was written by Judge Mills.
Given that coverage in the ISBA Bar News of the Lincoln Bicentennial is nearly at end, he richly deserves to have the penultimate observation on these pages.
A Lincoln scholar who has written and spoken often about the humble prairie lawyer’s enduring impact, Mills wrote “A. Lincoln: The Consummate Lawyer” for the periodical of the American Inns of Court.
Extolling Lincoln for ably handling “virtually every kind of case,” he offers a splendid summary of the role of the legal profession in every community.
Mills writes: “A court is nothing more than a mirror – a mirror of people’s problems, people dealing with people, friends, and neighbors, one on one, or against society collectively.
“The work of our courts is nothing more than people living together and trying to work out the rules of society, how to conduct ourselves, and how to live so that each other’s rights can, to the greatest extent possible, be enjoyed without destroying the basic rights of each of us.
“That’s what the law is all about. That means we all have to give so that we all can take. By compromise. Life itself is a compromise and so, essentially, is the law.”
Mills then turns to Lincoln, as the epitome of integrity for his illustration.
“Mr. Lincoln was an amazing man in many ways, not just because of his tremendous ability to get along with people, but due primarily to his capacity to articulate common sense and his ability to compromise. He always saw the bigger picture.”
Toward the end of his account, Mills recalls an incident that is testimony to Lincoln’s refusal to take a questionable case, no matter how potentially lucrative.
The matter involved a $600 debt by the widowed mother of six fatherless children. Lincoln acknowledged the prospective client’s legal claim, but wrote that the $600 “rightfully belongs, as much to the woman and her children as it does to you.”
He pointed out “that some things legally right are not morally right. We shall not take your case, but will give you a little advice for which we charge you nothing.”
Lincoln then concluded, “You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man; we would advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars some other way.”
To Mills, “It is this kind of ability and incisive, pristine thinking that made such a magnificent man, lawyer, and president of Abraham Lincoln.
“He demanded outright that a pronounced moral tone ought to be infused into his profession. He urged both lawyers and law students to choose honesty above professional success.”
Rockford lawyer has family ties with Gettysburg
The article about Jennie Wade in the May issue of the ISBA Bar News brought back memories to Rockford attorney Michael Wade Raridon about the 1997 Wade-McLellan family reunion he attended in Gettysburg.
Mary Virginia “Jennie” Wade was the only civilian resident of Gettysburg who died during the battle in July 1863. Her sister, Georgia Wade McClellan, was the grandmother of Raridon’s great-grandmother.
“My middle name is Wade, as is my father’s and now my son’s,” he wrote after the Bar News piece was published. “We have the locket that Jennie had in her pocket the day she was killed: a picture of Jack Skelly.”
Raridon noted that the missing link in the incident was Wesley Culp, who went to school with Skelly and Jennie Wade, who planned to marry.
Culp left Gettysburg before the Civil War, moved to Virginia and became a carriage maker. When the conflict ensued, he enlisted in the Virginia forces and became a rebel soldier.
“In late June 1863, he was marching north to Gettysburg when he spied his friend, Jack Skelly, among some Union prisoners on the side of the road,” Raridon said.
“According to the family story, Jack gave Wesley a letter to take to Jennie’s mother in Gettysburg. Her father was deceased, and the family has always maintained this was proposal of marriage.”
In July 1863, Culp went to visit relatives at his uncle’s farm, the famous Culp’s Hill, site of a firece battle. He promised he would deliver the letter to Jennie’s mother. His body was found the next morning, and the letter was never delivered.
“I have often pondered how those three deaths, within a few days of each other, really are emblematic of the terrible cost and tragedy of that un-civil war,” Raridon said.
His ancestor, Jennie’s sister Georgia, had just given birth and was not allowed to leave the house during the battle. She was on the dais, with her infant son, when Abraham Lincoln spoke on Nov. 19, 1863, during dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg.
“My great-grandmother, also named Georgia Wade McClellan, remembered her grandmother telling of this event when she was a little girl in Iowa,” Raridon recalled.
The Rockford attorney joined relatives from all over the country at the reunion 12 years ago. They toured the historic battlefield and paid their respects to family history in the Jennie Wade House Museum.
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A clay model of a bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln that is being cast by Decatur sculptor John McClarey was on display during a Memorial Day program in Rockford.
The completed work is scheduled for placement at the Winnebago County Courthouse on Sunday, Sept. 27, when Lincoln Square will be dedicated.
During the program last month, Rockford attorney Michael Wade Raridon participated in the unveiling of a century-old bronze tablet of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.