Hiram F. Stevens

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Hiram F. Stevens
Personal details
Born
Hiram Fairchild Stevens

(1852-09-11)September 11, 1852
St. Albans, Vermont, US
DiedMarch 9, 1904(1904-03-09) (aged 51)
Saint Paul, Minnesota, US
Education
Signature

Hiram Fairchild Stevens (September 11, 1852 – March 9, 1904) was an American

academic from Minnesota. He was one of the five co-founders of William Mitchell College of Law and a charter member of the American Bar Association
.

Early life and education

Stevens was born in

U.S. Civil War, the family's loss of income forced the son to work to support his mother and three siblings. Despite the hardship, Stevens eventually graduated from the University of Vermont in 1872, and then Columbia Law School in 1874. During that time he also read law with former Judge John K. Porter of the New York Court of Appeals
in the offices of Porter, Lowrey, Soren and Stone.

Career

Stevens was admitted to the Vermont bar and practiced there for five years before moving to

U.S. Supreme Court
: Northern Pacific Railway v. Smith, 171 U.S. 260 (1898), Scott v. DeWeese, 181 U.S. 202 (1901), and Gertgens v. O'Connor, 191 U.S. 237 (1903).

Throughout his life, Stevens was extremely active in public affairs. He was not only a charter member of the American Bar Association (1878) and a long-serving member of its General Council, but also a charter member of the Vermont State Bar Association (1878) and the Minnesota State Bar Association (1883). In 1901, he was elected president of the latter after it had been reestablished. Politically, Stevens served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1889 to 1891, and then in the Minnesota Senate from 1891 to 1899. He was a Republican.

In 1900, along with

Moses Clapp, Thomas D. O'Brien and Clarence Halbert, Stevens founded the St. Paul College of Law, the first predecessor of William Mitchell College of Law. The group had asked former Justice William B. Mitchell of the Minnesota Supreme Court
to become the first Dean of the school, but the judge died from a sudden stroke before assuming office and Stevens took his place.

Despite their educational partnership, Stevens had a publicized falling-out with Clapp after the latter had been elected to the U.S. Senate. Clapp categorically refused to consider him when Stevens' name was bruited as a potential nominee to the new seat on the

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.[3] Because he and many others in the Minnesota legal community thought the move unjustified, Stevens retaliated by openly discussing a challenge to Clapp for his Senate seat in the 1904 elections.[3] Stevens died in Saint Paul on March 9 of that year, before he could officially declare his candidacy.[4]

References

  1. ^ Henry A. Castle, History of St. Paul and Vicinity, pg. 778 (1912).
  2. ^ Louis H. Cornish, A National Register of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, pg. 618 (1902).
  3. ^
    The Minneapolis Journal
    . Vol. 93. October 5, 1901. p. 1. Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
  4. The Minneapolis Times. March 10, 1904. pp. 1, 3
    . Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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