Thomas Wilson Spence
Encyclopedia
Thomas Wilson Spence of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
was a Wisconsin
lawyer and a Republican
member of the Wisconsin Legislature
. A member of the “Ohio Five” matriculating at Cornell University
during that institution’s early years, counselor Spence died suddenly, aged 65, on February 23, 1912 while making oral argument in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Chambers at Madison, Wisconsin. “He died with his tie on.”
. In fact, he was not ‘native’ but rather born in Dungannon
, County Tyrone
, Ireland
on September 2, 1846. The family immigrated to Chillicothe, Ohio
in the wake of 'Án Gorta Mór' or the 'Great Famine' of 1845-1848. The Spence family relocated to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1865. Spence returned to Ohio for studies at Ohio Wesleyan University
and joined the Phi Kappa Psi
Fraternity. He transferred to Cornell in 1869 with several fraternity brothers, taking his Bachelor of Arts, classical course in 1870, after serving as 'the fourth founder' of the New York Alpha Chapter, Phi Kappa Psi at Cornell University. He was a member of the Irving Literary Society
.
Spence married into a family with ties to upstate New York. His spouse, Mary Cornelia Talmidge of Granville, Wisconsin
, was born March 21, 1855 to Nancy Ann Eastman (b. 1820) of Oswego, New York
, and Montgomery Wilson Talmidge (1816–1887), hardware merchant, whose parents were from New York. Mr. Spence and his wife had one child, Thomas Henry Spence, a Yale man, class of 1899.
that Thomas Spence was listed in the Blue Book of 1879, representing the Third District, Fond du Lac with a Population of 15,838. His second election in 1879, garnered 1,055 votes, against 605 for John Bunnell, (Democrat), and 507 for James Fitzgerald (Greenbacker).
About 1890, the Spence family moved to Milwaukee, taking up residence at 19 Prospect Avenue. Thomas became a member of the law firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, his partners being Charles Quarles and Joseph Very Quarles, who was a United States Senator from Wisconsin in 1899-1905. In 1902, counselor Spence was listed with fellow fraternity brothers Joseph B. Foraker
and Morris Lyon Buchwalter
in the publication, Notable Men of the West. The firm established by Spence and the Quarles survives, in some respects, in the 21st century. Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. traces its origins to 1881 when Joseph V. Quarles
and John B. Winslow formed the firm of Winslow and Quarles with offices in Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin. Winslow later became Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Joseph V. Quarles remained with the firm and was soon joined by his brother, Charles Quarles and later by Thomas W. Spence. The firm of Quarles and Spence flourished throughout the late 19th century. In 1893 the firm became known as Quarles, Spence and Quarles, the name which the firm held until 1957. Another name change occurred and in 1970 the firm took its current name of Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C., which has more than 25 attorneys. While maintaining the firm's core practice representing the insurance industry, the firm also counsels clients on many litigation, employment and business related matters. While much has changed since the firm's founding in 1881, Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. remains committed to the highest principles of legal scholarship, courtroom performance and client counseling today, just as from 1881 through the present.
chambers at Madison. He was one of the attorney
s in a case which was being argued and he was sitting at the attorneys' table. "He suddenly fell across the table and when attendants reached his side he was dead." Although he had been one of the most active and best known lawyers in Wisconsin, he had not mixed in politics since the days when he practiced in Fond du Lac. Although pressed many times to be a candidate for office he had always
refused."
Two years after counselor Spence’s death, it was written in the History of Wisconsin:
“ . . . the important law firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, with offices in the Sentinel Building at Milwaukee. The interested principals in this firm are all able representatives of the second generation of their respective families in the legal profession in Wisconsin, since each of the members is a son of a distinguished Wisconsin lawyer, the fathers of the present members having likewise been associated in their practice. William C. and Joseph V. Quarles, Jr., are sons of the late Judge Joseph V. Quarles, who was one of the leading members of the Wisconsin bar and who served with distinction as United States Senator and United States District Judge. Thomas H. Spence, the other member of the firm, is a son of the late Thomas W. Spence, whose name is one of marked prominence in connection with the history of Wisconsin jurisprudence.”
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
was a Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
lawyer and a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member of the Wisconsin Legislature
Wisconsin Legislature
The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Wisconsin Senate and the lower Wisconsin Assembly...
. A member of the “Ohio Five” matriculating at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
during that institution’s early years, counselor Spence died suddenly, aged 65, on February 23, 1912 while making oral argument in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Chambers at Madison, Wisconsin. “He died with his tie on.”
Early life
Mr. Spence’s Cornell Alumni News obituary listed him as born at Fond du Lac, WisconsinFond du Lac, Wisconsin
Fond du Lac is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The name is French for bottom of the lake, for it is located at the bottom of Lake Winnebago. The population was 42,203 at the 2000 census...
. In fact, he was not ‘native’ but rather born in Dungannon
Dungannon
Dungannon is a medium-sized town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the third-largest town in the county and a population of 11,139 people was recorded in the 2001 Census. In August 2006, Dungannon won Ulster In Bloom's Best Kept Town Award for the fifth time...
, County Tyrone
County Tyrone
Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
on September 2, 1846. The family immigrated to Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States.Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio and is located in southern Ohio along the Scioto River. The name comes from the Shawnee name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town", as it was a major settlement of...
in the wake of 'Án Gorta Mór' or the 'Great Famine' of 1845-1848. The Spence family relocated to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1865. Spence returned to Ohio for studies at Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...
and joined the Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
Fraternity. He transferred to Cornell in 1869 with several fraternity brothers, taking his Bachelor of Arts, classical course in 1870, after serving as 'the fourth founder' of the New York Alpha Chapter, Phi Kappa Psi at Cornell University. He was a member of the Irving Literary Society
The Irving Literary Society (Cornell University)
Cornell literary societies were a group of 19th century student organizations at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, formed for the purpose of promoting language skills and oratory. The U.S...
.
Spence married into a family with ties to upstate New York. His spouse, Mary Cornelia Talmidge of Granville, Wisconsin
Granville, Wisconsin
Granville was a town located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. One portion was incorporated as the village of Brown Deer in 1955; the remainder was annexed by the city of Milwaukee in 1956. The latter became a neighborhood of Milwaukee.-History:...
, was born March 21, 1855 to Nancy Ann Eastman (b. 1820) of Oswego, New York
Oswego, New York
Oswego is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 18,142 at the 2010 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in north-central New York and promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York"...
, and Montgomery Wilson Talmidge (1816–1887), hardware merchant, whose parents were from New York. Mr. Spence and his wife had one child, Thomas Henry Spence, a Yale man, class of 1899.
Career
Spence began the practice of law at Fond du Lac, hanging his own shingle as the law firm of Coleman & Spence, which then changed its name to Spence & Hiner. He served as postmaster of the town from 1879 to 1883. In 1877 and 1879 he was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature. It was as a member of the Wisconsin State AssemblyWisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin....
that Thomas Spence was listed in the Blue Book of 1879, representing the Third District, Fond du Lac with a Population of 15,838. His second election in 1879, garnered 1,055 votes, against 605 for John Bunnell, (Democrat), and 507 for James Fitzgerald (Greenbacker).
About 1890, the Spence family moved to Milwaukee, taking up residence at 19 Prospect Avenue. Thomas became a member of the law firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, his partners being Charles Quarles and Joseph Very Quarles, who was a United States Senator from Wisconsin in 1899-1905. In 1902, counselor Spence was listed with fellow fraternity brothers Joseph B. Foraker
Joseph B. Foraker
Joseph Benson Foraker was a Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 37th Governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890.-Early life:...
and Morris Lyon Buchwalter
Morris Lyon Buchwalter
Morris Lyon Buchwalter was a radical Ohio Republican jurist of the post-Civil War era whose jurisprudence set a progressive standard following the failure of Reconstruction and during the rise in management/labor tensions in the Gilded Age.-Early life:Hon...
in the publication, Notable Men of the West. The firm established by Spence and the Quarles survives, in some respects, in the 21st century. Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. traces its origins to 1881 when Joseph V. Quarles
Joseph V. Quarles
Joseph Very Quarles, Jr. was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as a United States federal judge and as a United States Senator from Wisconsin.-Biography:...
and John B. Winslow formed the firm of Winslow and Quarles with offices in Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin. Winslow later became Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Joseph V. Quarles remained with the firm and was soon joined by his brother, Charles Quarles and later by Thomas W. Spence. The firm of Quarles and Spence flourished throughout the late 19th century. In 1893 the firm became known as Quarles, Spence and Quarles, the name which the firm held until 1957. Another name change occurred and in 1970 the firm took its current name of Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C., which has more than 25 attorneys. While maintaining the firm's core practice representing the insurance industry, the firm also counsels clients on many litigation, employment and business related matters. While much has changed since the firm's founding in 1881, Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. remains committed to the highest principles of legal scholarship, courtroom performance and client counseling today, just as from 1881 through the present.
Death
"Mr. Spence's sudden death occurred in the Wisconsin Supreme CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in the state of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin.-Location:...
chambers at Madison. He was one of the attorney
Attorney
Attorney may refer to:*Attorney at law, a lawyer in some countries*Attorney general, the principal legal adviser to a government*Attorney-in-fact, a person authorised to act on someone else's behalf in a legal or business matter by a power of attorney...
s in a case which was being argued and he was sitting at the attorneys' table. "He suddenly fell across the table and when attendants reached his side he was dead." Although he had been one of the most active and best known lawyers in Wisconsin, he had not mixed in politics since the days when he practiced in Fond du Lac. Although pressed many times to be a candidate for office he had always
refused."
Two years after counselor Spence’s death, it was written in the History of Wisconsin:
“ . . . the important law firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, with offices in the Sentinel Building at Milwaukee. The interested principals in this firm are all able representatives of the second generation of their respective families in the legal profession in Wisconsin, since each of the members is a son of a distinguished Wisconsin lawyer, the fathers of the present members having likewise been associated in their practice. William C. and Joseph V. Quarles, Jr., are sons of the late Judge Joseph V. Quarles, who was one of the leading members of the Wisconsin bar and who served with distinction as United States Senator and United States District Judge. Thomas H. Spence, the other member of the firm, is a son of the late Thomas W. Spence, whose name is one of marked prominence in connection with the history of Wisconsin jurisprudence.”