WI BIO - Dane Co - SPOONER, Philip Loring
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol I, pp 272-277

Philip Loring SPOONER, for many years a distinguished member of the Wisconsin 
bar, was born at New Bedford [Middlesex County], Massachusetts, 11 January 
1811, and died at Madison [Dane County], Wisconsin, 02 November 1887. About 
1825 his family removed to [p 273] Ohio, where they remained until 1829 or 
1830, and finally settled at Lawrenceburgh [Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County], 
Indiana, from which place Mr. [Philip Loring] SPOONER came to Madison [Dane 
County, WI], 01 June 1859.

On 11 September 1839, he [Philip Loring SPOONER] was married to Miss Lydia 
Lord COIT, a daughter of the Hon. Roger COIT, of Plainfield [Windham County], 
Connecticut, "a fit companion for such a man" as has been elsewhere recorded 
of her, and they had seven children, four of whom survive their honored 
father, namely: (1) John C., of Hudson [St. Croix County], Wisconsin, who 
for six years so ably represented his State in the United States Senate; (2) 
Philip Loring, Jr., first Insurance Commissioner of Wisconsin, an office held 
by him for nine years, also a Mayor of the capital city [Madison, Dane 
County, WI]; (3) Roger C., Assistant Insurance Commissioner, and twice 
elected Chairman of the Dane County Republican committee; and (4) Mary C., 
wife of Dr. J. W. VANCE, who was through all the years of her father's 
failing eyesight, as another has so beautifully and truthfully said, "Like 
unto the daughter of the immortal MILTON," in her loyalty and devotion. The 
mother and wife [Lydia Lord (COIT) SPOONER] died 28 August 1881.

Mr. [Philip Loring] SPOONER was of English extraction, his ancestors having 
been of the old Plymouth Colony, among the little band of pilgrims who early 
came to this country to be the founders of a great nation, a band, "who 
builded better than they know," while the ancestors of Mr. SPOONER's beloved 
wife, the COITS, are of Welsh extraction, and as Hildreth has it, to be 
reckoned "among the Puritan families of New England." [Originally this 
paragraph, as well as the next one, appeared at the end of this biography.]

The writer of this sketch first became acquainted with Judge SPOONER during 
the time his eldest son was Assistant Attorney General in our capitol and he 
used often to observe how the son conferred with the father upon the various 
difficult legal questions which came up for consideration before the State 
Law Department. Certainly he could have found no riper, or safer counselor.

On the death of Mr. SPOONER, interesting and appropriate proceedings were 
held in the Circuit Court for Dane County [WI], in the United States District 
Court and in the Supreme Court of the State, in which his brethren of the 
legal profession, united in sincere encomiums upon his sterling traits of 
character, as a man and citizen and his eminent ability as a lawyer. The 
panegyrics of these gentlemen, who knew him so well as a lawyer, and loved 
and respected him so sincerely as a citizen, are placed upon the records of 
the courts, in which he and they practiced together, and are enduring 
memorials of his life and service, an exemplar for the coming generations of 
lawyers and an open record to all. No better and truer account of Mr. 
SPOONER's citizenship and of the estimation in which he was held by his 
co-laborers in the profession could be obtained, than by transcribing some 
extracts from the spontaneous and heartfelt tributes of his memory, the 
voluntary offerings of those who best knew his personal virtues and exalted 
legal attainments.

The late Judge A. B. BRALEY said of him: "As a lawyer he possessed immense 
strength and exhibited consummate ability. He was logical, critical, and 
clear. He was always cool, calm, and collected, never aiming at ornament, 
but went straight to the center. The ample resources of his intellect were 
always at his command. Words and sentences flowed from his lips with 
wonderful deliberation. He was slow in his utterances, but his language was 
marked with that careful precision, which indicated thought and preparation. 
The fabric of his arguments was always erected upon solid masonry. He laid 
his foundations deep, and then built layer after layer, until when he had 
finished you saw before you a beautiful superstructure, systematic, and 
logical in all its proportions. He never seemed to pause to catch a word, 
but every sentence he uttered was formed and constructed before it came to 
his lips, and when it was spoken it often surprised you with its emphasis. 
Judge SPOONER's mind was essentially and exceptionally pure, and the habits, 
actions and manifestations of his life were marked by that same purity. He 
was not only a very able man, but an exceptionally good one. No acts of 
dishonor, no questionable habits, no words of even impurity can be conjured 
up to his long life to case a single blemish upon his noble memory. What a 
proud fame he has left as a rich heritage for his children! Far better than 
goods or lands, money or bank stock, [p 274] for these things will perish and 
fade away, while a pure and honest name remains forever. It is pleasant to 
be able to say such things of the dead."

The late Hon. Alva STEWART, Judge of the Circuit Court for Dane County, said 
from the bench: "As a lawyer I had known Mr. [Philip Loring] SPOONER for 
about a quarter of a century, and almost from the time he made this city 
[Madison, Dane County, WI] his home. What I say of him will relate only to 
him after he came here. I remember well the first time I ever saw him. I 
then heard him argue a case in the Supreme Court. I was sitting by the side 
of Chauncey ABBOTT, now dead, but then one of the most prominent lawyers of 
the Madison bar, then, as now, among the ablest bars in the State, and he 
said to me, as Judge SPOONER arose, and commenced addressing the court: 
'Listen to him and see with what wonderful clearness he will present his 
case.' I did so and found that the prediction of Mr. ABBOTT was correct."

Hon. J. H. CARPENTER, Judge of the County Court of Dane County [WI], and 
president of the Bar Association of that county, said that, "as a lawyer, in 
some respects he was without a peer. The legal points in a cause, as 
represented by the facts never escaped his attention. He was so constituted 
that he could examine with patience all the facts for and against his client 
in a cause, and protect the client's interest as few lawyers are able to do. 
His life was an exemplification of a Christian character worthy of our 
admiration. He could state a legal proposition with remarkable accuracy and 
precision, and could fortify his proposition with logic as nearly inexorable 
as human intellect is permitted to make it. As a citizen he was quiet and 
unobtrusive, but here also he acted well his part. To the claims of charity 
he gave freely of his substance. In his home he was chief, loved, and 
revered. Judge SPOONER prepared for the end of this life and the beginning 
of the next."

Hon. I. C. SLOAN, a member of the faculty of the [Wisconsin] State University 
[at Madison] gave this high testimony: "In my judgment Judge SPOONER was a 
remarkable man, and one possessed of extraordinary courage. He illustrates 
as well the great merit and strength that exists in repose of character or 
that results from a well-balanced mind, faculties harmoniously arranged in 
relation to each other. He settled here in early days and from that time his 
reputation ever grew. Perhaps his strides of advancement were not as rapid 
as other men, but withal his great mind grew as time went on. Judge SPOONER 
had what is called a legal mind, a mind that leads to the front ranks in the 
profession of the law. He possessed the reasoning faculty in a high degree 
and thereby he was completely enabled to compare, measure and weigh questions 
and solve legal problems. The word of censure I have never heard spoken of 
Judge SPOONER, but as a man he was revered and honored. In the legal 
profession he stood in the front ranks, not only of the State, but of the 
country. No client's rights suffered that were intrusted to the hands of 
Judge SPOONER and as an example for young men of the legal profession to 
follow he was pre-eminent and without a peer."

Gen. E. E. BRYANT, dean of the law department [University of WI, at Madison], 
said: "He had the first requisite of a great lawyer, a character above 
reproach, about suspicion, free from the frailties that sometimes mar great 
talents. As the true Christian exemplifies his religion, so Mr. SPOONER in 
his life and his intercourse and dealings with his fellow men illustrated 
that high sense of duty, that honor, justice [p 275] consideration of the 
rights of others, which are the essence and spirit of the law. To him the 
law was the rule of conduct, and to its mandates he conformed his life in the 
spirit of true obedience. He rendered to every man his due in legal right, 
in courtesy, in recognition, in kindly intercourse, in charity and sympathy. 
And so his life was blameless. Not ostentatiously nor by profession, but by 
daily walk and life he lived the Christian gentleman, and showed always how 
well the kindly grace, the honorable bearing, the guileless spirit, can blend 
with the courage, the force and aggressiveness in professional encounter of 
the true lawyer. He was all his life a student. In his practice he was famed 
no less in Wisconsin than in Indiana and Ohio, where his earlier professional 
life was spent, for his studious preparation of his cases. When dean of 
the faculty he could never do enough probing to the bottom and leading his 
students to do so, for the true rules and doctrines of the law. Even when in 
the late evening of his life he had retired from practice and from connection 
with this college, he still loved to study cases, and for pastime kept 
informed on the important cases before the courts. In profound legal 
learning he was among the very first who adorned the legal bar of the State. 
His knowledge was comprehensive, accurate and critical. He knew the law, its 
principles and doctrines. He knew what was in the books and he reflected 
long and patiently upon it, until his mind was a rich storehouse of judicial 
lore, all arranged and at command. In the preparation of his cases he opened 
the way for success. He deemed it his duty to examine a case thoroughly. In 
his investigation he viewed the case thoroughly from all sides. He studied 
it from the adverse side to find its vulnerable points. He cross-examined 
his client and witnesses in the council room with relentless scrutiny, and 
drew from them every point and detail of their knowledge. He viewed the case 
in all its aspects and was guarded from attack from every quarter. He was 
rarely ever surprised. Every contingency was provided for, every assault 
anticipated, and the antagonist soon found that an alert, wary, and 
thoroughly equipped master was against him. He went into the court 
thoroughly informed as to the facts of his case and as to the law. In the 
courtesy of the bar his bearing was admirable. Gentle and unostentatious, 
he was fair to his opponent and conducted a legal controversy as it should be 
conducted, without irritating personalities, or the querulous or quarrelsome 
spirit so often annoying to courts, jurors, and witnesses. "In legal 
arguments he was the admiration of the bench and bar. To him all men loved 
to listen, and his students hung upon his words. He was one, who by long and 
laborious ascent had climbed to those high tablelands of the law, where men 
see with clarified vision, in all its symmetry and beauty, the broad domain of 
jurisprudence. Such men, venerable in years, imbued with law, seem like 
seers and prophets, in the ripened wisdom gained by so long study of the 
noblest science within reach of finite minds."

Hon. Orsamus COLE, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, bore 
this high testimony of the legal abilities of Mr. SPOONER: "Indeed he might 
be said to be master of every branch of law. He certainly was distinguished 
for great learning and attainments. In arguing cases his manner was calm, 
deliberate and unimpassioned. His language was clear, plain and forcible. 
He never indulged in rhetoric or any appeal [p 276] to the emotions. He had 
great powers of analysis and possessed the rare faculty of being able to 
grasp a legal or abstract proposition and holding it before the mind, so to 
speak, as one might a visible object before the eye, contemplating it from 
all points of view, eliminating whatever was immaterial or non-essential and 
finally extracting the real principle, the heart and core of the matter and 
applying it to the facts of his case. He was a consummate master of pure 
reasoning; his propositions were bound together like chain armor; by close, 
severe logic; and one who would overthrow his propositions must have strength 
to crush the entire argument, for the proposition could not be answered in 
detail."

Judge PINNEY, now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, at the memorial 
exercises before the Circuit Court of Dane County, in a long and appropriate 
tribute to Judge SPOONER, said: "The many graduates of the law school, now 
active, useful and influential members of the profession in the Northwest 
will cherish his memory with an affectionate regard, and long remember the 
painstaking accuracy and clearness of statement, and facility of 
illustration, which characterized him in all his personal intercourse, and 
social and business relations. Judge SPOONER never sought office or 
notoriety. He was ever modest and unobtrusive. His enjoyments were in the 
home circle, with his books, his studies, and his chosen friends. No 
official position, none of the dignities and honors so much sought after and 
struggled for in life could have added anything of worth to his character, or 
the true regard and esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. In his 
arguments in court he was careful, accurate and exhaustive. His manner was 
earnest, serious and always considerate and respectful, and we bear in kindly 
remembrance the pleasure, satisfaction, and advantage, which we have derived 
from our personal and professional intercourse with him, and the benefit the 
bar has received as a whole, on account of his attainments as a lawyer, and 
his personal integrity and example."

Mr. T. J. LAMB, of the Madison bar, very feelingly said: "I count it one of 
the peculiar and happy privileges I have enjoyed, that at a comparatively 
early period in my professional life, I was associated with Judge SPOONER for 
a number of years on terms of the closest intimacy in the practice of our 
profession. During those years I think I came to know our deceased brother 
well. I can speak with the assurance of accurate knowledge of those 
qualities of character in the man, that now claim, for his surviving 
associates and this court, those tokens of respect and honor we now and here 
offer to his memory, the eulogy of the many noble and honorable qualities of 
head and heart and life, which distinguished our departed brother, although I 
may say that in ruling his own spirit and fashioning his own life, with a 
nice regard to its force and effect on his own character, and the character 
and welfare of all his neighbors, and those whom he might influence, he was 
the peer of any of his contemporaries. He loved justice and was always ready 
to yield it to an opponent, as well as to demand it for his client. It was 
frequent saying with him that one should demand nothing more than was his 
right, and be content with nothing less. His sense of honor was lofty, and 
not only were his acts honest, but the very habit of his thought was 
righteous. I do not think the logic of his activities could work on any 
other than [p 277] the straight and honest lines of truth. Actuated and 
controlled by these and kindred qualities of character in his intercourse, 
and contests with his brethren at the bar, and in advocacy before the 
tribunals of the State and nation, it is not strange that he passed through a 
long and busy life in active practice, without making an enemy, but on the 
contrary always winning the respect and regard of his brethren at the bar and 
golden opinions from the judges who heard his masterly arguments and 
witnessed the exertion of his splendid abilities in behalf of those whose 
rights he championed before them. A beautiful and noble spirit has gone from 
among us, but there remains, and will ever remain to those who know his worth 
and life a fragrant memory, the recollection of a pure and noble life lived 
among us, sullied by no deserved reproach, dimmed by no unworthy deed."

Submitted by Cathy Kubly