Sumner Howard (May 7, 1835September 6, 1890) was an American
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and politician who served as Chief Justice on the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court, Speaker of the
Michigan House of Representatives
The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...
, and Mayor of
Prescott, Arizona Territory.
Biography
Howard was born on May 7, 1835, to Waldo and Mary Howard in
Brockport, New York
Brockport is a village in the Town of Sweden, with two tiny portions in the Town of Clarkson, in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 7,104 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The name is derived from Heil Brockway, an early settler. ...
. In the year following his birth, his family moved to
Flint, Michigan
Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...
. He was educated in public schools. At age fifteen, Howard began working in local newspaper offices; first at the ''Genesee Democrat'' and later the ''Wolverine Citizen''. When he was 19, Howard began
reading law at a local law office. Soon after, he enrolled at the
State and National Law School in
Poughkeepsie, New York, and graduated in either 1855 or 1856.
Following graduation, Howard returned to Michigan and became a defense attorney. His first big case was the acquittal by reason of insanity of Joshua Solomon Johnson, who was accused of killing a father and his two sons. As a result of his courtroom performance, Howard gained a reputation as one of the state's best trial lawyers of his day. Howard married Lucy R. Mason in 1857. The union produced a daughter, May, and an adopted son, Frank.
Running on the
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
ticket, Howard was elected
Genesee County prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
in 1858. With the outbreak of the
American Civil War, Howard volunteered for the infantry and was commissioned a second lieutenant in July 1861. For the majority of the war, he was assigned recruiting duties. Howard was scheduled to become captain of a 100-man
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
that he had raised shortly before the
Battle of Gettysburg, but an illness prevented him from assuming command. Howard resigned from military in September 1863 and returned to Flint, Michigan.
Howard ran for Genesee County prosecutor on the
Republican ticket in 1864. He was re-elected and served three consecutive terms. Howard represented Flint's third ward on the
city council from 1866 till 1870. He served as a delegate to Michigan's 1867 constitutional convention and advocated for
prohibition during the proceedings.
On March 30, 1876, President
Ulysses S. Grant nominated Howard to become
United States Attorney for
Utah Territory. In this role, Howard was the prosecutor of
John Doyle Lee
John Doyle Lee (September 6, 1812 – March 23, 1877) was an American pioneer and prominent early member of the Latter Day Saint Movement in Utah. Lee was later convicted as a mass murderer for his complicity in the Mountain Meadows massacre, se ...
for his involvement in the
Mountain Meadows massacre. Following Lee's prosecution, Howard planned prosecutions of other Mormon leaders, including
Brigham Young. After Young died, Howard felt his task in Utah was completed and submitted his resignation at the beginning of 1878. He then returned to Michigan and private legal practice.
Howard was a delegate to
1880 Republican National Convention
The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880, at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Delegates nominated James A. Garfield of Ohio and Chester A. Arthur of New York as the offic ...
. Two years later he was elected to the
Michigan House of Representatives
The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...
. In the legislature, Howard was selected as
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...
and was influential in the election of
Thomas W. Palmer
Thomas Witherell Palmer (January 25, 1830 – June 1, 1913) was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. He is considered to be one of the most significant figures in the history of Detroit, Michigan.
Palmer was born in Detroit, where his ...
over
Thomas W. Ferry
Thomas White Ferry (June 10, 1827October 13, 1896), or T.W. Ferry, was a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and acting Vice President of the United States from the State of Michigan. Except for President Gerald Ford, no Michigan politician has ...
for a seat in the
United States Senate. He was selected as a delegate for the
1884 Republican National Convention
The 1884 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Exposition Hall in Chicago, Illinois, on June 3–6, 1884. It resulted in the nomination of former House Speaker James G. Blaine from Maine for presiden ...
, but did not attend.
President
Chester A. Arthur nominated Howard to become Chief Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court on March 18, 1884. He had requested an appointment in Utah but was instead sent to Arizona. The new Chief Justice was commissioned on March 26 and took the oath of office in
Prescott on May 20, 1884. Howard was assigned to the third judicial district, encompassing
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
,
Mohave, and
Yavapai counties (an area that includes the modern day
Coconino and
Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
counties). Three appellate rulings authored by Howard are in the ''Arizona Reports''. In ''Tidball v. Williams'', 2 Arizona 50 (1885), Howard found that United States Commissioners have jurisdiction outside their district of residence even if they rarely use it and that a Marshal may serve an arrest warrant which uses a fictitious name. In ''The Copper Queen Mining Company v. The Arizona Prince Copper Company'', 2 Arizona (1885), the parties to the dispute had arranged for the Cochise County sheriff to have the jury members "feasted and wined" during the original trial. During the appeal, Howard found there were no grounds to overturn the original ruling as no evidence that any juror was too intoxicated to perform his function had been presented. Howard's findings in ''Paul v. Callum'', 2 Arizona 16 (1885) were later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
With President
Grover Cleveland having come into office, Howard sensed he was about to be removed and submitted his resignation in October 1885 to ease the appointment of
John C. Shields
John Calhoun Shields (January 21, 1848 – April 30, 1892) was an American jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court. Granted a recess appointment by President Grover Cleveland, he is the only nominee to the A ...
to the Arizona
bench. His final day in court was November 9, 1885, the day Shields was sworn in. Shields' nomination was later rejected by the
United States Senate. Upon returning to private life, he formed a law partnership with John A. Rush and
Edmund W. Wells. Howard continued to practice law by himself after the partnership dissolved in 1887.
Howard was elected Mayor of Prescott on January 4, 1887, after running without opposition. The next year he represented Arizona Territory as a delegate to the
1888 Republican National Convention
The 1888 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois, on June 19–25, 1888. It resulted in the nomination of former Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana for preside ...
. In June 1889, Howard sent a letter to
U.S. Attorney General William H. H. Miller requesting reappointment to the Arizona bench. Despite any supporting evidence corroborating the claim, the letter bears a hand-written note saying "Drinks too much".
In his later years, Howard returned to Flint, Michigan. There he developed an interest in agriculture, serving on the county fair board and operating a small farm in
Burton
Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to:
Companies
* Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer
** Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937
**The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...
. His wife donated the land for Flint's first African-American church. Howard died on September 6, 1890.
Initially buried in a family plot but them moved to Flint's
Glenwood Cemetery.
The land on which Howard's Flint mansion was built was used for a public housing project in 1968 named "Howard Estates".
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Sumner
1835 births
1890 deaths
Justices of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court
Chief Justices of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court
Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives
Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives
United States Attorneys for the District of Utah
Mayors of Prescott, Arizona
Michigan city council members
Politicians from Flint, Michigan
People from Brockport, New York
People of Michigan in the American Civil War
Michigan lawyers
Arizona Republicans
19th-century American legislators
19th-century American lawyers
Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Flint, Michigan)
United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
People from Burton, Michigan
19th-century American judges