Hezekiah Lord Hosmer

Background

Hosmer was born at Hudson, Columbia County, N. Y. , in 1814, the son of Hezekiah Lord and Susan (Throop) Hosmer and a great-grandson of Titus Hosmer.

As a boy he followed his inclination to go W.

Education

At sixteen he moved on to Cleveland, Ohio, where a relative named John W. Allen was practicing law.

Career

In 1835 he was admitted to the bar. He began to practise at Willoughby, Ohio, then removed successively to Painesville, Maumee City, and Perrysburg, riding the circuit of the northwestern Ohio counties but also giving part of his time to newspaper work. In 1844 he settled at Toledo and became editor and part proprietor of the Toledo Blade. He also entered the Masonic order and was active in its proceedings. After 1855 he resumed the practice of law but he also continued to write and in 1858 he published at Toledo his Early History of the Maumee Valley, followed by Adela, the Octoroon (1860), from which Dion Boucicault is said to have taken part of the plot for his play of that name.

A Whig by heredity, Hosmer became a Republican and actively supported Lincoln in 1860. When the new administration was inaugurated he went to Washington "hoping to secure the position of Congressional Librarian. " That hope was not realized; but through James M. Ashley, a representative from his district, who was chairman of the House committee on territories, Hosmer was appointed secretary of that committee. This proved the turning point in his career, for in 1864 the territory of Montana was organized and Hosmer succeeded in securing an appointment on June 30, 1864, as chief justice of the territorial supreme court.

Unfortunately, however, the organic act failed to provide also a system of law for the territory and when Hosmer reached Virginia City in October 1864, he had no workable jurisprudence to apply. The law of the Louisiana Purchase, out of which Montana had been largely formed, was the Spanish civil law, and theoretically it continued; but Hosmer knew only the common law, and this he adopted as the legal system. In matters of procedure he decided to follow the practice act passed by the Idaho legislature the previous winter, and later, when questions of priority in water rights arose in mining litigation, he followed the decisions previously handed down in California cases. The three newly appointed judges who constituted the territorial supreme court were to sit separately at nisi prius, as well as in banc.

Hosmer opened his court on the first Monday in December 1864 in the dining hall of the Planters' House in Virginia City. The first term of the supreme court began in the following May, and it soon appeared that the frontier community was none too sympathetic with legal modes of thought. Before long the court was engaged in a conflict with the legislature which culminated in a legislative resolution calling upon the chief justice to resign. Hosmer ignored it, serving his full term of four years.

In the autumn of 1865 he went East on a visit, and while in New York he delivered before the Travellers' Club an address on Montana, descriptive of the territory's resources, which was later published. On his return he wrote an account of his journey under the title A Trip to the States. In 1869, the year following the expiration of his term as chief justice, he was appointed postmaster at Virginia City and served till 1872 when he removed to San Francisco. There he resided until his death, holding positions in the custom-house and in the state mining bureau. He also continued his literary work and in 1887 published Bacon and Shakespeare in the Sonnets, exploiting the Baconian cipher theory.

Achievements

• He is remembered as a lawyer, judge, journalist, and author. Hosmer authored a number of works on various subjects: a history, Early History of the Maumee Valley (1858); an anti-slavery novel, Adela, the Octoroon (1860); and Bacon and Shakespeare in the Sonnets (1887).

Works

More photos

• book

  • Bacon and Shakespeare in the Sonnets (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Bacon and Shakespeare in the Sonnets I ask...)

  • Early History of the Maumee Valley (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Early History of the Maumee Valley Major Ca...)

  • Adela, The Octoroon (1860)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Membership

He continued his Masonic activities until his death.

Connections

Hosmer was three times married: to Sarah Seward, who died in 1839; to Jane Thompson, who died in 1848; and to Mary Stower, who died in 1858.

Father:

Hezekiah Lord Hosmer

Mother:

Susan (Throop) Hosmer

Spouse:

Sarah Seward

Spouse:

Mary Stower

Spouse:

Jane Thompson

Great-grandfather:

Titus Hosmer

Son:

Richard Hosmer

1848–1848

Son:

John Allen Hosmer

1850–1907

References

• Montana, the land and the people,
• Genealogy of the Hosmer Family (Classic Reprint)
• Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana, Vol. 3: With Its Transactions, Officers and Members (Classic Reprint)