Draft:Stephen DeWolf
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Stephen Armstrong DeWolf (March 1833 – October 27, 1907) was a justice of the Territorial Montana Supreme Court, appointed by President Grover Cleveland and serving from 1888 to 1889.[1]
Born in Hawkins County, Tennessee,[1][2] DeWolf studied at the Pennsylvania University at Gettysburg, and the Jefferson College in Cannonsburg.[2] He entered law studies at Lexington, Missouri, and graduated from Lebanon Law School of Cumberland University in 1857.[1][2] In 1859, after briefly practicing law in Lexington, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, as agent and attorney for army contractors Russell, Magors & Waddle.[2]
Subsequently, he accepted the editorial management of the Valley Tan newspaper,[1][2] and while holding this position wrote the first account of the Mountain Meadow Massacre.[2] This article "created so much hostility in Mormon circles, that a delegation of saints waited on him, demanding a retraction".[2]
He refused,and was warned to leave Salt Lake without further notice. He told them he would fight out the battle on that line. He did not receive any physical injury, but his office was destroyed by a mob in his absence. After a residence of five years in the city he engaged in the livestock business in California. Three years after he returned to Salt Lake, and acted as United States Attorney for Utah. In 1879 he settled at Butte, opening a law-office that year. He was elected representative from Deer Lodge Co. in 1881, ran for the Territorial Council on the democratic ticket at the following election, but was defeated by eleven votes.[2]
DeWolfe was appointed the United States Attorney for the state of Utah in 1867. He moved to Butte, Montana in 1879 and engaged in the general practice of law there. He was elected to be a member of the Twelfth Montana Legislative Assembly (1881) and to be a member of the Fourteenth Legislative Council (1885). Justice DeWolfe served as the Butte City Attorney from 1886-1888 and was appointed an associate justice of the Montana Territorial Supreme Court by President Cleveland in 1888.[1]
DeWolf never married, but lived with his sister his entire life. He died in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 74.[1][3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Biographies and Histories of Montana's Justices, Judges, and Courts, 1865-2020" (PDF). State Law Library of Montana. 2020. p. 31.
This work in is in the public domain, reproduction and non-commercial distribution of this work are permitted with attribution.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Michael A. Leeson, History of Montana, 1739-1885: A History of Its Discovery and Settlement (1885), p. 1331.
- ^ "Judge Stephen De Wolf", The Butte Daily Post (October 29, 1901), p. 4.
Category:1833 births
Category:1907 deaths
Category:Justices of the Montana Supreme Court
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