My friends - Today, we are beginning a new series that will bring biographies of men who were attorneys and judges in the JP and in some other area of KY which had an impact on the JP. These bios will be taken primarily from the 1898 work, "Lawyers & Lawmakers of Kentucky". Our subject for today is Wiley Paul Fowler of McCracken County. As is now customary, there will be no data posts tomorrow or on the weekend. I will be working on digitization projects during these next few days, as well as on a piece I am preparing on the Thompson vs. Thompson case that we have discussed here, to be submitted to KY genealogical journals. If time - and my eyes(which are still not back to 100% again) - permit, I may be able to get a miscellaneous file converted and offered, but I think chances are slim on that happening. I hope everyone has a very pleasant Memorial Day weekend. -B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ JP Men of the Judiciary - McCracken County - Wiley Paul Fowler "Wiley Paul Fowler of Paducah was born in Smith County, Tennessee on the 2nd of September, 1799, and died in December, 1880, at the home of his son, Captain Joseph H. Fowler, of Paducah, Kentucky. During his early boyhood, he removed with his parents to Caldwell County, Kentucky, the family locating near Princeton, where he was reared to manhood. His educational advantages were only such as the primitive schools of those days afforded, but through a long life he improved every opportunity to add to his store of knowledge and became recognized as a man of ripe scholarship and wide general information, with a practical fund of common sense that enabled him to readily assimilate the wisdom he had gained and apply it to the every day duties of life. In 1817 a love of adventure caused him to take a trip to the southwest. Journeying toward the Mississippi he reached Island Creek and passed through what is now the upper portion of Paducah, but the entire region as, at that time, undeveloped. He made his way to Texas, where he spent about two years, when the country was ceded to Spain, and he at once returned to Kentucky. Locating at Salem, Livingston County, he took up the study of law,and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1823 and located in what was known as the Jackson District, west of the Tennessee River; buit owing to the scanty settlement in that section, he sought a more lucrative field of labor in Salem, Livingston County, where he remained until about 1835. In that year, he became a resident of Princeton, where he secured a representative clientage, serving as counsel in connection with some of the most important litigation of that portion of the state. He was the contemporary of such prominent lawyers as George W. Barbour, James Campbell, Mat Mayes, Robert Patterson, David McGoodwin and James B[ryson] Husbands - men noted for their superior talent and brilliant work at the bar; but though he met some of the ablest representatives of the legal fraternity in forensic combat, he frequently carried off the laurels and thereby gained a reputation that numbered him among the most able member of that bar. In1839, by appointment of the governor - which appointment was confirmed by the Senate - Mr. Fowler was made judge of the circuit court of the district and continued on the bench for thirteen years, during which time he presided over the first session of the court in Ballard County in1842, the same convening in the month of June at the residence of John Stovall, near Blandville. After the adoption of the constitution of 1849, which provided for the election of the judiciary, Judge Fowler, who was opposed to the system, declined the nomination, but he was again called to the bench of the fourteenth judicial district on its establishment in 1860. In 1862 he was re-elected and served in that capacity until 1868, when he retired from the bench andalso laid aside his profession, with its multitudinous cares and responsibilities, to spend his remaining years in the quieter and more peaceful pursuits of his farm. He became one of the best known judges of western Kentucky, and his course was one which reflected credit on the bar of this portion of the state and showed forth in no uncertain terms his own high legal attainments and judicial skill. His dignity on the bench, his freedom from all impetuosity and his full appreciation of the majesty of the law made him particularly fair and impartial in his decisions; and his logical reasoning, his clear deductions and his comprehensive knowledge of the law, as exhibited in his opinions, awakened the confidence and commanded the respect of the entire bar. Deeply interested in the political questions and issues of the day, Judge Fowler was a supporter of the Whig Party in early life and was a warm advocate of Henry Clay, but on the dissolution of that party he joined the ranks of the Democracy. In 1853 he was sent by the district to the General Assembly, where he served one term. During the war, the judicial district i which he held court was occupied by the Federal and Confederate armies in turn, and Judge Fowler was arrested by the authorities of both. Upon his refusal to obey military orders emanating from the Union Army, he received an order banishing him to Sherman's colony in Yucatan, there to remain until the close of the war, which threat and order were never enforced, anyhow. One the 15th of April 1827, Judge Wiley P. Fowler married Miss Esther Araminta Given, a daughter of Dixon Given, a merchant of prominence. She died on the 1st of July 1847, leaving five sons,all of whom were engaged in steamboating and other river interests, but only one now survives, Captain Joseph H. Fowler, President of the Paducah & Evansville Packet Line Company, which controls much of the transportation business on the [Ohio] river. In 1848 the Judge was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Sarah S. Burnett, who died in April, 1877. In manner the Judge was most courteous, in temperament, genial and social, He held a membership in the Methodist Church for 45 years, and was widely known for his integrity of purpose and honesty of life." -Lawyers & Lawmakers of Kentucky Honorable H. Levin, Editor Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1898 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++