LAW, JOHN: 1796-1873.
John Law deserves special consideration in this work, since he was one of the two first Indiana historians who appear to have been gathering notes at about the same time. (John B. Dillon first published in 1843, Law in 1839.) He is, by comparison with Dillon, a minor scholar indeed but his contribution was important and related to Vincennes, first white town of the state.
The following excerpts from an article in the MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY for May, 1891, by Frank A. Myers, of Vincennes, give an outline of his busy life:
"New London, Connecticut, was the birthplace of Judge Law, and he first saw the light October 2, 1796. His early life was in nowise distinguished from the ordinary youth of his day. When eighteen years old he was graduated from Yale, afterward studied law, and in 1817 was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of his native state. The same year, which was that after Indiana was admitted into the Union, he started for the 'great far west,' as Post Vincennes was considered when there were no railroads or telegraph lines in the country. In that pioneer French town he opened a law- office and practiced his profession. He soon gained prominence, and in the course of a long and useful life held many responsible official positions. His talents and eloquence advanced him in public estimation, and for nearly a century he was a leading citizen of the southern part of Indiana .
"Not long after the alliance of his interests with those of Vincennes he was elected prosecuting attorney of that circuit, then embracing nearly one-half of the settled portion of the state … He was elected to the Legislature in 1823 and served in that body actively and well, yet his tastes did not run in political directions and when his term expired he returned to the practice of his profession. In 1830 the Indiana legislature elected him judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, a position he held for one year, retiring March 30, 1831. He presided, however, as judge upon the same bench from March, 1844, to March, 1850. President Van Buren in 1838 appointed him receiver of public moneys for the page: 189[View Page 189] district of Vincennes, a post he filled faithfully four years. His commission included the power to adjust land titles.
"Associated with James B. McCall, Lucius H. Scott, and his brother William H. Law, Judge Law purchased a tract consisting of seven hundred acres of land on the Ohio river, adjoining Evansville, and laid it out in lots, giving it the name of Lamasco, now a part of Evansville … After the completion of the Wabash & Erie canal to Evansville he moved there with his family in 1851. In 1855 President Pierce appointed him judge of the Court of Claims for Indiana and Illinois , the court to be held at Vincennes. Being a man of large intellectual calibre his decisions were rarely called in question. His patriotic friends induced him to run for Congress from the first district of Indiana in 1860, and he was elected, serving on the library committee and on the committee on Revolutionary pensions … Law was re-elected to Congress in 1862, and his congressional career was eminently useful. He impressed his fellow-members with his broad and liberal intellect, and gained their respect, and received the regrets of his constituents when he retired once more to private life. On several occasions he was a prominent candidate for the United States Senate. He died in Evansville Oct. 7, 1873 …
"Judge Law married Sarah Ewing, a daughter of Nat[haniel] Ewing, the first receiver of public moneys at the Vincennes land office. He reared a large family of sons and daughters …
"Colonel Francois Vigo presented a claim against the United States for provisions and war materials furnished General George Rogers Clark in 1779, when Clark captured Vincennes from the British, and Judge John Law was his attorney in this celebrated case against the government. More than forty years after the goods were furnished Congress agreed to pay the principal of the draft drawn by General Clark. The claim was for nearly eight thousand dollars, but Colonel Vigo refused the proposed payment unless the interest was also paid. Both principal and interest were paid in 1877, but prior to the settlement both Colonel Vigo and Judge Law had passed away. Justice was never done them by the government they served. The payment of the claim to the heirs was the sorriest sort of justice …
"His greatest work, that which will do him the most honor in after generations, is The History of Vincennes, at first an address before the Vincennes Historical and Antiquarian Society when he was its president. Two thousand copies of it were soon exhausted, and in 1858 he published a new edition with additions and illustrations, which was also soon exhausted, so that now it is extremely difficult to secure a copy."
Condensed from the MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, May, 1891.
- Address Delivered Before the Vincennes Historical and
Antiquarian Society, Feb. 22, 1839. Louisville,
1839.
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Later published in extended form as:
- The Colonial History of Vincennes, Under the French, British,
and American Governments, from Its First Settlement Down to the Territorial
Administration of General William Henry Harrison ….
Vincennes, 1858.
- Early History of Masonry in Indiana. An Address Delivered
Before the Masonic Fraternity of Evansville, Ind., on St. John's
Day, 1867. Evansville, Ind., 1868.
