Dighton Corson Biography This biography appears on pages 142-147 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm JUDGE DIGHTON CORSON. In the death of Judge Dighton Corson on the 7th of May, 1915, South Dakota lost one who up to that time had been her oldest living lawyer and one whose life record constitutes an integral chapter in the history of the state. Of him it was said: "The town is better, the state is better and the world is better for his having lived, and that is all the monument that a man needs to leave when he is called to the great beyond. To know him was to love him." His friends will miss him, but the memory of his sweet and beautiful life, of his sincerity and simplicity, will not be forgotten. They will not mourn for him as they would for a young man, cut off in the flower and promise of his youth, but will rejoice in his memory as that of a man who laid down his task in the twilight of the day, when all that he had to do had been nobly and fully completed. Judge Corson was born upon a farm in Somerset county, Maine, October 21, 1827, a son of Isaac and Nancy (Tuttle) Corson, both of whom were natives of the Pine Tree state and members of old New England families. The father died during the early childhood of his son Dighton, who was the youngest of a large family. He attended the public schools of Waterville, Maine, and prepared for college but was denied the advantage of a college course. He entered upon the study of law in Waterville and later continued his preparation for the profession at Bangor, Maine, passing the examination which secured him admission to the bar in 1853. Coming west in the same year, he settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he practiced until 1861, and during that period he was also connected with the work of lawmaking in Wisconsin, for he was a member of the state legislature there in 1857-8. While living in Milwaukee county he was also elected states attorney and served for two years. ill health caused him to seek a change of climate and he went to California, where he remained for a short time and then removed to Nevada. On the organization of the territory he was chosen district attorney and served as states attorney at Virginia City, Nevada. Returning to California, he remained in that state until 1877, when he came to Dakota territory, settling at Deadwood. There he engaged in private practice and was one of the first attorneys for the Homestake Mining Company. He was identified with the bar of South Dakota throughout the remainder of his life, long occupying a position of prominence and distinction among the representatives of the legal profession. He served in the volunteer constitutional convention of 1885 and in the permanent convention of 1889 and took a leading, active and helpful part in forming the present state constitution. In the same year he was elected to the supreme bench of South Dakota, whereon he served continuously until 1913, or for a period of almost twenty-four years, when he retired, being one of two members of the original court to serve thus continuously from its organization. On the 22d of May, 1882, Judge Corson was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Hoffman, who survives him. At the time of his death it was said of Mrs. Corson: "Her unselfish devotion, especially during the closing years of his life, was more beautiful than any poem that was ever written, sweeter than any song that was ever sung. The home life of this good man and this good woman was infinitely more to each of them than all the honors this state has or ever will confer upon either of them. Its devotion, confidence and tenderness speak more eloquently in praise of Dighton Corson's character, of his pure and blameless life, than any orator will ever speak." Perhaps no better characterization of Judge Corson can be given than by quoting from the local papers. The Capital-Journal said: "Dighton Corson had the respect of the bar of South Dakota to such a degree as no other member of the state legal fraternity ever enjoyed. His manner, his make-up and his everyday life were such as made him stand out preeminently as a distinguished gentleman, an able scholar and a citizen far above the average. His cool, deliberate and unimpassioned demeanor marked him in every walk of life as one who would be respected by any and every class of citizens, and his presence in any body of men or social gathering always elicited respectful admiration. . . . His ideals always reflected something for the betterment of mankind. His desires were constantly in the interest of humanity, the community and his family. His personal wants and wishes were not a burden imposed on others, and in all his eventful experience he looked upon life and acted his part as a philosopher. In all his political and official life as well as his personal existence he enjoyed the distinction of being a man above reproach and with no one to charge him with dishonesty or suggest duplicity or failure to keep his word. In the recent years when political campaigns everywhere and in this state in particular were marked with so much bitterness, vindictiveness and animosity, Dighton Corson lived, moved and held positions without once being referred to by anyone, to our knowledge, in even an uncomplimentary manner." A fitting and well merited eulogy was that pronounced by Judge Dick Haney, of Mitchell, formerly of the state supreme court and the colleague of Judge Corson, when all that was mortal of the latter lay in state in the capitol, where the funeral services were held. "It certainly is altogether fitting,,, said Judge Haney, "that the state of South Dakota, at this time and in this place, should render its highest civic honors to the memory of Dighton Core son, whose mortal remains lie before us, surrounded as they should be with the beautiful emblems of immortality. Its laws have been and will be so affected and influenced by his labors; its life and his life have been so interwoven as that no history of the one will ever be complete without the history of the other. . . . Having assisted in creating a new commonwealth, having contributed in large measure to the establishment of the organic laws of a new state, having aided in adding another star to the American flag, he took his seat on the supreme bench where, for full twenty-three years, he continually discharged the difficult duties of his high office with preeminent efficiency and fidelity. And this service, extending over twenty-three laborious years, was all performed by this remarkable man after having attained the age of sixty-two an age when men usually regard life's labors finished and all its opportunities past. During the later years of Judge Corson's service. On the supreme bench, his labors were rendered additionally burdensome by the impairment of his sight, to remedy which he submitted to two serious surgical operations. He was not required by financial necessity to continue in public office. His place among the distinguished citizens of South Dakota was assured. Ambition, in its ordinary sense, did not deter him from seeking the comforts and repose of a most congenial and happy home. He continued to labor for the love of labor itself He continued to serve for the sake of service. It was the essence of his philosophy, the controlling precept of his religion, that every man should do his best in all circumstances and continuously until deprived of all power to labor by the infirmities of his physical being. So he toiled on, lived on, calm and dignified and uncomplaining, until the final summons came, and then, 'sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,' he gently fell asleep. Such a life and such a death are not the common lot of mall. They reveal the highest aspirations and the finest qualities of American manhood. They reveal the soul of American civilization; the courage, the industry and integrity required to subdue a continent.... In this magnificent constructive movement, this conquest of the west, this creation of commonwealths, it was Dighton Corson's good fortune to play a conspicuous part — a part for which he was preeminently well qualified.... That he was a mall of more than ordinary ability is conclusively shown by the recognition given him in Wisconsin and Nevada, as well as in South Dakota. During his residence in Wisconsin, he was a member of the legislature and also held the office of district attorney of Milwaukee county. While in Nevada he again held the office of public prosecutor and witnessed the organization of Nevada territory. So for sixty years he was a trusted leader, in the forefront of the on-marching columns of empire builders, continuously engaged in establishing social order and enforcing or interpreting those self-imposed rules of conduct and of property without which the wonderful development of the western country would have been impossible. . . . Judge Corson responded to the requirements of every opportunity and so performed his part in this grand human drama as to entitle his name and memory to be cherished, loved and revered, so long as social order and civil government shall endure in South Dakota. "Judge Corson was splendidly equipped for the important duties of his long and eventful life. It would seem that nature, or Providence — what you will — does not fail to provide adequate means for the accomplishment of beneficent purposes. Our distinguished friend was lavishly endowed with the qualities required in one who was allotted to perform the tasks assigned to him. He was a man of commanding presence, courtly grace and faultless courage. He possessed a cheer, logical mind and, though deprived in youth of the advantages of a college education, his diction was exceptionally accurate and elegant. In his early days of service on the supreme bench he occasionally delivered public addresses which were models of forensic value. "It was, however, his uniform dignity and courtesy, his unwavering, chivalrous regard for the rights and feelings of all with whom he came in contact, which marked him always, in all places and in all circumstances, as the perfect gentleman and which disclosed his true character. Though acutely sensitive to adverse criticism and intensely appreciative of deserved approval, neither praise nor blame ever deflected the course of his conduct on the bench. His gentleness, his consideration for others, were not the result of weakness but rather the manifestation of his innate sense of justice, his complete self-control, and his accurate appreciation of the proprieties of life. When the occasion demanded firmness, nothing could move him. In politics a stalwart of the stalwarts, the decisions of the supreme court conclusively prove that his judgment yielded to no influence other than a desire to properly interpret the applicable principle of law. "During all of his long service as a judge it is confidently asserted that he never uttered one discourteous word to any of his associates on the bench or to any member of the bar, nor can any opinion be found wherein the contentions of counsel were not treated with due courtesy and consideration. It truly may be said of him that in his life, his conduct and his conversation he always displayed the qualities of a cultured gentleman."