Biographies: Roy P. WILCOX, Eau Claire, Eau Claire Co., WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Nance Sampson 13 December 2000 ==================================================================== Roy P. Wilcox has made an indelible impression on the public life of Eau Claire, and, as a lawyer, stands preeminently high. Through his seventeen years as an active attorney he has come to be recognized as one of the able practitioners of the bar of Wisconsin. Roy P. Wilcox was born in the city of Eau Claire, June 30, 1873, and is the son of Nelson C. and Angeline (Tewkesbury) Wilcox. He is of English and Irish lineage and comes of one of the oldest families in America, the Wilcox ancestry dating back to early colonial days. He received his early education in the public schools of eau Claire and then took a course in the law department of Cornell University, at Ithaca, N. Y., graduating in the class of 1897. One year previous to his graduation he had been admitted to the bar of Wisconsin, and immediately after leaving Cornell he began the practice of his profession in his native city. On September 1, 1897, he became a member of the law firm of Frawley, Bundy & Wilcox; since the death of the senior partner, July 1, 1902, the firm has been Bundy & Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox has achieved success at a time in life when most men are fortunate if they have laid the foundation for success; and this has been accomplished by his own ability and energy, for he left college not only with exhausted resources, but with debts to pay. While his success has been due mainly to his legal abilities, he has shown a capacity for business that, of itself, would have made him a success in commercial affairs, and has been connected with some large projects that have been managed most admirably, notably the water power and utility properties formerly owned by the Chippewa Valley Railway, Light and Power Company, the values of which were greatly enhanced under the management of this company, of which he was one of the organizers. On occasions Mr. Wilcox has been active in public affairs, but never as an official, nor obtrusively. For instance, Eau Claire was the first city in Wisconsin to adopt the commission form of government, and Mr. Wilcox was very distinctly connected with the movement that culminated in that result. He assisted in drafting the bill providing for government by commission in the cities of Wisconsin, and when the bill was introduced in the legislature he went to Madison and worked for its passage. Then, when the bill became law, he took the platform in Eau Claire to advocate the adoption of this form of government in his home city, and to his efforts is due, in no small degree, the fact that Eau Claire has its present satisfactory form of city government. After this he was invited to other places to address the citizens on the new plan of managing civic affairs, with the result that the commission form of government was adopted in every city he visited, with two exceptions. As a lawyer, Mr. Wilcox is both a wise counsellor and an exceedingly able advocate, and his record as a trial lawyer has seldom been equaled. He has acted as attorney for railroads and other corporations for years, defending them against damage claims for injuries, losses, etc., and his success has been startling, considering that he has had to appear before juries on the unpopular side of every such case. He is a forcible, logical, impressive speaker, possessing forensic qualities of a high order, and a manifest honesty of purpose glowing in all his efforts makes him formidable as a pleader in any cause. During the last fifteen years his firm has appeared on one side or the other of most of the big legal cases in and around Eau Claire. On June 17, 1903, Mr. Wilcox married Maria Louisa, daughter of Manuel and Clementina (Santander) de Freyre, of Lima, Peru, South America. They have two children, Louisa M. and Francis J. Mr. Wilcox is prominently connected with St. Patrick's Catholic Church, of Eau Claire, the Knights of Columbus, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the American Bar Association and the Wisconsin Bar Association, of which he is a member of the committee on legal education. --Taken from "The History of Eau Claire County, 1914, Past & Present", page 293.