Manoah Bostic Reese (1839-1917)

From the Creighton Chronicle, May 20, 1913.

"In Judge Reese the republican party presents to the people of Nebraska a candidate who has often been tried and never found wanting; a man who laid down the judicial ermine he had worn for six years as spotless as when he first donned it. Coming unsought, and, in fact, in spite of repeated declinations, the nomination of Judge Reese by a unanimous vote of a representative and harmonious convention is an honor rarely conferred. It is an expression of confidence and esteem that comes to but few men in a lifetime."

  The above character assessment of Nebraska jurist Manoah Bostic Reese by the 1899 Omaha Daily Bee describes a man who, in the years following his removal to Nebraska, rose to become one of the towering figures at the state bar. A state constitutional convention delegate, district attorney, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law, and associate justice of the state supreme court, Reese attained his highest degree of judicial prominence when he succeeded to the post of Chief Justice of the Nebraska supreme court in 1908, serving until his resignation several years later. A native of Illinois, Manoah Bostic Reese was born in Macoupin County on September 5, 1839, the son of Simon and Mary Ann (Steidley) Reese.
  The formative years of Manoah Reese were spent on a farm in Macoupin County, and his education was obtained in the county schools. He removed with his family to Clark County, Iowa in 1856, where he again resided on a farm. After studying in schools local to that area he attended a seminary in Osceola for two years, and at the dawn of the Civil War enlisted for service in the Union Army. Despite his wanting to serve, an arm injury Reese had sustained in his youth kept him out of action, and he returned home. During this period Reese decided to pursue a career in law. In the early 1860s, he entered the office of James Rice (1820-1907), who would go on to a political career of his own, serving as Clark County judge, and in both houses of the state legislature. 
  After completing his studies Reese was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1865 and soon joined with James Rice in a joint law practice in Osceola. On New Years Day 1862, Manoah B. Reese married in Iowa to Carrie Burrows (1840-1901). The couple was wed for nearly forty years and had four children, including Daisy and Henry Allen Reese (1869-1938).
  In the early 1870s, Reese and his family removed from Iowa to Nebraska, first settling in Plattsmouth. He would practice law there briefly,  and by 1874 was residing and practicing law in Wahoo (located in Saunders County.) Within a short period of establishing roots in that community, Reese had attracted attention, and in early 1875 his name was prominently mentioned for delegate to the Nebraska state constitutional convention that was to occur in May 1875. He would win election to that convention as a delegate from Saunders County and afterward continued his political rise with his successful campaign for District Attorney for Nebraska's 4th district in November 1876. He would win reelection to two further terms in 1878 and 1880 and resigned from office in November 1882.

Portrait from "Nebraskans: 1854-1904".

  After resigning, Reese returned to practicing law but was called to public service once again the following year, when he received the Republican nomination for associate justice of the state supreme court. While prominent and popular amongst Republicans in his region, that opinion was not shared by Democratic newspapers of the time, including the Plattsmouth Journal. In an October 1883 notice concerning the race for the supreme court, Reese was pilloried by the Journal as a "Third Rate Lawyer", and further noted that:

"The nomination of M.B. Reese for Supreme Judge is generally regarded as very weak and an improper one and is almost equivalent to defeat in advance. Reese was a resident of this city some ten years ago and is described as a third or fourth- rate lawyer, and a very poor scholar, as the city which he kept for a short time will show. The Republican delegates from Cass County came home pretty thoroughly disgusted."

  The opinion of the Plattsmouth Journal notwithstanding, Reese would go on to win the election in November and took his seat as an associate justice in January 1884. He would serve one six-year term and was defeated for renomination in 1889, going "down before the powerful onslaughts of the railroad influences" at that year's Republican state convention. Just a few weeks following his defeat, Reese made preparations to remove his law practice to Lincoln, doing so in November 1889. 
  By 1891 Reese had returned to the public eye in a different capacity, that of lecturer at the University of Nebraska's College of Law. He would serve in that position until 1893 when he advanced to the post of Dean, where he remained until 1904. Reese's tenure as dean saw him establish "a regular series of textbook courses, staffed largely by practicing attorneys", and after stepping down in 1904 was presented with a gold cane for his decade of service. 
  In addition to success at the bar and in academia, Reese was a Mason of prominent standing in his state, having served one year (1886-87) as state Grand Master. Reese was active in religious work, and as a long-standing member of the Methodist Church, was selected as a delegate from Nebraska to the Methodist General Conference held in New York City in 1888. More honors were accorded to Reese in 1901, with his being a founding member of the Nebraska Prison Association, a body devoted to bettering the lives of state convicts that had been released from Nebraska state prison. Reese would serve as that group's inaugural president beginning in 1901, and his long affiliation with it saw him receive "scores of letters" from redeemed prisoners testifying to his support.

From the Omaha Daily Bee, October 6, 1907.

  Following an unsuccessful candidacy for supreme court justice in 1899, Reese was induced to make another run for the court in 1907. In that year he was featured in a full front-page article touting his career in the Omaha Daily Bee of October 6th, and also had the backing of former Governor George L. Sheldon, who stated:

"Judge Reese has a spotless record, both public and private. He is a student, a scholar, and a tireless worker. He has always stood for the best interest of the people regardless of the consequences of himself. He has been opposed to machine rule in politics and has fought for years that the government and the people might be brought closer together. He will make a splendid record on the bench."

 That November Reese won the election and served as an associate justice through 1908, and in December of that year was elevated to the position of Chief Justice, following an amendment to the state constitution that enlarged the court's membership to six associate justices, and one chief justice. He would serve until his term expired in 1915, and spent the remainder of his life in Lincoln. The summer of 1917 saw his health begin to fail, and he later died at a Lincoln hospital on September 28th, aged 78. He had been predeceased by his wife Carrie in 1901 and was interred alongside her at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Osceola, Iowa.