Paine Page Prim, born May 2, 1822, graduated from Cumberland School of Law on July 28, 1848. The Wilson County native watched as Lebanon raised $10,000 to build a new college for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1842. The Cumberland Presbyterians longed to start a new school after their first attempt in Princeton, Kentucky fell into unbearable debt and ultimately chose Lebanon as their fresh start. Prim would attend Cumberland University and become the first of three students to graduate from the school’s law department in 1848, just one year after its establishment.
In 1851, Prim would take a treacherous journey on the Oregon Trail. He ultimately settled in the Northwestern portion of the state, Linn County, where he would begin practicing law. Well established by the late 1850s, Prim represented southern Jackson County in the state’s constitutional convention. In 1859, Governor John Whiteaker appointed him to the Oregon Supreme Court. He would serve in this position until 1880. Prim would also serve as the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1864 to 1866, again from 1870 to 1872, and once more from 1876 to 1878. In 1882, he was elected to the Oregon State Senate. He also published a manuscript titled Prim's Judicial Anecdotes, which described the early days of organized courts in Oregon. Paine Page Prim passed away on August 8, 1899, and is buried in Jacksonville Cemetery in Jacksonville, Oregon.
Original photo here.
Sterling Robertson Cockrill, born September 26, 1847, attended Cumberland School of Law in 1869*. Sterling followed in the footsteps of his father, who shared his name. His father obtained his law degree from Transylvania University and served as the Vice President of the Cotton Planters’ Association.
Cockrill attended school in Nashville, Tennessee before the outbreak of the Civil War. As the Union army occupied Nashville, Cockrill moved and attended Georgia Military Academy in Marietta, GA, where he would enlist with two of his brothers for the Confederate Army at the age of 16. Serving in the Confederate Artillery, he gained the title of Sergeant after getting injured by a minié ball at the Battle of Atlanta months after enlistment. Cockrill stayed in the Confederate Army until the war's end. Following this, he would attend modern-day Washington and Lee University in the mid-1860s. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts prior to his attendance at Cumberland School of Law in 1869.
Cockrill moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1870, where he would practice law. By 1884, he would make a positive name for himself and earn the nomination for Chief Justice at the Arkansas Democratic Convention, beating fellow Cumberland School of Law graduate Burrill B. Battle (see below). Cockrill won the November election, making him the youngest Chief Justice in Arkansas history at the age of thirty-seven. He served in his position until he announced his retirement on April 21, 1893 due to low wages. He would join his son Ashley Cockrill to practice law until his death. Sterling R. Cockrill died on January 12, 1901. He is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, AR.
Photo from: Biographical and Pictorial History of Arkansas -John Hallum
*Sources cite that Cockrill graduated from Cumberland College in 1870, but our records indicate he only attended Cumberland during 1869 and did not graduate.
Burrill Bunn Battle, born October 24, 1838, graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1858. Son of Judge Joseph J. Battle, Burrill certainly followed in his father’s footsteps. Born in Southwest Mississippi, the Battle family moved to Lewisville, Arkansas in 1844. At 14 years old, Battle began attending Arkansas College, where he graduated in 1856. One year later, he attended Cumberland University and received his Bachelor of Law in 1858. By 1859, he passed the bar in both Tennessee and Arkansas. After this, he returned to Lewisville to practice law.
The Civil War interrupted Battle’s plan to practice law, and he soon enlisted to join the Confederate Army. Serving as a Private in the Confederate Artillery, he fought in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Murfreesboro, the Battle of Chickamauga, and the Battle of Missionary Ridge. He would have residual hearing issues from the war for the remainder of his life.
In 1871, Battle served in the Arkansas House of Representatives. For the next decade, Battle would practice law and gain the reputation of a wise and earnest man. In 1884, he was nominated for Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court but lost to fellow Cumberland School of Law alum Sterling R. Cockrill (see above). One year later, he would find a role in the Supreme Court upon his election as Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He would serve for four terms, announcing his retirement in 1910, the longest tenure of his time. During his retirement, he lived in Little Rock, AR and served in the Baptist Church. He did not have any children. Burrill Bunn Battle passed away on December 21, 1917. He is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Photo from: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography - J.T. White
Waller Cochran Caldwell, born May 14, 1849, graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1872. Growing up poor in Northwestern Tennessee, Caldwell worked hard to pay for his education. After graduating from Cumberland University, he married Ella Green, daughter of Cumberland School of Law Chancellor and Cumberland University President Nathan Green, Jr. and granddaughter of Supreme Court Justice Nathan Green, Sr..
In 1883, fellow Cumberland School of Law alumni and current Tennessee Governor William B. Bate appointed Caldwell to an intermediate court named “The Commission of Referees,” which he held until 1886. In the same year, Caldwell received a nomination for Associate Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court and easily won the election. Holding a reputation as a highly esteemed and able judge, he held his position until his retirement in 1902. Both Caldwell's brother-in-law, Grafton Green, and his grandfather-in-law, Nathan Green Sr., served in the Tennessee Supreme Court, helping him establish his name even further.
Once retired, Caldwell practiced law in Trenton, Tennessee for the next nineteen years. He also taught Constitutional Law and Supreme Court Practice at Cumberland School of Law between 1902 until 1921. After retiring from law entirely in 1921 at the age of 72, Caldwell focused primarily on farming. Waller Caldwell died on December 23, 1924 while spending the winter in Florida. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Trenton, TN.
Photo from: 1904 Phoenix
Reuben R. Gaines, born October 30, 1836, graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1857. Born in Western Alabama, Gaines dreamed of becoming a wealthy and successful lawyer as a child. In 1855, Gaines received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama. In 1856, he studied law at William and Mary College for a few weeks before transferring to Cumberland University and graduated one year later.
He returned to Alabama to practice law until the outbreak of the Civil War, where he enlisted in the Confederate Army. He served as Adjutant of the 3rd Alabama Cavalry. He fought in the Battle of Perryville, the Battle of Chickamauga, and the Battle of Farmington, Tennessee, where he sustained a shoulder injury from a carbine ball. At the war’s end, he moved to Texas, where he practiced law until 1876.
In 1876, Gaines was elected District Judge of the Sixth Judicial District (Northern Texas), where he would serve until 1884. By late 1886, Gaines was appointed as Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He would serve until 1894, when he was appointed Chief Justice. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1911 due to poor health. Reuben Gaines passed away on October 13, 1914, and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas.
Photo from: A Comprehensive History of Texas, 1685-1897, vol. 2 - Dudley G. Wooten
William Dwight Beard, born October 28, 1835, graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1859. The Beard family has an extensive history at Cumberland University. William’s father, Reverend Richard Beard, was the President at Cumberland College in Princeton, KY from 1843 to 1854, the precursor to Cumberland University. Richard Beard moved his family to Lebanon in 1854 and became the first Professor of Theology. Five of his seven children would attend Cumberland University: William Dwight Beard (Law School c/o 1858-1859), Captain Richard Beard Jr. (College of Arts & Science, c/o 1859), Joseph Porter Beard (attended 1853-1860), Edward Ewing Beard (College of Arts & Science, c/o 1871, CU Board of Trust Member 1877-1919, Professor of Law 1911-1924, Dean of Law School, 1920-1924, Recipient of Doctorate of Law, 1923), and Captain James Henry Beard (College of Arts & Science, c/o 1859).
After passing the bar, Beard would practice law in both Lexington, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee. At the outbreak of the Civil War, William would join his brothers Richard, Joseph, and James in the Confederate Army. Once again, William Beard would stay close to his Cumberland roots and serve under General A.P. Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at Cumberland (1847-1869). He also served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and served on General Joseph O. Shelby’s staff. Beard was wounded at the Battle of Westport in 1864, which disabled him from serving any further. William and Richard Jr. would be the only two Beards to survive the Civil War–both Joseph and James lost their lives, and their bodies were declared lost at war and buried in unknown graves.
Returning to Memphis in 1865, Beard would continue practicing law for the next twenty-five years. In 1890, Beard was appointed Justice upon the Tennessee Supreme Court, where he served until 1892. In 1891, he served for three years as the Chancellor of the Memphis Chancery Court. By 1894, Beard earned another seat on the Tennessee Supreme Court, where he would serve for two terms, serving as the Chief Justice in his second term. In 1910, Beard announced he would not run for reelection, but the public insisted he return, even electing him for a third term. He would serve until his death three months later. He was the last Civil War veteran to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court. William Beard passed away on December 7, 1910. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, TN. Beard would be remembered for his precise oral and written opinions and his kind spirit.
Photo from: Tennesseans 1901-1902
Bennett Douglas Bell, born July 4, 1852, graduated from Cumberland School
of Law in 1878. Bell received his early education in his hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1873, he received his Bachelor of Art from Emory and Henry College in Virginia. After obtaining his Bachelor of Law at Cumberland University, he began to practice law in his Gallatin. Shortly afterward, Bell was elected the District Attorney General of the Tenth Circuit Court, which he would hold until 1886. He would return to the Tenth Circuit Court in 1902 when he was appointed as Judge.
At the end of his term in 1908, Bell was appointed to Associate Judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court after the death of previous Associate Judge John Wilkes. Bell would serve until 1910 upon losing re-election. He would spend the rest of his life practicing law in Gallatin, with interests in banking and farming. Bell was an active member of the Methodist Church and served as a delegate at multiple conferences. Bennett Bell passed away on August 12, 1934. He is buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
Photo from: 1878 Catalog
Grafton Green, born August 12, 1872, graduated from Cumberland University in 1891 and Cumberland School of Law in 1893. A Lebanon, TN native, Grafton was the son of Nathan Green Jr. and Bettie McClain Green. On his maternal side, Grafton’s great-grandfather, W.A. McClain, was the first of two people to settle in Wilson County, making his grandfather, Josiah McClain, the first recorded male born in Wilson County on January 1, 1799. Josiah would serve on Cumberland’s Board of Trust for thirty-four years between 1842 until his death in 1876. During this time, he also served as a county clerk, president of the First National Bank, and an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
On his paternal side, Grafton was the grandson of Nathan Green Sr., who served as a Justice in the Tennessee Supreme Court between 1831 to 1852. Green Sr. would retire from his seat to a full-time Professor of Law at Cumberland School of Law, which he held until his death in 1866. His son, Nathan Green Jr., registered at Cumberland University in its opening year, 1842. He received his A.B. in 1845 and his LL.B. in 1849. Green Jr. served at Cumberland for sixty-three years of his life, starting in 1850 to 1856 as a Trustee, 1856 until his death in 1919 as a Professor of Law, University President twice between 1873 to 1902 and again from 1906 to 1909, the Dean of Cumberland School of Law between 1882 to 1919, and the Chancellor of the Theological School.
After graduating from Cumberland in 1893, Grafton passed the bar and began practicing law in Nashville within the same year. In 1910, he was elected to the Tennessee Supreme Court as an Associate Justice with fellow Cumberland School of Law graduate William D. Beard as Independent candidates. He was reelected in 1923 and shortly became the Chief Justice. Years later, he would again win the 1926, 1934, and 1942 reelections, serving for a total of thirty-six years, and became the longest-serving individual in Tennessee’s Higher Court. Additionally, he served as a Special Lecturer at his alma mater during the 1920s.
The most prominent case to come forth during his time on the bench was Scopes vs. State, which followed the State Legislature’s passing of the 1925 ‘anti-evolution’ law. The law stated that those who taught evolution in their classrooms would be fined if found guilty of violating it. John T. Scopes, a high school biology teacher in Dayton, TN was found guilty of breaking this law and would ultimately appeal his court ruling, taking it to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court overturned Scopes’ guilty conviction on technicality.
Grafton’s sister, Ella Green, would marry fellow Cumberland School of Law graduate Waller C. Caldwell, who also served on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1886 until 1902. He had one son, Nathan Green III, a United States Naval Academy graduate. He would pass away in 1925 at the age of 25 in an unsolved accident in the Pacific Ocean. Grafton Green fell ill while serving on the State Supreme Court in 1947 and passed away shortly afterward on January 27, 1947. He is buried with his family in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon, TN. In memorial, a bust of Grafton still sits in the Tennessee Supreme Court Building.
Photo from: June 1926 Senior Law Class Photo
Albert Bramlett Neil, born February 28, 1874, graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 1895. Prior to attending Cumberland, the Lewisburg, TN native attended Terrell College between 1892 to 1893 and Winchester Normal College from 1893 to 1894. During his time at Cumberland, Neil was a part of the Philomathean Society and a member of Alpha Tau Omega. By 1896, Neil passed the bar and began practicing law, serving on many lower and appellate courts. He was also a member of the Tennessee Legislature at the turn of the century.
By 1910, Neil served as a Judge of the Criminal Court of Davidson County, a position he held until 1918. The same year, he accepted the role of Judge of the Second Circuit Court, which he held until 1942. During this time, he also served as the Dean of Cumberland School of Law between 1935 until 1940. Having served as a judge for thirty-two years, sixty-eight-year-old Neil was elected as a Judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court by Governor Prentice Cooper to replace recently-deceased W. L. Cook in 1942. In 1947, he became Chief Justice of the Court and was re-elected in 1952 to serve another full term.
Albert Neil retired from the Supreme Court in 1960 and passed away six years later on June 26, 1966. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, TN.
Photo from: 1941 Phoenix
Sources:
Bone, Winstead Paine. A History of Cumberland University, 1842-1935. Lebanon, TN: Printed by the Author, 1935.
Corning, Howard McKinley, ed. Dictionary of Oregon History. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1956.
Davenport, Jewette Harbert. The History of the Supreme Court of the State of Texas. Austin, TX: Southern Law Book Publishers, 1917.
Dougan, Michael B. "Sterling Robertson Cockrill: The Youngest Chief Justice, Part 1." Arkansas Lawyer 46, no. 3 (Summer 2011). https://issuu.com/arkansas_bar_association/docs/arkansaslawyersummer2011.
Green, John W. Lives of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1796-1947. Knoxville, TN: Archer & Smith, 1947.
Hallum, John. Biographical and Pictorial History of Arkansas. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons, and Company, 1887.
Looney, J.W.. "Burrill Bunn Battle." Arkansas Lawyer 47, no. 2 (Spring 2012). https://issuu.com/arkansas_bar_association/docs/the_arkansas_lawyer_spring_2012issuu.
Speer, William, ed. The Encyclopedia of the New West. Marshall, TX: The United States Biographical Publishing Company, 1881.
Tennesseans, 1901-1902. The Speed Publishing Company, 1902.
White, J.T.. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. VI. New York: James T. White & Company, 1896.
Wooten, Dudley G.A.. Comprehensive History of Texas 1685-1897, Vol. II. Dallas, TX: William G. Scarff, 1898.