Judge Harry Dimick Jewell
Judge Harry Dimick Jewell, Grand Rapids, Mich. Among the members of the Kent county bar who have achieved more than local repute is the gentleman for whom this sketch is prepared.
Judge Jewell is a native of Illinois and a son of Oliver P. and Hannah (Dimick) Jewell. Oliver P. Jewell was a descendant of an old Connecticut family, and the ancestry is traceable in a direct line to the first settlers of Massachusetts, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. He was a farmer in early life. Later he became editor of the Seneca County Sentinel, published at Ovid, N. Y., which he conducted during the early part of the war of the Rebellion. After removing to the state of Michigan he was for some time employed on the Grand Rapids Eagle, and was also connected at various times with several of the leading papers of Chicago.
Upon coming to this state Oliver P. Jewell located on a farm near Cedar Springs, Kent county, where he resided until within a few years of his death. His latter years were devoted to journalism, ill health occasioned by the breaking of a limb having rendered more active life impossible. His death occurred on the 20th day of April, 1898. His widow still makes her home in Grand Rapids. Oliver P. and Hannah Jewell were the parents of two children—Marshall H., editor of the Bismarck (N. D. ) Daily Tribune and state printer of North Dakota, and Harry D., the subject of this sketch. By a previous marriage with Mary C. Strong, Mr. Jewell had one child, named Charles E. Jewell, a manufacturer in Auburn, N. Y.
In many respects Mr. Jewell was more than an ordinary man. He acquired a thorough education, and was a man of unusual energy and perseverance. His natural ability was quickly recognized and appreciated wherever he displayed his talent. It is a fact worthy of note that he was one of the founders of the first typographical union in New York City. He was supervisor of the township of Solon, Kent county, Mich., for a time, and otherwise bore an active part in the material advancement of the community.
Harry Dimick Jewell was born in Wheaton, Ill., March 5, 1869. He received his primary education in Cedar Springs, where he pursued his studies until his seventeenth year, graduating from the high school of that town. His vacations and other spare time he spent upon the farm which, on account of his father’s ill health, he was obliged to assist in the management of at an early age. During the succeeding three years he read law in the office of D. C. Lyle, of Cedar Springs. In 1889 he entered the university of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1891. He also took a post graduate course and received the degree of LL. M. in 1892. During the last two years in the university he was assistant law librarian, and was also for one year assistant to the Marshall Professor of Law, appointed as such by the board of regents of the university. It will thus be seen that he laid broad and deep a solid literary and professional foundation. He began the practice of his profession in partnership with Judge Reuben Hatch, of Grand Rapids—a firm which continued until January, 1893. In that year Mr. Jewell was appointed register of probate for Kent county, discharging the duties of that position until elected to the higher and more responsible office of judge of probate, in 1896. He entered upon the fulfillment of the duties of the latter office January 1, 1896, and his career as judge has been creditable to himself and highly satisfactory to the public in general. His admission to the bar of the Michigan supreme court dates from June, 1891, and he was admitted to practice before the United States supreme court in October, 1894.
Judge Jewell was one of the founders and editors of the U. of M. Daily, the first college daily published in the west. He was also for several years editor of the Michigan Law Journal, and as such displayed much ability as a writer. He has also been a contributor to the American and English Encyclopedia of Law, and to various journals and other periodicals, professional and literary. He was one of the organizers of the American Republican College league, and also assisted in founding the Young Men’s Republican club of Grand Rapids, of which he served as president three consecutive terms.
As a lawyer Judge Jewell, from the beginning of his profession career, has exhibited a high order of talent, especially in that he has aimed to acquire a critical knowledge of the law, coupled with the ability to present and successfully maintain the soundness of his opinions. As judge, he has been able and impartial, and those having business to transact in his office have ever found him a courteous and high minded gentleman. Since his elevation to the bench he has become an active member of the Michigan Probate Judges’ association. Of that body he is secretary of the committee to draft a code of rules to provide for uniform practice in the probate courts of the state, and made the original draft of the rules finally adopted by the supreme court.
Judge Jewell is a thirty-second degree Mason, holds the office of past chancellor in the Pythian fraternally, and also belongs to the Woodmen, the Maccabees and the Knights of Honor. He is president of the Fountain Bath Brush company, and is otherwise identified with public and private enterprises having for their object the promotion of the general welfare of the people.
Judge Jewell was united in marriage at Churdan, Iowa, August 8, 1894, to Miss Euphemia Smith, daughter of the Rev. J. Malcom Smith, of that city.