My Genealogy Hound

HON. ALBERT HOWELL HORTON.
Hon. Albert Howell Horton, deceased, late chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas, and one of the eminent jurists of the State, was born March 12, 1837, near Brookfield, New York, and was a son of Dr. Harvey A. and Mary (Bennett) Horton, who were of English ancestry and Puritan stock.

Judge Horton, after previous literary preparation, entered the University of Michigan in 1855, prepared for the law and was admitted in 1858 to the bar of the State of New York. In the following year he offered his professional services to the residents of Atchison, Kansas, where, in the next year, he was appointed city attorney, to fill a vacancy, and was elected to the office in 1861. That his abilities were far beyond the ordinary must have been the case, else he had not been chosen for the bench by Governor Charles Robinson, after serving in his previous position only from April to September. He served through three terms as judge of the Second Judicial District and then resigned the honorable position in order to devote his time more closely to an increasing private practice.

Judge Horton was not permitted, however, to remain in private life very long, in May, 1869, being appointed by President Grant, United States district attorney for Kansas. In 1868 he was one of the Republican presidential electors and was honored with the commission of carrying the electoral vote from his State to Washington. His party continued to claim his services, electing him to the State Legislature in 1872; to the State Senate in 1877 and his supporters were only checked in their efforts to bring him to the candidacy of still higher offices by his appointment as chief justice, which was made in 1877 by Governor Osborn. He filled out the unexpired term of Judge Kingman, and in 1878 was elected to the office and was re-elected in 1884 and 1890. After retiring from the bench, he resumed his practice at Topeka, and, until the close of his remarkable career, was a member of the law firm of Waggener, Horton & Orr.

While Judge Horton was honored in his profession and in public life, he was also regarded with sentiments of esteem and admiration in other connections. As president of the alumni of the University of Michigan, he received tokens of respect which included the conferring upon him of a highly valued honor,—the degree of LL. D. As a keen, clear, forcible journalist, he was known beyond his State, and the influence of his judicial mind was frequently apparent in the forming of his party’s political policy. After years of honorable, dignified, distinguished service, Judge Horton passed away September 2, 1902.

Judge Horton was twice married, first in 1864 to Anna Amelia Robertson, who died in 1883. Three daughters and one son were born to them, of whom one daughter, Carrie, the wife of Frederick K. Brown, a young business man of Topeka, is the only one living in this city. Mary B., Rosamond S. and Albert H. reside in Colorado. His second marriage was in 1886 to Mrs. Mary A. Prescott, of Topeka, who survives him. By her first marriage, Mrs. Horton had three children, namely: Mrs. E. B. MacDowell, whose husband is one of the leading business men of Topeka; John A., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Alice M., wife of C. L. Brown, of Arkansas City, Kansas. Mrs. Horton resides at No. 921 Monroe street. A portrait of Judge Horton accompanies this sketch.