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From: Bill Utterback <>
Subject: [KYJP] New Series - JP Men of the Judiciary - McCracken Co. - Wiley Paul Fowler
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 20:08:13 -0500


My friends -

Today, we are beginning a new series that will bring biographies of men who
were attorneys and judges in the JP and in some other area of KY which had
an impact on the JP.

These bios will be taken primarily from the 1898 work, "Lawyers & Lawmakers
of Kentucky".

Our subject for today is Wiley Paul Fowler of McCracken County.

As is now customary, there will be no data posts tomorrow or on the
weekend. I will be working on digitization projects during these next few
days, as well as on a piece I am preparing on the Thompson vs. Thompson
case that we have discussed here, to be submitted to KY genealogical
journals. If time - and my eyes(which are still not back to 100% again) -
permit, I may be able to get a miscellaneous file converted and offered,
but I think chances are slim on that happening.

I hope everyone has a very pleasant Memorial Day weekend.

-B
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JP Men of the Judiciary - McCracken County - Wiley Paul Fowler

"Wiley Paul Fowler of Paducah was born in Smith County, Tennessee on the
2nd of September, 1799, and died in December, 1880, at the home of his son,
Captain Joseph H. Fowler, of Paducah, Kentucky. During his early boyhood,
he removed with his parents to Caldwell County, Kentucky, the family
locating near Princeton, where he was reared to manhood. His educational
advantages were only such as the primitive schools of those days afforded,
but through a long life he improved every opportunity to add to his store
of knowledge and became recognized as a man of ripe scholarship and wide
general information, with a practical fund of common sense that enabled him
to readily assimilate the wisdom he had gained and apply it to the every
day duties of life. In 1817 a love of adventure caused him to take a trip
to the southwest. Journeying toward the Mississippi he reached Island Creek
and passed through what is now the upper portion of Paducah, but the entire
region as, at that time, undeveloped. He made his way to Texas, where he
spent about two years, when the country was ceded to Spain, and he at once
returned to Kentucky. Locating at Salem, Livingston County, he took up the
study of law,and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1823 and located in
what was known as the Jackson District, west of the Tennessee River; buit
owing to the scanty settlement in that section, he sought a more lucrative
field of labor in Salem, Livingston County, where he remained until about
1835. In that year, he became a resident of Princeton, where he secured a
representative clientage, serving as counsel in connection with some of the
most important litigation of that portion of the state. He was the
contemporary of such prominent lawyers as George W. Barbour, James
Campbell, Mat Mayes, Robert Patterson, David McGoodwin and James B[ryson]
Husbands - men noted for their superior talent and brilliant work at the
bar; but though he met some of the ablest representatives of the legal
fraternity in forensic combat, he frequently carried off the laurels and
thereby gained a reputation that numbered him among the most able member of
that bar.
In1839, by appointment of the governor - which appointment was confirmed by
the Senate - Mr. Fowler was made judge of the circuit court of the district
and continued on the bench for thirteen years, during which time he
presided over the first session of the court in Ballard County in1842, the
same convening in the month of June at the residence of John Stovall, near
Blandville. After the adoption of the constitution of 1849, which provided
for the election of the judiciary, Judge Fowler, who was opposed to the
system, declined the nomination, but he was again called to the bench of
the fourteenth judicial district on its establishment in 1860. In 1862 he
was re-elected and served in that capacity until 1868, when he retired from
the bench andalso laid aside his profession, with its multitudinous cares
and responsibilities, to spend his remaining years in the quieter and more
peaceful pursuits of his farm. He became one of the best known judges of
western Kentucky, and his course was one which reflected credit on the bar
of this portion of the state and showed forth in no uncertain terms his own
high legal attainments and judicial skill. His dignity on the bench, his
freedom from all impetuosity and his full appreciation of the majesty of
the law made him particularly fair and impartial in his decisions; and his
logical reasoning, his clear deductions and his comprehensive knowledge of
the law, as exhibited in his opinions, awakened the confidence and
commanded the respect of the entire bar.
Deeply interested in the political questions and issues of the day, Judge
Fowler was a supporter of the Whig Party in early life and was a warm
advocate of Henry Clay, but on the dissolution of that party he joined the
ranks of the Democracy. In 1853 he was sent by the district to the General
Assembly, where he served one term. During the war, the judicial district i
which he held court was occupied by the Federal and Confederate armies in
turn, and Judge Fowler was arrested by the authorities of both. Upon his
refusal to obey military orders emanating from the Union Army, he received
an order banishing him to Sherman's colony in Yucatan, there to remain
until the close of the war, which threat and order were never enforced, anyhow.
One the 15th of April 1827, Judge Wiley P. Fowler married Miss Esther
Araminta Given, a daughter of Dixon Given, a merchant of prominence. She
died on the 1st of July 1847, leaving five sons,all of whom were engaged in
steamboating and other river interests, but only one now survives, Captain
Joseph H. Fowler, President of the Paducah & Evansville Packet Line
Company, which controls much of the transportation business on the [Ohio]
river. In 1848 the Judge was again married, his second union being with
Mrs. Sarah S. Burnett, who died in April, 1877.
In manner the Judge was most courteous, in temperament, genial and social,
He held a membership in the Methodist Church for 45 years, and was widely
known for his integrity of purpose and honesty of life."

-Lawyers &
Lawmakers of Kentucky
Honorable H.
Levin, Editor
Chicago: Lewis
Publishing Co., 1898
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