Ramsey County Law Library Blog

Frederick N. Dickson was born in Northfield MN on May 15, 1863, to John and Mary Dickson, originally from Ontario. He graduated from Carleton College in 1885, and married Alice Strong of Chicago in 1899. Following his graduation from Carleton, Dickson moved to St. Paul to “study law” in the offices of J.W. Lusk and C.W. Bunn, then later in the office of General John B. and Judge Walter H. Sanborn. He was formally admitted to the bar in 1887 and entered into private practice with Stan J. Donnelley. In 1901 he was appointed Assistant US Attorney, serving one year. He also served as Assistant Attorney General of MN under Attorney General Donahower. Dickson served as chairman of the St. Paul Republican Committee, and thus managed the campaign of his partner Herbert B. Keller who was then elected Mayor of St. Paul. Mayor Keller then appointed Dickson to the Board of Police Commissioners, wherein he served until he was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court bench in 1911.

According to his obituary, Judge Dickson was famed for his “Rulings that Made Law.” In one, he ruled that a tenant didn’t have to pay rent because the building had no fire escape as required by law, which was ultimately upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court. In another he ruled that it was not unlawful for members of a labor union to agree among themselves that they would not work for a building contractor during a controversy. Even though these decisions allowed Dickson to be known as the “People’s Judge,” he left the bench in 1921 due to what he considered to be an insufficient salary. That same year he joined the practice of Moore, Oppenheimer & Peterson following Moore’s death. (The firm was later to be joined by Stan D Donnelly, son of Dickson’s first law partner, which was presumably part of its evolution into the present day firm of Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly LLP.)

Frederick Dickson died in St. Paul on July 9, 1941 at age 78, three weeks after suffering a stroke.

Judge Kenneth Gray Brill was a loyal St. Paul man from beginning to end. He was born in St. Paul, MN on June 17, 1883 to Judge Hascal R. and Cora G. Brill. He graduated from St. Paul Central High School in 1903. He attended the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the St. Paul College of Law in 1907. He married Laura Cook (a St. Paul girl) in 1909. He worked in the St. Paul city attorney’s office handling damage claims against the city from 1909-1913. He then joined the St. Paul firm of Otis & Otis with Alf Boyeson in 1913, the new partnership being named Boyeson, Otis & Brill. Roland J. Faricy joined the firm on January 1, 1924, and the firm became Boyeson, Otis, Brill & Faricy. (The firm was located in St. Paul’s historic Endicott Building.) Brill left the firm in 1929 when he was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court bench. (The firm then became Boyeson Otis & Faricy, which was its name in the 1930’s when joined by future Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Warren Burger.)

Judge Brill served in many local organizations. He was president of the Ramsey County Bar Association from 1927-1928, president of the Minnesota State District Judges’ Association from 1943-1944, as well as president of the Minnesota Historical Society for six years. He also belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution, Summit Lodge 163, and was a life member of the St. Paul Area Council of Boy Scouts.

Judge Brill’s service on the bench continued until his death in February of 1954. According to his obituary, he was taking the bus home from the Courthouse one Saturday when he suffered a heart attack. He died a few days later at Miller Hospital (which was later razed and is now the location of the present Minnesota Historical Society). Courts were closed for his funeral, with his surviving bench members attending together, and members of the Minnesota Bar Association serving as his honorary pallbearers.

Judge Grier Melancthon Orr was born in 1856 at Pike Furnace in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH and was a school teacher there for a time. He also received his legal education and began his law practice in Ohio.
Orr moved to St Paul in 1884, where he practiced for 9 years. During this time he married Etta White of Rochester, MN. He served as a Municipal Court Judge from 1894 – 1902. In 1903 he became a Ramsey County District Court judge. He was nationally known in this position for his work in juvenile and family law. Even at a time when divorce was rare, Judge Orr oversaw more than 3000 divorce cases from 1903 – 1930. He advocated marriage law reforms, and validated the Minnesota Inheritance Tax in 1905.

Judge Orr presided over the first session of the Ramsey County Juvenile Court on June 1, 1905. His priorities for Juvenile court included helping families “to avoid publicity and to protect children and parents from a public knowledge of their misfortunes of life.” He was also instrumental in the establishment of Ramsey County Detention Homes for both boys and girls. Due to his combined work experience, “[h]e brought to the juvenile bench a humanistic background of several years as a schoolteacher, eight years as a municipal court judge, and a number of years as experiences on the district court bench.” The goal of Juvenile Court was remove wayward youth from the court system and to find appropriate rehabilitative services for them.

At his retirement in 1930, Judge Orr stated with justifiable satisfaction: “The faith and confidence of the citizens of Ramsey County in the administration of the Juvenile Court is manifest in the fact that not one jury case has ever been tried, up to this date, in the Juvenile Court.” Individualized Justice P. 11
The Law Library has on display judicial portraits of past Second Judicial District Court judges, going back to 1857. If you have any information or commentary about Judge Orr, please leave a response or send us an e-mail. To view the portraits in person, visit us on the 18th floor of the Ramsey County Courthouse.