Ramsey County Law Library Blog

The Honorable George Lincoln Bunn was born on June 25, 1865 in Sparta, Wisconsin.  His father, Romanzo Bunn was both a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and United States federal judge who influenced him to practice law.  George Bunn received both his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Wisconsin. 

Bunn moved to Saint Paul after graduation in 1888.  It was in Saint Paul that he met and married Ella Spaulding, who died one year later.  He would not marry again until 1908, when he married Fanny Losey of Lacrosse, Wisconsin. 

Judge Bunn was appointed a judgeship to the  District Court of Ramsey County in 1897.  In 1911, Governor Adolph Olson Eberhart appointed him to the Minnesota Supreme Court. 

Bunn served as dean of the St. Paul College of Law, the first predecessor of William Mitchell College of Law, from 1904 until his death in 1918.

The Honorable Levi M. Vilas was born in Vermont in 1841 and moved with his family to Madison, Wisconsin at the age of 10.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and was admitted to practice in both Wisconsin and New York a year later.  After going back and forth between the two states, he set out into frontier territory, while later staying in Saint Paul.  Vilas finally settled in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  He was the community’s first City Attorney and served three terms as Mayor.  Interestingly, one of the Second Judicial District’s earliest judges, Vilas declined appointments to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on two occasions.

Vilas married Lizzie Stewart Ludlow in 1885.  Two years later they moved to Saint Paul, laying roots at 409 Ashland Avenue.  Judge Vilas was appointed to the bench by Governor Merriam. 

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 Wilkin, 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.