Charles E. Vanderburgh: Jurist of Minnesota

I am so excited to delve into the life of Judge C.E. Vanderburgh. When I first retrieved his photo, I had a good feeling that I'd be able to find at least something online regarding his life. He was, after all, a judge: a figure of the public eye. But I had no idea the extent to which this would be true. Grab your snack folks, because this post and the two to follow are going to be a whirlwind of a Minneapolis history lesson!

As I have previously preached, never underestimate the power of a Google search. In the case of Judge Vanderburgh, a simple Google search returned more information than I ever could have hoped for. First, I came across an excerpt from Volume 51 of The Independent, published July 6, 1899 chronicling Mr. Vanderburgh's death. I first assumed The Independent to be a newspaper, but upon further examination it seems to be a 19th/20th century version of something like the Economist, with political editorials, mixed with typical newspaper reporting domestic dealings, one of which features our Mr. Vanderburgh. See this portion to the right - and remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

From this excerpt we are immediately met with good news for this project: Mr. Vanderburgh has family. We also find that he was quite wealthy, with $15,000 to spare in legacies to educational and religious institutions. Using an inflation calculator (which may or may not be drastically inaccurate - please let me know) this equals roughly $430,000 today.

We also learn that not only was Mr. Vanderburgh a judge as his photo tells us, but was "one of the earliest and best known jurists of Minnesota." Let's look into that more.

Broadening our Google Search terms to "Judge Vanderburgh Minneapolis" returns to my surprise an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to our subject, including a portrait (right). According to Wikipedia, C. in fact stands for Charles. Charles Vanderburgh was born in Saratoga County, New York, and graduated from Yale in 1852, moving to the Minnesota Territory in 1856 and practicing law in Minneapolis. He served as a district court judge for 20 years prior to serving on the bench of the Supreme Court of Minnesota.

There are numerous books I came across in my research, each which included portions dedicated to the personal and professional life of Judge Vanderburgh. The History of the Bench and Bar in Minnesota, published 1904, provides an account of Vanderburgh's early life in Saratoga. See below.

It continues on an extensive journey into both the personal and professional life of Mr. Vanderburgh. At age 29, Judge Vanderburgh was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District, and "for over a dozen years he had sole jurisdiction in this territory, which embraced not only Minneapolis, but all the counties to the north and west." When he was elected to judge of the Fourth Judicial District in 1859, it was the first election after Minnesota had been admitted to the Union, and, as Encyclopedia of Biography of Minnesota, Volume I, published 1900, highlights, "young Vanderburgh was the first resident of Minneapolis upon whom this compliment was conferred...He received three reelections to this post, in 1866, 1873, and 1880, and for eighteen years was the only judge sitting at Minneapolis."

In 1881, he was elected to the Supreme Court bench, and, as written in The History of the Bench and Bar in Minnesota explains, "he did not leave the bench until twenty or thirty years after the judges who had took their seats near at the same time." From everything that I read, I get the sense that Judge Vanderburgh was a truly respected judicial figure: "his supreme court decisions were distinguished by strong common sense, thorough investigation and conciseness."

In almost every excerpt written about Judge Vanderburgh, the case of Eliza Winston appears. Eliza, a slave woman from Mississippi, accompanied her owners to Minnesota - a free state - on vacation in 1860. Judge Vanderburgh gained prominence by ruling against the U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott decision, ruling in favor of freeing Ms. Winston. A 2015 Star Tribune article chronicling the case explains:

Eliza Winston

"When a court order was issued to bring Eliza to a hearing, 20 gun-toting abolitionists joined authorities on a trip to Lake Harriet, where they found the slave in question hiding in plain sight. They asked if she wished to remain a slave or be free. "I wish for my freedom," she said. "But don't tell my master or mistress that I said so." ... A 29-year-old judge, Charles Vanderburgh, a partner of Winston's anti-slavery lawyer, promptly ruled that she was free to go because the 1857 state Constitution said: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state." ... Pro-slavery mobs, organized by hotel owners and tourism boosters, tried to ram down doors at her supporters' homes to snatch Winston back and return her to her owners amid fears that southern tourists would quit coming to Minnesota."

For a fuller account of the Eliza Winston case, you can read this Minnesota Historical Society publication, "Eliza Winston and the Politics of Freedom in Minnesota, 1854-60."

Portrait featured in History of the
Bench and  Bar in Minnesota

Judge Vanderburgh is often praised for making sound legal decisions in a territory sorely lacking jurisprudence. The History of the Bench and Bar in Minnesota writes the Minneapolis Tribune once said of him: "The jurisprudence of the state had not been settled by a long record of precedent and supreme court decisions, and Judge Vanderburgh was obliged to make a good deal of original research and to exercise a great independence of thought in reaching his conclusions. It is therefore a high tribute to his legal ability and an evidence of the judicial temper of his mind to say that he has left the impress of his mind upon our code of laws and court practice to quite as great an extent as any other man, living or dead."

Judge Vanderburgh, it would seem, was truly an exceptional judicial figurehead in the early history of Minnesota, and upon finding his photograph in an antique store bin, I would have never guessed the histories written of him to be as extensive as those I have found, nor could I have imagined that I would find other portraits of him. The fact that the the photograph in my possession is unlike any of those digitized online - being not a portrait but a still of Judge Vanderburgh at work - makes it truly a priceless piece. I am so excited to see where this story takes us. Stay tuned for the next installment of Judge C.E. Vanderburgh's story.

Next: Charles E. Vanderburgh: Benefactor of Minneapolis