In 1901 the name of the firm was changed to Winston, Babcock, Strawn and Shaw - indicating Shaw was now a partner. They moved from the Monadnock building to the First National Bank building and changed the name once again to Winston, Payne & Strawn; but in 1917 the Shaw name reappeared as Winston, Strawn & Shaw.

The following are brief sketches of those who practiced and/or were partners of one of Chicago's oldest law firms still in operation under the firm of Winston & Strawn.

In 1850 he returned to Georgia and there became a student of Hon. William C. Dawson, then U.S. senator from his native state, and after six months entered the law school of Harvard College. Admitted to the New York bar in 1853, he then located in Chicago and associated himself with Norman: B. Judd, a prominent lawyer. They established the firm of Judd and Winston and for seven years had a successful partnership as corporation lawyers. In 1861, however, Judd was appointment as minister to Germany by President Lincoln, and Winston then took on Henry W. Blodgett as partner who left in 1870 when he was appointed by President Grant to the Bench of the U.S. District Court of Chicago.

Favoring to practice law, he turned down offers by both party leaders and the administration, and became one of the most prominent railroad lawyers. He was chief general counsel for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railways, and served the Pennsylvania line through some of the most important litigation of their history.

Winston retired from active practice in 1885 and having been an active leader in the Democratic party, and was thus appointed by the administration as minister to Persia. After enjoying the fascinating life of the East for about a year, he resigned in 1886 and traveled to Russia, Scandinavia and other countries. After returning to Chicago, he became president of the Union Stock yards Company, was one of the organizers of the Lincoln National Bank, and for twelve years was president of Lincoln Park commissioners.

According to the Washington Post and New York Times obituaries, Winston died on 19 Feb 1904 in Magnolia Springs, Florida. Twice married, his first wife was Miss Maria G. Dudley who had died in 1885 and was the daughter of the well-known Gen. Ambrose Dudley. They had been the parents of six children: Frederick S., who came to work in his father's firm in 1878; Dudley W. and Bertram M. who were leading brokers of Chicago, and two daughters. His second wife was Miss Sallie Reeves Hews, whom he had married in New Orleans in 1886. According to the New York Times, the couple left from New Orleans to New York to embark on a six months honeymoon to Europe and Africa.

Hr married Adeline Rossiter in 1844 and in 1860 he was delegate to the Republican National Convention and was Lincoln's manager in his campaign for the nomination of 1860. President Lincoln then chose him as minister to Prussia (1861-65). Unfortunately, Johnson requested his resignation, but on 04 Mar 1867 he was elected as a Republican to the 40th Congress and on 03 Nov 1871 to the 41st Congress. In 1872 he was appointed by President Grant collector at the port of Chicago and served until his death six years later.

In a letter written 14 Dec 1859 by Lincoln to George W. Dole, Gurdon S. Hubbard, and William H. Brown regarding Judd he wrote¹:

"During the canvass of 1858 for the Senatorship my belief was, and still is, that I had no more sincere and faithful friend that Mr. Judd - certainly none whom I trusted more. His position as Chairman of the State Central committee, led to my greater intercourse with him, and to my giving him a larger share of my confidence, than with, or, to almost any other friend; and I have never suspected that that confidence was, to any degree, misplaced.

My relations with Mr. Judd, since the organization of the Republican party, in our State, in 1856, and, especially since the adjournment of the Legislature in Feb. 1857, have been so very intimate, that I deem it an impossibility that he could have been dealing treacherously with me. He has also, at all times, appeared equally true and faithful to the party. In his position, as Chairman of the Committee, I believe he did all that any man could have done. The best of us are liable to commit errors, which become apparent, by subsequent development, but I do not know of a single error, even, committed by Mr. Judd, since he and I have acted together politically."

It should be noted that Ralph's great-grandmother Margaret (Pilcher) Shaw of Lexington had family which lived in Springfield. Her nephew Ezekiel and his wife Louisa (Ballard) as well as others, were also friends with the Lincolns. Margaret's grand nephew, Matthew Barrow Pilcher, was also married to Judith Dudley Winston of Kentucky - leaving little doubt that in some way, Ralph Shaw's family was connected to F.H. Winston's.

Hon. Norman B. Judd died in Chicago on 11 Nov 1878 and was laid to rest at Graceland Cemetery. His obituary appeared in the New York Times identifying him as having been prominent in the politics of llinois and the nation.

He was general attorney of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway having been closely identified with the building of the first railway between Chicago and Milwaukee. During the Civil war he was a member of the Sanitary Commission. Strongly opposed to slavery, he was made a federal judge by President Grant in 1870. He also was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and originated and put through a bill which gave married women control of their separate property.

He resigned from the Bench in 1892 and accepted an appointment by President Harrison as a counsel for the United States in the Bering Sea arbitration. He died on 09 Feb 1905 of old age at his home in Waukegan, Illinois and his obituary was posted in the New York Times that same day.

In 1881 Mayor Harrison recognized his ability, and believing his legal ability would be valuable to the city, appointed him Assistant Corporation Counsel. In this office he displayed such ability in conducting the legal affairs of the city that on the retirement of Corporation Counsel, Adams, in 1883, his eminent fitness for the position was so recognized by the bar and by Mayor Harrison that he was appointed without opposition. Among the most notable cases he tried before the Supreme Court on behalf of the city, were the rights of the city to obtain revenue from licensing various occupations such as distilleries, livery stables, brokers, etc.; the constitutionality of the Harper high license law; the unconstitutionality of exemptions claimed from special assessments; and a very important decision which sustained the right of the city to control the Chicago river and the bridges.

On his father's retirement to taken the appointment of Minister to Persia in 1886, he became solicitor for the Michigan Central Railroad, counsel and union director of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, general solicitor of the Chicago and Alton Railway Company, a director of the Chicago Breweries, counsel and director of the Chicago Consolidated Brewing & Malting Co., general counsel of the Chicago Junction Railroad Co., director of the Stock Yard Savings Bank of the U.S. Brewing Co., in addition to being the legal representation of all the above. In 1903 he became the senior partner in the firm of Winston, Payne & Strawn whose offices had moved two years earlier from the Monadnock Building to the First National Bank building.

On 26 Jun 1876 he was married in Philadelphia to Miss Ada Fountain. A member of the Chicago Historical Society and various clubs, he resided at 576 North State Street near Lincoln Park.

In 1883 he moved to Chicago and was elected as a local judge in 1893. After resigning from that post in 1898, he became a senior partner in Winston, Payne, Strawn and Shaw. (A successor firm still exists today.)

Payne was president of Chicago's South Park Board from 1911 to 1924, when Edward J. Kelly, later mayor of Chicago, succeeded him. He married Jennie Byrd in 1913, though she died six years later d in 1919. After the outbreak of World War I, he went to Washington, D.C. as was counsel for the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the National Railroad Administration. From 1919 through his appointment to Wilson's cabinet in February of 1920, Payne was chairman of the U.S. Shipping Board. From October 1921 until his death, he was chairman of the American Red Cross.

United States Secretary of the Interior from 1920 through 1921 under Woodrow Wilson, Payne died of pneumonia following an operation for an appendicitis on 24 Jan 1935. His obituary from the Associated Press ran in the Chicago Tribune and New York Times as well as other national papers.

Known for his work for the Red Cross, Payne's use of the South Park Board to solidify the position of the Chicago Democratic Party was much less noted. Payne tried to bring volunteers and paid staffers of the American Red Cross, and also sent the organization in a new direction, organizing it to support local welfare efforts during both the deflationary period after World War I and the early years of the Depression. During World War II, the United States liberty ship SS John Barton Payne was named in his honor.

The firm later became Winston, Payne, Strawn & Shaw and embraced an immense corporation practice, having been general counsel for several railroads and other corporations. Mr. Strawn was himself general solicitor for the Chicago & Alton Railroad company. He was also a member of many clubs: American Bar association, Illinois Bar association, Chicago Bar association, Chicago Law club, the Union League, Mid-day, and Exmoor Country clubs (member board of governors), Glen View (director), South Shore Country club (member board of governors) and vice-president United States Golf association.

Strawn was married on 22 Jun 1897 to Margaret Stewart of Binghamton, New York and were the parents of Margaret and Katherine Stewart.

Ralph studied law and received his B.A. from Yale University in 1890 and his law degree from University of Michigan. In July of 1892 he went to Chicago where he became a lawyer in the law firm of Winston & Meagher. In 1896 he married Mary E. Stephens, the daughter of Redmond and Louis G. (Brier), who was a native of Linn Co., Iowa. Her father, also a lawyer was an extremely prominent man in Marion, Iowa. Besides other ambitious achievements, he had organized and was president of the Merchant's National Bank and a member of both the Masons and Knights of Templar.

Ralph became a very well-known and prominent lawyer and was a was a partner in the law firm of Winston, Payne, Strawn and Shaw which was located at the First National Bank building in Chicago. He owned a home in Chicago at 2632 Prairie Avenue and also a home or "camp" at Lake Placid. His wife and son had spent the winter traveling in Africa, but upon her return to Chicago she fell ill and died on 08 Jul 1913.

On 29 Sep 1914 Ralph re-married either the widowed or divorced Mrs. Louise Tyler who was the mother of Louis and Thomas Tyler. The family was residing at the very prestigious address of 999 Lake Shore Drive but by 1930 had moved to 1427 State Parkway - a gorgeous Gold Coast mansion which was built in 1910. He died a man of wealth and high esteem at the age of eighty on 03 May 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. He had been a member of several clubs including Chicago University, Mid-Day, Saddle and Cycle, Yale and Owenstia.

According to his obituary, he suffered a heart attack at his home on April 30th, and died a few days later on Tuesday, May 3rd of 1949. He was survived by his second wife, Louis who died in December 1958, and his son Ralph M., Jr. who was then aged fifty-one.

1. New York Times - 12 Nov 1878; Obituary of Norman B. Judd
2. The Hand-Book of Chicago Biogarphy, John J. Flinn, editor, 1893
3. Historical Review of Chicago & Cook County, Volume 2, A.N. Waterman, 1908
4. New York Times - 20 Nov 1886; Wedding Annuoncement of F.H. Hampden to Hews
5. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume III, Roy P. Basler, editor; p. 507-509
6. The Washington Post - 20 Feb 1904; Obituary of Frederick H. Winston
7. New York Times - 20 Feb 1904; Obituary of Frederick H. Winston
8. New York Times - 10 Feb 1905; Obituary of H.W. Blodgett
9. The Political History of Chicago by M.L. Ahern, Donohue & Henneberry, 1886
10. History of Illinois (Cook County), Goodspeed & Healy, editors
11. Notable Men of of Chicago and their City, Chicago Daily Journal, 1910
12. The Paynes of Virgina by Brooke Payne, Colonel U.S. Army, Ret., 1937
13. Chicago Tribune - 24 Jan 1935; Obituary of John B. Payne
14. New York Times - 24 Jan 1935; Obituary of John B. Payne
15. Winston & Strawn Company History (Outside Link)

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