Charles Valdo Bardeen (deceased), a resident of Madison from his appointment to the supreme bench, in February 1898, until his death, on March 20, 1903, was born in Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y., on September 23, 1850. Five years later his parents, Rasselas and Maria (Palmer) Bardeen removed to Wisconsin, located in Dane; county, where his boyhood was spent on a farm near the village of Albion, and his early education was obtained at the district schools. The vicinity of Albion Academy offered the opportunity for the beginning of his higher education and he graduated from that institution in 1870. Following this, he entered the University of Wisconsin but was obliged to discontinue his studies on account of failing eyesight, and he went to Colorado where he remained for two years, being associated while there with Alva Adams, afterward governor of Colorado. Upon his return to Madison, he entered the law department of the university from which he graduated in 1875; he was admitted to practice in the courts of Wisconsin and the United States in June of the same year. His first partner was Roger C. Spooner, the youngest brother of Senator John C. Spooner, and they opened their office at Wausau. Carl H. Mueller afterward joined the firm and after the retirement of Mr. Spooner, the partnership was continued until 1877 as Mueller & Bardeen. Following this, a partnership was formed with Gen. John A. Kellogg, which lasted until the death of Gen. Kellogg in 1882. In 1883 Judge Bardeen became associated with W. H. Mylea afterward attorney general, and in 1885 Judge Louis Marchettiwas added to the firm and this partnership was maintained until 1891, when Mr. Bardeen was elected to the position of judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit; in 1897 he was reelected without opposition, having the support of the entire bar of the circuit for office. In February 1898, Governor Scofield appointed Judge Bardeen to a vacancy in the supreme court, occasioned by the death of Hon. A. W. Newman, and in April following he was, without opposition, elected to fill the remainder of the term. He was a member of the Society of Elks, and of the Masonic order, belonging in the latter organization to the Forest lodge, No. 130; Wausau chapter, R. A. M. No, 51; St. Omar commandery, K. T. No. 19, and was elected in 1892 grand high priest, R. A. M., of Wisconsin. He was married June 17, 1876, at Albion, Wis., to Miss Frances H. Miller, a classmate of Albion Academy. His wife and three children, Eleanor (Mrs. Maurice Johnson), Charles V., Jr., and Florence, survive him. The firstborn, Bessie, died in infancy. Two brothers, Alden R., and Henry L., reside in Wausau, one, Claire B., in Milwaukee, and one brother, Frank, and a sister, Mrs. Arthur Yale, in Colorado Springs, where she is a practicing physician. These are the few fundamental facts in connection with the life of a man whose untimely death, in his very prime and in the midst of a most successful career, called forth from the bench, the bar, and the press of the state such expressions of sorrow and appreciation as is accorded to few men in public life. From the superabundance of material thus supplied it seems difficult to select the fitting expression in which the essence of a man's life and influence may be condensed, and yet from these many sources, - from public associates and private friends, from official documents and political opponents, from fraternal and society records, from the relations of the intimate family life, - the inferences drawn have a singular unanimity. They agree upon his native ability, - the inheritance of a sturdy New England ancestry, - which built the successful achievements of his later life upon the strong foundation of that personal endeavor which limited circumstances necessitated. By sheer force of character, he made his way to the front. They agree in their estimate of him as a student; while disclaiming genius, as that term is too frequently applied, he is credited with the genius which is the power of concentrated application. A "hard worker," a "close student," and a "painstaking student," are terms constantly applied to him. As an attorney the emphasis of his associates is placed upon his thorough equipment, his accuracy, his clear-headed, fair-minded honesty, his candor, and his fearlessness, - some of which qualities any successful attorney must possess, but which are seldom found in such measure and completeness were exhibited in the character of Judge Bardeen. In his official capacity both in the circuit and supreme court, his judicial temperament was fully recognized and his opinions were characterized by clarity, logical sequence, and conscientiousness that well merited the opinion that a "few more years on the supreme bench would have raised him to an equality with the greatest jurists that Wisconsin ever produced, as even at fifty-two he was little below that mark". His work as a lawyer was not marked by oratorical flights and yet he was a most convincing speaker, and as a judge his instructions to a jury were models of legal diction, clearness and simplicity. And yet it is, perhaps as a man, as a friend, as a citizen, that his life appeals most strongly for an enduring recognition. The qualities which distinguished him in his professional life were even more in evidence in his association with his personal friends; and while of a somewhat retiring disposition his genial temper, kindliness of heart, and loyalty, united to a distinguished presence and pleasing personality, gave him a place peculiarly his own in the esteem of his wide circle of intimate friends, as well as in the still wider circle of acquaintances. Perhaps, out of all the tributes to his memory which the death of Judge Bardeen called forth, there is no more just or appreciative one than that expressed by Rev. F. A. Gilmore, from which a few phrases may be culled; "His life was normal. There are no gaps in it. . . All that he became was already foreshadowed in his youth. . . He was an honest, laborious, kindhearted man; simple, direct, affable; an able lawyer, and an upright, conscientious judge. His life is an open book wherein the youth may read how the highest positions are open to any man who adds to talent, - industry, and honesty. He ornamented a profession which offers few prizes to mere genius unaccompanied by application. . . He united a broad grasp of legal principles, gained by labor and research, with accuracy and fidelity in investigation. . . With all his gifts and strength of character, he had a charming and direct simplicity of manner and speech. He was enamored of truth, right, and goodness as he loved these deeply. Truth and right were for him the attributes of God. He trusted in God with a large and beautiful faith . . . I know of no severer test of a man's life than the way he faces death. He stood this last supreme test so well and bravely that in this he was perfect."
One of Judge Bardeen's strong characteristics was the great interest he took in young attorneys just starting out on their careers - the counsel he gave them, the aid and encouragement he extended them - was a part of the man, and many are the now well-established attorneys who look back upon his kindness to them.
[Source: History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical, 1906] tr. by mkk