Guy Carlton Haines Corliss, son of Cyrus and Clarinda Corliss, was born on July 4, 1858, in Poughkeepsie, New York. He was the youngest of the family, and studied at home until the fall of 1869 when he entered the Poughkeepsie High School. After graduation in 1873, he worked at a local grocery store and studied law in a law office, unable to attend college due to financial concerns. He was admitted to the bar at Brooklyn, New York, in the fall of 1879.
He moved west to Grand Forks, Dakota Territory, in 1886. When North Dakota was admitted to the Union, Corliss was selected as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position he held for nine years. He resigned on August 15, 1898, and was asked to organize a law school at the University of North Dakota. He became the first dean of the school in 1899.
Corliss resigned from the position of dean to concentrate on his law practice. He continued, however, to teach classes at the school. On February 25, 1911, the Guy H. Corliss Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta was installed at UND, in his honor.
During the winter of 1911-1912, Corliss came down with a serious case of typhoid fever, which developed into acute Bright's disease. Corliss was forced to move farther west, and settled in Portland, Oregon, in June 1912. He joined the faculty of the Northwestern College of Law, where he was employed for twenty-three years.
Judge Guy Corliss married Effa V. Edson and had three sons and one daughter. He died on November 24, 1937.
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