450 - DARKE COUNTY lawyers. Indeed, many of those who have most acceptably filled the various offices in both, have been called from other pursuits. It is different with the judiciary. No man can attain the dignity of the bench who has not demonstrated his fitness and learning at the bar; and who has not displayed in the course of his legal practice those abilities, correct habits, and moral principles that commend him to the endorsement of his fellow-members of the profession for promotion. As is generally known, the first legislature, which assembled under the new state government of Ohio, passed an act on the 15th of April, 1803, organizing the judicial courts of the state. A presiding judge of the court of common pleas was required to be appointed in each circuit, who, together with three associate judges (not necessarily lawyers) consti tuted the courts of common pleas of the respective counties. Montgomery county then comprised all the territory north of the line of Butler and Warren counties as far as the state line, and west to its western boundary, thus including Darke county. The same act provided that until permanent seats of justice should be fixed in the several new counties, by commissioners appointed for that purpose, the temporary seat of justice, and the courts, should be held in the county of Montgomery, at the house of George Newcom, in the town of Dayton. The time fixed by the statutes for holding the court of common pleas in Montgomery county was the fourth Tuesdays in March, July and November; and that fixed for holding the supreme court was the third Tuesday of October, thus establishing and perpetuating among us the custom of court terms, which still generally prevails, and which originated centuries before in England, under widely different conditions, when the sovereign, with a retinue, passed from county to county to dispense justice to his subjects. This persistent survival of institutions, long after the conditions in which they had their origin seem almost entirely obliterated, is one of the most suggestive phenomena of civilization. The president and associate judges in their respective counties, any three of whom formed a quorum, had common law and chancery jurisdiction. Although rude surroundings characterized the inauguration of the first tribunals provided for the administration of justice in Montgomery county, it must not he inferred that the laws themselves, and the methods of procedure, were in like DARKE COUNTY - 451 manner rudimental. On the contrary, the establishment of regular tribunals to hear and determine matters in dispute, had been from time immemorial characteristic of all phases of civilization. The first step, indeed, in the advance of mankind from a savage to a civilized state, is the substitution of the principles of justice for the use of force, in the adjustment of human controversies. Among the enumerated objects for which the federal government itself had been organized but a few years before, the second in importance was declared to be "to establish justice." The principles of the English common law constituted a well defined system long before the colonization or even the discovery of the American continent, and many of the provisions of the great character of English liberty, forced from King John by the barons at Runnymede in 1215, were transplanted to American soil from England and nurtured by our forefathers until they bore fruit in the Declaration of American Independence and the ordainment of our splendid system of American written constitutions. But long before Runnymede, or even the conquest of England by William of Normandy, back in the sixth century, a celebrated Roman emperor, named Justinian, the son of are illiterate savage, descended from one of the conquered tribe- that had yielded reluctant obedience to the yoke of imperial Rome, at the instance of the David Dudley Fields, Judge DilIons and other learned jurists of his day, had ordered a commission, composed of the most eminent lawyers of the age, to codify the existing common and statute laws of the expiring empire. The immense body of jurisprudence, which had resulted from the varied conditions of that wonderful people through the experiences of a thousand years, commencing with the twelve tables of the Decemvirs, and including the successive revisions that had been made from time to time embraced as monstrous and unwieldy mass, corresponding to our elementary, statute, common law, and court decisions. This vast aggregate was again revised, condensed and classified into what are known to the profession as "the code, Pandects and Institutes of Justinian." A historical sycophancy has thus ascribed immortal honor to a titled monarch of ordinary capacity and gross passions which the world will forever owe to a body of illustrious lawyers (mast of whose names are long since forgotten), with 452 - DARKE COUNTY the celebrated Tribonian at their head, who, by the diligent labor of years, achieved this mighty work, and rescued from the debris of a perishing empire what is known as "the civil law," the priceless legacy of the dying mistress of nations to the modern world. This "civil law," together with what is known as the common law of England, established in the colonies by legislative enactment, or custom, being those principles, rules of action, and usages applicable to the government and security of person and property, constituted the basis of American jurisprudence as it existed when the first courts were organized and held in Montgomery county in the year 1803, in the upper room of the log tavern of George Newcom, in the infant town of Dayton, Ohio. The adjoining country was an almost unbroken wilderness. The clearings were few and far between. It is to be regretted that even tradition has not been transmitted to us a description of the occasion of the early holding of court in Dayton. There must have been several chairs for the judges and lawyers, whose duty required them to be present and a table of some sort upon which a record of the proceedings could he written. The clerk of court doubtless provided himself with sheets of foolscap paper purchaseable at Cincinnati to keep minutes upon. Seats for spectators were probably provided on benches made of huge slabs or puncheons. There was no formidable array of statutes or books; such as were absolutely necessary were brought in the saddle bag of the presiding judge. The conditions of the infancy of an American frontier community in the beginning of this century were vastly different from those existing now. Then emigrants came singly or in very small parties, by slow and toilsome journeyings, either in rude boats upon the streams, or on foot. with animals, through a tangled wilderness, infested with wild beasts and inhabited by savage Indians. They came, bringing with then but few of the comforts or conveniences of the older settlements, prepared to encounter all sorts of dangers and privations, until their own patient labor should supply them in their new homes. None but the more courageous, frugal and hardy would venture upon an enterprise so daring. Few expected that even during their own lives they would reap the reward of their toils, but were cheered by the hope that to their children and their children's children would come bless- DARKE COUNTY - 453 ing and abundance out of their labor and privations. The instinct of self-preservation inspired a willingness to assist each other, and their simple acquisitions were scarcely of sufficient value to supply a temptation to transgress the tenth commandment. Under such circumstances, there was but little of course to submit to the adjudication of judicial tribunals—still the courts were regularly held, as prescribed by law, and as immigration increased, subsistence became less precarious, property rights and land boundaries more important and specifically defined, traffic grew more active, and as a necessary result of these better conditions, sources of litigation also increased. One of the most ancient memorials relating to civil or criminal procedure in Darke county is the judgment of Enos Terry, rendered as a justice of the peace, against a stray negro, who was arrested, arraigned and tried before him for stealing a brass watch from a soldier of the Greenville garrison in 1812. On the conviction of the negro, a sentence was pronounced by. Terry unknown to the hooks, and not set down or nominated in the statutes. The negro was required to submit to one of two penalties at his own option. Either to bear the infliction of the Mosaic lashes, save one, or be stripped stark naked and climb a thorn honey locust before Terry's door. Abe Scribner, who. was present when the trial came off and sentence was pronounced, made a lifelong enemy of Terry by suggesting to him that his two daughters (one of whom afterwards married John Mooney, and the other Bill Scott) in case the negro chose to climb the thorn, should assist him up the locust. Subsequently, John Purviance, David Briggs and Terry were justices of the peace of Greenville township, which, as yet, was co-extensive with the entire county, no other divisions being made until after the organization of the county, pursuant to an act of the general assembly of December 14, 1816. At a later period, Samuel McClure, who lived on Whitewater, and Jacob Carlaugh, who resided at Stillwater, were commissioned justices. To pursue the civil history of the township of Greenville whilst it embraced the entire county and remained as a mere appanage of Miami county, and to know who were trustees or constables, would but little interest the reader of these pages, and for that reason the further reference to that matter is omitted. But it may as well he stated here as elsewhere, 454 - DARKE COUNTY that from the first setting-up of a civil policy in Greenville township, when it was co-extensive with the county, until a county organization took place under the act of December, 1816, no dismemberment took place, and until a cutting-up under the authority created and set in motion by that act, it remained entire. On perfecting the new county organization, its dimensions were considerably reduced, and subsequent changes in its limits were made from time to time until 1828, since which time its boundaries have been unchanged. Between the signing of the treaty of 1814 and the organization of the county in the spring of 1817, under the law of the preceding winter, the emigration to the township, as well as to the residue of the county, had increased the population more than three-fold. The lots in the town of Greenville were yet the joint property so far as the legal title was concerned, of John Devor and the heirs of the deceased Mrs. Armstrong; prior to her death, contracts for several of them had been made with parties who had paid for and were living on them, but as yet had no paper title. Devor, soon after the treaty, moved up to Greenville from Montgomery county; he had now purchased two additional sections, twelve hundred and eighty acres or more of land, part near to and other portions more remote from Greenville, and for the advancement of the town it was necessary not only to perfect to the purchasers the title of the lots already bargained, but to dispose of the residue, as well as secure to the county the title of the one-third given as an inducement to secure the location of the county seat. Legal proceedings to accomplish the desired ends were instituted in the court of common pleas of Miami county, to which Darke, not yet organized, was attached. Under these proceedings the selection of the lots for Darke county was made, decrees for title of those contracted away taken, and the proper conveyances executed and an appraisal of the residue of the lots; as well as adjacent lands of the half section, was made, and a sale by the sheriff of Miami county ordered. A public sale by the sheriff was had at Greenville on the 11th day of June, 1816, when more than fifty lots were sold to purchasers on the usual terms of partition sales, part cash and part in deferred installments. One tract of the adjoining land was sold, but the residue, some two hundred acres, was bid in by Devor to prevent what he considered a sacrifice, and DARKE COUNTY - 455 some years afterwards became the subject of another suit in partition in the court of Darke county. The organization of the county, under the act of December 14, 1816, may in some particulars be said to have a place in the annals of the town and township of Greenville, and of some of those particulars only will mention here be made. The same general assembly that passed that act, elected Joseph H. Crane, president judge of the first judicial circuit, a position for which he was eminently fitted, and worthily adorned until his election to congress in October, 1826; and also elected John Purviance, Enos Terry and James Rush associate judges of the court of common pleas of Darke county. The appointment of clerk of that court, and of the county recorder, devolved upon the court. It was intended that Beers should he chosen to the first of these positions, but he wanted a few weeks' residence of the prescribed time to render him eligible, and Linus Bascom was chosen as clerk pro tem ; until a subsequent term, and before that subsequent terns intervened Beers had "lost his grip" and Eastin Morris was duly chosen to that office for the term of seven years. The associate judges had met in special term to appoint a county recorder. There were two candidates, James Montgomery and Abraham Scribner. Montgomery was a fair penman and Scribner's chirography was, in after years, aptly compared, by David Morris, to a furrow drawn by a shovel plow through a newly cleared field of beech land. The judges were at a stand, and appointed a committee of two to report to an adjourned session on the qualifications of the candidates. Neither member of the committee could have claimed "benefit of clergy," if his neck had been in jeopardy, for neither could read nor write a word. Scribner made so mach sport of the appointment, that at the adjourned session, the court, to stop his mouth, gave him the appointment, which he held until his resignation in 1822, and during his whole term, not a single word was ever written by him in the books of his office, the entire clerical labor being performed by Dr. Briggs and Eastin Morris. The board of county commissioners selected Beers as their clerk, which position he held until the legislature created the office of county auditor in 1821 or 1822. It may as well be stated here that in 1829, upon the death of David Morris, Beers obtained the office of clerk, which he held until 1850, when he was chosen president judge of the first circuit, which 456 - DARKE COUNTY he held until he was superseded under the new dispensation brought in by the constitution of 1851. He also held for a number of years the position of prosecuting attorney and justice of the peace. He was a sound and an able lawyer, regarded as an oracle in legal matters by all his acquaintances yet he never appeared to advantage as an advocate before a jury, nor in an argument to a court. His decease occurred about 1862. Soon after the organization of the county, the commissioners took measures for the erection of a jail, and one of very humble character was erected on the north part of the public square, not more than thirty feet from the north corner of the city hall. It was constructed with two apartments each about fifteen feet square, the outside walls made of two thickness of sound timber, hewed one foot square, set on a double platform on the ground, of the same material, and overlaid by another of the same character upon which the roof was raised; the apartments were separated by a partition similar to the walls. To one apartment was a door, andone window about two feet square; in the partition was another door leading to the other apartment, which had no other opening, either door or window. When it had inmates in cold weather. the outer room was warmed by a kettle of charcoal, the fumes of which escaped through the window and crevices between the logs of walls and ceiling. One of the timbers forming the floor was once cut in two, being severed by an auger furnished to a prisoner through the window by a friend outside; the piece thus cut off was pushed from under the wall, and the party confined escaped. The piece of timber was replaced and fastened, but some years later was, by a prisoner, loosened and removed, but in endeavoring to escape he got wedged fast in the opening, and could neither get out nor get back. The sheriff found him in the morning and with some effort released him from what was close confinement. This structure was burned down by an incendiary on the morning of Sunday, May 2. 1827. It was erected by Matthias Dean at a cost of about $200.00 in county orders that would then bring them only about sixty per cent, of their face in money. In 1827-28, a new structure for a jail and jailer's residence of brick was erected on the lot occupied by the new building of Matchett, Wilson & Hart. This was a less secure building than the old log jail. Very shortly after it was completed a noted thief named Jonathan DARKE COUNTY - 457 Layles, who had been committed for horse-stealing, got out of it so mysteriously that the jailer, William Rush, was indicted and tried for aiding his escape; the jury before whom he was on trial, after the case was let to them, deliberated for sixty hours without meat or drink (it was not then allowed to feed a jury at the expense of the county), and being unable to agree, were with the assent of the defendant, discharged, and before another term came on, the statement of Bayles, who had been arrested and committed at Fort Wayne for other offenses, explained the manner of his escape, and so completely satisfied every one that Rush had no hand in it that the prosecuting attorney entered a nolle. It may as well be stated here that this second jail was demolished about 1840, on the erection of another on the southeastern part of the same lot, that is now superseded by the fourth jail of Darke county. About a year after letting the contract for the first jail, John and James Craig erected the first court house of the county, a frame structure of two stories, about twenty-two by twenty-eight feet, the upper store of which was reached by a stairway from the court room which occupied all the lower story and was divided into a clerk's office and jury room. If two juries were in deliberation at once, as was sometimes the case, the second was sent to some private house. This building was erected on the south part of the public square. diagonally across Broadway and Main street from the old log jail. In it courts were held until the summer of 1834, when it was removed, and with alterations and additions, was converted first into a dwelling house, and lastly to a whisky saloon on Third street, southwest of and next t,, Odd Fellows hall. The second court house, built by James Craig, who ha been named as one of the builders of the first, was located in the center of the public square. Craig took the contract at so low a figure that he lost from $1,500 to $2,000 in his undertaking. On the erection of the present court house, the second one was demolished to make room for the city hall, a building that neither for convenience nor as an ornament is any improvement upon the old structure. It may also, it this connection, he noted that no place of business was provided for any county officer, save the clerk, until the erection of the second court house, and in that for only part of them The auditor, recorder, treasurer, tax collector and sheriff each had to furnish his own quarters, at this own expense. The 458 - DARKE COUNTY commissioners first quartered themselves on their cleric, afterward, when the office of auditor was provided for, on him. It may further be stated here, that from 1822 to 1826, the position of collector of the tax was sold at public auction to the highest bidder. This statement requires an explanation. County orders were at a discount in these years of from thirty-seven and one-half to sixty-two and one-half per cent., the treasury generally being without funds, they could alone be passed at their face to the collector in payment of the county taxes levied on chattel property; for the tax denominated the state tax, cash or coined money, or what was its equivalent, notes of the bank of the United States, was required; yet in the annual settlement, a proportion of the land tax was set off to the county, and this proportion the collector could discharge by turning over to the county treasurer the orders at their face value, which lie had bought at thirty-five to sixty-five cents on the dollar. This chance of making a little money enabled the collector to give a bonus for the office. For several years, county orders were a special currency of inferior value. If you wanted to buy a horse or a cow, ten bushels of wheat or forty acres of land, the price was named as so much in cash, or a different value in county orders. In 1823, this state of things opened the door for a transaction that gave rise to much excitement, ill-blood and evil speaking, that for several years laid on the shelf a hitherto popular man, then in place as public officer, although in after years he was acquitted by the people of blame in the matter, save negligence of duty, the fraud mixed up with it being laid to other account. On the annual settlement with the county treasurer, the county orders redeemed by him were delivered to the commissioners and auditor, and he was credited therefor, and the law then required that they should be burned in the presence of those officials. No schedule of their number, amount or payee was made or kept, but only the aggregate to be inserted in the credit to the treasurer; at the settlement of the year mentioned, when the bundle of orders were turned over there was no fire handy to carry out the behest of the law, and friction matches had not yet been seen or known. The bundle was left in the auditor's care, who was to fulfill the omitted duty when he had a fire or lighted candle in his office, and nothing more was thought of it. DARKE COUNTY - 459 Some months afterwards, several of these orders, distinctly remembered by the treasurer, collector and commissioners to be of those previously redeemed, were found in circulation. How they again got out was never definitely proved or known, nor was it ever ascertained what amount had been fraudulently reissued. No accurate investigation ever took place, for the system of keeping books then in vogue in Darke county afforded no means of making an accurate investigation. Some of the orders were tracked very near, but not quite to the auditor. That officer was many years later placed in a position of trust, in which his securities paid heavily for his default. His name is omitted, and the matter, only remembered after a lapse of nearly four score years by less than a dozen persons now living, is only adverted to here, because in the ensuing session of the general assembly, it gave rise to an enactment, ever since in force, that on the redemption. of a county order, the treasurer should either plainly write o print across the face of it "redeemed," with the date of it redemption and subscribe to the statement his name officially It may as well be further stated here that one of those sureties, by reason of public sympathy for his loss, was some years after chosen to the same position of trust to which his business attainments was not equal, and he had to entrust his duties to subordinates whose rascality in turn made him a public defaulter, and he was sued on his bond. It is not an agreeable duty to the writer to narrate some of these occurences, but truth requires that history record facts, even if they are unpleasant. It is always of interest to peruse the first records of any association or corporation, as by them we are enabled to learn the ability and character of the men chosen to lead in civil affairs and by comparison with the acts of later year, form an estimate of the growth of improvements, increased wealth, and, in some instances, disproportionate cost. These retrospective pages are generally favorable to the pioneers since they seem to have acted with decision, economy and prudence. To this end, we copy verbatim the record of the first session of the court of common pleas for this county: "Darke county organized March 1, 1817. Court of common pleas of Darke county, aforesaid, March 15, 1817. Before session, to appoint a clerk pro tem, and recorder, Enos Terry, John Purviance and James Rush, Esquires, associate judges, as appears by their commissions. John Beers was appointed 460 - DARKE COUNTY clerk pro tem., to give bond 7th of April next. The appointment of recorder was postponed till 7th of April next. Court adjourned until April 7, to meet at the home of Moses Scott, at Greenville. Signed, Enos Terry." These few lines, brief as they are, present the minutes, in full, of the first special term, and are a marked contrast, in simplicity, with the verbiage of later special terms. The next session was held, pursuant to adjournment, as shown by the following complete transcript of the proceedings "Common pleas met agreeable to adjournment. The same judges as on the 15th of March last. John Beers resigned his appointment of clerk pro tempore and Linus Bascom was appointed clerk pro tempore. in his room. Abraham Scribner appointed recorder. Court adjourned without day. Signed, Enos Terry." The first regular term of the court of common pleas was in June, 1817. Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, was the first presiding judge, with the associates above named. They all produced commissions, signed by Thomas Worthington, governor of Ohio, and at once entered upon the performance of their duties. The records show no grand jury in attendance at this first term, for the good reason, as the minutes show, that there was "no sheriff, coroner or other officer qualified to serve and return process," and that there had been "no venire facias for a grand jury served and returned." These facts having been officially made known to the court, it was "ordered that a venire facias issue, directed to Moses Scott," who was especially authorized and empowered to serve and return, commanding him to summon fifteen good and lawful men or the county, to appear forthwith, at our court house in Greenville. to serve as grand jurors ; upon which writ the said Moses Scott returned that he had summoned John Loring, John Andrews, James Cloyd, Daniel Potter, Robert Douglas, Abraham Miller, Filder G. Lenham. Daniel Holley, Joseph Townsend, James Williamson, John Ryerson. David Briggs, Levi Elston, Martin Ruple and Peter Rush. who, being chosen and sworn and charged, retired to their room." Few are left who had a personal acquaintance with these men ; and they, the first Darke county grand jurymen ever impaneled, have long since passed away. The latest survivor was James Cloyd, who was a resident of German township. and died at a ripe old age, a few years before the civil war. DARKE COUNTY - 461 On June 3, 1817, the court appointed Henry Bacon, of Dayton, to act as prosecutor, on behalf of the state of Ohio, for the county of Darke, until the further order of the court thereon. The grand jury found several indictments at this term. Among others, there was one against Robert Hood, for "selling whisky to the Indians." Another indictment was found against William R. Jones, for assault and battery, it being alleged and proved that he had flogged an eavesdropper for peeping through the cracks of the log cabin at the grand jury, while they were holding their session. The constable was convicted and fined $8 and costs. This may have been right, but the fellow deserved what he got, and the constable was not wanting in the discharge of his duty. His ignorance of legal technicalities and his zeal outran his discretion, and his punishment by fine and dismissal was severe. The various defendants to several indictments found were duly arraigned, and, as a matter of course, entered a plea of "not guilty." Matters were now brought to a dead halt, as a reference to the record showed "no persons returned to serve as petit jurors." Acting Sheriff Scott was, therefore, at once ordered to "summon twelve good and lawful men of said county to serve as petit jurors," upon which writ the said Moses Scott returned that he had summoned Charles Sumption, John McFarlin, James Williamson, John Break, Charles Reed, Jacob Miller, William Montgomery, Robert McIntyre, James Perry, Aaron Dean, Alexander Smith and Zachariah Hole." Of these, the first petit jury ever impaneled in Darke county, none were known to be living in 1880. The last survivor, so far as ascertained, was John McFarlin, of the township of Jackson. At the close of this term, the following entry was placed on record: "The court allows Henry Bacon, prosecutor for Darke county, $10 for services at this term." On the second Monday of August, 1817, Moses Scott presented his commission from the governor, as sheriff, and gave a bond of $4,000. On the same day, William Montgomery presented his commission as coroner, and gave a bond for $2,000. There were two courts a year. Each term lasted but one or two days. It took a ride over nearly the entire county to summons men enough to make up the two juries. The grand jury rarely sat more than one day. Services were paid for in county orders, which were current in exchanges, at about fifty cents cash on the dollar, as there was no money in treasury. The allowance to each grand juror was seventy-five 462 - DARKE COUNTY cents per day ; the petit juror was paid but half a dollar, but received this on each trial, and this was paid by the winning party. The first court had been held in the bar room of Azor Scribner and as was just and fair, the second was appointed for the 14th of November, 1817, in the bar room of Scott's Tavern. The first case called was an action for debt, in which Anthony Ricard appeared as defendant. The clerk's fees were $2.50, those of the sheriff were $1.17 and of the attorney $5, making a total of $8.67. At this time, William, son of Moses Scott, had been elected sheriff. The tavern in those days was the place for assembly to exchange items of news, join in a sociable glass and partake perhaps of the plain but abundant fare offered. The event of a court was a novelty, and a number of the settlers gathered about and curiously observed the proceedings. A panel of grand jurors, among whom was John S. Hiller, was sworn in, as a matter of course, and received the charge from Judge Crane, then on the circuit. General James Mills was foreman, and the party was conducted to Azor Scribner's bar room, and duly furnished by the hospitable innkeeper with a bottle of good whisky and a pitcher of water. Soon a man was admitted who testified that he had been assaulted, wounded, beat and otherwise ill-treated. On his retirement, another entered, who witnessed that his predecessor before the jury had committed a like offense upon him. The case was by no means a clear one. The foreman was about to take the sense of the jury, when he announced that "it had been rulable in Butler county, where he came from, to require the youngest juryman to vote first." This chanced to he Hiller, who naturally entered an objection, saying that as this was his first experience on a jury, he did not wish to be forward in giving an opinion. The bottle was then brought into requisition, and after disposing of the liquor to general satisfaction, the case was formally decided. At the close of the day, the jury was discharged and court adjourned sine die. Seven years later Rush and Terry were reappointed associate justices and John Briggs added to take the place of John Purviance. Two years later in 1826 David Purviance was added to fill a vacancy and the following year George Adams was appointed. Adams had been a drummer boy in the Revolution and served with Harmar, being badly wounded in the DARKE COUNTY - 463 latter's defeat. His life was despaired of, and on the retreat of the army to Fort Washington, he was carried on a litter between two horses to Cincinnati, although on the way a grave was dug for him three evenings in succession. Adams recovered sufficiently to join St. Clair's army and was one of those fortunate enough to escape massacre at Fort Recovery. Adams was also a spy under Wayne in 1794, was a major of the Ohio militia in the war of 1812 and commandant of Fort Greenville. Later he erected a mill in Adams township and was one of the most prominent persons in the early history of Darke county. Major Adams lies buried in the Martin cemetery near Greenville and in his grave are doubtless a number of bullets which the surgical skill of those days could not remove. In 1831 the legislature reappointed James Rush an associate judge, from which it would appear that he must hay-:: served in that capacity more than fourteen years. No further record of the early justices was found until 1840, when George Adams, Jr., James Hayes and Newberry Yorke were appointed by the legislature. In 1847 the appointees were John Armstrong, Josiah D. Farrer and Thomas C. Brawley. The last appointment for this county was Judson Jacqua in 1851. We have now given the names of all the associate judge appointed from Darke county, who served as advisors to the respective president judges from 1817 to 1850. We have no means of knowing at this date to what extent these men influenced the decisions of the court. They were not men learned in the law and we presume the main burden rested upon the president judge. As stated on preceding pages, in the account of the first court the first president judge was Joseph H. Crane, who way elected January 18, 1813, and whose associates were John Pur viance, James Rush and Enos Terry. Judge Crane was at that time regarded as the father of the Montgomery county bar, not only for his age, but for his ripe and profound learning in his profession. Outside of mere professional and technical learning, he was a man of wide and varied reading, and prodigious memory, especially familiar with English history and the English classics and poets. Judge Crane came from a family identified with the heroic struggle for American independence. From 1813 to 1816 Crane acted as prosecuting attorney for Montogomery county and was elected to the j1nloe- 464 - DARKE COUNTY ship in 1817 when Darke county was organized. In this capacity he rendered valuable and satisfactory service until the year 1828, when he was elected to congress, where he served eight years, at the expiration of which period he withdrew from public life and resumed the practice of his profession in Dayton. Judge Crane was regarded as the best type of the early American lawyer and left an indelible impression upon the tone of the bar, which has been perpetuated, it may be truthfully said, to a large extent through its membership down to the present hour. The next judge to hold court here was George B. Holt, whose term of office began in 1829. Judge Holt was a native of Connecticut, where he had been admitted to the bar and came to Dayton in 1819. He served acceptably his first seven years term on the bench up to 1836, and afterwards in 1842 to 1843, and was again elected judge the last term expiring in 1849. In 1850 Holt and C. L. Valandigham were rival candidates for the state convention, called to adopt a new state constitution for Ohio. After his election Judge Holt took part in the labor of the constitutional convention, which was composed of many of the ablest men of the state. Later he retired from active professional and political life, was a strong supporter of the union during the rebellion and died at Dayton at the age of eighty-two. The next president judge to hold court with Darke county associate judges was William L. Helfenstein, who served from 1836 up to 1842 when Judge Holt again resumed the bench, as heretofore stated. John Beers of Darke county was then presiding judge for a short time and was succeeded by Ralph S. Hart. The constitution of 1851 contained the following provisions by which the state was permanently subdivided into common pleas districts, and these again divided into three subdistricts each, and the election of the judges of these courts vested in the people of the subdivision instead of in the general assembly as heretofore. "Article 4, Section 3. The state shall he divided into nine common pleas districts, of which the county of Hamilton shall constitute one, of compact territory, and bounded by county lines, and each of said districts, consisting of three or more counties, shall be divided into three parts of compact territory: and bounded by county lines, and as nearly equal in population as practicable, in each of which one judge of the DARKE COUNTY - 465 court of common pleas for said district, and residing therein, shall be elected by the electors of said subdivision. Courts of common pleas shall be held by one or more of these judges in every county in the district, as often as may be provided by law; and more than one court, or sitting thereof, may be held at the same time in each district. "Article 4, Section 4. The jurisdiction of the courts of common pleas, and of the judges thereof, shall be fixed by law." Under this new arrangement three judges of a district together constituted a district court, they succeeded to the functions of the old supreme court in their respective counties, and the new common pleas court succeeded to the old common pleas court except in probate jurisdiction, for which probate judges were provided to be elected, one in each county. In 1852 an act of the legislature divided the state into five circuits for the district court and a judge of the supreme court was required to preside, and the district court was made a court of appeals from the common pleas court. This practice continued until the supreme judges were relieved of this duty in 1865, after which the common pleas judges of the district court were authorized to consider appeals from their own judges. This undesirable condition of things was removed in October, 1883, by the adoption or an amendment to the con stitution, authorizing the creation of a circuit court and abolishing the district court but leaving the common pleas judges and courts undisturbed. The first election for judge under the new constitution way held on the second Tuesday of October, 1851. The term of the old judge having been extended to the second Monday of February, 1852. the new judges began their term of office at that time. Butler, Preble and Darke formed the first subdivision of the second district. Subsequent judges other than citizens of Darke county were Abner Haynes, James Clark. William J. Gilmore, Alex. F. Hume and Ichabod Corwin. William M. Wilson, lawyer, judge and legislator, was horm near Mifflin, Juaniata county, Pennsylvania, March 11, 1808, and died in Greenville. Ohio, June 15, 1864. His parents were Thomas Wilson and Jane Martin and in 1811 they came to Ohio, passed about a year in Fairfield county and in 1812 settled in Butler county where Mr. Wilson was reared. He was educated in Miami University. at Oxford, Ohio, studied law with the late Hon. Jesse Corwin, of Hamilton, Ohio, was (30) 466 - DARKE COUNTY admitted to the bar in 1832 and then began practice in that place. In the fall of 1835 he located in Greenville and at once took a leading position as lawyer. For a number of years he served as prosecuting attorney of Darke county. On September 19, 1837, he married Miss Louise Dorsey, of Greenville, Ohio. She was born in Butler county, April 23, 1815, and died August 2, 1856. In December, 1837, he started the Darke County Advocate, which, with a change of name, is now the Greenville Journal. In October, 1840, he was elected auditor of Darke county and was twice re-elected, thus serving six years. In the fall of 1846 he was elected to the Ohio Senate from the district composed of the counties of Darke, Miami, Mercer and Shelby and held the seat two years, during which time he rose to very prominent position in that body and came within one vote of being elected state auditor, having already gained the reputation of being one of the most efficient county auditors in the state. This one lacking vote he could have supplied by voting for himself, a thing which his manly modesty forbade. In the fall of 1856 he was appointed by Governor Chase as common pleas judge of the first subdivision of the second judicial district of Ohio to fill a vacancy. His decisions were distinguished for great research and ability. Being too old to enter the service during the war for the union he was, nevertheless, as member of the military committee of his district, an active and earnest supporter o' government. He stood for many years at the head of the Greenville bar, and was regarded as one of the best jurists in Ohio, and by his moral worth gave a higher character to the profession. He was a man of unusually quiet and retiring disposition; his words were few, but well chosen, and his sarcasm and repartee were like a flash of lightning on an opponent. At the same time he bore a heart of the warmest and tenderest sympathies. For a number of years he held the office of elder in the Presbyterian church of Greenville. He lived and died an honest, upright man, in whom, as friend, neighbor and citizen, the community had the fullest confidence. In 1861 David L. Meeker was elected common plas judge of this district but resigned in 1866. Upon the resignation of Judge Meeker, in January, 1866, he was succeeded by Win. Allen. William Allen was born in Butler county, Ohio. August 13, 1827. His father, John Allen, was born in Ireland, and emigrated to America in 1812; after residing six years in the DARKE COUNTY - 467 state of New York, he moved to Butler county, Ohio, in 1818; he moved his family into the woods of Darke county, in 1838, his dwelling being a log cabin with puncheon floors and a mud and stick chimney: in the latter part of his life he was a preacher in the United Brethren church. Our subject was favored with no educational advantages, except those afforded by the common schools of the day, yet by making most of these, he was able to teach at the age of fifteen, and for several years followed that vocation; at the age of nineteen, he commenced the study of law, under the late Felix _March, of Eaton, Ohio; was admitted to the bar in 1849, and in the same year commenced practice in Greenville; in 1850 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Darke county, and reelected in 1852; in the fall of 1858 he was elected to congress. from the Fourth District, comprising the counties of Darke, Shelby, Mercer, Auglaize and Allen, and re-elected in 186D, thus serving in the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congress ; in the winter of 1865 he was appointed by Governor Cox as judge of the court of common pleas of the first subdivision of the second judicial district of Ohio, composed of the counties of Butler, Darke and Preble, to fill a vacancy made by the resignation of Judge D. L. Meeker; in 1878, Judge Allen was nominated for Congress, by the Republicans of the fifth district, but he declined. In 1851 he married Miss Priscilla Wallace, whose father settled in Darke county im 1834; the issue of this marriage was four sons and four daughters. of whom only one son survives. Four of his children died with diphtheria under the most affecting circumstances, in the space of as many weeks: this was in the winter of 1861, when he was summoned from Washington City to a despoiled home. Mr. Allen. although he had risen from poverty to affluence by his own unaided exertions, was one of the most charitable of our citizens and his integrity has never been questioned: his positive character while he won friends true as steel, also made enemies, but even his enemies conceded to him great ability and unflinching honesty of purpose; he was vice-president of the Greenville Bank, and died president of the Greenville Gas Company. From May. 1868, to October, 1872, the common pleas judge for this sub-division was John C. McKemy. He was a son of William and Elizabeth (Kirkpatrick) McKemy, the McKemys being Irish and the Kirkpatricks, Scotch. Judge McKemy was reared on his father's farm in Rockbridge 468 - DARKE COUNTY county, Virginia, receiving such education as was afforded in that country at that time. Coming to Darke county, before the Civil War, he lived near Wiley Station and was a merchant before he took up the practice of law. He removed to Greenville, in 1865, and began practicing law, just prior to being elected probate judge, in which capacity he served from February, 1867, until he took his seat on the common pleas bench, in May, 1868. Judge McKemy was a man of bright, active mind, resourceful, very ambitious, of genial disposition, and popular manners. Resigning before the end of his term, he resumed the practice of his profession, in Dayton, and later moved to Hamilton, Ohio, to practice law, where he continued until his decease in 1889. Upon the resignation of Judge McKemy, he was succeeded by David L. Meeker, who was appointed by Governor Noyes to fill the vacancy. Judge Meeker was born in Darke county, Ohio, on the 18th day of July, 1827, a son of David M. and Nancy Ann (Miller) Meeker; the former a native of Newark, New Jersey, came to Ohio in 1802 when about ten years of age. Upon his father's farm Judge Meeker spent his boyhood, becoming familiar with all of the hard work and discomfort of clearing the land and culticating the soil when the financial reward of agriculture was scarcely greater than the advantages offered for education. The privations of pioneer life were more than offset by the helpfulness of neighbors and the genuine, unpretentious hospitality characteristic of the occupants of log cabins in pioneer times. After teaching district school for several winters, he read law with the late Judge Ebenezer Parsons, of Miami county, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. opening an office in Greenville in May 1853. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1856 and re-elected two years later, serving four years. His preference for the practice of law rather than the duties of public office was so pronounced that he yielded reluctantly to the solicitation of friends to accept even the judgeship. As hereinbefore stated, he served four years as common pleas judge from 1862 to 1866. His appointement by Governor Noyes, for the unexpired portion of the term to which Judge McKemy had been elected, was on the unanimous recommendation and petition of the bar in every county of the judicial district. Judge Meeker's service on the bench was so acceptable to all the people that he was chosen at the next election for the posi- DARKE COUNTY - 469 tion without opposition. Both of the leading- political parties nominated him, and the members of the bar without dissent recommended his election. After this he was reelected for two terms and declined a third because of failing health. Judge Meeker filled a place in the history of this judicial district that is creditable to himself and honorable to the profession. A judge for a period of almost twenty-one years, he retired from the bench with the highest respect of the profession and admiration of the public. He was always a close student and when in practice was known as a hard working lawyer, and likewise a successful one. His greatest reputation, however, will rest on his work as a judge. In his decisions he was almost unerring.. He possessed what is termed a legal mind; understood thoroughly the principles of the law; was painstaking in his investigations and accurate in his decisions. One of the sources of his popularity was undoubtedly his unassuming manners, unfeigned cordiality and readiness to help his fellow men. Judge Meeker died suddenly, September 5, 1896, at hi-. home in Greenville, and the tributes to his character and worthiness, expressed in a memorial meeting of the bar, and in the funeral services, were hearty and sincere. Upon the expiration of the term of Judge Meeker he was succeeded, in 1883, by John W. Sater, who as Judge Clark said was the bull dog of the bar. He was born on July 9. 1839, in Maryland. He was large, well formed, weighed over 200 pounds, with light complexion and dark hair, being always a good dresser. Judge Sater was admitted to the practice of law by the supreme court of Ohio in December 1862, after having served in the Civil War, and began the practice of law in Greenville, in January, 1863. He served one term as prosecuting attorney of the county and was a good pleader and most thorough in the preparation of his causes. He was connected with many of the most important cases, tried at the bar, while he was in practice. John W. Sater was judge of the court of common pleas of the first sub-division of the second judicial district of Ohio, for five years, ending May 1888. In those days there were few court stenographers and the only way to preserve testimony was by memory or for the lawyers and the court to take notice of the testimony of the witnesses. Judge Sater always took full notes of the testimony. T. W. Sater, it is written "while on the bench, had 470 - DARKE COUNTY the well deserved reputation of being one of the most able judges who ever held court in this district." He died March 22, 1897. Upon the completion o: another term of five years of Judge Meeker in May 1893, he was succeeded by John C. Clark, whose term of service was for five• years until May 1898. \Jr. Clark was born in a log cabin in Washington township, Darke county, on the 17th of January, 1849, a son of Benjamin H. and Mary (Martin) Clark. His father was of English and German extraction and his mother was of German and Irish lineage. Upon the family homestead John C. Clark was reared, working in the fields through the summer months while in the winter, until eighteen years of age, he pursued such studies as formed the curriculum in the district school of the neighborhood. Early becoming imbued with a desire to make the practice of law his life work, he began reading law with Judge A. R. Calderwood and H. M. Cole in October 1875. At the time Mr. Clark was a student, Ed. Breaden was also reading law in the same office, and in 1878 these two young men commenced the practice of law together, under the firm name of Breaden & Clark. The partnership was dissolved three years later and in 1885 Mr. Clark formed a law partnership with General Anderson and Mr. Chenoweth and their practice was very remunerative. From January, 1881, for a period of five years, Judge Clark served Darke county as prosecuting attorney. On the bench Judge Clark was most fair and impartial in his rulings and his decisions were models of judicial soundness. At a bar banquet held at the Turpen house on January 9, 1909, Judge Clark delivered an interesting toast "Reminiscenses," wherein he spoke of the many attorneys with and against whom he had practiced law during a period of thirty-five years. Judge Clark died June 23, 1912, commanding that uniform regard which is everywhere given to true worth of character. The judicial district having, been changed and there now being a republican majority, Henry M. Cole was elected in 1897 for a term of five years and began his service in May, 1898. Henry M. Cole was born upon a farm in this county in March, 1845, a son of Samuel Cole, who was born in Washington township, Darke county on the old family homestead, in 1821. Not content to follow the plow, his preference being for professional life, he read law under the direction of the firm of DARKE COUNTY - 471 Knox & Sater of Greenville and later attended the law school in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in the clan, of 1869. During the first eleven years in the profession, lie practiced in partnership with Judge A. R. Calderwoo~i. During the war of the Rebellion he had manifested his loyalty to his country by enlisting in an Ohio regiment, in which he served faithfully and well until the close of hostilities when he was honorably discharged. While practicing at the bar Judge Cole applied himself dil igently to the preparation and trial of cases and to the hand ling of the legal matters entrusted to his care. Judge Cole attended to his judicial duties with careful attention to dc tails and a disregard for self, seeming to be animated only l;y a desire to discharge his duty with fairness and impartiality. Judge Cole died February 16, 1909, universally esteemed. Judge Cole was succeeded in 1903 by James I. Allread who has long figured prominently in connection with political and professional interests in Darke county and whose reputation and acquaintance are by no means limited to the confines the county. He was born upon his father's farm in Twin township in September, 1858: his paternal great-grandfather being one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war, who uncle command of General Wayne aided the colonists in their strug gle for independence. James I. Allread spent his boyhood days upon the home farm in Twin township and continued his education in Greenville under the instruction of Prof. J. T. Martz and Professor Seitz. At nineteen years of age lie began reading law in the office and tinder the direction of William Allen of Greenville, being admitted to the bar before the supreme court in October, 1880. He then established an office in Greenville, where he practiced for a period of over twenty consecutive years with the exception of a short interval din-- ing which he served as judge of the circuit court, having bey n appointed by Governor McKinley in 1894 to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Shauck, who was advanced to a sent m the supreme bench of this state. When the term was ended Mr. Allread resumed the private practice of the law as a member of the firm of Allread, Tee-garden & Harrison and was connected with important litigation in all of the courts, local, state and federal. In 1898 he was a member of the republican state executive committee and his labors were effective in promoting the success of his 472 - DARKE COUNTY party, and in 1901 he was chief clerk in the department of state of Columbus. Judge Allread occupied the bench or five years until 190) and was generally recognized as one of the ablest judges in the second district being elected in 1908 to the circuit bench for a period of six years, and was a republican nominee for election to the supreme court of Ohio in 1912.. The judge of the common pleas court since January 1, 1909, is William W. Teegarden, who was born in July, 1862 and is a representative of one of the oldest pioneer families o Dance county. The family history in this country antedates the period of the American Revolution, the place of original settlement being in southwestern Pennsylvania. Judge Tee-garden was born in Brown township, where he remained, until he was eighteen years of age and assisted in the work of the farm. After acquiring sufficient education to obtain a. county teachers' certificate, he gained his first experience as a teacher in his home district at Woodington. Working hip way rapidly to the front of the profession, he acquired sufficient means to enable him to spend part of two years as a student in the Northwestern Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio. While teaching he began the study of law under the direction of the firm of Knox, Martz & Rupe, of Greenville, Ohio, and in June, 1893, passed a successful examination before the supreme court at Columbus and was admitted to the bar. He removed to Greenville in the autumn of that year and began to practice at his chosen profession in partnership with D. W. Younker. This business connection continued until February, 1896, when it was dissolved and Mr. Teegarden associated himself with Judge J. I. Allread. He was a member of the city board of school examiners and as a repub- lican has always been actively identified wtih the interests of his party, which he has served in various capacities. Since his elevation to the bench in 1909, Judge Teegarden has ably upheld the dignity of the bench and has been painstaking and conscientious in the discharge of his duty to the state. He has been careful and accurate in his application of law principles to the points in litigation and his efforts have met with the approval of the bar and the people. Under the new constitution of 1912 the judges of the court of common pleas shall, while in office, reside in the county for which they are elected; and their term of office shall be for six years. DARKE COUNTY - 473 It is said that popular elections, short terms, and small salaries are sufficient to lower the character of the judiciary. Popular elections throw the choice into the hands of political parties, that is to say of knots of wire-pullers inclined to use every office as a means of rewarding political service, while short terms oblige the judge to remember in whose hands his fortunes lie, thus inducing timidity and discouraging independence. Small salaries prevent able men from offering themselves for places, whose income is less than a leading lawyer can make by private practice. In fairness to the men who have so ably occupied the bench in Darke county, it must be said that none of these causes have operated to lower the bench of this county and that the judiciary of Darke county compares favorably with any in the state. Quoting attorney D. W. Bowman from a toast at a bar banquet in Union City: "It is possible to achieve the ideal, but to do so, the most commanding abilities and the most unsullied private and public character should be demanded every man who aspires to be a judge. Wisdom, learning, imtegrity, independence and firmness should be the cardinal virtues, and the politician, the trickster, the demagogue, the narrow minded practitioner, wise in his own conceit, should have no place on the bench. Men of strength, of unspotted live, whom power can not corrupt, or influence intimate or affection swerve; men of exalted ideas of duty and honor, and who do not run after but whom the office seeks, are alone fit to be entrusted with the tremendous power of sitting in judgmemt upon the rights of sovereign states, and the rights and liberties Of the inhabitants thereof." Probate Judges. Many people never find it necessary to appear in the common pleas court either as plaintiff or defendant but there are few people who do not at some time in life enter into close relation with the probate court. Licenses to enter into matrimony are issued by this court, and in the settlement of estates this court comes very near to the people. Under the constitution of the state of Ohio of 1802, article 3, section 5, the court of common pleas, had jurisdiction of all probate and testamentary matters, granting administration and the appointment of guardians but urnder the constitution of 1851 the 474 - DARKE COUNTY probate court was created and given jurisdiction in probate and testamentary matters, the appointment of administrator, and guardians, the settlement of the accounts of executors and guardians and such jurisdiction in habeas corpus, the issuing of marriage licenses and for the sale of land by executors, administrators and guardians as may be provided by law. The revised constitution of Ohio with amendments approved by the people September 3, 1912, provides for the continuance in each county of a probate court, which shall be a court of record, open at all times, and holden by one judge, elected by the electors of the county, who shall hold his office for the term of four years. The first probate judge of Darke county was John Wharry, born in Pennsylvania, 1809, and coming to Greenville at the age of fifteen years. After clerking for several years in a store he assisted at the work of surveying and by personal application, he obtained sufficient knowledge to become a practical surveyor. He engaged in this business from 1831 to 1851 during most of which time he filled the position of county surveyor. In the fall of 1851, he was elected probate judge o? Darke county and served three years, being subsequently admitted to the practice of law. He was one of the best draftsmen in the county and an excellent penman, and contribute l about forty pages of valuable historical matter to the first history of Darke county printed in 1880, some of which is being used in this article. He was succeeded in 1854 by Andrew Robeson Calderwcod, born in Montgomery county, November 14, 1818. He was employed in early life upon a farm, digging ditches, mauling rails, etc. His early education was meagre, but being called upon to serve as juror, he was so inspired by the eloquence of some of the attorneys in the case, that he resolved to become a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. After serving three years as probate judge, he resumed the practice of law and later entered the union army as second lieutenant, being later promoted to captain of Company I. Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At the close of the war, he resumed the practice of law and December, 1876, he assumed editorial control of the Sunday Courier, a leading organ of the Republican party of Darke county. He was three times elected mayor of Greenville, and in 1868, the republicans of Darke county presented his name in the fourth congressional district of Ohio, but his competitor was nominated for con- DARKE COUNTY - 475 gress by a small majority. He had a liberal share of the practice in this county and enjoyed sumewhat more than a local reputation as a criminal lawyer. The third Probate Judge of Darke county was D. H. R. Jobes, born in Montgomery county, September 14, 1829. His parents being poor, he was early thrown upon his own resources, but by faithful improvement of limited privileges obtained a good education and for a number of years followed the occupation of a teacher. In October, 1857, he was elected probate judge of Darke county and served until February, 1867, during which time he devoted his spare time to reading law under the direction of D. L. Meeker and was admitted to practice in January, 1867. He formed a partnership with his preceptor and so continuued until 1872. On January 1, 187 5, he formed a law partnership with C. M. Anderson, of Greeneville, which was dissolved by the death of Mr. Jobes, January 13, 1877. On the occasion of his funeral, among other remarks by members of the bar, J. R. Knox, Esq., said: "During the nine years of service as probate judge, I had frequent eccasion to appear before him and observe his conduct in that capacity and I take pleasure in this solemn hour as I hay always done, to say, that as by law recognized next friend r the widow and guardian of the orphan the highest and mist sacred trust, which the law imposes upon that officer, and a the various duties of his position, he was a careful. impartial and vigilant accountant, and deserving the honored name 1 a just and upright judge." From 1867 to 1868 John C. McKemy was probate judge, serving until April, 1868 when he resigned to take his seat on the common pleas bench. A fuller account of him can in found on preceding pages tinder my account of the commom pleas judges. A. T. Bodle was appointed to serve from April, 1868 to November of that year. Judge Bodle came to Darke county in 1845 and taught school for some years afterwards. He was a man of strong mind, a ripe scholar, and a good reasoner. Ilia knowledge of the law was fair and his pleadings generally precise. He removed to Kansas in 1884 and died there recently. The next probate judge was James T. Meeker, who was horn in Darke county in 1831 and was a school teacher in his younger days. He read law, but made no application for admission to the bar until 1873, at which time he held the office of probate judge. After filling a part of the term in 1868 he 476 - DARKE COUNTY was elected or a term of three years and then re-elected, serving until 1876 or about seven years altogether. At the completion of his term he formed a partnership with J. K. Riffle, and engaged in the active practice of law. He was an officer in the Greenville bank, a stockholder in the gas company and was for some years a member of the school board. He died September 19, 1881. In 1875 Dr. John A. Jobes, a republican, a brother of D. H. R. Jobes was elected probate judge. He was born in Union, Montgomery county, Ohio, April 28, 1828. He studied medicine in his youth under Dr. Curtis Otwell and also taught school. He was a graduate of a Cincinnati commercial college, and was a graduate from the Cleveland Medical College, the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, and Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York, completing his course at the later college in 1871. He was a physician and a surgeon in the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was mustered out with the regiment in 1864, whereupon he resumed the practice of medicine, which he continued until February, 1876, when he was sworn in as probate judge. He was re-elected in 1878 for an additional term of three years, serving until 1882, after which he retired and later was deputy probate judge 1900-1903, under his son, George A. Jokes. He died in 1903, aged seventy-five years. Hereupon a democrat was again elected, Judge Samuel L. Kolp beginning his term in February, 1882, and serving 'or a period of six years. Judge Kolp was born in Pennsylvania in 1832, of German parentage and while a young man emigrated to Ohio and came to Yellow Springs, Greene county, where he followed his occupation of tailor. He removed later to Miami county, thence to Darke, following the occupation of farming. Later he removed to Greenville and resumed tailoring until he entered the office of deputy probate judge under James T. Meeker, in which capacity he also served until Dr. .J. A. Jobes until he succeeded him in 1882. During this time he was a member of this city school board and later removed to Union City, where he died. In 1887 Dr. Lewis C. Anderson was elected probate judge and served for a period of six years. He was born on a farm in Montgomery county, moved to Ansonia at the age of twenty-seven, after having attended National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He taught school several winters, then took up the study of medicine and graduated from the Miami DARKE COUNTY - 477 Medical College in the spring of 1874 and pursued the practice of medicine at his home in Ansonia for fourteen years. Judge Anderson served his party as central committeeman and on the county executive committee during several campaigns. At the expiration of his term of office in 1894 he took up the practice of medicine in the city of Greenville, enjoying a lucrative practice until his death in July, 1908. The next incumbent of the office of probate judge was Joseph M. Bickel, who was born in Darke county, December 2, 1852. His grandfather, Andrew Bickel, was a native of Germany, whence he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, and the father of Judge Bickel, Tobias Bickel, was born in Pennsylvania in 1P11. Joseph M. Bickel spent his early days on the home farm, later attending the normal school at Ada, where he prepared for teaching. From his eighteenth to his thirtieth year, he taught school in Darke county and later came to Greenville, reading law in the office of Hon. David L. Meeker, being admitted to the bar in June, 1885. He entered into partnership with Hon. M. T. Allen and Judge James I. Allread, which connection was continued until Mr. Allen's removal to California. when the firm name was changed to All-read & Bickel ; that partnership was continued until the junior member was elected probate judge. He proved a very competent and reliable official and at the expiration of his term he resumed the practice of law and entered into a partnership with Guy C. Baker, under the firm name of Bickel and Baker. The record of Democratic successes in Darke county was again broken in the `all election of 1899 when George A. Jobes was elected to succeed Judge Bickel. George A. Jobes was born at Palestine, Darke county, Ohio, and was a son of Dr. John A. Jobes, who had been probate judge from 1876 to 1882. He graduated from the Greenville high school in Tune, 1882, and attended the Cincinnati Law School graduating from that institution in 1887 and being admitted to the bar of Ohio in the same year. Judge Jobes served only three years, being defeated in 1902 by his former opponent, D. Robeson. After his retirement, Judge Jobes resumed the practice of law for a number of years, but is now traveling immigration agent of the Northern Pacific Railway Co. For a period of six years from February, 1903 to 1909, Dr. Donavan Robeson served as probate judge of Darke county to the satisfaction of the people. His parents were Andrew Robeson and Elizabeth (Reed) Robeson, who were both 478 - DARKE COUNTY reared in Darke county. Donavan Robeson's boyhood days were occupied with limited schooling and unlimited hard work, but he made the most of the opportunity at hand. After teaching school several years alternating as was the custom with farm work in summer, he took up the study of medicine, completing a course at the Ohio Medical College and later a year's study at Bellevue Medical College, New York City. In May, 1895, he removed his office from Arcanum to Greenville and continued the practice of medicine with Dr. L. C. Anderson. Always an active worker in the democratic party, Dr. Robeson was recognized for his party service by election to the office of probate judge for two full terms. His service in this office were marked by firmness and courage to administer the law for the public interest and welfare. The present probate judge is James B. Kolp, who was horn in Greene county, Ohio, September 3, 1857, removing a few years later with his parents to Butler township, Darke county. At the age of seventeen he was a school teacher, which occupation he pursued until he entered the office of his father, the late Judge Samuel L. Kolp, who had, as hereinbefore stated, been elected probate judge in 1881. He served as a deputy under his father for six years and later served one year with Judge Anderson and six years with Judge Robeson, thus having thirteen years' practical experience in the office before his election as probate judge in 1908. Judge Kolp was elected by seventeen hundred and seventy-six majority, the largest ever given a candidate for that or any other office in Darke county. He was re-elected to succeed himself in 1912 and has always administered his office in a fair and impartial manner. His term will expire February 8, 1917. In concluding this review of the successive judges of the probate court in Darke county, we have no hesitancy in saying that not only has the law governing decedents estates and minors thrown every possible safeguard about their interests, but the judges of Darke county have in addition faithfully and impartially endeavored to discharge their duties. While it seems to be human nature for heirs and distributees to believe and sometimes to assert that someone else has obtained a greater share or been unduly favored, it is nevertheless true that such charges are rarely, if ever, well founded. DARKE COUNTY - 479 Federal Judges. One of the most important branches of our judiciary is the bankrupt court. Laws passed with a view to distributing the property of an insolvent equitably among his creditors and free the debtor from further obligation have been in force iii England for more than three centuries. They had their origin in the Roman law. In England before 1841 only a tradesman could be a bankrupt. This distinction was abolished in the United States in 1869. Bankrupt laws were passed by our congress in 1800, 1841 and in 1867, but repealed after a comparatively short operation. The most recent act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States was passed by both houses of the fifty-fifth congress and by the approval of President McKinley became a law in 1898. The oath of this office is historic and similar to that take by other officers of the federal judiciary and is as follows: "I, ________, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal justice to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as referee in bankruptcy according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." Under an earlier law, John Devor was registrar in bankruptcy from March, 1867 to September, 1878 and Elijah Devor was his clerk. The incumbent of the position of referee im bankruptcy in this county since 1898 is Elijah Devor, who was born in Darke county, October 16, 1849. His father was James Devor, one of our early pioneers and his grandfather John Devor, was born in Pennsylvania and came to Darke county in 1808. Elijah Devor obtained a common school education, and at nineteen years of age commenced the study of law with Allen and Devor. He attended the Cincinnati law school one term, was graduated from the same and was admitted to the bar in April, 1871. The next year he was associated with M. T. Allen as a partner and later practiced with A. T. Bodle. He was treasurer of the Greenville gas company, 1880-1896 and United States  commissioner, 1880 to 1896. 480 - DARKE COUNTY Prosecuting Attorneys. One of the most important officers under our system of administering justice is the prosecuting attorney, whose duty it is to prosecute on behalf of the state all complaints, suits and controversies in which the state is a party. There are other suits, matters and controversies which he is directed by law to prosecute within or without the county in the probate court, common pleas court and circuit court. No one is eligible as a candidate for this office, who is not an attorney and counselor at law, duty licensed to practice in this state and he shall not be a member of the general assembly or mayor of any city or village. The chief interest of the people in this officer is aroused when there is a criminal trial and the matter of the defendant's life and liberty is at stake. Attorneys were appointed by the court to prosecute actions in behalf of the state in the early days until 1835; since then they have been elected, their term of office being two years. The following list of prosecuting attorneys for Darke county is not claimed to be complete, but it is fairly accurate so far as it goes. Mr. Beers and Mr. Bacon to whom we have repeatedly referred were among the prosecutors prior to 1830, also was Henry Stoddart, and as heretofore stated Judge William M. Wilson filled the same office after starting in practice here in 1835 and until 1830. John M. U. McNutt was the county prosecuting attorney for four years until about 1833, also serving as senator from this district 1833-1834. In about 1836 he was a candidate against Taylor Webster of Butler county for Congress, but was defeated. McNutt died when quite a young men about 1840, regretted by all who knew him. He had white hair, was tall and erect, somewhat slender, and the most perfect orator of the Eaton bar at that time. The successful candidate in October, 1840, was David K. Swisher, who was born in Montgomery county in 1818, and at the age of eleven years came to Darke county. He received part of his education at the old Studabaker school, which was the nursery of some of the most successful men of later days. After teaching school, he studied law in the office of Hiram Bell and was admitted to practice by Judges Wood and Hitchcock in June, 1840. After his election he found that his youth, inexperience and natural timidity were serious drawbacks, but developed considerable zeal in seeing the laws carried out DARKE COUNTY - 481 against offenders. Ile received the nomination for second term, but David Beers who had just been admitted to the bar ran in the same party as an independent candidate and the result was that Cyrus F. Dempsey of the opposite party was elected. Swisher subsequently served for a number of years as justice of the peace and was also in the mercantile business. He wrote numerous articles on early history and social life among the pioneers, which were published in the Greenville Courier, and some of his data is being used in the preparation of this article. His articles possessed considerable merit and all should have been preserved and published. Like most men of literary inclinations he seems to have been of it contemplative rather than an active disposition. Cyrus F. Dempsey was a little red-headed and rather unsocial lawyer who settled here in 1839 and as heretofore stated, defeated Swisher and Beers in 1842. He filled the office of prosecuting attorney with fair ability and afterwards moved to Cincinnati, where he died about 1856. Sometime in the forties Luther Montfort came to Green ville, after having read law in the office of Judge Haines, of Eaton. Swisher writes of him as follows: "He was a pretty bright fellow with cheek like a brick, not very prepossessing, but full of a rough kind o eloquence, a terror to decency, but the delight of the rabble. He got into some practice and was in 1848 elected to the legislature and voted for Salmom P. Chase, later left the country and died in California. The next incumbent was James F. McDowell and he o a succeeded by William Allen, who served two terms from 185O to 1854 and fuller account of whom appears under the corn mon pleas court. Charles Calkins, who was prosecuting attorney from 1854 to 1856, was horn in Pennsylvania in 1827 and received his early education like other boys of the age in an old log school house. At the age of twenty-one he commenced to study the law and then proceeded to Cuba, Panama and arrived in California during the gold fever. While in California he met with success and after eighteen months came east with his cousin, Wealthy Jaquay, with whom he read law in the offices of A. R. Calderwood and William Collins. Charles Calkins was reelected prosecuting attorney after the Civil war and served four years until 1870. While prosecuting attorney, he represented the state in many important criminal cases in- (31) 482 - DARKE COUNTY eluding the Lecklider murder case, a case in which a father killed his son, and the French robbery case. Succeeding Calkins as prosecuting attorney was David L. Meeker who was elected in 1856 and two years later was reelected. A fuller account of Judge Meeker as well as John \V. Sater, who served from 1864 to 1866, can be found under the account of the bench. In the interim from 1860 to 1864, Val. E. Whitmer was ,prosecuting attorney. As above stated Charles Calkins was prosecuting attorney from 1868 to 1872 and was succeeded by Charles Gordon Matchett, who was the son of Eric Matchett and Johanna Hendrickson, native of New Jersey, who came to Butler county in 1820. Charles G. was born in Butler county in 1825 and spent his boyhood days in this county. He entered the service during the Civil war as a sergeant and was afterwards captain of Company G, Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He distinguished himself on the field of battle and in several charges commanded a batallion of the regiment. Besides being a successful lawyer, he was prosecuting attorney from 1866 to 1868, and was a Shakespearean scholar far above the average. J. K. Riffle was prosecuting attorney from 1872 to 1876. and was a son of David Riffle, one of the early pioneers. He was born in Darke county in 1845, attended normal school at Lebanon, taught school, was admitted to bar in 1868. He removed to Kansas City and was killed in a railroad wreck in December, 1890. Henry Calkins was prosecuting attorney two terms from 1877 to 1881. Like his brother he was born in Pennsylvania, was a student in Delaware college two years, afterwards studied medicine at Cincinnati. In August, 1862, he went out as captain of Company C, Eighty-seventh Indiana Volunteer serving in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was police judge of Jerseyville, Illinois, in 1868 and came to Greenville in 1874, engaging in the law business with his brother, Charles. One of the most important criminal cases of this county was the trial and conviction of Monroe Roberson for the murder of Wiley Coulter. Crime has had its votaries here as elsewhere, but in no undue proportion. Murders have been committed, and there have been trials, convictions and escapades, but this particular case becomes historical from the fact that it is the first instance where the dread conclusion has been a DARKE COUNTY - 483 sentence of death on the gallows, which sentence was carried out in this county. The difficulty between the two men that led to the murder occurred at Painter Creek in Darke county, a point nine and one-half miles from Greenville. Following some hard language, Coulter while attempting to make his escape, was pursued and fired upon by Roberson. Three several and deliberate shots were discharged and Coulter fell to the ground mortally wounded and soon died. His allailant was taken to Greenville, tried at the February term, 1880, and sentenced to be hung on July 16 of the same year. Governor Charles Foster gave him a respite. The doomed man was a native of Tennessee, forty-five years of age, had served in the army, was a hard drinker and had lived about twelve years in the county. His victim was his wife's brother, who lived from childhood in the family, and was at the time of his death about twenty-three years old. Prosecuting Attorney Henry Calkins was assisted by Messrs. Anderson, Allen, Calderwood and Charles Calkins. Roberson was hung on a scaffold erected between the court house and the jail on Friday, August 20, 1880. Succeeding Calkins as prosceuting attorney in 1880, came John C. Clark, whose fuller record can be found on preceding pages. James Calvin Elliott was next prosecuting attorney for Darke county, being elected in 1885 and re-elected for another term of the three years in 1888, thus serving until January 1, 1892. Mr. Elliott was born in Preble county, Ohio, in 1847, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was a student at Miami University at Oxford and during the war of rebellion served his country in Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After studying law and being admitted to the bar at Eaton, in 1870, he came to Darke county four years later, since which time he has been in active practice. During his term of office he sent thirty-five men to the penitentiary, including Chris. Oelschlaeger, accused and convicted of killing his mother-in-law, Charlotte Leis, who received three fatal stabs and other wounds. He was assisted by John W. Sater, the attorneys for the defense being Anderson & Bowman. The next prosecuting attorney was S. Val. Hartman, son of C. B. Hartman, of Weaver's Station. He was born in Montgomery county in 1864 and spent his youth in Neave township and attended the high school at Greenville, Ohio. After 484 - DARKE COUNTY teaching two years he entered the National Normal University at Lebanon and upon his return to Greenville, read law with Judge J. M. Bickel and Judge J. I. Allread, being admitted in 1890. He served for a period of six years as prosecuting attorney until 1898. During part of Hartman's term he was seriously ill and the court appointed Walter Scott Meeker to temporarily take his place. W. S. Meeker, son of Judge Meeker, was horn in Greenville, September 25, 1862, and graduated from the Greenville high school at the age of twenty ; studied law under his father and took a full course in the law department of the University of Michigan, graduating in 1886 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar the same year and began practice in Greenville. He is now a member of the firm of Meeker & Gaskill. Arthur L. Clark was the next incumbent of the office under consideration serving from 1898 to 1904. He was born near Washington, in 1873 and attended the schools of his native city; being admitted to the bar in 1895. He was a brother of Judge Clark with whom he practiced law for a number of years until he moved west. Clark was succeeded by Henry L. Yount, who was horn in Miami county in April, 1865, and has made his way in the world since the age of fifteen years, at which time he was left an orphan. He acquired a good common school education and afterwards worked as a farm hand and attended district school during the winter. He prepared for teaching and at the age of twenty years entered upon that profession in the district school of Adams township, Darke county, Ohio, where he was employed at intervals for seven years. He pursued a special course of study in the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, Ohio, received a degree and during his summer vacations conducted a teachers' institute. He was subsequently president of the board of teachers' examiners, superintendent of the Bradford schools, mayor of Bradford and deputy county clerk. In the Ohio National Guard he rose from the ranks to lieutenant, later captain and at the time of his resignation. was a major in the Third Ohio Infantry. He was prosecuting attorney from 1904 to 1909 and subsequently served two terms in the Ohio Senate. The next prosecuting attorney was John F. Maher, born in Greenville, June 7, 1876. His father, Patrick H. Maher, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and came to this county in DARKE COUNTY - 485 1864. John F. attended the public schools and St. Mary's Institute at Dayton, graduating after taking a four-years course, in June, 1896. After returning to Greenville he secured a position in the old Greenville bank during which time he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1900. He has taken an active part in politics and in November, 1908, he was elected prosecuting attorney and two years later reelected. For a period of years county commissioners of this county had been suspected of irregularities in office and state authorities in examining records and vouchers found those suspicions well grounded. Indictments were returned against the commissioners, their clerk, a janitor in the court house and some contractors, who appeared to have been unduly favored by the commissioners. One commissioner was found guilty and was sentenced to the penitentiary for ome year and later another was found guilty and sentenced for three years. Others indicted were found guilty of having issued false vouchers and of raising vouchers, and the case gave Darke county an unenviable notoriety over the state. Prosecuting Attorney Maher was assisted in the trial of this case by D. W. Bowman, whose biography appears in the other volume of this work, and by Adam H. Meeker, oldest son of James T. Meeker, referred to under the bench. Adam H. Meeker spent his boyhood days in Greenville, spent a year in the literary department of the University of Michigan, being admitted to the Greek letter fraternity Delta Tau Delta. Subsequently he returnd to Ann Arbor and graduated from the law department in June, 1885. He served two terms as mayor of the city of Greenville and after the election of President Wilson was appointed postmaster. L. E. Kerlin is the present incumbent of the office of prosecuting attorney. He was born in Greenville, Ohio, in 1877, and is a son of the late William K. Kerlin. He spent his boyhood days in Greenville, where he attended the public schools and graduated in 1898, afterwards graduating from the Cincinnati Law School in 1902, whereupon he took up the successful practice of law in Greenville, also serving two terms as city solicitor. An important person in the administration of the affairs of the county is the sheriff and for want of available material and data of this chief ministerial officer and administrator of affairs within a county, we must content ourselves with giving only a list o names as follows: Moses Scott, 1816 to 486 - DARKE COUNTY 1820; William Scott, 1821 to 1824; Mark T. Mills, 1825 to 1828; Joshua Howell, 1829 to 1830; John Howell, 1831 to 1834; James Craig was appointed but died and William Vance served until 1830. David Angel, 1835 to 1839; David Stamm, 1839 to 1842; Thomas Vantilburg, 1843 to 1847; George W. Coover, 1848 to 1850; Thomas Vantilburg, 1851 to 1855; Joshua Townsend, 1856 to 1860; Oliver H. Long, 1860 to 1863; Gavin W. Hamilton, 1864 to 1860; Chauncey Riffle, 1866 to 1867; A. N. Vandyke, 1868 to 1872; N. M. Wilson, 1872 to 1875; John W. Hall, 1876 to 1879; Jerry Runkle, 1880 to 1883; Thomas Lecklider, 1884 to 1887; David E. Vantilburg, 1888 to 1889; John Welker, 1890 to 1893; H. C. Jacobi, 1894 to 1898; William Runkle, 1898-1901; Milo Smith, 19021903; Frank Smith, 1903 to 1906; John F. Haber, 1906 to 1910, and the present incumbent since 1910 is John C. Burns. Another important officer in the procedure of the court is the clerk, whose general duties are to endorse and file all papers, to enter all orders, decrees and judgments. The following list is fairly accurate: Elinas Bascom, appointed in June, 1817, for one year; Easton Morris, appointed in June, 1818, for seven years; David Morris, appointed in 1825, for seven years, but died in 1829, and L. R. Brownell served as clerk pro tem from August to November of that year; John Beers then served from 1829 to 1850; David Beers then served a few months, after which Joseph W. Frizell was appointed for a term of seven years, but the new constitution which was adopted in 1852, reduced the term three years. Samuel Robinson, elected October, 1854; William C. Porterfield, elected October, 1860, but died before his term was out, and was succeeded by Henry Miller, who served as clerk pro tem until October, 1862, when he was elected and served two terms; Hamilton Slade, elected in 1868; Wesley Gorsuch elected in 1873 and John H. Martin filled three months of the unexpired term following Gorsuch's resignation; then John H. Martin was elected in 1879, and served until 1886. Patrick H. Maher, 1886 to 1892; Jacob R. Stocker, 1892 to 1898; F. G. Wiley, 1898 to 1904; George York, 1904 to 1909; J. E. Williams, 1909 to 1913 and the present incumbent is Ed Shafer. The Bar. Now will follow a short sketch of the attorneys who practiced at this bar, using such information as I have been able DARKE COUNTY - 487 to obtain from articles in newspapers and in conversation with the present members of the bar. It can not be claimed that the list is complete nor that what is written will disclose the relative merit of those referred to. The lawyers who attended the courts at Greenville in the early days were from Dayton, Hamilton, Eaton, Troy, Sidney and Lebanon. The resident bar at Greenville for several years consisted of John Beers only. This able lawyer settled here very early in the history of our county, perhaps immediate] after its organization in 1816. He acted as prosecutor of the county several years prior to 1830. Prosecutors were then appointed by the court. We have heretofore given a sketch of his life and services. In the early days among the lawyers from Dayton who practiced at the bar in Darke county were Joseph H. Crane and George B. Holt, to whom extended reference has been made under the bench. William Stoddart, a man of medium heighth, but heavy set was also a practitioner from Dayton. He was not a fluent speaker and his practice was chiefly confined to probate matters. In the forties other lawyers from Dayton were at each term, among them was Charles Anderson, a tall somewhat slender youth of light hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. Mr. Anderson was subsequently elected lieutenant governor of Ohio, at the time John Brough, and by the death of that functionary, became governor of Ohio. He had served as prosecuting attorney of Montgomery county and also in the State senate in 1845. His brave, chivalrous nature there found expression in a bold single-handed assault upon what were known as the black laws of Ohio—one provision of which prohibited negroes from testifying in courts of justice. Although a native of Kentucky, born and reared in a slave-holding family, he was the first man in the legislature of Ohio to raise a voice in protest against these laws. It was many years before public sentiment advanced so far as to demand their repeal. At the close of his senatorial term, Anderson made a visit to Europe, and upon his return went to Cincinnati, where he formed a law partnership with the Hon. Rufus King. Cincinnati supplied a most congenial place of abode to Mr. Anderson, being the place of residence of his brother Larz, one of its most eminent and esteemed citizens, and embracing a 488 - DARKE COUNTY very large society of gentlemen as well as ladies, of the highest culture and social distinction. Returning to Dayton along in 1855, he resided there until his precarious state of health induced him to remove to Texas, where he remained until the breaking out of the rebellion. Becoming known as a pronounced union man, he was placed under arrest by the secession authorities in Texas, and his property confiscated. He effected his escape and was entrusted by President Lincoln with a special mission to England, to attempt to stem the tide of opposition to the union cause in that country, but found the task hopeless, and returned to the United States. He went into the field as colonel of the Ninety-third Ohio Regiment, raised in Montgomery county and was wounded at the battle of Stone River. His wounds and exposure impaired his health and after his service as governor of Ohio, he settled upon a tract of land in southern Kentucky, where he resided for many years widely known and honored as a hospitable, chivalrous and accomplished christian gentleman. Another Dayton lawyer, who frequently attended our court was Daniel A. Haynes, who was a sprightly little fellow full of zeal, fun, a good lawyer and fluent speaker. He was elected first judge of the superior court in 1856 and was continuously on the bench of the superior court until 1870, when he resigned to enter into a partnership with Hon. C. L. Vallandigham. Among the early attendants at our court of the members of Butler county were Jesse Corwin (brother of Torn Corwin) heavy set, tolerably tall and of dark complexion. John Woods was here a few times. He was o` medium size, well built, his forehead receding sharply from the brow, a fluent speaker, but a very squeaking and rather unpleasant voice. About 1837 or 1838, L. B. Campbell from that county, began to attend our court. He was tolerably good speaker, confined himself to the facts in his case and seldom attempted flourish. Drifting into his natural current of politics, he became entirely absorbed by his ambition for congressional honors, which hoe finally achieved, serving six terms. From the bar of Preble county our court was attended from its organization, J. S. Hawkins being always present. He was rather a small man, a fluent speaker, always listened to by court and jury, and a delighted bystander, of which the court house in those days was always full. About 1834 or 1835 he was engaged to defend Jacob Hartle, who was ac- DARKE COUNTY - 489 cused of having forged a receipt for money by one of the heirs of estate of which he was administrator. This was the hottest case that had ever came before our court. J. M. U. McNutt, an exceptionally bright young man, was the State's attorney at the time. He was also of the Preble bar. As the case progressed, the wrestling between the two became harder. Now very dark for the accused, then again bright and confident for the defense. The community was about equally divided when the jury went to their room. Long and anxious hours slowly crept by, suspense was on tip-toe, but at last it was announced that the jury had agreed. The court house was crowded to suffocation. The verdict was handed up to the court, who read it, then handed it to, the clerk, who slowly and distinctly read it: "We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty." The court house was soon emptied. Then it was that the friensds of Hartle rolled a barrel of wriskev into the public square, knocked in the head and everybody was getting drunk, when some one, seeing the situation, threw into the barrel, a peck of salt, which spoiled the whiskey. Hawkins died about 1849, the first victim of Asiatic cholera in Eaton. There was also Mr. Heaton of the Eaton bar, that frequently attended our courts. He was a tall, slender man, always well dressed and was eccentric in that he always wore his hair, which was coal black and long as a woman's, plaited nicely hanging down his back over his coat. Mr. Hawkins also had a younger brother that often attended our court with him ; also a very respectable lawyer. Like Joseph S., he was small of stature but lacked the vim. One of the few members of the Miami bar practising here at times was William I. Thomas, a small, quiet, pleasant man, who represented Miami county in the state senate six terms. Jacob Burgess, a very tall, and heavy man from Troy, was also an occasional visitor at our bar, and was later elected recorder of Miami county. From Shelby county we had only the occasional visit of Judge Metcalfe, an excellent man and a good lawyer. Among the early lawyers coming to Darke county to reside was Hiram Bell, who had been admitted to the bar at Hamilton, Butler county. He was thorough and industrious and had a fair share of the business in the court. In 1836 he was elected auditor of the county and was elected to the state legislature in 1841. Later he was appointed an officer in the 490 - DARKE COUNTY state militia and was elected to congress, serving in the thirty-second session. General Hiram Bell died in 1855 in his forty-eighth year. About 1834, William Crain, a lawyer from Butler county, came here, stayed several years, but not meeting the desired success in the law, taught school a few terms and then moved away. J. B. Underwood settled here about 1844 and was a candidate for prosecuting attorney in 1846, but did not succeed in the election. He afterwards moved away and has been lost sight of. David Beers read in the office of his father and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He was a fair student, attaining a very good and correct knowledge of the principles of the law, had a tolerable knowledge of surveying and civil engineering and much of his time was occupied by that business. Ile practiced law until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he quit his books and volunteered in the service of the union, where he remained over four years. During his services in the army his ability as an engineer was soon discovered and he was deputed and assigned to that duty. After his return home from the war he settled on his farm a few miles north of Greenville and died in 1889 in the seventy-second year of his age. John S. Bascom, son of Linus Bascom, read law in the office of W. M. Wilson, but upon being admitted to the bar was appointed postmaster at Greenville, which office he held for several years and died of consumption in 1843. Hiram Bell was an eastern man; came to Darke county in 1837; represented with two others, Darke, Mercer and Miami counties in the House in 1840-1, and represented the third district in the thirty-second congress in 1853-55, and died in December, 1855. He was perhaps the ablest lawyer in his time at this place. Onias C. Skinner read law at the office of Hiram Bell, was admitted to practice in 1841, was partner with his preceptor several years, married the daughter of Major Dorsey and moved to Illinois, where he soon became one of the judges in that state, dying while still a young man. Charles Bell also read law at the same office at the same time. He was an eastern man and when admitted to the bar returned to Vermont, his native state. O. A. Lyman also read law at the same office, was admitted DARKE COUNTY - 491 to the bar in 1843, practiced with his preceptor for sever: years, then went to Dayton and opened an office there with John Reily Knox. Later he moved to New York City and began the practice there, but soon became religious, studied theology a year, secured license to preach the gospel and received a call from a Presbyterian church in Cleveland, Ohio, which he accepted, but soon afterwards died. He was an excellent young man in every particular, and was a charter member of the Greenville Masonic lodge, 1847, and worshipful master in 1851 and later was grand lecturer of the state. John Curtis was also admitted to the bar in 1848 and was soon after appointed postmaster, which office he held several years. Resigning, he moved west with a view of practicing law, but soon died. In 1846 William Collins came to town, after reading law and having been admitted to the bar at Eaton. He, at that time was about forty-five years of age, had been a United Brethren preacher, and presiding elder. He was a very pleasant and at times powerful speaker and was fast gaining in practice when he died of consumption in 1855. In 1852 Evan Baker was admitted to the bar. He was born in Virginia in 1808 and was a resident of Butler township nearly all his life. He was identified with public improvements of the county, was elected to the legislature in 1854 and was the author of the Ohio ditch laws and at the time of his death in 1863 he had a large law practice. He was president of the Richland & Covington railroad, for the location of which through Greenville he had labored ]on and earnestly. John T. Lecklider, born near Gettysburg, practiced law in Greenville for a while and was also mayor of the city of Greenville, in the seventies. In 1874 he removed to Indianapolis successfully practicing law for a period also travelling extensively abroad. Possessed of an artistic and poetic temperament, he published a volume of his poems in 1913. On the 17th day of September, 1848, Mathew T. Allen first saw the light of day at his father's house in Butler township. Darke county, Ohio. "Jim," as he was familiarly called, was six feet and slender and of dark complexion. After a partial course at Otterbein University, Mr. Allen began the study of law in Winchester at the age of eighteen and was admitted to the bar immediately after he became of age. After serving as assistant prosecuting attorney in Indiana, 492 - DARKE COUNTY Mr. Allen removed to Greenville in July, 1872, and continued in active practice. He was master of Greenville lodge, F. & A. M., 1880, and was one of the prominent attorneys here in his day. "Jim" was clever, sociable and mirthful. After successful practice here he removed about 1885 to Los Angeles, California, where he was a judge of the district court of appeals, at the time of his death in 1914. M. C. Benham, a native Buckeye, was admitted to the bar in 1876, came to Greenville and made commercial law a specialty. Theodore Beers was born in Darke county in 1826, commenced the practice of law in 1852 and was well read in the law. His misfortune consisted in his inability to tell what he knew but what he did say was law, not gush. Louis B. Lott was born in New Jersey in 1825 and came to Darke county, in 1855, was minister of the M. E. church in New York. He was more of a politician than a lawyer, giving most of his time to political affairs. He represented this county in the legislature in 1862-65 and then went into practice as a partner of M. Spayd, practicing later with A. T. Bodle. During that partnership he displayed good legal ability and proved to be an earnest and effective speaker. He died in March, 1889. Although George W. Calderwood practiced law but a short time in the firm of Calderwood. Collins and Calderwood, he as the famous "Darke County Boy," deserves a whole chapter of this book. I can not do him justice. Emlen W. Otwell was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, in February, 1831, and received a common school education at Otwell Seminary, near what is now Weavers' Station. His college education was obtained at Wesleyan University at Delaware. After his graduation he read law in the office of A. R. Calderwood, after which he practiced law for a number of years. Later on he gave less time to profession and purchased the Greenville journal, which he edited with ability until his death in 1902. Among his partners at various times were William Allen, T. K. Riffle. J. C. Clark, H. K. McConnell and T. C. Miller. J. F. Breaden was born in this county in July, 1852, obtained a common school education and finished educational course at Chickering Institute in Cincinnati at which institution he graduated in 1873. Soon after he entered the law office of Calderwood & Cole and was admitted to the bar in DARKE COUNTY - 493 1876. Alter a partnership with Judge Clark for three years, he practiced law with his former preceptor, Judge Calderwood until the latter's death in 1891. He continued in the active practice of his profession alone and was respectful, kind and courteous. At the time of his death he was a member of the Ohio state board of pardons, to which position he had been appointed by Governor Bushnell, who held him in high esteem. Ira Lecklider was born in Darke county in 1855, admitted to the bar in 1878. He was dark complexioned, of slender build, and active and was a partner of I. N. Ullery. Lee F. Limbert was born in Clay township, Montgomery county and after a term in the Commercial College at Dayton. read law and was admitted at Columbus in October, 1877. He was good natured, full of life and energy and was a partner of B. F. Ratliff. Later he spent six months in the Indian service in the west and was city solicitor of Greenville and in 1890 was a member of the board of managers of the Ohio reformatory at Mansfield. Subsequently he practiced law at Dayton as a member of the firm of Gottschall, Crawford and Limbert. David P. Bowman was born near Palestine in 1841 and passed his boyhood on a farm and was inured to all the toil that fell to the lot of farmers' son of that day. He was fourteen years old before he could read, but with zeal took up such advantages as he could obtain and then taught school. After studying law for several years he was admitted to the bar in 1872 and began the practice of law in Greenville, coming into the forum "Not decorated for pomp, but armed for battle." At the time of his death, he was a law partner of General C. M. Anderson. Of German ancestry he was an accomplished German scholar and was familiar with the literature of the land. He died in 1878 after a short illness. John Devor was born in Greenville in 1831 and was a grand son of John Devor, who entered the first half section of land in Darke-county and laid out the town of Greenville in 1810. At nineteen years of age the subject of this sketch began the study of law with Hiram Bell and was admitted to the bar in 1852. For thirteen years he was a law partner of Michael Spayd and subsequently for eleven years a partner of Judge 'William Allen. Four years he was assistant assessor of internal revenue for the fourth district of Ohio, and was a member of the electoral college at the election of Benjamin Harrison, president, in 1888. 494 - DARKE COUNTY Swan Judy was born in December, 1850, in Clark county, Ohio; was admitted to the bar in 1875, after having graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1875. He immediately entered upon the practice of law in partnership with the late Michael Spayd but later opened an office of his own, forming a partnership with D. P. Irwin in 1879, which partnership continued until the fall of 1887. After serving as justice of the peace he died in 1892. I. N. Ullery born in 1853 at Greenville, Ohio, taught school and attended the Normal School at Lebanon, later studying law in the office of Gen. C. M. Anderson, and being admitted to the bar in 1878. He practiced but a few years, his death occurring July 21, 1882. William H. Gilbert was born in Adams township in 1864, taught school while a young man and began reading in the office of Meekers & Bowman in March, 1886. He was appointed special court bailiff and law librarian and completed the study of law in the law liberty. After his admission to the bar in October, 1888, he formed a law partnership with Walter S. Meeker, but removed a number of years ago to Troy, Ohio, where he enjoys a lucrative practice. Edward J. Tobin was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1867, graduated from the common schools at Union City, Ohio, and taught school for a number of years. He began the study of law with Anderson & Bowman and entered the Cincinnati Law School in 1889. After his admission to the bar and practicing here a short time, he moved to Chicago, Ill. David P. Irwin was born near Greenville in 1849, taught school eight years in the county and in the spring of 1876 he began reading law with Elijah Devor and A. T. Bodle. In 1879 he was admitted to the practice of law in all the courts of Ohio, was a member of the city council and was a successful practitioner until his death in 1912. Millard F. Myers was born March 17, 1850, near Harrisburg, Pa., and spent a good portion of his boyhood in Darke county. He taught school several years and read law at the same time in the office of Hon. David L. Meeker. In February, 1874 he was duly admitted to the practice of law and practiced in Greenville for a number of years, was mayor one term and then moved to Fitzgerald, Ga. Volney Miller was born on a farm near New Madison in April, 1860, attended the common schools in his neighborhood and two winters at the Greenville high school. During the DARKE COUNTY - 495 years of 1881-4 he followed farming, improving odd hours in the study of law under Judge D. L. Meeker. In October, 1884, he went to Ann Arbor, Mich., and in June, 1886 graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan. He was a member for a while of the firm of Brandon & Miller and then removed to Union City, Indiana. Richard Dills was born in 1847, a native Buckeye. His life previous to 1875 was given to scientific investigations and traveling. He was quite a linguist, speaking several languages correctly. He commenced the practice of law in 1875 as a partner of the late D. P. Bowman. Charles Frizell was born in Darke county and obtained his education at the naval academy at Annapolis, and later read law with Calderwood & Cole and was admitted in 1875. He was a good conversationalist and a genial good fellow and about 1890 removed to Chicago, Ill. Richard S. Frizell was born in Greenville, in 1854 and was a son of the late General J. W. Frizell. He was a fine scholar and developed into a good lawyer. He was energetic and took considerable interest in politics serving two terms as mayor of the city. He died while comparatively young in 1904. H. K. McConnell was born in Miami county in 1856 and, according to the county atlas in 1875, was a practicing attorney in this city. He had been at one time a pastot of the Christian church of Greenville, Ohio, and for a while a partner of E. W. Otwell. Barnabas Collins was born in Preble county in May, 1836. His father William Collins, was a lawyer and clergyman of high standing, and has already been referred to in this chapter. Barnabas Collins became a practical printer when a boy and spent a short time at Delaware, being interested chiefly in literature. He read law under Calderwood & Calkins and was admitted to the bar in 1858, the same year that he married the daughter of Judge Calderwood. In the spring of 1861 he was nominated in Indiana on the Union ticket as a candidate for state senator but withdrew from the canvass and entered the Eighty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry as first lieutenant. After his return from the army he settled in Greenville, where he occupied a respectable position as a member of the Darke county bar. In 1876 he represented the fourth Congressional district in the Republican National convention at Cincinnati that nominated Mr. Hayes for the pres- 496 - DARKE COUNTY idency. Mr. Collins tastes gravitated to fields of literature and science and he gratified them even at the expense of his profession. As a local historian he had few equals in his county and he was also a poet of local celebrity. He moved to California, about 1880, and was a member of the legislature there before his death. Jacob Baker was born in Butler township during the "hard cider" campaign in 1840. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and practiced continuously for many years having been engaged in some of the most important civil and criminal cases ever tried in the county. He was elected to the legislature in 1868 and voted for Allen G. Thurman for senator in preference to Mr. Vallandigham. Although one of the youngest members of the house, Mr. Baker was the author of several measures, which he successfully carried through. He was a deelgate from the fourth district to the St. Louis convention, which nominated Tilden for president in 1876. He was defeated in the nomination for the judgeship several times au l for nomination to Congress. He found time and means to indulge his inventive tastes, having invented a steam canal boat, a convenient office desk and a centrifugal force pump. J. C. Thornton was mentioned by Judge Clark in his toast. "Reminiscences," at a bar banquet, as being inpractice in Greenville in 1875. Thomas A. Burns was born in Champaign county in 1836 and in his boyhood struggled through circumstances that were anything but genial to his aspiring nature. He farmed and taught school until the sound of the war trumpet in 1801 when he enlisted in Company A, Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After holding various non-commissioned offices he was elected first lieutenant and in a short time he was commissioned captain of Company E. One Hundred and Ninety-four Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was mustered out with his regiment in 1865, after having served over four and one-half years. He studied law in Troy and was admitted to the bar in 1868, after which he moved to Versailles, Ohio, where he practiced law. He was state senator of this district from 1892 to 1894. G. W. Studebaker was born in Darke county in 1840 and spent his boyhood days on a farm, the plow, spade and ax being implements to which he was no stranger. In 1865 he commenced the study of law under the instruction of A. R. Calderwood and in 1871 after an examination before the su- DARKE COUNTY - 497 preme court was regularly admitted as an attorney and counselor-at-law and opened a law office at Versailles. In May, 1875 he assisted Geo. W. Calderwood in theestablishmentt of the Greenville Sunday Courier. He was mayor of Versailles or six consecutive years, was president of the school board and in 1875 was chosen by the Republican party as a candidate for state senator. Allen Andrews was born in 1849, worked as a farm lad, taught school and read law under Judge Allen, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and was a partner of J. K. Riffel in 1875. He subsequently moved to Butler county and is now in practice at Hamilton with his son. He is an excellent orator, very prominent in Masonic circles and was most worshipful grand master of the state of Ohio for one year. Judge Clark also mentions Messrs. Ozias. and Lindamood as students of law here forty years ago. Michael Spayd was attorney here for many years and has been mentioned as a partner of several other attorneys. I have been unable to secure much reliable information about him. Edwin B. Putnam was the son of the pastor of the first Presbyterian church at Dayton where he was born in 1829. He served in the rebellion for ninety days as adjutant of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He practiced law both before and after his service in the army, and died in 1868. David Putnam was born in 1821 on the present site of New Madison within the stockade, which formerly constituted old Fort Black. He was reared in New Madison and obtained his school privileges in a log building and at the age of fourteen went into his father's mill where he was employed F~,r two years. In 1836 he started for Texas walking to incinnati.. After successful commercial transactions in the south. Mr. Putnam was in business successively at New Madison and Palestine, was a farmer, later traveling agent for the New York Mutual Insurance Company. In 1861 Mr. Putnam was commissioned second lieutenant, subsequently raised a full company and was elected captain. After organizing the Twenty-eighth regiment of the Ohio National Guard he was elected colonel and in May, 1864, this regiment was ordered out for one hundred days' service. On his return home, Colonel Putnam began the study of law under the direction of Judge A. R. Calderwood at Greenville and was admitted to (32) 498 - DARKE COUNTY the bar in 1866. He was a justice of the peace three years and a notary public half a century. About ninety years Colonel Putnam resided in Darke county and deserves mention in this chapter. John Reily Knox was born in Butler county in 1820 and was graduated with honors from Miami University in the class of 1839. While a student at Oxford he was the founder of the college fraternity, which he and his associates named Beta Theta Pi. The fraternity expanded rapidly and at present has seventy-four active chapters with a total membership of about 20,000. After leaving college Mr. Knox studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1843. At the time he had a reputation as a speaker and was in demand during the exciting Harrison campaign of 1840. He was elected in 1860, one of the presidential electors in Ohio, and as such cast his official ballot to make Abraham Lincoln president of the United States. He was connected with the management at Miami University as a member of the board of trustees in 1869 and for a period of twenty-nine years until his death. For a period of fifty-five years he actively followed the profession of his choice. He labored arduously in the organization of the County Bar Association, was made its first president and continued in such office to the time of his death. He assisted materially in organizing the Greenville law library. He was, as Judge Clark remarked at a banquet, a scholar and the most thorough and polite gentleman, by nature and culture, of any one who was ever a member of this bar. He disliked the scramble for office and was but once a candidate before his party for nomination. Although not appreciated by all, he was by nature most kind and courteous, unostentatious and unpretentious. He had a tall, erect and well proportioned body and the carriage of a trained gentleman, always neat and tidy. He had a high respect for the dignity o" courts and the profession. He never resorted under any circumstances to the practices of the petifogger. In a rough and tumble fight before a jury he refused to engage in improper practices, always maintaining the dignity of a gentleman and relying upon the law and the merits of his case. He died in 1898 and his death came as a great blow to the thousands of members of his college fraternity all over the United States. He seemed to have never grown old in respect to fraternity matters, but was a frequent attendant at the banquets and conventions. "Pater Knox" will he long DARKE COUNTY - 499 revered by the members of the fraternity whose principles he helped to establish. He was a vestryman of the Episcopal church and died after the sun of life was well set in the west, but like the great law giver of old "his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated." Jacob T. Martz, lawyer and educator, was born in Darke county in September, 1833. He attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, at which institution he graduated in 1856. During the nine succeeding years he engaged in teaching and also read law under Judge D. L. Meeker and was admitted to the bar in June, 1860. In the spring of 1862 he Was elected superintendent of the public schools and resigned in 1865 to form a law partnership with J. R. Knox. In August of that year he was appointed receiver of the Cincinnati & Mackinaw Railroad, which work occupied his time for nearly five years. In 1871 the superintendency of the Greenville schools was tendered to him without his solicitation, and the board prevailed upon him to continue his good work which he did for seventeen consecutive years until June, 1888. Under his supervision he saw the school grow from four to twenty-two teachers. lie assisted in organization of the Darke County Teachers' Association of which he was president. He was also a member of the hoard of county school examiners for about twenty-two o years and assisted greatly in advancing the qualifications the teachers in the county. He was for six years secretary I the Darke County Agricultural Society. For many years was secretary of a building company. He was superintendent of the Sabbath school of the Methodist Episcopal church and for more than eight years was recording steward o its official board. He was very much interested in the history of Darke county and contributed an article of about twenty-four pages to the county history published in 1900, entitled Historical Sketches of Deceased Citizens of Darke County. He had also contributed a carefully prepared article on Educational History to the Darke county history compiled by W. H. McIntosh, in 1880. After resigning as superintendent of the city schools, he resumed the practice of law in the firm of Knox, Martz & Rupe, whom he outlived and then practiced alone until his death in 1911. In mid May. 1868, a spare looking young man of twenty-three, arrived in Greenville. Suntan gave a healthy color to his face and his long curly hair gave him a look of import-