HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 45

CHAPTER XII.

THE BAR OF LORAIN COUNTY.*

At the organization of the county, in 1824, there was scarcely what could be called a bar.

The history of the bar of Lorain county begins properly with the organization of the county, in the year 1824. It is worthy of mention, however, that

* By P. H. Boynton.

there had resided in the county, prior to that., time, a lawyer who subsequently rose to great eminence in the profession in Ohio. We refer to EBENEZER LANE, who came to Elyria not long after the original settlement, in 1817, and while that part of the present Lorain county, which lies west of the East Branch of Black river constituted a part of Huron: county. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Huron county in the spring of 1819, but continued to reside in Elyria until October 10, of the same year, when he removed to Norwalk for the more convenient discharge of his official duties. He rose rapidly in his profession, and in 1831 occupied a seat upon the supreme bench, which he continued to hold until 1845. His decisions are reported in volumes five to thirteen, inclusive, of the Ohio reports.

At the organization of the court of common pleas of Lorain county, May 24, 1824, four gentlemen competed for the appointment of prosecuting attorney from the court. These were WOOLSEY WELLS, ELIJAH PARKER, EBENEZER ANDREWS and REUBEN MUSSEY. Mr. Welles was the successful candidate. " Not," says Mr. \Voiles, in a recent letter, " because I was the best lawyer, but because I had more influential friends to recommend Inc to the court."

Mr. ANDREWS must have left the county about that time, as there is nothing ill the records of the court to show that lie was practising here at any subsequent time. His name appears in only a single case, and that in 1829.

The other three gentlemen above named, with Frederick Whittlesey, who came shortly afterwards, seem to have constituted the resident bar of this county until about 1831.

Mr. PARSER, the eldest of these, was born June 22, 1779. He came to Ohio from Vermont at a very early day. The date of his arrival we have been unable to ascertain; but he was in Elyria as early as 1823. Ile remained in Elyria until his death, April 2, 1859. His health in later years was poor, and he would seem, from the records, not to have practiced any after about 1854. He held the office of justice of the peace several times, and that of prosecuting attorney of the county during the years 1836 and 1837.

REUBEN MUSSEY, the father of Henry E. Mussey, who is still a resident of Elyria, was born in Dover, N. II., October 14, 1785. He was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law at Albany, N. Y., January 17, 1818, and as a counsellor January 12, 1821. Prior to his removal to Ohio he resided at Sandy Hill, Washington county, N. Y., where he was a partner with Judge Skinner in the practice of the law. During this period Silas Wright was a student in their office. Mr. Mussey settled at Elyria in the spring of 1825, having previously located temporarily in Elyria, Norwalk and Cleveland, and continued to reside there (Elyria) until the fall of 1837, devoting himself during the time exclusively to the practice of his profession, and to the duties of the office of justice of the peace, which he held two or three terms within that

46 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

period. During his residence in Elyria, Mr. Mussey did a large business, comparatively, though, of course the whole business was small compared with that of later years. He was a well-educated, thorough lawyer, and a genial, kind-hearted man. On leaving Elyria, in the autumn of 1837, he went to Logansport, Indiana, where he remained about a year and a half, when he removed to Kishwaukee, Ill., where he was joined by his family, which, up to that time, had continued to reside in Elyria. His death occurred at Kishwaukee, October 14, 1843.

WOOLSEY WELLES, the first prosecuting attorney of Lorain county, was born in Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., May 26, 1802. He received an academic education at Lewisville, Lewis county, N. Y., and Utica, Oneida county, N. Y., and removed to Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1819. He immediately commenced reading law in the office of Kelly and Cowles, in that city, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. In the fall of the same year he removed to Elyria and entered upon the practice of his profession. He remained in Elyria about two years (receiving, as he says, sixty dollars per year for prosecuting the pleas of the State), when he removed to Akron, where he had been appointed collector of canal tolls. This office he held about a year, and then resigned it because he was required to attend to its duties on the Sabbath. He was also appointed postmaster at Akron by President John Q. Adams, and held that position until the second term of President Jackson, in the latter part of which he resigned. He also held . the office of justice of the peace in Akron about four and a half years and resigned it in 1834, at which time lie commenced traveling over the State as agent of the Ohio State Temperance Society, of which Governor Lucas was president. Ile continued this about a year, when he returned to Elyria and re-entered the practice of the law in partnership with Hellman Birch, Esq. In the fall of 1837 he removed to Cleveland, where he spent three years in the practice, at the end of which he returned to Elyria and again opened a law office. lie remained at Elyria this time sonic, eight or ten years. During this time he took part as an anti-slavery man in the agitations of the question of slavery; but his success at the practice of law was meager, partly, no doubt, on account of the prejudice excited against him by his anti-slavery sentiments. At the end of this time, through the agency of Dr. N. S. Townshend, whom the Freesoilers had succeeded in electing .to the legislature, he received the appointment of agent of the State for the sale of Western Reserve school lands, and removed to Defiance, where lie continued to reside about nine years, after which he was appointed to an Iowa land agency and removed to Fort Dodge, in that State, where be still resides at the ripe age of seventy-seven years.

FREDERICK WHITTLESEY was born at Southington, Conn., December 22, 1801. From the court records, he would seem to have come to Elyria about 1827, and continued to reside there, holding a prominent position at the bar until 1835. He held the office of prosecuting attorney several years during that time, and twice represented Lorain county in the Legislature. He continued to reside in Cleveland until his death, which occurred November 13, 1854. During his residence there, he held the office of clerk of the courts of Cuyahoga county, and afterward of associate judge of the court of common pleas. He also represented Cuyahoga county in the State senate. Mr. Whittlesey was a well-educated, thorough lawyer, and always acquitted himself creditably both at the bar and on the bench. He gave great satisfaction to the bar of Cuyahoga county while acting as associate judge, an office not generally filled by lawyers; and his opinions were received with quite as much respect as those of the presiding judge. While in .Elyria, Mr. Whittlesey, for a short time, added to his professional labors those of an editor, having charge of the Lorain Gazette, the first newspaper published in Lorain county, which was established in 1829. Mr. Whitlesey's example in this respect was followed by quite a large number of his successors in the practice of the law at Elyria. Of their career as journalists, however, very little or nothing will be said in this connection, but the reader is referred to the chapter upon the press of the county, where it will be set out in full.

These were the pioneers of the Lorain bar, men of learning, ability and integrity; and in proportion to the amount of business to be done, time bar would seem to have been as large then as in the past ten years. The court of common pleas then, and for many years after, held only two sessions a year of a a week each, and the supreme court only one session of a single clay. The first journal of the court of common pleas, which extends to the spring of 1832, and includes all the probate business, contains about the same amount of matter as the present journal of the same court for a single year, and the probate business is now all removed to the probate court. Over against this, however, is to be set the undoubted fact, that a greater proportion of the litigation was then disposed of finally before justices of the peace. Small as the business was, however, the Lorain bar by no means had the monopoly of it. Lawyers from adjacent, and even from remote counties, were at Elyria attending court, and did no inconsiderable part of the business. Prominent among these were:

REUBEN WOOD, (afterwards common pleas and supreme judge,) and JOHN W. WILLEY, of Cleveland, afterward presiding judge of the court of common pleas. SAMUEL COWLES, of the same city, also did a considerable practice.

WHITTLESEY & NEWTON, both eminent lawyers, of Warren, Trumbull county, and THOMAS D. WEBB, of the same place, also appear frequently upon the records of the courts of Lorain during its early years. During this period, also, there commenced a practice which continued consecutively for about twenty years, and at intervals ever since. We refer to that of

S. J. ANDREWS, of Cleveland. He was never a

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resident of Lorain county, and hence no extended ,notice of him will be attempted here, but a history of the bar of Lorain which omitted to mention him could be incomplete. Admitted to the bar in Cleve: land in 1828, he immediately commenced attending the courts at Elyria, and rapidly acquired a practice. '1A': thorough and accomplished lawyer, a fiery and ,eloquent advocate, quick and incisive at repartee, full of the spirit of genuine and healthy mirthfulness, and withal a perfect gentleman, Mr. Andrews will long Continue a prominent figure in the memory of the earlier inhabitant of Lorain county. He was for a 'short time judge of the old superior court of Cleveland, and also a member from that county of the Ohio constitutional conventions of 1850 and 1873. He still

resides in Cleveland, at the ripe age of seventy-seven years, in full possession of his mental faculties, and remarkably well preserved physically, in the regular practice of hi§ profession—the honored Nestor of the ,Cuyahoga bar,

The period from 1831 to 1845 with large increase of population and business in the county witnessed the advent of no fewer than twenty new lawyers to Elyria, the county seat. Prominent among these were Edward S. Hamlin, Horace I). Clark, Joel Tiffany, Albert A. Bliss, Philemon Bliss, Judson D. Benedict, Robert McEachron and William F. Lockwood.

The earliest of these to begin practice at Elyria was EDWARD S. HAMLIN who held a prominent, position at the bar and had a large practice for a period of about eighteen years. He commenced, as the records indicate, about 1831, and soon after entered into partnership with. Frederick Whittlesey, which partnership continued until Mr. Whittlesey left Elyria in 1835. In 1833-4-5, he held the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain county. In 1837 he removed to Cleveland, but returned in a little over a year. In 1838 or 1839, he formed a partnership with Albert A. Bliss, (of whom more hereafter) which arrangement continued until 1843, when Mr. Hamlin was elected to Congress for an unexpired term. About the time of its dissolution William F. Lockwood became his partner, and seems to have continued so until Mr. Hamlin left Elyria in about 1849. Mr. Hamlin was known as a close, thorough and industrious lawyer, and though not as eloquent an advocate as sonic of his cotemporaries, an eminently "safe" man to have the charge of litigation. He is still living and practicing his profession, and when last heard from by the writer was at Cincinnati.

HORACE D. CLARK, one of the lawyers who had the largest continuous practice in Lorain county, was born May 22, 1805, at Granby, Connecticut, where his mother still resides at the advanced age of ninety-four years. He went to district school summers till he was eight years of age, and in the winter till he was sixteen, when he was taken from school and placed in a country store, where he served his apprenticeship and was taken in as a partner. In this business He continued some four years, at the end of which time, says he in a recent letter, "I found we had lost so much by bad debts and the stealings of clerks that there was but little left, and I quit the business in disgust." He studied law one year in Connecticut, and in November 17, 1832, started for Ohio, and reached Hudson in this state, in December of the same year. On the eighth of that month lie entered the law school of Judge Van H. Humphrey, and a year later was admitted to the bar by the supreme court, in bank at Columbus.

On the fourth of the following July (1834) Mr. Clark opened a law office in the southeast corner room in the court house in Elyria. He continued to practice law in Elyria from that time for about thirty years, having during a large portion of that time the largest practice in the county—a practice never approached in magnitude by more than one rival at a time. A. A. Bliss, Hamlin and Bliss, Joel Tiffany, Benedict and Leonard, Hamlin and Lockwood, and W. F. Lockwood alone, were at different times, his nearest, competitors. but Mr. Clark steadily maintained the leading position he had gained, until after he ceased to reside in Elyria; for though he continued to practice there till 1864, he removed with his family to Cleveland in 1851.

In 1845 Mr. Clark took in as a partner Cyrus Olney, who came from Iowa, where lie had been in practice. He stayed about a year and returned to Iowa, where he was soon after elected a judge. " He was about, twenty-eight," says Mr. Clark, "and the best special pleader of his age I ever saw."

In March, 1849, Mr. Clark formed a partnership with Stevenson Burke, who hind been admitted to the bar the August previous, having been a student in Mr. Clark's office. His partnership continued till about June, 1852. John M. Vincent and John V. Coon were also students with Mr. Clark during his practice in Elyria. In 1850 Mr. Clark was elected a member of the constitutional convention of Ohio, and served in that body, which completed its labors March 10, 1851. This is the only official position held by Mr. Clark.

He was an excellent lawyer, though not especially an eloquent advocate. He abandoned the practice of law in 1865 mid removed to Montreal, Canada, where he now resides.

JOEL TIFFANY, one of the the most remarkable men who ever lived in Elyria, was a native of Bark ham- stead, Connecticut. He removed to Elyria from Medina, in 1835, and remained in Elyria, as the court records indicate, until 1848. In 1840, he seems to have been associated with Mr. Silliman. of Wooster. Mr. Silliman was an able lawyer, and practiced in Elyria for a member of years, though never a resident, there. Mr. Tiffany seems also to have been associated with L. G. Byington, for a short time, and with Mr. E. H. Leonard, for about two years. lie was prosecuting attorney in 1838 and 1839. Upon leaving Elyria, he went to Painesville, and subsequently to New York City. From 1863 to 1869, he resided in

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Albany, where be was reporter of the court of appeals of New York, and published volumes twenty-eight to thirty-nine, inclusive, of the New York reports. From there he removed to Chicago, where lie still resides.

Mr. Tiffany approached nearer to being a "genius," as that word is ordinarily understood, than any other practitioner of the Lorain bar. With acute and accurate perceptions, great mental powers of acquisition and assimilation, a prodigious memory, and, withal, an eloquence seldom equalled, he was extremely well equipped for all forensic encounters. In the locally celebrated " counterfeit cases," Mr. Tiffany exerted his great powers to their utmost, and made for himself a reputation that will long endure in Lorain county. These were tried in 1838-9, when he was prosecuting, and no fewer than fourteen persons were sent to penitentiary for being implicated in the making and issuing of counterfeit money.

The great qualities we have mentioned were, however, handicapped by an unsteadiness of purpose, and lack of application to his profession, which rendered them of comparatively little value to their possessor. He engaged in a variety of enterprises, outside of his profession, while in Elyria, none of which proved profitable, while they prevented his reaching that success in his profession which he might otherwise have attained.

During his residence in Albany, in 1864, Mr. Tiffany, in connection with Mr. Henry Smith, published a work upon practice under the New York code, under the title of "Tiffany & Smith's New York Practice." It is highly spoken of by the law reviewers. A second edition has just been published, edited by H. C. Woods.

In 1862, in connection with E. F. Bullard, Mr. Tiffany published a work, under the title of "The Law of Trust and Trustees, as administered in England and America." Professor Theodore W. Dwight, reviewing this work, in the American Lam Register of July, 1863, says: " This appears to be an excellent work. The arrangement of topics is simple and logical, and the discussion lucid and satisfactory."

In 1865, Tiffany & Smith published a book of " forms adapted to the practice and special pleadings in New York courts of Record."

Mr. Tiffany also published, in 1807, "A Treatise on Government and Constitutional Law, being an inquiry into the source and limitation of governmental authority, according to the American Theory."

ALBERT A. BLISS was born March 23, 1811, in Canton, Connecticut. In 1821, his father's family removed to Whitestown, Oneida county, New York. In 1825, he left home, to learn a trade, and served until 1830. He then attended school for a couple of years at the Oneida Institute, at Whitestown, an excellent institution, on the manual labor plan, then recently organized. In the spring of 1833, Mr. Bliss came to Elyria, and commenced studying law; in the office of Whittlesey & Hamlin. During the period of his studying he engaged also in newspaper work. He

was admitted to the bar in Cleveland, September, 1835, and the following spring moved to that city, and engaged in editing a newspaper, the Daily Gazette. during the political campaign of that year; after which he returned to Elyria, and engaged in the practice of his profession until 1847. In 1840, he entered into partnership with E. S. Hamlin, and the firm did a large business until sometime in 1845, when it was dissolved. Previous to 1845, Mr. Bliss had, for a short time, been in partnership with his brother, Philemon Bliss.

A deep interest in politics, however interrupted the continuity of Mr. Bliss' application to the practice of his profession. He was three times elected to the legislature—in 1839, 1840 and 1841, and was occupied. at different times in the editing of political newspapers. In the winter of 1846-7, he was elected treasurer of state by the legislature, and held that office until January, 1852. He removed to Columbus in the spring of 1847, but seems to have kept up, somewhat, his law practice at Elyria, as a member of the firm of Bliss & Bagg, until 1849. He returned to

Bagg,

Elyria late in 1852, and remained until the spring of 1863, when he removed to Jackson, Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business until 1874, when, finding the business becoming unprofitable, he sold it out and re-engaged in the practice of the law. He still resides at Jackson, where lie is, as he always has been wherever he has lived, a highly respected citizen.

He is a member and the treasurer of the city school board, and one of the inspectors of the Michigan penitentiary, which is located at that place.

JUDSON D. BENEDICT came to Elyria from Medina in 1838, and engaged in the practice of the law for about ten years from that time. In 1840 or thereabouts, he formed a partnership with E. II. Leonard, who had then recently finished a long term as clerk of the courts, and been admitted to the bar. This partnership continued some two years, the firm doing a large business during the time. After the dissolution of his connection with Benedict, Mr. Leonard soon formed a partnership with Mr. Tiffany, which lasted till about 1845, after which time his name does not appear upon the records of this court.

After the dissolution of the firm of Benedict and Leonard, Mr. Benedict associated with himself Robert McEachron, under the firm of Benedict & McEachron, which firm continued some three years, after which Joshua Myers was partner with Mr. Benedict for about two years more. About 1848, Mr. Benedict abandoned the practice of law, and became a preacher of the denomination known as Disciples or Campbellites, and left Elyria. He removed to the vicinity of Buffalo, New York, where he resided most of the remainder of his life. He died in Canada three or four years ago.

Mr. Benedict did a very considerable business during all his residence at Elyria, but was not considered a strong lawyer; as a pleader, he was especially weak.

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PHILEMON BLISS, a brother of A. A. Bliss, was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1838. He commenced

practice at once in Elyria in partnership with brother, A. A. Bliss, but soon after, by reason of ill-health, was forced to abandon business, and went west. Regaining his health, he re-commenced his practice in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, in 1842, but returned to Elyria in the winter of 1846-7, and remained in practice there, except when interrupted by office holding, until the spring of 1861: During that period, he was elected probate judge, being the first probate judge of Lorain county, also on common pleas judge in the winter of 1848-9, and to Congress in 1854 and 1856.

1861, he was appointed chief justice of Dakota territory, which office he held until the fall of 1864, when he removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he resided until 1872. During this period, he was elected probate judge, and, in 1868, supreme judge of Missouri, which office he filled to the end of the term with credit to himself and benefit to the jurisprudence of that state. In 1872, he was elected resident professor of law at the university of Missouri, and dean of the law faculty, and removed to Columbia, where he still resides. Mr. Bliss is a man of great mental ability. A more extended sketch of his life will be and found in that part of this volume devoted to Elyria. He is the author of a work on pleading, which is just published.

WM. F. LOCKWOOD, one of the latest lawyers to settle in Elyria during the period of which we are now speaking, was born April 1, 1822, in Norwalk, Fairfield county, Connecticut, and there received a common school education. In 1837, he went to New York, and became a clerk in a wholesale grocery store. In 1840, he came to Ohio, and, in 1841, settled in Elyria, where he became a law student in the office of Hamlin & Bliss. In 1842, he was admitted to the bar at Medina. He was a candidate on the whig ticket, the same year, for the office of prosecuting attorney, but was defeated by H. A. Tenney, the democratic candidate. He was elected to that office, however, in 1844, and held it for four years, being re-elected in 1846. In 1852, he was a delegate from his congressional district to the whig national convention, which met at Baltimore and nominated Winfield Scott as a candidate for the presidency. The same year he was the candidate of his party for congress, but was defeated, Harvey Johnson, of Ashland county, the democratic candidate, being elected.

In 1854, he was elected probate judge of Lorain county, succeeding Philemon Bliss. In 1856, he was a candidate before the Republican convention for the nomination for common pleas judge, but Judge Carpenter, of Akron, was the nominee.

By reason of impaired health, he resigned his office, and in the spring of 1857 removed with his family to Nebraska and settled at Omaha, where he resided some two years, when he removed to Dakota City, which continued to be his home till he returned to Ohio in 1867.

He was one of the federal judges for the territory of Nebraska, from April, 1861, until the admission of Nebraska as a State in 1867, when he was nominated by President Johnson as United States district judge for the district of Nebraska, but was not confirmed by the Senate. He then returned to Toledo, in this State, where he still resides.

He was the democratic candidate for congress in the Toledo district, in 1870, but was unsuccessful, the district being republican.

In 1878, he was recommended by the bar of Lucas county for the office of common pleas judge, which recommendation was ratified by both the republican and democratic conventions, and he was elected to that office.

Mr. Lockwood had a large practice when at the bar in Elyria, and is a man of fine abilities, as the large number of important positions he has held with credit to himself well attests.

Other lawyers who resided in Elyria during the period of which we are now speaking were:

THOMAS TYRRELL, from 1834 to 1838. During a part or all of this time, he was a partner with E. S. Hamlin. He engaged also in the newspaper business.

A. C. PENFIELD, from about 1833 to 1854. He did a moderate business for a number of years. He died in Elyria.

C. WHITTLESEY, 1835. HEMAN BIRCH, 1835 to 1847. LE GRAND BYINGTON, 1837 to 1839. A. H. CURTIS, 1838.

L. F. HAMLIN, 1838 to 1855. He was considered a good equity lawyer, but his practice was limited. He was for a time a partner with Mr. Lockwood. He died in Elyria.

ROBERT MCEACHRON, 1842 to 1850. He came from Richland county, was a partner with Mr. Benedict from 1842 to 1845, and with Joshua Myers under the name of McEachron & Myers from 1847 to 1849, and did a very considerable business. His health failed while in Elyria, and he died soon after leaving there.

JOSHUA. MYERS came to the bar about 1844, and remained in Elyria until his death, in 1877. He was first associated with Mr. Benedict, then with Mr. McEachron, as already stated. From about 1850 to 1854, he was associated with Judge Bissell, of Painesville, in the firm of Bissell & Myers, which did a considerable business. His practice when alone was never large. During his later years, he held the office of justice of the peace for a single term, securing his election partly by means of the anti-temperance excitement, which grew up in opposition to the "crusade," in 1874.

FORDYCE M. KEYTH was admitted to the bar in 1839, and commenced practice in Elyria, but removed to Stark county in 1840, and subsequently to Jackson

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county, Ohio. He served with distinction in the late war as major of infantry, and major and lieutenant- colonel of artillery, and in 1865 removed to White Cloud, Kansas, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law, and farming.

MYRON R. KEITH was born in Wingfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., March 3, 1819; came to Elyria with his father, Colonel Ansel Keith in October, 1832; and was admitted as an attorney in 1841. He commenced the practice of law in Elyria in 1841, and in 1842 removed to Cleveland and practiced with Harvey Rice, in the firm of Rice & Keith, until 1846. In January, 1846, he returned to Elyria and was appointed clerk of the courts for Lorain county, and officiated in that capacity until the spring of 1852. In August, 1852, he removed to Cleveland, and since that time he has been and still is engaged in the practice of the law there. In June, 1867, he was appointed register in bankruptcy, and is still acting in that capacity.

H. A. TENNEY came to the bar in 1842, and was elected prosecuting attorney that year. He remained in Elyria a few years engaged in the law practice and newspaper work, and then removed to Wisconsin.

JOHN B. GREEN was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1842, and, after remaining a year or two, removed to Newark, Ohio, where he died in 1845.

ELEAZER WAKELY was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1844, and remained there about two years, when he removed to Wisconsin, and, subsequently, to Nebraska, where he held the office of federal territorial judge, in which he was succeeded by Judge Wm. F. Lockwood in 1861. He still resides in Omaha eminent in his profession.

During this period, 1831 to 1845, the law business of the county had increased, so that, in 1844, it was something more than half its present amount as indicated by the journal of the court of common pleas. Still, up to this time, very few, if any, of the lawyers had devoted themselves exclusively to the practice of the law, almost all engaging in newspaper publication and somc in other enterprises. The relative amount of business done by foreign attorneys was much less than in the earliest period, but still a large number of attorneys from Cleveland and other points practiced occasionally in Lorain. Prominent among these were W. Silliman, of Wooster, and C. L. Lattimer, of Norwalk.

The period from 1845 to 1860 witnessed an almost complete change in the personnel of the Lorain bar. About thirty new men came to the bar during that period, and, at its close, Philemon Bliss remained the only resident attorney who had begun practice prior to 1845, although Mr. Clark, then residing in Cleveland, still practiced at the Lorain bar. Of some seven or eight of those who came to the practice within this period it is proper to make somewhat extended mention.

SYLVESTER BAGG, who has since served a number of years on the bench in a sister State, was born

August 6, 1823, at Lanesborough, Berkshire county, Mass. He removed to Elyria in May, 1845, and, in 1846, entered the office of A. A. Bliss as a partner, and continued in the practice until December, 1856, when he removed from Elyria. During his residence in Elyria he was also associated with Mr. Edmund A. West, now of Chicago, in the firm of Bagg & West, and later with Mr. George Olmsted, now of Elyria, as Bagg & Olmsted. He also engaged. at times in the drug and insurance business while in Elyria. After remaining a few months in Chicago, he removed to Iowa in March, 1857, and settled at Waterloo, where he now resides. He was commissioned in the army as A. Q. M. with the rank of captain, October 22, 1862, and served until November 26, 1865, being discharged with the brevet of major. He was elected circuit judge in 1868, and re-elected in 1872 and 1876, and elected district judge in 1878, which office he now holds.

STEVENSON BURKE was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, November 26, 1826. He commenced studying law in the office of Powell & Buck, at Delaware, Ohio, and afterwards went into the office of H. D. Clark at Elyria, where he continued till his admission to the bar, August 11, 1848. In the following March ha entered into partnership with Mr. Clark, which partnership continued until May or June, 1852. He continued to reside at Elyria with a rapidly increasing practice until 1861, when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the counties of Lorain, Medina and Summit. Prior to his elevation to the bench he was associated for a short time with Mr. Lake and Mr. Sheldon, under the firm name of Burke, Lake & Sheldon. This firm, however, lasted but a short time. In 1857 he was associated with E. F. Poppleton, and, in 1860, with H. H. Poppleton.

Mr. Burke was a sound and thorough lawyer and a man of remarkable industry, being, no doubt, the hardest working lawyer who ever practiced at the Lorain bar. He was elected to the common pleas bench October, 1861, and took his seat the February following, and continued to hold the office until February, 1869, having been re-elected in 1866. He resigned his office January 1, 1869, his resignation taking effect at the end of the judicial year the 9th of the following February. Immediately upon his resignation he became a member of the firm of Backus, Estep & Burke in Cleveland, Messrs. Backus and Estep having previously been partners in the practice in that city. Judge Burke also kept for a time an office in Elyria, where he still resided, in connection with Mr. H. H. Poppleton. This was soon discontinued, however. Not long after Mr. Burke went to Cleveland the partnership of which he was a member was broken up by the death of Mr. Backus. After a short time more Messrs. Estep & Burke dissolved their connection, since which Judge Burke has been practicing alone in Cleveland, and doing a large and highly lucrative business. He has become interested

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in several railroad and other corporations, and is at present a director and chairman of the finance committee of the C., C., C. & I. R'y Co., and general counsel of the company, and occupies the same position with reference to the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley R. R. Co., and holds prominent positions in a number of other railroad, mining and manufacturing corporattions.

JOHN M. VINCENT was born at Mount Washington, Berkshire county, Mass., October 14, 1820. He came to Ohio in 1834. His collegiate course was begun at Oberlin, but concluded at Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he graduated in 1846. Returning to Elyria, he entered the office of H. D. Clark as a law student, and was admitted to the bar at the supreme court in Elyria August 11, 1848. Entering at once upon the practice of his profession, he was

elected in the fall of the following year to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain county, which he held two consecutive terms, being re-elected in 1851. He was elected to the same office again in 1855 and served one more term. Mr. Vincent was a man of quick and accurate perceptions, a thorough lawyer, a ready and effective debater, and withal a genial, kind-hearted gentleman. With such qualifications he could not but occupy, as he did, a prominent

 position at the bar as long as his health permitted him to continue in the practice. He was elected to the lower house of the State legislature in the autumn of 1859, and served in that body during the session of 1860 and 1861. This legislative work was substantially the last of his life. Failing health forbade his continuing in the practice of his profession, and, in the summer of 1863, he went to Minnesota in hope of improving his health by change of climate; but, finding himself growing rapidly worse, he started to return home, but was compelled to leave the cars at Milwaukee, where he died September 23, 1863, mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. His wife and son still reside at Elyria.

LIONEL A. SHELDON was born August 30, 1831, at Worcester, Otsego county, New York, and removed with his parents to LaGrange, Lorain county, in 1834. He studied law in the office of Clark & Burke, in Elyria, and also attended law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, and was admitted to the bar at the supreme court at Elyria, in July, 1851.

In September, 1853, lie commenced practice in connection with Mr. Vincent, which partnership lasted some two years. He was subsequently associated, at different times, with George B. Lake, L. B. Smith, and W. W. Boynton. He remained in Elyria, in the practice of his profession, until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, in 1861. He held the office of probate judge, from November 25, 1856, to February 8, 1858, filling out the unexpired term of William F. Lockwood.

In August, 1861, he entered the army as captain in the 2d Ohio cavalry, and was subsequently a major in the same regiment. At the organization of the 42d Ohio volunteer infantry, he was commissioned its lieutenant-colonel, and on the promotion of its colonel, James A. Garfield, he became colonel of the regiment, and served with distinction throughont the war, receiving toward the close of the war, the rank of brevet brigadier general.

After the close of the conflict, he settled in New Orleans, and resumed the practice of his profession, and also became interested in politics. He was elected to congress in 1868, 1870, and 1872, and served with credit in those three congresses. In 1876, he was one of the presidential electors of the state of Louisiana. He still resides in New Orleans; spending his summers, however, on his large farm in LaGrange, Lorain county, the home of his boyhood.

GEORGE B. LAKE was admitted to the bar at Elyria, July, 1851, and practiced in Elyria, with credit, until about 1857, when he removed to Omaha, where he still resides. He has attained there a marked eminence in his profession, and now occupies a seat upon the bench of the supreme court of Nebraska.

HOUSTON H. POPPLETON was born at Bellville, Richland county, Ohio, March 19, 1836. He removed with his father to Delaware, Ohio, in March, 1853, and entered the Ohio Wesleyan university, at that place, the same year, from which institution he graduated June 28, 1858.

He commenced studying law with Mr. Burke, in Elyria, September 9, 1858, and continued with him till he entered the Cincinnati law college, October 15, 1859, and was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati April 16, 1860. He commenced the practice of law at Elyria, May 2, 1860, having formed a partnership with Judge Burke; and continued in the general practice until December 1, 1873, when he was appointed general attorney of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Company, with headquarters at Cleveland, and at once took charge of the entire legal department of that company, which position he still holds, and fills with marked ability.

WASHINGTON W. BOYNTON was born in Russia, Lorain county, January 27, 1833. He was educated in the common schools, studied law, and was admitted to the bar by the district court of Lorain county, at its September term, 1856, and immediately commenced practice. In March, 1859, upon the resignation, by Mr, George Olmsted, of the office of prosecuting attorney, lie was appointed by the court to. fill the vacancy for the unexpired term, which ended the first Monday of the following January.

In October, of the same year, (1859), he was elected to the same office, and continued to discharge its duties with credit to himself, and satisfaction to the public, until January, 1864, having been re-elected in the fall of 1861. Mr. Boynton continued in the practice of the law, at Elyria, with the exception of a short residence in Minnesota, whither he went on account of his health, until February, 1869, when he

52 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

was appointed by the governor to the office of common pleas judge, left vacant by the resignation of Hon. Stevenson Burke. In October, of the same year, he was elected to that office, for the remainder of Judge Burke's term, which expired February, 1872. In the fall of 1871, he was re-elected for a full term, which expired February, 1877, at which time he entered upon the discharge of the duties of a judge of the supreme court, having been elected to that office in October, 1876. He is still a member of the supreme court.

A considerable number of lawyers commenced practice in Lorain county during this time, and remained for longer or shorter periods, including some who are still at the bar, who will be mentioned hereafter.

These were GEORGE T. SMITH, 1845 to 1854.

EDMUND A. WEST, 1846 to 1852. He was the son of Edmund West, one of the original settlers of Elyria. On leaving Elyria he went to Chicago where he is still practicing law, making a specialty of patent business.

ELBRIDGE G. BOYNTON, admitted to the bar September, 1845, died in Elyria in 1857.

JOHN CURTIS, 1847 to 1851.

JOHN G. IRVING, admitted August 20, 1847.

BIRD B. CHAPMAN, admitted in Elyria in 1843, practiced there for a time, about 1849 to 1852.

GEORGE G. WASHBURN practiced law from 1849 to 1853. He then abandoned the law and devoted himself to journalism, and still resides in Elyria, the editor and publisher of the Elyria Republican.

JOHN SHERMAN, 1851.

E. C. K. GARVEY, 1851-3.

SCHUYLER PUTNAM was admitted to the bar in 1852, at the first term of the district court under the constitution of 1851. He was a great-grandson of General Israel Putnam of revolutionary war fame. Says Mr. H. D. Clark in a recent letter, speaking of Mr. Putnam: " He came to the bar at an advanced age, ripe in judgment and experience. He had a good legal mind, and in a long number of years as a justice of the peace, never gave an opinion that was reversed by a higher court. He was a moral, conscientious, upright man."

C. G. FINNEY, 0berlin, 1854. He was a son of the celebrated divine, Reverend C. G. Finney, for many years president of Oberlin college. He returned to Oberlin a few years ago and entered into partnership with I. A. Webster, but his health permitted him to remain only a short time.

JOHN M. LANGSTON, Oberlin, was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1855, and practiced at Oberlin until about 1867. He now resides in Washington, D. C., where he is a law lecturer in Howard University.

From 1857 to 1859 SAMUEL and RALPH PLUMB practiced law in Oberlin under the name of Plumb and Plumb, and Ralph seems by the court record to have continued until 1861. Samuel Plumb organized a bank in Oberlin under the name of "S. Plumb's Bank," which, on the passage or the National banking act was converted into the "First National Bank of Oberlin," of which Mr. Plumb was president as long as he resided in Oberlin. Both gentlemen now reside at Streator, Illinois.

CYRUS B. BALDWIN resided at Oberlin and did a small law business between 1858 and 1865.

LAERTES B. SMITH was admitted to the bar in Elyria, in September, 1858, and practiced in Elyria, holding the office of justice of the peace for several terms, until June 1, 1871, when he was appointed probate judge, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John W. Steele. He was elected to that office the same year for the unexpired term and still holds the office, having been re-elected in 1872, 1875 and 1878.

EDWARD D. HOLBROOK, son of Dexter Holbrook who still resides in Elyria, was born in Elyria October 10, 1835, studied law with Johnson and Rex in Wooster, and was admitted at that place in May, 1857. He commenced practice in Elyria in 1858, and remained until the spring of 1861 when he removed to California, where he remained studying the mining laws until May 17, 1862, when lre removed to Idaho territory, where he rapidly rose to prominence and acquired an extensive practice. He represented that territory as delegate in the thirty-ninth and fortieth congresses. He continued to reside in Idaho, attending to his increasing professional duties until his death. He was murdered by Charles H. Douglas, at Idaho City, June 19, 1870.

THEODORE H. ROBERTSON was admitted to the bar in Elyria in August, 1848, and remained in Elyria in the practice some five or six years.

WASHBURN SAFFORD practiced in Elyria for two or three years, beginning in 1855, in partnership with Judge Philemon Bliss, under the name of Bliss and Safford. During a portion of this time R. H. Allen, who practiced in Oberlin, was also a member of the firm, the title at the Oberlin office being Bliss, Allen and Safford. Mr. Allen remained in Oberlin a year or so after the dissolution of this firm.

H. C. SAFFORD also practiced law a few years in Oberlin, about the same time.

ANSON P. DAYTON opened a law office in Oberlin in the summer of 1856, and remained there about two years.

The period from 1860 to the present time can scarcely be called historical, and must be passed over rapidly. It has witnessed the advent of many more lawyers than any other period of equal length; but a majority of them are still young men, and the time has not yet arrived for them to have reached the eminence and distinction to which many of the older members of the Lorain bar have attained.

The most conspicuous figure among the men who have come to the Lorain bar within this period is Hon. JOHN C. HALE, one of the present judges of the court of common pleas. He was born March 3, 1831, at Orford, New Hampshire, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1857. He was admitted to the bar in Cleveland in the spring of 1861, and immediately

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 53

removed to Elyria in company with J. C. Hill, with whom he had formed a partnership, under the name of Hale & Hill, and they opened a law office in the room occupied by John M. Vincent. This partnerIbip continued one year, when Mr. Hale went into partnership with W. W. Boynton. He rose rapidly in his profession, and in 1863 was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, which he held six years consecutively, being re-elected in 1865 and 1867. He represented Lorain county in the constitutional convention of 1873-4, and in 1876 was elected common pleas judge, succeeding Judge Boynton. He is still on the common pleas bench.

We shall now pass rapidly over the gentlemen who have been members of the Lorain bar since 1860 and who are not now in the practice there, and close this sketch with a mention of the attorneys now resident in the county.

CHARLES A. WRIGHT commenced practice in Elyria in 1860 and remained there a year or two.

LEWIS BRECKENRIDGE was admitted to the bar in 1859, commenced practice in Elyria in 1861 and remained until 1872 when he removed to Cleveland where he now resides and practices.

J. C. HILL came to Elyria as an attorney in 1861, as already mentioned, as a partner with J. C. Hale. He remained in the practice until 1864, when he abandoned it and engaged in other business. He is now a resident of Elyria and cashier of the Savings Deposit Bank.

ANDREW MOREHOUSE appears as an attorney on the records in 1862.

JAMES B. HUMPHREY was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1862, and practiced there until 1867 or 1868, when he removed to Allegan, Michigan, where he still resides. He is, or recently was, probate judge of Allegan county, and occupies a prominent position at the bar there.

OMAR BAILEY, JR., practiced law in Oberlin from 1863 to 1867, when he removed to Norwalk, Huron county, where lre still resides.

ROSWELL G. HORR was admitted to the bar at the expiration of his term as clerk of the court in 1864, and entered into partnership with J. C. Hale. He continued in the practice about two years, when he removed to Missouri. He subsequently removed to East Saginaw, Michigan, where he still resides. He was elected to Congress from that district at the election in November, 1878.

H. M. LILLIE had a law office in Elyria a few months in 1864, but did little or no business.

A. R. HILLYER opened a law office in Oberlin in 1865, and remained there a year or two, when lie removed to Grinnell, Iowa.

HERBERT L. TERRELL was admitted to the bar in Elyria in September, 1864, and entered into partnership with W. W. Boynton, remaining about a year. He then removed to Tennessee, but subsequently returned to Ohio and settled in Cleveland, where he is now practicing.

D. L. BRECKINRIDGE was admitted to the bar in. 1866, but continued to reside on his farm in Grafton till his death, in 1878, never devoting himself exclusively to the law.

A. C. HOUGHTON went into partnership with J. H. Dickson, at Wellington, in 1868, and remained in the practice there until about 1872, when he removed to Toledo.

M. W. POND, JR., in partnership with C. H. Doolittle, practiced in Elyria in 1869. He removed to Pennsylvania, but subsequently returned to Cleveland, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of the law.

GUSTAVUS V. BAYLEY was admitted to the bar in 1872, and in the fall of 1873 settled at Black River (now Lorain), and engaged also in the lumber business. He continued to reside there until 1877, when he removed to St. Louis. His law practice was very meager.

MERIC J. SLOAN was admitted to the bar at Elyria in September, 1872, and had an office for a short time in Oberlin.

P. L. CHANDLER removed from Wisconsin to Oberlin in 1875, and opened a law office there. He remained there about a year.

JOSEPH C. COLLISTER studied law with Hon. J. H. Dickson, at Wellington, and was admitted to the bar in 1874. He entered into partnership with his preceptor, and remained one year, when he left the county.

D. C. BRUCE, from Pennsylvania, opened a law office in Elyria in 1875, and remained about a year.

C. A. BRINTNA LL came to Elyria, from Medina, in the summer of 1876, with A. R. WEBBER, who still remains there. They remained in partnership a few months, when they dissolved partnership, and Mr. Brintnall left the county.

WARREN W. SAMPSEL, son of Dr. P. W. Sampsel, of Elyria, was admitted to the bar in Norwalk in the spring of 1878, and entered into partnership with N. L. Johnson, of Elyria, but after remaining a few months he removed to Toledo, where lie still resides.

Judge BENJAMIN BISSELL and Mr. TINKER, both of Painesville, had an office in Elyria in 1872, in connection with Mr. J. V. Coon, under the name of Bissell, Coon and Tinker. Judge Bissell died recently in Iowa. Mr. Tinker still resides in Painesville.

The present bar of Lorain county consists of twenty-nine members, residing in all parts of the county, but principally of course at the county seat.

JOHN V. COON, the one of these who has been longest at the bar, was admitted at Elyria in August, 1846, and has continued to reside in Elyria or its immediate vicinity ever since, and has kept a more or less intimate connection with the practice during all that time. He has not, however, devoted himself exclusively to the law, having been engaged in farming and manufacturing enterprises, and real-estate speculations in Ohio and other States, during a very considerable portion of that time. He is now engaged

64 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

in practice, and has a very considerable reputation as a real estate lawyer.

CHARLES H. DOOLITTE came to the bar in Elyria in 1851. He was soon after elected justice of the peace, which office he held about six years. In the fall of 1857, he was elected probate judge, and held that office for nine years from the following February, being re-elected in 1860 and 1863. After the expiration of his term of office as probate judge, he removed for a short time to Painesville, but soon returned to Elyria, where he still resides. For several years past he has held the office of justice of the peace.

Hon. JOSEPH H. DICKSON was admitted to the bar in August, 1852, at Elyria, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession there, forming a partnership with John M. Vincent. In the fall of 1853 he was elected prosecuting attorney, for two years from the succeeding January. In December, 1855, he dissolved his connection with Mr. Vincent, and removed to Wellington, where he has continued to reside up to the present time. He was elected to the lower house of the state legislature in 1867 and 1869. He still occupies a leading position at the Lorain bar. 

GEORGE OLMSTED came from New York, and entered into practice in Elyria in 1853, entering into partnership with S. Bagg, as Bagg and Olmsted. He was elected prosecuting attorney in October, 1857, and entered upon the duties of that office in the following January. He resigned the office, however, in March, 1859, after having served a little over one year. He then removed to Indianapolis, where he staid about a year, when he returned, and continued to reside in Elyria, and practice law, until 1862, from which time he was absent from Elyria about, four years. He returned to Elyria, however, in 1866, where he has since resided. He was elected justice of the peace in 1871, and held that office for three years, being succeeded by Joshua Myers.

CHARLES W. JOHNSTON came to Elyria from LaGrange, where he had formerly practiced medicine, and entered upon the practice of the law in April, 1859. He formed a partnership with Hon. P. Bliss, the next September, under the name of Bliss and Johnston, which continued until Judge Bliss removed to Dakota, in 1861. Mr. Johnston continued to devote himself exclusively to the practice, and still resides in Elyria, where he has an extensive business. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1809 and 1871.

ELIZUR G. JOHNSON was admitted to the bar in 1801, but continued to reside in LaGrange, where he held the office of justice of the peace until March, 1869, when he came to Elyria to assume the office of county auditor, to which he had been elected the previous October. He continued to hold that office until November, 1877. In the autumn of 1876, however. he opened a law office in Elyria, and is still engaged in the practice.

NORMAN L. JOHNSON came to Elyria from Massachusetts in 1863 and entered upon the practice of the law, to which he has devoted himself ever since, and at which he is now doing a very considerable business

IRAL, A. WEBSTER was admitted to the bar at Elyria in September, 1867, and soon after opened an office in Oberlin, where he still resides. In 1877 he* also opened an office in Elyria.

CHARLES DOWNING was admitted to the bar in 1867 in Elyria, where he still resides. He has devoted his attention mainly, however, to the business of insurance.

P. H. BOYNTON was admitted to the bar in 1869 and is still practicing in Elyria.

GEORGE P. METCALF was admitted in 1869. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1873, 1875 and 1877, and still holds that office.

J. M. HORD removed to Elyria from Wood county in 1872, and is still in practice.

WINSLOW L. FAY, admitted 1870, still in practice.

E. H. HINMAN opened an office in 1873 in North Amherst, where he is still practicing.

AMOS COE, who formerly practised law in Cleveland, settled on a farm near Elyria about 1870. He appears in court occasionally.

DAVID J. NYE was admitted to the bar in 1872 and removed to Kansas. He returned in 1873, and, in April, 1874, opened an office in Elyria, where he still resides.

WALTER F. HERRICK commenced practicing law in Wellington in 1874, and is still there. He served in the Ohio legislature in 1860 and 1861, and was a colonel in the army during the war of the rebellion. 

J. H. LANG has been practicing law in Oberlin since 1874. He engages also in other business. 

LESTER MCLEAN was admitted to the bar .at Warren in the spring of 1875, and immediately removed to Elyria, where he is still engaged in the practice,— now in partnership with E. G. Johnson. 

A. R. WEBBER came to Elyria from Medina in 1876, and is still engaged in practice as partner with C. W. Johnston. 

CHAS. A. METCALF was admitted in 1877, and entered into partnership with his brother, Geo. P. Metcalf, and is still in practice. 

J. W. STEELE was admitted to the bar just before the breaking out of the war. He entered the army and served through the war. He was elected probate judge of Lorain county in 1867, and held that office till June 1, 1871, when he resigned. He commenced practice in Oberlin in 1877, and is still there. 

WM. H. TUCKER was admitted to the bar in Cleveland in the fall of 1877. He engages also in other business. 

JOHN H. FAXON, of Elyria, was admitted to the bar at Columbus in 1876. Mr. Faxon is an old resident of Lorain county. He was elected sheriff in 1844 and 1846, and to the legislature in 1873 and 1875. He has also held the office of justice of the peace for a considerable number of years.

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 55

In 1877, C. G. JEFFRIES, an attorney of several years standing, moved to Elyria from Akron and opened a Office, and is still in the practice.

D. C. MANTER was admitted to the bar in April

and at once commenced practice in Elyria.

FRED. A. BECKWITH came to Elyria in the summer 1878, and entered into practice in the office of I. Webster.

FRED. WEBSTER was admitted to the bar at Nor- in the spring of 1878, and now has an office at in.

ALEX. H. PERRY, of Brownhelm, was admitted to bar in 1863, but still resides in that township, not ing in active practice.

This completes the list of the members of the bar of Lorain county. This bar, throughout its history,

has been characterized by a high degree of morality and integrity, as well as ability and learning on the

part of the members, and has been singularly free from that which has been the bane of so many of the

greatest and most brilliant lawyers of the country, the addiction to the use of intoxicating liquors.

Ten of its members have been elevated to the bench (aside from probate judges) and held fifteen different judicial positions, viz: Frederick Whittlesey, common pleas judge in Ohio; Philemon Bliss, common pleas judge in Ohio, territorial chief justice of Dakota, and supreme judge of Missouri; William F. Lockwood, territorial judge of Nebraska, and common pleas judge in Ohio; Eleazer Wakeley, territorial judge of Nebraska; Cyrus Olney, judge in Iowa; S. Bagg, circuit and district judge in Iowa; S. Burke, common pleas judge in Ohio; George B. Lake, supreme judge of Nebraska; W. W. Boynton, common 'Pleas and suprome judge in Ohio; and John C. Hale, common pleas judge in Ohio.

Four Lorain lawyers have been members of congress, holding in all eight terms: E. S. Hamlin, one term; . Philemon Bliss, two terms; Lionel A. Sheldon three terms and E. D. Holbrook, (delegate) two terms.

The bar furnished one of the delegates, Mr. Clark, to the constitutional convention of 1850, and the sigle one, Mr. Hale, to that of 1873. Two former Lorain lawyers are lecturers in law schools: Judge Bliss and Mr. Langston; and two, Judge Bliss and Mr. Tiffany, are the authors of legal treatises.

So far as the writer has been able to learn Philemon Bliss seems to have held the largest number of important official positions: two terms in congress, and (including probate judgeships) five different judicial positions.

To Mr. Myers belongs the distinction of having been the longest at the bar, from 1844 to 1877. The next longest, and by far the longest practice of the leading lawyers of the bar, was that of Mr. H. D. Clark, from 1834 to 1865.

With this we take our leave of the bar. It is sufficient to say of it in closing, that it has stood high compared with those of similar counties, for learning, industry, integrity and eloquence.