300 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. He had learned the importance of modifying his own views in order to secure the co-operation of others, and carry through important matters of legislation; but he never compromised on a question of principle, or yielded his convictions of duty to conciliate a fellow member. He thought clearly and reasoned well, without any pretense to rhetorical flourish, or what is popularly characterized as eloquence. He never claimed the attention of the House without having something important to say, and therefore was able to command attention when he spoke. Some of the important reconstruction measures were considered and passed during his membership of the House. He voted for the civil rights bill, the bill for the resumption of specie payments, and as a member of the committee on elections opposed the admission of George Q. Cannon, the Mormon representative from Utah—not on account of his religious views but because of his tolerance and practice of polygamy. As a candidate for re-election in 1874, he was defeated in that reactionary campaign which followed the second election of General Grant, and the Jay Cooke panic of 1873. In 1890 Mr. Robinson was chosen a member of the State Board of Equalization of the real estate of Ohio, on which he was both capable and efficient. He has traveled widely throughout the United States and familiarized himself with the geography, as well as the people, of the different sections. He has never at any time discontinued the practice of law since his admission to the Bar, at which he gained a reputation during the early years of his professional life. As a lawyer his success has been eminent, and the dockets of the courts will probably show that he has tried as many cases as any lawyer in the State. His standard has always been high, and he has never resorted to any of the tricks or subterfuges by which a practitioner sometimes gains a temporary advantage. He takes no position that is not tenable, and makes no statement that can be controverted. His method of preparation is such that he is always ready for trial, and he has therefore very seldom asked a continuance or pleaded for any delay. His devotion to a client arises out of the peculiar relation, and is not measured by the amount of the fee or the prospective advantage contingent upon success. He gives to the case of the poor man, where little is at issue, the same conscientious attention as to that of the rich man whose case involves thousands. His perception is keen, his mind versatile, and he displays remarkable tact in the trial of a cause. He is also remarkable for his capacity to dispatch business. He is a strong, careful pleader, an able trial lawyer. Throughout his life he has been a devoted, zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, and since 1855 has been an elder of the church. He is active in promoting its interests through the Church Extension and Education societies. He is a member of the board of trustees of Wooster University, which in 1896 conferred on him the degree of LL. D. Mr. Robinson has been married twice, the first time in 1855, to Mary J. Cassil, daughter of the late Judge John Cassil, of Marysville, a lady of wide influence, sustaining a most excellent Christian character. By this marriage he had two children, Arthur H., who died in his sixteenth year, and Alice B., who died January 13, 1894, less than four months after the death of her mother. July 22, 1896, he was married to Miss Mary E. BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 301 Kent, of Rome, New York, daughter of Daniel and Caroline Palmer Kent. She is a lady of much refinement, who been principal of one of the Marysville schools for ten years prior to her marriage. Mr. Robinson's home life has been beautiful always in the exhibition of those lovable traits of character which bind the members of the family together in mutual bonds of sympathy, affection and trust, and his home offers a delightful hospitality to friends. His whole life, indeed, has been singularly free from reproach, and his record is entirely clear. CHARLES D. MARTIN, Lancaster. Fairfield is not as populous as some other counties in Ohio, but has furnished more than her proportion of citizens who have achieved distinction in the legal profession. Of the illustrious dead who added luster to the Lancaster Bar may be mentioned Henry Stanbery, two generations of Ewings, and Judge Hocking Hunter. Of the living, Judge Martin is the most prominent. He is a native of Ohio, born at Mount Vernon August 5, 1829. His parents were Joseph and Susan (Thomas) Martin, the former of Irish and the latter of English descent. His ancestors on both sides came to America in colonial times, his father's people locating in Pennsylvania and his mother's in Maryland. His paternal grandfather came to Ohio in 1806, when his father was a boy, and located in Knox county. His mother's • family came to this State from Kentucky about the beginning of the present century and settled in Delaware county. Judge Martin's, early education was obtained in the public schools of Mount Vernon, which was supplemented by a course in Kenyon College, at Gambier. he took up the study of law at Lancaster under the tutorship of his relative, John D. Martin, in the office of Martin & Effinger, at that time a prominent law firm of Fairfield county. He took the usual course of two years, and was admitted to the Bar in 1850. He at once began the practice of his profession at Lancaster, and has followed it continuously to the present time, with the exception of two years' service on the Supreme Bench, as a member of the Supreme Court Commission. He was a hard student, a diligent worker in the interest of his clients, and possessing ready tact and a genial disposition, his rise in the profession was rapid. Thoroughness was his chief characteristic, and he always depended on law and logic to win his case rather than embellished oratory or merely plausible arguments. He was always eminently fair, and never stooped to take a mean advantage. In the fall of 1858 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket to represent his district in Congress, and was elected, his term expiring March 4, 1861. In the following interval of twenty years he continued the practice of law at Lancaster. In 1883 he was appointed by Governor Charles Foster as one of the members of th.e Supreme Court Commission to assist the Supreme Bench in clearing the docket, which was in arrears some twelve years. He serval on this commission three years, when the work they were appointed to do was finished. During this period he discharged the functions of a Judge of the Supreme Court. Though a life-long Democrat, he was appointed to this 302 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. position by a Republican governor, a high tribute to his recognized ability as a lawyer. He was the candidate of his party on the State ticket for Supreme Judge in the years 1885 and 1886, but suffered defeat with the ticket. After retiring from the Bench he resumed the practice of law, which has occupied all of his time and attention to the present time. Judge Martin has made the law profession his life work, has engaged in no other business, and with the exception of his services in Congress, has accepted no office outside of the line of his profession. In his political alignment he is a Democrat, but he has taken no active part in politics in recent years. Judge Martin was married in 1873 to Miss Anna Mithoff, daughter of the late G. A. Mithoff, of Lancaster. They have three children living. PHILEMON BEECHER STANBERY, Pomeroy. Philemon Beecher, a native of Virginia, was an eminent member of the great Bar at Lancaster, of which Thomas Ewing was so long the. acknowledged leader. His daughter married the late Henry Stanbery, who was the second member of that Bar, in point of ability and distinction. Philemon Beecher Stanbery was one of the five children born to Henry Stanbery and Frances E. Beecher, and in his christening was perpetuated the full name of his grandfather. Springing from such parentage, Judge Stanbery was naturally a lawyer. He could scarcely avoid active relations with the profession, save by violating every native impulse and every hereditary attribute. He was born at Lancaster, where his father had begun the practice of law, May 5, 1832, and his education was begun in the public schools. He then spent four years in the Kinsley Military Academy, situated on the Hudson river one mile below West Point, entering at thirteen and leaving at seventeen years of age. Like his father, he was fond of books and had aspirations for broad, classical scholarship. He progressed rapidly, mastering the text-books readily. At seventeen he entered KenyonCollege, Gambier, where he remained two years. Kenyon was at that time one of the most reputable institutions for higher education in the West. Men who afterwards achieved great distinction were members of its classes. Mr. Stanbery, however, for satisfactory reasons, decided to complete his college course in the Ohio University, at Athens: He matriculated in the University, and was graduated in 1853. His first productive labor after graduation was in assisting a corps of civil engineers in surveying the line and establishing the grade of the Ohio Central and Little Miami railroads. When this work was completed, in 1856, he went to Fort Des Moines, afterwards the capital of Iowa, where he was admitted to the Bar, and opened an office for the practice of law. During his college course and subsequent thereto he had quietly and persistently pursued a course of reading and study in the law, under the direction of his father, and without much ado he was qualified for practice. He remained only two. years at Des Moines and then removed to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he resided until 1860. He was not satisfied with the West. His consciousness was never pervaded with a home-feeling west of the Mississippi. BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 303 He felt the restraint of attachment to his native State, and this attachment drew him back after a restless sojourn of four years on the border. He settled at Pomeroy and established himself in the law, first forming a partnership with' Captain S. A. Burnap, which continued several years. At the opening of the Rebellion Mr. Stanbery offered his services as a volunteer in the Union army, and was mustered in as first lieutenant of Company E, Fourth Regiment West Virginia Infantry, in July, 1861. He was at once appointed adjutant of the regiment, and in 1862 was selected by General H. B. Ewing as chief of staff, which position he held until hi return to his regiment, in 1863. He was severely wounded at the siege of Vicksburg, in 1863, and in consequence of disability occasioned therefrom, received an honorable discharge from the service September 10, 1863. Upon returning from the field of carnage to the quiet and peaceful pursuits of home, Mr. Stanbery resumed the practice of law and enlarged his business gradually, keeping pace with the growth of his town and the increase of litigation. He was very soon elected mayor of Pomeroy, discharging both the administrative and judicial duties appertaining to the office with such popular approval as to command re-election again and' again. In 1870 he was elected Probate Judge of Meigs county, and subsequently was re-elected twice, holding the office nine successive years. Judge Stanbery administered the estates which passed through his hands wisely and honestly. All of the rights and interests of widows and orphans, heirs and legatees were carefully protected. His official duty was performed in accordance with the law and his own sense of justice, without favor or prejudice. His intellectual integrity and moral honesty, no less than the obligation imposed by his oath of office, impelled not simply a financial accounting, but also painstaking investigation to ascertain the right and the equity of every claim, whether of heir or creditor. Through it all he maintained the judicial acumen, the unswerving impartiality and the discriminating sense of justice which belong to the legal mind ; the sensitiveness to criticism and the delicate appreciation of honor, which are among the noteworthy characteristics of the noble and high-spirited man. In public office and in private life he has proved his fitness to be designated as the upright judge, the honest man. Judge Stanbery manages the business end of things with exceeding shrewdness and gratifying success. His financial ability is large. His personal affairs have prospered under wise forethought and exceptional sagacity. He has accumulated a fortune without the risk attendant upon promiscuous speculation. His investments are safe and legitimate. His standing among men is eminently honorable. In law he is a good counsellor; in finance a cautious, prudent manager ; as a man and a citizen he is regardful of personal and civic virtue. He takes pride in perpetuating the comradeship and the memory of grand achievements of the late war, by active membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. He belongs to Gamaliel Bartlett Post, of Pomeroy. Judge Stanbery was married November 20, 1867, to Miss Margaret M. Hart.. Five children were born of this union : Cecilia, Henry, Philemon B., Hart and Louisa. All of them are living except the eldest 304 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. daughter, Cecilia, who died at the age of twenty-three. She was a most charming young woman in all the graces of person and the attributes of mind. Her vivacity, sweetness of temper, and loveliness of character lent a distinct attractiveness to the delightful home, and her early death brought to the hearts of doting parents the deepest grief. In remembrance of her inspiring virtues, and as a fitting memorial, Judge Stanbery erected at Pomeroy a handsome rectory in connection with Grace Episcopal Church, one of the most artistically beautiful church edifices in Southern Ohio, in architecture and adornment. ALBERT C. THOMPSON, Portsmouth. Honorable Albert Clifton Thompson was born in Brookville, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1842. He was the third son of the Honorable J. J. Y. and Agnes (Kennedy) Thompson. His boyhood was spent in his native village until a lad of twelve years, when he entered the preparatory department of Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained two years, giving up his academic pursuits, and returning to his home, because of a severe pecuniary loss sustained by his father at that time. The profession of the law early attracted young Thomp-son's mind, and when but seventeen years of age he entered the law office of Captain W. W. Wise, in his native village. The Rebellion, which broke over the land some two years after he had begun his legal studies, a second time separated him from his books, and following the example of thousands of loyal youths, who gave the years of their adolescence to their country, he shouldered a musket and joined the army at the front. April 23, 1861, then in his twentieth year, the young law student left his home and marched with Captain A. A. McKnight's three-months' men to join the army under Patterson, in the Valley of Virginia. Before the expiration of the three months' service, he was promoted to a sergeancy in Company I, of the Eighth Regiment. August 27, 1861, Mr. Thompson enlisted for the three years' service, as a private in Company B, One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, under the captaincy of John C. Dowling. His rise from the ranks in this company was rapid, being first promoted to first sergeant, and then in October to second lieutenant. November 26, 1861, he was transferred to Company K, same regiment, and on the first of the following December, still not twenty years of age, he. was put in command of the company as its captain. When the young captain assumed command, the company was not in a state of the best discipline, and the men began organizing a " picnic" with their youthful officer. It was not long, however, until a better mutual understanding was reached, and in a few weeks there was not a better drilled, or better disciplined company in the regiment. Captain Thompson received his first wound at the battle of Fair Oaks, and by a freak of fate not relished by the soldier, the ball entered just below the shoulder at the back. He had just turned to give his company the command to advance, when the ball struck, and fortunately was deflected, making a severe and painful, but not a dangerous wound. After a short hos- BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 305 pital experience, and a shorter visit to his home, where his wound was an object of public curiosity and pride, wounded soldiers being rare birds at that incipient stage of the war, Captain Thompson rejoined his regiment at Har-rison's Landing, and was with his regiment at every subsequent engagement up to the second battle of Bull Run, where he received a wound pronounced fatal at the time, and from which he still suffers. His recovery was considered miraculous, and was due only to his youth and perfect physical organization, sustained by a will which at no time resigned itself to the thought of death. The wound was received just at the close of the fight, a :few straggling shots only, indicating that the enemy had not been completely vanquished. The ball entered at the right breast, fracturing the second and third ribs on the way to the lungs, where it still remains, an unwelcome tenant, and a constant reminder of the terrible struggle. After receiving the wound, Captain Thompson was first removed to a boarding-house on D Street, Washington, where he was joined by his mother, whose ministrations did much to retain the faint spark of life which still lingered in his breast. From there he was taken by easy stages to Brookville, and there for ten months conducted a personal and determined fight against the great and common enemy. At the end of that time, he was sufficiently recovered to apply for a place in the invalid corps, which he entered in June, 1863, serving a part of the time on the staff of the provost-marshal for Kentucky, and the remainder in New York, enforcing the draft. December 10, 1863, Captain Thompson resigned and entered the law office of Honorable W. P. and G. A. Jenks, at Brookville. There he completed his legal preparation and was admitted to practice in the courts of Jefferson. county December 13, 1864. In 1865 he removed to Portsmouth, where he has ever since resided, with the exception of a temporary residence at Washington during the three terms he served as a member of the Lower House from the Portsmouth District, in the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses. Captain Thompson's career in the city and State of his adoption has been marked with high testimonials of the esteem of his fellow-citizens, such as any man would reflect upon with pride. Four years after his coming to Portsmouth, or in 1869, he was elected to the office of Probate Judge, and subsequently, in 1881, was elevated to the Common Pleas Bench of the Seventh Judicial District of Ohio, which position he resigned to take his place in. Congress. Of Judge Thompson's career on the Bench nothing but the highest praise has ever been spoken by his brothers at the Bar, and by the people of the district, whose business before his court was always dispatched with. promptness and exact justice. On the Bench, as in all other fields of action, he displayed a capacity to transact business which earned for him the gratitude of litigants and the respect of the profession. Upon his retirement from the Bench, he left not only clear dockets in his district, but a record which the invidious enmities that are the natural fruits of an active career have never attempted to disparage. Although always active in politics, being an uncompromising Republican. Judge Thompson's political career can be said to have commenced in the true sense with his first nomination for Congress, which 306 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. occurred at Portsmouth in 1884. It is not the rule for a young Congressman, upon his first term, to enter very conspicuously into the work of the House, yet Judge Thompson's first term was one of the busiest that he ever served. He received an appointment as a member of the committee on private land claims, and at once entered actively upon his duties in that relation. The committee deals with the grants and concessions made to private individuals by foreign governments, and with the lands acquired by the United States either by purchase or treaty. This committee performs the office practically of a court, determining questions of the utmost subtlety in a legal sense. In that committee Judge Thompson was not only an active, but a very valuable member. In the Fiftieth Congress he served upon the invalid pension committee, a position which entailed a stupendous amount of work and gave an opportunity for the executive qualities which are so prominent in his mental organization. In the Fifty-first Congress he served on two of the most prominent and important committees, namely, judiciary and foreign affairs. As a member of the first committee the judge was made chairman of a sub-committee to investigate the United States courts in various parts of the country. That the place was not a sinecure several judges of the courts could bear testimony, and against one in Louisiana articles of impeachment were preferred. The report which he submitted to Congress as chairman of that sub-committee .was among the most valuable of the session. It was during that Congress the famous McKinley tariff bill was formed, and in the construction of that important measure Judge Thompson took no inconsiderable part, being frequently called into the councils of his party. He also wrote the 24th section of the bill, constituting the great smelting works of the country bonded warehouses for the storing of imported ores admitted free of duty, which, when refined, were exported in an unmanufactured state by the refiner. Judge Thompson's career in Congress was of material benefit to his adopted city, as it was through his efforts that a public building was erected in Portsmouth, costing $75,000. The bill providing for this building was vetoed by President Cleveland in the 50th Congress, but became a law by the President's sufferance in the 51st Congress. A dike, known as the Bonanza dike, built in the Ohio, just about that time, was also provided for through the same instrumentality, at a cost of $75,000, and three ice piers, built just below, were added at a cost of $7,500 apiece. The city also received the boon of free mail delivery from the same source. Judge Thompson's political career has been marked by many colossal struggles. The memorable fight at Gallipolis, when he had the nomination in his grasp and handed it over to the late General Enochs, was the most protracted and hardest fought political struggle ever witnessed in a convention in this State, and fittingly closed a career which was marked all along the way by straightforward and honest fighting. After retiring from Congress and from active politics, the judge again returned to his profession, for which he always reserved the warmest impulses of his mind. In the interval since the spring of 1891, he has devoted ,his time assiduously to the practice of his profession, holding as far aloof from BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 307 politics as is consistent with the requirements of good citizenship and the demands of the friendships which a long political career creates. He was chosen a delegate to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis in 1896, and accepted the honor, with all attendant responsibility, solely from a sense of duty and in the interest of the candidacy of his esteemed personal friend, Major McKinley. The latter had no more judicious or powerful supporter than Judge Thompson in the convention. He has received many and pressing invitations to again enter the arena and strap the political cestus to his hand, but he has persistently refused. In the spring of 1892 he was appointed a trustee of the Athens Assembly by Governor McKinley, and confirmed by the Senate, all without his knowledge, but he promptly declined the honor. One appointment from the hand of Governor McKinley he accepted, and that out of considerations of public duty, and because it did not necessarily detract him from his practice. In June, 1893, Judge Thompson was appointed .a member of the Ohio Tax Commission, and was subsequently made its chairman by his confreres on the commission--Theodore Cook, W. N. Conden and E. A. Angell. In the work of this commission he took a conspicuous part —a work which is now bearing fruit in the legislation of the State on this great subject, and which is bound to come to fuller and better fruition as its suggestions and recommendations are better understood by our legislature. The report received the highest praise from contemporaneous journals of political science. The Quarterly, edited by the faculty of Columbia College, singled it out for this high praise : "Altogether, the report of the Ohio Commission is one of the most cheering evidences of the growth and more enlightened views on the subject of taxation. It does not exhaust the subject, but it certainly goes a great way toward the improvement of existing conditions." Judge Thompson's law practice, under the fostering care of the few years that he has devoted exclusively to it, has grown to solid and lucrative proportions. He enjoys his work, and in the range of it he has practiced before every kind of court this broad Republic furnishes, from the 'squire's dispensary to the robed dignitary who sits on the Bench of the United States Supreme Court at Washington. The judge is now in the enjoyment of good health, and looks forward to a long and pleasant life full of work, for repose is not to his taste. Judge Thompson has a clear, solid, logical mind. His natural ability is of high order, and this, with his wide and accurate knowledge of the law and his untiring industry, has placed him in the front rank of the profession. He is an earnest and forcible speaker, and always impresses court and jury with his devotion to his client and his cause. He is always thoroughly identified with the interests of his client. As a judge he was eminently successful, and it was on the Bench that he displayed the rich treasures of his mind. His wide learning, his patient investigation of every question, and his high sense of right and justice made him a magistrate of the highest order. He early learned the necessity of thorough preparation. All his work, whether at the Bar, on the Bench, or in Congress, bears the mark of patient investigation by a mind gifted with great powers of analysis and discrimination. Everything that has come from, his hands is impressed with good sense, sound logic and the spirit of justice. 308 - BENCH AND BAR. OF OHIO. DAVID B. HEBARD, Gallipolis. Judge Hebard is one of the oldest living lawyers of Gallia county, Ohio. He was born at Marietta, the son of Dr. James H. and Maria Buell Hebard. His genealogy is traced to Samuel Hebard, the emigrant who came to Salem, Massachusetts, from Cornwall, England, with the Massachusetts Bay Company emigrants, about 1630, and he is of the seventh generation of the family in America. Robert, the son of this emigrant, was the first person of the name married in this country, and his wife was Mary Walden, of Salem. Their descendants all lived in New England nearly two centuries. The father of our subject, Dr. Hebard, was born at Bennington, Vermont, in 1797, and came to Marietta, Ohio, in 1820; was married there the following year, and lived in the town some time. Afterwards he located for brief periods in Ohio, at Athens, Adelphi, Burlington, and in Illinois at Alton, and finally settled in Gallipolis, where he practiced his profession during the remainder of his life. He died in 1849, a victim of the cholera, while engaged in ministering to others who were suffering from the scourge. Rev. Ebenezer Hebard, grandfather of Judge Hebard, the subject of this sketch, was also born at Bennington and began his life work there as a minister of the Gospel. He also came to Ohio arid founded the town of Hebardsville, in Athens county, preaching there and at Gallipolis until he died. The primary education of David B. Hebard was in the public schools and the parish schools at Marietta; his more advanced education at Upper Alton, Illinois, and in the Gallia Academy, a prosperous school of high grade, in which the natural sciences and the languages were taught. In this school he studied the ancient and classical languages with great assiduity, manifesting especial fondness and talent for the Hebrew and Greek, which has continued to the present time. He is a profound student of the Scriptures, which he reads in the original in preference to the modern translations, upon controverted phrases and passages. Judge Hebard does not pursue his investigation of the inspired writings in the original tongues simply for recreation and mental discipline, but to obtain a clearer knowledge of the truth revealed. He belongs to a family of honorable, substantial, religious people, known and esteemed in New England and in this country for nearly three centuries, and his own character exhibits the best traits of his ancestors. He read law with Judge Simeon Nash, one of the most distinguished jurists of southern Ohio, under whose tuition and instruction he remained three years. his father having died, he accepted the position of county auditor of Gallia county, and discharged the duties for several years. His first and only partnership in the practice of, law was formed with Colonel Alonzo Cushing, a fluent advocate and popular man. This was continued until the opening of the Rebellion, when Colonel Cushing retired from practice and settled on his farm in West Virginia. For some time Colonel Cushing, Judge Nash, and, later, Joseph J. Coombs, were the only active members of the Bar in Gallipolis. Honorable Samuel F. Vinton, the most distinguished lawyer and statesman of southern Ohio, had a residence in Gallipolis, but, being a member of Congress, was at home only during the vacations, so that the field was practically occu- BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 309 pied by the above. This condition existed until the advent of Mr. Samuel A. Nash, a brother of the judge, who soon obtained a leading position at the Bar, which he has continued to hold. Judge Hebard, upon the retirement of Colonel Cushing, continued in practice, and his career as a practitioner has been interrupted'only during his judgeship. In 1875 he was appointed judge of the Common Pleas Court by. Governor William Allen, to fill a vacancy. The district was composed of the counties of Gallia, Athens, Meigs and Washington, and he served one year to the close of the term. Although politically the district contained a large Republican majority, he accepted the nomination of his party for the judgeship the succeeding term, and' received a majority of the votes cast in Gallia and Washington, the county of his home and-the county of his nativity. His successful competitor was J. P. Bradbury, now one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio. The following editorial article was published at the time of Judge Hebard's nomination for judge of the Circuit Court : '" The Democratic ticket has been completed by the nomination of David B. Hebard, of Gallipolis, for the honorable and responsible position of circuit judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of. Ohio. The place was tendered him without solicitation on his part, for he is a lawyer and a judge of the old school, who believes that a judicial office should seek the man and not the man the office. The several counties composing the circuit with commendable unanimity requested Judge Hebard to become their candidate, and, believing that no man should refuse the just and legitimate demands of the people, he has accepted. As a citizen he is known and honored for his high character and unimpeachable manhood. He has lived at Gallipolis since boyhood ; he has filled positions of honor and responsibility. In every place, under all circumstances, he has demonstrated his ability and capacity, and has ever had an eye single to the interests of the people. As a lawyer, without invidious distinction, he stands in the front rank, always faithful to the interests of his clients. His profound learning, the recognition by the courts of his knowledge of the law, and his honesty in giving expression thereof, have given him an eminence seldom attained in the profession. His advice is eagerly sought, honestly given, and found to be correct. The history of the state does not show a man who has made a more honorable record on the Common Pleas Bench. * * * He was recognized and acknowledged to be a just and able judge. No greater compliment can be bestowed." Judge Hebard's practice has been confined generally to the civil courts in Gallia county, although he has had numerous cases in the District and Supreme Courts. He has been engaged on one side or the other of most of the important civil cases tried in the county ; but has not sought practice in the criminal courts. He served as prosecuting attorney for one term, having been elected in a county which, at the preceding election, gave a Republican majority of eleven hundred. He was an adherent of the Whig party during its existence, but favored the policy advanced by Senator Douglas as to popular sovereignty in the Territories, and supported Douglas for the Presidency in 1860. Since that time he has generally supported the Democratic party, but has not been active in partisan politics. He has been and is a communicant of the. Episcopal Church and an active member of Sabbath-school 310 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. from childhood. He is now the regular teacher of a Bible class. He has never been married. A prominent citizen of Gallipolis and a lawyer contrib-. utes the following : " I have known Judge Hebard all my life. His reputation is unblemished; and he is recognized throughout the State as one of the most conscientious lawyers. In the preparation of pleadings he has no superior. He is not hasty in giving opinions, but when once given they are, almost without exception, sustained. His service on the Bench marked an era in the administration of law in southern Ohio. He was quick, absolutely fair and impartial. In all of his business relations, as a lawyer and a citizen, his life is without stain. His whole active career has been open and frank, and while he has made some enemies, yet there is not one of them who would not be glad to procure his opinion and act upon it in all matters of vital importance. Had he so desired he could have been employed upon one side or the other of every contested case in this county, but he has in a great measure selected his business. He is a writer of ability, and many of his productions have been published. He is preparing a book on Pleading and Practice." A prominent judge of southern Ohio has furnished this estimate : " Judge Hebard is one of the most careful, painstaking lawyers that I have ever met. He is a man of fine literary ability, an able lawyer, and a man of the highest integrity, which he carries into his practice and conduct as a lawyer. In later years he has declined much business that was offered to him. While on the Bench his opinions were prepared with great care, and were seldom reversed by the higher courts. He was able, very fair and honest as a judge. Both as judge and lawyer he exhibited the qualities which have endeared him to all who know him well. Thoroughness—going to the bottom of things—is an intellectual characteristic, and generally sound judgment is a habit of his life. He has in course of preparation a work treating mainly of pleading under the Ohio Code. The idea of the work is to simplify code pleading." ANSELM T. HOLCOMB, Portsmouth. About the close of the last century General S. R. Holcomb and Colonel Phineas Matthews settled in the territory of Ohio and in Gallia county, where their families were reared and themselves lived to a ripe old age. John Ewing Holcomb, son, and Mary Matthews, daughter, were barn, educated and married in Gallia county and remained residents of the county until after the war. They subsequently removed to Missouri and settled in Butler, Bates county, where they lived until their deaths. Anselm T. Holcomb is the son of J. E. and Mary Matthews Holcomb. He was born in the country near Vinton, Gallia county, November 19, 1846. He obtained the rudiments of his education in the district schools, and as a boy assisted his father by clerking in the store which he had opened in the village of Vinton. He was fitted for college in the excellent academies of Vinton and Ewington, small villages with large facilities for education. In 1863 he entered the Ohio University at Athens, pursued the regular course to its completion and was graduated in 1867. While a student in college he was also reading law under the instruction of Honorable W. Reed Golden. After his graduation he continued the study of law with \General A. T. Holcomb. Before BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 311 engaging in practice, he spent some time in teaching, at Vinton and Rodney, Ohio, and in the neighborhood of Moorefield, Kentucky. After that he located in Butler, Missouri, whither his parents had removed, and was admitted to the Bar of Bates county in 1870. Well qualified by reading, study and experience in taking care of himself, he soon afterwards entered upon the practice of his profession and formed a partnership with Honorable William Page. The character of practice in a Missouri county seat was of course general, embracing all kinds of cases .in the way of civil business, and the defense or prosecution of persons accused of nearly every species of crime. Mr. Holcomb soon became a good all round lawyer. He was successful and had a profitable clientage. The partnership first mentioned was maintained until 1875 and-after that he was associated with his brother, Phineas H. Holcomb, for three years. In 1878 he returned to Ohio and located at Portsmouth, where he became associated in partnership with Judge A. C. Thompson, an able lawyer, well acquainted in the community and well established in practice. This partnership relation was terminated by the election of Judge Thompson to the Common Pleas Bench in. 1881. Judge Thompson resigned the judgeship in 1884, and the partnership was renewed and continued at Portsmouth and Ironton till 1886. Since that time Mr. Holcomb has continued the practice alone, and as senior partner of Holcomb & Dawson, and has secured for himself an honorable place at the Bar of southern Ohio, and a reputation equally valuable as a citizen and capable business man. He has given much attention to real estate law, and has the qualifications of an expert on the question of titles. He is the attorney of, several of the largest corporations in southern Ohio. While in Missouri he compiled a set of books containing the complete abstract of title to all of the tracts of land and town lots situated in Bates county. In politics he is a Republican. In 1876 he was one of the delegates from his congressional district in Missouri to the National Republican Convention held at Cincinnati. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Ohio legislature and served in that body with ability as a member of the judiciary committee and that upon municipalities. He has large capacity for business, as well as law ; is interested in the mining and marketing of coal in Missouri. After locating in Portsmouth, he was one of the incorporators and original stockholders in the Portsmouth Fire Brick Company, and in the Portsmouth Wagon Stock Company. He is one of the owners of the coal shaft of Theo Finhart & Company, at Wellston, in Jackson county.; the Excelsior Shoe Company and the Portsmouth Veneer Company. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Blue Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Commandery. At one time he was High Priest of Miami Chapter in Butler, Missouri. Mr. Holcomb was married October 14, 1876, to Grace L. Breare, of Gallia county. The union has been blessed with two sons, Anselm T., Jr., and Robinson Breare. He was appointed assignee of the Citizens' Savings Bank and administrator of the Davis estate, because of his acknowledged business capacity for the management of large interests, whether his own or those of other persons. He is thus characterized as a lawyer by one of the able judges of southern Ohio: 312 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. "Judge A. T. Holcomb is a well educated man, and a man of brilliant qualities. He has a bright intellect, quick in perception, and possesses in high degree the elements of oratory. He is lucid and Logical in statement, an( is a well-read lawyer. Since he located in Portsmouth he has not devoted all o. his time to the practice of law, although he possesses the elements and qualifications of a strong and brilliant lawyer. He is always courteous to his brethren of the Bar and respectful to the court. He is very fair in the practice of the law and does not press the little matters that he might fairly take advantage of. He is very kind-hearted, sympathetic and possessed of a lively enthusiasm. His temperament is hopeful and sanguine. He never foresee: defeat, but always expects and anticipates success." SAMUEL M. HUNTER, Newark, ex-judge of the Common Pleas Court, is a native of Ohio. He was born at Cadiz, in Harrison county, February 21, 1838. His parents were Joseph R. and Letitia McFadden Hunter, the former a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of County Caven, Ireland. His mother came to America when a child, with her parents, who located in Harrison county, Ohio. His paternal ancestors came frond the North of Ireland to America in the early history of the country, settling first in Virginia and removing to Pennsylvania about 1780, on account of having to pay tithes. His great-grandfather, Cyrus Hunter, was an ensign in the George Rogers Clark expedition into the territory north of the Ohio river, which succeeded in wresting that section from the British and Indians, and adding it to the domains of Virginia. He was never heard from thereafter, and was probably slain by the Indians or carried into captivity and died in an English prison. His grandfather came to Ohio in 1815 and located in Wayne county, upon a tract of land where he reared his family and resided until death.. Judge Hunter's father located in Cadiz in early manhood and followed the trade of a cabinet maker. The primary education of our subject was received in the public schools of Cadiz and, fortunately for him, they were excellent. His father had not the means to send him to college, but he had the advantage of a course in higher mathematics privately under the eminent instructor, Professor Brinkerhoff, of Franklin College, and a course of classic studies under the tuition of Rev. Henry Davis, a celebrated Presbyterian divine of Cadiz. He first engaged in teaching, an avocation that has been a stepping stone to many high positions in the legal profession. He then learned the printing trade, but later abandoned that for the law. His legal studies began in the office of J. M. Estep, of Cadiz, one of the oldest attorneys of eastern Ohio. After the usual course he was admitted. to the Bar in 1863. In 1862, prior to his admission to the bar, he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served for some months in West Virginia and was mustered out in 1863. He began the practice of law at Cambridge, Ohio, immediately after leaving the army, but removed to Newark in February, 1864, continuing the practice there. In 1886 he was elected city solicitor of BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 313 Newark, an office he held for five years by successive re-elections. In 1871 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Licking county, serving in this position for two terms, from 1872 to 1876. In the fall of the latter year he was elected to the Common Pleas Bench, in the first subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District. He was re-elected in 1881, retiring from the Bench in 1866, after a service of ten years. He then resumed the practice of law. In 1894 he was the nominee on the Democratic ticket for one of the judges of the Circuit Court, Fifth Judicial District, but was defeated with his party. As a lawyer Judge Hunter ranks as one of the ablest and most successful at the Licking county Bar. He has a tremendous capacity for work, and spares no pains in the preparation of his cases. His honesty and integrity are undisputed, and he is relied upon as being a safe and conservative counselor. There are but few men in the profession anywhere who have more of the public confidence than has Judge Hunter. Said one of the best known lawyers at the Newark Bar: " Judge Hunter has made a very creditable record in his chosen profession. He has risen from the bottom to the front rank of practicing attorneys at this Bar, by his own ability, perseverance and industry. As a lawyer he gained the reputation early in his career of being earnest, fearless and inde-pendent—characteristics that have grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength. He proved himself well fitted for the Bench by ten years of successful work. He made a very satisfactory judge. He has read law understandingly, and his judgment was almost unerring. Another feature of his work on the Bench was the celerity with which he arrived at the pith of any question. He avoided all circumlocution, and came straight to the point in a direct and concise manner that left his meaning clear both to the jury and to the members of the Bar. He is of quiet disposition, unassuming in his manners, plain and direct in his speech. He is well qualified for the Bench ; his reserved. manner, quiet bearing and logical mind gave him a peculiar and natural adaptability for the position. He 'has the esteem of his professional brethren and the respect of the entire community." Judge Hunter is one of the public-spirited citizens of the city, and has taken an active interest in developing its industrial resources. He was instrumental in locating the. Edward H. Everett Glass Manufacturing Company at Newark, in which he is a large stockholder, and at present first vice-president. He is also president of the Advocate Printing Company, publishers of the daily and weekly Advocate, the leading paper in Licking county, and a director in the Franklin bank, the oldest financial institution in the city. He is a member of the Masonic Order and a Knight' Templar ; also of the improved order of Red Men and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was married in 1872 to Miss Ida Eunice Robbins, daughter of Willis and Helen Warner Robbins, of Newark. Mr. Robbins is the senior member of the banking firm of Robbins, Wing & Wingarner. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have three daughters : Helen, Ethel and Louise, and one son, Robbins. 314 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. NELSON WILEY EVANS, Portsmouth. The family of Evans has occupied so conspicuous a position in the history of the American colonies and the government of the United States, as to deserve some consideration. In orde to the better understanding of this personal biography of a member of the family, it becomes important to sketch briefly the genealogy in chronological order. The first representative in America, or the founder of the American branch, so far as information has come to this biographer, was Hugh Evans who was living in Pennsylvania about the middle of the eighteenth century He was a patriot who loved the liberty regulated by just laws and the independence that belongs to local self-government. When the king of England became tyrannous in the exactions imposed upon the American colonies, he determined to enter the army and fight for the independence of the colonies, He was dissuaded from this purpose by his son, Edward, a boy of sixteen, who volunteered as a soldier himself and prevailed upon the father to remain ai home and care for the family. This boy soldier fought in the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and was near enough to hear the guns of Monmouth. After the treaty of peace had been signed, he crossed the Alleghanies in the full vigor and strength of his young manhood and became pioneer resident of Mason county, Kentucky. He was married to Jemima Applegate and reared a family. He removed to Ohio in 1803, locating it Brown county. His second son, William Evans, born in 1787, became a sol dier in the War of 1812 and was with the army of Hull at the time of his surrender in Detroit. He was twenty-five at the time of this disaster—hale strong and unmarried. One of his messmates was Charles Kilpatrick, a young Virginian, who had become his closest friend through congenial comradeship in the peril and circumstance of war. This friend was the husband of Mary Patton, daughter of John Patton, a prominent land owner of Rockbridge county, Virginia. Kilpatrick died on the way home at Chillicothe, and it became the duty of William Evans to break the sad news to his widow. He performed the duty as a brave man, With loyal devotion to the memory of his dead friend and tender regard for the living widow. The mission was characterized by a gracious observance of the proprieties and a winning gentleness of demeanor. The tenderness of his diplomacy bespoke the warmth of his friendship; and at length he was able to assuage her grief with the consolation of his own love. In the fullness of time he became the widow's comforter and protector in the relation of husband. His son, Edward Patton Evans. was born May 31, 1814. He became a lawyer and a successful man, honored and esteemed by a large acquaintanceship. He married Amanda Jane King, Nelson W. gvans, the chief subject of this biography, was the son of Edward Patton and Amanda King Evans. He was born in Brown county, Ohio, June 4, 1842. Five years later the family removed to West Union, in Adams county. He attended the public schools in that town until the fall of 1860, and then became a student in the North Liberty Academy, where he was prepared for college. In January, 1861, he was admitted to the Freshman class of Miami University, where he remained until June, 1863. At that time the BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 315 spirit of his fathers moved him to offer his services for the preservation of the Union. He enlisted in the 129th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and received a commission as first lieutenant. He was with the division of the Ninth Army Corps which captured Cumberland Gap within three months after his enlistment. He was in numerous battles and skirmishes of the Union forces against Longstreet in Tennessee. He resigned in January, 1864, and returned to the Miami University the following March. He was graduated with his class in June following, and afterwards, for a brief period, attended the Military Academy at Philadelphia. In September of the same year he re-entered the army as adjutant of the 173rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Two months later he was promoted to a captaincy and in the battle of Nashville he was ad jutant of a brigade. His military service throughout was honorable to himself and in some instances so brilliant as to call for special commendation. After the war closed he attended the Cincinnati law school and pursued the course of study to graduation. He was admitted to the Bar at Cincinnati in April, 1866. In August of the same year he settled in Portsmouth, which has been his home for thirty years. During all of that period he has been engaged in the practice of law and has also held offices of trust, both in the line of his profession and those which are regarded political and educational. He has also held official relation to business and commercial enterprises of large importance. He served the city as solicitor from 1871 to 1875. From January 14, 1870, to September 1, 1878, he was register in bankruptcy for the Eleventh Congressional District. In 1882 he was elected a director of the Cincinnati and East. ern Railroad Company, and it was directly by his' influence and vote as. director that the railroad was extended to Portsmouth. In 1880 he was elected a member of the board of education for the city of Portsmouth and served until 1884. Three years later he was again elected and served until 1893, giving ten years of his tithe altogether to the interests of the schools and genera] cause of education. Captain Evans is a Republican in politics and takes prid( in tracing his political inheritance back through the Whig party to the Federalists, of whom Washington was the chief. He is a communicant of the Episcopal Church and a vestryman of All Saints. Captain Evans has a good reputation as a lawyer and a man. He believes in the performance of duty whether in the smaller things of every-day life or the larger affairs appertain ing to the public and the State. He maintains a character without reproach and in his relations with others lives up to a high standard of manhood. He was married September 9, 1868, to Miss Lizzie Henderson, of Middletown Ohio. WEDEN O'NEAL, Cincinnati. The subject of this biography was born in Boone county, Kentucky, April 28, 1839. He sprang from a union of Scotch and Irish ancestors. His father, George O'Neal, was a Scotchman by descent and the lineage of his mother, Sarah Sleet, was Irish. Both parents were natives of Kentucky. He was prepared for college, entered the Kentuck3 316 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. University at Lexington, and was graduated in 1859. From that time until the opening of the Rebellion he was engaged in teaching school in Boone county, and at the same time studied law. In April, 1863, he enlisted in the Union army and was mustered as colonel of the Fifty-fifth Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry; served with his command until the close of the war, when he was brevetted a brigadier general. Upon returning to the pursuits of civil life in 1865, Colonel O'Neal was admitted to the Bar and entered upon the practice of law in Covington, Kentucky. After remaining there twenty years, and building up a large business, he moved across the river to Cincinnati in 1885 and formed a law partnership with Charles H. Blackburn, which continued until 1892. Since that time he has carried on the practice alone. Colonel O'Neal was appointed United States Marshal for Kentucky by President Grant during his second term ; he was nominated twice as the Republican candidate for Congress in the Sixth Kentucky District, and although defeated each time, he succeeded in reducing the Democratic majority more than three thousand. He was married September 5, 1862, with Miss Caroline, daughter of the late John W. Fenley, of Crittenden, Kentucky. Three children born of this marriage are John B., an attorney at law, admitted to the Bar in the Circuit Court at Covington, Kentucky, in 1888, unmarried ; George, married to Fredericka, daughter of F. W. Moore, of Cincinnati ; and Zue Lou. The family reside in Covington and are members of the Fifth Street Christian Church. The following is from Judge O'Hara, of Covington : " I have known Colonel O'Neal from boyhood. After completing his education he engaged in the business of merchandising in an adjoining county. In this he was not successful, becoming involved beyond his ability to pay. It was then I became acquainted with him and succeeded in extricating him from his financial troubles. When the war came on, although he had begun the study of law, he abandoned it for the time and went into the army. He was a brave and gallant soldier, serving throughout the war, having attained the rank of colonel. While in the service his health was somewhat impaired, but upon his return home he took up the practice of the law and has been engaged in it ever since. For several years he has practiced in Cincinnati, and was for a time in partnership with Major Blackburn, a noted criminal lawyer. In fact, Colonel O'Neal has paid more attention to criminal law than to civil business; has been engaged in many important criminal cases and, in my judgment, stands in the front rank of criminal lawyers, at least in Cincinnati. He is now associated in partnership with his son, John O'Neal, a very promising young lawyer, whose practice is largely in the Federal and State courts of Kentucky, in defending violators of the revenue laws. He is quite efficient in that branch of practice. Colonel O'Neal is prominent in the councils of the Republican party of his State, has frequently been mentioned as a fit person to represent his district in Congress, and also for the office of governor of the State. He is prominently active in aiding applicants to obtain State and Federal patronage, and is as loyal to his friends as he is to his country. He stands well in the community and is highly esteemed. I should say that as a lawyer he is employed mostly in high grade criminal cases." BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 317 ROLLIN C. HURD, Mount Vernon. Honorable Rollin C. Hurd was born at West Arlington, Vermont, September 12, 1815, and died at Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 12,1874. He was the son of an'intelligent farmer, Honorable Asahel Hurd, who was influential in the affairs of his neighborhood, and represented his town for two terms in the State legislature. He attended public school in early boyhood and performed his share of labor on the farm. At the age of twelve he was sent to a boarding school at Norwich, Connecticut. At sixteen he came to Ohio with Professor Herman Dyer, of Kenyon College, an old friend of the family, and was placed in the preparatory department of that institution After three years he was admitted to the Freshman class and pursued the regular course of the college for two years. About this time he formed relations which not only influenced his immediate plans, but also affected his entire subsequent life. Having come west in youth, unaccompanied by other members of his father's family, the formation of new ties and family relations naturally followed at an early period. He was fortunate in becoming acquainted with Miss Mary B. Norton, a most estimable young lady, daughter of Daniel S. Norton, a well known citizen of Mount Vernon. His marriage with Miss Norton was consummated in August, 1836, a month before he attained his majority, and instead of continuing his college course to graduation he entered upon the study of law at Mount Vernon in the office of Benjamin S. Brown, and made rapid progress. His mind had already been disciplined by study; his discernment was unusually keen and his power of concentration enabled him readily to grasp the fundamental principles of jurisprudence. He was, therefore, qualified for practice within a comparatively short period, and was admitted to the Bar April 1, 1837. He wisely remained in the office of his preceptor and enjoyed from the outset the advantage of a clientage. The death of Mr. Brown a year later left him the inheritor of a business which represented the accumulation of years. It was a rare opportunity for a young man who was courageous, self-reliant and ambitious. Young Hurd was equal to the occasion. At the age of twenty-two he was required to appear in the contests of the forum as the adversary of old and successful practitioners. It required ability, skill and study to maintain himself and satisfy the clients whose interests had providentially fallen into his keeping; but the necessity and the opportunity served to make him valiant and clothed him with a dignity far above his years. Circumstances not under his control first called him into the front rank ; but his own abilities and acquirements, his acumen and persistent application, his character and method enabled him to maintain the position and advance himself to eminence in the profession. He possessed the elements which enter into the composition of an essentially legal mind, in due proportions and so mixed as to make a lawyer of the first class. He enjoyed the duties of professional life and devoted himself to them without reservation. After engaging in piactice continuously some fifteen years he was elected judge of the Common Pleas, in 1852, and served a single term. His judicial duties were discharged with scrupulous exactness, consistent with a high sense of public duty, and with conscientious regard to the obligation 318 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. imposed. He was elected as a Whig, and supported that party in his politica allegiance. During the whole course of his life, however, he was a lawyer: and not a politician. While on the Bench Judge Hurd began the preparation of a tretise on " Habeas Corpus," which was published within a few years after his resumption of practice. This work is recognized as standard on the sub ject treated and held in high regard by the profession, and has contributed t( give durability to the fame of its author. Judge Hurd was cotemporary with Ranney and Thurman, and was frequently associated with them in cases o importance in the State and Federal courts. In January, 1863, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. During the latte years of his life he gave much of his time, energy and influence, to an enter prise of vast importance to the community. It was chiefly through his exer Lions and public-spirited activity that the Cleveland,' Mount Vernon am Columbus Railroad Company was organized, and the road constructed. A president of the company he exhibited remarkable administrative and execu tive ability, which had not been called into exercise, and possibly had not bees suspected while practicing law or serving on the Bench. Gradually these new and semi-public duties drew him out of the channels in which his reputation had been created ; but it may be claimed that instead of detracting from hi reputation they added to his fame. He was a man of magnificent figure am commanding presence, scrupulously neat and modest in his attire, carefully observant of all the civilities of refined society, and scholarly and exact in all he said and wrote. . The clearness and force with which he was able to formulate and state legal propositions as related to the case in hand was very remarkable. His family life was honorable and irreproachable. His son, the Honorable Frank H. Hurd, late of Toledo, became distinguished. Three o his children died in infancy. A fourth, Rollin Hurd, Jr., died in 1872. On daughter, now deceased, was the wife of John S. Delano. The only surviving member of the family is Mrs. Robert Clark, of Mount Vernon. SILAS T. SITPHEN, Defiance. Honorable Silas T. Sutphen, for more than seven years judge of the Court of Common Pleas, is one of the most prominent attorneys of northwestern Ohio. He is A native of the State, born on his father's farm in Fairfield-county, August 28, 1838. After the death of his grandfather in New Jersey, the widow with her family, including Colonel R. D. Sutphen, the judge's father, then a mere lad, came to Ohio and settled in Liberty township, that county, in 1815. His mother, Sarah Zerkel, a native of Virginia, also came into the State with her parents in 1815 and settled in the same neighborhood, where they were among the earliest settlers. It was in the midst of a wilderness, occupied by wild beasts and wild Indians. The Zutphens emigrated from Holland and were among the very early settlers of New Amsterdam and New Jersey. The family is still largely represented in the two States — New York and New Jersey - but S has taken the place of the BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 319 original initial Z. The Zerkel family emigrated from Germany and settled it Virginia not long before the birth of Sarah. Colonel R. D. Sutphen, who assisted in clearing his mother's farm, on which he resided for many years became one of the prominent and successful farmers of the neighborhood. For several years he was colonel of a military company and was also a local leader. At the age of eighty-nine he is still living, and in vigorous health, at Carey, Wyandotte county. Silas Sutphen attended the public schools of his native township and spent four years in the Union School of Baltimore, Ohio. In 1859 he entered Heidelberg College at Tiffin, in which he took the scientific course, graduating in 1862 as a Bachelor of Science. He took up the study of law during his last year in college, under the tutorship of the late Judge James Pillars at Tiffin, and after leaving college continued his course of reading in the office of Judge Pillars for a year and was then admitted to the Bar. He located in Defiance to engage in the practice in 1863 and has pursued it continuously except during the period of his service on the Bench. He served as mayor of the city two consecutive terms, his first election being in 1864. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Defiance county in 1867 and was re-elected twice, serving for six years. Upon retiring from the prosecutor's office in January, 1874, he resumed the general practice and continued in it for ten years, when, in 1884, he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Second Subdivision of the Third District, comprising Defiance, Paulding and Williams counties —for the residue of a term more than half of which had been filled by another. In 1886 he was elected for a full term, which expired in 1892. The only professional partnership ever formed by Judge Sutphen was with his brother, Charles M., now of Van Wert, which was entered into in 1880 and terminated in 1882. The period of thirty-five years covered by his residence in Defiance has been devoted exclusively to his profession although he gave time and active support to the public enterprise aiding largely in securing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for his home city, assisting in locating the line from. Tiffin to Defiance. He aided in organizing the Merchants' National Bank of Defiance and has been a member of its directory for many years. He inherited from his father a love for the democracy of Jefferson, Jackson and Calhoun, and has always been a working member of the Democratic party. Among the, noteworthy cases with which Judge Sutphen has been connected as counsel, that of the State of Ohio vs. Joseph Wisemantle, indicted for murder in the first degree, was conspicuous. He appeared for the defendant and associated with himself in the case Honorable W. D. Hill. Wisemantle was charged with killing one Miller in the back room of a saloon and there was no other witness of the homicide. The aspect of the case was unfavorable and public sentiment against the defendant was much inflamed when the trial opened. The defense was " justifiable homicide," and counsel rested their case on defendant's testimony, supported by some circumstantial evidence which they industriously dug up and skillfully introduced. The jury was impressed with their view and found a verdict of "not guilty." Another case was the State vs. Jackson Wonderly (fifteen 320 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. years old), indicted for shooting his father, Joseph Wonderly. Judge Sutphen and the same associate counsel defended. The prosecution was conducted by Judge Selwyn N. Owen, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court o Ohio, and Honorable A. M. Pratt, of Bryan, in association with the prosecuting attorney, both of whom were lawyers of very marked ability. The defens sought to justify the killing by showing that it was done by the boy in defend ing his mother against an assault then and there about to be committed on he by his father. His mother was locked in a room, the door to which his father, was breaking open with a hatchet, when defendant came to her rescue with gun ; the lather then turned upon him and defendant used the gun, believing both his mother and himself to be in imminent danger. The verdict was manslaughter and the penally a term in the penitentiary. After serving hi; time -young Wonderly returned to the neighborhood, and not finding thing; satisfactory, drove off a bunch of cattle to which he had no title, for which h( was convicted of grand larceny. Judge Sutphen was then on the Bench and it became his duty to pass sentence on his former client. He defended the Lantz Brothers and the Clements Brothers, four charged in one indictment with the murder of a bully named Snyder, by assaulting, beating and kicking him. Counsel succeeded, by proving that Snyder had made threats of personal violence against his assailants and provoked the assault, thereby in reducing the crime to the grade of manslaughter, for which a verdict was rendered. As prosecuting attorney he secured the conviction and fifteen years in the penitentiary of a negro named Canter for killing by abuse and neglect a colored orphan girl who had a home in Canter's family. While Judge Sutphen has taken many important criminal cases as a general practitioner, his main practice is in civil and commercial business, which has long been large and well managed. He has the confidence of business men and the community at large. He was married in 1863 to Miss Sarah Huss, whose parents settled in Tiffin when it contained only three small houses. The Huss family, of German descent, first settled in Virginia and removed to Ohio at the beginning of the century. Judge and Mrs. Sutphen have two children, a daughter and a son. The daughter, Minnie G., an accomplished musician, has adopted voice culture as a profession. The son, Richard H., is a student in the classical course of the University of Michigan. Judge Selwyn N. Owen, of Columbus, contributes the following : " Of Honorable Silas T. Sutphen it may be said that the profession of the law is his pride and pet. Few lawyers within the circle of the writer's acquaintance with the Bar of northwestern Ohio exhibit a more undivided devotion to the practice. Chiefly for this reason all clients are alike to him. He never had a case apparently so trifling, or involving so little, that his desire and determination to win it by all honorable means did not arise to the dignity of ambition. Early in his practice he learned to appreciate the fact (which every lawyer ought to realize) that an attorney may have a deserving case for a case but a somewhat 'tough case' for a client. He will deliver an uncompromising battle for a client's case when he would feel degraded and compromised to be seen talking with that same client on the street. It would not BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 321 be true to say of him that it requires a surgical operation to work a joke into his head ; but it would be true to say of him that he never finds any use for fun or levity in a law-suit, unless it is all on his side, or unless he feels very sure that he will be able to turn it to his client's account; and even in such a case he always prefers that the trial should be—what to him every law-suit is—a matter of serious concern to him and his client. He has been heard to say to his adversaries : ' Boys, if I can have the victory, you may have all the fun.' He has no superiors and few equals among his associates, as an advocate. His power and his success in that capacity may be easily ascribed to the fact that the practice of the law is to him a serious affair. If he possesses one quality which more than any other commends him to the writer's favor and admiration, it is that he never plans to secure the presence on a jury of a partisan or a biased friend. The writer has heard him say : I have had my best luck before jurors who were thoroughly impartial and who had nothing to think of but the cold merits of the case on trial.' This was not simply a theory with him, but a practical principle whose wisdom and usefulness he had tested by experience. He never forgets to be (what every lawyer ought to be) a gentleman. He never forgets his dignity, and while free from austerity and of easy approach, no adversary at the Bar and no judge on the Bench ever had good cause to complain of his neglect of any rule of gentlemanly deportment. To the writer he is better known as a practitioner than as a judge; but his unqualified success on the Bench may be easily attributed to the very qualities which characterize his conduct at the Bar. In his habits he is faultless; in his pecuniary affairs successful far above the average of the profession; in his business relations integrity and promptness are his guides; neat in dress, of pleasing address and attractive presence, Judge Sutphen is easily recognizable as one of the conspicuous figures of northwestern Ohio." COOPER K. WATSON, Tiffin. Among the lawyers who practiced at the Bar and the judges who presided on the Bench of north central Ohio, none excelled Cooper K. Watson. Mr. Watson was a Kentuckian, born in Jefferson county, on the 18th day of June, 1810, but while yet a boy came to Ohio. In early life he was favored with few advantages and very limited educational facilities. From youth he was required to earn his living, and as a means of support was apprenticed to a merchant tailor. For a few years he continued to work at his trade, but arriving at an age of personal independence, he soon found the sphere to which he was best adapted. He began the study of law under a capable instructor at Newark, and soon qualified himself for admission to the Bar. For several years he practiced, in Marion, where he held the office of prosecuting attorney. In 1850 .he moved to Tiffin, with the prospect of making it his permanent home. And here he remained for twenty years or more engaged in his chosen profession, without challenge taking the position to which his abilities and experience gave him title—always in the front rank of his profession. His intellectual and moral integrity, his geniality of temper, his pleasing social traits secured confidence and friendship every where. His acquaintance was large among the best and highest members of the profession, throughout Ohio, and his law practice extended through many of the counties 322 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. of the State. He could stand among the giants and hold his own with the best of them in the sharp gladiatorial combats which the forum invites. In the shrewder contests at the trial table he was equally at home, and the hap less witness who sought to conceal or pervert the truth became an object of commiseration under the merciless fire of his cross-examination. He appeared to have an intuitive perception of the motives and passions that move men and his penetration was keen enough to pierce any disguise of sham or hypocrisy. He had no patience with pedantry and was never more manifestly in his element than when engaged in the cross-examination of an expert witness. It was his custom to inform himself thoroughly for such occasions, and the physician called to give expert testimony must be fortified with learning and wisdom and composure if he maintained his position and reputation under the inquisition of so skillful and exasperating a questioner. And vet in the practice of law he was, under all circumstances, strictly and unswervingly honest. He was actuated by lofty motives, and his methods were such as are known to those only who occupy a high place. Mr. Watson was elected to Congress in 1854, as a Free-soiler, and was one of the earliest and foremost advocates of liberty, and the most uncompromising adversaries of the slave power in the House of Representatives. In 1876 he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas by Governor R. B. Hayes and was afterward elected for a full term, and died while serving on the bench. During these years he was a resident of Sandusky City. As a man he had the companionship and esteem, the admiration and reverence of men highest in the councils and judiciary of the State. He enjoyed the affection of an inner circle to which the geniality of his temperament and brilliancy of his conversation gave him a warm welcome. In .1830 he was married to Miss Caroline S. Durkee of Zanesville, who survived him. Four children are still living--Mrs. Ellen Loomis and Mrs. Nettie Gilbert of Tiffin, Mrs. Caroline Williard of Monroe, Michigan, and Charles B. Watson. One of his grandsons, John Cooper Loomis of Tiffin, Ohio, has chosen the legal profession for his life work, and is rapidly preparing for admission to the Bar. Honorable Warren P. Noble, of Tiffin, on request of the editor, has furnished the following characterization: " No one here was better acquainted with Cooper K. Watson during the zenith of his manhood than the writer of this notice, who was intimately associated with him in the practice of the profession, as well as social life, for many years. In describing Mr. Watson I would say that, physically, he was a fine specimen of manhood : tall, erect, and of dignified and graceful presence. His social qualities were of a high order : a good, strong thinker, easy and vigorous talker, well versed on all ordinary topics of the day, he was sure on almost all occasions in assemblies to have gathered around him quite a coterie of interested listeners. As a nisi Arius lawyer he was indeed strong and formidable. His statement of his case was always so clear, so full and so forcible, that there could be no difficulty in making the court and the jury clearly understand just what they were about to try, how it was going to be tried, and what evidence he expected to rely upon to sustain the issue on his side of the case. His examination of witnesses was always clear and direct. And whilst he never, or I will say seldom omitted anything that should be asked, yet as a rule he knew BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 323 when and where to stop so as not to open the door to evidence that was impertinent, or that properly belonged to the other side of the case. His cross examinations were always searching, full, and to a witness who sought to tell more than he knew,,or through prejudice, or bias, sought to give his testimony any coloring over and above the mere statement of the facts, they were oftentimes fearfully severe. His arguments, whether upon the law or the facts, were clear, logical, forcible and convincing, so that he was powerful before a jury ; and courts and lawyers, though disagreeing. with his conclusions, were oftentimes compelled to admit that his arguments were the best that could be made upon the subject under discussion. Withal, he was one of the most kind, courteous and generous practitioners I have ever been in the habit of meeting in the rough and tumble of the practice. His criticisms of his opponents in the heat of debate and the contest of a trial, no matter what the provocation might be, were always characterized by generosity, kindness and courtesy. To show how careful he was in this behalf, I will state that I once knew him to write a brief in a case pending in the Supreme Court in answer to one written on the other side, which he thought demanded or justified some severity of criticism ; and after his brief was printed and ready to submit to the court, on reading it over again he decided that he had overstepped his rule of courtesy, and thereupon he destroyed the whole edition and procured the writing.of a new edition, leaving out the offensive matter. So that his opponent in that case .never knew of the criticisms made upon him. These traits of courtesy and kindness, in my opinion, contributed greatly to his strength of character. In short, i consider that Cooper K. Watson, in the strength of his professional career, was one of the brightest lights of the Ohio Bar." Another member of the Tiffin Bar says : "In physique Judge Watson was a man of magnificent development; tall, broad shouldered, straight as an arrow, peculiarly graceful in every gesture, with a head worthy of a Webster, and with one of the most sonorous voices ever heard in our court room. He was a man of broad culture, of great literary attainments; a man of' the finest insight into character, a social man, a man of good comradeship; a friend who never betrayed, a foe who struck not in the back, but who polished his steel in the face of the enemy. As a lawyer he had but few peers in all the broad land. In his practice at the Bar he was a logical reasoner of the law, wonderful in his ability to array facts, expert in examination of witnesses; a persuasive arguer to the jury. On the Bench he knew not friend or foe, but with a mind clear as crystal, never misled by fine spun theories of an astute lawyer, he could bring his great knowledge of the law to bear upon the clean cut facts as he saw them, and in few words render his decisions—decisions seldom reversed. Either as advocate or judge, he was always kind and courteous, and only when human patience could endure no more would his manner change from his habitual friendly courtesy to that of severity. Then woe to the unfortunate one who had invoked the bitter sarcasms and fierce invectives which were hurled from the lips of this man in the defense of truth and justice. There have been few lawyers such as Cooper K. Watson, and well could he have filled a place on the Supreme Bench of the United States. Even as early as 1849, and from that date, Cooper K. Watson was a warm friend of such men as Salmon P. Chase. So highly was he esteemed for his great mental strength, his judgment on all questions pertaining to the Nation's good, his unswerving fidelity to his political: principles, his loyalty to his country, that in the hour of her greatest trial he was called .to Washington by Secretary Chase, there to confer with President Lincoln and his cabinet on subjects of the greatest national importance. Such a man was 324 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO Cooper K. Watson, a man, who as citizen, as associate, as practitioner at the Bar, as judge upon the Bench, was one to be loved, to be honored, to be revered and never to be forgotten." JAMES L. PRICE, Lima. James Latimer Price is judge of the Third Judicial District. He is a native of Ohio, born on a farm at New Hagerstown, Carroll county, March 27, 1840, the son of Benjamin and Mary Douglas Price, who were both natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio in 1810. His boyhood was passed in hard work incident to clearing and cultivating a farm, from which the respite was attending common school during the winter months. Subsequently he took a full course in the new Hagerstown Academy, whose course of study was so arranged as to prepare students for admission to the Senior class of other colleges. He was graduated from this academy in 1859, but instead of attending college he immediately took up the study of law in the office of General E. R. Eckley, of Carrollton, with whom he remained as a student for three years. He was admitted to the Bar in September, 1862, and began the practice of law at Carrollton, where he remained until April, 1865, when he removed to Van Wert. There he formed a partnership with I. D. Clark, ex-Probate Judge, which was continued for three years, and thereafter he practiced alone until his removal to Lima in 1883. In the latter city he formed a partnership with George W. Overmyer, ex-Probate Judge of Allen county, which was dissolved by mutual consent in 1887. After that Judge Price continued in the practice alone, a practice which has been general, extending into a number of the neighboring counties, and embracing cases in both State and Federal courts. His knowledge of the law is wide and thorough, and his abilities in practice have been recognized by all the lawyers who come in contact with him in contested cases. His persistence and devotion to the interests of a client are well illustrated in the case of Goins, which is celebrated in local annals and known throughout the country as the case in which the verdict was determined by lottery. Goins was a poor negro, who, with three others of his race, was set upon by a mob of toughs on the night of the election in 1888 in one of the principal streets of Lima, and in the melee which followed, a white man, member of the attacking party, was killed. Fred Harrison, one of the negroes, was convicted of his murder and sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years. Goins was indicted as cider and abettor of the crime and tried separately. He was ably defended by Judge Price and J. W. Halfhill. The jury returned a verdict of "guilty of murder in the second degree," but immediately thereafter the fact became known that the verdict had been arrived at in an irregular way. It was admitted by members of the jury that they agreed among themselves to prepare twenty-four ballots, one-half of them marked "manslaughter," and the other half " murder in the second degree ;" place all of these ballots in a hat and permit each juror to draw one. This was done, and. BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 325 on the second drawing eight of the ballots for " murder in the second degree " were drawn, and a verdict returned in accordance with the prior agreement. There were errors in excluding evidence offered by the defense, and in refusing to charge as requested by Goin's counsel, and in not defining properly his right of self-defense. Of course a new trial was obtained and the case contested with the same spirit as in the first. Judge Price stood by his client with a zeal and fidelity not measured by the amount of his fee, which was very small. Goins was acquitted on the second trial. Politically Judge Price has always been a very earnest Republican. The first official position to which he was elected was that of prosecuting attorney for Carroll county, in 1863. He was elected to the same office in Van Wert county three times, 1868, 1870 and 1872, holding the office for six years. In November, 1894, he was elected Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial District for a term of six years. Lima is the home of Senator Brice, and this section is recognized as one of the Democratic strongholds in the State. The sixteen counties comprising the judicial district gave Mr. Cleveland a majority of more than 12,000 votes, in 1892, and Judge Price carried the same counties by a majority of 3,905 as candidate for judge on the Republican ticket, in November, 1894. This vote is a tribute to his personal popularity and his acknowledged fitness for the judicial office. He is known as a man who never swerves from the line of duty, as he believes and understands it. The two remaining judges on this circuit are Henry W. Seny and James H. Day. One of the successful and well known lawyers of the circuit says : " Judge Price has been on the Bench but a short time, and yet long enough to convince members of the Bar that he will fill the office with credit to himself and satisfaction to all. He has already delivered some very able opinions. He never makes any parade of his official position, and has the rare faculty of never losing his composure. With his natural abilities, legal attainments, genial manner and close attention to business, he won for himself a leading position as an attorney. He was quick to grasp the most intricate questions of law and was very successful in practice." He has been married twice ; the first time January 1, 1863, to Martha Guiney, of New Hagerstown, who died in August, 1866. March 8, 1868, he was married to Elizabeth Marshall, of Van Wert, formerly of Piqua, and a niece of R. D. Marshall, a prominent attorney of Dayton. He has only one child living, Charles .F., who is city editor of the Lima Daily Times and correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Judge Price is a man of irreproachable character, a member of the Presbyterian Church, a Mason and a member of Shawnee Commandery No. 14 Knights Templar. He has won a position at the Bar on merit, and maintained since he came to the Bench the excellent reputation established in practice. Holding the confidence of his brethren and of the public alike, he aims to retain it by the honesty and impartiality which are essential in the judicial office. 326 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. JAMES M. BROWN, of Toledo, a son of Hiram J. L. and Rosanna P Brown, was born in Delaware county, Ohio, where his father followed the triple avocation of farmer, miller and merchant. Mr. Brown's education yea, received in the public schools of Delaware and at Ohio Wesleyan University At an early age he became an apprentice in the office of the Olentangy Gazette now the Delaware Gazette. following the printing business in all of its depart meets for seven years, during the latter part of which period he was the owned and editor of the Oskaloosa Herald, at Oskaloosa, Iowa.. In 1858 he gave ui the printing business and read law in the office of Lee & Brewer, at Tiffin Ohio; two years later he was admitted to practice and began his professiona career at Lima, Ohio, with William E. Lee, under the-firm name of Lee & Brown. During the period of the war Mr. Brown served as deputy United States marshal for the Northern District, and also as assistant United State assessor of internal revenue for the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio. Thy faithful performance of the duties of the former office during that troublesome period, and especially when the Knights of the Golden Circle were organized involved great personal risk and called for a high degree of prudence and courage. In 1865 he was married to Miss Lavinia C. Folger, daughter 0: Robert H. Folger, of Massillon, who continued his faithful helpmate until he death in 1887. A daughter and two sons survive her. He continued the practice of law at Lima until 1869, when he formed a partnership with his formed preceptor, General John C. Lee, then lieutenant governor of the State, and removed to Toledo, where, under the firm name of Lee & Brown, the new firm opened an office and continued in active practice until 1891, when Genera Lee died. In 1893 he organized the firm of James M. & Walter F. Brown, the latter being his eldest son. Mr. Brown is a fluent, forceful and convincing speaker, and whether at the Bar, before the jury, or in the political arena, corn mands close attention. He has recently concluded a notable criminal case it the United States Court, in which his client, a former cashier of a wrecked national bank, was tried upon an indictment embracing sixteen different offense against the United States banking acts, every one of which involved minimum penalty of five years in the penitentiary, and in the trial of which the government exerted every effort to convict. After an exhausting legal battle of more than two weeks, closing with a charge by the court requiring hal: a day for its delivery, Mr. Brown's. client was acquitted upon every charge From numerous editorial comments upon that case in the Toledo newspapers the following is taken from the Toledo Commercial of February 5, 1897: "The Hughes case, which came to a termination in the United States district court in this city yesterday afternoon, before Judge Hammond, after a hotly contested trial of two weeks, was, in the wide interest excited, and the points of law raised and decided, one of the most important recently disposed of Honorable James M. Brown, of this city, was the chief counsel for the defendant, and to the masterful, untiring and aggressive defense of the case by this able and trained lawyer the unexpected acquittal of Mr. Hughes was due "The defendant, one of the most highly connected citizens of Lima, was the cashier of the wrecked Lima National Bank, in which Senator Calvin Brice BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 327 was the chief stockholder. While bad business methods were pursued by the defendant, the superior management of the defense created the impression of good intent on the part of the defendant, and throughout the case there was a failure to show that he had profited a cent from the misfortunes, or mistakes, which had wrecked the bank. There had, apparently, been irregular conduct on the part of the cashier and other officers of the management., with the hope of maintaining the credit of the bank, so as to enable it to weather the storm, but there the line was drawn, and on this position the defense massed its strength, and with consummate generalship warded off every charge of criminal intent. Some idea may be formed of the stubbornness with which the case was fought to a finish w hen it is stated that the argument of Mr. Brown and the United States district attorney before the jury each occupied thirteen hours. Altogether, the victory achieved in securing the acquittal of his client, by Mr. Brown, was a most notable one." Mr. Brown is a Republican in politics, and ever since his childhood has been faithful to the principles, and loyal to the organization of his party. He was chairman of the Lucas county Republican central committee for many years, and of the Republican county executive committee during the successive Presidential campaigns of Garfield, Blaine and Harrison. His organizations were always marked with great vigor and efficiency, and followed with unqualified success. For six years he served as a member of the board of elections of the city of Toledo. In 1890 Mr. Brown was appointed postmaster at Toledo by President Harrison, and for more than four years conducted the affairs of his office to the high approval of the department, and the entire satisfaction of his patrons. During his service as postmaster, he was frequently called to Washington to attend conferences involving the improvement of the service; at the request of the postmaster-general, he drafted and presented to the Congressional committees having special charge of postal matters, bills for the establishment of postal savings banks, and the utilization of the telegraph and telephone for postal purposes, and contributed many articles to the public journals in support of these measures. During his term of office he was given leave of absence for three months, for the purpose of making, for the benefit of the postal department, a critical examination of modern methods for the rapid transit of mails, adopted by the post office departments of England, France and Germany. Mr. Brown has given much of his life to charitable work. In 1880, at the organization of the Toledo Humane Society, he was elected its president, and has been annually elected to that office ever since. Under his administration, the society has acquired its present extended influence. He was at its head in the winter of 1893-4, when it furnished daily relief to more than seven thousand suffering people, and also in the year 1896, when the society's wood yard was established, during the first winter's experience of which, more than fifteen hundred transient poor men, without means, were enabled to earn comfortable lodgings, baths and meals. In 1889 he drafted and presented to the legislature a measure subsequently made a law of Ohio, which, it is believed, was the first statutory recognition ever made on the part of the State, of the right of children of criminals to participate in the earnings of their parents, while undergoing criminal punishment. Before the 328 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. World's Humane Congress, held during the World's Fair at the city of Chicago in 1893, Mr. Brown delivered an address upon the subject of the duty of the State toward the families of its criminal classes, in which he maintained that all criminals should be compelled to work, and that a fair proportion of their earnings should, by the State, be paid over to their families for their education and support, thus protecting them from needless shame, pauperism and crime, which address attracted the attention of students of penal reform throughout the world. In 1890 he drafted and presented to the legislature a bill, subsequently enacted into law, " to prevent abandonment and pauperism," which measure compels parents who abandon their children, either to go to prison, or to enter into bonds in the sum of one thousand dollars for their support. This law has proved of great benefit to abandoned children throughout 'the State; under its provisions the Humane Society of the city of Cincinnati alone, receives more than thirteen thousand dollars annually, for the support of such children.. At a meeting of the American Humane Association held at Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1896, Mr. Brown delivered an address upon the subject of " Unwanted Children," and the heartless destruction of infant life, which together with an act drafted by him for the purpose of arresting that great evil, was by the association adopted, published and distributed to charitable societies and legislative committees throughout the United States and Canada, with the request that the suggestions of the address be enacted into law. Mr. Brown is now vice-president, and a member of the executive committee of the American Humane Association. He is, and for more than twenty-five years has been a member of the First Congregational Church of the city of Toledo. JOHN C. LEE, Toledo. Colonel John C. Lee, deceased, was born January 7, 1828, in Brown's township, Delaware county, Ohio. His ancestors on both sides were from the North of Ireland. His parents, Hugh Lee and Mary A. Lee, were natives of Virginia, and came to Ohio soon after their marriage, settling in Delaware county. The mother died in 1836, and the family removed to the town of Delaware in 1838, where they remained until 1844, when they. went to Union county, and thence in:1857, to the West, where the father pursued farming until his death in Missouri in 1859, at the age of sixty-one years. The educational privileges of the son began in a rude log school house, and were limited to that until the removol of the family to Delaware, Ohio, when the way was opened for his preparation for Central College, Franklin county, where he was for one year, when he went to Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio, in 1845, and was graduated in 1848. For two years he taught in academies—one at Atwater, Portage county, and one at Tiffin. Selecting law for his profession, he entered the office of R. G. Pennington, of Tiffin, in 1850, and pursued his reading until July, 1852, when he was admitted to the Bar and became a partner of his tutor, whom he soon succeeded in the practice. Two years later N. L. Brewer began the reading of law with Mr. Lee, and upon BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 329 admission to the Bar became a partner. In 1857 Mr. Lee was the Republican candidate for judge of the Common Pleas Court, with George E. Seney, Democrat, as the successful candidate. Upon the outbreak of the Rebellion in April, 1861, Mr. Lee surrendered his professional business to enter the military service of the government, enlisting in the Fifty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was at once made the major, and was promoted to its colonelcy before reaching the field. In January, 1862, he reported his command to General Rosecrans in West Virginia. At Moorefield the regiment first met the enemy, who were defeated and the town taken. After spending the month of March as a member of a court martial at Charleston, Colonel Lee rejoined the regiment at Romney. By order of General R. C. Schenck he was given command of the district of the South Potomac and in May, 1862, under that officer, marched for the relief of General Milroy, at McDowell, took part in the Shenandoah campaign, and was in the battles of Freeman's Ford, White Sulphur Springs, New Baltimore, New Market, Thoroughfare Gap, Gainesville, Chantilly, the Second Bull Run, and others, in which he bore parts which challenged the approval of his superior officers. At Chancellorsville, in 1863, Colonel Lee commanded a brigade consisting of the Twenty-fifth, Fifty-fifth, Seventy-fifth and One Hundred and Seventh Ohio Regiments, which did noble service there, while the commander's prominence was indicated by his horse being shot under him. In May, 1863, in consequence of the death of a child and the serious illness of Mrs. Lee, the colonel was forced to leave the field, and his resignation was accepted May 18, 1863. During the ensuing political campaign in Ohio, Colonel Lee took an active part in support of John Brough and against C. L. Vallandigham, candidates for governor of Ohio. The condition of his family warranting his absence from home in the spring of 1864, he accepted the command of the. One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned for service chiefly about the fortifications of Washington City, where it remained with more Or less activity until the aggressive movements of General Grant about Richmond compelled the abandonment of the Rebel movement against the capital. During May, June and July, of 1864, he was in command of all troops from Long Bridge to Chain Bridge in the defenses of Washington. His" military service throughout was marked by a degree of intelligence, earnestness, devotion and consideration for his command, which from the first challenged the admiration and confidence of superiors and subordinates. In good conduct and discipline, his command evidenced the thoughtful care which alone could have secured to them such distinction. The reports of the Second Bull Run made special mention of Colonel Lee's efficiency in command. His regiment had been sent to an advanced position of special peril, and during the fight a rebel force made a flank movement, forming a line at right angles with the Union lines, making necessary a change of front by Colonel Lee, whose command was already largely disorganized by being compelled to fall back to the main line from the advanced position to which he had been assigned. Regardless of company organization, which was lost, and under the raking 330 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. fire of the enemy, he was able to change front successfully by battalion, instead of by companies. Such operation, under the circumstances stated, could be possible only with men well disciplined and with full confidence in their commander. Upon leaving the army General Lee resumed the practice of law at Tiffin, With this he was largely identified with different interests of a public nature, serving for five years as a member of the city board of education, and for seven years as chief engineer of the fire department. In 1869 he removed to Toledo, where he then formed a partnership with James M. Brown, who had been a student under him at Tiffin. This firm continued until 1882, when a son of the senior partner, Harry E. Lee, was admitted, the firm name becoming Lee, Brown & Lee. This arrangement continued until the retirement of the junior partner, in 1887. For a few years after becoming a voter, Mr. Lee acted with the Whigs, but from its organization he co-operated with the Republican party, both as a voter and in such more general methods as occasions have opened to him. Upon the declination by Samuel Galloway, in 1867, of a nomination as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, General Lee was selected for that position, and was elected, being again nominated and elected to the same place in 1869, serving for both terms with Governor R. B. Hayes. As presiding officer of the State Senate, he commanded the respect and confidence of that body, irrespective of political divisions. On the occasions of three State Republican conventions, he was called to preside over the same. In 1868 he was a delegate-at-large from Ohio to the Republican National Convention, and was a Presidential elector at large from Ohio, and president of the State Electoral College in 1872. He was appointed United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in 1877, his term expiring in March, 1881. His special qualities, both as a debater and orator, early made him a favorite with public assemblages of all kinds ; his power in political discussions being exceptionally great. The appreciation of his talents and character is best seen in the extent to which his services have been called in public ways. Though without church connections, he was for many years identified with Presbyterian and Congregational churches; and while an earnest advocate of temperance, he has not acted with any temperance party. May 20, 1853, General Lee was married at Tiffin, to Miss Charlotte E. Hoffman, a native of Germany. There were born to them three children—a daughter (now dead), and two sons, Frank A. and Henry E., both now residents of Toledo. General Lee died March 24, 1891, and was buried at Tiffin, Ohio. FRANK H. HURD, Toledo. Honorable Frank H. Hurd was a Christmas gift. He was born at Mount Vernon, Ohio, December 25, 1841, and was a son of the late Judge Rollin C. and Mary B. (Norton) Hurd. He was a studious and precocious lad, far in advance of the boys of his own age. His preliminary education had careful supervision and at seventeen he was graduated from Kenyon College with class honors. He studied law under the BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 331 tutelage of his father, who had served on the Bench and was then engaged in practice. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the Bar and at once entered upon a brilliant career, which was terminated by his death July 10, 1896. One year after his admission to the Bar he was elected prosecuting attorney of Knox county. Three years later he was elected State senator, and in 1868, while yet under twenty-seven years of age, was appointed to codify the criminal laws of Ohio. In the execution of this commission he displayed rare talents, as indeed he did in every undertaking. The following year (1869) he removed to the city of Toledo. He had already outgrown his environment, and the thrifty, prosperous city on the lake shore and the border of the State presented a theater more adequate for the effective employment of abilities such as he possessed. He formed a partnership with Charles H. Scribner, and several years later Harvey Scribner was received into the firm, which was recognized as one of the strongest and most successful in northwestern Ohio. This association was first broken by the withdrawal of Judge Charles H. Scribner upon his election to the Bench, and Mr. Hurd continued his relations with Harvey Scribner until January 1, 1894, when he formed a partnership with 0. S. Brumback and Charles S. Thatcher, which was maintained to the end of his life. Although Mr. Hurd was a great lawyer, ,and well known to the profession as such, his popular fame rests upon his political prominence and public service. It is a singular truth that a lawyer may possess genius and learning, keen insight and profound knowledge of the law, and may wear his life out in private practice in the courts while he remains in comparative obscurity. The contests of the forum are so quiet and its triumphs so little heralded. But when the real lawyer, with his superb equipment of learning and oratory, conscience and convictions, courage and sympathy, renters the political arena his measure is taken by his countrymen, and contemporaneous history records the estimate. All are interested in the politician's career or the statesman's achievements; few care to know the issue of a judicial proceeding. Frank Hurd was a noteworthy example of the lawyer in politics. He was little more than thirty when (1872) he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Representative in Congress and made a creditable canvass of the district against his competitor, General Isaac R. Sherwood. He was defeated but famous when the campaign ended. Two years later he was nominated and made a successful race against the late Governor James M. Ashley, the Republican candidate. By this election he became a member of the Forty-fourth Congress. In 1876 he was the candidate of his party for re-election, but was defeated by Governor Jacob D. Cox. In 1878 he was elected, but in 1880 he was defeated by Honorable J. M. Ritchie. In 1882 he was elected over Charles M. King, and in 1884 he was defeated by Honorable Jacob Romeiss, of Toledo, a railroad man, in whose behalf all the protective tariff and labor influences were exerted as far as possible. The election of Mr. Romeiss was unsuccessfully contested in the House of Representatives. Mr. Hurd was again nominated by his party and made his last congressional canvass before the people of the district in 1886, 332 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO but failed of election. This record probably has no parallel in the history of State politics. Mr. Hurd was nominated for eight successive terms and elected for three alternate terms—the Forty-fourth, Forty-sixth and Forty-eightl Congresses. He was a frank, earnest, outspoken free trader; at least he was always and under all circumstances an avowed opponent of protective tarif and the earnest, eloquent advocate of free trade. He was the great leader of the stump and in Congress in 'the battle for tariff reform. Years before President Cleveland gave conspicuity to that issue by making it the topic of hi third annual message to the Congress, Frank Hurd had rung all the change on it, both in Ohio and Washington. His convictions were deep and he was always courageous in their expression. He was never in any sense a trimmer His sails were never set to catch popular breezes. He stood for principle whether with the majority or the minority. He was always of the people am for the people, and the advocate of right and justice in accordance with thi promptings of his conscience and moral sense. As to any question of ad ministration or public policy, whatever his heart believed and his conscience approved his lips advocated. He waited on the leadership of no man, an accepted without challenge the dictum of no party. He was himself a leader of men, an expounder of principles. He displayed the rare moral courage which finds full recompense for the failure to achieve an ambition in the consciousness of being right. Twenty years ago his transcendent abilities as lawyer were recognized by Mr. Tilden in the offer of the attorney general's portfolio, contingent upon a favorable decision of the electoral commission Frank Hurd was a broad gauge man. He lived above petty annoyances am contentions. He had capacity for large affairs. His connection with the most important controversies in the courts of the State evidence his standing in the profession. His espousal of the cause of the poor without fees evi deuces his humanity. A Roman Catholic in his own religious views, he was tolerant of the views of all men and the creeds of all churches. Some of thy men who knew him best bear testimony to his noble qualities and characteristics. Mr. O. S. Brumback, his law partner, says : " Of all the lawyers I have ever heard in court Mr. Hurd possessed the greatest ability to discriminate. Coupled with his unusual powers of logic and oratory he was, in my judgment, a lawyer without a peer. His abilities: and statesmanship comprised the least part of his great nature. He was also a true philanthropist. His liberal and generous nature was only equalled by his love for his friends. A person in distress never appealed to him in vain, am he never was false to a friend. His Wonderful magnetism of manner am presence was irresistible to those whose contact with him was frequent. To know him was to love him. Ever unmindful of himself and ever ready to champion the oppressed, he lavished his great ability and income in the cause of the just." Mr. A. W. Eckert : " Mr. Hurd was certainly a great man who never realized his own greatness. He was one of the most genial, modest and sympathetic men I ever knew; a man whose heart seemed to be overflowing with kindness and generosity toward his fellow men. In the course of my experience at the Bar, I have met him a number of times as an opponent and also as BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 333 an associate counsel. As an opponent I always found him fair and honest—never given to any underhanded practices. As an associate counsel he never made any one feel that he was in any way superior. He would listen with interest to any suggestion one had to offer, and never did he in an arrogant or overwise manner point out one's failings or mistakes. I never knew him even in the time When the most bitter attacks were being made upon him in the campaign to make one insulting reply or utter a word that was unfit for any one to hear. Hs was learned and eloquent, and by instinct a gentleman." The Bee (Editorial): " His individuality was of that peculiar magnetic personal quality which drew to him the respect, admiration and love of his fellows. And it was the same to-day, to-morrow, always. Frank, sincere, honest, with his daily life an open page that all might read, and upon which was recorded only deeds of love for home and country ; what wonder that the people were his friends and gave him in return fealty and devotion that few men enjoy, few inspire !" An intimate lawyer friend says " Probably there are less reminiscences of Mr. Hurd of a conversational character than of any other public man. He was not a story teller, and while perhaps one of the most brilliant speakers before judge and jury that Ohio has ever known, he accepted the adage that silence is golden.' He would listen to his friends and acquaintances a whole evening without saying anything himself. And he always impressed you as a good listener on any subject." Another, who had watched him in the trial of a hundred cases in court, says : "He had a most peculiar. mind. Ile would have little to do with details. I never saw him personally question a witness. He usually sat back from the table, perhaps among the spectators, listening quietly, but when hi,s argument was made not a thread of the evidence was lost. And he carried not only the audience, but usually the judge and jury also." Of the many testimonials wired at the time of his death only two are quoted: Grover Cleveland: " I have just learned with sincere regret of the death of Frank Hurd. I had great admiration for his practical courage and sagacity, and I regard his death a severe loss, not only to the country, but to the party to which he belonged, since such bravery as he at all times exhibited must tend to advance the welfare of both." William McKinley: "I am deeply pained to learn of the death of Honorable Frank Hurd. He was a brave, able, honest man, always having the courage of his convictions. A manly adversary and a steadfast friend. My. service with him in the National House of Representatives attached me greatly to him, and there I came to know and appreciate the great qualities which distinguished him and for which he will be remembered. I deeply mourn his death and share in the sorrow felt by the people of Toledo and the State over the death of the great citizen, statesman and orator." Mr. M. P. Murphy in Sunday Bee: "It is not because Frank H. Hurd was a great lawyer that his death is universally mourned all over this great. land ; it is not because he was a great statesman ; it is not because he was a great scholar; it is not because he was a Democrat; it is not because he was a Catholic or a Protestant or a Mohammedan ; it is not because of anything that he achieved for himself. It is because he was a great man, in the highest and truest sense of the word ; because the cause of humanity meant more to him than the fulfillment of any selfish ambition; because, in all things, the troubles of his neighbor were of greater moment to him than his own affairs; because at all times he counted himself as nothing, when the cause of humanity 334 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. was at stake. Such ambitions as he had were proper ones. If ever he longed for political preferment of a high order, it was because he believed that he could aid the great cause of humanity better in a high place. His superb talents were at all times at the disposal of the people, and for the people he used them. In his political life lies a great sermon, on which the youth of this age may reflect. He stood in politics for a principle which he believed to be right. Once believing that principle to be right, there was no middle ground. He must stand by it, even though it was unpopular. He could not be Frank Hurd and not be honest in his convictions and honest in his expression of them." He never married. His home was the Boody House. One sister only, of all the members of *his immediate family, is living, viz., Mrs. Robert Clark, of Mount Vernon. ORVILLE SANFORD BRUMBACK, Toledo. Orville S. Brumback was born on a farm near Delaware, Ohio, December 2, 1855. His father, John Sanford. Brumback, belongs to an old Virginia family, whose progenitor emigrated from Switzerland and settled in the Shenandoah Valley in 1760. His mother, whose name before marriage was Ellen Purmort, is of English-French descent and closely related to the eminent jurist, Chancellor Walworth. The family left the farm in 1860 and removed to Van Wert, Ohio, where the father engaged for some time in the business of a dry goods merchant and subsequently became a banker. He has long been regarded as one of the prominent citizens of the State. Orville was carefully and thoroughly educated. He attended the public school until sixteen years of age, after which he attended Wooster University and pursued the course of study to the end of the Sophomore year. Instead of remaining there to complete the course he preferred 'to avail himself of the large advantages afforded in one of the old eastern colleges, and selected Princeton. Entering that time-honored institution as a Junior, he soon gained high standing and maintained an excellent standard of scholarship during the two years he was there. On the merit of his scholarship and ability as a public speaker he received a place among the orators chosen to represent the class on the commencement program. He was graduated in 1877 with a class comprising one hundred and thirty members, of whom ten were selected by reason of general merit to deliver the commencement orations. This distinction was more marked in the case of Mr. Brumback in consideration of the fact that his connection with the college as a student was only two years' duration and a preponderance of the students were eastern men. He received the degree of A. Br upon graduation and immediately thereafter became a student of -law in the office of Honorable I. N. Alexander, of Van Wert. In the autumn of the same year he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated as LL. B. in 1879. He was admitted to the Bar in the winter following and settled in Toledo for practice. For the first year he was an assistant in the office of Dodge & Raymond, who had a large legal business. In 1880 he opened an office on his own account, and his profession has been his chief concern from BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 335 that time to the present. The first partnership which he formed was the most important and enduring. It was consummated August 26, 1881, when he led to the hymeneal altar Miss Jennie Carey, daughter of Simeon B. Carey, a wholesale dealer in hardware at Indianapolis. This union has been blessed with two daughters—Blanche Carey, age eleven, and Lydia Ellen, age seven. January 1, 1894, he formed a partnership with Honorable Frank Hurd and Charles A. Thatcher, which was dissolved by the death of Mr. Hurd in 1896. Messrs. Brumback & Thatcher have continued in the partnership relation since Mr. Hurd's death under the old firm name of Hurd, Brumback & Thatcher largely as a token of their esteem for their old associate. Mr. Brumback has been retained in much of the most important litigation that has been entered on the docket of the Toledo courts since his connection with the Bar. Perhaps the most important in its effect upon his own future was one entrusted to him very early in his practice, and tried in the United States Circuit Court. The Van Wert National Bank brought suit against the. United States Express Company for the recovery of ten thousand dollars received for delivery to the bank by the company and lost in transmission. Mr. Brumback was employed by the plaintiff, and the express company claimed the money was stolen from the package before it received it. The attorney for the express company, boldly argued to the jury that it was impossible for the money to have been„extracted from the package while in the hands of the express company, since the seals remained intact and unbroken. Bout Mr. Brumback effectually answered that argument and won the case by deftly removing the seals and replacing them uninjured upon a like package. The ability displayed by the young attorney in the marshaling of evidence and the presentation of the case arrested the attention of the Bar and the public, and established his reputation as a remarkably keen, alert and resourceful lawyer for one of his years. That was practically the beginning. The case, which was of prime importance then, is remembered now merely as an incident, having been overshadowed by many cases of greater consequence tried since that time. Some of these deserve mention in this connection as examples : Toledo Electric Street Ry. Co. vs. Toledo Consolidated Street Ry. Co.; The Merchants' Cotton Press and Storage Co. vs. The Central Manufacturers' Insurance; Hunter vs. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern R. R. Co.; Terry vs. Same; Aller vs. The Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton R. R. Co.; Vany vs. R. B. F. Peirce, Receiver of the T. St. L. & K. C. R. R.; Van Dusen vs. Same ; Benson Bidwell vs. the Toledo Consolidated St. Ry. Co., involving the right to use the- electric street railway trolley ; Pearce vs. Wellington R. Burt, Receiver of the Toledo & A. A.. Ry. Co.; Heeter vs. Wabash Ry. Co.; William H. Simmons vs. Toledo Electric Street Ry. Co.; Swan vs. Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan R. R. Co., involving half a million dollars, still pending. The litigation between The Toledo Electric Street By. Co. and The Toledo Consolidated Street Ry. Co., in which Mr. Brumback represented the former company, comprised from twenty to twenty-five separate cases, brought one after another, and altogether constituted the most remarkable array of 336 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. cases between rival railway companies ever tried in this country. The litigation extended over a period of seven years, and has only recently been settled by a consolidation of the companies engaged in the controversy. Mr. Brumback now makes a specialty of actions for personal injury, and has pending probably a hundred such cases in the several courts. He gave considerable attention to politics during the earlier years of his practice, and was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1885 as a Republican candidate. Realizing that office-holding was not conducive to the highest professional success, and having a decided preference for the law, he declined a renomination, and has never since been a candidate or sought an office. His first and only political campaign attracted attention throughout the State. He made a great fight and was alone elected on his ticket, although handicapped by the opposition of the Toledo Blade, the Republican newspaper controlled by D. R. Locke (Nasby), because he would not pledge himself in advance as to his course on certain public questions. As John Sherman was returned to the United States Senate through his success, the Republicans having only one majority in the legislature on joint ballot, he received, as he deserved, the congratulations of prominent leaders of his party in all parts of the country. When the Standard Oil. Company opened its batteries on Toledo, Mr. Brumback was one who stood for the people against the disastrous influence and consuming greed of monopoly. He may always be relied upon as the champion and defender of popular rights, as well as of the lowly and oppressed, whenever and by whomsoever they are assailed. Orville S. Brumback has a high standing among his brethren of the Bar, and his popularity in the community is general. In social intercourse he is frank and genial. His manner is unobtrusive and marked by a gentle courtesy, without any display of that "rich varnish of graciousness and favor" peculiar to the patronizing. He never swerves from his purpose to secure popular applause. He is a ripe scholar and a pleasing public speaker, having a copious and versatile vocabulary for the construction of a logical argument or the polishing of a rhetorical period. Perfectly conversant with current events and thoroughly alive to the importance of public affairs, his character is without reproach and his integrity unimpeachable. He is a member of the Sigma Chi college fraternity, and is a Mason and Presbyterian. RUFUS H. BAKER, Toledo. The subject of this sketch is the son of the late William Baker, whose biography is published in this volume. He was born in Toledo, September 25, 1858, of parents who were both natives of Ohio. His parental lineage is English and his first American ancestor settled in Massachusetts about the middle of the seventeenth century. His grandfather, known generally as Judge Baker, became a pioneer settler of Norwalk, Ohio, in 1817, and occupied the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas as an associate judge for several years under the first Constitution. Rufus was educated in the public schools of Toledo and in Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massa-. BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 337 chusetts ; entered the Law School of Columbia College in New York City and was graduated with the class of 1879. He was admitted to the Bar in the fall of the same year and first engaged in practice with his father, by whom he was received into partnership a few months later, viz., in. January, 1880. Throughout the course of his reading he had given special attention to real estate law, and both in his primary studies and his early practice adhered closely to the lines laid out by his father. During the second year of partnership with his father Barton Smith was admitted into the firm, which thereby became Baker, Smith & Baker, and so remained until the death of the senior partner in 1894. Since that time the firm of Smith & Baker has continued in the general practice. Mr. Baker's close application and careful study gave-him a critical knowledge of the law, and he has a reputation for close reasoning and discriminating knowledge of its technicalities. His pleadings are drawn with exceptional nicety, leaving nothing to be added essential to their clearness, and containing nothing which could be eliminated without impairing their strength. He is the financial correspondent in Toledo of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and his accurate knowledge of titles and sound judgment qualify him admirably for the duties of such a position. He was educated to the work, as he only succeeded to the position his father had held for many years. He is skilled in all matters appertaining to loans as well as realty titles, and is very accurate in the knowledge and practice of commercial law. He is methodical and systematic and his papers are both neat and strong. He is a man of strictest integrity. His word is accepted without question or doubt. His high character is sustained by an irreproachable life. He is a cautious and discreet man, safe and reliable as a counsellor. He does not reach a conclusion hastily or state it rashly ; but proceeds carefuhly and makes a conservative statement. During most of his life Mr. Baker has been connected with the Baptists and now has membership in the First Baptist Church of Toledo. He was married January 16, 1883, to Miss May W. Howard, and has three children—Bessie, aged twelve ; Pauline, ten; and Herbert H., eight years. WILLIAM HENRY HARRIS, Toledo. William H. Harris is of English and Holland extraction. His paternal ancestors lived for many generations in England, and the American branch of the family was founded while the colonies were still young. His mother belonged to a Pennsylvania Dutch family. Both his parents and himself are natives of Muskingum county, Ohio. He was born January 1, 1845. Up to that time his father had been engaged in farming and continued to follow the same pursuit for ten years afterwards, when he took up the occupation of school teaching. For some time he conducted district schools in the country and then removed to Zanesville, where he continued to teach in the schools of that city until he reached an advanced age. The subject of this biography, like most farmers' boys, received the rudiments of his education in the country schools. In fact he was regular in 338 -BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. his attendance at the district school until seventeen years old, when, being qualified, he began teaching during the winter months, continuing his work on the farm during the remainder of the year. While still in his minority he took a course of study in a Cincinnati commercial college, which ended his scholastic education, at least in so far as it has been acquired in schools. Arriving at the responsible age of twenty-one, he secured a position as bookkeeper for the wholesale and retail drug house of W. A. Graham & Co., of Zanesville, and remained with the firm three years, or until 1869. At this time he accepted a similar position in Mansfield, which he filled until 1876. In that year he settled in Toledo, as book-keeper for the Toledo house of the firm by which he had been employed in Mansfield, and remained with them until 1878. Several years prior to this time he had formed the purpose of studying the profession and engaging in the practice of law, and in the interval he had been reading the important text-books under the direction of some of his professional friends. At the time of giving up his commercial position he was, therefore, qualified for admission to the Bar and was admitted to practice on the 14th of August, 1878. His experience in trade and his mental maturity enabled him to take hold of the practical business of a lawyer with much greater facility than is usually exhibited by the young practitioner without any varied experiences. His first partnership was with Colonel H. S. Bunker, under the style of Bunker & Harris, which continued about a year and was dissolved by mutual consent. Soon afterwards he formed a second partnership with Almon Hall, which was maintained for a period of three years. He then entered into a partnership with Charles J. Swan and Robert W. Barton, under the style of Swan, Harris Barton. After remaining two years as a member of this firm he withdrew and continued practice alone for a year. Then he entered into a partnership with Johnston Thurston, forming the firm of Harris & Thurston, which continued ten years and three months and was dissolved July 1, 1896. There was no disagreement between the partners, and the only reason alleged for the dissolution of their partnership relations was the desire of Mr. Harris to take into association with him his son, Harry W. Harris, who will be received into partnership after the completion of his law studies, in the office and under the tutelage of his father. Mr. Harris has during all the years of his practice devoted himself particularly to commercial, municipal and corporation law, and has carried on a general practice in all classes of civil cases. He is so thoroughly versed in the authorities relating to his special branches of the law as to be an accepted authority upon the validity of municipal bonds, and different branches of commercial and municipal law. He is also particularly strong in cases involving the partition and distribution of estates and kindred matters which require accurate knowledge of the laws of descent and titles to property. He has the necessary acumen to understand the rights of parties involved, and. the sense of justice to insist upon the impartial administration of law. In politics Mr. Harris is not especially active, but is strong in his allegiance to Republican principles. He is a man of excellent moral char- BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 339 acter, strict integrity and undoubted probity in all the affairs of life. He is therefore held in high esteem by the community. He was married October 11, 1871, to Miss Mildred L. King, of Mansfield, Ohio, and has two sons, Harry W. and Hugh King Harris. BENJAMIN F. JAMES, Bowling Green. Benjamin Franklin James is one of the prominent younger attorneys of northern Ohio, being senior member of the firm of James & Beverstock, of Bowling Green and Toledo, Ohio. He is a native of the State and was born April 30, 1863, near Mount Gilead, Morrow county. His parents, William D. James and Sarah Meredith, were both natives of Ohio. His paternal ancestors were Welsh, and his great-grandfather, James, emigrated from Wales to the United States with his family, coming directly to Ohio about the beginning of the present century, and settling near the Welsh Hills, in Licking county. His father was born in Morrow county in 1815, near Chesterville, where he spent his entire life as a farmer and stock dealer, living until May 13, 1875. The Jameses were among the earliest settlers of Licking county, and later of Morrow county. His maternal ancestors were English and his mother's grandparents, named Farmer, left the mother country and came over to Baltimore in the early part of this century. His maternal grandmother came west to Chesterville, Ohio, where she married William Meredith, a man of English descent. His mother lived until September 27, 1894, and died at the age of seventy-six years on her home farm, near Mount Gilead, after a continuous residence there of fifty-four years. The death of his father cast Mr. B. F. James upon his own resources largely, at the early age of twelve years. He attended the country schools in the township where he was born, until he reached the age of fifteen, and then entered the high school at Chesterville, in which he remained for two years. Upon leaving that in 1880 he entered the Freshman class of the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, continuing in attendance there for two terms. He then entered the same class in Dennison University, at Granville, where he continued his studies for three years, going thence to the University of Chicago. He was graduated from this University June 11, 1884, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The year immediately succeeding his graduation he was professor of Latin and Greek in Burlington College, at Burlington, Iowa. The presidency of this institution was offered to him and declined, because of his desire to take a post-graduate course at Yale. He had for some time cherished the purpose to finish his literary education in one of the old and popular eastern colleges on account of the greater advantages offered there, no less of association than of the larger facilities and equipments in the way of libraries, museums and special courses. At New Haven he pursued selected studies of a literary character and prosecuted also the study of law, in which he completed a two years' course. He was graduated and received from Yale the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately afterwards he settled in Bowling Green for the practice of his profession, and has resided there continuously, but has a   340 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. law office in Toledo also. He was admitted to the Bar of Ohio October 5, 1887, after an examination before the Supreme Court, and formed a partnership for practice with Judge Guy C. Nearing, under the firm name of Nearing & James. This partnership was continued until the election of Judge Nearing to the Bench in 1890. After that Mr. James carried on his law business alone until November of the same year, when the firm of James, Taber & Bever-stock was formed. This association remained unbroken until 1892, since which time the firm has been James & Beverstock. The firm of which Mr. James is the head, and the one of which he was a member during the first years after his admission to the Bar, has conducted much of the important litigation in the neighborhood of Bowling Green since 1889, and has gained an excellent reputation from its conduct of large civil and criminal cases. He has been a Republican all his life, as his father was before him from the organization of the party. He has not been a silent member, but his activity at all times has indicated a lively interest in politics and a desire for partisan success. In 1890 he was elected city solicitor of Bowling Green, which he resigned in November of the following year, upon his election as representative in the State legislature. He was re-elected to the office of representative in 1893, after one of the hottest political contests ever fought in Wood county. During the first session of which he was a member he had introduced and pressed to its passage a bill for the erection of a new court house in his county. It was a large undertaking for a new member, but he was successful, and as the public work naturally increased taxation he was required to answer for it in giving an account of his stewardship in a canvass before the people for re-election. In 1890 he was chosen vice-president of the Ohio Republican League, and in 1891 he was elected vice-president of the National Republican League of the United States. He is at the present time a member of the executive committee. As indicated already, Mr. James was a poor boy, without the ready means to pay the expenses of his higher education. He borrowed some money of his brother and some more of his aunt, all of which was repaid out of his own earnings after he became established in his profession. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, a Knight Templar, and has taken all the degrees of the Scottish Rite, to and including the thirty-second degree, belonging to the Cincinnati Consistory. He is a member of the Baptist Church, by heredity and personal relation. The members of his family for generations have belonged to that church. The following characterization from a judge who has known him intimately will be accepted as a professional estimate : " Mr. James began the practice of law at Bowling Green in 1887 and very early gained prominence at the Bar. Applying himself with great zeal to the duties of his profession, and by rich stores of information and faculties well disciplined in habit of close and accurate reasoning, his industry and skill in the preparation and trial of causes soon attracted attention. With an ability and quickness to see and take advantage of important points, and possessed 'of a genial spirit and uniform courtesy, he is strong with the jury ; his promptness in the performance of whatever he undertakes is highly satisfactory to his clients." BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 341 JOHN W. CANARY, Bowling Green. The subject of this biography is of Irish descent, although a native of Ohio. He was born at Cleveland July 5, 1843. His parents were John P. and Catharine Plunkett, both of whom died while he was a child. The fact of his bearing a different name from that of his parents came about through a freak of boyish impetuosity and inexperience. After the death of his parents he was thrown on his own resources and taken into the family of a farmer in Lorain county, Ohio. At school and in the neighborhood the boys made puns on his paternal name. He was annoyed and irritated by this constant badgering to such an extent that his youthful imagination interpreted the patronymic, and Irish origin it indicated, as something very undesirable, and he changed it to the name which he now bears. At the time of the death of his parents he had a brother and sister living, but the children were then separated and have never again met. He lived with the family of Alonzo Wright, a resident of Lorain county, until he was twelve years of age, attending the public schools of the district when they were in session. At the age of twelve he was taken to Crawford county to live with a son of Mr. Wright, Rev. Charles Wright, but remained with him only one year. His next home was with Mr. Arthur Andrews of Crawford county, with whom he lived until he attained his majority, and some time after. He had passed through the public schools and spent one year in Baldwin University, at Berea, when the civil war broke out. Responding to his country's call, he enlisted in Company A, Eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the three months' service. Before the expiration of his term he re-enlisted fbr three years. The first active service of his command was in West Virginia, where the regiment fought and skirmished its way through to Winchester, participating in all the battles in which the divisions of Generals Shields and Landers were engaged. Later they were attached to the Army of the Potomac and continued with it until discharged. At the battle of Port Republic, Mr. Canary was taken prisoner and held for three months; during which time he saw the inside of a number of southern prisons, among which was the famous Belle Isle. He was paroled and joined his command again in January, 1863. He took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and the three days' fight at Gettysburg. His regiment was sent to New York City in the fall of 1863, where it remained while the draft was being enforced. Returning to the Army of the Potomac, he took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and the assaults on the works at Petersburg. In June, 1864, the term for which the regiment had enlisted expired, and he was mustered out of the service. Returning home, he began the study of law in the office of Honorable Cooper K. Watson, for some years a member of Congress and one of the ablest lawyers of the State. He continued his studies there until he was admitted to the Bar, in the fall of 1867. He began practice at Tiffin, but remained there only a short time when he removed to Bowling Green, in the spring of 1868. From that time until the present he has practiced in the Wood county Bar without intermission. He was first associated with H. S. Seiple for one year ; with Alex Brown two years ; with Tyler, 342 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. Canary & Harrison several years, and with Major J. R. Swigart for a term of years ; after which he practiced alone for some time. In 1889 he formed a partnership with Judge Dodge that has continued to the present time. Mr. Canary was elected prosecuting attorney of Wood county in 1869 and served two years. He was chosen to the mayoralty of Bowling Green in the spring of 1881, holding the office one term. One of the first very notable cases in which he was employed was the prosecution of David Phillips, for the murder of one Charles Landy. The case attracted wide attention. Phillips was convicted of murder in the second degree and sent to state's prison. He has for many years been engaged in most of the important litigation in Wood county. He is prominent in fraternal circles; is a member of the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias, Grand Army of the Republic and the Royal Arcanum, holding a high position in each order. He has since 1874 affiliated with the Democratic party. He was a Republican through the war and reconstruction period, but could not follow them in their financial teachings. He was the nominee on the Democratic ticket for State senator from the Thirty-third District, in 1891, but his party being in the minority, was defeated. Be has been several times presented by his county for Congress. He was married in 1867 to Miss Celia E. Duncan, daughter of Washington and Eliza (Gibson) Duncan, of Crawford county, her mother being a sister of General W. H. Gibson, the silver tongued orator of Ohio. They have four children living, two sons and two daughters. A practicing lawyer of the circuit, who is intimately acquainted with the subject, makes this answer to the request of the editor for information : " In his practice as a lawyer Mr: Canary has always taken a conservative course. He has never sought to dazzle the bystanders by an ambitious display of forensic ability, though capable of doing so, or to win cases by sharp practice. He has been remarkable for the extreme fairness with which he treats witnesses on both sides alike, never seeking to distort or misrepresent their statements, or to cross or confuse them by any unfair course of examination. He has always been especially careful to avoid harsh or unnecessary comments upon those who have given testimony. Perhaps he has carried this tenderness toward witnesses to excess, but it is his deliberate judgment that little if anything is gained by abusing anybody in court, and that much is lost by it. He always studies his cases carefully, and comes into court with a very definite idea of what he wants to prove in order to gain a case ; and he expects to win, if at all, upon the basis fixed upon. For this reason he is apt to disregard such facts and considerations as do not, in his opinion, uphold his theory, sometimes making admissions that are regarded by other attorneys as somewhat risky, or rash, but which he regards as unimportant. His arguments to a jury are extremely clear and fair, and for that reason produce much impression. He has been upon the whole successful in his professional career, and has accumulated a very handsome fortune. He is still in the vigor of professional life and work, although inclined to take things somewhat easy." BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO- 343 EDWARD BEVERSTOCK, Bowling Green, is a native of the State and of Wood county. He was born May 8, 1862, on his father's farm in Washington township, near the village of Tontogany. He is of Anglo-German descent. His father was a native of Vermont and his mother of Wood county, Ohio. His paternal ancestors were originally English, and came to this country in colonial times, settling first in New Hampshire and later in Vermont. His father, Edward B. Beverstock, came to Ohio with his parents when a boy and lived with them in Richland county, until 1855, when he went to Wood county and soon after married Miss Victoria V. Kuder, a resident of that county, and settled on the farm where he now resides. His maternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Pennsylvania and of German descent. His grandfather-on his mother's side was a soldier in the War of 1812, and came to Ohio soon afterwards, and after spending a few years in Ross county, finally located in Wood county, in 1832, when settlers there were very few. He purchased a large tract of land, some twelve hundred acres, which in later years he divided among his children. He died in 1872, at the age of eighty-three years. Edward's early education was obtained in the public schools of Washington township, and the high school of Tontogany. He left school at the age of fifteen and for five years remained at home working on the farm. January 1, 1883, he entered the preparatory department of Oberlin College and continued his studies there for six years, working at home during the summer vacations. He took the full classical course and was graduated with the class of 1889, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall of the same year he entered the Law Department of the Cincinnati College, where he spent two years in legal study. He was graduated from that institution in, 1891 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and at the same time admitted to the Bar. During his course at the law school, he served the first year as assistant. librarian and the second' year as chief librarian of the law library, and secretary to the faculty. He at once entered on the practice at Bowling Green, in the office of Honorable B. F. James. After a few months a copartnership was formed under the style of James, Taber & Beverstock, which continued for about one year, when it was dissolved, Mr. Taber retiring, and the present firm of James & Beverstock was formed. The firm as it now stands is one of the most successful in northern Ohio. Their clientage extends to the surrounding counties, and they have an office in Toledo, Ohio. Their reputation is as high for conscientious work in behalf of their clients as it is for legal ability. Mr. Beverstock is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge and the Chapter at Bowling Green, Council Commandery and A. A. S. R. at Toledo, and Consistory at Cleveland. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican both by inheritance and choice. He takes an active interest in political affairs. In 1894 he was chairman of the Republican county central committee. He was married in 1891 to Miss Elizabeth Ferguson, daughter of S. E. and Mary C. (Lawrence) Ferguson, of Oakland county, Michigan. They have two daughters. Mr. Beverstock and family attend the Presbyterian Church, of which he and his wife are members. A circuit judge thus characterizes him : " He has 344 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. a vigorous mind, a comprehension quick, clear and exact; his application to study is close; his opinions expressed on intricate law questions. are clear. With faculties well disciplined, supported with habits of close and accurate reasoning. he rapidly gains business, and his diligence, promptness and accuracy in all matters entrusted to his care secure the confidence of those who employ him." JASON A. BARBER, Toledo. Honorable Jason A. Barber, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born at Ionia, Michigan, January 24, 1855. His father was a farmer and a native of the State of New York, who came to Ohio in boyhood. His mother was born, reared and married in Ohio. his parents removed to Michigan in 1852 and were among the very early settlers of the section of the State in which they located. When Jason was eight years of age the family removed to Huron county, Ohio, and his education was begun in the district school. In 1867 they removed to Wood county, where he continued to attend the country schools in the winter and work on the farm during the remaining portions of the year, until he reached the age of seventeen. He aspired to a higher education and was willing to make the necessary sacrifices to secure it. Obliged to rely upon his own resources, he entered himself as a student in the preparatory department at Oberlin in 1872. Although little more than seventeen years old when this important step was taken, he had the courage and self-reliance of a man. Paying his expenses by manual labor and teaching, he pursued his studies until the regular classical course was completed, although it required seven years. He was graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1879. His experience and success in teaching secured employment for him as superintendent of public schools at St. Mary's immediately after his graduation, and he remained there one year. The next year he was employed as principal of the high school of Toledo. He was during this time engaged in the study of law as a preparation for practice. At the close of his term as principal of the high school his law studies were continued in the office of L. K. Parks, Toledo, until he was admitted to the Bar in 1882. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Parks, and they remained together in the general practice of the law about ten years. In 1890 Mr. Barber was elected prosecuting attorney of Lucas county, and Was re-elected in 1893. The duties of this office were discharged with ability and integrity. Both the court records and common repute accredit him with the conscientious and impartial administration of this office. One evidence of popular approval is found in his nomination as the Republican candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas and his election in November, 1896. The judicial office came to him as a merited promotion, and he took his seat upon the Bench in February, 1897, enjoying the fullest confidence of his fellow citizens and of the Bar. Industry, accuracy and integrity may be said to be the prevailing characteristics of Judge Barber. He is absolutely honest and truthful, sincere and earnest. He is entirely free from anything like pretense, either professionally BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 345 or personally. He made an admirable prosecuting attorney for Lucas county and is qualified for the judgeship, as the few months of service on the Bench have demonstrated. He is a thorough student, a convincing speaker, and very effective with a jury. He was married in 1883 to Ida H. Hull, of Sandusky, and has five children — three boys and two girls — all living. CHARLES A. BOWERSOX, Bryan. Judge Bowersox is a native of the State and of Williams county. He was born October 16, 1846, in the woods, or on his father's new farm, which was only a clearing, when the entire north- western part of the State was little more than an unbroken forest. His father, John W. Bowersox, and his mother, Mary Breckenridge, were both natives of Maryland ; they were married in that State and came westward over the mountains and settled in Stark county, Ohio, about 1830. After living there, four miles south from Canton, seven-years they removed to the wilderness of Williams county. His paternal ancestors were of German origin, but emigrated to America at an early day and settled in Maryland and Pennsylvania. His maternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish, who settled in Maryland six or seven generations in the past. Without spending time to trace the genealogy with particularity, Judge Bowersox is content to know that he is descended from honest., undistinguished ancestry—such as compose the great body of the sturdy and self-supporting American people. The foundation of his education was laid in the little log school house, which was one of the earliest evidences of the triumph of civilization over savagery in the Northwest Territory. It is worthy of especial mention as one of the most potent influences in founding a great and prosperous commonwealth. He entered school at the age of nine and attended a short term each year, working on the farm the remaining months until seventeen, when he began teaching. Like many ambitious boys of limited opportunities, who have become famous, he prosecuted his own studies in the higher branches while imparting instruction in the common school branches. In this way he was disciplined and self-taught for seven years. In 1870 he entered Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio, and pursued to completion the regular classical course, from which he was graduated four years later • with the degree of A. B. Judge Bowersox may without criticism cherish a certain pride of independence in having educated himself—not without the instruction of tutors and professors, but with the earnings of his own hands and head and voice. He saved the wages received for teaching and provided for the deficiency while in college by giving instruction in vocal music, or teaching singing schools—as we used to say. It is something to which any successful man may properly refer with complacency. After leaving college he was employed as superintendent of the public schools at Edgerton, Ohio, for two years, and during the same time was a member of the board of school examiners for Williams county. In 1875 he was elected Probate Judge, and during the continuance of his term as such prosecuted the study of law with 346 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. diligence and enthusiasm. For one year of that time he was one of the pro prietors and sole editor of the Bryan Press, a Republican weekly newspaper In September, 1879, he was admitted to the Bar, and formed a partnership for practice with Honorable Edward Foster, which was maintained very prosperously until the death of Mr. Foster in 1883. In 1881 Judge Bowersox was elected a member of the State legislature and served one term. In thy fall of 1883 he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the second subdivision, third judicial district, by Governor Charles Foster, to serve the unexpired term of Judge Owen, who had been elected to the Supreme Bench. On retiring from the judicial office, whose duties he discharged creditably to himself and satisfactorily to the public, he resumed the practice, continuing alone until 1889, when the firm of Bowersox & Starr was formed which has been continued to the present time. He was voted for in the Republican State convention of 1887, and again in 1895, for nomination as candidate for judge of the Supreme Court, and was urged for the office many who recognized his qualifications for that tribunal. His firm has held a leading position at the Bar of Williams county, and had important litigation in all the State and Federal courts. It has held a large business and been connected with most of the celebrated cases in northwestern Ohio; has even crossed over into the adjacent territory of Indiana and Michigan, for tempting retainers in noteworthy cases. In 1891-2 Judge Bowersox partially retired from the management of litigation in court and accepted election to the presidency of Otterbein University, a position which he hehd for two years. Con, scions of the high compliment paid to his scholarship and executive abihity in calling him to the chief administration of affairs of his Alma Mater, he has devoted much time to the duties of president. The honor was appreciated none the less because entirely unsought. Be has not let go the reins of his legal practice, or neglected his large personal interests in commercial and financial business at any time. In 1887 he was elected president of the Farmers National Bank, and has held the office continuously by successive re-elections. He was a promoter of the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw railroad, and has been the legal adviser of the company at Bryan continuously. He controls large landed properties in his section of Ohio, and has mercantile interests in neighboring towns. His travels, extending over a large portion of the United States, from, the Atlantic seaboard to the Rocky Mountains, have been devoted to the prosecution of his business. Politically he has been loyally identified with the Republican party, and his services have been given freely on the stump in Ohio and adjacent. States. He leaves to others the management of the party machine, content to be an advocate and a defender of the faith. His talents are versatile, enabling him to obtain conspicuous rank as a lawyer, grace the position of college president and manage the business of a bank. He has endeared himself to the community by public-spirited citizenship, supporting with energy and liberality such measures as promote the general welfare. His magnificent physique, dignified presence and genial manners are sources of personal influence and popularity. He stands six feet four, with BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 347 symmetrical proportions, and both in person and features bears a striking resemblance to his great friend, the martyred Garfield. As a jury advocate and political orator he is equally powerful and equally ready fearless in conflict, generous in victory kind of heart; loved by his friends, respected by political foes. In the preparation of a history of St. Joseph township some years ago he displayed literary ability and versatility as a writer. A prominent member of the Bar has this to say in response to a request of the editor for an estimate : " After serving the people acceptably as Probate Judge of Williams county, and as Common Pleas Judge of the second subdivision of the Third Judicial District of Ohio, he entered actively into the practice of law in Bryan. Endowed with great natural abilities and favored with a thorough collegiate education, he was not long in demonstrating his worth as a lawyer. While comparatively a young man, he has reached- the front ranks in his chosen profession. Being distinguished in appearance, with a powerful and impressive voice and an unusually easy and elegant flow of language, he is a remarkably strong advocate before a jury and being strictly honest with the courts and his clients, he has for many years enjoyed a lucrative practice. He is in every respect entitled to the confidence and high respect in which he is held by his fellow citizens. As a lawyer and advocate he has few. superiors and as a citizen he is the equal of any man." For the past twenty-five years Judge Bowersox has been a member of the United Brethren Church. He was married June 10, 1875, to Miss Laura A. Jarvis, of Westerville, Ohio, a native of the State, a graduate of Otterbein University and a daughter of Samuel and Lydia Gilbert Jarvis. Her father was the leading merchant of Westerville. They have one child, Ralph, a bright, manly boy, born March 28, 1886, in whose character and disposition appear to be combined the refined intellectual forces of his father and the gentle, aesthetic qualities of his mother. RICHARD W. CAHILL, Napoleon. Mr. Cahill is a native of Crawford county, born April 22, 1853. His extraction is Scotch-Irish, and he is equipped mentally and morally with the best traits of both nationalities. His grandparents emigrated from Ireland. His father was a pioneer settler in Crawford county, a farmer, and also a leading citizen; a representative in the legislature of the State and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1851. Richard was born and raised on the farm. His education, begun -in the country district school, was continued in the preparatory department of the university at Wooster and completed in Wittenberg College at Springfield', Ohio, where he pursued the classical course to graduation. He was graduated in 1878, and immediately took up the study of law at Norwalk. From boyhood his aspirations to become a lawyer were strong enough to lead him into a course of broad and thorough preparation. His purpose was in perfect harmony with his inclination, and the end was kept steadily in view. After reading for about two years, first at Norwalk and then at Napoleon, he was 348 - BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO. admitted to the. Bar in the fall of 1880, after an examination before the Supreme Court committee at Columbus. He settled down to the practice at Napoleon alone, but after a short time formed a partnership with Honorable J. E. Haley, which was terminated in 1882 by the election of Mr. Cahill to the office of prosecuting attorney for Henry county. He was re-elected three years later, and served continuously for six years. It is an office which takes the measure of a lawyer's ability and tests the honesty of a man who administers it before the grand jury and at the Bar. Mr. Cahill displayed remark. able talents, for one so young, in the discharge of his official duties, and preserved his integrity as a man and a lawyer. He conducted one of the most notorious prosecutions in the criminal annals of the State and secured a conviction. Wesley Johnson was arraigned and tried on an indictment charging murder in the first degree. The crime alleged was the killing of the Williams family. The evidence was almost wholly circumstantial ; but so closely did the prosecutor follow the steps of the accused, and so cleverly did he weave the net around him, out of the threads of circumstance gathered up here and there, that escape was impossible. The jury followed him and accepted the theory of the prosecution as true. He forged the links of circumstantiality into a chain of evidence which the jury accepted as incontestable proof. The verdict was "guilty" and the felon was executed, after preparing an elaborate confession which sustained the prosecution in every essential detail. The case was sensational, and its management in behalf of the commonwealth was altogether creditable to the State's attorney. Upon retiring from the office of prosecuting attorney, at the close of his second term, Mr. Cahill resumed general practice. In 1891 he formed a partnership with James Donovan, which is still maintained. He has given especial attention to real estate law, and is exceedingly well informed upon all its phases. His conclusion, after the examination of a title or the study of the complications sometimes arising in the partition of realty, and claims through bequest or descent of property, is usually correct. He does not shrink from .the labors of a tedious investigation of the facts and the law, but pursues it to the deepest depths until he reaches a solid and impenetrable rock foundation. On this his argument is constructed and his conclusion based. A lawyer of the circuit who knows him well says he is deeply versed in land titles and criminal law. In the laws pertaining to ditches, roads, and everything affecting farms, or litigation peculiarly agricultural, his information is full and his success remarkable. Ile appears to be guided by the aphorism of the college president, "Other things being equal, the man who has the most facts is the winner." Hence he is indefatigable in obtaining all the facts in a case, and finding the witnesses to prove them, and persevering in the study of the authorities. Nothing material is neglected or overlooked. He prepares his cases with excellent method and superlative care. His character for morality is without reproach, his integrity is unchallenged, and his reputation so well grounded that his fellow citizens, no less than the court, are accustomed to rely implicitly upon his statements. His veracity is never questioned. Politicalhy he is a Democrat, and one who BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO - 349 proves his faith by his works. He has for years been a member of the city council, and his activities are freely exerted in behalf of popular interests. Mr. Cahill was married June 8, 1884, to Miss Jennie Shoemacker, of Napoleon, only child ofsDr. Shoemacker. The family consists of two daughters, aged respectively seven and three years. WILLIS F. CORBETT, Paulding. Willis F. Corbett, prosecuting attorney of Paulding county and one of the successful attorneys of Paulding, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Seneca county on the 14th day of October, 1862. His parents, Martin Corbett and Elizabeth French, were also natives of the State, although the family on both sides is of English descent. His paternal grandfather, James Corbett, served in the British army in the wars of the allied armies against Napoleon, and was with the Iron Duke in his victory at Waterloo, afterwards emigrating to the United States, settling first in Pennsylvania and coming thence soon afterwards to the young State of Ohio, where he met and married a woman of English birth whose family had settled in the State in the early part of the century. Mr. Corbett's mother's family, the Frenches, were residents of Columbiana county. His education was begun in the common schools of his native county, which he attended during the winter months, spending the remainder of the year at work on his father's farm. In this way his body and mind were kept in balance, the former assisted in its cultivation by a vigorous frame developed by the healthful outdoor exercise incident to farm work. At nineteen he entered Heidelberg University, at Tiffin, where he pursued the course of study, for two years. After another year at home, employed in the duties and labor of the farm, he set about the direct preparation for his profession, by taking up the study of law in the office of Honorable George E. Seney. Judge Seney, who was at that time representing the Ninth Ohio District in the Congress of the United States, had achieved distinction in the judiciary of the State and eminence at the Bar. Young Corbett was fortunate in being associated at the very threshold of his student life in the law with a lawyer whose abilities were so manifest and whose position in the profession was so unequivocal. He studied under the preceptorship of Judge Seney for two years, and was then admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court on the 4th day of June, 1886. His opening practice for one year was in the office where his studies had been prosecuted; and under the same auspices. He then removed to Paulding and formed a partnership with Honorable F. B. De Witt, who was subsequently elected to Congress. This partnership was dissolved at the end of the first year, since which time Mr. Corbett has continued in practice alone. In the spring of 1891 he was elected city solicitor of Paulding, but resigned the position in the fall of the same year upon his election to the office of prosecuting attorney of Paulding county. In 1894 he was re-elected, and is now serving his second term. In his official capacity he has conducted the prosecution of some very important felonies, perhaps the most