SKETCH OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF MAHONING COUNTY THE history of the Bench and Bar of Mahoning county dates back to the formation of Mahoning county, 1846, with the county seat at Canfield. The county seat was fixed in the Act of In- corporation stipulating that "The court of common pleas and supreme court of said county shall be holden at some convenient house in the town of Canfield until a suitable county building shall be erected. The trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, being alive to the advantages of obtaining the location of the seat of government at Canfield, tendered their building for use as a court house, and the same was accepted. A legislature, which at this time had authority to appoint judges, designated James Brownlee of Poland, James Wallace of Springfield, and Lemuel Brigham of Ellsworth, to act as associate justices until election should be held. Eben Newton of Canfield, was president judge. At this time the president judge of common pleas court was a lawyer and the associate justices were laymen. The . latter were selected to advise with the presiding judge on matters of fact. The presiding judge was to apply the law to the facts. The first regular term of common pleas court in Mahoning county, was held May 11, 1846, in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canfield. Jos; Powers, of Milton, was sheriff, and William Ferguson, of Youngstown, was the prosecuting attorney. Henry Canfield, a member of one of the pioneer families of Canfield, who had been appointed clerk pro tern at a prior special court held by the associates, was clerk of the court. William Whittlesey, of Canfield, was elected clerk for five years. He gave bond in the sum of $10,000. Prior to the opening of the first regular term of court the judges of the common pleas court convened for the first time March 16, 1846, in the office of Elisha Whittlesey in Canfield. Hon. Eben Newton administered the oath of office. Although there were but nineteen cases on the docket when it was called on the opening day of the court, that was deemed a large number for those days. The term lasted three days, the jurists working as industriously as was consistent with the proper administration of justice during these abbreviated terms. When they adjourned there were 37 cases on the docket. No case was tried to the jury, one judgment was rendered on confession, eight bills were approved, eight guardians of minors were appointed and administrators were named for eleven estates. Deputy Master Commissioners were named as follows : Robert W. Tayler, John M. Edwards and John B. Blocksom. The educational system of the county was not neglected and school examiners were named as follows : Hiram Hall, Reuben McMillen and John M. Edwards. Official auctioneers were prominent officers in those 176 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio early days, the auctioneer's bell, which was used to summon bidders, was heard frequently throughout the county. John Kirk and Andrew Gardiner were designated auctioneers. The first term of court was an event of great importance in Canfield, and was largely attended not only by laymen from all parts of Mahoning county, but lawyers from throughout northern Ohio were present when the presiding judge's gavel fell for opening of the first term of the court. Lawyers per formed their duties in the early days under entirely different conditions than now prevail. The president judge and the lawyers traveled their circuits on horseback. When they arrived at the town where court was to be held they were generally thrown together into one room in a log cabin and they slept under one roof, some of them very near it. The food was generally cooked out of doors ; the court house was not infrequently some log cabin in the woods without a floor to it ; but we have seen that Canfield people provided a sacred place for the holding of the sessions of the common pleas court of Mahoning county. True, the edifice could not be compared to the splendid church structures that now stand in Mahoning county, but undoubtedly it was more substantial than the village court house, which was to be found in those days. Judges and lawyers rode from court to court, carried their provisions when the rides were long in their saddle-bags, though they generally got into some settlement before night fall. Yet not always, when the streams were swollen with rain. And so it was when the first court convened in Canfield the little village was filled with many strangers. The lawyers, with few exceptions, practiced in many courts in Ohio. Most of their practice in those days was not confined to a particular county court. Terms of court continued to be held in the Methodist Church at Canfield until the fall term of 1847, at which time the new court house, which had been promised by citizens of Canfield in consideration of the location of the seat of government in that village had been erected. In August, 1876, the county seat was removed to Youngstown, which at that early date gave evidence of developing into a thriving city. The people of Youngstown for some time before the removal of the court had started the construction of a new court house, and in that building on September 10, 1876, the first term of the court of common pleas was held. The term ended December 19, 1876. The Hon. Philip B. Conant, of Ravenna, was judge ; Henry B. Shields, clerk ; John R. Davis, sheriff ; Charles R. Truesdale, prosecuting attorney. The growth of the county in population, in volume of commercial transactions and in litigation is shown by the fact that when the court opened there were 722 cases pending. Of this number 48 were criminal cases, 674 were civil. At the close of the term, including those disposed of, the number of civil cases was 953 and criminal cases, 135. Total, 1,058. Strife for the county seat in the southeastern part of the western reserve should, of course, be mentioned in a sketch of this character. Soon after the establishment of Trumbull county, which included the territory now comprising Mahoning, considerable feeling was manifested in Youngstown, Canfield and other places nearby against the arrangement whereby Warren was made the county seat. In accordance with action taken in May, 1801, a log jail had been erected in The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 177 Warren, north of the present city hall. This building was burned in an unfinished state on the night of February 28, 1804, and this conflagration was followed by serious efforts to have the county seat removed to Youngstown. Others complicated matters by striving for its location somewhere upon the eastern line of the reserve. Some wanted it located where Girard now is. Elias Tracy wanted the county seat on the corners of Morgan, Rome, Lennox and New Lime, or at New Lime, in which town he was particularly interested. The influence of the southeastern portion of the county generally carried the election for the representative commissioner, who favored the Youngstown interests. The people of Warren were obliged to appoint and support lobby members to attend to their interests at Chillicothe, then the state capital. For a number of years aliens had been permitted to vote at the elections. In 1809 it was by their aid that at Youngstown they elected Richard J. Elliott and Robert Hughes as representatives, and a commissioner also favorable to their interests. It was suggested, at that time that if the otes of the aliens could be thrown out, Thomas G. Jones, the candidate favorable to Warren would he elected. The election of Messrs. Elliott and Hughes was contested. Mr. Leonard Case, of Warren, and Mr. William Chidester, of Mansfield, justices of the peace, were selected to take the testimony demanded by the case, and they accordingly proceeded to their duty. The aliens, mostly Irishmen, were deeply excited, for they regarded these proceedings as a direct blow to their liberties. Party feeling was also intense, and the citizens of the section were thoroughly aroused. The justices decided to take depositions the first day at Hubbard. Homer Hine was for the respondents and J. S. Edwards for the contestants. Daniel Sheehy, celebrated for being the only person ever confined in the jail in Warren up to that time, made a flaming stump speech, an hour and a half long, and finally .the judges were obliged to force him to silence. Many persons summoned refused to testify and it was not until they were threatened with arrest and imprisonment that they accepted the situation and gave their affidavits. At least 100 depositions were taken. Justices then adjourned to meet at Youngstown the next day, and the same course was attempted but the justices compelled the business to proceed and took something more than another 100 depositions. Then the proceedings were taken up at Poland, the third and last day of the sessions of the justices of the peace. The citizens there were more boisterous than either at Youngstown or Hubbard. Sheehy, who had been following the justices, was put under arrest, and this had a salutary effect, as he had been a ring leader in the noisy disturbances of the people. In all about 400 depositions were taken, which, it was hoped, would turn the election in favor of Warren, but such was not the case. The legislature of the State of Ohio convened in Chillicothe in 1809 with 42 members present. Mr. Elliott and Mr. Hughes were given seats from Trumbull county on proper credentials, on leave. Mathias Corwin, of Warren county, presented the statement of Thomas D. Jones, contesting the election of Mr. Hughes, and the latter submitted documents. These were read and referred to the committee on privileges and elections. The committee reported the following resolution : 178 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio "Resolved, That Robert Hughes is entitled to a seat in the present assembly." It was finally adopted after considerable debate. Thus ended the case, Youngstown apparently having the advantage, but the contest had probably so modified matters that little or no further effort was made at that time, looking toward the removal, and undoubtedly the Youngstown members were somewhat restrained by the remembrance of what had taken place. In 1810, for some reason, only one representative was elected. He was Aaron Collar, of Canfield. Mr. Collar was indifferent in the matter and nothing was accomplished during his term as legislator. In 1811 Thomas G. Jones still favorable to Warren, and Samuel Bryson, who was interested for Youngstown, were elected as representatives from Trumbull county, and Judge George Tod, member of the family that has now become illustrious in the affairs of state and Mahoning county, was chosen senator. Judge Tod, although living near Youngstown, gave the people of Warren to understand that if he was elected the matter would be settled in their favor. In the last elections the aliens were not allowed to vote. Warren had also continued to gain political strength, the population increasing, though the county was as yet de facto. The strife was quieted for some tune, when in 181.3 the contract for the court house at Warren was let to James Scott, but about 1839, when the county buildings became insufficient for the needs of the county, and new structures were necessary, opposition again developed and division was proposed. The feeling of the different parties was seen at every election. The Democrats on the whole never favored improvements at Warren, and the Whigs at Youngstown made it a point to nominate some man for commissioner who had a proper regard for their interests. If they could not carry their point in convention it appears that they generally supported the Democratic nominee for that office. This matter of the division of the county occupied much attention for many years. In the winter of 1845-46,' when it was found that the question imperatively demanded settlement, Mahoning county was created. New buildings were then erected at Warren for Trumbull county. Five young lawyers from the state of Connecticut, who gained distinction in their profession and became prominent and honored citizens of Ohio, were among the early settlers of the southeastern part of the western reserve, now Trumbull and Mahoning counties. They were George Tod, Calvin Pease, Homer Hine, John S. Edwards and Elisha Whittlesey. George Tod was the pioneer lawyer of Youngstown, and also one of the earliest lawyers of the reserve. He was born in Suffield, Conn., December 11, 1773. His parents were David and Rachel Tod. He graduated with high honors from Yale College in 1795, and subsequently taught school at New Haven, Conn. He read law at the law school of Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1797. He was married to Miss Sally Isaacs, who was born January 12, 1778; and was the daughter of Ralph and Mary Isaacs. The two oldest children, Charlotte and Jonathan I. Tod were born in Youngstown. At the first territorial court of Trumbull county, held in August, 1800, Attorney Tod was appointed prosecuting attorney and at that term The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 179 the grand jury returned a bill of indictment for murder against Joseph McMahon for shooting Captain George, an Indian, at the Salt Springs. McMahon was tried in a special court held at Youngstown, Mr. Tod appearing in behalf of the United States as prosecuting attorney. He was honored during the first year of his residence in Ohio by Governor St. Clair of the territory, with an appointment as secretary of the territory. At the first election held at Youngstown in April, 1802, upon the admission of Ohio as a state, he was elected township clerk. In the following two years he was re-elected. Then followed political honors in rapid succession. In 1804-5 he was senator from Trumbull county, in the state legislature and again in 1810-11 he was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio in 1806. Upon the resumption of hostilities between the British and American armies he was commissioned Major and afterwards colonel of the 19th Regiment of Ohio Militia and he served with distinction at Fort Meigs and Sacketts Harbor. In 1815 he was elected president judge of the court of common pleas of the old third circuit, which then comprised a large part of the counties of the reserve. He held this office until 1829. After leaving the 'bench, except when attending to his duties as prosecutor, he retired from the practice of law and devoted his attention largely to the care of his farm at Briar Hill, in the northern part of the township at Youngstown. The farm afterwards became so celebrated for its deposits of fine mineral coal, which was developed by his son, the late Nathan Tod. As a lawyer and a jurist he ranked among the first in the State of Ohio. As a citizen he was held in the highest regard. He died at Briar Hill, September 29, 1847. Calvin Pease, a lawyer of note in the early days, removed to Youngstown in March, 1800, where he took up the practice of law. Judge Pease was born in Suffield, Hartford county, Conn., Sept. 9, 1776. He was appointed postmaster of Youngstown, January 1, 1802, and he was first postmaster of that place. He held office until his removal to Warren in 1803. In 1802 he was township trustee of Youngstown. He was appointed clerk of the court of common pleas of Trumbull county at its first session in August, 1800. Subsequently he was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio and of the common pleas court and representative and senator in the Ohio legislature. He died at Warren, September 17, 1839. Elisha Whittlesey, during his long career in public life, established a national reputation for untiring perseverance and scrupulous honesty. He was born in Washington, Litchfield county, October 19, 1783. In 1803 he attended school in Danbury, Connecticut, from which he graduated in 1803. He commenced the study of law with his brother, Mathew B. Whittlesey ,of Washington, Connecticut, and he was admitted to the bar at Fairfield, Connecticut, at the March term, 1805. On June 3, 1806, he, with his wife, started on their journey to Ohio. Their journey ended on their arrival in Canfield on June 27, 1806. In the following August he was admitted to the bar of Ohio by the supreme court of Warren. At the first term of the court of common pleas thereafter, he was appointed prosecuting attorney and he held that office until he resigned in 1823. He had a distinguished career in the army in 180 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio the War of 1812. He rose to the rank of brigade major and inspector. He continued in the service a few months longer after his discharge from the army as aid and private secretary of General Harrison, at the request of the general. He was representative in the state legislature in 1820 and 1821 and then he was elevated to the position in Congress of representative in the district composed of Trumbull, Portage, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. He was honored several times by re-election and he resigned in 1838, after a service in Congress of sixteen continuous years during the greater part of which time he was chairman of the committee on claims. In 1822 he formed a law partnership with Eben Newton. This continued until 1841, when he was appointed by President Harrison auditor for the post office department, which required his continued presence in Washington. He resigned the office of auditor, September 30, 1843 ; then he returned to Canfield, engaging in practicing law and in other business. In 1847 he was appointed general agent of the Washington Monument Association, but resigned this office on May 31, 1849, when he was named first comptroller of the treasury by President Taylor. He served with distinction in this office during the national administration of Presidents Taylor and Fillmore. When President Pierce was inaugurated, Mr. Whittlesey resigned, having opposed the political party which elected General Pierce. The new president was so strongly impressd with the value of the services given by Mr. Whittlesey that he insisted upon his remaining. Mr. Whittlesey acquiesced. He remained until President Buchanan's inauguration, when he tendered his resignation, and it. was accepted. President Lincoln, in May, 1861, again elevated Mr. Whittlesey to the post which he left when President Buchanan was inaugurated, and he performed its arduous duties until the day of his death, January 7, 1863, when he was stricken down at his post in his office in Washington. David Tod, another lawyer of distinction was born in Youngstown February 21, 1805. He was the son of George and Sally Todd. He was admitted to the bar in 1827. He resided at Warren until 1844, when he returned to the old Brier Hill Farm in Youngstown and he resided there until his death on November 13, 1868. In 1861 he was elected governor of Ohio and he held other civil and military offices. He -gained great distinction throughout the nation during his administration as the war governor of Ohio. A biography of many other lawyers in the early days of Mahoning county might be published, for there are many others who gained distinction in the public service as well as in the private practice of law. Their biographies have been published many times in historical collections. In this list there may be mentioned Samuel Huntington, one of the great lawyers of the Western Reserve, who served in the first constitutional convention and was governor of Ohio in 1808. His business capacity was of a high order, as was shown by his executing so well the duties of many responsible positions. He was a man of spotless character. Others in the list include Perlee Brush, who graduated from Yale in 1793, resided in Youngstown for many years ; died 1852 at the age of 84 years ; Homer Hine, born New Milford, Conn., July 25, 1776, died 1856 ; Henry J. Canfield, born in Connecticut, died 1856 ; Robert W. Tayler, born in Harrisburg, Pa., November 9, 1812, and died The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 181 February 25, 1878, while at his desk in his office in Washington, where he served as comptroller of the treasury. Eben Newton, born in Goshen, Conn., October 16, 1795 ; died in Canfield, 1869. During the time he practiced law he had thirty or more law students, and for many years the Canfield Law School had a wide and deserved celebrity. William G. Moore was born January 7, 1822, at Freedom, on the northern bank of the Ohio river. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court in 1847. He was a law partner with R. W. Tayler and afterwards a partner of General Thomas W. Sanderson, William C. Bunts and W. J. Lawthers. He was elected mayor of Youngstown in April, 1854, and re-elected in 1856. In 1869 he was chosen prosecuting attorney, serving for two years. The Poland Law College, which was conducted at Poland, Ohio, for a number of years by the law firm of Chester Hayden, Marcus A. King and Mortimer D. Leggett, established quite a reputation in the early days of the county. The law college was conducted there for a few years, when it was removed to Cleveland, Ohio. COURTS AND BAR OF FREMONT COUNTY BY BASIL MEEK, Esq. The judicial system of Ohio under the constitution of 1802, briefly stated, consisted of (1) A supreme court composed of three judges till 1804, four from then till 1810, then three till 1816, and after the last date four to the close, February 9, 1852. Terms were held once a year in each county, any two of the judges being a quorum. A general term was held once a year at the capitol by all the judges, and known as the court in bank. It had concurrent jurisdiction with the common pleas court when the amount in dispute exceeded $1,000.00 ; appellate jurisdiction in all cases where that court had original jurisdiction ; exclusive jurisdiction in capital punishment cases, except that from 1825 the law permitted persons charged with capital crimes, to be tried in the common pleas, at their option ; and it had exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of divorce and alimony until 1843, when concurrent jurisdiction in such cases was conferred upon the common pleas. (2) Common pleas courts composed of a lawyer, as a president judge for each circuit, and three laymen associate judges for each county. This court had original jurisdiction in all criminal cases except in capital punishment cases ; in all civil cases where the jurisdiction exceeded that of justice of the peace ; appellate from justices of the peace and original jurisdiction in all probate matters. The associate judges could hold special terms for the transaction of probate matters, and were in their judicial capacity substantially the court of probate. All judges were elected by the legislature for terms of seven years. (3) Justices of the peace elected by the voters of each township in the several counties for terms of three years, with jurisdiction limited to small amounts in controversy, and preliminary hearings in criminal charges. The common law forms of actions prevailed. Prosecuting attorneys, for both the supreme and common pleas courts, in each county, were until 1833 appointed by the common pleas courts to hold office during the pleasure of the court, and after that year were elected at the annual election, in each county, for terms of two years. Clerks of courts for both, supreme and common pleas, were appointed by the courts respectively for terms of seven years. Sheriffs were elected in each county at the annual election, for terms of two years. January 31, 1815, when Huron county was organized, all the terri- The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 183 tory embraced in what became Sandusky county was attached to that county (11, Vol. 113). The first record evidence of civil government within the territory of Sandusky county to be found is in Journal No. 1 of the county commissioners of Huron county, at page 1, and is as follows : "Commissioners' office at county seat. "August 1, 1815, first meeting held at David Abbott, Esq. "Caleb Palmer, Charles Parker, Eli S. Barnum, commissioners. "The new townships following are set off, viz. : 1st.—Waynes Reserve at Lower Sandusky to be known by the name of Lower Sandusky." Afterwards, the following appears in same commissioners' Journal : "May 18, 1819, commissioners met, to wit : Joseph Strong and Bildad Adams. "A petition was presented for a new township, therefore ordered that all that tract lying west of the fire lands (Huron county) and east of the Sandusky river, is hereby set off and made a separate township by the name of Croghan." By act of the state legislature, April 15, 1803, the state was divided into three judicial circuits. The territory which afterwards became Sandusky county was placed within Franklin county in the second circuit. In 1809 it was transferred to Delaware county, in the fourth circuit, created in 1808. In 1815 it was transferred to Huron county, where it remained until organized as a separate county in 1820. INDIAN MURDER TRIAL. While thus within the jurisdiction of Huron county, occurred the trial at Norwalk of three Indians for the murder, within the Lower Sandusky region, soon to become Sandusky county, of two white men, trappers, near the present site of Oak Harbor. Two were found guilty, and were finally hung at Norwalk by sentence of Judge Tod, president judge. One turned state's evidence and was acquitted. This was the first trial and hanging for murder committed within Sandusky county territory. A complete record of the case is found in Vol. 1, page 217, Huron County Common Pleas Law Record. The early records and papers in Huron county are not in condition to furnish much further information, but it is certain that while these townships were within that jurisdiction, John Drury and Israel Harrington were justices of the peace in Lower Sandusky, Harrison, as early as December 18, 1815, and that Jaques Hulburd was a justice of the peace when Sandusky county was organized. The first election held thereafter for justice of the peace was in Croghan township on July 4, 1820, at which Morris A. Newman was elected. Hulburd was afterwards associate judge, clerk of courts and representative in the legislature. Harrington and Newman were also subsequently associate judges. Sandusky county was organized February 12, 1820, to take effect April 1, following, and included within its boundaries all of what is now Ottawa and parts of Erie and Lucas counties. On account of a contention between the east and west sides of the river, for the location of the seat of justice, the legislature temporarily, only, established the same Croghanville on the east side and appointed a commission of three persons of whom Charles R. Sherman, who soon 184 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio thereafter became a supreme judge, was chairman, to permanently locate such seat of justice. Courts were held in the house of Morris A. Newman, being a tavern on the hill, till the May term, 1822, as below stated : The first election for officers was held the first Monday in April following, there then being but two townships in the county, Croghan, including all the territory east of the Sandusky river to the west line of Huron county, and lower Sandusky, all west of the same to east line of Wood county. The vote polled was—Croghan township, 57 ; Sandusky, 118 ; total, 175. Willis E. Brown, the first sheriff, was then elected. February 24, 1820, the county was, for judicial purposes, attached to the third judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Portage, Medina, Huron, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Geauga and Trumbull, of which Hon. George Tod, of Trumbull county, was president judge, and to whose salary of $1,000.00 was added $200.00 for coming to the counties of Sandusky and Wood, which latter county was also added to his circuit at same time. The first term of common pleas court held in the county was on May 8, 1820, and was opened by proclamation of Sheriff Willis E. Brown. Present, Hon. George Tod, president judge ; Israel Harrington, David Harold and Alexander Morrison, associate judges, and Jacob Parker, of Richland county, prosecuting attorney. Judge Tod was a graduate of Yale and a man of eminent ability ; he had been state senator from Trumbull county, supreme judge from 1806 to 1810, which high office he resigned to enter the military service of his country, to aid in protecting the frontiers in the war of 1812 against the British and Indians ; and was elected common pleas judge in 1815. He was the father of Governor David Tod, one of the war governors of Ohio. Mr. Parker subsequently, 1841-1848, Was the judge of the 11th circuit. He was related to the Shermans by marriage, his wife being the only sister of Judge Charles R. Sherman, who was the father of Senator John Sherman and Gen.. W. T. Sherman. On the return of the venire for the grand jury, it being found that the same had not been issued the length of time required by law, was challenged, and the panel quashed, and thereupon the sheriff was ordered to select a new grand jury from the bystanders, which was accordingly done. The following were selected: Joshua Davis, Elijah Brayton, Charles B. Fitch, Reuben Bristol, Elisha W. Howland, Jonathan H. Jerome, William Morrison, Josiah Rumery, Nicholas Whitinger, William Andrews, Ruel Loomis, James Montgomery, Caleb Rice, Robert Harvey, Thomas Webb ; whereupon Charles B. Fitch was appointed foreman and took the oath prescribed by law, and his fellow jurors, after having taken the same oath, received a solemn charge from the court and retired. These grand jurors seem to have been diligent, for the next day closed their labors for the term, by returning seven indictments, three of which were against persons for selling liquor to Indians. Among the other four was one against one Almeron Sands for assault and battery on the body of Calvin Leesen. Leesen, the person assaulted, was one of the parties indicted for selling whiskey to the The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 185 Indians. Sands was immediately arraigned, and entering a plea of guilty, was sentenced to pay a fine of $15.00. This was the first indictment returned and the first judgment ever entered in this court. At the opening of the May term, 1822, Judge Tod, presiding with associates, Israel Harrington and Jeremiah Everett, the report of Charles R. Sherman, Nehemiah King and Edward Payne, the commissioners, theretofore appointed to locate the seat of justice, was made and filed, establishing the same at the "Town of Sandusky." The journal of the proceedings shows that thereupon court adjourned, to be held at the school-house in said town of Sandusky, and accordingly met pursuant to such adjournment the same day, May 23, in said school-house. This was a hewed log structure, standing near the spot on which the present old Central school building, at the corner of Croghan street and Park avenue, now stands, the courts being held there for three or four years. Dr. P. Beaugrand, now living, and 90 years of age, says that he well remembers the courts being held in this log building, till a court house was afterwards erected. Pickett Latimer, of Huron county, was prosecuting attorney. Among the proceedings of this term appears the report of the commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the seat of justice of Seneca county, fixing the same at the town of Tiffin. It will be remembered that at its erection in 1820, Seneca county, for judicial purposes, was attached to Sandusky and so remained till January 22, 1824, and its judicial proceedings were during that period held and recorded in Sandusky county. The first jury trial in Sandusky common pleas was at this term, being a prosecution for arson, against a woman by the name of Sally Wolcott, charged with burning a building owned by one Moses Nicholas. The jury found her not guilty. The first term of the supreme court of Sandusky county was held in the school-house, mentioned, on July 30, 1823. Charles R. Sherman and Jacob Burnet, judges, both distinguished for learning and ability as jurists. The latter had been United States Senator, as the successor of William Henry Harrison. Yearly terms were thereafter held in the county by Supreme Judges Sherman, Burnet, Hitchcock, Collett, Brush, Wright, Lane, Wood, Grimke, Birchard, Reed, Avery, Spaulding and Caldwell, two of them being present at each of the several terms, all of whose names appear from year to year in the supreme court journal of the county. At the August term, 1845, of this court, Stanley Matthews, who a third of a century later became associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, was admitted to the bar. Rutherford B. Hayes was a member of the committee who examined him as to his qualifications for admission, and as president of the United States appointed him to the supreme bench. There were four divorce cases brought at the first term of this court ; three were granted and one dismissed. H. J. Harman, Esq., was attorney for all the petitioners. During the following 29 years, to the close of the old constitution, this court, together with the common pleas, which, after 1843, had concurrent jurisdiction in such cases, there were 43 divorces granted, including the above ; according to the record, there had been 2,184 186 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio marriages, during this time showing the divorces to be two per cent of marriages. Comparing the above with the present, marriage and divorce situation in the county, it will be found that the marriages for the past year were 285 and the divorces for three years last past have averaged 42, being nearly 15 per cent of the number of marriages, taking the number of marriages during the past year as a criterion, which is approximately correct. At the May term, 1824, of the common pleas, the case of Nimble Jim, an Indian, against John Chena, a white man, was tried. This was a case in replevin to recover possession of an Indian pony. Elutherus Cook, of Sandusky City, was attorney for the Indian, and ex-Judge Parish, of Columbus, appeared for the white man. The Indian's statement was : That he had raised the pony from a colt, and that he was three years old only ; and having been put out a few miles from where the white man lived, on a hunting excursion, the pony left him and was making his way home to the Seneca reserve, and was taken up by the white man, who refused to give it up, claiming that he had raised it from a colt and that it was four years old. To prove that the horse was raised by the Indian, there were four Seneca Indians called as witnesses, the first being George, the chief. The question arose, by what form were savage Indians to be sworn to tell the truth. Judge Lane, through an interpreter, put this question to George : "Do you believe the Great Spirit will punish you if you tell a lie about the horse ?" George replied to the interpreter that he would not tell a lie for any man's horse. The judge then ordered them, through the interpreter, to hold up their right hands, and put the following oath to them : "You, and each of you, do believe that the Great Spirit will punish you—each one—if you tell a lie about the ownership of the horse now in dispute between the Indian and white man?" The white man brought four witnesses into court who testified that he had raised the pony and that he was four years old the last spring. Judge Lane thereupon ordered the sheriff to find three men who professed to know the age of a horse by examining his mouth. The sheriff found three men, who examined the mouth of the horse, after which they testified that the pony was but three years old that spring. The Tndians all testified that the pony was but three years old. The jury, however, to the surprise of all, awarded the pony to. the white man. The Indians present showed their resentment, and the white men attending court, to pacify the Indians, made up a purse of money and bought the pony of the white man and gave it to the clearly rightful owner, the Seneca Indian, and that satisfied the Indians. Dr. R. A. Sherrard, Sugar Hill, Jefferson county, who was present at this trial, in a communication to the Fremont Journal, gives this case as one illustrating the uncertainties of the law. February 10, 1824, a reorganization of the judicial circuits placed Sandusky county in the second circuit with the counties of Union, Delaware, Marion, Wood, Williams, Huron and Richland, with Hon. Ebenezer Lane, of Huron county, president judge, who continued to hold court in Sandusky until he was elected to the supreme bench in 1830. He was succeeded by Hon. David Higgins, 1831, of Huron county. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 187 Judge Higgins was succeeded by Hon. Ozias Bowen, 1838, of Marion county, who afterwards became a supreme judge in 1856 under the new constitution. The circuits from time to time underwent changes, and Lucas and Erie counties, with others, were in same circuit with Sandusky, and Myron H. Tilden, 1845, then of Lucas, became president judge. He afterwards moved to Cincinnati and became a judge of the superior court there. He was succeeded as common pleas judge by Hon. E. B. Saddler, 1847, of Erie county, who held courts till the close of the old system. All these have passed from earth, leaving unblemished records as able, just and upright judges. Israel Harrington, David Harold, Alexander Morrison, Charles B. Fitch, Jeremiah Everett (father of Homer Everett), Jaques Hulburd, Morris A. Newman, Joel Strawen, James Justice (father of Mesdames Dr. Wilson, Dr. Failing and Homer Everett), Elisha W. Howland, Luther Potter, Jacob Nyce, Isaac Knapp, George Overmyer, Sr., Alpheus McIntyre, Jesse S. Olmstead (father of Mrs. Charles Foster), Frederick Chapman, Samuel Hufford. The first court house, a frame two-story building 24 by 36, with offices below and court room above, was ordered erected April 23, 1823, Commissioners' Journal 1, page 145, and was completed about 1825, and is still standing on the spot where completed, opposite Fort Stephenson park, north, on point of hill west of Arch, between Croghan and State streets, and is occupied as the residence of Rev. Mr. Mochel, pastor of St. John's Lutheran church. A log jail was built on the same grounds, and in it were imprisoned the murderers, Sperry and Thompson, and here Sperry committed suicide, and from it Thompson escaped, but was re-captured as stated elsewhere in this paper. This house was occupied as the court house, until the present brick building, with the jail in basement, was completed, being in the spring of 1844, as will be seen from Commissioners' Journal 2, page 371. It will also be seen from the same journal, page 381, December 4, 1844, that this first court house and grounds, three lots, were ordered sold, and finally passed to the ownership of the Lutheran church and the house was used for a time as a place of worship and preaching of the gospel, and thus the maxim, in equity jurisprudence, that "Equity follows the law," finds illustration, as do also the words of Scripture : "Mercy and truth are met together ; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Here Rev. Henry Lang resided, during his long and able pastorate ; here his children, save one, were born, and in this house all of them were reared. A case involving ownership of river beds, Gavit vs. Chambers, was brought in the common pleas court, to recover damages caused by the erection of a mill-dam across the Sandusky river, at Ballville, by Chambers, causing the water to flow back and cover a stone quarry worked by Gavit, near the middle of the bed of the river, which he claimed title to, by reason of his ownership of the lands on the bank next to the same. Judge Lane charged the jury that Gavit could set up no right, on account of such ownership of the lands on the shore, to the use or ownership of the bed of the river adjacent to such lands. 188 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio The case went to the supreme court, and at the December term, 1828, the judgment of the common pleas was reversed, the supreme court holding that owners of lands on the banks of navigable streams running through Ohio were also owners of the beds of the rivers to the middle of the stream, subject only to the easement of navigation—thus deciding an important question, for the first time made in the state (3 0. R. 495). This ruling was followed later by the supreme court in the case of June vs. Purcell (36 0. S. 396), which also went from this county and is the settled doctrine, and has become a rule of property in Ohio. An interesting jurisdictional question arose upon the arrest of an Indian chief, in the Seneca reservation, named Coonstock, for the killing of his brother, Seneca John, about 1829. Judge Higgins, in a communication to Knapp's History of the Maumee Valley, gives a full and rather pathetic account of the affair. It seems that Seneca John had been, by a council of the tribe, found guilty of causing the death of a brother named Comstock, a chief, in order, as was alleged, that he might become chief in his brother's stead, and was sentenced to be executed and his brother, Coonstock, was, by the law of the tribe, made his executioner. This sentence Coonstock executed with the aid of another brother named Steel. For this he was arrested and brought before a magistrate, in Lower Sandusky, charged with murder. The facts being presented to the supreme court at Lower Sandusky, it was held that the act was completely within the jurisdiction of the Indian tribe, and that Coonstock was the proper executioner of the judicial sentence,- and he was accordingly discharged. No court record of the case appears, but there is no doubt of the correctness of Judge Higgins' account, as he was familiar with the court proceedings at the time.. At the September terms, 1812, and on September 14, the grand jury, of which Charles Lindsey was foreman, returned two indictments for murder in the first degree ; one against Joseph Sperry, who lived near Greenspring, for killing his wife, Catharine, in a fit of jealous rage, April 9, 1842, by striking her in the temple with a flat-iron. The other indictment was against George Thompson for the killing of a young woman by the name of Catherine Hamler, in the Exchange hotel at Bellevue, on May 30, 1842, by shooting her because she refused his offer of marriage. Sperry was tried at once. He was defended by Homer Everett and N. B. Eddy, Esqrs., the defense being that his wife had accidentally fallen from a ladder in the house, which reached the garret, and had in falling struck her head against the corner of a stone in the fireplace. W. W. Culver was prosecuting attorney and was assisted by Cooper K. Watson, Esq. Judge Bowden and associates, McIntyre, r Knapp and Overmyer, were the judges. The trial lasted five days and the jury found him guilty as charged. He was sentenced to be hanged November 2, 1842, and remanded to prison to await his execution. On Sunday, September 30, his two children, a little son and daughter, were taken to the prison to see him for the last time, and in some way he procured a pocket knife from the boy and secretly breaking off and retaining the blade, handed back the knife. With this point of the blade he committed suicide that night by cutting an artery and bleeding to death. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 189 Thompson, his fellow prisoner, witnessed the tragic ending of Sperry's life, but did nothing to prevent it, saying afterwards he would prefer a countryman of his would kill himself than to be hanged. They were Englishmen. In opening Court Journal No. 4, at pages 600 and 601, will appear to the left the record of Sperry's sentence and to the right the probating of his will. Thompson effected two escapes from prison, and was finally captured at Ottawa, Ill., and in March, 1844 brought back and, June 2.0, 1844, was tried, the same judges presiding as in the Sperry case. He was defended by Brice J. Bartlett and Cooper K. Watson, Esqs. ; the state was represented by W. W. Culver, prosecuting attorney, and L. B. Ottis, Esq. The defense was insanity. Thompson was convicted and sentenced to be hanged July 12, 1844, which sentence was carried into effect by John Strohl, sheriff, in the rear of the new court house, which had lately been built. An enclosure, to screen the hanging from public view, was erected, but just at the time it was to take place some reckless persons suddenly tore dawn this enclosure and the sad spectacle was exposed to the full view of the assembled crowd. The venerable Dr. Beaugrand was present as one of the physicians at the execution, and in a recent conversation with the author of this paper, gave a dramatic picture of the appearance and condition of the prisoner as he saw him in that barbarous subterranean prison, with pallid face and prostrate form, kneeling with the priest just previous to the hanging, a sight, he said, most affecting and never to be forgotten. At first and for some years there were but few resident lawyers in the county, and the legal business was done mostly by lawyers from other places, who with the president-judge, traveled the circuit from county to county—not an easy thing in those days of wilderness and swamp. Judge Higgins, in his Memories for Knapp's History, relates an instance of the difficulties sometimes encountered in these itineraries. Court had been held at Findlay ; from there their circuit route took them first to Defiance, and from there to Perrysburg. To travel on horseback was almost impossible, so they hired a man to take them through the black swamp direct to Perrysburg, and procuring a canoe, he and his party of lawyers (Rudolphus Dickinson being one), with saddles, bridles, and baggage, descended the Blanchard and Auglaize rivers, a dismal voyage through an unsettled wilderness of sixty miles to Defiance, and from there down the Maumee river to Perrysburg. Among the itinerant lawyers who came here, as the court dockets and papers show, were E. Cook, E. Lane, and Pickett Latimer, Huron county : Jacob Parker, James Purdy, and Andrew Coffinberry, Mansfield ; Thomas W. Powell, Delaware, and J. C. Spink, Perrysburg. Dividing the period from 1820, when the county was organized, to 1852, into smaller periods of ten years each, it will be found, from the court dockets, and papers on file and the names of attorneys appearing therein, that the resident lawyers under the "old system," came to the bar about, in the order, and within the periods named below. They severally filled the public positions referred to under their names, during or subsequent to the periods mentioned. P. R. Hopkins, clerk of courts, 1820. B. F. Drake, clerk of courts, 1822. Increase Graves, prosecuting attorney, 1824-7. 190 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio Harvey J. Harmon, county prosecutor, 1826-28, and representative in legislature, 1831. Rudolphus Dickinson, prosecuting attorney for following counties : Seneca, 1824 ; Williams, 1826, and Sandusky, 1827 ; member board of public works, 1836-45, and member of Congress, 1846-9. Samuel Treat, county auditor, 1830-6 ; prosecuting attorney, 183638, and representative in legislature, 1837. Hiram P. Pettibone, 1835 ; Asa Calkins, Peter Yates. William W. Culver, prosecuting attorney, 1835 and 1838-44. Nathanel W. Eddy, county auditor, 1836-8, 1840-2. William W. Ainger, 1839. John A. Johnson, 1839. Ralph P. Buckland, state senator, 1856 ; general in War of Rebellion and member of Congress, 1864-8. Brice J. Bartlett, mayor of Fremont, 1850-52, 1855-6. While mayor he caused "Old Betsey," the cannon used by Col. Croghan, in his heroic defense of Fort Stephenson, August 5, 1813, to be brought from Sandusky City, and placed on the spot where the victory was won, toward which her use so greatly contributed. The cannon had been shipped by the government to Lower Sandusky, via Sandusky City, and was detained at the latter place. John L. Greene, Sr., prosecuting attorney, 1850-2 ; representative in legislature, 1856 ; mayor in 1858, and common pleas judge, 1852-7. Lucius B. Otis, prosecuting attorney, 1844-50, and common pleas judge, 1852-7. Chester Edgerton, mayor of Fremont, 1847. Rutherford B. Hayes, city solicitor, Cincinnati, 1856-61 ; general in -War of Rebellion, elected member of Congress, 1864, re-elected 1866, elected governor, 1867, re-elected 1869, and again elected governor 1875, and was President of the United States, 1877-81. Homer Everett, postmaster, 1837 ; sheriff, 1839-43 ; county auditor, 1848-52, mayor, 1865 ; state senator, 1868. Cooper K. Watson. He had lived at Newark two years, at Delaware four years, at Marion five years, four of which he was prosecuting attorney, where he lived eight years, in 1850 moved to Tiffin, member of Congress in 1854, in 1870 moved to Norwalk, and was elected a member from Huron county of Constitutional Convention of 1873, and finally moved to Sandusky City and was common pleas judge 1876-1880. Hiram W. Winslow, prosecuting attorney 1864-6, and representative in legislature, 1870. A. B. Lindsey, prosecuting- attorney 1860-4, and 1866-70. W. H. Reynolds, postmaster, Clyde, Ohio. H. Remsburg, prosecuting attorney, 1874-78. George W. Glick, member of state legislature of Kansas, and governor of state. Thomas P. Fine frock, prosecuting attorney 1856, representative in legislature 1858, and common pleas judge 1874-9. Edward Fenwick Dickinson, prosecuting attorney 1852-56 ; probate judge 1866-8 ; member of Congress 1868-70, mayor 1871-6, probate judge 1877-9, and 1885-91. George R. Haynes, common pleas judge 1883, and judge of the circuit court from its organization February 9, 1885, to the present time. Joseph R. Bartlett. He has not sought nor held public office, but The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 191 rendered gallant services in the War for the Rebellion as a soldier and officer in the 49th Regiment, O. V. I. Col. Bartlett, though no longer a young man, is the youngest of the "pioneer" members, and in his life unites the former bar with the present, and is justly recognized as one of the ablest members. Richland County After the organization of Richland county in 1813, Thomas Coler, William Goss and Peter Kinney served as associate judges of the first common pleas court. They held a special session in June, 1813, which was the very first court held in Richland county, and the only business that came before them was the appointment of an administrator of the estate of Levy Jones, who had been killed by the Indians. Rebecca Byrd and Jonathan Coulter were named administrators, while Winn Winship, George Coffinberry and Roland Weldon were appointed appraisers of Jones' estate. The war business became pressing and these judges again organized in court on September 9, 1813, and remained in session for two days. In the course of this session the last will and testament of Jacob Luvman, deceased, one of the pioneers of Richland county in Mansfield county, was presented, approved and ordered to be recorded. The court named James McCluer and Andrew Coffinberry to serve as executors and they were required to give bond in the sum of $10,000. Nicholas Trucks had passed away and his wife and son, Ruth and Abraham Trucks, were appointed administrators. This was all done on the 9th day of September. On September 10th Samuel McClure, at the order of the court, was paid $12.25 for seven days' services as commissioner, and Melzar Tannehill $9.25 for five days' services as commissioner. Sam Watson had served eight days as commissioner and he was ordered paid $14.00. The following officers were appointed by the court : Winn Winship, clerk ; Andrew Coffinberry, recorder, and William Biddle, surveyor. By the Constitution of 1851 the common pleas court, in addition to three associate judges, who attended to all of the probate work, was composed of a president judge, who was required to be a lawyer. The first court at which sat the four judges provided for by law, convened January 14, 1814, in Mansfield. The president judge was William Wilson ; associates, Peter Kinney, Thomas Coulter. James McCluer was granted a license to keep a house of public entertainment (a theater). Other licenses went to A. C. Murphy, to keep a tavern at his dwelling ; to Johnson McCardy, to retail merchandise for four months, and to George Coffinberry to keep a public house, and on the 14th the court adjourned. In this manner the legal machinery was put into operation for the new county of Richland, and it has, with few changes, been operating smoothly ever since. The old block house, which stood on the public square, was the seat of the administration of justice, and the court met in the upper part of the structure. When the jurists assembled there was no resident lawyer in Mansfield, and it was not until 1815 that John M. May, the first lawyer, took up his residence in Mansfield. Many of the members of the present-day bar remember his son, Manuel M. May, former 192 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio judge of the court of common pleas, a well known lawyer in his day and a man of honor and integrity. From that time forward the city of Mansfield in Richland county always had its full quota of lawyers and litigants had little trouble in having their wants attended to. The Richland county bar has always been a strong one. Many of the- members have possessed more than ordinary ability and they achieved distinction not only at the bar, but also in public life. Asa Grimes was the second lawyer who came in early in 1816 ; then came Colonel William W. Cotgrave and Wilson Elliott in 1816. These men were followed by James Purdy, Jacob Parker and James Stewart. The courts were on wheels in those days. The custom was for the court and lawyers to travel from place to place. The judges and lawyers rode about from county to county on horseback, and they carried their briefs in their saddle bags. Of the pioneer lawyers mentioned before, Judge Parker and Mr. May had been law students together in the office of Philamon Beecher in Lancaster. Parker was regarded as a sound lawyer, possessing an analytical mind and he was a good man at the trial table. He was an omnivorous reader outside the law and was scholarly and cultured. Parker graduated at the Ohio University, Athens, and he and Thomas Ewing, of Lancaster, one of the giants of the Ohio bar of those days, were amongst the first to receive the B. A. Degree from an Ohio College. He was made a judge in 1840, and in that capacity he was peculiarly successful. James Stewart studied law in the office of Judge Parker and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He came to Ohio from West Pennsylvania, and like many other youngsters of those days he came west to grow up with the country ; like many other men who had achieved distinction at the bar he taught school while obtaining his legal education, and was among the first and best school teachers in Mansfield. When Judge Parker's term on the bench expired in 1850, Stewart by unanimous recognition of his associates was elevated to his place. Andrew Coffinberry was the first law student in Mansfield and he studied with Mr. May. He also was one of the first school teachers and generally went by the name of "Count" Coffinberry. He became a full-fledged lawyer. Among the lawyers who traveled with the court in those years and visited Mansfield frequently were William Stanberry, of Newark, who died in 1873 ; Hosmer Curtis and Samuel Mott, of Mount Vernon ; Alexander Harper and Elijah Merwine, of Zanesville, and Charles T. Sherman, of Lancaster. Hosmer Curtis was given the distinction of being the first prosecuting attorney, and he was succeeded by Mr. May in 1816. Wm. B. Raymond, of Wooster, succeeded Mr. May. The decade from 1845 to 1855 was a notable one for members of the Richland county bar. Each session of the court brought together a brilliant gathering of lawyers ; probably there never was a collection of more brilliant members of the bar ever brought together in a single Ohio city. Such lawyers as Thomas Ewing, of Lancaster ; Peter Hitchcock, Edwin M. Stanton, William Stanberry and others of equal learning and distinction attended practically all sessions of the court in the decade mentioned before. Up to the formation of the constitution in 1851 the successive president judges of the Richland county common pleas court were William The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 193 Wilson, of Licking county ; George Tod, of Trumbull ; George Harper, of Muskingum ; Judges Lane and Higgins, of Huron, and Ezra Dean, of Wayne. General William McLaughlin was one of the early lawyers of Mansfield, he coming to the county from Canton in 1827 ; he was a soldier and great lawyer. He laid down his life for his country in the War of the Rebellion. He also was a veteran of the Civil War. General Robert Bentley was one of the early associate judges of the court of common pleas, and he was a prominent and influential citizen all his life. He came to Richland county in 1815 from west Pennslyvania and was appointed judge in 1821. In 1828 he was elected to the state senate.' In the War of 1812 he enlisted and subsequently filled every position in the Ohio militia, from ensign to major general. One of the most prominent members of the early bar in Richland county was Toni Ford. He was a man of imposing personal appearance and possessed great natural gifts as an orator. Some of his efforts upon the stump have seldom, if rarely, been excelled. His speech at the "Know Nothing" convention in Philadelphia gave him a national reputation. As a specimen of crushing repartee it was a masterpiece. After the war he went to Washington city, where he practiced until his death in 1868. Mordecai Bartley won for himself a high place in the history of Mansfield as a citizen, lawyer and a man. In the War of 1812 he was captain of a company ; in 1817 he was elected to the state senate and was afterwards registrar of the Virginia military school lands. He was sent to Congress in 1823, serving in that body four terms and declining a re-election. In 1844 he was elected governor of the state on the Whig ticket. He declined re-nomination for governor and spent the remainder of his days in the labors of his profession and among his fellowmen. Judge Jacob Brinkerhoff and John Sherman, members of the Richland county bar, also became prominent in the state and nation. The former was for many years one of Ohio's supreme court judges. He was elected to Congress by the Democratic party in 1843 ; and while in that body he became famous as the author of the Wilmot proviso. John Sherman was in partnership for many years with Henry C. Hedges, who was in his day a lawyer of ability of state-wide reputation. Senator Sherman was for years one of the strongest men of the Republican party and he served with distinction as senator of Ohio and as secretary of state. He died while holding public office. Mr. Henry C. Hedges was a member of one of the county's pioneer families. He was a great friend of Senator Sherman and it is said that he kept himself in the background and pushed Senator Sherman forward. He rendered valuable service to the Republican party, and yet never held a public office. He occupied a prominent executive position in the headquarters of the Republican national committee in the campaign which brought about the second re-election of President McKinley. His health broke as a result of the arduous work performed during that campaign. He died some years later in Mansfield. L. B. Matson and Milton W. Warden became members of the bar years ago. Matson, at the time of his death, as a trial lawyer stood at the head of his profession and he had the largest practice of any lawyer in the city. Mr. Warden died at the age of 29 years, but he was a man of brilliant promise, although undeveloped as a lawyer. He 194 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio went into the army and lost a leg at Harper's Ferry ; returning home he was elected probate judge and was subsequently appointed internal revenue assessor. He held this office at the time of his death. Perhaps one of the best summaries of the early bar came from the pen of General Brinkerhoff, who was for many years prominent in Richland county and state affairs. When writing of this early-day bar, the general said : "When I was a student at law in 1850 and 1851 the giants of the Mansfield bar were Jacob Parker, James Stewart, Thomas W. Bartley, Jacob Brinkerhoff, Samuel J. Kirkwood, General McLaughlin and John M. May. James Purdy had become a banker ; Charles T. Sherman was at his best and he did a collecting business, but rarely appeared in the courts as a trial lawyer. John Sherman had promise, but no large fulfillment as yet. Also Colonel Burns and Colonel Isaac Gas. Thomas H. Ford was at his best and was a man of great natural powers ; he was indolent and careless and did not make the mark he might have made at the bar. Judge Geddes was a partner of Judge Brinkerhoff and was a young man of ability, which rapidly developed and subsequently made him an able lawyer and one of the best balanced common pleas judges in the state. Henry P. Davis, Manuel May, Robert Smith and several others had their shingles out, but were not famous as .yet. I knew them all very well. Parker, Stewart and Bartley were especially friendly to me, and I appreciated it ; and I always retain warm remembrance of all of them. I was a student with Brinkerhoff & Geddes. Judge Stewart was the reverse of Judge Parker in his mental makeup ; the latter was pre-eminently a big lawyer and could give from memory volume and page for every decision of any special consequence in the Ohio reports ; and probably could referee more legal decisions than any man in the state. He read the driest law reports with all the zest of a school girl with her first novel. It, was all meat and drink to him. Judge Stewart, on the contrary, cared but little for the reports and consulted them to verify his own judgment rather than to guide it. He was born a jurist, and his instincts of right and wrong were so keenly accurate that he but rarely went astray. His decisions were very rarely questioned, and still more rarely set aside by a superior court ; in short, he was a model judge of his time, and probably has never had his superior in this circuit. Off the bench in the practice of the profession Judge Parker and Judge Stewart were still more opposite in their characteristics. Parker was essentially an office lawyer and a very superior one, but had no special ability before a jury. He stammered in his utterances, and,had none of the gifts of oratory. Judge Stewart, on the other hand, was a mighty man before a jury. The sweep and power of his eloquence was overwhelming and carried everything before it. He was largely a commanding presence,. and it was of itself sufficient to hold the attention of the jury, but in addition he had all the best qualities of a -court jury lawyer.. His physical endurance was inexhaustible, and he was apparently as fresh at the end of a trial as at the beginning. As a jury lawyer, Judge Stewart has never been surpassed at the Mansfield bar. Next to Parker and Stewart in age and fully their peers in mental ability came Thomas W. Bartley and Jacob Brinkerhoff. They were The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 195 rivals and were always pitted against each other. Bartley was the most persistent man among them. He was not as fine an orator as either Stewart or Brinkerhoff, nor as well read as Parker. He had the tenacity of a bull dog and an industry that was endless and tireless. These qualities made him a very dangerous antagonist. He deservedly stood in the front rank of Ohio lawyers. Judge Brinkerhoff, Bartley's most frequent antagonist, was one of the most brilliant men of this whole legal galaxy, and the most attractive speaker. At repartee he was as quick, sharp and bright as lightning, but he lacked the tenacity of Bartley and the ponderous weight of Stewart. Jurists were delighted with Brinkerhoff and detested Bartley. The former was brief-brilliant and beautiful, the latter dry and tedious. Brinkerhoff rarely spoke over an hour. Bartley rarely spoke less than three hours, and sometimes, as in the Welch murder trial, he held on three days ; the result was that they were evenly matched. If either predominated in the crucible of success, it was Bartley's pertinacity. In fact, Bartley could never be considered vanquished until the verdict had been rendered. Brinkerhoff was a man of more general culture, perhaps, than any of his competitors, as he read everything and remembered everything. Allen County George Tod was the first circuit judge who presided over the courts of northwestern Ohio subsequent to the organization of new counties. Judge Tod was succeeded by Ebenezer Lane. Next came Judge David Higgins. In 1830 Judge Higgins was elected president judge of the second judicial district circuit. The court was held at Findlay, Defiance and Perrysburg, at each of which places "Count' Coffinberry, J. C. Springs and Rudolphus Dickenson appeared as lawyers of the circuit. In 1838-39 the 13th judicial circuit was created by the legislature. This included Allen, Van Wert, Hardin, Hancock, Lucas, Wood, Henry, Williams, Paulding and Putnam counties. Up to this time Allen county belonged to the Dayton circuit with William L. Helfenstein, judge. Emory D. Potter was elected judge of the 13th circuit in February, 1839, and he occupied this position until he was elected to Congress in October, 1843. The same year Myron H. Tilden was elected judge of the circuit. The territory of this circuit was reduced in February, 1845, when the 16th circuit was established in which were embraced Allen, Shelby, Mercer, Hardin, Hancock, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams, to which Defiance county was added on March 10, 1845. In James Daniel's cabin, near the creek at the east end of Market street, the first court of common pleas for Allen' county was held in May, 1833. The president judge was Honorable George B. Holt, and the associate judges were Messrs. Watt, Crozier and Wood. The other president judges were Judge Helfenstein, 1833; Judge Potter in 1839; Judge Tilden from 1842 to 1845, when Judge Goode was elected. Allen, Hardin, Shelby, Auglaize, Madison, Union and Logan 196 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio were erected in one common pleas court district under the Constitution of 1851. The district was known as No. 3, subdvison No. 1, of which Benj. F. Metcalf was elected judge in October, 1851. Judge William Lawrence succeeded him in 1855-6 and he presided over the district until 1864 when he resigned to enter Congress. Under the Act of April 8, 1858, district No. 3, subdivision No. 2, was reorganized and Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert and Putnam were made an additional subdivision of which Benjamin F. Metcalf was elected judge in October, 1858. He was re-elected in October, 1863 and held the position until his death in February, 1865. O. W. Rose was appointed to fill the vacancy. James Mackenzie was elected to the judgeship of common pleas court for the unexpired term, and he was re-elected in October, 1868. A new judgeship was created for the subdivision on account of the increase in litigation, and in March, 1869, Edwin M. Phelps was elected to the new position. Among the members of the old bar were many who had some accomplishment in addition to their silver-tongued eloquence ; hours when out of court were whiled away with "quip and quirk." John C. Spink, of Wooster, was known as a great wag, as well as a fiddler of no mean ability. M. V. May, of Perrysburg, and James G. Haley, an Irishman, added to the enjoyment of their colleagues. James Purdy, of Mansfield, was among the early visitors to this circuit. Judge Hall was the the wit of the early bar and could don cap and bells with as much ease as he did the ermine. Judge Potter was the songster, and shone when warbling such ditties as "Lord Lovel," "Rosin the Bow." Andrew Coffinberry was a great violinist. Among the desciples of Blackstone belonging here we find the names of David A. Colerick, Henry Cooper, Charles Johnson, Lucien P. Ferry, John H. Morrison, Judge Ewing, Judge Price, William H. West, Judge Walden, Lawyer Coombs, Judge John Morris, Henry Reed,, H. L. Hosmer, E. Allen, Henry Bennett, S. B. Campbell, Judge Tilden, Gen. Hill, Moses B. Corwin, Jacob S. Conklin, John A. Corwin, Jos. S. Updegraff, John McSweeney and James M. Coffinberry. Probably the most widely known of all the early members of the bar was Andrew Coffinberry, a native Virginian, who came with his parents to Ohio in 1806. He was noted for his exquisite neatness in dress and his refined manners. Because of his resemblance to Count Puffendorf, and his exceeding kindness to the younger and less experienced members of the bar, he was called 'Count" Coffinberry; and "Count Coffinberry" is well known where "Andrew" has never been heard of. His work extended from Mansfield to Lake Erie and west to the Indiana and Michigan state lines. This circuit was made on horseback. Mr. Coffinberry practiced continually from his entrance to the bar in 1813 to within a few days of his death, May 11, 1856, making almost a half century of law. A man of rare endowments and marked characteristics, he left a lasting impression. His son, James M. Coffinberry, also practiced in our courts and was a worthy son of his illustrious father. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 197 Patrick Gaines Goode, lawyer, congressman, and Methodist preacher, was born in Virginia, May 10, 1793, and Died October 7, 1862. He was named after Patrick Henry, who was a friend of his father. Father Warren Goode immigrated to Warren county, Ohio, eight miles south of Xenia, in 1805. He purchased land here, but in 1814 he moved to Xenia for the purpose of educating his family. Patrick worked on the farm until he was sixteen years. old. He left it with regret, commencing his education with Professor Epsey, who conducted a classical school in Xenia, remaining there for very nearly three years. Professor Epsey moved to Philadelphia. Young Patrick Goode accompanied him and in the new institution acted as pupil and tutor, remaining there two years, and then removed to Lebanon, Warren county, where he commenced the -study of law under Judge Collett. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-three. In 1828 he removed to Sidney, where he taught school for a time, as there was little opportunity in the law business. In 1832 he was appointed Sabbath School agent to travel in Shelby and the counties north for the purpose of establishing Sunday schools, to which work he devoted himself with assiduity and won the lasting friendship of all with whom he came in contact. In 1833 he was prosecuting attorney of the Lima district. In the same year he was elected to the lower house of the legislature from the counties of Darke and Shelby and those other organized counties of Lake Erie, and was re-elected the next year. He was a candidate for the Senate in 1835, but there having been some trouble over the office he declined it. The next year he was elected by a large majority to Congress in the district from Dayton to Toledo. He was re-elected in 1838 and 1840 and he served until the territory was redistricted, when he declined to be a candidate. While a member of Congress he labored unceasingly for his constituents and is said to have done more for the improvement of the Maumee valley than any other person. In 1844 he was elected presiding judge of the 13th judicial circuit, composed of Allen, Shelby, Mercer, Hardin, Hancock, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams counties. To these Defiance county was afterwards added. He held this position for seven years. After this he continued at the bar but a few years, becoming in 1857 a Methodist minister. In 1862 he overworked himself at a conference held at Greenville, returning home, and died two weeks afterwards. Emory D. Potter was born in Providence, R. I., and at the age of two years he was taken by his parents to Otsego county, New York. He studied law in the office of John A. Dix and Albert Cook, Jr., at Cooperstown. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state, two years afterwards. In 1835 he moved to Toledo, at which place he was appointed postmaster, the second man to hold that office in the town. After finishing his term as postmaster he was appointed judge of the 13th judicial district. In 1843 he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, from a strong Whig district, by a large majority. He remained through that Congress, closely attentive to his duties and making himself a leader. He was one of the committee charged with the duty of devising a plan to carry into effect the will of Mr. Smithson, the 198 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio founder of Smithsonian Institution. In 1845 he was elected Mayor of Toledo, a position he held three successive terms. From his youth he was a great lover of all sports. He retired in 1875. J. M. May, who was known in his later years as the "Nestor" of the bar, was in the early days noted as a player on the trombone, and combined with his musical ability all the best requirements of a judge. He was a fine advocate as well as an able chancellor lawyer, and during a long life always maintained his high character as a good citizen and an honest man. Among the resident members of the bar who achieved distinction were Judges Metcalf, Mackenzie, Hughes and Robb, C. N. Lamson, S. A. Baxter, Isiah S. Pillars, T. E. Cunningham, M. H. Nichols, Hamilton Davison, Lorin Kennedy and Colonel Lester Bliss. Hamilton Davison bears the distinction of being Lima's first resident attorney. He settled here in 1832. He was active in forwarding the interests of the young town. He is on record as a surveyor of many of the first established roads and his name appears on many of the titles to real estate as notary public. Mr. Davison was a man of high moral principles ; a fine counselor and a cultivated gentleman. His wife was a woman of intelligence and refinement, beloved by all who knew her. Mathias H. Nichols was one of the most brilliant lawyers that ever graced the bar of the county. He rose from obscure poverty to the position of one of the foremost men of his part of the state, and whose full life was ended at the age of 37, a time when most men are beginning their careers. He worked as a printer for a time, but soon brought out a paper called "The Argus," selling his vest, the only garment which possessed a market value, in order to buy the paper on which his first issue was printed. He soon developed that wonderful power over men which placed him at the head of affairs in his region and sent him to Congress at the early age of twenty-seven years. He was elected to Congress the first time by the Democrats ; the second time he ran independently, but was supported by the votes of what is now the Republican party and by many Democrats, whose attachment to the man was greater than to the party. He was elected on the Republican ticket for a third term, but was defeated the fourth time he ran by but 72 votes. Mr. Nichols was prosecuting attorney in 1851, which position he resigned to enter Congress. After leaving Congress in 1859 he resumed the practice of law and continued it until the breaking out of the war in 1861, when he volunteered, among the very first, and was elected captain of the first company going into service from Allen county. At the end of three months he returned to civil life, but when Kirby Smith threatened Cincinnati, in the fall of 1862, he volunteered as a private in the "Squirrel Hunters" demonstration for the protection of the city, and while there he died of dropsy of the heart. Mr. Nichols was an able lawyer and a man of general and varied information. He held high positions and maintained his character as a public representative with honor to himself and to his district. He possessed wonderful personal magnetism and there was probably no man in the country who. was held in higher esteem and honor than he. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 199 Colonel Lester Bliss was born in. Cooperstown, New York, August 17, 1817. With his father, Dr: .David Bliss, a native of Vermont, removed from Cooperstown in 1818 and settled in what.is now Marion county, Ohio. He had a good classical and literary education. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, of Ohio at Marion in June, 1841. In August following he located in Lima, where he practiced actively for several years. He served as prosecuting attorney for the county one term ; and declined a subsequent nomination for that office. In 1852 Col. Bliss was elected to represent Allen county in the legislature, it being the first representation of the county after the constitution. He declined nomination for lieutenant governor. In August, 1862, he volunteered his services in defense of the Union. In the spring of 1864, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and did active service until his resignation. He was the first mayor of Delphos. Crawford County WHEN the state constitution was adopted in 1803 it was based on the Ordinance of 1787. The judiciary of the state consisted of a supreme court, court of common pleas and justice of the peace. The common pleas court consisted of a president judge elected by the legislature, and in each county two or .three associate judges were elected by the legislature to sit with the president judge when he visited that county and formed the court. Each court appointed its own clerk to serve, for seven years, but the clerk must have a certificate signed by a majority of the supreme court certifying as to his qualifications to fill the position. A competent number of justices were elected in each township. their term of service being three years. Soon after the organization of the county, Bucyrus was selected as the county seat, and in July, 1826, the first term of the common pleas court was held at the residence of Lewis Cary, on the south bank of the Sandusky river, on the site of the present residence of. C. H. Shonert. The presiding judge on this occasion was Ebenezer Lane, of Norwalk, who had been appointed in 1824. This circuit was No. 2 and it included all the northwestern part of the state, Craw ford county having been attached to this circuit on its organization. Judge Lane was a native of Northampton, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard university, class of 1811. He had studied law under Judge Mathew Griswold, Lyme, Conn., had been admitted to the bar in 1814, and first practiced at Norwich, Conn. In the spring of 1817 he came to Ohio, settling first at Elyria. In May, 1819, he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Huron county, and in October of the same year removed to Norwalk. After his election by the legislature in 1824 as presiding judge of the 2nd circuit, he continued to discharge the functions of that office until the fall of 1830, at which time he was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio, which position he held until 1845, when he resigned. He then accepted the presidency of the Mad River & Lake Erie railroad, and for ten years after was engaged in the management of railroads in Ohio. In the fall of 1855