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CHAPTER XV.
THE BENCH AND THE BAR OF WASHINGTON COUNTY..
Early Courts of the Territory and of Washington County—Their Constitution and Jurisdiction—Judges Varnum and Parsons— Paul Fearing the First Attorney in the Northwest--Sketches of Other Attorneys Joseph Gilman—Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr.—Elijah Backus—Lewis Cass—Benjamin Ruggles—M. Backus—William Woodbridge—Gustavus Swan—Caleb Emerson—John P. Mayberry —Arius Nye—William A. Whittlesey—Charles R. Rhodes—Thomas W. Ewart—S. S. Knowles—Other Lawyers who have practiced in Washington County early and late.
The ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, passed by the last Congress of the Confederation, provided for successive forms of territorial government; and the first temporary form provided for, was organized by the appointment of a governor and three judges.
The judges constituted a supreme court of common law jurisdiction, styled the general court.
In addition to their purely judicial functions, the judges, conjointly with the governor, were vested with the legislative power of the temporary government.
The first settlement of the territory made at the mouth of the Muskingum, was in April, 1788, and the first municipal code of the pioneers consisted merely of re-
* By Hon. R. E Haute.
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gulations, drawn up by Colonel Meigs, and published by posting on a tree on the banks of the river.
In about three months after the landing of the pioneers, Governor St. Clair and the judges arrived in the territory, and on the eighteenth of July the governor was formally received by the inhabitants at Marietta, the Ordinance of 1787 and the commissions of the governor and judges were read, an inaugural address was made by the governor, and a response made thereto by General Putnam in the name of all the people, and the first form of government provided by the ordinance was formally established within the territory.
The county of Washington, including within its limits about one-half of the present State of Ohio, was established by proclamation of the governor July 26, 1788.
Laws were enacted by the governor and judges, fixing the terms of the general court, establishing county courts of common pleas, courts of general quarter sessions of the peace, courts of orobate, and of single justices of the peace.
The county court of common pleas consisted of a number of judges, not less than three, nor more than seven appointed in each county and commissioned by the governor.
The general court of quarter sessions of the peace consisted of three or more justices of the peace of the county, appointed by the governor, had a limited criminal jurisdiction, and held four sessions a year. Single judges of the common pleas and single justices of the peace were also clothed with certain civil and criminal powers. The court of probate had the ordinary jurisdiction of probate court.
This judicial system continued during the eleven years of the government of the governor and judges, and the three years of the territorial legislature of the Northwest Territory.
Under the State constitution of 1802 the judiciary consisted of judges of the supreme court, president and associate judges of common pleas courts, appointed by joint ballot of both houses of the general assembly for the term of seven years, and justices of the peace elected by the electors of township for three years.
Under the constitution of 1851 the present system of supreme, district, common pleas, probate and justice courts was organized.
The first court of common pleas of the county was opened in the hall in the northwest block-house of Campus Martius, at Marietta, September 2, 1788—Gen. Rufus Putnam, Gen. Benjamin Tupper and Col. A. Crary, judges.
The first court of general sessions of the peace was held on the ninth of the same month in the southeast block-house; General Putnam and General Tupper justices of the quorum; Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord, and R. J. Meigs, jr., assistant justices. The grand jurors were William Stacy, foreman, Nathaniel Cushing, Nathan Goodale, Charles Knowles, Anselem Tupper, Jonathan Stone, Oliver Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersoll, Jonathan Devol, Samuel Stebbins, Jethro Putnam and Jabez True.
The following account relating to the opening of the first Washington county court is taken from Dr. Andrews' Centennial address:
The first court held in the Territory was that of the court of common pleas at Campus Martins, September a, 1788. A procession was formed at the Point, where most of the settlers resided, in the following order: The high sheriff with his drawn sword; the citizens; the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar; the members of the bar; the supreme judges; the governor and clergymen; the newly-appointed judges of the court, Generals Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper. Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the directors of the Ohio company, then here on a visit, opened the court with prayer; and Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, the sheriff, made official proclamation that "a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice, to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons." General Putnam, alluding to this first court, says: "Happily for the credit of the people, there was no suit, either civil or criminal, brought before the court."
PERSONAL SKETCHES.
MAJOR GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS
was born at Lyme, Connecticut, in 1737. He graduated at Harvard college rn 1756; studied law in the office of his uncle, George Matthew Griswold, and was admitted to the bar in 1759, and settled at Lyme in the practice of his profession. In 1761 he married the daughter of Richard Mathew, of Lyme, and in 1762 was elected member of the general assembly of the colony of Connecticut, and by successive reelections held that position until 1774, when he removed from Lyme to New London.
In the stirring times preceding the Declaration of Independence by the colonies, Mr. Parsons was an ardent patriot, and to him has been attributed the first suggestion of a meeting of commissioners from the colonies to consult as to their general welfare. Mr. Parsons was one of the bold men of Connecticut, who, after the battle of Lexington, conceived the project, and by whose exertions in raising money and troops, the project was by Colonel Allen gallantly carried into effect, to-wit: The surprisal and seizure of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, whereby command of Lake Champlain and the main route to Canada was obtained. This was the first offensive blow struck by the colonies in the war for independence.
In 1775 Mr. Parsons was commissioned by the colony of Connecticut as colonel of a regiment raised for defence of the colony, and was actively engaged in the battle of Long Island.
In 1776 he was appointed by Congress brigadier general and was with the army at the battle of White Plains. The most important operation of the campaign of 1777, to-wit, the capture of prisoners and the destruction of the enemy's ships and supplies at Sag Harbor, was designed by General Parsons and executed under his directions, and received from Congress a comolimentary notice. During most of the years 1778 and 1779 he was stationed at West Point and the Highlands and rendered valuable service. In 1780 he was commissioned by Congress as major general. For his bold and successful enterprise for the relief and protection of the inhabitants between New York and Greenwich he received the thanks of Congress. At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law at Middletown, Connecticut.
In 1786 General Parsons, with General Butler, of Pittsburgh, and George Rogers Clark, by appointment
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of Congress, held an important treaty with the Indians at the mouth of the Great Miami.
In 1789 he was appointed by Congress one of the judges of the supreme court for the territory northwest of the river Ohio, and in May, 1788, removed to Marietta and entered upon the discharge of his duties.
In 1789 he was appointed by the State of Connecticut a commissioner to hold a treaty with the Wyandot Indians of the Western Reserve, and visited that country to make preparations for holding the treaty. In descending the rapids of the Big Beaver river on his return he was drowned, November 17, 1789, aged fifty-two years.
GENERAL JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM was a descendent of Samuel Varnum who emigrated from Wales to this country in 1649, and settled at Dracut, Massachusetts. He was born at Dracut in 1749, graduated at Providence college, now Brown university, in the first class in 1769, studied law in the office of Oliver Arnold, Providence, Rhode Island, was admitted to the bar in 1774 and settled at East Greenwich in the practice of his profession. He took an active part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, had a taste for military life, and shortly after the battle of Lexington was appointed colonel of one of the three regiments raised by Rhode Island in 1775. During 1776 he served as colonel in the colonial army, and in 1777 was promoted by Congress to the rank of brigadier general. During 1777 and 1778 he was with the army and commanded at Red Bank and Mud Island. In 1780 he was elected a delegate to Congress from Rhode Island, and was an active and influential member of that body. After the war he resumed the practice of law at East Greenwich, and was engaged in most of the important cases in the State. As an advocate and orator he was considered the equal of Patrick Henry. In 1786 General Varnum was again elected representative to Congress and noted for his brilliant eloquence. In 1787, upon the organization of the Ohio Land company at Boston, he was elected a director of the company, and soon after the passage of the ordinance of that year establishing the Northwest Territory, he was elected by Congress one of the judges of the territory, and in the spring of 1788 he left his home in Rhode Island for Marietta and arrived there in June, and entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office. He was the orator of the day at the celebration of American Independence held at the Point in Marietta July 4, 1788, and his address was noted for its many beauties of sentiment and language. He was in poor health, when he arrived at Marietta but was able to attend the meetings of the directors of the Ohio company, and assisted the governor and the other judges in forming a code of laws for the government of the Northwest Territory. He died at Marietta January 10, 1789, at the early age of forty, and his funeral was attended with great ceremony.
RUFUS PUTNAM was appointed by the President, in 1790, one of the judges of the supreme court for the territory northwest of the Ohio river, and served until 1796. A full biographical sketch of General Putnam will be found in another part of this volume.
JOSEPH GILMAN was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1736. In the struggles of the colonists for liberty and independence, he took a decided part for the Whigs, and had their entire confidence. He was chairman of the committee of safety for New Hampshire, and, as such, made large advances from his own personal resources for the purchase of supplies for the State troops. Upon the formation of the Ohio company he became an associate, and, with his wife, Rebecca Ives Gilman, and his son, Benjamin Ives Gilman, removed to Marietta in 1789.
By Governor St. Clair, he was appointed to and held the offices of probate judge, judge of the court of quarter sessions, and judge of the court of common pleas.
In 1796 he was appointed by the President of the United States one of the judges of the general court for the Northwest Territory, and attended the sittings of that court at Marietta, Cincinnati, Detroit and other places at which that court was held.
Judge Gilman was highly respected and esteemed for hrs learning and abilities as a jurist and scientist, and for his pleasing social qualities. He died in 1806, aged seventy years.
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, JR., served, by appointment of the President of the United States, as one of the judges of the supreme court of Northwest Territory from 1798 until 1803.
A sketch of the life of Governor Meigs is given in another part of this volume.
PAUL FEARING.-AS more fully set forth in Dr. Hildreth's Biographical Memoirs, Mr. Fearing was born in Wareham, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, February 28, 1762, and was the son of Noah and Mary Fearing. Of his early childhood but little is known; but as the boy is said to be the father of the man, he was doubtless an upright, open-hearted youth. The minister of the parish prepared him for college, as was common in that day, and he was graduated at Harvard in 1785. Having decided on law for a profession, he studied in the office of Esquire Swift, of Windham, Connecticut, and was admitted as an attorney in the courts of law of that State in September, 1787. During this year the Ohio company was matured, for establishing a colony in the Northwest Territory, and was a general topic of conversation in New England. The glowing descriptions of the country and climate in the valley of the Ohio caught the fancy of many young men, as well as older persons, and he decided on visiting that distant region. On the first of May, 1788, he embarked at Boston for Baltimore, where he arrived on the sixteenth of that month. Here he put his trunk into a wagon, and commenced the journey across the mountains on foot. He reached Pittsburgh on the tenth of June, and embarked the same day in a boat for Marietta, where he arrived on the sixteenth. On the fourth of July he participated in the first proceedings had on the bank of the Muskingum in honor of the day, and on the twentieth listened to the first sermon ever preached in the English tongue northwest of the Ohio river. On the second of September, 1788, he attended the first county common pleas court held in the
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county, and was admitted an attorney at law of the courts of the Territory. On the ninth of this month the county court of quarter sessions of the peace sat for the first time, and he was appointed counsel in behalf of the United States for Washington county.
The last of January, 1789, he set out on a journey to New England, in company with several persons, among whom was General Parsons. They went up the Ohio in a boat, but when about half way to Wheeling the floating ice became so troublesome that they left the river and went up by land. The travel over the mountains was accomplished on horseback in twenty six days, from Wheeling to Middleborough, in Massachusetts. He returned in August, by way of Alexandria, and being a fine pedestrian, again crossed the mountains on foot. He reached Red Stone, a famous port for boats on the Monongahela, on the fourteenth of the month. While waiting here for a rise in the river, Commodore Whipple came on with his family and that of his son-in-law, Colonel Sproat. With them he embarked in a small boat on the twenty-sixth of November, and reached Marietta on the thirtieth.
The following year was passed in attending to his law business, which began to increase some, as the emigration this season was very great. In November, 1790, he was appointed a deputy contractor for supplying the troops at Fort Harmar with fresh meat at the low rate of thirteen dollars and thirty-three cents a month and rations. Labor of all kinds was at a depressed state, a common hand on a farm getting only four dollars, and a private soldier three dollars.
Mr. Fearing's first attempt as an advocate before the court of quarter sessions was rather discouraging; but the embarrassment he first experienced vanished in his next trial, and he was able to deliver himself fluently and with fine effect. His frank, manly civility and sound, discriminating mind made him a favorite with the people, as well as the courts, and he had at his command much of the law business of the country. The Hon. R. J. Meigs was his first competitor at the bar, and for the favor of the public. Mr. Meigs was the more prompt and witty, with a ready flow of language, and Mr. Fearing was the more industrious and patient in investigation, so that, in final results they were very well matched.
When the troops left Fort Harmar, Mr. Fearing's intimate friend, Major Doughty, made him a present of his dwelling house, a well finished log building, standing in the southwest angle of the fort. During the war Mr. Fearing and his father occupied this house, which afforded a safe retreat from the attacks of Indians.
In the month of November, 1795, Mr. Fearing was married to Miss Cynthia Rowe, at his own home at Fort Harmar.
In 1797 he was appointed judge of probate for Washington county.
After the close of the war the county filled up rapidly, and in 1799 the first legislature held its session in Cincinnati. In 1800 the second session was held, and in this he was a member. During this period he was chosen a delegate to represent the Territory in Congress, which post he filled for 1801 and 1802, with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the people.
After his return to private life he resumed the practice of law with increased reputation. On his farm a little below the mouth of the Muskingum he erected a neat dwelling-house, and planted an extensive orchard of the choicest fruits, of which he was an intelligent and successful cultivator. He was one of the first in Ohio who paid attention to the raising of merino sheep. His flocks embraced several hundreds of these valuable animals, propagated from a few individuals bought at enormous prices.
In 1810 he was appointed associate judge of the court of common pleas. In this office he served seven years with much credit as a sound, just, and impartial judge.
In 1814 he was appointed master commissioner in chancery.
From the first entering of the lands of the Ohio company for taxation by the State, he acted very extensively as an agent for the shareholders in the eastern States. In this way a large portion of his time was occupied.
In his disposition, Mr. Fearing was remarkably cheerful and pleasant, much attached to children, and never happier than when in their company. He had great sympathy for the poor and the oppressed, and was ever ready to stretch forth his hand and open his purse for their relief.
He died the twenty-first day of August, 122, after a few days' illness, a victim to the fatal epidemic fever which ravished the country for two or three years, aged sixty years. His wrfe died the same day, a few hours after, in the forty-sixth year of her age.
ELIJAH BACKUS was born at Norwich, Connecticut; was a graduate of Yale college, and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut in the year 1800. Shortly thereafter he came to Marietta and engaged in the practice of law. Wyllis Silliman, of Zanesville, was associated with him as a partner.
Mr. Backus held the office of receiver of public moneys of the United States. In 1801 he established the Gazette newspaper, of which he was editor. In 1803 he was a member of the Ohio senate. He was owner of the island in the Ohio river, now called Blennerhasset island, and sold it to Mr. Blennerhasset.
In 1898 Mr. Backus removed to Ruskin, Illinois, and died there in 1812.
LEWIS CASS was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, October 9, 1782. In 1799 he was employed as teacher at Wilmington, Delaware, where his father, Major Jonathan Cass, of the army, was stationed. In 1800 he removed with his father's family to Marietta, studied law there, and in 1802 was admitted to the bar and removed to Zanesville and commenced practice.
In 1806 he married Elizabeth Spencer, of Wood county, Virginia, and the same year was elected a member of the Ohio legislature. From 1807 to 1813 he was State marshal. In the War of 1812 he was colonel of a regiment of Ohio volunteers, under General Hull, and soon promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
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In 1813 he was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan, and held that offrce for eighteen years. In 1831 he was appointed by President Jackson, Secretary of War, and was at the head of the war department at the commencement of the Florida war. In 1836 he was appointed minister to France, and served in that capacity until 1842, when he resigned. In 1845 he was elected United States Senator from the State of Michigan. In 1848 he was the Democratic candidate for President of the United States, but failed of election on account of a division of his party in the State of New York. In 1849 he was reelected to the Senate for the remainder of his original term. As Senator he opposed the Wilmot Proviso, although instructed by the legislature of his State to vote for it. He did not vote for the fugitive slave bill. In 1851 he was again elected Senator from Michigan. In 1852 he was a candidate before the Democratic convention at Baltimore for the nomination for the Presidency, but was not successful. In 1857 he was appointed Secretary of State by President Buchanan. In December, 1860, disapproving of the action of the President in refusing to reinforce Major Anderson and provision Fort Sumter, he promptly resigned his office as member of the cabinet. Through the war of the Rebellion his sympathies were with the National cause.
General Cass died at Detroit June 17, 1866.
He was a man of integrity, of great ability as scholar, jurist, and statesman, and his public career of more than half a century was honorable to himself and the Nation.
BENJAMIN RUGGLES was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, February 21, 1783. He attended the Brooklyn academy, and graduated from that institution. He studied law with Judge Peters, at Hartford, and was there admitted to the bar.
In 1807 he moved to Marietta, Ohio, and there pursued with success the practice of his profession. His profound learning, skill and care as a counsellor won for him public commendation.
In 1810 he was elected by the legislature of the State to succeed Calvin Pease as president judge of the third circuit. Shortly after his election to the judgeship he moved from Marietta to St. Clairsville.
In 1815 he was elected by the legislature to the United States Senate, and resigned the office of judge after having ably filled it for five years.
In 1821, and again in 127, he was reelected to the Senate of the United States, and during his career of eighteen years in Congress as Senator from Ohio, he rendered valuable services to his State and the Nation. For many years he was chairman of the Senate committee on claims.
He was president of the caucus, held at Washington in 124, which nominated William H. Crawford, of Georgia, for the Presidency.
In 1833, at the expiration of his third term as senator, he retired from public life and gave his attention to Agricultural pursuits, especially the cultivation of fruits and the introduction of choice varieties.
In 1840 he was favorably spoken of, in various parts of the country, for the office of Vice-President of the United States.
He died at his residence in St. Clairsville, September 2, 1857. As a statesman Judge Ruggles had the confidence of the senate and of the people. As a jurist his great ability was not as conspicuous in open court as in chambers. Though lacking, in some measure, the gifts of an orator, as a consulting attorney he had few superiors. As a private citizen he was highly respected. He was generous in his impulses, liberal in his views, and exerted an excellent moral influence wherever he, was known.
THOMAS BACKUS was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1785; graduated at Yale college; studied law in the office of his father Elijah Backus, at Marietta, and was there admitted to the bar in x808. He was married to Temperance Lord in 1810, and in 181r removed to Franklinton, Franklin county, Ohio. and engaged in the practice of law, and in 120 was appointed prosecuting attorney.
In 1823 he removed to Union county, Ohio, and was there appointed prosecuting attorney, and during his term of office died October 25, 125.
WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE was born in Norwich, Connecticut, August 30, 1780. He received his early education in his native State, studied law in Litchfield, Connecticut, and, with his father, emigrated to the Northwest Territory in 1791, settling in Marietta.
In 1806 he was admitted to the bar in Ohio, and in the following year was elected to the assembly of that State.
From 1808 until 1814 he was prosecuting attorney for his county, and also a member of the Ohio State Senate.
During the latter year, without solicitation, he received the appointment of secretary of the territory of Michigan, from President Madison, and removed to Detroit and entered upon the performance of the duties of his new office.
He was elected the first delegate to Congress from Michigan, in 1819, and forwarded the interests of his constituents in a manner to elicit the warmest approbation.
He was appointed judge of the supreme court of the territory in 1828, and performed the duties of that office four years.
He was one of the members of the convention which framed the State Constitution, in 1835, and was elected a State senator under it in 1837.
He was chosen to succeed Stevens T. Mason as governor of the State, in 1839, and served during one term. At the expiration of his term of office as governor, he was elected a United States Senator, and served in 'that capacity from 1841 until 1847.
While in the Senate, he took a leading part in much of the important legislation of that body, both as a member of a number of the principal committees and also as a debater upon the floor of the Senate.
His last days were spent in retirement in Detroit, where he died October 20, 1861.
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Governor Woodbridge was an eminent jurist and constitutional lawyer, and at the time of his death was the oldest and most distinguished member of the Detroit bar. He was a man of true principle and honor, who had served the public for many years with fidelity and integrity, and who died leaving to his children an unblemished name.
DAVID PUTNAN, became a member of the Washington county bar about 1808. A sketch of his life will be found in this volume elsewhere.
GUSTAVUS SWAN was born at Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1787. By his own exertions he obtained a good clerical and scientific education. He studied law at Concord, New Hampshire, and was admitted to the bar of that State. In 1810 he came to Marietta, and was admitted to the bar of Ohio. From Marietta he moved to Franklin county, and engaged in the practice of law. In 1812 and again in 1817 he was representative in the Ohio legislature. In 1823 he was elected judge of the common pleas court, and at the expiration of his term of office, resumed the practice of law in Columbus, and continued there until 1843.
Judge Swan was an eloquent and able advocate, and his practice in Franklin and neighboring counties was large. After 1843 he devoted himself more exclusively to his duties as president of the State bank of Ohio. He died at Columbus, February 6, 1860.
CALEB EMERSON was born August 21, 1779, at Ashby, Massachusetts. It appears from some fragmentary memoranda among the papers he left, written in the last years of his life, that he lost both his parents early; that his mother died when he was six weeks old; that his father lost his health in the Revolutionary war, and his property by Continental money; that he was brought up by persons who were not of his kin ; and that he was a student at law and assistant editor for some time before he left New England for Ohio, in the fall of 1808.
There remain to his descendants very few of the letters he received previous to 1820. Of the documents connected with his New England life, the most important is a file of letters from James Elliott, esq., a lawyer of Brattleborough, Vermont. Mr. Elliott appears to have been his early friend and counsellor, and showed much interest in his future advancement. In the earliest of these letters, dated January 3, 1801, he speaks of the young man's correct and friendly letter (addressed to him from Mason, postmarked Amherst, New Hampshire) and says it bears the marks of an honest mind, and the promise of future excellence. He desires to know his age, profession and prospects, his place of residence, amusements of infancy and course of study, and wishes to correspond with him occasionally.
In a subsequent letter Mr. Elliott speaks approvingly of his purpose to go west, but advises him first to spend a year or two in a law office, as in a new country the farmer, merchant and lawyer might all be combined in one person. He recommends that he cultivate his literary tastes, and promises to aid him.
In February, 1806, then at Washington city, Mr. Elliott addresses him as a student at law at Amherst, New Hampshire, having ascertained his then residence from the publisher of the Farmers' Cabinet at that place, whom he was probably assisting in the editorship of that journal.
Mr. Elliott frequently posted him up in the proceedings of Congress for the subsequent two years, and was one of several well known persons in that part of New England to give him recommendations as to general good character and proficiency in law studies, when he left for Marietta, Ohio.
Governor Tiffin, of Ohio, had advised a friend of Mr. Emerson's, at Washington, that it was not necessary for an applicant for admission to the Ohio bar to appear before the judges in session, but he could apply to any judge separately, who, if satisfied of his competency, could give him his certificate, and then he would apply to another judge, and the several certificates he received would entitle him to admission.
One of his remaining letters is one of recommendation trim Hon. Paul Fearing, then a judge, dated September 13, 1809 to General Philemon Beecher, of Lancaster, Ohio) of Mr. Emerson, as a suitable candidate for admission to the Ohio bar, and doubtless he was admitted about that time. He opened a law office at Marietta, visiting some of the neighboring county courts He married, July 29, 1810, Miss Mary Dana, daughter of Captain William Dana, of Belpre, Ohio, one of the early emigrants from New England; by whom he had several children, all but the earliest now living.
In the same year began his connection with the Western Spectator, a weekly journal of Marietta, to which was annexed a small book-store. The first number seems to have been issued about the twenty-third of October, 1810. He gave it up July 31, 1813, but continued the practice of the law, and was appointed prosecuting attorney of Washington county in February, 1815, and was continued in that office till April, 121. In October, 12o, while residing on Front, between Scammell and Worcester streets, the dwelling house he occupied was consumed by fire, and most of the furniture and clothing of the family, and nearly all his valuable papers were destroyed. He and his family experienced great kindness and hospitality from the citizens of Marietta. His law business was continued.
In 1822 a fever, supposed to result from the miasmatic influences of the Ohio shore, prevailed extensively in Marietta township and elsewhere. Mr. Emerson's family was down with it for a considerable time, usually leaving only one or two able to wait on the rest. He was afterwards prostrated with a sickness which brought him very near the gates of death. After his recovery he had an abiding conviction that close application to a law office was ruinous to his health; and though his connection with legal matters was more or less maintained to the last years of his life, his time was largely given to horticultural and other industrial pursuits, mingled with literary, political, and social activities, and efforts in behalf of religious, moral, and educational institutions in Marietta.
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He and his wife joined the Marietta Baptist church, which then worshiped four miles above the village about the year 1822, and remained in its communion to the last.
Being one of the earliest trustees of Marietta college, and remaining such during his life, he displayed an abiding interest in its growth.
In the year 1836 he was editor of the Marietta Gazette, a firm advocate for the right of free discussion. Certain lecturers about that time, in behalf of negro emancipation, were in danger of being mobbed, but the energetic philanthropists of Washington county secured for them fair treatment. In December, 1837, the Marietta Gazette passed into the hands of Mr. Isaac Maxon.
Several years later an advantageous sale of Mr. Emerson's three acre lots near Marietta, gave him leisure for literary effort. He wrote much in favor of emancipation, for journals both at home and abroad.
During the last ten or twelve years of his life he took great interest in the early history of Ohio, and especially of Washington county, and made extensive collections of old newspapers and other documents calculated to preserve a knowledge of the past, and to some extent lectured on these subjects. His duties as master commissioner in chancery, and as administrator for several estates, gave him opportunities for travel, where he could gather up such material. Probably the most complete of his essays on these subjects was an article in the North American Review, which includes the details of Dr. Manasseh Cutler's mission to Congress in behalf of the Ohio company, for the purchase of the well known tract which bears its name.
In 1845 he took an active part in bringing the celebrated case of the captured Ohioans, which involved, in part, the question of boundary between Ohio and Virginia, to the notice of the State authorities. His sympathies were strongly enlisted for the oppressed and downtrodden.
He died March 14, 1853, at his homestead in Marietta, aged seventy-three and one half years.
JOHN PENNYBACKER MAYBERRY was born March 1, 1790, at Pine Forge near the village of New Market, Virginia. His home was located in the loveliest portion of the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah. This is now a historic location from the fact that during the late civil war this homestead was the scene of many of the severest struggles for the possession of the valley.
His father was an Irish gentleman, having emigrated to America in early life. His mother was descended from German ancestors. Her maiden name was Rebekah Pennybacker. She was one of the large family of Penny-backers so well known throughout Pennsylvania.
John P. Mayberry, while in the valley of the Shenandoah, studied law under the eminent Judge Allen, of New Market, Virginia. Before completing his studies, however, in the year 1810, his father determined to seek a new home in the rich lands beyond the mountains, and his son John accompanied him, purchasing plantations near Belleville, Wood county, Virginia. They there
settled. After a brief sojourn upon the plantations he became deputy sheriff of Wood county. In 1812 he visited Richmond, and made application for admission to practice in the State courts, and was given a certificate.
After his return, however, wishing to pursue his studies and perfect himself in other branches of the law, he went to Ohio, attracted by the reputation of Judge Fearing, of Harmar, Ohio, who was the first lawyer admitted to the bar in that State, the attorney of the Ohio company and the leading legal mind in the Northwest Territory. Here he had the advantage of an extensive library, and finished his studies with Judge Fearing in 1815. On the fifteenth of August, 1816, he married the only daughter of his preceptor, Lucy Willis Fearing, with whom he lived over fifty years. In 1817 he removed with his family to Parkersburgh, Virginia, and soon after was elected as a representative of the Whig party to the house of delegates at Richmond and served during the term of 1817 and 1818. In 1818 he left Richmond to accept the position of receiver of public moneys tendered him by the United States Government. This necessitated his return to Marietta, Ohio, where he succeeded Colonel Levi Barber, who was elected to Congress. The business of this office was very extensive as the territory was fast filling up, and the Government lands selling rapidly. His experience while in office illustrates the purity and honesty of the pioneer settlers of the northwest. The law existing at that time required receiver to deposit all moneys received, in the United States repositories situated at Cincinnati and Chillicothe, and the payments were to be made in the same coin as was paid to the receiver. The gold and silver received during the quarter had to be transported from Marietta to the points above named. At that time the woods were unfrequented and obscure, and the country sparsely settled, making it a perilous journey to transport six or eight thousand dollars in gold and silver on horseback. Yet these trips were made at the expiration of each quarter by Mr. Mayberry, accompanied by his father, or Henry or Silas Fearing, and Colonel David Barker, and during his term of office of over ten years, neither he himself nor his messengers were disturbed in their journeys to and fro. Mr. Mayberry was receiver until the year 1829. During this period he was also elected prosecuting attorney of Washington county, faithfully performing his duties and giving entire satisfaction to the public.
Retiring from these two important offices, and after settling his affairs relative thereto, he left Ohio and returned to his old home at Parkersburgh, and engaged in mercantile business. As was the custom in those days he made frequent journeys over the mountains to Philadelphia on horseback for the purpose of purchasing his stock in trade. While still engaged in merchandising he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county of Wood. In 1832 he was again called from private life, being elected to the house of delegates. At the expiration of this term he was reelected by his well satisfied constituents, and although not seeking or having any desire of office, he was again returned in 1837 and 1838, to the house of delegates; his ripe experience and sound judgment making
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him a great power, giving him the foremost position among the legislators.
The first recognition of any material importance which Parkersburgh or Wood county received from the State legislature of old Virginia in the way of improvement and bringing them into public notice was the establishment of the Northwestern Virginia turnpike road leading from Winchester in the valley of Virginia over the Alleghanies to Parkersburgh, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. This great work was completed while Mr. Mayberry was in the house of delegates, and to his exertion, no doubt is West Virginia indebted for thrs great benefit.
He acquired wealth by prudent investments in real estate, together with the inheritance which his wife received from her father's estate.
Mr. Mayberry, in his long public life at Marietta, Parkersburgh, and Richmond, made friends with all whom he came in contact, and such was his even temperament that even in sharp political contests his urbanity of manner and kindliness for all humanity left his career destitute of enemies. He was a ripe scholar and a trained thinker, commanding in stature, with a pleasing address. He was a perfect type of a Virginia gentleman, of Washington's time. His manner and mien occasioning many of his friends to believe his resemblance to Washington very marked. Had his ambition led him to continue his public career his political associates were confident he would have taken a ranking position in national affairs among the great statesmen of that day, but turning aside from the allurements of public life, he returned to the quiet old home he loved so well in Parkersburgh. His house and grounds soon became shaded with the fine old trees he had planted. His office door under the shade of the catalpa was a charmed spot to all who came under the restful influence of the peaceful atmosphere. Happiness and contentment followed him like a shadow. The old men loved to linger with him, and the young men came to listen to the fine talk of the grand old gentleman. He devoted much of his time in later years to the rearing of blooded horses and to the improvement of the plantations he owned in the State. In his stables were some of the finest imported stock in the south and west, many of the descendants of the stables being favorite horses of the present time. He died while his favorite horse Lath was running; expired sitting in his carriage November 15, 1866, closing a life of nearly seventy-seven years, leaving his wife and son as the only immediate. relatives to deplore his loss, as he was himself the last member of his father's family. And when the news came that the pure and noble John P. Mayberry was no more, a multitude mourned over the loss of a great and good man.
ARIUS NYE was the son of Colonel Ichabod Nye, and grandson of General Benjamin Tupper, two of the pioneers who with their families, made, at the mouth of the Muskingum in 1788, the first settlement in the territory northwest of the river Ohio. He was born in Campus Martius—"the stockade"—at Marietta, December 27, 1792. During his boyhood educational facilities at the new settlement were quite limited, yet mainly by his own exertions, he obtained what is now called a good common school education. In 1807 he went to Springfield, afterwards to Putnam in Muskingum county, and engaged in merchandizing.
In 1815 he married Miss Rowena, daughter of Dr. Joseph Spencer, of Vienna, Virginia, and sister of Mrs. General Cass. He was a director in the Bank of Zanesville before he was twenty-one years of age. During 1817-18 he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to make his mark in Muskingum county. In the autumn of 1822, or spring of 1823, he moved to Gallipolis, at the beginning of the sickly season, when he was taken sick with the prevailing epidemic, or malarial fever. In 1824-5 he removed to Marietta and there acquired a large and lucrative law practice. For several years after removing to Marietta he was elected and served as cashier of the Bank of Marietta. In 1827 he was elected representative in the State legislature, and reelected in 1828. In 1831 he was elected State senator and served two years. At the time of the great flood in 1832 he removed his office from Putnam street to the old Ohio company's office on Washington street, where he kept his office until he was elected judge. He early acquired a large law library, and by 1837 probably had accumulated the largest law library of any lawyer in southeast Ohio. In 1840 he was again elected representative in the State legislature.
His son, A. Spencer Nye, became associate with him in practice as A. Nye & Son, continuing as a firm until 1846. In 1847 he was elected president judge of the district composed of the counties of Washington, Morgan, Athens, Meigs, Gallia, and Lawrence. The district was large and difficult of access during portions of the year, there being no railroads, and especially during the spring and autumn, county seats were difficult to reach. His health broke down under his labors on the bench, and he resigned in 1850. After his health improved he associated with him Mr. David Alban, and practiced as Nye & Alban until the commencement of the war, when Mr. Alban enlisted in the army. Thereafter as lawyer, generally associated in business with some younger member of the bar, he gave his attention to cases which were brought under his notice. His last illness was protracted and painful, but borne with fortitude. He died at his home in Marietta, July 27, 1865, in the seventy-third year of his age.
Judge Nye was an original, self-reliant, self-made man —a man of feeling, thought, and conviction. . He will long survive in the memory of his friends; in the impressions which he made on the community where he lived, and in the legislation of his native State. At the time of his death he had obtained a wider celebrity than any other Marietta man. This was due to his strong character, to his industry, to his devotion to every accepted trust, to his public spirit, and above all to his inflexible integrity of mind and heart. As a jurist he ranked among the first chancery and criminal lawyers of the west. He was deeply read in the learning of the profession,
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and thoroughly imbued with the lofty spirit of its great masters.
WILLIAM A. WHITTLESEY was born at Danbury, Connecticut, in 1796. In 1816 he was graduated at Yale college, and for some time thereafter, was employed as teacher. In 1818 he came to Canfield, Ohio, entered the office of his uncle, the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, as student at law, being fellow-student there with J. M. Giddings, and in 1820 was admitted to the bar. In 1821 he came to Marietta, and entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1825 he was elected auditor of the county, and for two successive years held that office, and received the public commendation for the faithfulness, care and ability, with which he discharged its duties.
In 1839 he was the candidate of the Democratic party for representative in the Ohio legislature, and was elected.
In 1841 and for several years following, he was associated with Gen. Charles B. Goddener, of Zanesville, in the practice of law in Washington county. In 1848 he was elected member of Congress from district comprising the counties of Washington, Morgan and Perry. He declined being a candidate for reelection.
In 1856 and again in 1860, and again in 1862 he was elected mayor of the city of Marietta, and for six years discharged the duties of that office in an approved and satisfactory manner. For some time previous to his death Mr. Whittlesey suffered from painful disease, but bore his affliction with fortitude and resignation. He died November 6, 1866, at Brooklyn, New York, where he had gone for medical treatment, leaving one surviving child, a daughter, now the wife of — Mitchell, of St. Cloud, Minnesota. His remains were brought back to Marietta, and buried in the Mound cemetery by the side of his deceased son, the lamented Captain W. B. Whittlesey, a brave and noble officer, who was killed at the battle of Mission Ridge in November, 1863.
The following is an extract from the report of a committee, appointed by the bar of Washington county to give expression of the sentiments of the profession, in relation to Mr. Whittlesey's death:
With feelings of the deepest sorrow and regret we, the members of the Washington county bar, have heard of the death of our late as sociate, the Hon. William A. Whittlesey. During the whole period of our connection with the profession in this county, we have been witnesses of the estimable qualities of the deceased.
As a lawyer, his discriminating mind, his legal acquirements, the friendliness and honesty of his counsels, his urbanity in the court-room, and his uniform courtesy and kindness toward the junior members of the profession have elicited our esteem, and endeared him in our recollections.
As a citizen and neighbor, the kindliness of his disposition, his liberality, his cheerfulness and his remarkable freedom from all feelings of envy, resentment and ill-will won for him the respect and friendship of all who knew him.
DAVID BARBER, son of Hon. Levi Barber was born at Harmar, Washington county, Ohio, August 14, 1804. He was educated at Washington college, Pennsylvania, and graduated from that institute in 1825. He studied law with the Hon. John P. Mayberry, of Marietta; was admitted to the bar in 1829, and engaged in the practice of his profession at Harmar.
In 1840 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county. In 1845 he was again elected prosecuting attorney.
About 1876 he moved to the State of Illinois, and is located near Quincy, extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits.
LEVI HART GODDARD, son of Hon. Calvin Goddard, was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1810. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in his native State. In 1835 he removed to Marietta, Ohio, and then engaged in the practice of his profession. After a short residence in Marietta he returned to Norwich and there resumed the practice of law and continued the same until the time of his death. He died of pneumonia, in 1862.
Mr. Goddard was a lawyer of learning and ability, as counsellor and consulting attorney, and his amiable and cheery social qualities made for him hosts of friends He was married in 2835 to Miss Mary Woodbridge Perkins, of Norwich.
RUFUS E. HARTE, was born in Middlebury, now embraced in the corporation limits of Akron, Ohio. He attended the academy at Tallmadge and the preparatory department of the Western Reserve college at Hudson. In 1833 he was graduated at Yale college, Connecticut. He studied law with Hon. Gregory Powers, of Akron. In 1835, at the session of the supreme court at Medina, he was admitted to the bar. In 1837 he located at Marietta and engaged in the practice of his profession, associated with Mr. W. A. Whittlesey as Whittlesey & Harte.
In 1839 be was married to Juba Bolden, daughter of Mr. Joseph Holden, of Marietta.
In 1845 he was elected senator in the Ohio legislature from the district composed of the counties of Washington, Morgan and Perry.
In 1851 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county of Washington.
In 1852 he was elected, by the trustees of the benevolent institutions of Ohio, superintendent of the institution for the blind, and resided at Columbus four years, discharging the duties of that office.
In 1856 he returned to Marietta and resumed the practice of law, associated therein with Mr. Melvin Clarke.
In 1861 he was elected treasurer of Washington county, and held that office for a period of four years.
In 1880 he was elected mayor of the city of Marietta, and is now discharging the duties of that office.
CHARLES F. BUELL, son of Daniel H. Buell, of Marietta, was born in Washington county, Ohio, March 12, 1814. He was a student in Marietta college and Kenyon college; studied law with Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, of Gallipolis, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He practiced law a short time at Gallipolis, and about a year at Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio. In 1839 he returned to Marietta and engaged in the practice of his profession.
In 1860 he was elected probate judge of Washington county. After serving three years in that office he resumed the practice of law at Marietta, where he now resides.
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WILLIAM D. EMERSON, eldest son of Caleb and Mary (Dana) Emerson, was born at Marietta, July 9, 1813. He was prepared for college by Rev. Luther G. Bingham, then pastor of the Congregational church at Marietta. At the age of sixteen he entered the Ohio university at Athens, from which he graduated in 1833, with the highest honors of his class. He was one of the teachers in the high school which opened up in Library hall, on Front street, which afterwards unfolded into Marietta college. In 1836 he was assistant editor with his father on the Marietta Gazette. His health failing in this department, he went west and spent two years as a common school teacher. The scenery of the wide west seems to have inspired his poetic fancy, and some of his finest poems, which afterwards came into print, were produced at this time.
He returned to Marietta in 1839, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1841, and for several years kept a law office with his father. In 1845 he prepared and published the first map of Washington county. He was prosecuting attorney of that county for one year, ending March, 1848, filling the unexpired term of Arius Nye, esq., who was appointed presiding judge. He was assistant clerk in the commercial court of Cincinnati from 1848 to 1852, and for four years after made up records in the clerk's office of the Cincinnati and Hamilton county courts. He kept a law office in Cincinnati till 1860. Since that time he has devoted himself mainly to literary pursuits. The bent of his mind was more for literature than jurisprudence. In 1851 he issued Occasional Thoughts in Verse, for private distribution. In 1874 he issued a second volume of verse, and is now preparing a second edition of an agricultural work.
ARIUS SPENCER NYE, son of Arius Nye was admitted to the bar about 1840, and in company with his father practiced law at Marietta as Nye & Son.
In 1846 he was elected cashier of the Ross County bank, branch of the State bank of Ohio and removed to Chillicothe, where he now resides.
DARWIN E. GARDNER, son of William and Sarah B. (Earl) Gardner, was born at Norwalk, Ohio, January 25, 1820.
Pursuant to his father's wishes, and to some extent under his supervision, he pursued a thorough course of preparatory studies and about 1839 was graduated at the Western Reserve college. He studied law with Judge Crowell of Warren, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar at Newark in 1841.
The same year he located at Marietta and commenced the practice of his profession and successfully prosecuted the same at that place until 1851, when he removed to Cleveland, and soon thereafter to Toledo, where, until the time of his death he was extensively and prosperously engaged in the purchase and sale of real estate. He died at Toledo August 5, 1867, at the age of forty-seven. Mr. Gardner was an able lawyer, and an enterprising and successful man of business, and in the several places of his residence had the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He was married in 1842, to Miss Elizabeth P. Putnam, of Hudson, Ohio who died in 1846, and in 1859 he married Miss Sarah Williams of Norwalk.
WYLIE H. OLDHAM, son of Samuel and Rebecca Oldham, was born November 21, 1819, at the old homestead in Ohio county, Virginia, where his grandfather and father lived and died. When about one year old, he was taken to the State of New York, where his father was employed as a missionary, teaching the Seneca Indians, lived in Cornplanter's town, remembered well the wild scenes in which his early boyhood was spent. Leaving there at five and a half years of age, he acquired such an education as the primitive schools of Virginia then afforded. In 1832 he entered the private academy at West Alexander, Washington county, Pennsylvania, under the charge of Rev. John McCluskey, pastor of the Presbyterian church of that place and pursued his academic studies under his care until September, 1836, when he entered the junior class in Washington college. He was a member of the Washington Literary society, graduated in June, 1838, and took the first honor of his society and second of his class (the first honor of the class being by a rule of the faculty due that year to the Union society which alone prevented his obtaining the first honor of his class). In the fall of 1838 he went to Mount Vernon, Ohio, and spent one year in teaching. In the fall of 1839 he went to Lexington, Kentucky, and taught one year, near the home of Henry Clay, visiting him frequently in 1840. He studied law with Isaac Hoge at Moundsville, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. Shortly after he was elected prosecuting attorney. He represented Marshall county in the Virginia legislature in 1846-7 and 8. He practiced law at Moundsville from the time he was admitted to the bar until May, 1865. May 23, 1844, he married Mary Curtis, daughter of R. C. Curtis of Moundsville
In May, 1865 be moved to Marietta, Ohio, where he resided until the time of his death, engaged extensively and successfully in the practice of his profession. He died July 22, 1875. Mr. Oldham's memory will be cherished by his neighbors and acquaintances on account of his marked characteristics in social life. The cordiality of his greetings, the vivacity of his conversation, his wit-beaming repartee and entire freedom from censoriousness made him everybody's favorite and his company was eagerly sought and merrily enjoyed by his associates.
Mr. Oldham was an orator, and as statesman and lawyer his speeches and arguments were models of beauty and eloquence. He was a good citizen, a liberal contributor to benevolent enterprises, a man of principle honor and fidelity, whose death was deeply lamented by all who knew him.
JOHN T. GUITTEAU, son of Benjamin Guitteau, was born in Fearing township, Washington county, Ohio, in 1821.
He was educated at Marietta college; studied law with Hon. Arius Nye, of Marietta, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He commenced practice at Urbana, Ohio, associated with Hon. Thomas Corwin, and about 1843 moved to Cincinnati. After a residence of three or four
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years at Cincinnati he removed to New York city, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law.
CHARLES R. RHODES was born in Zanesville, November 5, 1819; the third child of Dr. Dudley Woodbridge Rhodes. He went to school in the preparatory department of Kenyon college in 1835, entered the freshman class in 1836, and graduated in course of 1840, taking the second honor of his class.
He entered his name as a student of law in the office of Messrs. Goddard & Converse, Zanesville, and was admitted to the bar at Newark, Ohio, in 1843. The same year he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, to establish himself as a lawyer, where he remained until the fall of 1836. The same year, having married Miss Mary E. Ward, the third child of Hon. Nahum Ward, of Marietta, he returned to Ohio, and made his residence in Marietta, where he still resides.
In January, 1855, he was elected prosecuting attorney, and continued in that office until January, 1857. In February, 1858, he was elected probate judge of Washington county, and continued in office until February, 1861.
During the War of the Rebellion the people living in the little township along the Ohio river, were kept in a constant state of alarm, apprehending incursions from the lawless bands of rebels roving through West Virginia. Mr. Rhodes organized a company of from forty to sixty men, which, through the friendly assistance of Colonel William Craig, quartermaster of the United States army stationed in Marietta, he .was able to arm and equip, and which he, as captain, kept in thorough drill and discipline, prepared for the emergencies of the times.
He was appointed by the governor of the State (Hon. Rutherford B. Hayes) delegate to the National Commercial convention, which met at Cincinnati, and the following year he was again appointed by the governor delegate for southeastern Ohio to the same convention, which met at Baltimore.
Mr. Rhodes' whole life in Marietta has been closely identified with the manufacturing and commercial enterprises of the town, and especially with the history and prosperity of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal church and Sunday-school, for more than thirty years a member and secretary of the vestry, many times their delegate to the diocesan convention, and for more than twenty years superintendent of the Sunday-school.
MELVIN CLARKE was born at Ashfield, Massachusetts, November 15, 1818, and was the oldest of a family of eight children. He was the son of Stephen and Roxy Alden Clarke, and of the seventh generation in a direct line from John Alden, of Mayflower fame. His early education was derived from the common schools of Whately, Franklin county, Massachusetts; a few terms spent in select school, and a few months at the academy at Conway, Massachusetts. He came west in the fall of 1838, and taught school in Kentucky, at Parkersburgh, in West Virginia, and in this county for a series of years. Meanwhile he was studying law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843, and settled in law practice at McConnelsville, Morgan county, Ohio, and continued in the practice there for ten years.
In 1853 he removed to Marietta, and continued to practice his profession until the beginning of the war. He became a leading member of the bar, and an influential citizen.
Of his mind the distinguishing features were clearness and strength of comprehension. He had the ability to analyze, arrange, and present, in a forcible manner, the evidence in a case, and conducted, with marked talent, the important causes committed to him.
Impelled by motives of patriotism, he, with others, was actively instrumental, at the breaking out of the war, in raising and organizing the Thirty-sixth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and was appointed its lieutenant colonel, and served in that capacity as a brave and gallant officer until killed by a shot from a ten-pound shell at the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862.
He was buried with military honors in Mound cemetery, at Marietta, and a monument erected to his memory by his army comrades and associates of the bar.
He married Miss Dorcas Dana, daughter of William Dana, of Newport, Ohio, for his first wife, who died about 1850, and left one son, Joseph D. Clarke, who was killed in the war at City Point, Maryland, in 1864. He married, as his second wife, Miss Sophia Browning, of Belpre, Ohio. He was, at the time of his death, a member of the Congregational church, of Marietta.
SAMUEL JAMES ANDREWS, fourth son of Rev. William Andrews, was born at Danbury, Connecticut, July 30, 1817. He graduated at Williams college in 1839, and came to Marietta in May, 1844. He remained a member of the Marietta bar not quite a year, when he left
the practice of law and began the study of theology. He was settled over the Congregational church at East Windsor, Connecticut, for some years, since which he has resided at Hartford, engaged in literary pursuits, and in giving instruction in Trinity college. The degree of Doctor of Divinity has been conferred upon him by Union college, Schenectady, New York.
SAMUEL B. ROBINSON was born at Washington, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1814, and was educated at Washington, now Washington and Jefferson, college, of that State. In 1835 he was editor of the Washington Reporter. In 1836, with his widowed mother and her family, he moved to Lake Chute and shortly thereafter to Beverly, Ohio. In 1837, at Beverly, in partnership with John Dodge, he engaged in mercantile business and continued therein for seven years. He studied law, Hon. Isaac Paine being his preceptor, and was admitted to the bar in 1844, and entered upon the practice of his profession in Beverly.
In 1846 he married Colina N., youngest daughter of John Dodge, of Beverly.
In 1846 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county. In 1873 he was again elected prosecuting attorney, and the duties of this office he ably and faithfully discharged. Mr. Robinson was never of robust frame, and during the latter period of his life was in very poor
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health. On the night of January 2, 1878, while travelling by steamer from Beverly to Marietta, he fell overboard and was drowned. His body was recovered and buried by the side of his deceased wife in the Beverly cemetery. During his career in life as editor, merchant, and lawyer, Mr. Robinson deserved and received the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
DAVIS GREEN, son of Rev. Allen Green, was born in Tyler county, Virginia, February 11, 1822. In 1823 his parents came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Belmont county.
Davis attended, in the winter season, the schools of his neighborhood and at the age of twenty-one years completed his education at Madison college, Guernsey county. In 1842 and the two following years he was partially engaged in teaching, and in the meantime studied law in the office of Judge Evans of Cambridge. For nearly a year after the fall of 1845 he was editor and part owner of the Guernsey Times.
In 1846 he was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon and in the fall Of the same year located at Marietta and commenced the practice of law. By close application and diligence he soon became prominent in his profession.
In 1849 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and for two years ably discharged the duties of that office.
In 1854 he was elected probate judge, and served his three years' term to the entire satisfaction of the public.
In 1856 he was elected one of the electors for Ohio of President and Vice-President of the United States, and voted for Fremont arrd Dayton.
In 1858 he was elected senator in the Ohio legislature from the district composed of Washington and Morgan counties, and was an eloquent, influential and highly esteemed member from that body.
In 1861 at the breaking out of the Rebellion he took a decided and prominent part in defence of the Government, and labored unremittingly to encourage and promote the cause of the Union. Judge Green was a man of great energy, industry and determination, and bid fair to become a jurist and statesman of high rank. In the prime of his life and the midst of his influence he died at Marietta, August 22, 1862. He was married in 1851 to Miss Columbia Ferguson, who is now the wife of Dr. D. Walter, of Marietta.
WILLIAM SPENCER NYE, son of Arius Nye, was graduated at Marietta college, in 1843. He studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1845.
He commenced practice in Marietta, associated with his brother, Dudley S. Nye, as D. S. & W. S. Nye.
He was elected and served as prosecuting attorney of the county from March, 1848, to March, 1850. About 1854 he was appointed attorney for the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company. In 1861 he was again prosecuting attorney of the county. Shortly thereafter he removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he died of typhoid fever in 1862.
Mr. Nye was an accomplished gentleman, and a lawyer of fine abilities and attainments. A rather sensitive and retiring disposition inclined him to shrink somewhat from the more rugged conflict of the court room practice, and to thus take a less conspicuous position as a trial lawyer than his legal learning and acumen entitled him to occupy. It was for his breadth, soundness and candor of view, as a counsellor, that he was best known in the profession.
His disposition was peculiarly amiable, and in his domestic and social life he was a most genial companion, and warmly attached to himself all who knew him intimately.
SELDEN S. COOKE, son of Rev. Parden Cooke, was admitted to the bar in November, 1843, at the session of the supreme court in Morgan county, and commenced practice at Marietta. In 1849 and 1850 he was elected and served as recorder of the city of Marietta..
In 1851 he removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law.
DUDLEY SELDEN NYE, son of Arius Nye, was admitted to the bar at the November term, 1843, of the supreme court, sitting in Morgan county. In 1847 he and his brother, William S. Nye, associated themselves in the practice of law at Marietta, succeeding to the business of Arius Nye & Son, as D. S. & W. S. Nye, and continued to practice until the autumn of 1852.
In 1852 he removed to Tennessee, and in the spring of 1855 removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and in 1857 was elected county judge of Pottawatomie county, in that State. In November, 1862, he returned to Marietta, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law.
HENRY A. TOWNE was born January 5, 1826, at Litchfield; Herkimer county, State of New York. Upon the death of his father, Rev. Abner Towne, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Litchfield, his mother returned with her son, then five months old, to her parents at Amherst, Massachusetts; and coming afterwards to Gallipolis, Ohio, the residence of her brother, Hon. S. F. Vinton, married May 28, 1831, Dr. Robert Safford, of Putnam, Ohio, now the ninth ward of Zanesville, at which time the subject of this sketch became .a resident of Ohio. He entered Marietta college when fifteen years of age, and graduated in 1845; was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1849, and practiced law at Marietta, Ohio, in partnership with Hon. William A. Whittlesey from 1849 to 1854, and afterwards with David Green, esq., now deceased, until his removal to Portsmouth, Ohio, December I, 1855, where he entered upon the practice of the law. He married, December 18, 1856, Harriet Nye, daughter of Judge Arius Nye, now deceased.
In 1858 he was elected one of the judges of the court of common pleas of the seventh judicial district of Ohio, and held that position until July, 1870, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law at. Portsmouth.
He has been connected with several of the furnaces of the Hanging Rock iron region, and is now a stockholder and director in the Globe Iron company, of Jackson,
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Ohio; and is also a stockholder and director in the Scioto Star Fire-brick works at East Portsmouth, Ohio.
In April, 1879, he was elected mayor of the city of Portsmouth, and is now discharging the duties of that office. In 1880 he was appointed supervisor of census of the fourth district of Ohio, and superintended the taking of the census in the eleven counties comprising the district.
RODNEY M. STIMSON was born in Milford, New Hampshire, October 26, 1824. He attended Philips' Exteracademy, academy, New Hampshire, during three years preceding 1845, when he entered Marietta college and graduated from that institution in 1847. He studied law, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar at Marietta. Soon there-after he removed to Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio, and there established the Register, a newspaper which, as editor and proprietor, he successfully conducted for twelve years. In 1862 he removed to Marietta, and there edited and published the Marietta Register dur- ing the ten years following. In 1869 he was elected senator in the Ohio legislature and was reelected in 1871, serving four years. In 1877 he was appointed State librarian, and for two years acceptably discharged the duties of that office. His residence is at Marietta where he has a library of over two thousand carefully selected volumes, has charge of the Marietta College library, and is also treasurer of that institution. He devotes his time to literary pursuits. He has been twice married, first in 1851, and again in 1862.
SAMUEL S. KNOWLES son of Samuel and Clarissa Curtis) Knowles, was born in Athens, Ohio, August 25), 1825. In 1846 and the three years following he was a student in the academy and the Ohio university at Athens. After finishing his course of studies at the university he read law with Lot L Smith and L Jewett at Athens, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. During the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Athens county, was reelected in 1853, and held that office for four years. In 1861 he removed from Athens to Marietta, engaging in the latter place in the practice of his profession. In 1864 he was commissioned captain of a company in the One Hundred and Forty-eight regiment, Ohio national guard, and served with his company, stationed at Bermuda Hundred, until September of that year, when the regiment was mustered out of service. In 1864 he was elected mayor of the city of Marietta, and reelected in 1866, serving four years. In 1865 he was elected senator in the Ohio legislature from the counties of Washington, Morgan, and Noble, serving two years. In 1875 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas, of the Third subdivision, of the Seventh judicial district of Ohio, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Plants, and in 1878 he was reelected for the full term of five years, and is now engaged in the discharge of the duties of his office. He was married January 23, 1852, to Henrietta, youngest daughter of Captain Charles De- vol, of Hockingport, Athens county.
THOMAS W. EWART, LL D., was born February 27, 1816, at Grandview, Washington county, Ohio. His mother, Mary Cochran, was a native of West Virginia, of Scotch descent; and his father, Robert K. Ewart, a Pennsylvanian, of Irish parentage. Thomas received such early education as he could obtain in the common schools of that date, in which he was. a diligent and ambitious student.
September 30, 1831, he left school and farm, and entered as an assistant in the office of clerk of the court of Washington county, where he improved his time not demanded in the offrce in studies under private instructors. He was appointed clerk of the court of this county in December, 1836, and continued in office until October, 1851. While still clerk of the court he was elected to represent Washington and Morgan counties in the Constitutional convention of 185o, which formed the present constitution of Ohio, and was one of its youngest members. On the expiration of his term as clerk of the court he was elected probate judge of Washington county, the first under the new constitution.
In the meantime, while in the prosecution of official duties as clerk of the court, he had pursued a rigid course of legal study under Judge Nye, and when attending the Constitutional convention at Cincinnati in 1851, was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio.
He held the office of probate judge one year, and resigned to practice his profession, in which he has had a good degree of success, and attained a prominent position as a lawyer of recognized ability. He has recently opened an office and is practicing law at Columbus, Ohio.
In politics he was a Whig, serving as chairman of the central committee of the county for many years. At the organization of the Republican party he identified himself with that party and so continues.
As a citizen he has been active, enterprising, seeking the welfare of the community; especially so in connection with the temperance and Sunday-school movements.
A member of, and liberal contributor to, the Baptist church, he has been superintendent of the Marietta Baptist Sunday-school forty years, and deacon of that church thirty years.
In 1838 he married Grace Dana, of Newport, who died in 1854; and in 1855 he married his present wife, Jerusha Gear, daughter of Rev. H. Gear, late of Marietta, deceased.
WILLIAM P. RICHARDSON was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1824. In 1841 he entered Washington college and pursued there a three-years' course of study. In 1846 he enlisted as a volunteer in the "Steubenville Greys," a company raised for the Mexican war, and assigned to the Third Ohio regiment. After his return from Mexico he was engaged for several years teaching in Brooke county, Virginia, and Harrison county, Ohio, and in the meantime studied law with Allen C. Turner, of Cadiz, and was there admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1853 he moved from Harrison county to Woodsfield, in Monroe county, Ohio, and after a year's employment as principal of the Monroe academy, commenced there the practice of law in partnership with L. C. Wise, and afterwards with Edward Nechbold.
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In 1855 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Monroe county, and was reelected in 1857 and again in 1859. In 186x, soon after the attack on Fort Sumter, he raised two companies of volunteers, which were assigned to the Twenty-fifth Ohio infantry, three years' service, of which regiment he was appointed major, and soon after lieutenant colonel, and with that rank proceeded to the field. In 1862 he was promoted to the colonelcy of his regiment. In 1863, at the battle of Chancellorsville he was wounded in the right shoulder, and on account of the severity of the wound was an invalid for eight months. In January, 1864, he was detailed as president of a general court-martial at Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio, and in February following was placed in command of that post. In October, 1864, he was elected attorney general of the State of Ohio, and it was his intention to retire from the army, but upon the urgent solicitation of Governor Brough, he resigned the attorney generalship and remained in the service. The same year he was brevetted brigadier general. In 1865 he was ordered to Charleston, from thence to Columbia, and finally to Darlington, in command of the district of East South Carolina. In June, 1866, he resigned his position in the army. In July, 1866, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth district of Ohio, and in November moved from Woodsfield to Marietta. In May, 1869, he resigned his office of collector, and since then has been engaged at Marietta in the successful practice of his profession as lawyer. As a commanding officer General Richardson possessed the confidence and esteem of his men. His services in detached positions have been frequently commended. He has been connected professionally with various enterprises, and was a director of the Marietta & Cleveland railroad. He was married in 1848 to Sarah E. Smith, of Brooke county, West Virginia, who died at Marietta, May 11, 1879.
HARVEY HOLLAND was born in Oswego county, New York, June 29, 1815.
In 1818 he came with his father to Woodsfield, Monroe county, Ohio.
In 1839 he moved from Woodsfield to Ludlow township, Washington county, Ohio. He was elected and served two terms as justice of the peace, and in the meantime studied law, and in 1853 was admitted to the bar. He continues to reside in Ludlow engaged in the practice of law in Washington and adjoining counties.
DAVID ALBAN studied law in the office of Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, of Gallipolis, Ohio.
In the spring of 1855 he was admitted to the bar by the district court sitting in Gallia county.
In the summer of 1855 he removed to Marietta and commenced practice in partnership with Hon. Arius Nye.
In 1862 he volunteered as a private soldier in the United States service, and served with his regiment, the Eighty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, until he was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry, September 13, 1862, and parolled.
In 1862 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and was reelected in 1863 and in 1865, serving for six consecutive years.
For several years he has been associated with Hon. W. B. Loomis, in the law firm of Loomis & Alban, now engaged in the practice of law at Marietta.
In 1879 he was again elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and now holds that office.
RODNEY K. SHAW is a native of Copenhagen in the town of Denmark, county of Lewis, and State of New York, born December 13, 1829. His early opportunities for improvement were those of the district school, and as clerk in his father's store. At twenty he began an academic course at Union academy at Belleville, New York, which was continued at Lowville academy, Lowville, New York, until his admission to the bar. He pursued the study of the law in the offices of Hon. N. B. Sylvester, now of Saratoga, New York, and Hon. E. S. Merrell, of Lowville. He taught at intervals and during vacation, teaching one year each in Virginia and Mississippi. Previous to his admission to the bar he was awarded a life certificate by the department of public instruction of New York. He was admitted to the bar at the general term of the supreme court of New York at Utica, January 2, 1855, and practiced four years in his native county. In 1859 his father having become a helpless invalid, he came to West Virginia, and cared for him until his death.
In March, 1860, he entered the office of Thomas W. Ewart as a clerk, was admitted to the bar on motion, at the April term of the district court in 1860, and continued as clerk in Mr. Ewart's office until the summer of 1861, when he was given a lieutenant's commission to recruit for the Sixty-third Ohio volunteer infantry. At the organization of the regiment he was made captain of company G, one of the companies raised in Washington county, and served with that regiment in the Ohio brigade until the fall of 1862, when he was discharged on surgeon's certificate.
In the fall of 1863 he became a partner of Thomas W. Ewart, and continued in that relation until 1870, under the firm names of Ewart & Shaw, Ewart, Shaw & Sibley, and again as Ewart & Shaw, and since 1870 has been practicing alone. He is a member of the American Bar association.
CHARLES R. BARCLAY located at Beverly, Ohio, and commenced the practice of law about 1856. He was elected mayor of Beverly, and served one term. In x858 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and served two years. After a residence of a few years in Beverly, he removed to Missouri, and in that State is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession.
WILLIAM B. LOOMIS was born in New London, Connecticut, February 1, 1837. In the spring of 1840 he came with the family of his father, Christopher C. Loomis, to Marietta, Ohio, where his father engaged in the mercantile business. He attended the Marietta academy, and completed his early education at the Marietta high school, having in 1853 graduated with the first class of graduates from that school. After leaving school he was
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engaged for a few months as merchants' clerk, after which he was employed as deputy clerk of the court of common pleas and clerk of the probate court of Washington county, Ohio. During his clerkship in those courts he studied law with Messrs. Clarke & Ewart, and in April, 1857, was admitted to the bar by the district court in Washington county. He then engaged in the practice of his profession at Marietta, in partnership with Thomas W. Ewart, esq., which relation continued until the fall of 1859. In the spring of 1860 he became the law partner of Melvin Clarke, and so continued until Colonel Clarke was killed in the battle at Antietam in 1862. He was married October 1, 1860, to Harriet Frances Wheeler, daughter of F. J. Wheeler, esq., of Marietta. In 1862 he was elected city solicitor of the city of Marietta, which office he held for four years. From the spring of 1863 to May, 1865, he was associated with the late Judge Simeon Nash, of Gallipolis, as partner in the practice of law at Marietta, when he became the law partner of Samuel S. Knowles, and so remained until June, 1868, at which time he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of the third subdivision of the seventh judicial district of Ohio, and held that position for five years.
In March, 1879, his wife died, and in June, 1880, he was married to Mrs. N. C. Hodkinson, of Marietta.
After his retirement from the bench he resumed his position at the bar, and is now senior member of the law firm of Loomis & Alban, of Marietta, successfully engaged in the practice in the State and Federal courts.
WILLIAM M. RAMSEY was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania. In 1845 he came with the family of his father, Dr. Robert Ramsey, to Beverly, Washington county, Ohio, where his father commenced, and for two years acceptably and successfully continued, the practice of medicine.
In 1847, upon the decease of his father, he returned with the family from Beverly to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where his early education was obtained. He studied law with Hon. William Montgomery, of Washington, Pennsylvania.
In 1857 he was admitted to the bar; located in Marietta, Ohio, and commenced practice as an attorney at law. In 1858 he was a candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney, nominated by the Democratic party. In 1859 he removed from Marietta to Cincinnati, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, in which he has been eminently successful, and has attained a high position as a member of the Ohio bar. He was married in 1860 to Miss Mary Frances Hart, of Cincinnati.
HENRY MANASSEH DAWES was born at Malta, Morgan county, Ohio, March 11, 1832. He was the eldest son of the late Henry Dawes, a prominent and active citizen of that county, and a grandson of Manasseh Cutler, whose life is recorded in this volume. His boyhood was spent at Malta, from whence he came to Marietta about the year 1850, and pursued a regular course at Marietta college, graduating in 1855, after which he studied law in the office of the late Hon. Davis Green, and was admitted to the bar at the April term of the district court of Washington county, 1858. He at once became a partner of Judge Green, and continued in the practice at Marietta until his death, which occurred August 13, 1860.
Mr. Dawes was endowed with a mind of unusual strength, quick perception, and fine reasoning powers, and his talents and acquirements gave promise of great professional success and distinction.
Descended from a line of ancestors who participated in the stormy events of the Revolution, he seemed to have inherited the patriotic spirit of that period, and developed an early fondness for the study of the political history of the country, and for active participation in political discussion. When yet a student he delivered a course of lectures upon the life and times of Henry Clay, the "Great American Commoner," in which he gave evidence that he comprehended the spirit of our institutions. He was also a frequent contributor to the local press on these subjects.
A man of decision and firmness, unyielding where principle was involved, he was at the same time genial, generous, and courteous to all, and having a face full of tenderness and indicating a frank and kindly nature, he was one whom to know well was both to respect and love. His untimely death was the cause of general sorrow and regret, and deprived the bar of a member who would have honored the calling.
FRANK BUELL was born at Lowell, Washington county, Ohio, April 24, 1837. He studied law with Hon. W. A. Whittlesey, of Marietta, and in January, 1859, was admitted to the bar. In 1859 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county. In 1861, at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, he resigned his office as prosecuting attorney and was commissioned as captain of company B, Eighteenth Ohio regiment, in the three months' service. Afterwards, in the fall of the same year, from recruits residing on the borders of Ohio and West Virginia, he raised an artillery company, the Pierpont battery, and by the governor of West Virginia was appointed and commissioned captain of the same. With his command he was in the campaigns in West Virginia, under Generals Fremont, Schenck, and Siegel, was engaged in several severe artillery duels, and in the battles of Cross Keys, Port Republic and Cedar Mountain.
On the twenty-second of August, 1862, at Freeman's Ford, in Fauquier county, Virginia, whilst engaged in an artillery skirmish, a shell from the enemy's battery struck the ground beneath his horse, and bursting, a piece passed through the horse and broke the captain's thigh. The horse fell dead across the captain's body, inflicting internal injuries from which he died in a few hours.
Captain Buell, during his short career as soldier, was the favorite with his command, and his services were highly commended by his superior officers. His speedy promotion to a colonelcy of artillery was contemplated by the Government.
WALTER BRABHAM was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, September 29, 1812. He obtained his early education at the common schools of that county, and commenced the study of law with William Benton, esq.
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In 1835 he moved from Virginia to Ohio, and in Morgan county, and afterwards in Washington county, was engaged for several years in the business of teaching, merchandising, and farming.
In 1859, having completed a course of law studies, under the preceptorship of Hon. Davis Green, of Marietta, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law.
In 1867 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Washington county, and was again elected to the same office in 1871, and acceptably discharged the duties thereof until 1873.
He continues to reside at Harmar, engaged in the practice of law.
M. D. FOLLETT was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1858. A sketch of Mr. Follett is given elsewhere in this work.
REUBEN L. NYE, son of Ichabod H. Nye and Miriam C. Linnel, of Granville, Ohio, was born at Marietta, October 28, 1836; attended Marietta high school and preparatory department, Marietta college; was for several years employed as a clerk in the hardware store of his uncle, A. T. Nye; studied with his uncle, Arius Nye, and was admitted to practice, 1860.
He volunteered as a private soldier, April 15, 1861, and served with his regiment, Seventeenth Ohio volunteers, in West Virginia, until July following, when he was commissioned second lieutenant Thirty-sixth Ohio volunteers; promoted to captain, April, 1862; served through the war and mustered out at Columbus, July 27, 1865. The last year of his service he was employed on staff and court-martial duty in departments of the Cumberland and West Virginia.
He commenced practice at Marietta, in the fall of 1865, with Colonel David Alban; afterwards associated with H. L. Sibley, as Sibley & Nye; and now with F. F. Oldham, as Nye & Oldham. Married Helen McLeod, of Topsfield, Massachusetts, May 21, 1867. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Washington county in 1869, and served as such from January, 1870, to January, 1872. He was elected solicitor of the city of Marietta in 1872 and 1874, and served as such for a period of four years. He held the offrce of register in bankruptcy under the act of 1867.
HIRAM L GEAR, son of Rev. H. Gear, was born at Marietta, Ohio, December 1, 1842, prepared for college in the High school of Marietta, and entered Marietta college in 1858, and graduated therefrom in 1862.
After acting as tutor in Marietta college for one year, he read law with Thomas W. Ewart, and then removed to California, where he was admitted to practice by the supreme court of that State. He was an energetic young man, of a logical turn of mind, and entered heartily into the active business life of the community; and, while at Quincy, Plumas county, California, was elected prosecuting attorney. Subsequently he became editor of the Plumas County Herald, at Quincy, California, which position he held until his return to Marietta in the fall of. I870. Here he again engaged in the practice of the law, as partner in the firm of Ewart, Gear & Ewart, and continued in that business until the fall of 1872, when, impelled by the impression that he ought to preach the gospel as his father had done, he left the law and became a minister, preaching at Newport, Ohio, Norwalk, Ohio, and finally he was called to the position of superintendent of State missions of the Baptist denomination, which position he now holds, residing at Granville, Ohio.
THOMAS R. SHEPPARD, son of Charles J. Sheppard, was born in Washington county, Ohio, and was educated in the public schools of Marietta city.
In 1864 he volunteered as a private soldier in the One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, National Guard, and served until he was mustered out with the regiment. He studied law in the office of Messrs. Knowles & Loomis, of Marietta, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar. Soon afterwards he removed to Mississippi, where he remained until 1871, engaged in the practice of law.
Since 1871 he has been located and practicing in Marietta, Ohio.
HIRAM L SIBLEY was admitted to the bar of Marietta in April, 1865. A sketch of him is given elsewhere in this work.
JOSHUA T. CREW, son of Thomas and Ann (Andrews) Crew, was born at Chesterfield, Morgan county, Ohio, October 5, 1844. He studied law with M. D. Follett, of Marietta, was admitted to the bar in 1868, and commenced practice at Marietta, in partnership with Mr. Follett.
In 1869 he removed from Marietta to McConnellsville.
In 1876 he located at Zanesville, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law.
JAMES W. COLLETT, was born in Wood county, West Virginia, April 23, 1828, and was educated at Parkersburgh, Virginia. He was engaged for some years in mercantile business at Newport, Washington county, Ohio. He studied law with Hon. Davis Green, at Marietta, and in 1868, was admitted to the bar. He resides at Newport and is engaged in the practice of his profession.
WILLIAM G. WAY was born at Marietta, Ohio, July 22, 1842. He studied law with Hon. W. H. Oldham, of Marietta, and was admitted to the bar, at a term of the district court for Washington county, April 8, 1869, and commenced practice in Marietta.
In 1869 he was a candidate for prosecuting attorney, but was defeated In 1871 he was elected representative in the Ohio legislature, served one term, and refused a renomination. In 1876 he was elected solicitor of the city of Marietta, and reelected in 1878 and 1880. He continues to reside at Marietta, engaged in the practice of his profession.
THOMAS EWART was born October 4, 1847, at Marietta, Ohio. He attended the public schools of Marietta and Marietta college until 1866, and then attended Dennison university, at Granville, Ohio, for three years, and graduated there in 1869. He read law with Ewart & Shaw, and was admitted to practice at the district court of Noble county, Ohio, in the fall of 187o. He then
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began the practice of law at Marietta, Ohio, with his father, Thomas W. Ewart and H. L. Gear, under the frrm name of Ewart, Gear & Ewart, where he has continued in the practice to the present time, except a year and a half spent at Indianapolis in 1873 and 1874.
LUMAN W. CHAMBERLAIN, son of John D. and Thiora (Grow) Chamberlain, was born at Watertown, Ohio, December 1, 1828. He attended common schools and Western Liberal institute at Marietta, and taught school several terms.
In 1851 he was elected county surveyor, and by successive reelections held that office for ten years. In 1862 he was elected assistant sergeant-at-arms of the Ohio house of representatives, and served as such during the sessions of 1862 and 1863. In 1863 he was elected probate judge of Washington county, and reelected in 1866, serving six years.
In 1870, having completed a preparatory course of law studies with Hon. Thomas W. Ewart, he was admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged at Marietta in the practice of his profession, now associated with John A. Hamilton as Chamberlain & Hamilton.
MANLY W. MANN was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio, about 1870. His residence is at Coal Run, Washington county, Ohio, where he is engaged in the practice of his profession.
SEYMOUR J. HATHAWAY, son of Luther, and Clarissa (Ripley) Hathaway was born in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, January 27, 1844. In 1853 he came with his father and family who then moved from Macedon to Marietta, Ohio.
In 1861, at the breaking out of the war, he was a student in the freshman class of the Marietta high school, when he enlisted in Captain William B. Mason's company, Third regiment Ohio militia, called into service by Governor Dennison, and served three months.
In 1864-5 he was engaged with the law firm of Ewart & Shaw, and afterwards with that of Knowles & Loomis in examining records and making abstracts of title to lands in the oil regions of southeastern Ohio.
In 1865, having pursued the required preparatory course of studies, he entered the freshman class of Marietta college and graduated at that institution in 1869. The same year he began the study of law with M. D. Follett, esq., of Marietta, and was admitted to the bar in 1871, and commenced practice at Marietta.
In 1874 he was elected city solicitor of Marietta city, and by direction of the council immediately began the revision of the city ordinances, which work was completed early in 1875.
He continues his residence at Marietta engaged in the practice of law.
He was married in 1876 to Miss Mary C. Means, daughter of William C. Means, of Marietta..
JOHN A. HAMILTON, son of Dr. David and Ruth . (Allen) Hamilton, was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1847. In 1853 he came with his father's family to Marietta, Ohio, attended the public schools there for his preliminary education, and completed it at the high school in that city.
In 1863 he entered the army as volunteer in the Second Ohio artillery. In 1864 he was detailed as private secretary to General Hugh Ewing, then commanding the Second division, district of Kentucky, and filled that position until 1865, when he was mustered out of the service.
He then returned to Marietta where for two or three years he was engaged in mercantile business.
In 1871, having completed a course of law studies with Colonel Alban, he was admitted to the bar. Since then he has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Marietta; a partner from 1871 to 1874 in the firm of Knowles, Alban & Hamilton; from 1874 to 1875 in the firm of Knowles & Hamilton, and since 1875 in the firm of Chamberlain & Hamilton.
He was married in 1872 to Mary M. Martin, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
CORNELIUS T. FRAZYER was born in New York city, June 15, 1836. He came to Washington county, Ohio, in the latter part of February, 1865; was deputy clerk of common pleas from June, 1872 to January, 1876; was admitted to the bar in this State in June, 1871; was elected probate judge in October, 1875, for three years from February 14, 1876, and reelected in the fall of 1878.
HARVEY HOLLAND, JR., son of Harvey Holland above mentioned, was born in Ludlow, Washington county, Ohio, July 6, 1845. In 1866 and for several years thereafter he was engaged in teaching, and in the meantime studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1872. In 1875 he located at Marietta and commenced the practice of law.
In 1878, on account of feeble and failing health he was obliged to abandon his law practice, and after travelling in the south seeking, unsuccessfully, restoration of strength he returned to Ludlow, where he now resides.
JOHN IRVINE, son of Dr. William Irvine, was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, October 17, 1835. He obtained his early education at the Brownsville academy.
In 1852 he removed with his widowed mother from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and settled in the western part of Washington county on a farm.
In 1866 he was appointed collector of tolls on the Muskingum improvement, and served in that capacity eleven years.
In 1872, having finished a course of law studies under the preceptorship of W. Brabham, esq., he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Harmar.
The same year he was elected mayor of Harmar, and was reelected in 1874.
In 1877 he was elected senator in Ohio legislature for the counties of Washington, Morgan and Noble, and served two years.
He continues to reside at Harmar engaged in the practice of law.
He was married in 1854 to Miss Fanny Irvine, of Decatur, Ohio.
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FRANK F. OLDHAM, son of W. H. Oldham, above named was born at Moundsville, Virginia, March 3, 1849. He attended the Morgantown, West Virginia, academy during the four years preceding 1865, when he moved with his father to Marietta, Ohio, and in 1866 entered Mari- etta college, and graduated therefrom in 1870 with the highest honors of his class. He studied law with his father at Marietta, attended law lectures at Cincinnati, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. Immediately after his admission to the bar, he entered at Marietta, upon the practice of his profession, the first year in partnership with his father and W. G. Way, as Oldham, Way & Oldham; for the next four years in partnership with W. B. Loomis as Loomis & Oldham, and since 1876 in partnership with R. L. Nye, as Nye & Oldham.
In 1875 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for the office of prosecuting attorney of the county, and was elected, and reelected in 1877.
In January, 1876, he was married to Miss Betty W. Lovell, granddaughter of Mr. A. T. Nye, of Marietta.
JEWETT PALMER, son of Jewett Palmer who removed from New Hampshire to Washington county, Ohio, in 1818, was born at Fearing, Washington county, Ohio, May 7, 1840.
At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Captain Frank Buell's company, B, Eighteenth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, in the three months' service. At the close of this service he returned to Washington county, and with James Stanley, of Salem, recruited a company for the Thirty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was commissioned as captain of the same, and with that rank proceeded to the field and served with the regiment. In May, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of major. In November, 1864, after participating in the battle of Cedar Creek, the last battle in which his regiment was engaged, he resigned his commission and returned to Salem, Ohio.
In 1865 he was elected clerk of the court of Washington county, Ohio, and was reelected in
1868, and for the period of six years satisfactorily discharged the duties of that office.
In April, 1872, having pursued a course of legal studies with Everett, Green & Everett, of Marietta, he was admitted to the bar, opened an office at Marietta, and commenced practice as attorney and solicitor of patents.
In 1874 he was elected mayor of the city of Marietta, and was reelected in 1876.
In October, 1876, he resigned the mayoralty to accept the position of collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth district of Ohio, tendered him by President Hayes, and since then has continued his residence at Marietta, engaged in the discharge of the duties of his office as collector.
In September, 1866, he was married to Miss Saida M. Scott, of Marietta.
ANDREW W. MCCORMICK was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania. He came to Marietta and published the Marietta Republican for some years preceding the fall of 1861, when he entered the military service, became captain in the Seventy-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, was wounded, and twice taken prisoner during the war.
In 1867 he was admitted to the bar in Washington county. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of the county, and was reelected in 1872. He practiced law in Marietta from 1876 until 1878, when he removed to Cincinnati.
JASPER LISK was admitted to the bar about 1872. He resides at Matamoras, Washington county, Ohio, and is engaged in the practice of law.
FREDERICK J. CUTTER was born at Watertown, Washington county, Ohio, October 6, 1839. In 1859 he went to Cincinnati, and during the latter portion of his six years' residence in that city he attended Herron's seminary and Professor Clive's private school. In 1865 he entered the sophomore class of Marietta college and was graduated at that college in 1868. During the four years following he was engaged in teaching and in the care and management of his father's farm in Union township.
In 1872 he commenced reading law with Hon. T. W. Ewart, of Marietta, and in April, 1875, was admitted to the bar. In 1876 he opened an office in Marietta, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. He resides in Watertown township.
JAMES E. WAY, son of Joshua and Lucinda (Bishop) Way, was born in Union township, Washington county, Ohio, April 9, 1857. He received his early education at the common schools of Washington and Monroe counties, and attended the high schools at Woodsfield and Caldwell.
He studied law with Messrs. Oldham & Way, at Marietta, was admitted to the bar in 1875, and practiced for two years with Pearson & Doherty, of Woodsfield. In 1877 he returned to Marietta and formed a law partnership with his brother, William G. Way. In 1878 he removed to Beverly, Ohio, and engaged, and still continues, in the practice of his profession at that place.
In 1879 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for prosecuting attorney for Washington county, but was not elected.
In February, 1877, he was married to Miss Mary E. Hanson, of Stafford, Union county.
WILLIAM LOREY was born in Prussia about 1827. He emigrated to this country in 1849, came to Marietta in 1855, and established, and for about ten years, published the Marietta Democrat, the first German paper printed in the county.
In 1869 he was admitted to the bar in Washington county, and was engaged in the practice of law at Marietta until the time of his death in 1881.
CHARLES A. COOK, son of Silas Cook, esq., was born November 3, 1825. He studied law in the office of W. G. Way, of Marietta, and was admitted to the bar at a session of the district court for Washington county, April 3, 1877. He resides at Marietta, engaged in the practice of law.
DAVID R. ROOD, son of Richard H. and Mary A. (Williams) Rood, was born at McConnelsville, Ohio, February 23, 1847.
132 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.
In 1849 he removed with his parents to Washington county, where he obtained his early education at the common schools.
In 1864 he entered the army as volunteer in company L, First Ohio volunteer cavalry, and served in the escort of Major General George H. Thomas until the close of the war.
In 1865 he was mustered out of service, and at Marietta entered upon a course of study preparatory to teaching. In 1868, and for several of the following years he was engaged in teaching, and in the meantime studied law with Hon. S. S. Knowles. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar at Athens, Ohio. In 1878 he opened a law office at Belpre, Ohio, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession, associated with S. Ridgway, at Marietta, as Rood & Ridgway.
JOHN W. TRAUTMAN was born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1849, and obtained his early education in that county. In 1870 he came to Ohio and located in Harmar, Washington county. He studied law with Hon. John Irvin, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice.
In 1878 he was elected by the house of representatives of Ohio, as first assistant sergeant-at-arms, and served in that capacity during two sessions of the legislature.
In 1879 he resumed the practice of law at Harmar, where he now resides.
JOHN W. MCCORMICK was born at Brownsville, Monroe county, Ohio, December 25, 1850. In 1869 he came with his parents to Washington county, and at Marietta pursued a course of preparatory studies. In 1875 he was graduated at Marietta college.
He commenced the study of law with Messrs. Loomis & Alban, and completed the same with Mr. M. D. Follett, and in 1878 was admitted to the bar.
In the spring of 1879 he commenced the practice of law at Marietta, and is now engaged therein at that place.
JAMES ROSS, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1839. In October, 1861, he volunteered as a private soldier, and afterwards reenlisted as a veteran in the Seventy-third regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry. He was engaged in many hard fought battles; marched with Sherman to the sea; was commissioned as first lieutenant, and having served through the entire war, was mustered out of service with his regiment in 1865.
In 1878 he was admitted to the bar, and is now located in Wesley township, Washington county, engaged in the practice of law.
M. WILBER REA was born at Rea's Run, Washington county, Ohio. He attended the Gallia academy at Gallipolis, Ohio, and the Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. At the age of seventeen years he began teaching, and taught for a number of years. He was engaged for a time with his brother in store-keeping and tobacco-packing at Newport, Ohio. He studied law and graduated at Cincinnati Law school in 1878. In 1879 he commenced and is now engaged in the practice of law at Marietta.
F. R. McCORMICK, son of A. W. McCormick, was graduated at Marietta college in 1874. He studied law with his father, and in 1876 was admitted to the bar. In 1878 he removed to Cincinnati, where, associated with his father he is now engaged in the practice of law.
ALFRED DEWEY FOLLETT, Son of Martin D. Follett and Harriet L. Shipman, was born in Marietta, Ohio, March 3o, 1858. In September, 1872, he entered Marietta college and graduated therefrom in July, 1876, with the highest honors of his class. In September, 1877, he entered Cornell university and took a post graduate course in history, philosophy, political economy, constitutional law and literature. On his return to Marietta he commenced the study of law and in February, 1880, was admitted to the practice of law by the supreme court of Ohio. Since then he has been engaged in the practice of law with his father at Marietta.
SIDNEY RIDGWAY, son of Thomas Ridgway, was born in Washington county, Ohio, May 20, 1850. In 1868 and 1869 he attended the academy at Marietta; in 1874 was graduated at Marietta college; in 1875 he was elected justice of the peace for Union township, Washington county; in 1877 was the nominee of the Republican party for representative in the Ohio legislature, but was not elected; in 1877 was engaged as teacher in the public schools of Lowell, Washington county, and in 1879 having completed a course of law studies under the preceptorship of Ewart, Sibley & Ewart, at Marietta, he was admitted to the bar. He is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Marietta, associated wrth D. R. Rood, of Belpre, as Rood & Ridgway.
CHARLES W. RICHARDS, son of George H. Richards, was born at Marietta, Ohio, May 11, 1856. He attended the public schools of his native city; studied law two years with Messrs. Loomis & Alban, and was admitted to the bar in Washington county in April, 1879.
In April, 1880, he was elected justice of the peace of Marietta township. He resides at Marietta, engaged in the practice of his profession, and in the discharge of his duties as justice of the peace.
CHARLES RICHARDSON, son of W. P. Richardson, was born at Woodsfield, Ohio, March 28, 1857. He studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1879. He is associated with his father in the practice of law at Marietta, Ohio.
JOHN C. PRESTON, son of Frederic and Joanna (Chapin) Preston, was born at Ludlow village near Beverly, Ohio, October 3, 1831. A part of his early life was spent at Columbus, Ohio, where he attended school at the seminary. About 1852 he became a resident of Beverly, where he has held the office of justice of the peace for a period of six years, of postmaster sixteen years, and of mayor six years.
In 1878 he was admitted to the bar, and at Beverly commenced and still continues in the practice of his profession. In 1855 he married Harriet Anderson, who died in 1871. In 1876 he married his present wife, Mrs. Kate Shoop, of McConnellsville.
LOWELL W. ELLENWOOD was born in Washington
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county, Ohio, August 7, 1855. He studied law with Messrs. Chamberlain & Hamilton, of Marietta, and in 1879 graduated at the law school in Cincinnati, and was admitted to the bar. In 1880 he located at Marietta, where he now resides, and engaged in the practice of his profession.