USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 14
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of that generation of men who left good homes and pleasant surroundings in the East and South, lured by the call of the wilderness, and in the primeval woods hewed a place for themselves and made it possible for their great- grandchildren to enjoy the Johnson county of today.
PROBATE JUDGES.
The act of February 10, 1831, established a probate court in each county to have charge of all matters affecting the estates of deceased per- sons or of persons under guardianship. The court sat on the first Mondays in January, March, July and September, and the third Mondays in May and November. The judge received three dollars a day for time actually en- gaged.
Israel Watts was the first to fill the office, in 1837, giving place to John Smiley, the first sheriff of the county. Smiley was succeeded at the end of his seven-year term by Bartholomew Applegate for a like period. Peter Voris then served until the court was abolished in 1852.
COMMON PLEAS COURT.
The code of 1852 created common pleas courts in each county in the state. County courts of common pleas had been in existence under territor- ial laws until 1814, and two counties were given such a court prior to the new Constitution. Under the act of 1852, forty-three districts were estab- lished, court was to be held four times a year in Johnson county, the length of term to be proportionate to the population. In the beginning Johnson county constituted a circuit; later Morgan, Shelby. Monroe and Brown counties were formed into a circuit.
The common pleas courts had exclusive jurisdiction of probate matters, and, except in cases of libel, slander, breach of marriage contract, actions on official bonds and where the title to real estate was in issue, and where the amount involved exceeded one thousand dollars, they had concurrent juris- diction with the circuit courts. In criminal cases all misdemeanors and cer- tain felonies were triable in the common pleas court. The judge was al- lowed to practice law, but not in his own court nor in any cause that had been adjudicated before him. These courts lasted not quite twenty years, being abolished by the act of March 6, 1873. The circuit court in our county is the only court of general jurisdiction.
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At the October election in 1852 Franklin Hardin was elected the first judge of the Johnson court of common pleas. Judge Hardin was born July 27, 1810, in Fleming, now Nicholas county, Kentucky. At the age of fifteen he and his mother came by way of the Whetzel trail to the White River country to visit relatives, and two years later the family settled in this county. ' In his Kentucky school days he had studied surveying, and after coming to Indiana he began the study of law, teaching school for five years as a means of support. In 1836 he was appointed county surveyor by Judge Wick and served six years. In 1842 he was elected state representative and was re-elected in 1843 and 1844. In the last race John Slater contested the nomination with him on the Democratic ticket, and being defeated by Hardin ran independently. Slater was badly defeated as well in the election. Hardin was elected state senator in 1845, serving six years, and was also our delegate to the constitutional convention.
A letter from him to the board of commissioners, bearing date Febru- ary 5, 1852, and of record in the auditor's office, reveals the character of the man.
"To the Honorable, the Commissioners of Johnson County, Indiana :
"Gent. Enclosed you will find an order on the Treasurer of State for $124.64. This order was drawn in my favor for that amount as a member of the Senate during the sessions of 1850-51 and while I was a member of the Constitutional Convention. Although the law entitled me to double pay and double mileage, it was never my intention to take either. This money was received by taxation from the people of Johnson County. I return it to you as their agents to make use thereof as shall best conduce to the public interest.
"FRANKLIN HARDIN."
In his race for judge, his opponent was A. B. Hunter, and when re- elected in 1856, Duane Hicks was the opposing candidate. He was a dele- gate to the national convention that nominated Buchanan, and then retired from politics, although he was for many years a "wheel-horse" in White River township politics. It was his work that brought about the election of Isaac M. Thompson, a Republican, for county clerk, and of Thompson's successor, his son, Thomas Hardin. Judge Hardin was a writer of ability, and was the first citizen of the county to record events and impressions of its early history.
George A. Buskirk, of Monroe county, succeeded Judge Hardin, and in 1864 he was succeeded by Oliver J. Glessner, of Morgan county, later of
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Shelby. In 1868, Thomas W. Woollen was elected, but he resigned in 1870, to be succeeded by Richard L. Coffey, of Brown county.
Judge Thomas W. Woollen was not best known or remembered by his service as judge of the common pleas court, but the present mention of his name suggests the propriety of here introducing a sketch of his career. He was born in Dorchester county, Maryland, April 26, 1830, his father being a farmer in moderate circumstances. At the age of fifteen, the son went to Baltimore to learn the carpenter's trade. His elder brother, William Wesley, having come to Madison, Indiana, and finding employment in the clerk's office, induced Thomas to follow to the new country, and in 1848 the latter came to take his brother's job. He continued as deputy in the clerk's office, until 1852, when he became deputy under his brother, William W., who had been elected county treasurer, and remained in the treasurer's office two years. In the meantime, Judge Woollen had begun the study of the law, had mar- ried, and in 1854 entered the arena of politics, as Democratic nominee for treasurer of the county. But that was a disastrous year for Democratic nominees all over the country. Know-Nothingism, which had sprung up in a night, won great triumphs that year, and. Woollen met defeat with the rest of his party. In 1856, Woollen moved to Vernon, and worked for a short time in the clerk's office, but, more ambitious for the future, he soon came to Franklin and, with Jeptha D. New, of Vernon, opened an office here for the practice of the law. New soon returned to his home at Vernon, and Woollen pushed ahead alone, until 1860, when for a year he was associated with Cyrus F. McNutt. later a prominent lawyer of Terre Haute.
He was at once recognized as a leader in politics, and in 1862 was elected joint representative to the Legislature from the counties of Johnson and Morgan. In 1865 he was made cashier of the First National Bank of Franklin, and three years later was made president. At the time of his elec- tion to a place at the head of the bank, he was elected common pleas judge of the circuit, but the duties proving conflicting, he. at the request of the direct- orate of the bank, resigned his judicial office, and gave all his time to banking. In the six years of his connection with the banking business, the First National was very successful and enjoyed the confidence of the business men of the entire county.
Judge Woollen retired from the bank in 1871 and resumed law practice with the Hon. Cas. Byfield, a former partner of Judge Banta, who was then on the bench. This relation continued until Mr. Byfield removed to Indi- anapolis together with Daniel W. Howe, in 1872. In 1873-74. Judge Woollen was for a little more than a year a partner of Hon. Richard M.
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Johnson and the Hon. Jacob L. White, under the firm name of Woollen, Johnson & White.
In 1872, Mr. Admire, candidate for the lower house from Johnson county, refusing to support Horace Greeley for President, the central com- mittee displaced him as a candidate, and gave the place on the ticket to Judge Woollen. Admire refused to withdraw, and the contest was a lively one, but Woollen was easily elected. In the ensuing legislative session, he was recognized as the leader of the House on the Democratic side. His record there paved the way for his nomination in 1874 for the office of attorney- general, but, with the rest of the state ticket, he met defeat. In 1878 he was re-nominated for attorney-general, and was successful, serving with distinc- tion.
From the time Judge Banta left the bench in 1876 until his election as dean of the law department of the State University in 1889, Judge Woollen and Judge Banta were associated together in a successful practice at the bar. Their clientele was of the best citizens of the county. For twenty years, one or the other of the firm had served the board of commissioners as county attorney, and Judge Woollen so continued until 1896.
On March 7, 1896, Judge Woollen admitted the writer to a partnership, and the firm of Woollen & Branigin continued until Judge Woollen's death on February 12, 1898.
Judge Woollen was built on large lines. His body, brain and soul were fitted to the discharge of great public duties, and he performed them well. In this, 'as in other days, when an unreasoning public and a scandal-monger- ing press are seeking to discredit the legal profession, it is a source of satis- faction. for the members of the local bar to reflect upon the character and lives of the men who have in other days stood at the forefront in the pro- fession here. What other profession or calling has produced men of higher character, or wider influence for good in this community than such men as Woollen, "Uncle" Gabe Overstreet, A. B. Hunter, David D. Banta, Jacob L. White, Edward F. White, John V. Oliver, and numbers of others both living and dead.
Judge Woollen as a lawyer was careful and slow in arriving at a con- clusion, but was convincing and steadfast in a position once taken. He was dignified and scholarly in his public addresses, never trifling nor attempting sharp practices with court or jury. He was even-tempered, slow to anger, but when aroused by injustice or wrong, he was impassioned and eloquent. In social intercourse, he was gifted with the courteous manners of the South- ern aristocrat; in business, he was the soul of honor; in his civic relations.
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always the champion of every clean, progressive and public spirited enter- prise; a Christian gentleman, without fear and without reproach.
JOHNSON COUNTY LAWYERS.
After Fabius M. Finch, the first lawyer to locate in Franklin was Gilderoy Hicks, who came to the town in 1833. He was born in Rutland, Vermont, January 3, 1804, and was reared on the farm. With his parents, he came westward, stopping first in New York state, then in Ohio, and then at the village of Patriot, in Switzerland county, Indiana. According to his biographer, Judge Banta, Hicks was quite poor when he landed in Franklin and for several years was able to make a bare living at the law. Finch had already received the patronage and support of Samuel Herriott and other leading Whigs, and Hicks, though he was of the same party, was taken up by George King and other prominent Democrats, and to the jealous rivalry of the two factions most of the profitable law business was due. Hicks soon became interested in real estate transactions, joining with Jesse Beard in 1846 in platting and selling an addition to the town of Franklin, known as Hicks & Beard's Addition; in 1850 he joined Prof. A. F. Tilton in platting and selling Hicks & Tilton's Addition; in 1850 he and Robert Hamilton platted a large tract of land in northeast Franklin, known as Hamilton & Hicks' Addition, and three years later he and Hamilton platted another strip just north of the last named, known as Hicks and Hamilton's Addi- tion. In these additions sometimes referred to as Additions numbered Five, Eight, Nine and Ten, respectively, Hicks' name was perpetuated in such a manner as to impress the present generation more with his success as a land speculator, rather than as a lawyer. Out of the Beard deal Hicks cleared two thousand dollars, and from his transactions with Hamilton he realized a profit of eleven thousand dollars, a considerable sum measured by the standards of the time and the place.
Gilderoy Hicks was a Whig, but, as we have suggested, his business and social relations with leading Democrats were close, and so it came about that, in 1846, he was elected to the state Legislature against Dr. James Ritchey, Democratic candidate, although in the same year the vote for gov- ernor stood : For James Williams, 973; for Joseph G. Marshall, 634. The vote returned by the canvassing board showed that Dr. Ritchey received 746 and Hicks 745, but in contest proceedings on a recount the vote showed a plurality of 39 in favor of Hicks. At the Democratic county convention of 1847 Hicks renounced his former political beliefs and was formally
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recognized as a Democrat. In 1848 and again in 1849 he represented John- son county in the Legislature and in 1851 was elected state senator. When the Know-Nothing party arose he joined it and later became a Republican. He died December 23, 1857.
While Judge Finch and Gilderoy Hicks were most active in the practice in the thirties and forties other lawyers came to Franklin, some to soon be- come disheartened and leave, others to remain. Of the former class were one Newman, who settled here in 1839, for a stay of a year and a half, a well educated man of good address, but intemperate and not able to gain the confidence of the people: Robert Mckinney, who came here in 1841, edu- cated at Hanover College, and up to that time the best educated lawyer in the county, but he was ungainly in appearance and lacked suavity of manner, and after a stay of three years he went to Greenwood to teach school, and thence to the Mormon settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois: Royal S. Hicks, nephew of Gilderoy Hicks, long a deputy in the clerk's office and at one time clerk, admitted to the bar according to Judge Banta in 1843, but by the record shown to have been admitted on March 4, 1850. Hicks practiced law but little, was elected state representative in 1852 and after his term of office removed to Spencer county.
John Slater, a Canadian by birth, came to Johnson county in 1840. His naturalization papers of record in the clerk's office fix the date of his birth as March 17, 1815. When the Mexican war broke out he enlisted as a private in the Franklin company under the captaincy of David Allen. When Captain Allen died in 1847 he was made captain of the company and served with distinction. After the war he returned to Franklin and formed a partner- ship with Fabius M. Finch, in whose office he had studied law. Finch & Slater were of counsel in most of the important litigation in the next six years. Judge Banta says of Slater : "He was very tall, was straight as an arrow, had dark hair, a thin visage and a rubicund face; was slow and deliberate in his motions and grave in demeanor. He was rather fond of miscellaneous reading, he had good perceptive faculties and was full of re- sources in trying moments. He had a high sense of humor, was rather witty and loved argumentation more than anything else in the world. He was an indolent man and never burdened himself with the labor of hunting for authorities. He trusted to luck in the trial of his cases, saying that 'Books cramped a man's genius, anyhow,' but he seldom mistook the point on which his case rested. He was a store-box lounger. In his day the busi- ness men of Franklin were less attentive to their business than now. It was not uncommon, at that time, for the merchants and others to spend a
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good portion of the spring and summer days, when the farmers were too busy to come to town, pitching quoits, playing chess and dominoes and telling stories. This hum-drum suited John Slater, except that he spent his time sitting on store-boxes in shady places, arguing upon law, theology, medi- cine, phrenology, mesmerism, Democracy, Muggery, abolitionism, temper- ance or any other theme that would furnish him an antagonist; or in telling humorous stories to whomsoever would listen. Nor did it make any differ- ence to him which side he chose in his arguments. One of his great mis- fortunes was his utter lack of convictions. He was an infidel in both politics and religion. To him life was a jest and the beliefs of men were mere puppets to afford amusement for the hour. No subject was serious enough to escape his levity. He affirmed, disputed, laughed at any side of any prop- osition as the humor struck him. This want of sincerity was a serious draw-back to his profession. His controversial habit came to be known to both judge and jurymen, and how could they know whether he was sincere in his arguments or not. Slater carried into politics the same characteristics which marred his professional life. He claimed to be a Democrat, and it is fair to presume that, if he had any political convictions whatever, he was a Democrat. But he was more apt to be arrayed against his party than with it. He was cursed with a greed for office, and would go into convention as a candidate and if defeated. as usually happened, would run the race anyhow. In 1856 he succeeded in carrying the nomination for state senator and was elected; at the close of his term he secretly left the state and never returned."
Gabriel Monroe Overstreet and Anderson Barnes Hunter, whose firm name of Overstreet & Hunter was a household word in Johnson county for nearly half a hundred years, were on the whole the most prominent and in- fluential lawyers the county has known. The senior member of the firm was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, May 21, 1819. His father, Samuel Overstreet, came to Johnson county in 1834 and settled in the country about three miles northeast of Franklin. The son worked on the farm and at- tended the neighborhood school until the age of twenty. The father at that time made an advancement to each of his children of six hundred dollars, and young Overstreet used his share to get an education. He entered the Manual Labor Institute of Franklin in the fall of 1839 for a year's pre- paratory study, and the next year became a student at the State University. His name appears in Commissioners' Report as the first "student for this county to the Indiana College in 1841." In 1844 he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts, and returned to Franklin and studied law for a year in the office of Gilderoy Hicks. In December, 1846, he returned to Blooming-
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ton for a three months' course in the law department, and was then licensed to practice law.
Judge Banta, in "Bench and Bar of Indiana," tells of the unusual straits in finance experienced by the young student : "At the close of one term, after paying all his bills, he had twenty-five cents, and no more, left in his pocket with which to defray his expenses home. It was all of forty miles from Bloomington to Franklin as the roads ran, but early one summer morning he set out on foot, expecting to reach Morgantown in time to spend his money for his dinner. But before he came to Morgantown the sun had passed the meridian and it was still fifteen miles to Franklin. To the traveler it began to look as if his quarter might be of more service in paying for a night's lodging than for a cold dinner, and so he kept it and, to use his own language, 'polled ahead.' By bed time he was at home and with the money in his pocket."
During his vacation periods Overstreet spent his time in surveying, teaching a country school, farm work and clerking in the store of his brother, William H. Overstreet. In 1848 he was elected and served for one year as prosecuting attorney. On the 21st of February, 1849, the firm of Overstreet & Hunter was formed, not to be severed until the death of the junior mem- ber in 1891.
Mr. Hunter, the junior member of the firm, was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, on October 1, 1826. His father, Ralsamon Hunter, emigrated to Johnson county in 1840, locating in Hensley township. Young Hunter was of slight build and always suffered from defective eyesight, but both as boy and as man he was a great book-worm, and while he had no collegiate train- ing, he far outstripped his better schooled partner in his knowledge of books. He never attended but one quarter's school after he came to Johnson county, but in his eighteenth year he began teaching, holding his first school in a log smoke-house in Burgess Wagoner's door-yard in Nineveh township. "In his twentieth year," says Judge Banta, "he conceived the idea of studying law and at once made arrangements to that effect with Mr. Gilderoy Hicks, of Franklin. Their agreement, written by Mr. Hicks, which it was characteristic of Mr. Hunter to preserve, is before me. By its terms Hunter was "to read and study the profession of the law' and was to have the use of the old lawyer's library, 'except that he is to furnish himself with Blackstone and Chitty's Pleadings,' and when he was admitted to the bar he was to pay Hicks forty dollars. The lawyer was to 'pay reasonable attention' to his student, and it may be presumed that he did so, for the instrument has in- dorsed upon it two years after its execution a receipt in full."
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In November, 1847, Hunter entered the senior class of the law depart- ment of the State University, and in February following returned to Franklin to spend a year partly in study, partly as deputy county treasurer. . He was admitted to our bar on March 7, 1848.
The first record noted by the writer bearing the firm name of Overstreet & Hunter bears date July 19, 1849. The court records of the ensuing forty years are filled with proceedings in which these two played a part. Judge Banta, who knew both so well, has written of the firm: "Rarely to be found are two men as well mated as were Overstreet and Hunter. Nature sent them out of her workshop so formed that they worked in perfect accord from the beginning. They always stood together. Neither ever went into court to try a case without the other. Overstreet in his earlier years had been a close student, and he was better grounded in the practice of the law than were most young men of the day. Later, however, he became less a student than was his associate, but being quick of apprehension and possessing a well stored and discriminating mind, the slightest hint from his book-reading partner was enough for him. The strength of the firm lay in the differences between the two men. Nature intended Hunter for the counselor and Over- street for the advocate. Overstreet was skillful in the examination of wit- nesses. He knew and could accommodate himself to their understandings and peculiarities as few men could. As a jury lawyer, in his prime, Over- street stood in the front rank. He was earnest, ingenious, plausible, vigor- ous and forcible in his arguments. Mr. Hunter had the qualities of mind which made him an invaluable aid to the jury lawyer. He was a close and painstaking student, and he seldom failed to reach a true conclusion as to the law of the case. He was a safe counselor, a good pleader, wrote an excellent brief and had the power in a high degree of presenting a legal question to the court in a clear, logical and convincing manner."
Mr. Hunter died August 14, 1891, and after his death Mr. Overstreet became associated with his son, Jesse Overstreet, until the latter's election to Congress. The firm of Overstreet & Oliver was then formed. After Mr. Oliver's death, in 1900, Mr. Overstreet retired from active practice. He died February 8, 1907.
After Overstreet & Hunter the next lawyers to seek admission to the bar were Duane Hicks and Jonathan H. Williams, both of whom were ad- mitted to the bar at the September term, 1848. The former was a son of Gilderoy Hicks, educated in the town schools, and in 1847 a student at Franklin College, apprenticed to the saddlery trade and then a law student in his father's office. Duane Hicks was not successful as a lawyer, and in
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1857, owing to ill health, he retired to a small farm near Franklin, but this vocation being injurious, he returned to the town and went into the furniture business. During the war he enlisted as a cavalryman, but consumption had him in its grasp, and he was soon discharged. He died September 28, 1863, aged thirty-five.
Jonathan H. Williams came to Franklin while quite young, learned the tailor's trade, volunteered for service in the Mexican war, was county auditor in 1851-55, owner of The Franklin Examiner in 1852, and for two years district attorney to the common pleas court. Early in the Civil war Williams raised a company enrolled as Company I, Eighteenth Regiment, became its captain July 15, 1861, was promoted major May 23, 1863, and was killed October 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Virginia.
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