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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Gc 977.1 R25b v. 2 1167040
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
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-
R. P. Raumes
BENCH AND BAR
OF
OHIO
A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
Illustrated with Steel-Plate and Half-Tone Engravings 1.
GEORGE IRVING REED, A. M. EDITOR
EMILIUS OVIATT RANDALL, PH. B., LL. B., LL M. AND CHARLES THEODORE GREVE, B. A., LL. B. ASSOCIATE EDITORS
VOL. II.
CHICAGO THE CENTURY PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING COMPANY
1897
Gcc 977.1 R25b.
2
82 6610 2
COPYRIGHT, 1897 THE CENTURY PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING COMPANY CHICAGO
D. & H. PRESS DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY CHICAGO
5.00 (2 VOIS)
INDEX. 1167040
THE EARLY BENCH AND BAR OF THE WESTERN RESERVE.
1
THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH DISTRICT 12
OHIO IN THE FEDERAL COURTS 24
REPORTERS OF THE SUPREME COURT
4.2
THE CINCINNATI LAW SCHOOL
66
ADAMS, FRANKLIN 163
FITCH, ORRAMEL II. 227
ANDERSON, WILLIAM S. 382
FITCH. WINCHESTER 234
ANDREWS, SHERLOCK J 100
FOOTE, HORACE 203
ANGELL, ELGIN A 297
FORCE, MANNING F 262
O ARCHER, CHAPMAN C.
389
FRAZIER, ALFRED A
342
BACKUS, FRANKLIN T.
GEIGER, LEVI. 322
BAIRD, CHARLES
171
GILMORE, JAMES A 136
BAKER, HENRY G. 356
GOFF, FREDERICK H 356
BALDWIN, CHARLES C
155
GOODWIN. JAMES P 125
BATES, JAMES L. 225
GOULDER, HARVEY I) 290
BENTLEY, CHARLES S. 396
GREVE, CHARLES T. 377
BLANDIN, EDWIN J
HALE, JOIIN C ... 87
BOLIN, ANDREW R 303
HIALL, THEODORE. 235
BOLTON, WILLIAM B. 289
HAMILTON EDWIN T 153
BONHAM, SCOTT 370
HARMON. JUDSON 111
HARRINGTON, CHARLES A 279
BROWN, ARTHUR A.
393
HEISERMAN, CLARENCE B 321
BROWN, ORIN B
346
BROWNING, GEORGE K. 340
BURKE, STEVENSON
360
HERRICK, GAMALIEL E
219
BURKE, VERNON H
379
HERRICK, JOHN F.
154
HOLDING, SAMUEL H. 293
HOLLISTER, GEORGE B 347
HOLLISTER HOWARD C 349
HOPKINS, EVAN H .. 359
HOYT. JAMES H 211
HOYT, JAMES M. 206
HUBBARD, FRANK C. 389
HUBBARD, WILLIAM B 228
HUNT, SAMUEL F 112
HUTCHINS, JOHN 103
HUTCHINS, JOHN C. 105
IRVIN, OBED W .. 327
JOHNSTON, JOSEPH R. 275
JOHNSTON, STEPHEN 126
JONES, ASAHIEL W 265
JONES, JAMES M. 248
KEITH, MYRON R. 285
KELLEY, ALFRED. 291
KENNAN, JAIRUS. 177
KERRUISHI, WILLIAM S 241
KILLITS, JOHN M. 186
KING, LOUIS W. 270
KLINE, VIRGIL, P.
305
buthein Book Co
CARR, WILLIAM F 311
CASE, LEONARD 160
CLARK, MILTON
344
CLEVELAND, JAMES D. 157
CLEVELAND, JAMES H 386
COFFINBERRY, JAMES M 306
CONVERSE, GEORGE L. 232
CORMANY, GEORGE W. 118
CRITCHFIELD, HARRY I) 349
CROWELL, JOIIN 309
DELANO, COLUMBUS. 350
DELLENBAUGH, FRANK E 246
DEMPSEY, JAMES H. 367
DICKMAN, FRANKLIN .J 146
DOLSON, THOMAS II. 333
DONNELLY, MICHAEL 295
DOYLE, JOHN H. 260
DUSTIN, CHARLES W. 328
EARNHART, MOSES B 359
ENGLISH, LORENZO. 123
EVERETT, CHARLES I) 159
FISHER, WILLIAM II. 311
FITCH, EDWARD H. 231
IIENDERSON, JOHN M 145
BOYNTON, WASHINGTON W. 80
HEISLEY, JOHN W. 285
- 1
vi
INDEX.
KUMLER, ALVIN W. 343
RUSSELL, DANIEL A. 354
LAWRENCE, JAMES 247
RYAN, DANIEL J 141
LEGGETT, MORTIMER D. 367
SADLER, ROLIN W. 169
LINCOLN, TIMOTHY D.
109
SANDERS, WILLIAM B
308
LIVINGSTON, DUNCAN 282
SAYRE, MOSES M 338
LOLLER, THOMAS H 237
SCHROTH, GEO. E.
179
LOOMIS, WILLIAM B 134
SCOTT, CHIARLES E 188
LUTES, NELSON B 372
SEARS, JOHN D
380
LUTES, NETTIE C.
373
SHAFFER, FRANK H.
119
LYNCH, WILLIAM A.
237
SHERWOOD, WILLIAM E 240
SIBLEY, HIRAM L. 128
MARBLE, GILFORD L
236
SLOANE, THOMAS M. 185
MARVIN, DAVID L ..
172
SMITH, BARTON. 194
MARVIN, ULYSSES L
176
SMITH, HORACE L 315
SMITH, RUFUS B 255
MAY, MANUEL.
223
SOUTHARD, FRANK H. 339
MICHAEL, ALBERT J
298
SQUIRE, ANDREW 245
MIDDLETON, EVAN P.
393
STEPHENS, CHARLES H. 117
MILLER, JOHN C.
318
STONE, CARLOS M. 209
MOONEY, WILLIAM T.
141
SUMNER, CHARLES E 197
MOORE, JOHN J.
143
SWING, JAMES B
120
MUNGER, EDMUND H
317
TAFT, ALPHONSO
250
MURRAY, ROBERT B.
272
TAFT, WILLIAM H
253
MUSSER, HARVEY.
184
TAYLOR, EZRA B
181
MCELROY, WILLIAM L.
294
THOMAS, DANIEL E
191
MCFARLAND, WILLIAM C.
287
THOMAS, JAS. M
302
MCKINNEY, HENRY
208
TILDEN, DANIEL R
150
MCMAHON, JOHN A.
312
TODD, DAVID W 331
McSWEENEY, JOHN.
385
TOLLES, SHELDON II. 353
121
NEVIN, ROBERT M.
330
TRACY, THOS. H. 195
NYE, DAVID J
167
TUCKER, WILLIAM H. 192
ONG, WALTER C.
296
TUTTLE, GEO. M. 283
OSBORNE, C. WOODRUFF
178
TYLER, JOEL W 199
VICKERY, JESSE 185
PARMENTER, WILLIAM L 358
VICKERY, WILLIS
196
PARSONS, RICHARD C.
107
VORIS, ALVIN C. 278
PAYNE, HENRY B. 96
VORIS, EDWIN F 180
PENDLETON, GEO. H.
391
WAGNER, WILLIAM S
164
PERRY, AARON F ..
383
WATSON, DAVID K. 257
288
POWELL, THOS. E ..
259
WELTY, JOHN C
173
POWER, BENJAMIN F.
299
WHITE, HENRY C. 201
PRENTISS, SAMUEL B.
88
WHITTLESEY, WILLIAM A. 137
PUGIL, GEORGE E. 395
WICKHAM, CHAS. P 274
RANDALL, EMILIUS O
124
WICKHAM, EMMET M
139
RANNEY, HENRY C ..
91
WILLIAMS, ISRAEL 314
RANNEY, JOHN L .
94
WILLIAMS, JAS. M. 220
RANNEY, RUFUS P 69
WILLIAMS, THOS. B 337
RICE, HARVEY 243
RICHARDS, CHANNING
254
WILLIAMSON. SAMUEL E
218
RICHIE, HORACE G 198
WILSON. DAVID M. 268
RIDENOUR. JACOB C. 190
WILSON, JAS. P. 269
RIDGELY, JOHN H
165
WINN, SIMEON M 341
RISSER, GEO. W 348
WRIGHT, SILAS HI. 325
ROCKEL, WILLIAM M 334
387
TOWNSEND, CHAS
MCSWEENEY, JOHN, JR.
PAINE, ROBERT F
212
PLATT, RUTHERFORD H
230
WEBSTER, JOHN II.
WILLIAMSON. SAMUEL. 215
MACKOY, WILLIAM H 378
MAXWELL, LAWRENCE, JR.
392
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
THE EARLY BENCH AND BAR OF THE WESTERN RESERVE.
BY JUDGE HENRY CLAY WHITE.
The marked influence and advanced standing of the people of the State of Ohio is due, in no small degree, to the diversity in the social sentiments and traditions of the early pioneers, at the initial points of settlement. In the southern portion of the State there was a mingling of the Puritan life from Mas- sachusetts Bay, and the generous impulses of the Cavalier spirit from Virginia. In the northern portion of the territory constituting the State, the modified ideas of Puritanism, as it came through the Connecticut colony, found lodg- ment. This was especially true of that part of Ohio originally claimed by Connecticut. The events involved in the history of the Connecticut Western Reserve retarded the establishment of social government in that part of the Northwest Territory for many years, and when civil government finally became established by the Act of Congress of 1800, the civil institutions came to sudden and permanent maturity. These events grew out of the most pecu- liar and complicated relation of the State of Connecticut to the United States. The claim of Connecticut was founded upon a patent granted by King Charles II., in which the western boundary of the territory of Connecticut was imper- fectly defined. Connecticut claimed not only the right to the soil of her terri- tory in the Northwest, but also the right of jurisdiction. After the sale of the territory constituting the Reserve to the Connecticut Land Company, which was a syndicate of capitalists in the East, Connecticut undertook to convey to this company, not only the title to the soil, but also the "right of jurisdic- tion." The company at no time considered itself justified in assuming civil jurisdiction, and when it was ascertained that the sale and settlement of the lands was seriously interfered with by the lack of civil government, the Land Company made strenuous appeals to the State of Connecticut to resume juris- diction.
The territory thus reserved by Connecticut in her cession of western lands to the United States, dated September 14, 1786, was to be bounded on the north by the international line, forty-two degrees and two minutes; east by the western boundary of Pennsylvania ; south by the forty-first parallel, and west by a line parallel with the eastern boundary and distant from it one hundred and twenty miles. The acreage area of this reserved territory was
1
2
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
supposed to be four millions of acres, but on actual survey proved to be less than three millions. This territory is not at present bounded by county lines.
The initial step in defining civil jurisdiction, in all the western cessions made by the States to the Union, was the erection of counties, and the county became the unit of organization in the Northwest, instead of the township, as in New England, and the parish, as in the southern portions of the United States. In the Connecticut Western Reserve, the final division of local government was into counties and townships ; so that the indestructible unit of primary self-government, " The New England Township," finally asserted itself in the institutions of the Western Reserve. The efforts to extend the privileges of civil government in the wilderness of the Northwest Territory, afford a very curious and valuable history. That part of the Northwest Ter- ritory now comprised in the boundaries of Ohio, so far as the Indian titles had been extinguished, was erected into two counties-Washington and Hamilton. Washington county was erected by the action of the Territorial government at Marietta in 1788; that government, at that time, being the governor, General Arthur St. Clair, and the three judges appointed by Congress, constituting a Grand Council. Washington county comprised about half of the territory of Ohio, and about half of the Western Reserve, but this immense county was merely a paper government. The actual and immediate jurisdiction, which had found lodgment at Marietta on the Ohio river, had not been extended to the virgin wilds of the Western Reserve. At a later period the attempt of Governor St. Clair, through his fiscal agents, to levy taxes upon the inhabitants of the Western Reserve, led to a slight conflict of authority. The officers of the territorial government never exerted any official control of the settlements made upon the Western Reserve. The deed granting the territory of the Reserve to the Connecticut Land Company, by the State of Connecticut, conveyed all the right, title and interest of the State of Connecticut, "Juridical " and " Territorial."
One of the most accurate and painstaking historians of the Western Reserve has said : "So little was known at this time, of the respective powers of the State and of the United States, under the Constitution of 1787, that many of the parties thought the Land Company had received political authority and could found here a new State. They imagined themselves, like William Penn, to be proprietors, coupled with the rights of self-government." He further says : " Both parties to the transaction imagined that the deed of Connecticut conveyed powers of civil government to the company, and that the grantees might organize a new State." *
This assumption of civil authority, when fairly asserted and understood, met with a decided opposition by the United States. It was considered entirely anomalous and unwarranted that a syndicate of land speculators should be allowed to erect a new State within the territory of the North- west.
* Colonel Charles Whittlesy in " The Early History of Cleveland," page 167.
3
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
From this time, until the year 1800, frantic appeals were made by the Land Company to the State of Connecticut, and finally by the State of Con- necticut to the United States, and Congress, to solve the problem of civil government on the Western Reserve. A narrative of the various applications made to the general assembly of Connecticut, by the corporate parties interested, would be inconsistent with the purposes of this sketch. The difficulty which confronted the State of Connecticut was, to concede civil jurisdiction to the Federal Union, and still maintain her claim to reserve title to the soil of the territory.
On the 18th day of February, 1800, Mr. Brace, of Connecticut, offered in the House of Representatives a resolution to appoint a committee to take into consideration the expediency of accepting the proffered cession of jurisdiction over this territory of the Reserve from the State of Connecticut. It is a remarkable fact that the chairman of this committee was a man of no less distinction than John Marshall, the great jurist, and afterwards Chief Justice of the United States. Mr. Marshall, at this time, was a member of the Federal House of Representatives. He made a lengthy report of the situation, giving a history of all the events leading to the assumption and reservation of juris- diction by the State of Connecticut, and concluding that Connecticut could set up a government on the Reserve, if she chose to do so, but that it would be far more politic and expedient to merge the jurisdiction in that of the North- west Territory. This report was finally adopted by Congress, and deeds were repectively made by the Federal government and the State of Connecticut, through and by which the United States confirmed the title to the soil of the Western Reserve, in Connecticut, and Connecticut renounced forever all terri- torial and jurisdictional claim over such soil; and thus a serious controversy and emergency, which retarded the settlement of this magnificent domain, and had seriously imperiled the relations between the State of Connecticut and the Federal government, was happily composed and averted.
The judicial functions and jurisdiction, as it was originally exercised in the territory " northwest of the River Ohio," was vested in judges appointed by the President of the United States; the original appointment by President Washington being conferred upon the following persons: Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Armstrong-John Armstrong declining the appointment, John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his place. These judges, or any two of them, constituted a court of common-law jurisdic- tion. They also had certain legislative functions, which it is not necessary herc to define.
There was a somewhat serious contention touching the powers of tlie governor, secretary and judges of the territory to legislate originally for the territory. It was insisted by many that they were simply confined to adopt- ing such laws as might suit the conditions of the new territory, found already enacted in the statutes of the older States.
" These judges, appointed by the National Executive, constituted the Supreme Court of the territory. They were commissioned during good
4
BENCII AND BAR OF OHIO.
behavior, and their judicial jurisdiction extended over the whole region nortlı- west of the Ohio. The court thus constituted was fixed at no certain place, and its process, civil and criminal, was returnable wheresoever it might be in the territory. Inferior to this court, were the County Courts of Common Pleas and the 'General Quarter Sessions of the Peace.' The former consisted of any number of judges, not less than three, nor more than seven, and had a general common-law jurisdiction concurrent in the respective counties with that of the Supreme Court; the latter consisted of a number of justices for each county, to be determined by the governor, who were required to hold three terms in every year, and had a limited criminal jurisdiction. Single judges of the Common Pleas, and single justices of the Quarter Sessions, were also clothed with certain civil and criminal powers to be exercised out of court. Besides these courts, each county had a judge of probate, clothed with the ordinary jurisdiction of a Probate Court. Such was the original constitution of courts and distribution of judicial power in the Northwest Territory. The expenses of the system were defrayed in part by the National Government, and in part by assessments upon counties, but principally by fees, which were payable to every officer concerned in the administration of justice, from the judges of the General Court downward. In 1795 this judiciary system under- went some changes. The General Court was fixed at Cincinnati and Marietta, and a Surrogate Court was established, with power to try, in the several counties, issues of fact depending upon the superior tribunal where alone causes could be finally decided. Orphans' Courts, too, were established, with jurisdiction analogous to, but more extensive than that of the judge of probate. Finally, as if with a view to create some great reservoir from which, whatever principles and powers had been omitted in the particular acts, might be drawn according to the exigency of circumstances, the governor and judges adopted a law providing that the common law of England, and all general statutes in aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of James I., should be in full force within the territory." (Chase's Statutes of Ohio, Vol. 1, Preliminary Sketch, page 26.)
A fruitful history might be written upon the origin and evolution of the primitive and historic magistrate, known to the English law as the "Justice of the Peace." Pursuant to the powers conferred upon the governor and judges of the Northwest Territory by the Ordinance of 1787, the territorial government appointed for each county a number of justices of the peace, five of whom, designated by the governor, should constitute what was called " The Quorum." This body of justices were required to meet three times a year at the seats of justice designated, and hence the name of the "Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace." The meeting of the five justices, who seemed to have pre-eminence under the orders of government, was a meeting of the "Quorum." This may be said to be the primitive court of the Northwest Territory. While single justices may have dispensed a rude justice in the wilderness, previous to the date of August 25, 1800, it was on that date that the first Court of Quarter Sessions for Trumbull county, which comprised
5
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
nearly all of the Western Reserve, was held. It was held at Warren, which has since been known as the original "capital" of the Western Reserve. In this court was lodged the entire civil jurisdiction of the county, local, legis- lative and judicial. The first court opened on the public square or common, in the city of Warren, at four o'clock in the afternoon, under a bower of trees, between two large corn cribs. It continued five days, and the labors it accom- plished can be best shown by the following synopsis of the record preserved in the handwriting of Judge Pease :
"Court of General Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, begun and holden at Warren, within and for said county of Trumbull, on the fourth Monday of August, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred, and of the independence of the United States the twenty-fifth. Present, John Young, Turhand Kirtland, Camden Cleveland, James Kingsbury, and Eliphalet Austin, Esquires, justices of the quorum, and others, their associates, justices of the peace, holding said court. The following persons were returned, and appeared on the grand jury, and were empaneled and sworn, namely : Simon Persons (foreman), Benjamin Stowe, Samuel Menough, Hawley Tanner, Charles Daly, Ebenezer King, William Cecil, John Hart Adgate, Henry Lane, Jonathan Church, Jeremiah Wilcox, John Partridge Bissell, Isaac Palmer, George Phelps, Samuel Quinby, and Moses Park. The court appointed George Tod, Esq., to prosecute the pleas of the United States for the present session, who took the oath of office. The court ordered that the private seal of the clerk shall be considered the seal of the county, and be affixed and recognized as such till a public seal shall be pro- cured. The court appointed Amos Spafford, Esq., David Hudson, Esq., Simon Perkins, Esq., John Minor, Esq., Aaron Wheeler, Esq., Edward Payne, Esq., and Benjamin Davidson, Esq., a committee to divide the county of Trumbull into townships, to describe the limits and boundaries of each township, and to make report to the court thereof."
Thus the institution of civil and judicial government on the Western Reserve was contemporaneous with the beginning of the century, and from that time to this the enlightened administration of justice by the duly consti- tuted tribunals has never been interrupted in that part of the State of Ohio. According to my best information, there never has been a lynching upon the Western Reserve, and with very few exceptions the enforcement of civil order has never been impeded by mob law.
The changes made in the erection of counties upon the Western Reserve, and their division and subdivision, affords material for an interesting discussion ; but its consideration would be apart from the purpose of this sketch.
The courts to which reference has now been made continued under the territorial government until the admission of the State into the Union, under the Constitution of 1802, when other courts were created somewhat modifying the functions and jurisdiction of the judicial magistrates.
The character of rights and remedies with which these early tribunals had to deal, was of course fixed by the social conditions of the community. Abun- 'dant litigation, touching land titles, was of later origin, when lands became more valuable.
In every new community, courts stood most prominently before the peo- ple as conservators of the peace. Nearly, if not quite all, the criminal juris-
6
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
diction exercised by these early magistrates grew out of the conflicts between white settlers and the Indian tribes. It must not be inferred from the fact that the early settlers upon the Western Reserves were without judicial insti- tutions, that there was no need of theni, and that, in the conduct of life, these pioneers were so saintly as to be beyond the need of law and civil order. The fact, authenticated by history, is that "the settlement of the Reserve was opened at a time when religion in New England was at a low ebb. Old Con- necticut did not at first send, as a rule, what she considered her best elements to New Connecticut. At a later day, the character of the emigration improved in respect to religion and morals ; but the first emigration was largely made up of men who desired to throw off the heavy trammels of an old and strongly conservative community, where church and state were closely connected, and where society was dominated by political and religious castes. Still further, the East was at this time swept by an epidemic of land speculation ; while the laxative moral influence of a removal from an old and well-ordered society to the woods produced its usual effects."*
And yet, it must be conceded that these pioneers bore with them into the wilderness the intuitive reverence of the Anglo-American race for law and social order. This in-born reverence for the majesty of the law is the most hopeful solvent for all the serious problems of democracy. These men from New England, while not of the choicest of the population, nevertheless ex- emplified the Puritan spirit of mingled subordination and independence. The Connecticut Western Reserve was the last home of colonized Puritanism. The Puritan always inculcated a righteous sense of justice. He drew his legal inspirations from that ancient people whose code was graven on tables of stone. In his eyes not only crime, but venous sins, were heinous and offensive. This bias can be traced in the early administration of public justice.
The first capital case, the trial of which attracted public attention on the Western Reserve, was the case of the State of Ohio against O'Mic, which was tried in the city of Cleveland, in the year 1812. This was an indictment against a young Indian of the Chippewa tribe, for murdering two trappers.in the wilds of Ohio, which is now a part of the county of Sandusky. The trial was conducted under a spreading oak tree. The jury were seated upon rude puncheon benches extemporized for the occasion. It was before the erection of a court house and jail, and the prisoner was confined in the loft of the only public house in the village. The presiding judge at this trial was Benjamin Ruggles, and his associates whose names have not been very carefully pre- served by the records. After a fair and impartial trial, O'Mic was convicted and sentenced to be hanged upon the public square, and after an execution which was at once primitive, ludicrous and pathetic, paid to the majesty of the law the penalty with his life, and was buried under his gallows. To pur- sue the history of these causes celebres, would demand too much space. The most populous of the counties upon the Western Reserve, that of Cuyahoga- named from the river which finds its way to Lake Erie through its borders-
* Dr. B. A Hinsdale in "Magazine of Western History," August, 1889, page 353.
7
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
was erected after the adoption of the first Constitution of Ohio, in the year 1807. The seat of justice, however, for this new county, was not Cleveland, but Chardon, Geauga county. Until January 16, 1810, Cuyahoga county had no judicial institutions of its own. During the territorial period preceding the admission of the State into the Union, Governor St. Clair had appointed James Kingsbury, of Cleveland, a justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the county of Trumbull. This statement leads me to group the further dis- cussion of this subject around brief, and necessarily imperfect, sketches of some of the pioneer magistrates and lawyers.
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