A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 7

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 7

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In February following, when Abraham Lincoln, president elect, was on that memorable journey to Washington, he stopped at Columbus, and, while the guest of Governor Dennison, Mr. Harrison was presented to him as a member of the state senate. The president elect at once inquired if he was the Harrison who was the author of the patriotic and timely resolutions, and, upon being assured, expressed great pleasure at meeting the author. At the special request of Mr. Harrison, the venerable Thomas Ewing, one of the most honored and trusted of Ohio's statesmen and jurists, was appointed by Governor William Dennison as one of the commissioners to represent Ohio in a conference of the states, called by invitation of the Virginia legislature, to assemble at Washington, D. C., on the 4th of February, 1861, to consider the then impending crisis. But the God of battles could not be stayed; the purity and perpetuity of our federal government could be secured only by the baptism of blood. The guns of treason belched forth their fire upon Sumter and the nation, horror-stricken, trembled at the issue. Naught but physical frailty prevented Mr. Harrison from enlisting in his country's service, but there was sore need of stanch citizens at home no less than courageous soldiers at the front. Mr. Harrison was foremost in that noble number of

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

loyal statesmen who in the legislative forum fought as persistently and patriotically to sustain the national government as did the "boys in blue" on the tented field.

Shortly after the adjournment of the legislature in 1861 Mr. Harrison was chosen by the electors of his district to the seat in congress made vacant by the resignation of ex-Governor Thomas Corwin upon his appointment as minister to Mexico. He took his seat in the national house of representa- tives at that momentous extra session called by President Lincoln, and which convened July 4, 1861. Here Mr. Harrison was called to cope with the great questions that presented themselves to the legislative body of a nation tossed in the throes of armed rebellion. Mr. Harrison's participation in the deliberations of this session need not be related in detail. The acts of that congress are a memorable part of our national history. The voice of Mr. Harrison, when uplifted, but echoed the patriotic inspiration of his purpose, and his vote on every question but emphasized the loyalty and wisdom of his action.

The close of this congress, March 3, 1863, marked the retirement of Mr. Harrison from public life. By the legislative reapportionment of the congres- sional districts of Ohio, in 1862, Madison county, in which Mr. Harrison resided, was attached to the Franklin district, in which the Democratic majority was large, and Mr. Harrison was succeeded by Samuel S. Cox. Since that retirement from the political field Mr. Harrison's pursuits have been exclusively confined to the line of his profession. His stewardship as a statesman, so creditable to himself and so valuable to his country, ripened his experience, broadened his knowledge and enlarged his mental vision, but did not allure him from his profession, for which he was by nature so emi- nently fitted, and which he has by his achievements so splendidly adorned. As has been noticed by one of his distinguished biographers, Judge W. H. West :

"The opportunities of Mr. Harrison, while pursuing his legal studies, were most fortunate. The bench of Springfield was adorned by the modest learning of Judge J. R. Swan, its bar by the sterling qualities of Edward Cum- mings, the courtly dignity of Sampson Mason, and the brilliant genius and gifted versatility of William A. Rogers. The lessons of precept and of example derived from these model gentlemen of the old school ripened into fixed and most agreeable traits of professional character. Not less fortunate was the opening of Mr. Harrison's professional career. The ancient 'circuit practice had for him a fascination which yet continues. The intricate sys- tem of land titles peculiar to the Virginia Reservation, within which his 'cir- cuit' lay, had not ceased to be a fruitful source of litigation. The magnitude of individual estates in the Scioto valley often gave rise to controversies about their succession. His rapid rise at the bar soon opened to him these fields of legal contention, in which he was early accustomed to encounter, and often successfully contend with ex-Justice Swayne, John W. Andrews, P. B. Wilcox,

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 53

Governor Nelson Barrere, the lamented Judges Briggs, Sloan and Dicky, Jonathan Rennick, distinguished for his great good sense, the late Hocking H. Hunter and occasionally to meet the venerable Thomas Ewing. In these rencounters he early learned that there could be no excellence without labor ; that undisciplined genius may transiently soar, but only toil can maintain the ascent it makes. To have once achieved success in those contests was worth ambition ; to maintain the conflict on equal terms through a succession of years was its goal. To this he bent his powers and he has not been disappointed. Jealous a mistress as is the law, he paid her assiduous devotion, crowning her with garlands gathered from every department of her domain. Studying her precepts as a system of philosophy, he applied them as a science, not as an art. Not omitting to cultivate familiarity with adjudicated cases, it was rather to extract from each its underlying principle than to employ it unin- telligently as judicial ipse dixit.' Aided in this by strong sense, quick per- ception, discriminating judgment and great power of analysis, he has united familiarity with the intricacies of procedure to a substantial mastery of judicial construction and interpretation, and the general principles governing in the adjudication of the multiform rights which spring from the ever-colliding relations of life."

Mr. Harrison's early practice was, as before intimated, under the old, regime of the "circuit-travel" days, which gave a far wider and more varied field for observation and experience with men than do modern methods. On this subject we cannot do better than quote a passage by Mr. Harrison him- self, concerning the "early Ohio bar," to which subject he so felicitously responded at the Thurman banquet, November 13, 1890:

"In the early history of Ohio each judicial circuit was composed of many counties, and each county was very large. The lawyers traveled with the president judge of the circuit from county to county, on horse, over wretched roads, a great part of the year, with their papers and books in their 'saddle- bags,' and some of them not without 'flasks' and 'packs.' They were often compelled to lodge two-in-a-bed, thus carrying into practice Blackstone's theory that the science of the law is of a sociable disposition. A session of a judicial court in a county was an event of interest to all the inhabitants thereof. It was largely attended by mere spectators. The lawyers were thereby stimulated to do their best, much more than they were by the pittances received from their clients. The elegant courtrooms of the present day, devoid of spectators, are by no means as favorable schools or theaters for advocacy and oratory as the primitive log court-houses, crowded with appre- ciative listeners. The early lawyers were noted for their mother wit, their knowledge of human nature, and their knowledge of the underlying prin- ciples of jurisprudence and of right, and the facility and accuracy with which they applied them. There were active and influential politicians, and they sought the gratification of their ambition by service in public life. In these times, to render the state some service was regarded as honorable and praise-

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

worthy, as to have rendered service to the nation. ( Would that this view were again adopted !) The early lawyers were not dwarfed by the barren littleness of the profession when followed as a mere trade. They were less anxious about fees than they were to win the applause and gain the suffrages of their fellow citizens. They practically illustrated the notion which regards the fee of the lawyer as the offering of gratitude, not as the wages of labor, and that a lawyer is the servant of his fellow men for the attainment of his justice, in which definition is expressed both the lowliness and the dignity of his calling. There were no stenographers in the times of the early lawyers. Trials were of short duration. The lawyers went straight to the material points in controversy and the fray was soon ended. A trial was not a siege, but a short hand-to-hand contest.

"The early Ohio bar cultivated a warm professional feeling, and their standard of professional integrity and honor was high. There were then no bar associations with disciplinary jurisdiction. None were needed. Pro- fessional ethics and professional honor were very rarely violated, and, when vitiated, the offender was at once completely ostracized by his brethren and his occupation was gone. The free, open, fraternal and honorable character of the profession of the law has never been better illustrated than it was by the early Ohio bar."

In 1870 Mr. Harrison was a candidate for judge of the supreme court of Ohio, but with his colleagues on the ticket he was defeated at the election. In 1875 Governor Hayes, recognizing the superior fitness of Mr. Harrison for the position, appointed him a member of the supreme court commission of Ohio, and the senate promptly and unanimously confirmed the appointment ; but Mr. Harrison declined. He could ill afford to sacrifice a large and lucrative practice for the inadequate emoluments of judicial office. After- ward, upon the decease of Judge William W. Johnson, in 1887, Governor Foraker tendered a seat upon the supreme bench to Mr. Harrison, but he declined the honor.

Mr. Harrison's life, so fraught with the results of acts accomplished, is a striking illustration of the rewards received for unceasing and untiring effort. His genius is that genius which Carlyle designates as "hard work." Though endowed with talents of the highest order, though armored in mind with all the weapons of wisdom, knowledge and experience, yet he bestows the utmost conscientious and painstaking labor in the preparation of his cases. It is his habit upon occasion not merely to burn the midnight oil but not infrequently his task also finds him tireless at his desk till "night's candles are burned out," and "morn, waked by the circling hours, with rosy hands unbars the gates of light." His briefs are clear and exhaustless treatises, not only upon the principles but also the application of the law to the facts pertinent to the points at issue. They are models in logical and legal arrange- ment of the case at the bar, recited in all the potency and perfection of a masterful command of language. Nor have his herculean labors, the hand-

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

maid of his natural powers, been restricted to the immediate pursuits of his practice. Possessed of a large and fruitful mind, he has chosen for his intimate and familiar companions the leaders of thought, speech and action in all ages. A constant reader, with a remarkably retentive memory, his mind is stored with the choicest productions of ancient and modern classics. One who has been both his associate and his antagonist in the legal forum has said of him:

"His style is logical, terse and compact, though not barren of illustration and embellishment. His singularly agreeable voice, distinct enunciation, candor of statement, and great earnestness of manner, win sympathy, secure confidence and carry conviction. In this, hardly less than in the logic of his words, lies the secret of his success. But the magic of his power is the courage of conscious right, and the boldness of thorough preparation, which dis- tinguishes him. Armed with these his attack is direct, pinioning wrong by exposing its deformity, and rearing about justice a fortress of truth. Mastery of self is the strength of his armor. Ever subordinating temper, his quick- ness of repartee and keenness of sarcasm render him invulnerable; yet so play- ful and pleasantly does he employ these weapons that, while their victim rarely wishes to provoke their second employment, his repartee punctures without sting, and his sarcasm cuts without wounding."

It is in consideration of questions of constitutional law that the mental acumen and legal ability of Mr. Harrison have found their most adequate and fitting field. As a constitutional lawyer his reputation is national, and he is ranked among the foremost of American lawyers. His success in the Boesel Railroad cases, reported in Granger's Ohio Supreme Court Reports (1872), established his eminence as a lawyer on constitutional questions, while, at the same time, it saved the people from the imposition of an oppresive system of taxation that would yield no return. Since that time Mr. Harrison has appeared either on one side or the other, before the supreme court, in the leading contests concerning the validity of legislative enactments. Mr. Har- rison proceeds to the presentation of his case in absolute frankness and fair- ness, but with the facts and law marshaled like the forces of an unconquerable general, with every point of the line guarded for the attack, be it offensive or defensive. But, great as are his powers of argument and logic, his dis- position is judicial rather than disputatious, and, as has often been said by his acquaintances of both bench and bar, it is to be regretted that the highest position in his profession, a seat in the national supreme court, has not demanded his services. Indeed, it is an interesting incident that he was at one time selected for that position. George Alfred Townsend, the famous newspaper correspondent, relates in a recently published letter, that when a vacancy on the bench of the supreme court of the United States was caused by the decease of Mr. Justice Lamar, President Harrison, in a recent con- versation in New York with some members of the bar, stated that it was his intention to nominate Mr. Harrison to fill the vacancy, but that a question

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

arose as to Mr. Harrison's age. Quiet inquiry developed that he had just passed his sixtieth birthday, which precedence has established as the time limit. That fact alone prevented his nomination. Though having declined, among other honors, appointments to fill vacancies of the supreme court of Ohio, President Harrison was satisfied that Mr. Harrison would have accepted the appointment he was about to tender him. It would have come as acknowl- edgment of Mr. Harrison's unquestioned qualifications for the position. The late Judge Howell E. Jackson was appointed to fill the vacancy. In many cases in the federal and state courts Mr. Harrison has acted either as referee or special master of chancery. Some of them are reported. In each case his decision, except in so far as his conclusions were founded upon express direction of the court of first instance, was sustained.

Mr. Harrison was the third president of the Ohio State Bar Associa- tion.

To him the principles of the law more than science, its practice more than art-to him the profession of the law is a mission, a sacred- calling, demanding not only the highest attributes of the mind but also the consecra- tion of character, the honesty and integrity of the most exalted and noblest manhood. At the opening of the College of Law of the Ohio State Uni- versity, at Columbus, October 1, 1891, Mr. Harrison delivered the address, and his tribute to his profession on that occasion deserves place in this sketch. He said :

"Law is not merely the instrument of government. Many persons seem so to regard it. But this conception of law is an erroneous one. On the contrary the truth is, law is the basis of public liberty and also the safeguard of each individual citizen's public and private rights and liberties. This is at least what the law of the land is in every free country. It is pre-emi- nently what I have described it to be, in our own state and country. Where- fore there must necessarily be in our own, and in every free state, a body of men who have a thorough and profound knowledge, an enlightened appre- ciation, and an enthusiastic love of the fundamental principles which con- stitute the basis of public liberty, and the private and public rights and liberties of the individual citizen. These liberties and rights cannot be expounded and vindicated. and maintained in their integrity without such a body of men. From their ranks magistrates, known as judges, must be chosen to administer the constitutional, statutory and common law of the land, and thus dispense public and private justice and maintain the rights of every citizen. It is a plain truth-perhaps an obvious commonplace-that without an enlightened judiciary no one's life or liberty or property or reputation is safe; and the efficiency of the administration of the law depends as well upon the learning, ability and integrity of the bar as upon the learning, ability, impartiality and independence of the bench. They are correlatives. As showing that the pro- fession of the advocate and jurist is one of the principal supports of public liberty and individual personal rights and liberties, is the historical fact that

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

this calling has flourished most amidst free institutions, and under the most popular governments. Not only so. This profession, in any state or country or age, is an efficient activity in promoting the public welfare, especially when its controlling members are, before entering upon their active duties, deeply instructed not merely in the law of the land but also in the ethics of the profession of the bar as taught by those who are alone worthy of being its masters and guides."

Mr. Harrison's considerate courtesy and uniform urbanity to all, old or young, with whom he comes in contact, are the rare qualities of the older school of gentlemen, alas! too little exemplified in the present generation. Such a one as man, citizen and lawyer, is Mr. Harrison. Those who have enjoyed the boon of his friendship, aye, even the privilege of his acquaint- ance, will acknowledge it but due praise to say of him that he is foremost of those

"Men who their duties know,

But also know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain."

Through the characters and lives of such men in the noble purpose of their vocation are the lines of the poet true, that

"Sovereign law, that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill."

Mr. Harrison's domestic relations have been as happy and delightful as- his professional career has been honorable and brilliant. On December 21, 1847, he was married, at London, Ohio, to Miss Maria Louisa Warner, a daughter of Henry Warner, one of the honored pioneers of Madison county. Three daughters and four sons were the result of this union. One of the daughters and two of the sons are deceased. The youngest son, Warner, who gives promise of being a worthy son of his distinguished father, is now asso- ciated with his father in the practice of the law, the firm being located at Columbus and known as Harrison, Olds, Henderson & Harrison. The firm was formerly Harrison, Olds & Marsh. Mr. Marsh, now deceased, was a son-in-law of Mr. Harrison. D. K. Watson, formerly the attorney general of the state of Ohio and a congressman from the Franklin district, is a son-in- law of Mr. Harrison.

REV. SAWYER A. HUTCHINSON.

When the country became involved in Civil war there flocked to the stand- ard of the nation men who came from the workshops, from the offices and from the fields. Every station and class of life was represented and all were actu- ated with the same honorable purpose, the perpetuation of the Republic, which

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

was founded as the result of eight years of bloodshed and of war. As long as memory remains to the American people they will hold in grateful remem- brance those whose efforts perpetuated the Union, and everywhere the blue uniform of the soldier awakens interest and admiration. Mr. Hutchinson was among the number who followed the stars and stripes upon the battle- fields of the south, manifesting his loyalty and bravery on many occasions.

His life record began in Francistown, New Hampshire, on the IIth of May, 1821, his parents being Osgood and Hannah ( Fuller) Hutchinson, the latter a daughter of the Rev. Andrew Fuller, one of the early graduates of Harvard University. The boyhood of our subject was passed in his native town, where he acquired an academic education. He was a close and earnest student, and after completing his own course successfully engaged in teach- ing for two terms in the public schools. Wishing, however, to devote his life to a higher and holier calling, he prepared for the ministry, entering the theological school at Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1847. He there pursued the regular course and was graduated in June, 1850. Subsequently he took a post-graduate course in Oberlin College, and in 1852 he opened a prepara- tory school on South High street, in Columbus, where he was engaged in teaching for fifty terms. During a part of that time he was also an instructor in the schools of Dublin. During his pedagogic career he also engaged in preaching the gospel, beginning his work in the ministry at the time when he entered Oberlin College for post-graduate work. For a half century he de- voted his time partly to the work of the ministry, being ordained about 1853 as a member of the Christian church, belonging to the Ohio Central Christian Conference, in which all of his ministerial work has been per- formed, except for a period of eight years spent in Kittery, Maine, where he preached the gospel, carrying the glad tidings of great joy to many listeners.

When the Civil war was in progress he offered his services to the gov- ernment in 1864, for one hundred days, enlisting as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mus- tered in with the rank of second lieutenant, and after joining the army was sent to Virginia. The regiment held the forts on the right wing of Grant's army. While there Mr. Hutchinson was detailed to command a force of one hundred men to cut away the timbers. He participated in a number of en- gagements, in one of which he was deafened by the concussion of cannons, and his hearing has ever since been impaired. He served his term of enlist- ment and was then honorably discharged, but has always continued social relations with his army comrades through his membership in Cicero Davis Post, of Dublin, Ohio, of which he is now chaplain, having held the position continuously since the organization of the post, with the exception of one year.

Since the war Mr. Hutchinson has resided in Franklin county with the exception of eight years spent in Maine. In the spring of 1865 he went south for a comrade, and while between Fortress Monroe and city of Washington was examined by an officer to see if he was Wilkes Booth, the assassin of

CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

Lincoln being then at liberty and hunted by the troops. While on this trip Mr. Hutchinson took prisoner a man who had murdered four men, grabbing him as he was leaving the train and pulling him over the seat, thus holding him until he was shackled. Mr. Hutchinson has a hat rack made from pegs from the cabin of the Kearsarge after the fight with the Alabama. He also has in his possession a splendid collection of specimens and souvenirs of the Civil war, numbering over a thousand, including his regimental flag. He has taken a very active interest in promoting the cause of the soldiers wishing to obtain pensions, and his labors in this direction have been very effective.

On the 8th of July, 1850, Rev. Hutchinson was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Miss Anna Havlin, of Boston, Massachusetts, a daughter of John and Ellen Havlin, who were also natives of the Bay state. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson became the parents of five children,-George, Hattie and Harry, twins, Walter and Albert, but all are now deceased. The eldest son was occupying a position in the navy yard at Kittery, Maine, at the time of his death, and is buried there. Mr. Hutchinson has taken quite an active interest in politics, supporting Abraham Lincoln and the measures represented by the Republican party. His has been a noble and upright life, devoted to the wel- fare of his fellow men. He is a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance and his strong individuality. His life at all times would bear the closest scrutiny, and his influence in behalt of what is right, true and good has been most marked. He is public spirited in an emin- ent degree, national progress and local advancement being causes both dear to the heart of this thoroughly loyal son of the republic. In demeanor he is quiet and unostentations in manner, is pleasant and genial-an approachable gentleman who enjoys the warm friendship of a select circle of acquaintances.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 7

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156