A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Part 5

Author: Lyle S. Evans
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 549

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Responding to Lincoln's call for troops, in April, 1861, Mr. Minshall enlisted as a private in Company C, Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three months, and was soon promoted to the rank of sergeant major. Honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment, Major Minshall returned home, and immediately set about raising a company, which was organized as Company H, of the Thirty- third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and of which he was elected captain. In that capacity he took an active part in many of the more important battles of the Civil war, among the more noteworthy of them having been the engagements at Perryville, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. Accompanying Sherman's command in the Atlanta campaign, Captain Minshall participated in the battles at Ringgold, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, and Peach Tree Creek, and in the siege and capture of Atlanta, and in the Jonesboro fight. From a time prior to the siege of Atlanta until receiving his honorable discharge, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, in October, 1864, the brave captain had command of his regiment.

Soon after his return home, Mr. Minshall, in November, 1864, was elected prosecuting attorney for Ross County, but at the expiration of his term he refused a reelection, preferring to resume his private prac- tice of law, in which he was eminently successful. In 1876 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for that subdivision of the Fifth Judicial District that included the counties of Ross, Highland and Fay- ette, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Thomas Gray. In 1878 he was reelected to the same position, and again in 1883. In 1885 he was honored with an election to the Supreme Court, and was twice reelected, first in 1890, and again in 1896, his term of service on the Supreme bench covering a period of sixteen years that he so ably per formed the duties devolving upon him as chief justice. Resuming his practice in 1902, Judge Minshall continued until compelled by ill health to give it up, and he afterward lived retired at his pleasant home in Chillicothe until his death, November 22, 1908.

On April 9, 1873, Judge Minshall was united in marriage with Julia Ewing Pearson, who spent her entire life in Chillicothe, her birth occur- ring February 20, 1848, and her death September 30, 1903. Her father.

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Addison Pearson, was born in, or near, Waynesboro, Virginia, and on coming to Ohio settled in Chillicothe. Active in public affairs, he served as treasurer of Ross County; and a prominent member of fraternal organizations, he served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and as master of Scioto Lodge, No. 6, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons. His wife, whose maiden name was Rosanna Ewing, was born in Ross County, of pioneer ancestry. Judge and Mrs. Minshall reared three sons, namely : Addison Pearson, of whom a brief sketch may be found on another page of this work; William Edwin, an attorney, with an office in Cleveland, resides at East Cleveland, where he is serving as mayor of the city ; and Thaddeus Ellis, with the Union Iron Company at Erie, Pennsylvania. From a memorial written by Judge Minshall's associates at the bar, we take the following eulogy :--

"These few brief sentences record all that is generally known of a life that did honor to the community in which he lived, to the profession to which he devoted his life, and to the bench which he adorned. Born to a station in life that did not favor his advancement toward a successful career, he was not quite ten years old when he was thrown upon his own resources and compelled to make his own way. Gathering fitfully, and as if by accident, the merest rudiments of an education begun by the light of a tallow candle between the hours of work in a woolen factory, passing thence to the village school, and then to the position of teacher in a country school, in the very dawn of his early manhood he chose the law as his profession. He soon began to show the stern stuff that laid at the base of his character; but his advancement was not rapid. There was never indeed anything meteoric about his career. The strength of his mind, however, was above the average. That he had talent of a high order will be admitted by those who define talent as a capacity to make labor productive ; but he owed his success far more to patient and cease- less study of legal principles, and the careful investigation of the facts involved in his cases, than to any inherent or unusual strength of intel- lect. Many men as well equipped mentally as he have failed at the bar or upon the bench. In the practice of the law, few men have been favored less than he by luck or happy accident ; his victories were always fairly won as the fruits of earnest, honest effort. He learned early that the law is a jealous mistress, and he gave his entire life to his profession with complete devotion.

"His character in all of its phases was intense. His passions, his opin- ions, his prejudices, even, were all and always at high pressure. At the bar and on the bench his conclusions were reached with great care and much caution, but when once arrived at, to him at least, they meant verity. This intensity of disposition made him one of the most self- reliant of men, and added greatly to the force with which he presented questions of law or fact. Those who heard him believed that, whether he was right or wrong, he felt that he was right, while the innate modesty of the man prevented the fault that is apt to attend such a disposition. It is believed that his whole professional career presents few, if any. instances of boastful self-assertion or claim of superiority. His life was

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guided by a high standard of right that would not bend to circumstances or yield to conditions, but was ever present to sustain and strengthen his conduct. His mind and character were cast, however, in a partisan mould; and at the bar he was always ready for the fray, and enjoyed the intellectual sword practice sometimes necessary in the trial of cases, yet he would not fight with poisoned weapons, or take an unfair advan- tage of an opponent in order to win a victory. In a hotly contested cause, and although his fighting blood was up, he has been known to pass by without comment the testimony of a witness greatly favoring his side, because he believed the witness had not told the whole truth.

"Judge Minshall brought to the bench the same painstaking devotion to the duties of the great office that had characterized his efforts at the bar, and with it a quiet dignity that at once commanded the respect of those who practiced before him. As a common pleas judge he was apt to be a trifle impatient with the man babbler who had nothing to present, and who wasted the time of the Court with empty words devoid of logical thought; but to the lawyer who had an argument to present, he was a patient listener, and he was always considerate and kind to those who had business to transact in his Court. His intellectual processes were not rapid, and his off hand opinions delivered during the progress of a trial were not apt to be as safe as though he had time to more fully consider ; and there is little doubt that the position he so long occupied as a member of the Supreme Court was the one best suited to the character of his mind; his published opinions while judge or chief justice of the Supreme Court are found in volumes forty-four to sixty-five, both inclusive. Many of these opinions in important cases exhibit great legal learning, logical reasoning, and remarkable powers of keen and discriminating judgment. He cared more for good reasons than for precedents; and indeed both as a lawyer and a judge he acted upon Lord Mansfield's idea that 'the law does not consist of particular cases, but of general princi- ples which are illustrated and explained by the cases.'

"As a private citizen no man in the community in which he spent his life was more highly regarded, and he died crowned with the honor, respect and good will of every one who knew him. As citizen, soldier, lawyer, judge, throughout a life lasting beyond the allotted three-score and ten, he acted well his part always.

"The ripest fruit of his learning and wisdom are recorded among the decisions of the Supreme Court of Ohio; the private life of the man, his unceasing adherence to principles of truth and justice are written, as it were, in water; nevertheless, the application of the final test of sterling manhood exhibits his last and greatest success. The world is better for his having lived in it.

"Respectfully submitted,

"J. P. Bradbury,

"S. F. Steele,

"Mills Gardner,

"John H. Vanmeter,

"Willis H. Wiggins."

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Adiam P. Michael.

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ADDISON PEARSON MINSHALL. Possessing good mental abilities well trained, and the will and disposition to work, Addison Pearson Minshall, prosecuting attorney of Ross County, has gained high standing in his profession through close and persistent application to his business. He was born April 26, 1874, in Chillicothe, a son of the late Hon. Thaddeus Minshall, of whom a brief personal history is given elsewhere in this volume.

Having completed the course of study in the Chillicothe public schools, Addison P. Minshall attended the Ohio State University three years, being in the preparatory department two years, and in the collegiate department one year. In 1894, having read law in the office of Col. J. C. Entrekin the previous year, he entered the Cincinnati College of Law, where he ranked well as a student, and was popular with his fellow- mates, being made president of his class. He was graduated in 1896, and in May of that year was admitted to the Ohio bar. Returning to Chillicothe, Mr. Minshall began practice in the office of Stone & Massie, with whom he remained until the retirement of his father from the bench. He was subsequently associated with his father as a member of the firm of Minshall & Minshall until his father retired from active prac- tice on account of ill health. Mr. Minshall subsequently practiced alone until January, 1911, when he formed a partnership with H. C. Claypool, and as junior member of the firm of Claypool & Minshall continued his legal work four years, retiring from that firm on January 4, 1915, to assume the duties of prosecuting attorney of Ross County, to which office he had been elected the previous November. In 1914, just after his elec- tion, he resigned his position as United States Commissioner, an office that he had held for ten years.

Mr. Minshall married April 30, 1901, Miss Edith Doty, a daughter of Theodore and Martha Doty, and they have one child, Julia Martha Min- shall. Mr. Minshall belongs to the Chi Phi College fraternity. He is also a member of Scioto Lodge No. 6, and is past master of the lodge, an office which his Grandfather Pearson held many years ago; he is also a member of Chillicothe Chapter, No. 4, Royal Arch Masons; of Chillicothe Council, No. 4, Royal and Select Masters; and of Chillicothe Lodge, No. 52, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

GEORGE C. RITTENOUR. Among the native-born citizens of Ross County who spent the major part of their lives within its precincts, aiding as far as possible its growth and development, whether relating to its agricultural, mercantile, or financial interests, was George C. Rit- tenour, who died December 30, 1915, at his home in Jefferson Township, aged ninety years, nine months and nineteen days. He had a good record for length of days and useful activity. A son of Jacob Rittenour, he was born March 11, 1825, in Jefferson Township, of German ancestry, his great-grandfather, John Rittenour, having emigrated from Germany to America in colonial days, locating in Virginia, where he remained permanently until his death.

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Anthony Rittenour, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Rockingham County, Virginia, and, with the exception of one year spent in Washington County, Pennsylvania, resided in Virginia until 1798. In that year, accompanied by his wife and chil- dren, he made an overland journey to that part of the Northwest Terri- tory that is now known as Ross County, and here, in Jefferson Township, secured a tract of Government land. All of the country roundabout was in its virgin wildness, the dense forests being inhabited by deer, panthers, wolves, and wild game of all kinds, while the sparkling streams abounded with fish. With the assistance of his sons he began the clearing of the land, and the following year erected a substantial stone house, which he occupied until his death, in 1835. He married Elizabeth Slusher, who was also of German descent, and to them six sons and two daughters were born, as follows: Henry; George; Jacob; Frederick; John; William ; Eve, who married first a Mr. McNeil, and for her second husband mar- ried Smiley Caldwell; and Margaret, who became the wife of Rev. Hector Sanford. An ardent Methodist in religion, Anthony Rittenour con- tributed very liberally toward the building of the stone church, and also gave an acre of ground for the Jefferson Township Cemetery.

Born in Frederick County, Virginia, February 15, 1787, Jacob Rit- tenour was a lad of eleven years when brought by his parents to Ross County, where he was reared in true pioneer style. During his earlier life there were neither railroads nor canals in the country ; neither were there any convenient markets in the territory ; and very little money was in circulation. Live stock, including the hogs, was driven across the country to Baltimore and other eastern markets, the journeys to and fro being long and tiresome. From the flax raised by the farmers the diligent housewives spun and wove all of the material from which they fashioned the clothes worn by their families. He began as a boy to assist on the home farm, and was subsequently engaged in agricultural pursuits in Jefferson Township the remainder of his life, dying October 15, 1882. He married, April 3, 1812, Anna Claypool, who was born in Randolph County, Virginia, of honored English stock, one of her early English ancestors, a certain John Claypool, having married the favorite daughter of Oliver Cromwell. Her father, Abraham Claypool, was born in Harding County, West Virginia, April 2, 1762, and his father, James Claypool, Jr., was born in Virginia, December 1, 1730, a son of James Claypool, Sr. This James Claypool, Sr., grandfather of Anna Claypool, and great- grandfather of Mr. Rittenour, was born in Virginia, February 14, 1701, and married, October 9, 1753, Margaret Dunbar, who was born November 20, 1736, and died March 26, 1813. She reared nine daughters and three sons. Abraham Claypool, Mr. Rittenour's maternal grandfather, received an excellent education in his native state, and there lived until coming to Ohio in 1799. Selecting what he considered a desirable tract of land · in Liberty Township, he began the improvement of a homestead. A man of broad capacity, energetic and forceful, he soon became influential in

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public affairs, and served not only as a member of the first state constitu- tional convention, but of the first State Senate, which convened at Chilli- cothe in 1803. He improved a valuable farm, and having built a commo- dious house of hewed logs was there a resident until his death. He married Elizabeth Wilson. Mrs. Anna (Claypool) Rittenour died June 3, 1873. To her and her husband, four children were born and reared, namely : James; Isaac Newton; George C., the special subject of this sketch ; and Margaret, who died unmarried, February 22, 1898. James, who settled at Independence, Indiana, married Ellen Hemphill. Isaac N., who lived but thirty-three years, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Orr. True to the religious faith in which they were brought up, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Rittenour were also active and valued members of the Methodist Church.

George C. Rittenour was educated in the district schools, while on the home farm he was well trained in agricultural arts. Soon after entering his teens, he went to Richmondale to live with an older brother, and while there worked as a farm hand during seed time and harvest, the remainder of the year being employed as a clerk in his brother's store. On attaining his majority, he engaged in mercantile pursuits on his own account, forming a copartnership with his brother. After his marriage Mr. Rittenour located in Chillicothe, and here, in company with his nephew, John W. Rittenour, and Austin and Nelson Purdum, erected a building, and embarked in the hardware and farm implement business. A little more than a year after the establishment of the firm, Austin Purdum died, and the business was closed out. Mr. Rittenour in the meantime had been managing his father's estate, and had likewise built up a large and lucrative trade as a cattle dealer. He soon purchased, in company with his brother James, a tract of land in Fayette County, near Bloomingburg, retaining, however, his residence in Ross County. Subse- quently selling his interest in his Fayette County property to his brother, Mr. Rittenour purchased land in Pike County, near the home of his father-in-law, T. W. Sargent, and later, at different times, bought other tracts in Ross County until his land holdings amounted to upwards of 3,000 acres of rich farm lands. For a period of nearly three-score and ten years, Mr. Rittenour was actively and successfully engaged in busi- ness, but afterward lived retired in Chillicothe, enjoying the fruits of a long and well spent life.

Mr. Rittenour married, September 1, 1857, Elizabeth Sargent, who was born in Pike County, Ohio, a daughter of Thornton Williams and Elizabeth (Mustard) Sargent. She died July 29, 1911, aged seventy- eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Rittenour reared three sons, namely : Thorn- ton Sargent, James Milton, and Henry Francis. Thornton S. married Jennie Higbye, and they have one son, George Willey, who spent two years at the Ohio Wesleyan University, later graduated from the lit- erary department of Yale, and was subsequently graduated from the law department of Harvard University. James M., the second son of the parental household, married Alberta Norton, and their only child, George Norton Rittenour, is a student in the Chillicothe High School. Henry

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Francis, the youngest son of Mr. Rittenour, married Eliza DuBois, and they have one child, Everett Francis, who is attending the Ohio Wes- leyan University, being a member of the class of 1918. In his religious belief, Mr. Rittenour was a Methodist, both he and his wife having adhered to the faith in which they were reared.

GILBERT E. ROBBINS, M. D. Identified with one of the most impor- tant and exacting as well as one of the most useful of professions, Gilbert E. Robbins, M. D., holds a noteworthy place among the leading citizens of Chillicothe and ranks high as an able and skillful physician.

It was through his initiative that the first hospital was opened in Chillicothe. He founded the Ross County Anti-Tuberculosis Society, now the Ross County Welfare Society. His personal efforts were chiefly responsible for the building of the District Tuberculosis Hospital.

Doctor Robbins is a member of the Ross County Academy of Medicine and an ex-president; member of the Ohio State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association and the American Medical Asso- ciation. He is ex-president of the Tenth District Medical Society and ex-president of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. For three years he was a trustee of the Athens State Hospital, being appointed by Governor Harris in January, 1909.

Born in the Village of Lubeck, Wood County, West Virginia, he comes of substantial New England ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Jonathan Robbins having been born and reared in New England, although he afterward moved to Orange County, New York, and from there to Wood County, West Virginia, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life of three score and ten years.

Gilbert Robbins, father of Doctor Robbins, was born in 1832 in Orange County, New York, and as a young man served an apprentice- ship at the wagonmaker's trade. He subsequently opened a shop in Lubeck, Wood County, Virginia, where he was engaged in the manu- facture of wagons several years. During the progress of the Civil war the village in which he lived and all that section of the country suffered frequent invasions from both armies, but as he had a crippled hand he could not enlist as a soldier in the army, but was made captain of a company of Home Guards. Coming to Ohio with his family in 1865, he bought land in Washington Township, Jackson County, and embarked in general farming. Several years later he removed to Chillicothe, where he lived retired from active business until his death in 1912, aged eighty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Caroline Leah Heaton, was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and since the death of her husband has made her home with her children. She reared a family of six sons and two daughters, as follows: Alfred L., deceased; Lillie, Gilbert E., George K., James F., Ella, Charles and Nelson.

With an elementary education acquired in the rural schools, and after advanced studies in the National Normal School at Lebanon, Gilbert E. Robbins began life as a school teacher when but sixteen years of age. During the ensuing ten years he alternately taught school and attended

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school. In the meantime, industrious and ambitious, he studied medicine in the office of Dr. D. H. Scott at Chillicothe and later attended lectures at the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, where he was gradu- ated with the class of 1889. Doctor Robbins began the practice of his profession at Waverly, Pike County, but at the end of six months removed to Bourneville, Ross County, where he remained about four years. In 1894 he located in Chillicothe, and as a physician has met with signal success, his patronage being large and highly remunerative.

Doctor Robbins' wife was Miss Frances Renick, of Chillicothe. A daughter, Bertha, is the wife of Mr. Robert Acton, and a son, Everett, is a student in the College of Medicine of the Ohio State University at Columbus.

Fraternally, Doctor Robbins is a member of Paint Valley Lodge, No. 808, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bourneville, Ohio, of the different Masonic bodies of Chillicothe, and of Lodge No. 52, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Chillicothe. He was a member of the Board of Education of Chillicothe for eleven years.

HON. LOUIS M. DAY. Numbered among the able and influential, yet unassuming, members of the Ross County bar, Hon. Louis M. Day, of Chillicothe, has achieved success by a systematic application of his abili- ties to the profession of his choice-a profession demanding veritable talent and an unlimited stock of persevering industry. He comes of excellent English ancestry, being a direct descendant in the fifth gen- eration of one John Day, who came from Derbyshire, England, his native place, to America about 1750, locating in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he spent his remaining years. The line of descent is thus traced : John, Samuel, Sr., Samuel, Jr., Milton, and Louis M.

Samuel Day was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and there grew to man's estate. Going from there to North Carolina, he lived in Guilford County, near Colfax, until some time during the progress of the Revolutionary war. Enlisting then as a soldier, he served under Gen. Francis Marion, in Colonel Morgan's regiment, and at the Battle of Cowpens, was wounded in the shoulder. Recovering from his wound, he rejoined his command. Later, while in camp, one of his duties was to climb a pole to take observations. On one occasion, while performing that duty, the pole was shot from under him and he fell to the ground, breaking his leg in such a way that he was incapacitated for further active service. At the close of the war, Colonel Morgan's men were awarded a tract of land in what is now Pendleton County, West Virginia. Taking advantage of this opportunity for securing a home, Samuel Day located on his grant of land, and in the humble home that he there erected all of his ten children were born. In August, 1805, fol- lowing the march of civilization westward, he came with his wife and children to Ross County, Ohio, the entire family making the journey on horseback. His cousin, Daniel Boone, the famous backwoodsman and trapper, who had hunted throughout this country, had frequently told him of its natural advantages and advised him if he ever came West to

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A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Part 5

Author: Lyle S. Evans Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 549

Author: Lyle S. Evans
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 549