A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 8

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 8

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II. Failing to attend summer term, 1806, in Adams County.

12. Failing to attend summer term, 1806, in Athens County.

13. Failing to attend summer term, in Gallia County.

14. Failing to punctually attend the fall term in Fairfield Coun- ty in 1806.

15. Failing to attend the fall term, 1806, in Franklin County.

Abraham Shepherd, as Speaker of the House, signed the articles. On January 9th, 1807, Hough and McArthur were appointed a com- mittee to prepare rules to govern the trial. Slaughter appeared in person and asked two or three days to prepare for the trial. He was granted to the following Monday to answer. In answer he al- leged he was not charged with any misdemeanor and could not, by

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

law, be bound to answer. To the first three charges he pleaded ill health. He denied the fourth, and said he did punctually attend. To the fifth, he said that after attending court in Adams County, he went to Paris, Kentucky, to attend to some business, and expected to reach Scioto in time to attend court, but on returning to the Ohio River at Brook's Ferry, could not cross. That he went two miles be- low to be ferried, and, being impatient, rode into the corn field after the ferryman, and this unexpected delay, against his will, prevented him from attending the court until the second day, and there being little business to be done, court was adjourned. In answer to the sixth, he said he was well acquainted with the docket, and there was no civil case ready for trial, and not more than one or two being im- prisoned in the County for misdemeanors, and the court would be obliged to pardon those rather than expose the weakness of the laws since their sentence could not be enforced. That he had applied for a tract of land, for which he had the deposit money, and was com- pelled by law to pay the fourth installment within forty days or forfeit his application, and was compelled to attend to it. To the seventh. he stated that he started from Lancaster, his home, but that his horse became foundered at Pickaway Plains, and his funds and his salary were not sufficient to buy another. He finally borrowed a horse to ride to Adams County. He answered the ninth charge that he had only borrowed the horse to ride to Adams County, and could not procure another to go to Scioto County. That he was afflicted with ill health in the spring, and had the pleurisy, and did not attend the spring term in Gallia for that reason. That the rivers were high, and he would be compelled to swim some creeks and ford others, and his health would not permit it. To the eleventh, he answered that while in Highland County, his horse broke out of the pasture, and he could not be found, and he was obliged to return to Chillicothe, supposing his horse had gone that way, but he did not, and he pro- cured a horse of Joseph Kerr, to ride to Scioto County, on condi- tional purchase, but the horse was not able to carry him on to Gallia

County, if it were to save him from ruin, and was compelled to trade horses, on which he made the balance of the circuit. He denied the twelfth charge. His answer to the thirteenth was that his farm was advertised to sell, and not having the money to save it, was obliged to raise it, which he did in time to save it. He denied the fourteenth charge. To the fifteenth, he answered that he attended the Franklin term two days, and then obtained the Associates' consent to be absent the remainder of the term. He was compelled to return to New Lan- caster before going to Ross County in order to take money to com- plete the payment for his land before the court in Ross County would convene. He asked for a continuance to the first Monday in Decem- ber next to secure Joseph Kerr, Doctor Spencer and George Shoemak- er, witnesses. Four only voted in favor of this. Mr. Brush was

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

admitted as counsel for respondent. Henry Brush, Jessup N. Couch, Wm. Creighton, Joseph Foos, James Kilbourn, Wm. Irwin and Lewis Cass, witnesses for the prosecution. Respondent read the deposition of Samuel Wilson. Mr. Beecher was counsel to the State. The trial began January 26th, 1807, and lasted until the twenty-eighth. On the question of his being guilty of neglect of official duty, the yea vote was: Claypool, Corre, Hempstead, Hough, Jewett, McFarland, McArthur, Sargeant, Smith, Wood and the Speaker, Thomas Kirker. Mr. Schofield alone voted he was not guilty. On January 29th, the re- spondent was called, but made no answer, though three times solemnly called. The speaker delivered the judgment of the court, that he had been found guilty of neglect of duty and should be removed from office. His removal did not seem to affect his health or spirits, or his standing among the people of Fairfield County, where he resided. He served four years as prosecuting attorney. He was elected to the Senate in 1810, from Fairfield, Knox, and Licking.

He was elected to the House from Fairfield County in 1817, 1819, and 1821. In 1828 he was elected to the Senate, and re-elected in 1830. While in the Legislature he voted for the School System and the Canal System.

He was eccentric and absent-minded, and the story is told of him that once when plowing, it became time for him to go to the Legisla- ture. Leaving the plow in the middle of the field, mounting his horse. with one of his own shoes on and the other off, he rode away. He was of medium height, dressed plainly, and always wore his hair in a queue. He was a Democrat of the old school, a man of great strength of character, a bold speaker, and a natural orator, and in speaking was capable of making deep impressions on his audience. His public record was clear, notwithstanding the Legislature under- took to blacken it. He once said, "The best rule in politics is to wait until the other party declares itself, then take the opposite side."

He married a Miss Bond, who was devotedly attached to the Methodist church, but he was not a member of any church. Their children were William, Tercenia, Ann, Fields, and Frances, all de- ceased, and two surviving, Mrs. Mariah Dennison, of Los Angeles, California, and Thomas S. Slaughter, of Olanthe, Missouri. The judge survived until October 24th, 1846, when he died at the age of 76 years. He is interred in the country cemetery near his home.

In view of the record of the Ohio Legislature in the matter of impeachments under the first Constitution of the State, we do not con- sider it any reflection on Judge Slaughter that his impeachment was successful, and had he lived in our day, his answer to the impeach- ment articles would have been held good, and any Legislature pre- senting articles of impeachment against him, such as are given above, would be deemed in the wrong.

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

John Thompson

was the Presiding Common Pleas Judge of Scioto County, from April 9th, 1810, to March 29th, 1824. He was a resident of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio. He located there in 1806 from Chambersburg. Pennsylvania. He was elected Presiding Judge in 1810, re-elected in 1817, and served until 1824. His circuit was composed of Frank- lin, Madison, Fayette, Highland, Adams, Scioto, Gallia and Ross. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and an elder in it. He was also a total abstainer from alcholic drinks. He was an acute lawyer, but narrow-minded, firm to stubbornness, of considerable reading and of much readiness in the application of learning, much in- fluenced by his likes and dislikes.

In 1812, he was impeached by the House and tried by the Sen- ate. The following were the charges exhibited against him :

First : Because he allowed the attorneys but ten minutes to a side in a larceny case in Highland County, and when they objected, said that if they did not take it, he would allow them but five minutes to a side.

Second : Because he refused to allow an attorney to testify for his client in a case of usurpation in office, the attorney having offered to testify.

Third : Because he ordered certain court constables to knock down certain by-standers with their staves and gave no reason therefor.

Fourth : Because he allowed a bill of exceptions contrary to the facts.

Fifth : Because he declared in an assault and battery case that the attorneys had no right to argue the facts to a jury except with the permission of the Court, and then when overruled by his associates, impatiently told the jury to go on.

Sixth : Because in a larceny case when the jury came back into court and wanted to re-examine the witnesses he refused them and sent them back telling them the case was too trifling to take up the time of the Court.

Seventh : Because he ordered a jury to be sworn in a robbery case, after they had all stood up and said they had made up their minds, and they found the defendant guilty without leaving the box.

Eighth : Because he said publicly the people were their own worst enemies ; that they were cursed brutes, and worse than brutes.

Ninth : Because at Hillsboro, he had refused to sign a bill of excep- tions and had refused to let an appeal be docketed.

Tenth : Because at a trial at Gallipolis, he had unjustly and ar- bitrarily allowed an attorney but twenty-five minutes for an argument to the jury, and then when the limit of time was reached, ordered him to sit down saying the jury would do justice in the case.

Eleventh : Because at Gallipolis, he ordered the prosecuting at- torney not to let any testimony go before the grand jury until he knew what it was.

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

Twelfth : Because he said to the grand jury at Circleville that our government was the most corrupt and perfidious in the world and the people were their own enemies. That they were devils in men's cloth- ing.

The trial on these charges took nine days and witnesses were brought from each County where the transactions occurred. Henry Baldwin and Wylliss Silliman were attorneys for the State and Lewis Cass, John McLean and Samuel Herrick, for the defense. He was acquitted on all of the charges by a large majority and was re-elected by the Legislature in 1817. In 1821 and 1823, bilious fever prevailed at Chillicothe and many cases were fatal. Many thought the disease was yellow fever. Judge Thompson had a large family and became quite fearful of the disease attacking them. He took up the theory that ammonia destroyed the germs of this fever. Therefore, he ser- iously proposed moving his whole family to and living in a tavern stable, among the horses, during the sickly season. Vigorous pro- tests from Mrs. Thompson resulted in a compromise, by which the family remained in the mansion, but were required to spend an hour each morning on the manure pile, to inhale the fumes which arose from it.

Soon after removing from the bench, Judge Thompson removed to Louisiana, where he purchased a plantation and some negroes. There he died in 1833, near Fort Adams, just over the line in Miss- issippi.

Thomas Irvin

was born in Ablemarle County, Virginia, in 1794. His father was William Irvin, a Presbyterian minister, and his mother's maiden name was Holt. She was from Kentucky, and Attorney-General Holt was her cousin. The family originally came from the town of Irvine, in Scotland. They were descendants of Irvine of Bonshaw, in the time of Robert Bruce, who conferred titles and lands on William De Irvine, an ancestor of our subject. Our subject's father was an ex- tensive slave-holder. Judge Irvin's father regarded slavery one of the greatest temporal curses, and so wrote to his eldest son, W. W. Ir- vin, in 1805. He, however, treated his slaves with the greatest kind- ness. Our subject imbibed anti-slavery ideas as a boy, and they re- mained with him all his life.

He was a student of Washington College, at Lexington, Vir- ginia. He afterwards read law and was admitted to the bar at Stan- ton, Va. After this he located at Lancaster, Ohio, where his broth- er, Hon. William W. Irvin, resided. On February 9th, 1826, he was appointed President Judge of the Eighth Circuit, and served two terms, or until February 19th, 1840.

In 1836 he removed to Pomeroy, Ohio, where he resided for twenty years. In December, 1837, he was married to Miss Mary Russell Pomeroy, daughter of Samuel Willis Pomeroy, for whom the town

HONORABLE THOMAS IRVIN,

PRESIDENT COMMON PLEAS JUDGE, 1826-1840. BORN 1794-DIED 1881.

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

was named. In 1845 and 1846 he represented Athens and Meigs counties in the Legislature. Hon. Rodney M. Stimson, of Marietta, Ohio, who knew him well, said of him:

"He was tall, (six feet high) of straight figure ; a most perfect gentleman ; a good lawyer ; a general reader ; of great common sense ; prudent and careful."

He was the best of the President Common Pleas Judges who ever sat in Portsmouth, except Peck. He at one time owned the Cal- vert farm in Scioto County, and was a Director of a Portsmouth Bank. Once, during his Judgeship, he resided almost a year in Portsmouth.

In Politics he was a Whig so long as the Whig party lasted, and after that was a Republican. In 1855 his health gave way and he determined on a rural life. He bought sixteen acres of land back of Newport, Ky., and moved there in 1856. He resided there until his death, January 7th, 1869. During his residence in Kentucky he recovered his health, and devoted himself to horticulture, of which he was passionately fond. He called his Kentucky home Mt. Vernon. He was reared a Presbyterian, but on May 20th, 1867, was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, at Christ Church, in Cincinnati, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop McIlvaine. His wife survived him seven years. They had an only child, Ellen, who married Jonathan Chapman of Boston, Mass. He died October 18th, 1881, and left his wife and an only son, Thomas Irvin Chapman. Mrs. Chapman resides at Tokyo, Japan.

Judge Irvin was always anti-slavery in his views and during the war was a staunch adherent to the cause of the Union. He was noted for his integrity. He was a great advocate of the temperance cause, and opposed to licensing the liquor traffic. He was of a gen- erous nature, and a most agreeable companion.

John E. Hanna

was born December 5th, 1805, in Westmoreland County, in Pennsyl- vania. His father was a saddler, but afterwards became a farmer. The family removed to Ohio in 1815, and settled at Cadiz in Harrison County, where our subject attended school at the Academy. He com- menced the study of law, in 1823, with Chauncey Dewey of Cadiz, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1825, at New Philadelphia. He began the practice of the law, in 1826, at McConnelsville, in Mor- gan County. In 1829, he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney and served till 1831, when the office became elective. He held it by elec- tion until 1838. He was postmaster at McConnelsville from 1831 to 1833. In 1834, he was elected a Brigadier General in the Ohio Militia, and served as such until 1840, when he resigned to go on the Common Pleas Bench.

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

He was elected President Common Pleas Judge on February 18th, 1840, for the Eighth Circuit, and served one full term of seven years.

He was always a Democrat but was in favor of the civil war. He was married June 7th, 1826, to Susannah Robertson and had six chil- dren. After her death, he remarried. He represented Morgan Coun- ty in the Legislature in 1838, 1839, 1840. On September 10th, 1854, he was appointed by the Governor as a Common Pleas Judge to fill a vacancy. He held Court in Muskingum County three days and at- tended a term of the District Court. In the militia, he served on the staff of General Alexander McConnell. Governor Charles Foster ap- pointed him a Trustee of Athens Insane Asylum. He had a woman physician appointed for the female wards, the first in the State. In 1886, he was appointed by President Cleveland as Postmaster at Mc- Connelsville and held the office four years. His second wife, Sarah Swasey died August 30th, 1894. His first wife died April 15th, 1865.

He was honest, generous, religious, patriotic and a model citi- zen, but not remarkable as a Judge.

William Virgil Peck

was born in Cayuga, New York, April 16th, 1804. His parents were Virgil and Mary ( Wallace) Peck and he was the youngest of their three children. Both of his parents were from Litchfield, Connecti- cut. They settled in Cayuga, New York, in 1804, and his father, a merchant, died there in September, 1804. A month after his death, his widow removed with the three children to Litchfield, Connecticut. where our subject was reared. In 1808, his mother married Doctor Abel Catlin of Litchfield, Connecticut. She resided there until 1856, when Doctor Catlin died. Then she removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where she made her home with her son, till her death in 1860. Our subject obtained a common school education, then studied the classics at the Pierce Academy, and afterwards at the South Farms Academy in Litchfield. In 1816, he went to Watertown, New York, and was a clerk in a store for three years. In 1819, he returned to Connecti- cut and clerked at Winsted until 1824, when he entered Judge Gould's world famous Law School at Litchfield. He attended this school till 1826, when he graduated and went to Cincinnati, Ohio. He entered the office of Bellamy Storer as a clerk. He located in Portsmouth in 1827. His income as a lawyer was estimated by the Assessor as follows : 1830, $300; 1832, $200; 1833, $300; 1834, $400 : 1836, $600; 1812, $1,000; 1844, $1,250: 1847, $1,600. His success was the best. On July 8th, 1830, he married Mary Ann Cook, daugh- ter of Hugh Cook and had a large family, only two of whom are now living in Portsmouth : Mrs. Mary C. Damarin and Mrs. Lou Corson, wife of Ed. J. Corson. Our subject was very scholarly and his neigh- bors appreciated it. At public functions he was put forward to make addresses. August 30th, 1828, he published the law card in Ports-

JUDGE WILLIAM VIRGIL PECK.

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

mouth for the first time. On July 4th, 1831, the most famous celebra- tion of the day in Portsmouth, he was one of the committee on toasts. In October, 1832, he delivered the address in the ceremonies of the opening of the Ohio Canal at Portsmouth. In December of the same year, he was advertising lots for sale. In 1831, when Moses Greg- ory, Auditor, thought he had a sure case against David Gharky, for- mer Auditor, for overcharging in making out the Tax Duplicates from 1827 to 1829, he and the Commissioners employed Sam Tracy as the County Attorney and thought the case was won. Up to that time Sam Tracy had been thought to be invincible. The suit was for $1,000, in trespass in the case. The shrewd old Dutchman employed Peck. The case was tried at the March term, 1832, and resulted in a verdict for $278.47 for Plaintiff. Peck took the case to the Supreme Court on the Circuit and it was tried there at the April term, 1834, to a jury, and the verdict was for the defendant. Peck won the case on the charge to the jury, to the effect that Gharky had settled with the Commissioners and they could not go behind their settlement. The amount of overcharges was $232.90. This suit made Peck's reputa- tion. Any lawyer who could defeat Sam Tracy, before a jury in Scioto County was first-class. In 1839, 1841, 1842, 1845 and 1846, our sub- ject was an Examiner and visitor of the Portsmouth Public Schools. In 1830, he was elected to a seat in the Council to fill a vacancy, but declined it. On the 14th of November, 1843, on the occasion of the visit of Ex-President John Quincy Adams to Portsmouth, Ohio, Mr. Peck delivered the welcoming address, on behalf of the town, in the Methodist Church on Second street, where now stands the Hibbs hardware store. ( On February 16th, 1849, he was on the Commit- tee to meet President-elect Zachary Taylor on his way to Washington, to be inaugurated. On February 22nd, 1847, he took his seat as President Judge of the Common Pleas Court in the Circuit of which Scioto County was a part. He served under this appointment until February oth, 1852, when he took his seat as the only Common Pleas Judge, under the new Constitution. He was no doubt glad to get rid of the three Associates in each County. Once they overruled him in Scioto County and he was very much disgusted. Under his appointment by the Legislature, he served at a salary of $1,000, per annum, paid quarterly. He rode horseback to Gallipolis, Jackson and other points to hold his courts. In 1856, he was re-elected Common Pleas Judge without any opposing candidate. In 1858, he was elected Supreme Judge by the following vote : Peck, 182, 942 votes, Thomas W. Bart- ley, 160,610, majority 20,322. In his own County the vote stood: Peck, 1912: Bartley, 1470. He served one term and declined a re- election. When he returned to Portsmouth in February, 1864, he gave up the profession of law. In 1873, he sold his fine home to Thomas P. Brown and moved to a commodious residence near the river. . There his wife died December 1Ith, 1877, and there he died

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

December 30th, 1877. He practiced law in Portsmouth, from 1828 until 1847, a period of nineteen years, but he was undoubtedly the best Common Pleas Judge who ever sat on the bench in Portsmouth. When he decided a case, in delivering his decision, he convinced the losing party that he was wrong, and the Court was right. His per- ceptions were clear and discriminating. When he construed a statute, it looked as though that was the only construction. It is said that while he was on the Common Pleas Bench, the Supreme Court sitting in his District, had no causes for consideration. His scholarship was high and he was well trained as a lawyer. As a lawyer, when he pre- pared a case, tried it on his own theory, and the facts came out as he anticipated, he was invincible, but if thrown out of his course, he was weak. If in Court, he found that his client had deceived him as to the facts, he was utterly broken up and disgusted. He was then without resources. When the facts were shown as he expected, he could not be beaten. But as a Judge, he was as happy in his decisions as Lord Mansfield. His opinions as a Judge commanded universal respect, and were generally acquiesced in. On the Supreme Bench, his decisions were regarded as the highest authority. The Judge had a great deal of humor about him and many anecdotes are current about him. In June, 1839, Edward Hamilton was Mayor and Azel Glover was Marshal. Hamilton had examined a party charged with an offense and fixed his bail. The culprit was red headed and Glover would not give him any time to obtain bail, but dragged him off to jail. Mr. Hamilton was highly incensed and filed charges of impeach- ment against Glover, who was notified that he would be tried by Coun- cil in a summary way. He employed Peck, who asked and obtained twenty-four hours respite. At the end of that time, Peck offered on behalf of his client to apologize and pay the costs, if the charges were dismissed. The offer was accepted. A party could not ob- tain a decree of divorce from Judge Peck, while a Common Pleas Judge unless he made a case beyond all doubts of any kind, reasonable or otherwise. In a cause where there was any question of the right to divorce, Judge Peck would take the papers and after several days would return them to the Clerk and announce that he believed the parties could live together and therefore a divorce would be refused. It is said that the Judge liked to cook his own dinners and especially his beef-steaks. When away from home, he would often ask the priv- ilege to cook his own meals. A story is told that once he and Judge Welch were holding the Supreme Court in Clermont County, and that a countryman came in to see the Judges. He found Judge Peck in the kitchen, asking to cook his own dinner and Judge Welch in the parlor playing the fiddle. When asked what he thought of the Su- . preme Judges, he said he did not think much. He found one in the kitchen asking to cook his his own meals and the other he found play- ing a d-d old fiddle. After the Judges retirement, he was very fond

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

of reading yellow back literature and amused himself that way. After he came off the Supreme Bench, he would not go near the Court House and disliked to be called there. In politics, he was first a Whig. He cast his first presidential vote for John Quincy Adams in 1828. Af- ter the passing of the Whig party, he became a Republican. Of his co-temporaries at the bar, none of them ever spoke of him as a lawyer and a judge, except in terms of highest commendation. As a Common Pleas Judge, he was considered the superior of all who came before ; and since his time there has not been his equal.

John Collins

was born at Morgantown, Va., October, 1754. His parents, John and Elizabeth Collins, lived and died there. He obtained such educa -- tion as he could at Morgantown. He married twice, first to Elizabeth Doherty, daughter of Dr. Doherty, in Morgantown, W. Va. He was 42 years of age when he landed in Scioto County. He was at once . a man of considerable prominence. In 1803, he was appointed one of the first three Associate Judges, and served by re-appointment until 1832. The first Court held in the County, August 9th and 10th, 1803, was held at his house in Alexandria.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 8

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612