USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > Salem in Columbiana County > A souvenir history of ye old town of Salem, Ohio, with some pictures and brief references to ye people and things of ye olden time > Part 9
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the practice in and is now a prominent attorney of Youngstown, and son-in-law of Judge J. A. Ambler. O. R. Cook commenced the practice here, but soon left it for other pursuits. He is now dead. C. C. Curry, a shoemaker by trade, read law and entered the practice here when of middle age, and was elected and creditably served two terms as probate judge of Columbiana county. He is long since dead. Charles F. Trimble read law with C. C. Curry, but died soon after his admission to the bar. James Boone, a native of Salem, read law with me and was admitted to the bar I think in 1859, and be- gan practice in Salem. He died about the year 1871. David G. Swem, who after he entered the army changed his name to Swaim, read law with me while he was running a drug store in Salem. I was away from home a week in 1860, attending District Court in Canfield, and when I returned I was somewhat surprised to learn that Swem had been admitted as a member of the bar by that court, not having called upon me for a certificate. The examining committees in those days were very liberal to applicants. I remem- ber that Judge Church, who lived in Canfield,
and was on the Common Pleas bench, held that a man had as much right to be a lawyer without the formality of study and admission as he had to be a laborer ; and if he did not know any law, the people would soon find it out, But the pro- fession thought differently, and the laxity in those days has been stamped out and stricter rules have been established and fully enforced. And now the right of admitting members is vested solely in the Supreme Court. Swaim's parents were Baptists (Campbellites or Disciples), and the college at Hiram, O., was of that sect. Salem's father knew James A. Garfield, who was a professor and afterwards Presieent of that col- lege. David was sent there as a student and thus became well acquainted with Mr. Garfield, who afterwards became President of the United States. In 1862 Mr. Garfield, who had entered the service as colonel of the 42d, O. V. I., was made a brigadier general. Swaim saw his op- portunity, and entered the service also; he at once applied to Garfield, who appointed him on his staff, and had him retained on his staff until the end of the war. Garfield then had him made a lieutenant in the regular army and judge
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advocate in one of the western departments ; and while he was there my partner, J. Twing Brooks, met the commander of that department, then on his way to Washington, and inquired of him about Swaim. In the conversation the General said that out at headquarters Swaim was known as "Old Necessity ;" and upon being asked why they gave him such soubriquet, an- swered, "Because necessity knows no law." When General Garfield was nominated for Presi- dent, Swaim got leave of absence, and came to Mentor aiding Garfield in the reception of the crowds of Republicans that called on the Gen- eral ; and after his election he had Swaim ap- pointed Judge Advocate General of the army, over the heads of officers of higher grade in the regular army. And when a man like Garfield, who knew Swaim intimately, regarded him as able and efficient, and capable of filling the of- fice of Judge Advocate General, it is difficult to believe that such soubriquet was appropriate. Af- ter President Garfield's death Swaim was sus- pended under charges of misconduct in some money transactions and was never reinstated. He died a few years after. The charges I be-
lieve were trumped up in favor of the officers he had superceded. While he was a money-maker, he was as honest as men generally, and the charges they brought against him at all events were not sufficient to cause his dismissal. He was only suspended for a time.
Elisha Tolerton, another bright Salem boy, after his admission to the bar, went to Toledo, entered into the practice there, and became a prominent member of the Toledo bar. He was solicitor for the Pennsylvania Company at Toledo up to the time he died two years ago.
S. S. Wheeler, a prominent attorney of Lima, and solicitor for the Pennsylvania Company, studied law while a teacher in the Salem High School.
Thus it will be seen that our old Quaker town has contributed a galaxy of bright men to the profession, and in that respect it has outstripped substantially every town of its size in the State; and I trust that at its next centennial it may be shown to have at least retained its prominence in that respect. Undoubtedly the reputations of some members of that galaxy were assailed, as is done everywhere ; but their assailaints were gen-
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erally persons whom they had defeated in the courts, disappointed clients or sneering enemies. As a body no city in the State ever produced a more reputable or honorable set ; and knowing them well I am free to say that I cannot think even of one as an evil doer, and would not if I could. "Honi soit qui mal y pense."
In the furnishing of troops for the volunteer army in the War of the Rebellion Salem did her full duty, as she did in every emergency in the history of the country during the past 100 years.
The loyalty to human rights, and the patriotic devotion to country, which were manifest during the anti-slavery and ante-bellum days. could not fail the Nation in that dire extremity. So in that dark period of our country's history our people did their whole duty. More than that could not be said. It would require another vol- ume to give even a summary of what could be said in the merited praise of those who offered their lives for the life of the Nation. And the memory of those who died is kept green by the devoted service of each returning Memorial Day.
Appendix .- Salem in 1815
Written about 1847 by Dr. Benjamin Stanton, the earliest physician in town, to be read before "The Literary Circle."
Late in the fall of 1815, a young man might have been seen winding his way northward -- until he arrived at the spot where Lisbon street leaves the main street in the town of Salem. He rode up fronting a guide-board pointing westward, with the inscription, 1/4 Mile to Salem. Obeying the dictates of hunger and fatigue, having ridden from New Lisbon before breakfast, he turned
toward the village of which he was in sight, and, inquiring of the first person he saw for a tavern, was directed to the west end of the village, where stood a small frame house before which hung a sign on which was painted a rude figure of a buck, and beneath it the name of Wm. Heacock. Here the pilgrim rested, and after having done justice to a breakfast of ham and fried eggs,
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prepared by Aunt Polly, was ready for observa- tion. One of the first things which attracted his attention was numerous persons coming to- ward town from various directions, some on horse- back, some on foot, slowly wending their way along new and muddy roads beset with stumps and roots, over which no pleasure carriage, buggy or calash had ever ventured ; and on inquiring the cause of the assemblage he was informed that it was the Friends gathering to meeting, and that a wedding was to take place at said meeting. He followed the throng to the meeting house, which was a brick house, capable of hold- ing several hundred persons, situated on the south side of the road, now Main street, near what is now the center of the village.
It was the only meeting house in the village. It was the only church or meeting house within five miles of the village, and here assembled nearly all the inhabitants for the purpose of worship. What a field for observation for the witness seated in silence, in a multitude, not one of whose faces he had ever seen, but among whom he was resolved to cast the die of his future destiny. With extreme eagerness did he strive to read the features, the countenances, the dress, the every characteristic peculiarity which might tend to give him knowledge of those with whom he was surrounded. There were those with open countenances, whose lives
had never belied the Christian simplicity of their appearance. There were the smooth-faced hypo- crites with broad brimmed hats, yet not broad enough to cover their hypocrisy. And there were a lot of Quaker girls with their white silk bonnets made by one pattern-and all other parts of their habiliments to correspond. All met to witness and take part in a Quaker wedding. You may think as you please about the amount of divine worship which might accompany such a ceremony .- So much for an introduction to Salem in 1815.
Until about the year 1815 the village of Salem was confined to the old plat west of Range [Ellsworth] street. It consisted of about six- teen dwelling houses holding about the same number of families, with the addition of four or five small dwelling houses on the south side of the road leading eastward from the town.
Sixteen years had elapsed since the first white men-a few energetic pioneers -had erected their cabins in the vicinity amidst the primeval forest which spread from the Ohio river to the Lake.
The red man of the forest still lingered around the grave of his fathers, and extended a friendly hand to those intruders upon his native home, whom he had not been able to repel by the force of his arms. The wild deer and wolf still wan- dered in herds in the forest and prowled through
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the thickets. But the brand and axe of the wood- man made rapid progress in changing the appear- ance of the western wilds. With the increase of population the wants of community increase-the need of merchants and mechanics was soon felt amongst the forests of Ohio, and consequently villages soon began to spring up for their resi- dence ; and amongst others Salem was located, about the year 1806, by J. Straughan and Zadok Street, and at the time referred to, 1815, contained two stores, two smith's shops, one saddle and harness maker's shop, one cotton factory, two shoemakers, and one tailor who, though capable of making about one coat a week, was amply sufficient for all the work in his line that was de- manded. The good dames of those days usually made the coats of their husbands. The store houses were about fourteen feet square, and other things in about like proportion. In that year the first physician settled here [Dr. Stanton himself] and was the only one within a circuit of ten miles.
The cotton factory and a store were con- ducted by one of those ephemeral, incorporated companies which sprang up during the war with Great Britain, and, like many other similar insti- tutions, the ideas of whose founders were vision- ary as South Sea dreams, it was crushed at the conclusion of peace, by the introduction of foreign goods-but not without leaving some cause for its rememberance.
There was a school house, too, in Salem. The Society of Friends at that day, careful of the education of their children, had procured a lot and erected a log house where their own and those of other denominations were taught under the superintendence of the Meeting of the Society. There was, likewise, a public library, one of the provisions of the constitution of which was that no deistical or atheistical book or work of fiction should be permitted to profane its shelves.
The appearance of surrounding objects was not then as now. The traveler who passed the streets had variety in the change of the corduroy bridge to the downy softness of mud up to his horse's knees. The fields were beset with stumps and the seared and burnt trunks of gi- gantic oaks, which stood like grim specteres of dead renown speaking in mute but melancholy language of the past beauty and magnificance. Ye vast, ye beautiful, ye majestic forests of Ohio ; where are ye now ? Riven and destroyed by the axe, and the brand, and none shall see your like again. The lively chirp and the tap of the woodpecker that animated your boughs by day is succeeded by the noisy prattle of children in the streets ; and the owl, whose solemn hoot resounded through the evening shade, has passed away, and is succeeded by the curfew of the vil- lage bell that shall soon toll the funeral knell of us who have survived you.
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1996
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