USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. I > Part 23
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Edward Stillings also located here in 1847. He was an active, able and energetie lawyer. After the Civil war he removed to Leavenworth, Kansas, and built up a lucrative practice and accumulated a fortune there. He was a brother of John Stillings and uncle of J. R. Stillings, the present prosecuting attorney of Hardin eounty.
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Also in 1847, R. J. Allison was here for a short time, but enlisted in the Mexican war and never returned to this county.
James Bain was born on a farmi near Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, September 17, 1817. He taught school and married and studied law, and after being admitted to the bar in Greene county, he moved with his little family to Kenton in 1848 and continued in practice of the law until his death in 1879. He was elected the first probate judge of Hardin county in 1852, was elected county auditor in 1849 and prosecut- ing attorney in 1865. At different times his law partners were David Thomson, John D. King and Colonel L. M. Strong, who was his partner at the time of his death. Judge Bain was an elder in the United Presbyterian church, was the father of eleven children, of whom Henry was a distinguished minister in Pennsylvania and Frank D. an equally distinguished physician and surgeon in Kenton.
In 1849 David Thomson came from Marion, Ohio, and commenced the practice here. He was a member of the firm of Bain & Thomson; afterward of Gatch & Thomson, and at the commencement of the Civil war entered the service as Captain in the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was in active service during the war, participating in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and other battles. He was severely wounded in the Atlanta campaign and was breveted general at the close of the war. He was highly esteemed by his comrades as an officer. In 1868 he cast the clectoral vote of this district for Presi- dent U. S. Grant. He engaged in banking for some time after the war, resumed the practice of the law in 1876, and was afterward in one of the governmental departments at Washington. Metellus Thomson, for many years the most prominent dry goods merchant of Kenton, was his son.
In 1849 Justus C. and Hiram Stevens commenced the practice of law in Kenton and continued in partnership for a year, and then Hiram removed to Kansas. He became a prominent lawyer and was for three terms district judge in Kansas. Justus C. soon retired from the prac- tice and engaged in stock raising and banking at Kenton and died here.
Conduce H. Gatch, after studying law with his brother in Xenia, Ohio, settled in Kenton in 1849. In 1855 he was elected prosecuting attorney and in 1858 he was elected state senator. He continued to practice law until 1862, when he entered the army as a captain in the Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but in 1863 he resigned and re- sumed practice in partnership with W. L. Walker, and again, in 1864, entered the army as lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty- fifth Ohio National Guards, and served at Harper's Ferry until Septem- ber, 1864. In 1866 he removed to Des Moines, Iowa. He was a close student who thoroughly investigated his cases. made himself an able, thorough and successful practitioner at the bar, and was steady, upright
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and conscientious. He was born July 25, 1825, and died at Des Moines July 1, 1897.
In 1854 Alexander S. Ramsey, who had been a practitioner in Carroll county, Ohio, came to Kenton. He won and retained a large practice. Ile was mayor of Kenton for five terms. During the early part of the war, he was lientenant colonel of the Forty-fifth Ohio Volnn- teer Infantry and was an ardent supporter of the government through- ont that struggle for national life. As a lawyer, he had few equals and no superiors in this portion of the state, and was engaged in almost every trial in this county and in many trials in adjoining counties up to the time of his death. He was a man of rare and eminent ability in his profession. He owned and published the Kenton Democrat for some vears.
Lyman C. IIurd commenced practicing here about 1850 and was elected prosecuting attorney in 1851, serving one term. He removed to Lima, Ohio, and a few years after the war he engaged in banking; afterward he removed to Champaign county, Illinois, where he died.
Sewell Coulson entered upon the practice abont 1850 and was for several years in the firm of Walker & Coulson. He was elected prose- euting attorney in 1853 and abont 1857 removed to Sullivan, Indiana, and died there a few years ago.
In 1857 John Stillings, who had studied with his brother Edward, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice with him. Afterward he was in partnership with A. S. Ramsey, and then with A. L. Allen. In June, 1887, he formed a partnership with James Watt and at the time of his death, December 12, 1904, he was in partnership with his son, .James Ray Stillings. During his whole life he was noted for his absolute and unswerving integrity. He was an exact lawyer, a close student and a master of the art of pleading.
John N. Absten was elected prosecuting attorney in 1859 and con- tinued to practice here until about 1867 when he removed to Marion, Ohio, where he died.
Lester T. Hunt was admitted to the bar in April, 1857, and came to Kenton in the same year. He was prosecuting attorney from 1861 to 1865 and was mayor of Kenton for one term. He retired from practice of the law and was editor of the Kenton Republican and after- ward engaged in real-estate business. He removed to Springfield, Missouri, about 1880 and died there.
Solomon L. Hoge was born July 11, 1836, in Logan county, Ohio, read law with James Keman of Bellefontaine and was graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and admitted to the bar in 1859. Ile com- menced practicing in Logan county and came to Kenton in 1860, and practiced law as a member of the firm of Ramsey & Hoge until November, 1861, when he went into the army as lieutenant in the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was dangerously wounded at Manassas,
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and again at Gettysburg and rendered distinguished service at the time President Lincoln was assassinated. He was promoted to the rank of major and after the war was elected supreme judge and afterward comptroller general of South Carolina, and served two terms in congress from the Columbia, South Carolina district. In 1877. he returned to Kenton and resumed the practice of law ; but shortly after he organized the First National Bank of Kenton and was its president until his death February 23, 1909. He was a man of commanding presence and dis- tinguished manners and a magnificent orator.
Colonel William T. Cessna was admitted to practice in 1865, served as representative from this eounty in 1870 and 1872, and has been mayor of Kenton and still lives here.
In 1873 John D. King came from Columbiana county. Ohio, to Kenton and became an active member of the bar until his death in 1880. He was an energetic working lawyer until he died and a man of fine talent.
Artemas B. Johnson was born at Norwalk, Ohio, September 9, 1843. His parents were New England people having emigrated from western Massachusetts in 1833. Mr. Johnson entered the classical course at Oberlin College in 1860 and graduated in 1864. He paid his way
through college by teaching sehool winters. In his senior year at Oberlin, he taught the higher arithmetie elass in the academy. This was an honor, as the teaching of this elass was always given to the best all-round student in mathematies in the senior year of the college. After graduating Mr. Johnson taught an academy at Sharon the first year, and the second year was superintendent of the schools at Kenton. As part of his duties while at Kenton he taught the Latin. French and higher arithmetie classes of the high school. In his leisure hours he read law, while at Kenton, reciting to C. HI. Gatch, then a leading lawyer. HIe was admitted to the bar in June, 1866, and immediately located at Kenton where he has ever since resided engaged in the active practice of his profession, exeept five years of service as connon pleas judge from 1890 to 1895. He also served two terms as mayor of Kenton and two terms as prosecuting attorney of Hardin county; was appointed on the Ohio Convict Labor Commission by Governor Nash who was a college elassmate. He was a member of the board of examiners for admission to the bar from 1904 to 1909, and was for many years a member of the board of education of Kenton.
In 1867 Colonel Luther M. Strong of Seneca county, was admitted to praetiee and loeated here. In 1880 he was elected state senator from this district and was afterward appointed common pleas judge of this district. HIe served two terms in congress and died April 26, 1903, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His son John and his daughter, Mrs. Charles B. Fink, live at Kenton. His oldest son, Milton, lives at Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Vol. I-15
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James II. Ballard and Thomas Holland practiced in Kenton about 1876. Ballard went to Kansas and Holland is a lawyer at Paulding, Ohio.
P. W. Stumm was at Ada from 1865 until about 1880.
William Johnson was a member of the Hardin County Bar in 1850, and J. S. Murphy in 1851.
G. A. Stewert was born April 18, 1832. He was a member of the ITardin County Bar before the Civil war. He was a brother of Mrs. William D. Dean and was a member of the law firm of Gatch & Stewert. Ile served in the army during the Civil war and was afterward in government employ at Washington where he died November 20, 1883.
John Randolph Goodin practiced law in Kenton about 1858, and then went to Kansas where he became judge and a member of congress.
A. W. Graham practiced law in Kenton about 1861 and was for a short time in partnership with S. L. Hoge.
W. II. Munnell practiced law and edited the Kenton Democrat during the Civil war.
James Watt was born December 6, 1839 and was admitted to the bar in 1866, since which time he has practiced law as one of the leading members of the bar at Kenton, excepting that he was cashier of the Kenton Savings Bank from 1882 to 1887. Before he engaged in bank- ing, he had been a member of the law firm of Watt & Young and after- ward he was for some years in partnership with John Stillings. He has also served as deputy clerk of the common pleas court and was prosecuting attorney from 1872 to 1876. He is probably the most scholarly member of the bar of Hardin county.
Fred M. Childs was one of the best known lawyers in Hardin county from 1867 to 1887. He had a large practice before justices of the peaee and practiced to some extent in the court of common pleas, but was greatly handicapped by his deafness. He was also for a long time justice of the peace at Kenton. During the later years of his life he preached in the Wesleyan Methodist church at Kenton and elsewhere. He removed to Bellefontaine and died there about 1903.
W. E. Stanley, who was a son of Dr. Stanley of Patterson, praetieed law in Kenton for two or three years about 1868 and went from here to Wichita, Kansas, and was for two terms governor of the state of Kansas.
Wesley A. Strong was a brother of Colonel L. M. Strong and was a member of the Hardin County Bar from about 1870 to about 1887 and was afterward cashier of the Kenton Savings Bank. He died in 1906, and his children, Paul, Roger, Gertrude and Mrs. Eldon Smith live in Kenton.
Thomas E. Strong has been for many years and still is a member of the Hardin County Bar but most of his life has been devoted to eivil engineering and for some years he conducted an extensive farm business in the county.
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Frank Cessna Dougherty was born at Kenton, September 14, 1851, and was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1870. Hc was principal of the high school at Galion and afterward at Wooster; was graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1873; commenced the practice of law in Kenton in 1873 and remained in active practice until his death June 8, 1908. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1875; was candidate for attorney general of the state on the Democratic ticket in 1881 ; served as city solicitor of Kenton from 1886 to 1888; and at the time of his death was president of the board of trustees of the Ohio State School for the Blind at Columbus. He was a man of rare ability and attainments both as a lawyer and as a seholar. He was generally recognized as the leader of the bar of Hardin county and was, perhaps. more widely known throughout the state than any of his contemporaries.
Henry W. Seney was born at Tiffin, Ohio, May 23. 1847. He was edueated at Heidelberg College and Notre Dame University. His grandfather, Joshua Seney, had been private secretary to Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury under President Jefferson and was afterward chief justice of the supreme court of Maryland. His father was also a lawyer, as well as his two brothers, George E. Seney of Tiffin, and Joshua Seney of Toledo. Judge Henry W. Seney was admitted to the bar in 1873 and practiced law at Kenton until 1884. for most of the time as a partner of Judge A. B. Johnson, and in the fall of 1884 was elected one of the judges of the circuit court of the third eircuit of Ohio. He was reclected in 1890, but resigned in the fall of 1896 and opened a law office in Toledo where he practiced his profession until his death September 2, 1909.
Eleazar Holmes came here from Ottawa about 1874 and kept ar offiee for two or three years.
John H. Smiek was born at Canton, Ohio, January 29, 1848. He was engaged in lumber business at Ada, Ohio, from 1867 to 1875, and while there he read law with the late John D. King and was admitted to the bar in 1875. He practiced his profession at Ada until he was elected prosecuting attorney, when he removed to Kenton and served as prose- euting attorney from 1879 to 1884. He entered into partnership with Hamilton E. Hoge in January, 1895, under the firm name of Smnick & Hoge, of which firm he is still a member.
Sutton E. Young was a graduate of Hiram College and commenced the practice of the law in Kenton in 1876. Prior to his admission to the bar, he had been superintendent of the schools at Kenton. He was prosecuting attorney of Hardin county for one term and represented the county in the Ohio legislature for one term. In 1882 he went to Sioux Falls, Dakota, and was active in the division of the territory into the two states of North and South Dakota and in the organization of the
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state of South Dakota, being the speaker of the first House of Representa- tives. IIe is still living in Dakota.
General Moses B. Walker was born July 16, 1819, and came to Kenton from Findlay about the year 1876. He was at this time a man of ripe experience ; he had practiced law at Middletown, Ohio, before the Civil war; had distinguished himself in the military service and had achieved the rank of brigadier general during the war and after the war for some time was governor of Texas while the state was under martial law. He served one term as judge of the supreme court of Texas. He was highly regarded for his learning and achievements in civil and military life. He retired from active practice because of injuries from a fall in the city of Springfield about the year 1884, but was a distinguished figure in public and private circles until his death December 17, 1895. Of his children, George W. Walker is an instructor in the high school at Alleghany, Pennsylvania; Frank Walker is in business at Kenton, and his daughters, Mrs. Eugene Rogers, Mrs. Paul Strong and Miss Mae Walker, are living in Kenton.
Peter II. Bateson was a member of the Hardin county bar from about 1876 until his death about the year 1880, and during most of that time was a partner of Judge S. L. Hoge under the firm name of Hoge & Bateson.
George Z. Cruzen came from Crestline to Dunkirk, where he main- tained a law office from 1876 until about 1882 when he went to Indiana and has since died. Ile was very prominent in the Prohibition party.
Russell A. Price was admitted to the bar about 1873, and was for many years the leading lawyer at Forest. IIe was afterward stricken with blindness and compelled to discontinue his practice. He still lives at Forest, Ohio, and is loved, honored and respected. He was postmaster at Forest under President Cleveland. His two sons, Charles R. Price and William B. Price, are both practicing lawyers in Hardin county-Charles at Kenton and William at Forest. Charles R. Price is the present city solicitor of Kenton.
A. L. Allen practiced law in partnership with John Stillings from about the year 1877 to 1887, and then went to Topeka, Kansas, and afterward to Chicago where he is now engaged in practice.
James Wallace Dougherty was admitted to the bar in 1878 and has practiced law in Kenton ever since, at first as the partner of his brother Frank C. Dougherty and afterward by himself. He has large business interests in the county and is vice president of the Kenton Savings Bank.
Albert Zugschwert was an active member of the Hardin county bar about the years 1880 to 1885, when he removed to Findlay where he still lives and continues the practice of law.
Samuel T. Armstrong was admitted to the bar about the year 1880, and immediately became one of the foremost trial lawyers at this bar and so continued until his death in 1905. Sam Armstrong was endowed
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with many of the gifts that make a great advocate. Without a thorough education, he was a diligent student of the law, his mind naturally grasped legal distinctions, and he had a force of language and vigor of expression truly remarkable. No lawyer who ever opposed him in the trial of a case will ever forget his earnestness in the heat of combat. Yet, he was the soul and delight of his legal brethren and of his friends of whom he had hosts. He had all the instincts of a gentleman and was absolutely honest and upright.
I. N. Everett came to Kenton about the year 1880 and practiced law for several years. He had been district attorney in Texas and had practiced law at Elkhart, Indiana. He was a man of dignified presence, of high legal attainments and commanded the respect of the whole bar, but did not remain in Kenton long enough to attain a very wide practice. About the year 1886, he removed to California and is now in the service of the United States Government at Washington.
John W. Spindler had been principal of the high school at Kenton and at Bucyrus; practiced law at Kenton for a few months about 1880, and then removed to Kansas.
Charles M. Melhorn was admitted to the bar in 1881, was a law partner of Judge A. B. Johnson from 1880 to 1884, served as prosecuting attorney for two terms from 1885 to 1891, and served as common pleas judge from 1895 until his death in 1902. Judge Melhorn had a wide circle of friends and admirers and was a sound lawyer and just judge.
L. E. Taylor opened a law office in Kenton about 1882 and remained for two or three years.
Beecher W. Waltermire was admitted to the bar in 1884 and for some time practiced in Kenton, but removed to Findlay after two or three years and is still practicing law at Findlay. Ile is a writer of some distinction and has been mayor of Findlay.
David S. Fisher, Jr., was a son of David S. Fisher who for many years was editor of the Kenton Democrat and was a leading Democratic politician of this county. David S. Fisher, Jr., was a member of this bar from about 1884 until 1888. He was appointed by President Cleveland to a position as traveling anditor in the department of justice of the United States, and afterward lived at Chicago.
George E. Crane was born September 9, 1858, in New York City, was educated at Oberlin College, was principal of the Kenton high school from 1878 to 1885; studied law with Artemas B. Johnson and was admitted to practice and became the law partner of his preceptor in 1885, remaining in the firm of Johnson & Crane until 1890, when his partner became common pleas judge. Since that time Mr. Crane has been engaged in the practice of the law by himself, except from 1893 to 1895 when he was in partnership with Cedric E. Johnson under the firm name of Crane & Johnson. He has been for many years a member
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of the board of education and has been referee in bankruptcy since 1898 and is vice president of the Kenton National Bank.
Chester D. Kelly was admitted to practice in 1885; was city solieitor of Kenton and prosecuting attorney of Hardin county and died in the year 1894.
Thomas C. Mahon was born July 4, 1860, and lived at Dunkirk during his boyhood and early life. After leaving school at Delaware, he engaged in the merchandise business at Dunkirk in partnership with his father and brother. He read law with Frank C. and J. W. Dougherty, graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1887. He commenced to practice law in partnership with Charles M. Melhorn and afterward served one term as city solicitor of Kenton and two terms as prosecuting attorney, from 1897 to 1903. He is a member of the board of education of Kenton.
George Wells Tyler who had lived at Oberlin, Ohio, and had been practicing law at Birmingham, Alabama, came to Kenton in 1887, and was for some months in the office of Johnson & Crane, afterward had an office in the Opera House Block for a year or two and now lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
O. W. Squier was a member of the bar of Hardin county for some years, but has retired from the active practice of the law and is now em- ployed in the offices of the C. C. C. & St. L. Ry. Company, at Kenton.
Charles C. Lemert commenced to practice law in Ada about the year 1887, afterward came to Kenton and became a member of the firm of Strong & Lemert. He was prosecuting attorney of Hardin county and was appointed common pleas judge in 1902. He was executive clerk to Governor George K. Nash and is now insurance commissioner of the state of Ohio.
Phil M. Crow, son of Ezram B. Crow and Isabella Hudson Crow, was born in Ridgeway, Ohio, May 27, 1866; attended the public school of that village, and taught seven terms in the county near there ; commenced studying law in 1882, while teaching school ; entered Johnson & Crane's law office in Kenton, in 1886, and remained with them about two years; was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Ohio, March 7, 1889, and to the bar of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, April 12, 1889; graduated from Georgetown University School of Law, after the full three years course, receiving the degree of Master of Laws, June 4, 1889; commenced practice in Kenton, as junior partner of Fred M. Childs, May 2, 1890, and continued with Mr. Childs until his retirement from practice; was appointed city solicitor of Kenton, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Chester B. Kelly, July 7, 1891, was elected to that office in 1892, and reelected in 1894; was senior partner of William W. Durbin from January 16, 1892 until May 19, 1902.
William W. Durbin is the son of Dr. W. W. Durbin, a prominent physician of Kenton. He studied law with Judge A. B. Johnson,
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afterward with Johnson & Crane; spent some years during Cleveland's first administration in the treasury department of Washington ; resigned his position and opened a law office at Kenton in connection with Theo- dore Van Fleet of Marion and John Van Fleet, a former mayor of Kenton. Mr. Durbin afterward formed a partnership with Phil M. Crow, under the name of Crow & Durbin. He has been for many years the honored leader of the Hardin county democracy and has been chair- man of the state central and executive committees. IIe has retired from the practice of the law and is president and manager of the Scioto Sign Company at Kenton. He is most profoundly versed in the history, science and art of politics.
William P. Henderson was born August 27, 1867, and admitted to the bar in 1889. He immediately commenced the practice of law in partnership with Colonel L. M. Strong; continued in the firm of Strong & Henderson until the election of Strong to congress, and since then he has practiced law by himself until his election to the office of common pleas judge in November, 1908.
James Ray Stillings is the son of John Stillings and nephew of Edward Stillings, both former members of the Hardin county bar. He was born at Kenton, August 20, 1867, and after studying at the Univer- sity of Wooster, was engaged for some years in newspaper work at Kenton and in California and other parts of the country. He was admitted to the bar and commenced to practice law about the year 1890, in partnership with his father, as Stillings & Stillings, and continued the business alone after his father's death. He served two terms as city solicitor of Kenton and is now prosecuting attorney of Hardin county.
Hamilton E. Hoge, son of Judge S. L. Hoge, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, February 10, 1868, and came to Kenton with his father in 1877. Mr. Hoge was educated at Lawrenceville Academy in New Jersey and at Kenyon College in Ohio; read law with Judge A. B. Johnson and George E. Crane, and Frank C. Dougherty ; was graduated from the Cineinnati Law School and admitted to the bar in May, 1890. He entered into partnership with the late Henry J. May, which partner- ship continued for one year and in 1895 he formed a partnership with John H. Smick, which partnership still exists. He served two terms as prosecuting attorney from 1902 until 1908. He is a Republican leader actively interested in politics and, since the death of Judge S. L. Hoge, in February, 1909, has been president of the First National Bank of Kenton.
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