USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 22
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chairman. Some of the cases were of great importance, and in one in- stance at least, the death sentence pronounced by the commission was fol- lowed by the execution of three prisoners. This was the case of J. W. Smith, alias Dick Davis, a desperado who followed the army for purposes of plunder and robbery, who did not hesitate to commit murder for purposes of gain. Captain Lemmon was mustered out in June, 1865, a veteran who had seen three years of active service, and gained some experience in his profession. He settled in Clyde in the fall of 1865, and in 1866 was elected the first mayor of the town after its incorporation. Twenty-one years later, just when the city had become of age, he was again elected mayor. In January, 1865, he began the practice of law, with a wide general knowledge, much useful experience and a library of seven volumes. As it would be difficult for a young lawyer to succeed with a smaller library than this, it may be useful to state that it comprised the two volumes of Ohio Revised Statutes, Swan's Treatise, Ruil's Domestic Relation and one of Cruise on Real Property. He built up a busi- ness gradually, feeling his way carefully until able to stand alone and take care of the interests of his clients in any courts. The clients came in due time and entrusted their cases to his management, until his business passed beyond the limits of Sandusky and rendered necessary his regular attendance at court in all the neighboring counties. In twenty years he had become one of the first lawyers in his section of the State, capable in knowledge of the law, successful in the management of litigation and strong in the confidence of the people. In 1886 his qualifications for judicial service were recognized by the governor in the appointment of him for the residue of the term of Judge Charles P. Wickham, resigned. By this appointment he became judge of the Common Pleas Court for the First Subdivision of the Fourth Judicial District of Ohio. The honor came without his solicitation and after'he had declined to accept. a nomination for the same office as candidate of his party. He served only until a successor was chosen at the next election and quali- fied. He might have been his own successor, but declined again to accept the nomination. He preferred the general practice of a lawyer to the duties of a judge. The contests of the forum and the preparation of cases for trial, the counselling of clients and the details of office business were more to his liking than the equally laborious and less profitable judicial service on the Common Pleas Bench. He was a man of affairs, successful in his own business as well as in counselling others and managing for them contentions which have reached the acute stage when nothing will satisfy but an appeal to courts and juries. He was a good, safe lawyer, mindful always of interests entrusted to him and honest in the discharge of a public trust or a private obligation. Hle was modestly a conspicuous citizen, whether estimated by his personal worth or professional standing. Starting without a classical education, he acquired liberal learning by constant reading and embellished it with culture obtained by travel. In the summer of 1877 he took a vacation and travelled extensively in Scotland, Wales, England and France, accompanied by his wife. Aside from this tour abroad he was always a busy man. The expression of
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sorrow on account of his death voiced the genuine feeling of the community in which he was known, loved and honored for thirty years. Judge Lemmon left a widow and one son-the only child-Mack Lemmon, who occupies the beautiful suburban homestead ; who in 1892 married Miss Agnes Wilson, daughter of Rev. George E. Wilson. This union has been blessed and strengthened by calling into activity the affections awakened by the birth of a child.
CHARLES H. SCRIBNER, Toledo. Judge Scribner is of English descent, although his ancestors became residents of New England nearly two and a half centuries ago. The founders of the American branch of the family emi- grated from England and settled in Connecticut, near Norwalk, in 1665, and for many generations the place continued to be the family seat. Charles H. Scribner was born there October 20, 1826, the son of Asa Scribner and Esther Jelliff. His mother's family had lived in the same neighborhood for several generations. His maternal grandfather served with Washington in the Revo- lution. His paternal grandfather was a minute-man in the War of 1812, and - served on Long Island Sound, in Connecticut. While he was yet a child his father's family removed to Newark, New Jersey, and remained there eight years. In 1838 he came to Ohio in advance of his parents, and lived with his grandfather, who had come west and settled in the State three years before. During the autumn of 1838 his parents followed and settled in the village of Homer, Licking county. After spending two years in Ohio at farm work and in the district schools, young Scribner returned to New Jersey, where he remained until 1842. He was sixteen years of age when he finally settled down to become a permanent resident of Ohio. He was diligent in the pros- ecution of studies in the winter schools and by the fireside at home in the winter evenings, at the same time continuing his work on the farm in season. In accordance with an established custom of the times, a custom to which is attributed much of the independence and manly self-reliance of influential men of the present generation, he became an apprentice in order to learn a useful trade. He was indentured at eighteen to a sad- dler and harness maker and while perfecting himself in the mechanical art he was acquiring a knowledge of the law. He aspired to occupy a kind of Bench different from that on which he learned to cover a saddle- tree, and fashion the plain, substantial harness for horses drawing the plow or the road wagon. His study of the law was under the tuition of Edmund Connelly, a member of the Licking county Bar, and he was obliged to walk four miles to recite his weekly lessons. His progress was so satisfactory that he was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court in October, 1848. Attracted by its superior advantages, he located at Mount Vernon to begin practice, where he enjoyed the benefit of association with the members of a very able Bar, some of whom afterwards became distinguished in public office as well as in the profession. Honorable Columbus Delano, secretary of the interior ;
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Judge R. C. Hurd, author of a treatise on the Law of Habeas Corpus ; Hosmer Curtis and Honorable' Henry B. Curtis ; Honorable Walter H. Smith, assistant attorney-general under President Grant; William Windom, subsequently a senator of the United States from Minnesota and secretary of the treasury in two cabinets ; and Daniel B. Norton, also a United States senator from Minne- sota -- all were practicing lawyers at Mount Vernon when Judge Scribner became a member of the same Bar at the age of twenty-two. He was studious and ambitious, and therefore required little time to demonstrate his capacity and maintain himself in such company. In November, 1860, he formed a partnership with Honorable Henry B. Curtis, and the association was broken only by his change of residence after the expiration of about nineteen years. Within that period Mr. Scribner won an honorable position and enviable repu- tation in his profession. He participated actively in politics during the earlier years, and was the Democratic candidate for judge of the Common Pleas Court in 1861, in the subdivision composed of Knox. Licking and Delaware counties. While defeated by the Union movement, which increased the sup- port of Republican candidates in that election, he carried Knox county, in spite of its majority of one thousand for the opposition ticket, and also carried Licking; but was overborne by the immense majority of the opposition in Delaware county. In 1861 Mr. Scribner commenced his celebrated work on dower, which was completed in January, 1864. This work to-day is a stand- ard authority on dower, both in the United States and England. In 1867 he was elected a member of the State Senate for the district comprising the counties of Knox, Morrow, Holmes and Wayne, and rendered efficient service as chairman of the judiciary committee. During the first session a special com- mission of three members was appointed to revise and codify the general laws relating to municipalities of the State. Mr. Scribner was appointed a member of this commission and was selected for its chairman. The duties of the com- mittee were arduous and the labor imposed upon the chairman was particularly severe during the session of the legislature, occupying his time late into the night for several months. The labor was performed faithfully and thoroughly, however, and the codification bill reported embraced seven hundred thirty- two sections. It was enacted into law by the legislature substantially as reported. Thereupon a bill containing about two hundred and fifty sections, which had been prepared by Honorable Frank Hurd at the preceding session, was introduced by Senator Scribner, providing for a code of " Criminal Pro- cedure " for the State. This, also, was finally adopted after a very earnest contest by its sponsor and friends. In January, 1869, Mr. Scribner removed to Toledo and entered into partnership with the late Frank Hurd, with whom as a member of the Knox county Bar he had long been on terms of intimate friendship. ITis law practice was large and remunerative, and the duties of his profession have continued to secure his undivided attention down to the present time. In 1873 he was elected one of the representatives of Lucas county in the convention held to revise the Constitution of the State, a position for which his broad knowledge of the law and the defects in the Con-
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stitution qualified him peculiarly. His associate from Toledo in that conven- tion was Judge Morrison R. Waite, who afterwards became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His election as the nominee of the Demo- cratic party was at once a tribute to his personal popularity and his liberal polit- ical views. It was largely due to the recognition of a sentiment that has always influenced his own political action in supporting candidates for munici- pal or judicial offices, viz., that character and fitness should have more consid- eration and weight than partnership. The normal Republican majority in Lucas county at the time was about one thousand. He was nominated the same year by the State convention of his party as a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, but the adverse partisan majority in the State was too strong to be overcome, although his gain over the ticket was large. The firm of Scribner & Hurd, and later the firm of Scribner, Hurd & Scribner, naturally had a clientage representative of the best men and largest interests in the city and the locality. They were counsellors of profound ability and trial lawyers of eminent standing in the profession. The partnership relations were main- tained until 1887, when Charles H. Scribner was elected circuit judge. The first term of five years demonstrated so clearly his high qualifications for the Bench that he was re-elected in 1892 for a second term. Judge Scribner pos- sesses the deep learning, the keen descernment, the judicial temper, the impar- tial mind and the inflexible integrity which mark the upright and successful judge. He has the habits of a student and the capacity for application so essential in one who occupies the Appellate Bench. He is also favored by the culture which is acquired only by travel and observation. In 1883 he spent several months in Scotland and England. Two years later he suffered from nervous prostration which prevented attention to professional business and rendered desirable a change of climate with complete rest. After visiting Florida and other places in the South without relief, he made another voyage and spent some time on the shore of the Mediterranean at Cannes, France. While abroad he also visited England, Belgium and other European countries. With health restored he returned home in 1887 and was elected judge of the circuit. He was married October 20, 1847, to Miss Mary E. Morehouse, a native of Newark, New Jersey, whose parents were Ezra B. and Susan (Bald- win) Morehouse. Her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution and for many years a pensioner on account of such service. The children of Judge Scribner are: Harvey, of Toledo; Charles E., of Chicago; Edwin M., of Bridge- port, Connecticut; Rollin H., of Toledo; Gertrude E., wife of Charles E. Cone, of New York; Marabelle, wife of J. M. Spencer, Toledo; Josephine D., wife of Charles H. Gates, Toledo; Jessie S., wife of Louis G. Richardson, of Chi- cago. [Judge Scribner died February 23, 1897.]
Rich & Waite
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RICHARD WAITE, Toledo. For the past forty years the subject of this biography has been a practicing attorney in Toledo, Ohio. He sprang from two noted Connecticut families, united by the marriage of Henry M. Waite to Maria Selden. Tlie Waites emigrated from England and became settersl in Connecticut during the earliest colonial days, and some of them became dis- tinguished, especially in law and jurisprudence. The Seldens also came from England in the dawn of the colonial period, and at least one member of the family, grandfather of Mr. Richard Waite's mother, held the rank of col- onel and commanded a regiment in the Revolution. Richard Waite was the youngest of a family of eight children. His eldest brother was Morrison R. Waite, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The second was George, who also adopted the profession of law and settled for practice at Troy, New York, where his great abilities and broad education soon enabled him to secure a prominent position. His career, which promised unusual brilliancy, was terminated by an early death. All three of the brothers were graduated from Yale and all of them inherited from their father, who was conspicuous in the profession, an overmastering taste and inclination to devote their lives to the calling for which they were so peculiarly fitted. The father held both political and judicial offices in his native State, where his entire life was passed. He served for many years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut with honorable distinction, and retired at the age of seventy with the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college in some of the excellent academies of New England and in Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts. Imme- diately after his graduation from Yale he came to the city of Toledo, where his brother, the late Chief Justice, had settled some years before to engage in the practice of law. Entering the office of his brother, he pursued his studies in the law until qualified for practice, and after his admission to the Bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio formed a partnership with him, constituting the firm of M. R. & R. Waite. This partnership was continued with great success until 1874, when the office of Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was ten- dered the senior partner by President Grant. The business was, however. continued by the junior member and a son of the Chief Justice under the firm name of R. & E. T. Waite, and later, upon the death of the nephew, with O. B. Snider, under the present firm name of Waite & Snider. Mr. Waite has given all of his time and energies to the private practice of the law ; has never engaged in politics or held political office ; has never been a candidate for judicial office or any other official position. When the Rebellion was raging and the call rang out for " three hundred thousand more " volunteers to sup- port the Union cause, Mr. Waite responded. He enlisted in 1862 and was appointed captain of Company A, Eighty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three months. He was mustered out at the close of the term and in 1864 again entered the service, as captain of Company C, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving for one hundred days on the James river, in the campaign against Petersburg. He performed his military duty
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modestly and faithfully, without ostentation or ambition for high rank. He has been satisfied with the opportunities and the rewards of his profession and hes won very high standing among lawyers for the superior abilities displayed in the management of an office business. During the later years he has given much time to the settlement of large estates, for which his trustworthiness, sedulous attention to details and large capacity for application qualify him so admirably. The strength of his intellect, the vigor of his conscience, the depth and consistency of his convictions, the keen sense of responsibility, the exalted self-respect, known in the community with which he has so long been identified, invite that kind of business demanding the utmost fidelity and the profoundest regard for the rights of others. Mr. Waite is a member of the Loyal Legion, and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the Episcopal Church, of which he became a communicant soon after locat- ing in Toledo. He has always adhered to the Republican party. He was married in May, 1857, to Miss Alice J. Vooris, a native of Brooklyn. They have five children living. A judge who has known him long and intimately adds this concerning Mr. Waite :
"He is altogether a different man from his great brother; is an office lawyer and has achieved a very high standing both in court and office practice. He is a man of high character, esteemed by everybody ; a most cautious, care- ful and prudent lawyer. He has an excellent practice and has handled many important cases involving large interests and large estates. His capacity for detail, and his untiring diligence in the examination and preparation of his cases are apparently inexhaustible. As trustee or executor, and indeed in all matters connected with the handling of estates, I know of no man more thor- oughly reliable, capable and worthy of confidence. He is a strong lawyer."
WILLIAM BAKER, deceased, Toledo. For half a century William Baker lived and practiced law in Toledo. Locating there in 1844 in the vigor of robust young manhood, with a character strong in its integrity, and a love of the profession which he had chosen, he entered the lists in company with some who had already won fame or distinction at the Bar. His success was no less remarkable for its instantaneous achievement than for its constant growth and permanence. The story of his unpretentious life is interesting. Born in the State of Ohio at Norwalk, February 5, 1822, his home has always been in the State. His seventy-two years were honorably and usefully employed. His father was a New England man, native of Massachusetts, who settled at Nor- walk in 1818 and became a prominent, influential citizen-a leader in the new settlement ; whose brain and muscle contributed much to the development of the frontier in its material resources, and the promotion of justice and learning in the land. His father was not a lawyer, in the breadth of knowledge of the books essential to successful practice, but he was a judge in active service for twenty-one years-associate judge of the Huron Court of Common Pleas three terms -- active and zealous to promote the ends of justice. William Baker was
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prepared for college at the Norwalk Academy, and was graduated with hon- ors from Granville College, which subsequently became Dennison University. This was in 1841, when he was nineteen years of age. For a year thereafter he studied law in Zanesville with Goddard & Converse, and then attended the Law School of Harvard University. It was in the red-letter days of that school when Joseph Story, the great interpreter of the Constitution, and Simon Greenleaf, the voluminous author of law text-books-qualified by the learn- ing of the books, the wisdom of experience and the ripeness of age-expounded the law to young, ambitious students. He was fortunate indeed to sit at the feet of such teachers, and the opportunity was wisely improved. He was graduated from Harvard in 1844 and settled in Toledo the same year, to assume the responsibilities for which the universities had declared him compe- tent and the Supreme Court of Ohio had granted him a certificate. Very soon he acquired a large practice and a lucrative business. He early displayed remarkable ability in the management and disposition of the cases that came to him. For the first three years he practiced alone, and then formed a part- nership with Myron H. Tilden. The latter had been president judge of the Common Pleas Court of his district, and resigned in order to re-enter the prac- tice. This partnership was dissolved after an existence of three years, on account of the removal of Judge Tilden to Cincinnati. He continued alone until 1857, when he became associated with William A. Collins. This associa- tion was maintained for thirteen years, until the elevation of Judge Collins to the Bench. For the next ten years Mr. Baker practiced alone, when his son, Rufus H., who was a graduate of the Columbia College Law School, of New York, was received into a partnership. A year later Barton Smith was admit- ted to the firm, which was thereafter Baker, Smith & Baker, until the death of the senior partner in 1894. This firm had a very large and very valuable practice. Mr. Baker was a lawyer of marked ability and unusual resources. The methodical habits which he had formed enabled him to give effective and practical expression to his knowledge of the law. Strong common sense and sound judgment completed and rounded out his superior qualifications. He was especially capable in real estate and commercial law and equity practice. His clearness in counsel, energy and promptness in the management of litigation, unyielding integrity in all matters of trust, and unswerving loyalty to the interests of a man whose cause he espoused, commended him to clients. The strength of his intellectual powers, the breadth and depth of his learning in the law, his demonstrated capacity for large affairs, attracted the notice of corporations, and afforded the basis of the great success which he achieved. The assemblage of faculties and union of qualities in the formation of his character won the confidence of the representatives of capital seeking invest. ment. He was enabled to secure much of this for important public improve- ments. His judgment on investments was good, and lic was actuated by a broad spirit in recommending them. Littleness or selfishness was foreign to his nature. The general good, the public welfare, was estcemed above any personal aggrandizement. He was not prevented by the restraint of vanity
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from co-operating with any and all others whose chief aim was to promote the good of the people, the advancement of the community. He had time for work and enterprises whose benefits are common and general. He was interested in the construction of two great lines of railroad between the East and the West : The Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland (now the Lake Shore) and the Wabash. For fifteen years he served in the directory of the Wabash. He was also prominent and influential in organizing industries by means of manufacturing corporations. He loved literature and devoted some time to its study, despite the exacting demands of professional business. He was a believer in Christianity and a supporter of the instrumentalities for its advancement. His membership was in the Baptist Church, and his upright life illustrated the principles of the religion which he professed. Politically he was a Whig until the dissolution of that party, wlien he became a Repub- lican. He was earnest in promoting the party policies, but never a candidate for political office. He was in no wise a self-seeker. He was married August 28, 1849, to Frances C., daughter of Peter Latimer, of Norwalk. Four sons and one daughter were born of this marriage: William L. Baker, a civil engineer and superintendent of the Detroit Bridge & Iron Works, who died in May, 1888; Herbert and Arthur, iron founders ; Rufus H., a lawyer and partner of Barton Smith, Toledo ; and Katharine Baker, now Mrs. J. J. Man- ning, of Toledo. To the other accomplishments of Mr. Baker was added the culture which comes from travel. In 1882, accompanied by his wife, he made a tour of the entire continent of Europe, except Russia, and his mind was enriched by the treasures of history obtained by observation, and contact with historic places. He died in 1894, and left a spotless name as a heritage for his children. His memory is held in esteem by his brethren of the profession and the citizens of the city in which he was permitted to live and work so long. In a memorial prepared by Barton Smith and read before the Ohio Bar Association, is the following :
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