USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
0
183
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
arrivals, constantly adding to the diversity of opinion and interests incident to a large and rapidly growing city ; his kindly nature and high business qualifica- tions have made him very popular with all classes. He is known and recog- nized as a brave soldier, an enterprising and loyal citizen, a faithful official and a man of sterling integrity and honor. He was married October 13, 1876, to Miss Sibyl Williams, a daughter of Joseph R. Williams, who was for many years very prominent in commercial circles of Ohio and Michigan. Mrs. Hamilton died in 1877.
GEORGE E. SENEY, Tiffin. Judge Seney is the fifth generation in lineal descent from Solomon Seney, who emigrated from England and settled on the eastern shore of Maryland about 1710. For more than a century succeeding that time the descendants of this first emigrant were prominent in public affairs in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. And during the latter part of the present century they have been among the conspicuous and able men of Ohio. Captain John Seney, a son of Solomon, was a man active in affairs of his State before the Revolution, serving several times as a repre- sentative of Queen Ann county in the Maryland House of Delegates. At the beginning of the Revolution he entered the colonial army with the rank of captain. He received promotion successively as major, lieutenant colonel and colonel of a Maryland regiment. After the war he was again elected, and nine times re-elected, to the House of Delegates. His abilities and activities were directed in behalf of the formation of a Federal Union. He was a mem- ber of the Maryland convention to frame a State Constitution. He was also a member of the convention to which was submitted the question of ratifying the Constitution of the United States. His voice and vote, with his whole personal influence, favored such ratification. He enjoyed the distinction inci- dent to membership in the electoral college which chose George Washington a second time for President of the United States. His son, Joshua Seney, who was the grandfather of Judge Seney, of Tiffin, was not less distinguished in the last years of the colony and the first years of the State of Maryland. His fame rests secure in the annals of Maryland. He was elected three times to membership in the House of Delegates, and was a worthy colleague of his father in that stately and patriotic body. Ile had the honor of being a mem- ber of the last Continental Congress, and the first and second Congresses of the United States after the formation of the Federal Union. He accepted a judgeship at Baltimore, which he resigned to make another successful race for Congress. His competitor was Major Hindman, a distinguished Federalist and a senator. It was a memorable contest between two great men truly repre- sentative of the Federalist and Democratic parties, respectively. The discus- sions were animated and argumentative rather than acrimonious. Mr. Seney died after that election before the Congress to which he was chosen assembled. His wife was the daughter of Commodore James Nicholson, one of the very distinguished naval heroes of the Revolution. Another daughter of the com- modore married Albert Gallatin, the distinguished statesman of Pennsylvania
184
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
and secretary of the treasury under President Jefferson; a third was the wife of Colonel William Few, who was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and afterward a senator in Congress from the State of Georgia; a fourth was the wife of John Montgomery, of Maryland, then mayor of the city of Baltimore and afterward a representative from that State in the Congress of the United States. Joshua Seney, Jr., was the son of Joshua aforementioned and the grandson of Commodore Nicholson through his mother. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, orphaned at the age of four by the sudden death of his father, and taken by his mother to New York to live in the family of her father, the commodore. His education received careful supervision. He pursued the classical course in Columbia College to graduation, and completed the course in the Colum- bia Law School. At the age of eighteen he filled the delicate and responsi- ble position of private secretary to Albert Gallatin, his uncle, while the latter was a member of Thomas Jefferson's cabinet. It was a most fortunate employment for him, in addition to the opportunity afforded at Washington for contact with the greatest men of the times. The vacation brought him to Gallatin's country seat at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he met, loved, courted and married Ann Ebbert, a daughter of George Ebbert, a merchant of the town, and a descendant of a line of merchants of that name prominent in Philadelphia for several generations. Already qualified for the practice of law, he opened an office at Uniontown immediately after marriage and soon established himself as a lawyer. He devoted himself to the profession in the form of private practice, declining the appointment of United States district judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, tendered him by President Jackson. In 1832 he removed with his young family to Tiffin, Ohio, where he lived twenty-two years. He possessed large natural abilities, with the sup- plementary advantages of education and culture. He was generous and lib- eral, a lawyer of unusual capacity but inclined to ease; a politician of rare shrewdness and foresight ; generous to aid an aspiring friend, little inclined to seek advancement for himself in politics; and yet he held political office at different times ; was clerk of the Supreme Court for several years and treas. urer of his county four years. He possessed in a high degree the attributes of a polished gentleman, accustomed to the best society without having learned the practical uses and the value of money in the school of necessity. Judge George Ebbert Seney was the third child and eldest son of Joshua Seney and Ann Ebbert. He was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1832, and brought to Ohio by his parents the same year. His father and mother were edu- cated and cultured and he was thus favored with unusual advantages at home. Tiffin was only a village, but the schools were as good as any on the frontier. In these he was prepared for the academic studies which he pursued in the seminary at Norwalk. He spent four years in this seminary when it was enjoying a season of great prosperity and its highest reputation under the presidency of Dr. Edward Thompson, who was afterwards a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was thus matured under most beneficial influences of
185
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
the family and the schools. His mother was a beautiful woman, whose life exemplified a high type of Christianity and whose memory is blessed because of her abounding charities and unfailing goodness. At the conclusion of his school life there was a sharp conflict between his inherited tendencies. The mercantile instinct, derived from a long line of successful ancestral merchants, contended with the professional talents transmitted through his father from ancestors distinguished as jurists and statesmen. For a brief period he tried merchan- dising as the partner of his uncle, George Ebbert, in a book store, and then made arrangements to go into a wholesale dry goods house in St. Louis. It seemed for a time there was more Ebbert than Seney in the assemblage and association of his faculties. His parents were united, however, in the desire that he should be a lawyer, and yielding to their persuasion, he changed his plans and began the study of law in the office of Luther A. Hall, of Tiffin. He entered the office on probation, for the term of three months, at the end of which he was to have the option of continuing in the law, or resuming mer- cantile pursuits. Fortunately he became enamored of the books the first day and his purpose was formed. From that time to the present his love of the profession has kept his purpose fixed and irrevocable. Assiduous study for two years qualified him for admission to the Bar and he was admitted in 1853. After a partnership of two years with Mr. Hall he established himself alone, and was soon able to meet and cope with the best practitioners in that section of the State. A large clientage and profitable business resulted. He was not long in establishing a reputation as a good lawyer - carcful and strong in his pleadings ; painstaking in his examination of the law ; capable and shrewd in the trial of a cause ; able, eloquent and forceful in argument before a jury. At the age of twenty-six he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas and served on the Bench a term of five years with satisfaction to litigants and lawyers, and honor to himself. He worked hard and con- scientiously. He possessed the qualities which commend a judge - patience and gravity, dignity and courtesy, urbanity in demeanor, a high sense of jus- tice, a desire to be right and the application required for careful research and investigation to ascertain the law applicable to a case. It is an incident worth recording that Judge Morrison R. Waite, of Toledo, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was the first lawyer to argue a case before him. While on the Bench he grew in popular esteem as a lawyer. and after leaving it his field of practice was much enlarged. Ile prepared and published Seney's Ohio Code, a work involving large labor as well as much lawyer-like ability and facility of expression in writing. This publication is regarded a valuable aid to lawyers who practice in the State courts. Judge Seney's military record deserves brief mention. Ile was a War Democrat, uncompromising in his opposition to secession, unswerving in his devotion to the Union. On the expiration of his term as judge he enlisted in the One Ilundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was commissioned first lieutenant and with the assistance of three others recruited a thousand men in thirty- eight days. He was appointed quartermaster and served two and a half
186
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
years in the field - under Commanders Buell, Rosecranz, Thomas and Sher -- man. He was in the engagements at Perryville, Lancaster, Nashville and Knob Gap, and heard the guns at Stone River. He was with the regiment in the line of his duty at Chickamauga and Chattanooga and Franklin ; and with Sherman in his triumphal march from Mission Ridge to Atlanta. He resigned in December, 1864, and resumed the practice of law. No man enjoyed assiduous application more than he in the researches required to solve the knotty problems of the law, and discover the niceties and intricate discriminations in construction. Whether or not he really liked the hard work, usually continued far into the night, there is no questioning the fact that he enjoyed with the keenest zest the triumphs result- ing from such work. He prepared his cases with unusual care; studied the evidence so thoroughly as to know just how much to present and the order of its presentation ; guarded well all the points in a trial and summed up before the jury in a compact argument the facts and circumstances brought out in evidence, giving a clear exposition of his view of the law when neces- sary. He has uniformly been a safe counsellor as well as a successful trial lawyer. In all of his intercourse with professional associates he is the very soul and spirit of courtesy-too refined to offend ; too much of a gentleman to be rude. During the more active period of his life in the practice of law Judge Seney held himself aloof from active participation in politics-as much as a man of influence and ability in the discussion of public questions who has strong con- victions may do. Never an office-seeker, he did not refuse to speak for his- party in a political campaign or attend its conventions for the nomination of candidates. In 1856 he was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Demo- cratic ticket, and later declined the appointment as United States district attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, tendered him by President Buchanan. In 1874, in spite of his protest, he was unanimously nominated by his party as a candidate for Congress, but declining to enter the canvass- actively, was defeated by a meager plurality of 139 votes. In 1876 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for Presi- dent. He was president of the Democratic State Convention assembled at Cleveland, in July, 1887. In 1882 he accepted a nomination for Congress and was elected by a large majority. He was re-elected by increased majorities in 1884, 1886. and 1888, serving from March, 1883, to March, 1891, and declined to be a candidate for a fifth term. His reputation as a lawyer and jurist gave him standing in the Congress at the opening of his service. He was appointed to membership on the judiciary committee-a marked honor. for a new member-and devoted himself to the public interests with the same fidelity which had characterized his devotion to clients or the prosecution of his own business. He performed his duty in committee and on the floor with becoming modesty and dignity. His more noteworthy speeches in Congress. were on the following subjects : Presidential Succession, Treasury Surplus, Trade Dollar Redemption, Internal Revenue, Taxation, National Bank Note Circulation, System of Bankruptcy, Against Government Interference in State-
Very truly
187
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
School Systems, Refunding Direct Tax, French Spoliation Claims, Reconstruc- tion of Federal Courts, and our relations with Canada. Twice during his congressional career the press endeavored to make him a candidate for gover- nor, but his consent to be a candidate could never be obtained. He was strongly urged by many prominent men of his party as the compromise candi- date for United States Senator, when the contest between the supporters of Senator Pendleton and those opposed to him became bitter. The surprising strength developed by Henry B. Payne, giving him the nomination in caucus on the first ballot, alone prevented the consummation of the plan of the men who favored harmony. Again in 1890 the friends of Judge Seney supported him as the fittest man in the party to represent Ohio in the United States Senate. Leading newspapers favored his candidacy and referred to his high qualifica- tions ; but a majority of the caucus voted for Calvin S. Brice on the first ballot. The judge remained a passive spectator of the contest, neither working for his own advancement nor declining the position before it was tendered. It was contrary to the habit of his life and not consistent with his views of propriety to be self-seeking, or engage in an unseemly contest for his own preferment within the party. His serious views of the duties and responsibilities of a public officer are such that he must regard as undignified a personal contest for exalted office, whose incumbent should represent the sentiment and unpurchased support of his constituents. Soon after the close of his fourth and last term in Congress he was one of three commissioners appointed by the secretary of the treasury to represent the government in the location of the public building at Kansas City, Missouri ; and later he was appointed by the governor of Ohio a delegate from Ohio to the conference held in Chicago to consider the subject of unlawful trusts. As a citizen Judge Seney has pro- moted the interests of his town in various ways. Always liberal and public- spirited, his activities have found expression in support of enterprises which advance the material interests. Though not a member of any church, he has aided with his purse in the building of many and contributed unsparingly to the support of public worship. He has been successful in financial affairs and accumulated a competence for himself. He organized the Tiffin Savings Bank in 1890 and has been its president continuously. He also organized the Tiffin Electric Light Company and assisted in the organization of the Tiffin Gas Light Company, and is the president of both corporations.
WILLIAM D. HILL, Defiance. Honorable William D. Hill is descended from brave and patriotic ancestors. His great-grandfathers on both sides were soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and his grandfathers rendered honorable military service in the second war with England-1812. He was born Octo- ber 1, 1833, in Nelson county, Virginia, the eldest of eleven children, of parents who were both natives of that State. The family emigrated to Obio when he was sixteen years of age and settled on a farm in Greene county.
.
188
BENCH AND BAR OF GHIO.
Being the oldest boy, the largest measure of responsibility naturally fell upon him. He had charge of the farm, and managed it until he came of age. During his minority he was able to acquire a common school education. but now that he was free to act for himself he set about the work of improving and enlarging his scholastic attainments. In 1853, having purchased a scholar- ship, he entered Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, then under the presidency of Horace Mann, one of the greatest educators of the age. This institution was the first successful experiment on a gigantic scale of opening a college of the highest grade on equal terms to both sexes. Mr. Hill remained in Antioch as a student three years, supporting himself
meanwhile by manual labor of various kinds and by teaching. Politics had a charm for him before he became a voter. He delivered his first public speech from the stump in 1852, when he was only nineteen, as an advocate of the Democratic party and ticket. In 1854 he canvassed Greene county in opposition to the Know-nothing movement, which culminated in the political campaign of that year. Mr. Hill was poor, but independent and self- reliant. He must read the newspapers in order to be informed in current politics, but would not borrow another man's paper. He therefore sawed wood at night to earn money with which to pay his subscription to the Cincin- nati Enquirer. After he had studied law under the late J. M. Hunt, of Springfield, as preceptor, he ventured into the newspaper business as editor and proprietor of the Ohio Press, successor of the Democratic Expositor. The venture paid no dividends in cash, but during its continuance of two years the editor made an acquisition of considerable experience-and some debts. He was admitted to the Bar in 1860, and the following year formed the firm of Hill & Snyder. The same year he was elected mayor of Springfield, defeating James L. Torbert, a popular leader of the Republicans, and in face of a strong Republican sentiment. In June, 1863, he removed to Defiance, and the next year canvassed the congressional district in behalf of General Americus V. Rice, the Democratic candidate, whose illness confined him to his home. This campaign, against the late Governor J. M. Ashley, brought him into political prominence at once. In 1865 he was elected to the State legislature as the Democratic candidate, overcoming a large adverse vote and securing a majority above two hundred. In 1867 he was re-elected, and in 1869 he made a general canvass of neighboring counties, by invitation of the State committee. He rendered effective service on the stump in the gubernatorial campaigns of 1871 and 1873, and rejoiced in the election of his old friend William Allen to the office of governor in 1873. In 1875 Gov- ernor Allen appointed him superintendent of insurance in the State. The appointment was made without solicitation on his part, and against powerful interests and influences in favor of other candidates. He declined a reappoint- ment after serving in that office three years. July 4, 1878, Mr. Hill was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Sixth District, and in October following was elected. In 1882 he was again nominated and elected over the Republican candidate, Colonel J. H. Bingham, a strong and
189
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
popular man, especially influential among the farmers of the State Grange. In this election his majority was seven hundred and fifty-four, and the gain over his party's ticket more than five hundred votes. The district had given a Republican majority of nine hundred and eighteen the previous year. He was re-elected in 1884, so that his service as a member of Congress covered a period of six years. In 1880 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention that nominated General Hancock for President. Mr. Hill continued the practice of law at Defiance until 1891, when impaired health occasioned the experiment of a change of climate. For the succeeding four years he remained in Montana, engaged in the business of his profession, and in 1895 returned to his home in Defiance and soon afterwards formed a partnership with Judge Henry C. Baker. His large abilities, broad knowledge of the law and varied experiences in public life ; his acquaintance with men and affairs, added to the discriminating insight into human nature which comes of close observation and familiar study, are among the sources of his power with a jury. He is both capable and successful in general practice. Mr. Hill was married June 3, 1862, to Augusta B. March, whose mother was one of the young girls of Camden, South Carolina, that strewed the path of General La Fayette with flowers on the occasion of his visit to the town in 1824; whose father, Thomas C. March, a native of Maine, went to Alabama at the age of nineteen, engaged in business at the South and accumulated a fortune, remain- ing there until about 1858, when, foreseeing a probable rupture between the sections, he came north with his family. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill four daughters have been born: Alice L., April 5, 1863 ; Anna E., November 8, 1866 ; Mary V., June 3, 1870; Mattie T., October 8, 1873. One of the ablest and best known judges of the State furnishes this characterization :
" While to the people of the State at large he is known as Honorable William D. Hill, to his personal friends and acquaintances of northwestern Ohio he is best known as ' Bill Hill.' Few men in the State had better capac- ity for generating warm personal attachments or making loyal, devoted friends. It would be false flattery to say of him as a lawyer that he is a patient or indus- trious student of that science. His strength is in his boundless fund of good sense ; his acute judgment of men ; the alertness of his almost faultless percep- tion. The following incidents, all of which came within the personal observa- tion of the writer, will best illustrate his characteristics. He was once called to assist in the prosecution of a civil damage case against a wealthy but high tempered and rather pugnacious farmer, who was charged with a vicious assault upon a neighbor with whom he had quarreled, and for whose approach he had waited on the highway on the occasion of the assault, first placing himself in a decidedly belligerent attitude. Three able lawyers were enlisted in his defense. The contest was spirited. Self-defense was the issue. Some questionable testimony gave a show of plausibility to this theory. Hill closed the argument for the plaintiff. He began : 'Gentlemen of the Jury : When you see an old fighter get out of his wagon on the highway, take off his coat, vest and collar, roll up his sleeves, tie his suspenders around his waist, and wait with fists doubled for his adversary to walk a quarter of a mile to come up with him, you can just bet your life it is a clear case of self defense.' The startling sentence left the gifted advocate in possession of the field, and the result was a good round verdict for the plaintiff.
190
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
" The size of Hill's heart may be gauged by the following incident : A prisoner was charged with forgery. His almost heart-broken wife and five ragged children were in court. The evidence was circumstantial. The trial was one of exciting interest. Hill's sympathies were deeply enlisted. His argument to the jury was simply irresistible. A prompt verdict of (not guilty ' resulted. The tearful wife, almost insane with joy and gratitude, called Hill to the railing which inclosed the bar, unfolded a clean white rag, took from it $10 in small change (perhaps the savings of months), and with the promise of more was about to pour it into his hand when, in his blunt way, he said to her : ' I'll not touch a cent of that money. Take it and buy some clothes for these poor ragged children,' and turned away. Major Mckinley, now President-elect, once went to Defiance to defend the son of one of his influential neighbors of Stark county against a charge of robbery and larceny. He had the defense well prepared, but did not care, as he said, to tackle a strange jury. His relations with Hill were pleasant. They were colleagues in the National House of Representatives. He applied to Hill to take charge
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.