USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 31
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and grammar. She does not model herself upon the perfect woman whose portrait appears in Proverbs, inasmuch as she is not given to arising while it is yet dark ; in other respects she does not compare unfavorably with the above- mentioned perfect personage. If Mr. Douglass holds an adverse opinion, he has never yet demurred to her claim. Possessing the dogged perseverance of his Scotch ancestry, the stolid indifference to the "slings and arrows of out- rageous fortune " of his German progenitors, and a certain lightness of heart, coupled with a sanguine temperament, which was no bad inheritance from his Irish and French forbears, Mr. Douglass waited cheerfully for the business which he felt was sure to come. A favorite saying of his was that " everything comes to him who waits," and the event proved its truth. Business grew steadily and prosperity followed in its train. He was appointed mayor of Mansfield and served six months. Then he was elected city solicitor and served two terms. This closed his official career for a number of years, but in Novem- ber, 1896, he was elected to the Circuit Bench of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Ohio. This circuit is composed of the following counties, viz .: Richland, Ashland, Wayne, Stark, Tuscarawas, Muskingum, Perry, Morgan, Coshocton, Holmes, Licking, Knox, Delaware, Fairfield and Morrow. Mr. Douglass may be regarded as something of a "joiner," as the following rather formidable list of initials will show : He is a member of the Alpha Gamma Chapter, Beta Theta Pi; a member of Monroe Lodge No. 224, I. O. O. F .; also a mem- ber of Madison Lodge No. 56, K. of P .; and he is an Elk, a member of Mans- field Lodge No. 56, B. P. O. E. He prides himself on being a Democrat of the Jacksonian school. To a Republican wife it seems rather a thing to keep in the background, and to be mentioned with some degree of shamefacedness,-still, there is no accounting for masculine idiosyncrasies, and I suppose that I dare not suppress the fact, much as I should like to. There is a degree of excuse for him, too, inasmuch as a "tiger may not change his spots nor an Ethiop his skin" when they are born that way. He has most pronounced political convictions. He believes and has advocated, by speech and pen, the supremacy of the Nation, the autonomy of the States, local self- government, a tariff for revenue only, and bimetallism, or the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver as basic or primary money. It is a saying of his that "a man inherits his politics but marries his religion," and this is why he is a brother-in-law to the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Douglass's literary tastes cannot be said to be exactly catholic, since he cares little for poetry, and less for fiction. His good, old United-Presbyterian father brought his boy up to eschew "novels" as he would evil and, like George II., he saw no good in " bainting and boetry" himself and did little to recommend either to his son. He urged instructive things upon him and, while a small boy of seven or eight, Marion committed to memory the "Shorter Catechism," and, as a natural result of having to wrestle at that tender age with "Foreordi. nation" and " Effectual Calling," he has a boy of his own who, having attained the ripe age of thirteen years, is still in ignorance of "the chief end of man." When the "Shorter Catechism" came trippingly from his tongue, he began to
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commit Watts's hymns. These, he thinks, destroyed in him any incipient love of poetry which might have been secreted in his system, for the mere sight of lines which rhyme turns him faint. Such has been the effect upon him, of parental disregard for the graces of literature. When his stern parent turned his attention to the Scriptures and said : " My son, you will now begin to learn the ' Gospels," he began them with spirit, foreseeing an end sometime. When they were finished, he was told that he would now begin " Acts," and saw, in the not far distant future, the prospect looming up of having to commit the whole Bible, so he issued then and there a "Declaration of Independence." He would learn no more verses then or ever. He had no access to children's literature. He read " Fox's Book of Martyrs" and "Baxter's Saints' Rest," and Josephus' and Dick's Works, and other dreary literature of that sort ; and, if these were thought to be " too strong meat for babes," there were subscrip- tion books of the sort that find their way into rural districts, " Mother, Home and Heaven," " The Presbyterian Church throughout the World" and "Good Health and How to Take Care of It." Nothing cheerful ever fell in his way except the jokes in the almanac, which, doubtless, is the reason that a certain boy I wot of has shelves in the library which hold Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, Lang's and Andersen's Fairy Books, Tom Brown at Oxford and Rugby, Kipling's Jungle Books and other books galore in which the heart of a boy delights. As a natural result of such training, Mr. Douglass is fond of history, of biography, of essays and treaties of divers sorts, and cares nothing at all for the last new novel. He is fond of sports. He enjoys a ball game and a horse race. He is fond of a tramp in the woods, but the squirrels are safe. He is not in the least like the Englishman who says, "This is a fine morning,-let us go out and kill some- thing." He will sit on the banks of a stream with a book and bait hooks uncomplainingly all day for wife and children, provided he is not asked to hold a rod. He is an enthusiastic gardener, and trees and shrubs of his planting must perforce grow, whether they want to or not, and he hangs over his beds of early vegetables with the enraptured gaze of a lover. Since he has become one of the three owls who walk into the court room once a week to give a guess at the legal conundrums of the day, his garden rather suffers. He loves his friends and, though he wouldn't acknowledge it, his enemies too, for it is a lament of his, now and then, when treated unfairly, that he cannot remem- ber and revenge an injury. Life, he says, is too short to harbor bitterness towards one's fellow men. If, as somebody has said, "genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains," then his genius is of a high order, for he is careful and painstaking to the last degree. He is likewise a student, a clear, logical thinker, a man of action with vast capabilities for work. Personally, he is a gentleman -- well-bred, courteous, dignified and of fine presence ; a good hus- band and the best father in the world to three interesting children-two boys and a girl. In brief, " his life is gentle, and the elements so mix in him that Nature may stand up and say to all the world, 'This is a man."
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LEWIS BRUCKER, Mansfield. Judge Lewis Brucker, the subject of this sketch, was born in a log house on the banks of the Cass river near the village of Bridgeport, Saginaw county, Michigan, October 30, 1855. His parents were born in the city of Vienna, Austria. Ferdinand, the father, an architect by profession, was married to Margaretta Zeichmeister in Vienna in 1847, and emigrated to this country at the close of the rebellion in 1848. He first located at Detroit, afterwards at Canton, Michigan, but finally settled on a farm in Saginaw county in the same State, where he remained until 1877 engaged in the lumbering business in connection with farming. He then removed with his family to Shelby, Ohio, where he engaged in the retail lumber business. He died in 1889. The family consisted of eight children, four daughters and as many sons. Lewis Brucker was the third son. The family being large and the country new, he became acquainted with the hard- ships incident to pioneer life. While quite small he worked on the farm and attended such school as the county afforded. The first years of his life were those of the ordinary farmers' boys around him ; he shared the labors of the farm and mill according to his years and grew up much like farmers' boys the country over, with this material difference-he had no idle moments. The time that could be snatched from the labors of the farm, and the long winter evenings, was diligently devoted to study, and he thus laid the foundation of that knowledge which enabled him at an early period in life to become a successful business man, an able lawyer, and an honored judge. His mind, improved and expanded by study, soon reached beyond the limits of the farm and mill. In 1875 his father purchased a lumber yard at Shelby, Ohio, where he and an elder brother were sent to oversee and manage the same. But Lewis became homesick, it being his first experience away from home, and he did not remain, but returned to Bridgeport. In the winters of 1876 and 1877 he was foreman of a force of men in the lumber woods, and in the summer superintended a shingle mill at Blackmar, Michigan. But not being satisfied with this life and ambitious to acquire more education, he kept up his studies at home whenever an opportunity was afforded. He attended business college at Saginaw during the winter of 1878-79, sawing shingles for Phinney & LaDue during the following summer, and entered the Law Department of the Uni- versity of Michigan in October, 1879. He pursued the study of law closely for two years, defraying his expenses with money earned by working in the mills, and was graduated in the spring of 1881. He did not immediately enter upon the practice of his profession, but spent two years with his father in the lumber business at Shelby, Ohio, and three years selling lumber on the road, as a travelling salesman for Curtis & Brainard, of Toledo, Ohio. In March, 1886, he took up the practice of law in the office of W. S. Kerr, at Mansfield. When he first entered the practice he of course had little business, and this gave him ample time to prepare himself for the practice that is always sure to come to the earnest, energetic and industrious lawyer. After being in the practice for about four years he had acquired a substantial and growing clientage. In the spring of 1890, after a spirited contest, he was nominated by the Demo-
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Lewis Broker
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cratic party as its candidate for probate judge, and the following fall was elected by a large majority, running four hundred ahead of his ticket. In 1893 he was renominated and elected for a second term without any opposition. In 1884 he was united in marriage to Mary J. Cummins, of Shelby, Ohio. They are the parents of two children-a daughter, Angeline Cummins Brucker, and a son, David Ferdinand Brucker. In February, 1897, at the expiration of his term as probatc judge, he opened a law office in Mansfield with D. W. Cummins, under the firm name of Brucker & Cummins, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. His deep convictions, dauntless courage, and unyielding persistence are among the sources of his power. Probably his strongest characteristic is indomitable persistence. An eminent judge says that he possesses much more than ordinary native ability. He has very strong determination, is exceedingly positive and decided in his character. He is an excellent organizer in political affairs, and is absolutely honest in all his doings. As a lawyer he is untiring in acquiring every fact of a case, either pertaining to the law or the evidence. He is careful and painstaking and is an excellent all round lawyer. He served on the Democratic State executive committee in 1894-5 and was chairman of the Democratic county central committee at the same time. Ile has been on the executive committee most of the time for the past ten years. He never aspired to any office excepting that of probate judge, which he filled so satisfactorily. This office in Rich- land county is of unusual importance on account of its more extended jurisdic- tion in comparison with other counties. It includes foreclosure of mortgages, partition, divorce and alimony. Judge Brucker is a Knight Templar. an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, and also belongs to the Knights of Honor. Hc takes deep interest in the various orders. For the support of churches he is a liberal contributor, but does not confine himself to any one sect or creed. He is a good financier, was one of the original incorporators of the Bank of Mansfield, and has been on the board of directors since its organization. He is strong in solving technical, involved and complicated legal problems, particularly in corporation law.
HIRAM CLARK GLENN, Van Wert. H. C. Glenn was born on a farm near New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, October 8, 1838. He is of Welsh and Irish extraction. His father, William Glenn, was a native of Ohio, born in Jefferson county, 1807. His grandfather, Thomas Glenn, was a native of Ire- land who emigrated to America in boyhood aud served as major in the War of 1812. His mother, Priscilla Biddison, has a Puritan Christian name and Welsh ancestry. She was born in Ohio county, Virginia, in 1810. Phillip B. Glenn, the only and elder brother of Hiram, was orderly sergeant of Company K, 46th Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and was the first member of his regiment killed in the battle of Pittsburg Landing on April 6, 1862. His two sisters are dead. The family of our subject moved to Van Wert early in the year 1839, when he was only four months old. The entire country in that section
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of the State was at the time a wilderness. He worked on a farm and attended the country schools not to exceed two years in the aggregate. And this was the limitation of his attendance at schools of any kind. In order to be self- supporting he learned the trade of house painter, at which he worked for a period of seven years. At the age of twenty-four he began the study of law in the office of J. H. Kroh, which was continued under the instruction of Judge O. W. Rose. During the period of his student life in the law offices he sup- ported himself by the business of pension agent. For about a year beginning in 1864 he was the owner and publisher of the Van Wert Bulletin. He was admitted to the Bar in 1867 and the same year waselected justice of the peace. The practice of his profession as such, with a view to making it his only busi- ness, was begun in 1870 and continued alone for about nine years. In 1879 he formed a partnership with Senator G. M. Saltzgaber, which was continued for ten years. His legal business is general in character, embracing all of the routine which belongs to the practice of a country lawyer. It covers cases of every grade, whether litigated or ex parte, tried in the Common Pleas or Circuit Courts, or of sufficient importance to be taken to the Supreme Court on error. It may fairly be said that his undivided attention has been given to the law since he first entered upon the practice, although he has been active in advanc- ing the interests of the Republican party. He has acted from conviction and given considerable attention to politics from the time his first vote was cast, only three days after attaining his majority. He has never failed to vote at any election since that time. For several years he was chairman of the county committee. In 1870 he was elected mayor of Van Wert and served one term. In 1884 he was the candidate of his party for Congress in the district, which was strongly Democratic, and came out of the contest a thousand votes ahead of his ticket. In 1892 he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Judicial District of Ohio by Governor Mckinley, to fill a vacancy in that Court. Judge Glenn was married in 1865 to Georgiana C. Baughman, of Plymouth, Richland county, Ohio, whose family came to the State from Pennsylvania. He has no living children, but an adopted daughter for whom he has the same affection as a natural parent. He is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church and a prominent Odd Fellow, having filled all the offices in the Grand Lodge except that of Grand Master. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Odd Fellows' Home at Springfield. In 1879 he assisted in the organization of the Van Wert Gas Light Company, of which he has been president continuously. He was also one of the organizers of the Van Wert Telephone Company in 1894 and elected president of the company, which position he still holds. Some idea of the character and standing of Judge Glenn in the profession may be obtained from the opinions of other members of the Bar. One prominent attorney says: "He is a good lawyer and always quick to take advantage of anything which may favor his side of a case. All concede that he is a successful attorney and a good counsellor ; that he gives a great deal of care to the preparation of his cases, is a ready speaker and successful advocate, as he is usually able to make the jury accept his view
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Les Sherman
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of the case. During his association with Mr. Saltzgaber the firm had the largest business of any in this section and Judge Glenn now has a good practice, which increases year by year. He is classed by the Bar as one of the leading lawyers of the county. He has a beautiful home and is very domestic in his tastes." Another lawyer says : "Judge Glenn stands high as an attorney and a citizen. He has a large and growing practice and is one of our most influential townsmen, progressive and public-spirited. He owns a considerable amount of property, all of which he has acquired himself. He is firm in his convictions and never backs down when he believes he is right. He is affable and cour- teous, and liberal in his contributions to charity." His wife is president of the City Relief Society and a leader in all benevolent or charitable work. She was one of the organizers of the Van Wert Library Association, which is in a most flourishing condition. Mrs. Glenn is a physician, being a graduate of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she took a two years' course after having spent one year in the medical department of the University of Michigan. Her course of study and lectures were supplemented by six months' practice in the Women's Hospital in Philadelphia. After her graduation in 1874, she had a most successful practice of ten years, at the end of which time she retired from practice, and has since devoted her time to the public and charitable enterprises of the village.
LABAN S. SHERMAN, Ashtabula. Honorable L. S. Sherman was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, April 7, 1814. His father, John Sherman, was a farmer. The Shermans were originally English and among the early emigrants from the mother country to New England. His mother's maiden name was Sylvia Smith and she died when Laban was about two years of age. The father married again and removed to Ohio. Mr. Sherman remained with his grandmother, uncle and aunt until he was ten years of age, when they removed to Manchester, Ontario county, near Clinton, New York. Up to this time he had been in the district schools. He then entered the Academy at Canandaigua, New York, where he was prepared for college. He entered Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1834, and remained through the Junior year. Leaving college in 1837, he came to Ashtabula and entered the office of Marvin Sawtell and began the study of law. He remained in this office for a year and a half, when he entered the Cincinnati Law College, receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws in the spring of 1839, and later Western Reserve College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Return- ing to Ashtabula, he at once commenced the practice of law alone. In 1842 he formed a copartnership with Charles Booth, under the firm name of Sher- man & Booth. This firm was dissolved three years later. He then practiced alone until Mason King, who had been a student in his office, was admitted to practice, when the firm of Sherman & King was organized. This partnership continued until the death of Mr. King, in 1857. Shortly afterwards he formed
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a copartnership with J. Q. Farmer, which lasted until 1864, at which time Mr. Farmer removed to Michigan, where he afterwards became a judge. Hon- orable E. H. Fitch then became his partner, continuing as such until 1867, when Theodore Hall (who had previously been a student in the office of Sherman & Farmer) entered into a copartnership with him which continued until 1875. In the fall of 1876 Mr. Sherman was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, taking his seat in February, 1877. He was twice re-elected, serving continuously fifteen years. He retired from the Bench in 1892 and at once formed a copartnership with A. P. Laughlin, the firm being Sherman & Laughlin, and this association has since continued. Judge Sherman is an accomplished lawyer and an able jurist. For thirty years he was the recog- nized leader of the Ashtabula county Bar. His reputation as an advocate was by no means confined to his county or State and his services have been much sought in the trial of important cases. He has been called to conduct cases in Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. He possesses all the natural qualities of mind that are necessary in a great lawyer. His percep- tion is keen and his mental movement quick. He has always been a close stu- dent and his love of labor, coupled with his natural ability, made of him one of the ablest advocates and jurists of his time. He conducts the trial of a cause with skill; his arguments to the court are strong, clear and forcible ; and to the jury his persuasive style of oratory carries with it great weight. Long ago he became noted as an orator. His promulgation of his party's principles being clear and powerful, his services in that line were, in his earlier days, much sought for. Judge Sherman has lived a life of the most exem- plary character and has as large a circle of friends and admirers as any man who ever lived in Ashtabula county. He was originally a Democrat and with Rufus P. Ranney made a number of political speeches for Van Buren. In 1847 he went over to the Free-soil party, and with Joshua R. Giddings attended the convention in Buffalo that nominated Martin Van Buren for President. He has been identified with the Republican party since its birth. In 1840 he was elected prosecuting attorney and served one term. His com- petitor in the race was Sutliff, a partner of Joshua R. Giddings. In 1852 he was elected a member of the legislature, serving two terms in the Ohio Senate. In 1841 he married Mary Eliza Jenks, of Saybrook, Ashtabula county, and by this union eight children were born, of whom four are dead : a daughter who died at the age of five, and three sons who grew to manhood and were prom- ising lawyers at the time of their death. Of the living, Frank is now engaged in the lumber business in Arkansas ; Laban has been engaged in farming and merchandising ; Mary is the wife of Proteus Kepler ; and Zillah, unmarried, resides with her father.
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THOMAS CORWIN, Lebanon. It is difficult to condense within the limits of a thousand words a satisfactory biographical sketch of a man whose biog- raphy properly written should fill a large volume. Thomas Corwin was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 29, 1794, and died in Washington, Decem- ber 18, 1865. At the age of four years he was brought to the Territory of Ohio by his parents, who settled in the wilds of Warren county, and later in the town of Lebanon, where his father, Matthias Corwin, served as a judge. In boyliood he attended school in the log school house, for the few months he could be spared from work, and never had the opportunity- of attending a higher school. His education was not obtained from the study of text-books under instruction, but from association and contact with the world, and by reading books of biography and history and science, by the firelight, after his "school days " were over. His technical knowledge was very limited, but his education was very broad, and his learning great. He won notoriety while yet a boy by driving a wagon loaded with army supplies to the headquarters of General Harrison during the War of 1812. At the time of performing this needful service he little dreamed that his fame as " the wagon boy " would make him governor of Ohio, representative in Congress and senator of the United States. It would be rash to claim so much for it now, but there can be no doubt the circumstance contributed largely to the personal popularity which made him an idol of the people. At twenty-one he began the study of law, to which he applied himself with all the earnestness of a very ardent nature, so that he was qualified for admission to the Bar the next year. In 1818 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Warren county, and held the office twelve years. In 1822, and again in 1829, he was elected representative in the legislature of the State. In 1830 he was elected to Congress, and con- tinued his membership in that body, by successive elections, for ten years. Before his first election to Congress he had established himself in the law and built up a remunerative practice; but when once upon the sea of politics, for which he was most admirably constituted, he could scarcely be content with a law practice, even if the people had permitted him to remain in private life. His campaign for governor, in 1840, on the Whig ticket, was one of the most memorable ever made in the State by any man. He was then in the very prime and vigor of middle life, heartily in sympathy with his party and with General Harrison, its candidate for President. Thoroughly conversant with the issues of the campaign, he presented them with matchless eloquence. He was master of all the arts of the trained orator and withal was natural and unaffected in manner as a child. His speech fairly sparkled with wit and humor. He was equally master of pathos and ridicule, panegyric and phil- ippic, employing them as occasion demanded with consummate tact and irre- sistible power. Mr. Corwin was not re-elected governor, but in 1845 was elected to the United States Senate, in which he served one term. His great speech in opposition to the bill appropriating funds for the prosecution of the war with Mexico chilled the popular enthusiasm for him as a leader, and lie was allowed to remain in private life, practicing law at Lebanon and Cincin-
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