USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 34
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sion of the visit of Kossuth to Cincinnati. ' Mr. Groesbeck was a member of the commission of foreign affairs while in Congress. His speeches were few in number, but one of them delivered quite early in his term of service won for him considerable reputation. The occasion was a debate with Alexander H. Stephens on the subject of the Walker expedition. Mr. Groesbeck gave a lawyer's interpretation of the neutrality laws, basing his argument upon the fundamental proposition that " the sea is no sanctuary for crime." Other Ohio members who were with Mr. Groesbeck in Congress were Lewis D. Campbell, S. S. Cox, John A. Bingham, John Sherman, George E. Pugh, Benjamin F. Wade, Joshua R. Giddings and William Lawrence. Mr. Groesbeck did not succeed in his contest for re-election, his defeat being due to his position with regard to one of the phases of the Kansas-Nebraska controversy. He again came into public life in 1861, when, with Salmon P. Chase and Thomas Ewing, he represented Ohio at the Peace Convention held at Washington. This body, called at the invitation of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of devising a means of averting the impending war, contained some of the most distinguished men of the country, among them ex-President Tyler, Erastus Corning, Reverdy Johnson, David W. Field, John M. Palmer, Senators Fessenden, Mor- rill and Frelinghuysen. Mr. Groesbeck had opposed slavery and the extension of slave territory. Although a member of the Democratic party when the war was "inevitable," he became a firm supporter of the preservation of the Union, declaring that "secession must be put down." A few days after the firing on Fort Sumter a party of gentlemen met at the Burnet House in Cin- cinnati to consider the dangers to which that city was incident. A telegram signed by W. J. Flagg. W. S. Groesbeck, S. F. Vinton, Larz Anderson, Ruther- ford B. Hayes and George E. Pugh was sent to Washington, asking that Cap- tain George B. McClellan, at that time living in Cincinnati as the president of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, should be appointed to organize forces and take command at that point. This was Mcclellan's first prominence in the war. Mr. Groesbeck at that time and for years afterwards proclaimed publicly his aversion to secession and his satisfaction with the result of the war, saying in 1861, to Governor Dennison, " I would rather sacrifice all I have than live to see this Union dissevered." At a dinner to Judge Leavitt, in 1870, he responded to a toast, " War legislates and with the legislation of the war we are satisfied "; again he said, "The amendments have been made and they will stand." Mr. Groesbeck was elected State senator in 1861 ; he took a very active part in the discussions of the body concerning finance and judicial leg- islation, and exerted great influence in favor of economy, an influence much needed at that time. By far the most brilliant of Mr. Groesbeck's achieve- ments and one that brought him immediate international prominence was his speech made in defense of President Andrew Johnson, upon the occasion of impeachment of the latter by Congress. The resolution for impeachment passed the House of Representatives on February 24, 1868. On March the 5th, Mr. Bingham, chairman of the board of managers selected by the House, read at the bar of the Senate the articles of impeachment, eleven in number,
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charging in various legal forms the violation of the tenure of office act, improper criticism of Congress and obstruction and interference with the recon- struction enactments. The President was represented by his own attorney general, Henry Stanbery, who resigned his position for the purpose ; Benjamin R. Curtis, a former justice of the Supreme Court, and by many regarded as a leader of the American Bar ; William M. Evarts, who subsequently succeeded Stanbery as attorney general ; T. A. R. Nelson, a great personal friend of the President, and Jeremiah S. Black, a member of Buchanan's cabinet. At the last moment Mr. Black withdrew and Mr. Groesbeck was selected by the Pres- ident to take his place. He took no part in the early stages of the trial, but on April 25th, addressed the Senate on behalf of the President in a speech so sound in its law, so strong in its expression, and so powerful in its appeal to the emotions that it has been considered a masterpiece of American oratory. Of this address Roger Foster, in his recent work on the United States Consti- tution, speaks as " a masterly argument upon the legal questions in the case." Mr. Blaine, in his Twenty Years of Congress, uses this language, " Mr. Groes- beck was favorably known to the country by his service with the Democratic representatives in the twenty-fifth Congress, but little had been heard of his legal learning outside of Ohio. He took no part in the conduct of the impeachment case, but his final argument was a surprise to the Senate and to his professional brethren, and did much to give him a high reputation as a lawyer ; " and again Mr. Blaine says, "He made a clear, forcible presentation of the grounds of defense." S. S. Cox, in his book of reminiscences, says : "Unexpectedly to some, but not to the writer, William S. Groesbeck, of Ohio, who was not at first in the case, was the most successful in presenting, with enormous vehemence of logic and eloquence, the defense of the impeached President ;" again, that " the most remarkable speech was made by Mr. Groes- beck." Mr. Curtis, the leading counsel for the President, expresses his opin- ion of the argument in a letter to Mr. A. R. Spofford, as follows :
" MAPLEHURST, July 21, 1868.
" MY DEAR MR. SPOFFORD :
"I thank you for so kindly communicating to me Mr. Groesbeck's very friendly and too flattering expressions. It is one of the most valued of my experiences in the trial of the President that I learned to know Mr. Groesbeck, and when he made, what I consider one of the most impressive speeches I ever heard, he did not surprise me, though he seems to have surprised inany others. I think that when the trial shall be read by the next generation of young men, his will be thought to be the most finished and complete of all the arguments. " With great regard, I am yours,
"B. R. CURTIS."
The President is quoted by William W. Warden, his secretary, as follows :
"It is due from me to say that I read the letter of Judge Curtis to Presi- dent Johnson on the evening of the day of its receipt, and that the President, cordially and with emphasis, endorsed the sentiments and opinions of Judge Curtis. I think I told you years ago how much President Johnson esteemed you, alike in your public and private life, and that he said to me repeatedly
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that he regarded you as one of the ablest jurists and purest statesmen in America. This conversation occurred when the President was consulting as to the selection of counsel for the impeachment trial."
The praise of those who heard the speech was not limited to associates ; the first to congratulate Mr. Groesbeck was Mr. Bingham, the chairman of the board of managers, and General Butler, another of the managers. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Salmon P. Chase, came down from his seat and did the same, and is quoted as having characterized his address as " the greatest speech ever delivered in America." The newspapers gave it as a general opinion that Mr. Groesbeck had borne off the laurels from both sides for argument and eloquence, one paper speaking of the argument as "a speech which will rank with the greatest orations of ancient or modern times." Mr. Groesbeck was the sensation of the day and his fame was heralded throughout the country as a proper man to succeed to the Presidency, or to one of the vacant seats on the Bench of the Supreme Court. He had been considered before by Mr. Buchanan in this latter connection, and again in 1873 his name was to be considered by President Grant for the vacant Chief Justiceship. In the national Democratic convention of 1872, Mr. Groesbeck was one of the four who received votes for the Presidential nomination, and in the Electoral College he received several votes for the vice-presidency. In 1880 he was again prominently mentioned for the Presidency, but refused to become an active candidate for the nomination. He was appointed a member of the monetary commission of 1876, his associates being John P. Jones, Louis V. Bogy, George S. Boutwell, of the Senate ; Randall L. Gibson, George Willard, Richard P. Bland, of the House of Representatives, and Professor Francis Bowen of Harvard College. Mr. Groesbeck signed the majority report made March 2, 1877, with Messrs. Jones, Bogy, Willard and Bland, in favor of the restoration of the double standard and the unrestricted coinage of both metals, but agreed with Mr. Bland in favor of the ratio of 16 to 1 instead of 15g to 1, as favored by Messrs. Jones, Bogy and Willard. On September 13, 1877, he was the orator on the subject of "Gold and Silver " before the American Bankers' Association of New York, and the following year he was selected with Reuben E. Fenton and Francis A. Walker as a commissioner on the part of the United States at the international monetary conference at Paris. Mr. Groesbeck at the second session gave a brief histor- ical review of the American legislation on the subject, and in conclusion stated the views of the United States in two propositions urging the undesirability of the exclusion of silver from free coinage and the possible use of both metals as unlimited legal tender money to be reached by international agreement as to ratios. Mr. Groesbeck took throughout the whole proceeding a most active part and delivered an address of considerable length in favor of international bimetallism. Mr. Groesbeck was an ardent advocate of civil service reform and delivered a most forcible address on the subject at College Hall in Cincin- nati. His interest in politics continued throughout his life; he was at all times a consistent Democrat, but retained the esteem and respect of all
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parties throughout his life. His last public address at a political gathering was at the great Campbell meeting at Music Hall in Cincinnati in 1889 ; his speech in favor of Mr. Campbell was considered a most powerful influence for his success. As an occasional orator his services were in constant demand. He it was that welcomed Kossuth and also Andrew Johnson on two occasions when he visited this city, once during the war when he came as senator from the Southern State of Tennessee and afterwards during his Presideney. He made addresses at the General Grant banquet and at the banquet tendered Frederick Hassaurek, and at the lawyers' farewell dinner to Mr. Perry he rendered a tribute to the memory of Abraham Lincoln which- was considered an eulogy of the first rank. In 1878, on behalf of the city. he welcomed the American Social Science Association and afterwards addressed the body on the subject of silver. He was a man of great public spirit and in 1872 presented to the citizens of Cincinnati the sum of $50.000, the income of which is expended annually for music in Burnet Woods, the well-known park of the city. He was a member of the board of trustees of the sinking fund of Cincinnati from 1883 to 1891. Mr. Groesbeck married Miss Elizabeth Burnet, a danghter of Judge Jacob Burnet. She died April 6, 1889, leaving five children surviving, two of whom, Herman and Telford, are members of the Cincinnati Bar. Mr. Groesbeck died on the 7th day of July, 1897, at his home, Elmhurst, which is beautifully located in the suburbs of Cincinnati. The following pen portrait, written many years ago by the late George Ward Nichols, gives an accurate presentation of the man :
" Mr. Groesbeck as an orator and a statesman is an illustration of the best fruit of the highest civilization. He is such a figure as might have stood in the Senate in the days of Webster, Benton and Clay. In his personal appear- ance, his tall and ample body is surmounted by a head of singular force and determination. The forehead is square and ample; the eye, which looks straight out from a shapely, ardent brow, is full and fearless ; the nose uncom- promisingly prominent; while the lips, firm and set, are surrounded by a rigid inflexible jaw. When speaking, Mr. Groesbeck's manner is Websterian in its sententious dignity, and in other ways is there a resemblance between these distinguished men. In simplicity of method, in vivid conceptions, clear intui- tions of law and statecraft, Mr. Groesbeck is like Webster, while his moral integrity is irreproachable and his personal habits are simple and abstemious. With his character of Puritan severity is joined a keen sense of the funny and absurd, which, although concealed by his stern exterior, now and then flashes with inimitable force.'
THOMAS B. PAXTON, Cincinnati. Thomas Barbour Paxton was born on June 4, 1838, in Clermont county, Ohio, near the town of Loveland. Ilis father was born on the same farm, which was located by his grandfather in the year 1795. ITis father's family were Scotch-Irish in descent and settled first in this country in Rockbridge county, Virginia, near the Natural Bridge. His grandfather, during the Revolution, lived in Bedford county, Pennsyl-
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vania, and served with distinction throughout the war, attaining the position of lieutenant colonel of one of the Pennsylvania regiments. He was one of those selected by General Anthony Wayne, by reason of his experience and bravery. to go with him on his campaign against the Indians in northwestern Ohio. He remained with General Wayne during the whole campaign, acting as officer of the advance guard, and took a prominent and active part in the battle of the "Fallen Timbers." After the declaration of peace he settled a short distance south of the present town of Loveland, on the Little Miami river, and engaged himself for a number of years in surveying and dealing in Virginia land warrants. Thomas Paxton, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1799 on the farm originally located by Colonel Thomas Paxton, and continued to reside there until his death, which occurred in 1877. Thomas B. Paxton received the rudiments of his education in the schools of Clermont county, part of the time being under the tutelage of Professor James K. Parker in an historic old academy near New Richmond. He grad- uated in the scientific department of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Dela- ware, Ohio. Subsequent to leaving college he taught school for about a year, studying law at the same time in the office of Tilden, Rairden & Curwen in Cincinnati. IIe subsequently entered the Cincinnati Law School and gradu- ated from that institution in the spring of 1860, and at once formed a partner- ship with Isaac B. Matson. The firm occupied the old offices and succeeded to the practice of the late George H. Pendleton. This partnership continued until the election of Mr. Matson as Probate Judge of Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1874. Mr. Paxton was elected county solicitor on the Democratic ticket in the year 1873, defeating the late Nicholas Longworth. When John W. Warrington left the office of city solicitor, in the year 1875, he formed a part- nership with Mr. Paxton, and the partnership has continued from that date to the present time under the firm name of Paxton & Warrington. In addition to the position above named, Mr. Paxton has served the city of Cincinnati as a member of the board of aldermen, and also one term as director of the city workhouse. In 1886 Governor Foraker appointed him as one of the trustees of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, a position to which he was reappointed by Governor Campbell in 1890, and subsequently by Governor Mckinley in 1894, and he served for several years as president of that board. In 1887 the sinking fund commissioners appointed him as one of the trustees for the con- struction of the new city hall, in which position he took an active interest, and the work on the part of the trustees was entirely satisfactory to the gen- eral public. Mr. Paxton has always been a Democrat in politics, but beyond the offices mentioned has refused to seek or hold office, although he has been a number of times solicited to become a candidate for positions of importance. While Mr. Paxton has never been a politician, he has by reason of his personal and professional standing always been recognized as a sound and influential adviser in legal matters, and although a Democrat he is not a partisan, but a conservative, independent and conscientious follower of the principles in which he believes. Mr. Paxton was married in 1874 to Mary, daughter of Dr.
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William Wharton of Kentucky, and has two children, Thomas B. Paxton, Jr., and Florence W. Paxton, the former of whom has just completed a course at Yale College and is now studying law in the office of the firm.
GEORGE J. SMITH, deceased. The subject of this biography, one of the pioneer lawyers of Ohio, was the youngest child of Rev. James Smith and his wife, Elizabeth Porter Smith, natives of, and for many years residents of Powhatan county, Virginia. His father was the owner of a large plantation in the valley of the James river in that county, about twenty miles above Richmond. In the latter part of his life the son entertained so great a dislike to the system of slavery then existing in that State, that he determined to remove to a region where it did not exist. With this object in view he made three trips from his home to Kentucky and what is now the State of Ohio. The first to Kentucky was in 1785, and the second and third in 1795 and '97 to the territory northwest of the river Ohio. He kept journals of these trips, which are now in possession of his descendants. In the year 1798 he emancipated the slaves which he had inherited from his father, and with his wife and eight children, and in company with his brother-in-law, Rev. Philip Gatch, removed to what is now the State of Ohio, landing at Columbia, near the mouth of the Little Miami river, on the 7th of November, 1798, and near which he resided until his death, which occurred July 28, 1799. His son George J. Smithi was born near Columbia, Hamilton county, May 22, 1799, a few months before the death of his father. In 1800 his mother with her family removed to what is now Warren county, and settled upon a farm near Waynesville. Her son worked upon the farm, attending the country schools in his early youth, and for a short time a private school in Lebanon. In April, 1818, he entered as a student of law the office of Thomas Corwin, who had been admitted to the Bar in May, 1817, and had commenced the practice of the law in Lebanon, and there had the advantage of the personal tuition of his preceptor, who until the time of his death was one of his most intimate friends. Mr. Smith was admitted to the Bar in June, 1820, and immediately commenced the practice in the law in Warren and the five or six other counties which at that time formed a judicial district, travelling the circuit as was the custom of many of the lawyers in those days. In 1825 he was elected a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, and was elected again in 1826 and 1827, serving three terms. In 1829, at the age of thirty years, he was elected by the legis- lature, without his knowledge, to the office of president judge of the Court of Common Pleas, succeeding Judge Joshua Collett, who had been elected judge of the Supreme Court. Judge Smith served in this position for the full term of seven years, when he resumed the practice of the law. For four years, from 1836 to 1840, he was a member of the Ohio Senate, and for the first two years was the speaker of that body. He was also a member of the convention which formed the State Constitution of 1851. In 1858 he was elected judge of
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the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Subdivision of the Second District, and was re-elected in 1863. He retired from the Bench February 9, 1869, and did not afterwards actively engage in the practice of law. Judge Smith was married to Hannah Whitehill Freeman, April 9, 1822. She died November 25, 1866. Four of their children survived them, viz. : James M. Smith, now of Cincinnati ; George W. Smith, John E. Smith, and Harriet M. Smith, of Lebanon, all of whom are still living. Judge Smith was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He was an able, industrious and successful lawyer and a model judge. In all of the public positions held by him he performed the duties imposed upon him most conscientiously, with great fidelity, and to the satis- faction of his constituents. He died at his home in Lebanon April 18, 1878.
JAMES M. SMITH, Cincinnati. Judge James M. Smith, son of the late George J. Smith, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, on the 27th day of January, 1825. Like his father, he did not have the advantages of a college education. He attended the public and private schools of Lebanon until he was about eighteen years of age, and was then for nearly two years a clerk in the office of his uncle, Joseph Whitehill, treasurer of the State at Columbus. At the end of that time he began the study of law in the office of his father and his partner, John Probasco, Jr. He was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1846, and in 1847 commenced the practice of his profession at Xenia, Greene county, Ohio. In the winter of 1850, Mr. Probasco having been elected by the legislature, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, young Smith returned to Lebanon and was in partnership with his father until February, 1855, when he assumed the position of judge of Probate Court of Warren county, to which office he had been elected in the preceding year. He served one term of three years in this office, and in 1858 resumed the practice of the law. From 1859 until 1872 his partner was his brother, John E. Smith, of Lebanon. In 1878 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Subdivision of the Second Judicial District, and in 1876, and again in 1881, was re-elected to the same office. On the organization of the Circuit Courts in the State in 1884 he was elected as one of the judges for the First Circuit, and resigned his office as judge of the Court of Common Pleas to accept the position, after a service on that Bench of thirteen years-his associates in the Circuit Court being Judges Joseph Cox and Peter F. Swing, both of whom at this time (1897) are still members of the court with him. Judge Smith drew the four year term, and in 1888, and again in 1894, was re-elected for the full term of six years. In 1887 and again in 1888 he was chosen by the judges of the Circuit Court as Chief Justice thereof. In this service of more than twenty- eight years on the Bench of those different courts, it may be justly claimed for Judge Smith that he has been an industrious, conscientious, upright and painstaking member of the judiciary, and that he has discharged the duties imposed upon him to the satisfaction of the people, and the members of the Bar. Many of the decisions of the Circuit Court, of which he is a member,
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and of which he announced the opinions, appear in the thirteen volumes of the Ohio Circuit Court Reports which have been issued up to this time. The maiden name of the mother of Judge Smith was Hannah Whitehill. On the 23rd day of January, 1851, he was married to Sarah Belle Clements, daughter of Dr. C. B. Clements, and Susan Hurin, his wife, late of Lebanon. They have three children living : Harold H. Smith, of Toledo ; Mrs. L. D. Thoman, of Chicago; and Mrs. M. S. Todd, of Cincinnati.
JOHN W. WARRINGTON, Cincinnati. Mr. Warrington was born July 26, 1846, in Clarke county, Ohio. He is a son of the late Rev. Charles B. War- rington, who, born in England, came to America in the early days of this century, and to Cincinnati in 1819. He devoted his life to the ministry, in southern Ohio, in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Miss Mary Davisson, of Clarke county, Ohio, whose parents were natives of the State of Virginia. John Warrington attended the public schools of South Charleston, Ohio, until he entered the army, and afterwards received an extended classical training under private tutors. At quite an early age lie conceived the idea of becoming a lawyer and his studies were for the most part directed to the accomplishment of that end. Shortly after the outbreak of the Rebellion, although but sixteen years of age, he laid aside for a time his preparation for his life profession and enlisted in Company C of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the fall of 1862. He took part in all the experiences of that reg- iment and was engaged in the battles of Winchester, June 14, 15 and 16, 1863, and at Brandy Station November 8; Mine Run, November 27 of the same year; and in the battles of the Wilderness on May 5, 6 and 7 of the following year, and at Spottsylvania on the 9th and 10th and 11th of the same month, and at Cold Harbor the 1st of June of that year. He was also engaged in the fighting in front of Petersburg in June of the same year, and at Monocacy on July 9, and at Opequon on September 19, Fisher's Hill Sep- tember 22, and Cedar Creek on October 19 of that year. He participated in the Siege of Petersburg in the winter of 1864 and 1865, taking a part in the assault on the outer line of the works on March 25, 1865, and in the final assault in which the main lines and fortifications in front of Petersburg were taken on April 2, 1865, which last assault resulted in the capture of Peters- burg and of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. At day dawn of April 2, 1865, after the troops had broken through the main line of fortifica- tions and were engaged in an assault upon the strongly fortified fort, he was wounded by an iron ball from an exploded cannon shot. Just prior to the discharge of this shot, he, with his fellow soldiers, was lying close up under the fort awaiting a re formation of the troops for a final assault. Warrington, believing, however, that he could tell the direction of the fire of the cannon in front of him, and being anxious to watch the course of the shot from it, which he thought would not come straight towards him, stood upright, but one of
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