USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 35
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the balls from the fuse shot which exploded directly over his head entered the patella of his left knee, inflicting a very dangerous and severe wound. He was taken from the field to Judiciary Square Hospital, at Washington, and honorably discharged on a certificate of disability by the surgeon on July 24, 1865. He had also served with the reginient in August and September of 1862 in New York City and Brooklyn, under Colonel J. Warren Keifer, in enforcing the draft in these cities and keeping down the riots. Immediately after his discharge he resumed his studies preparatory to admission to the Bar, and in 1867 entered the Law School of the Cincinnati College, where he was graduated in 1869. Almost immediately after his admission to the Bar he entered the office of J. Bryant Walker, the solicitor of the city of Cincinnati, as assistant city solicitor, which position he held under Mr. Walker and Fred W. Moore until 1873, when he was himself elected city solicitor. He served in this position for the period of two years. At the end of his term he entered upon the practice of the law, having won a reputation equal to that of the best among the younger members of the Bar. He associated himself at once in the practice of the law with Thomas B. Pax- ton, and the firm has continued Paxton & Warrington up to the present day. His reputation and position at the Bar from that date to the present time have constantly improved, until to-day he stands among the very leaders of the profession in the State, and his practice has been both large and lucrative. He has been engaged in many of the most important cases that have arisen in his county and State for a number of years, and has also been called many times to attend to important cases in the Supreme Court of Ohio, and also a number of times in the Supreme Courts of other States and of the United States. Although he has been the legal adviser for many of the largest corporations in this community for a number of years, and, as a result, has attained a position second to none as a corporation lawyer, yet his practice has been of a wide scope, and his reputation is in no sense limited to any one particular branch of the law. He is remarkable for the thoroughness of his preparation of the law points of his cases and the clearness and fairness with which he presents them in the trial of a cause ; and by reason of his careful attention to details and great clearness of judgment he is also pre-eminent in his statement of facts bearing upon the points at issue. His thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, his careful preparation of cases, his masterly grasp of details and his pleas- ing address in the conduct of a trial, have all contributed to make him one of the most successful as well as one of the most popular members of the Bar. Mr. Warrington has devoted so much of his time to the faithful practice of his profession that he has had little time for politics. He is a Republican and has been urged a number of times to become a candidate for Congress, and has been tendered other positions, both State and National, of high honor, but has uniformly refused to accept them. The only political position held by him, excepting those already mentioned, was that of Presidential elector from the Second Congressional District in 1876, at which time he cast his vote for his friend President Hayes. He has been twice married. There are two children sur-
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viving his first marriage. His eldest son, George, graduated at Yale College in the year 1895, and has since then attended the University at Göttingen, Germany.
GUSTAVUS H. WALD, Cincinnati. Gustavus Henry Wald was born in the city of Cincinnati on March 30, 1853. He received his early education in the public schools of that city, graduating at Hughes High School. Subse- quently he entered Yale College, where he was graduated with the class of 1873. He then took up the study of law at the Harvard Law School, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1875, and in March of the same year was admitted to the Bar of Suffolk county, Massachusetts. He returned, however, to his native city for the practice of his profession and entered the office of Hoadly, Johnston & Colston, where he remained until January, 1876, having been admitted to the Ohio Bar the previous fall. In 1876 he took an office with Charles Bowditch Wilby, and in September of that year he formed a partnership with Mr. Wilby under the firm name of Wilby & Wald, which relationship still continues. In 1878 the courts of Hamilton county appointed him one of the standing committee for the examination of applicants for appointment to the office of notary public in Hamilton county, which position he continued to hold for many years. He gave to this work his most consci- entious attention, and under his influence these examinations 'became more efficient, and as a consequence there has been a decided improvement in the qualifications of the holders of notarial commissions in the county. Shortly after Mr. Wald's admission to the Bar he began the preparation of an Ameri- can edition of " Pollock on Contracts," which he published in 1881. The value of the notes of the American edition was at once recognized and the work grew in favor to such an extent that a second edition was necessitated, which appeared in 1885. The appreciation in which Mr. Wald's contribution to this work is held, is indicated by a remark of the editor of the American Law Review in a recent issue of that periodical discussing the editors of English law books "for the American Bar : " "We are able to recall but one, viz., Mr. Wald's edition of Pollock, in which the work of the American editor has added anything of permanent value to the text, or has at all increased the reputation of the editor himself." During his first year at the Bar Mr. Wald, contributed frequently to legal magazines and periodicals, and in 1877 he became a member of the editorial staff of the Central Law Journal, which position he retained for several years. In 1885 he was asked by Sir Frederick Pollock, who had just undertaken the editorship of the Law Quarterly Review, to become one of the contributors to that journal. In 1883 the election of Judge Hoadly to the governorship of the State created a vacancy in the faculty of the Cincinnati Law School, which was filled by the trustees of that institu- tion by the selection of Mr. Wald for the position, which he held for several years. In 1891 he received the unsolicited nomination, at the hands of the Democratic party of Ohio, for membership of the Supreme Bench of the State,
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but none of the nominees of the convention were elected. He was elected in 1893 one of the council of the Harvard Law School Association for the full term of five years, and in June, 1895, upon the occasion of the celebration of that association of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Professor Langdell's incum- bency as Dane Professor of Law, Mr. Wald, one of his pupils, was called upon to deliver one of the formal addresses. The occasion was a memorable one in the history of legal education in this country and brought together many dis- tinguished lawyers from the various States of the Union, and was made the occasion for a special trip from England of Sir Frederick Pollock. Upon the organization in 1896 of a Law Department of the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Wald became a member of the faculty of that institution, choosing for the subject of his lectures the law of contracts. Having at his command a great fund of information, with remarkable facility in imparting it to others, he has been eminently successful as a teacher. He was for many years a member of the Cincinnati Literary Club, at one time its president, and contributed a number of papers to its proceedings. His literary style is pure and crisp. The words chosen by him are never of doubtful derivation or significance, and the reader can never be at a loss for his meaning. These qualities are char- acteristic of his legal work, both written and spoken, as well as his work of lighter character. In the latter, his keen sense of humor is frequently in evi- dence. He is a student at all times ; his briefs are prepared with the greatest care and are scholarly discussions of the law ; his arguments to a court or jury are simple and direct, with none of the devices of the superficial orator, and his conduct of a case and his examination of witnesses have the same direct and thorough qualities. He is a linguist of unusual attainments, and well informed on a great variety of topics, and these facts, combined with his accu- rate and thorough knowledge of the law and readiness in debate, make him a most formidable antagonist as well as a charming companion.
ALMON MITCHELL WARNER, Cincinnati. Integrity, patriotism and fidelity to highest human impulse are the distinguishing characteristics of Mr. Almon M. Warner, born March 6, 1843, at Plainfield, Hampshire county, Mas- sachusetts. He inherits from his father, James Warner, the resolute character that attaches to the English, and from his mother that industry and applica- tion that is pre-eminently conspicuous as a Scottish heritage, and traces his ancestry through his mother in direct line to Robert Bruce, the famous Scot- tish chieftain and king. He was educated in the common and select schools of Massachusetts, graduating at the age of nineteen from Williston Seminary, and at a time when the nation most demanded the services of brave men actu- ated by love of country, Mr. Warner gave heed to the "slogan," and enlisted in Company H, Thirty-seventh Massachusetts Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Oliver Edwards, and was at once made second sergeant, being trans- ferred later to Company E, in the same regiment, and promoted to the rank of
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first sergeant. His services on the field and at the front are but characteristic of the sturdy lineage whence he came. Daring and brave in the execution of duty, at the battle of Sailors' Creek, Virginia, April 6, 1865, while attempting to capture a Rebel flag, he was severely wounded, in recognition of which, and for many similar services, he was promoted to a lieutenancy. From August, 1862, to August 28, 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the service, he was with his regiment-a part of the 6th Army Corps that participated in eighteen of the great battles of that historic era, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Winchester and Petersburg. He began the study of law January 1, 1866, in the office of Church & Sawyer, Albion, Orleans county, New York, both of whom attained great distinction in public office and in their profession, and was admitted to the Bar in May, 1869. He practiced in Albion until March, 1870, when he removed to Lees- burg, Virginia, and continued practice, two years afterward removing to Huntington, West Virginia. In 1874, actuated by earnest aspiration, he removed to Cincinnati and permanently located, surrounding himself with greater opportunities, all of which he utilized in building a lucrative practice. In 1883 he was nominated for the office of judge of the Superior Court of the city of Cincinnati by the Republican party, but suffered defeat with the entire ticket. In 1870 Mr. Warner married Miss Elizabeth H. Densmore, of Albion, New York, the fruits of which union are two charming daughters, Maud Loraine and Carrie Elizabeth. Notwithstanding the many duties of an active lawyer, Mr. Warner has given much of his time to religious and society interests. He and his family are, and have been for many years, members of the Walnut Hills Congregational Church of Cincinnati. His social character is evidenced by the prominence he has attained in the societies with which he is identified. In the I. O. O. F. he was for three years major commanding battalions of Patriarchs Militant in Cincinnati, a past Grand, past Chief Patriarch, and past Grand Representative. In the F. & A. M. he is a popular and honored mem- ber. As in his youth his soul was aflame with a patriotic zeal for his country, so in mature manhood his love for the comrades who with him shared the burdens of warfare, is no less intense. In the ranks of the G. A. R. he is an untiring worker, jealous of its principles, loyal to its tenets, and faithful to every duty enjoined upon him; a past Post Commander, past Department Commander of Ohio, and member of the Committee on Pensions of the National Encampment. When first identified with the Bar of Cincinnati, Mr. Warner pursued a general practice. In 1891, however, the changed conditions, growing out of an appointment as general counsel for Snow, Church & Co., caused him to direct his attention to Commercial law, since which time he has given his best efforts to this great field in our jurisprudence. A keen appre- ciation of the importance of details, and a peculiar talent for method, pre-cmi- nently fit him for the responsible position he occupies with his company, and as a lawyer representing great interests growing out of the internal commerce of our country.
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HIRAM D. PECK, Cincinnati. Hiram D. Peck, formerly judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, was born near Cynthiana, Kentucky, March 23, 1844. His paternal grandfather, Hiram Peck, was one of the founders of Montpelier, and was a colonel commanding Vermont troops in the War of 1812. His mother was a member of a Virginia family, and also descended from the Broadwells, of New Jersey. He was prepared for college very young, at the academy in Cynthiana, under the direction of Rev. Carter Page, and entered the Miami University, pursuing the regular classical course, from which he was graduated in 1862, at the age of eighteen. He enlisted in the Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served from May till September, when he returned home to engage in the study of law in accordance with his purpose formed in early boyhood. He entered Harvard Law School and prosecuted his studies to graduation in 1865. Without delay he took up the practice of law in Cin- cinnati. From 1873 to 1876 he served as assistant city solicitor, and in 1876 was elected city solicitor, filling the office for two years. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Goss, with whom he was associated until chosen to the Bench. In the spring of 1883 he was nominated by the Democratic party for the office of judge of the Superior Court, and elected. In 1884 he was re-elected judge of the same court and served out his term, ending in 1889, at which time he declined a re-election, and resumed the practice of law in part- nership with Frank H. Shaffer. The firm of Peck & Shaffer is one of the leading legal partnerships in Cincinnati, and conducts a large business. Judge Peck is especially strong in corporation law. In 1875 he compiled the " Municipal Laws of Ohio," which has passed through four editions. In 1884 he published the "'Township Officer's Guide," whose popularity is attested by seven editions. He was a director of the University of Cincinnati from 1878 to 1883. In 1891 he was appointed professor of the Law of Evidence and Cor- porations, in the Cincinnati Law School, a position which he still holds. The honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him in 1892 by Miami Univer- sity, and also the University of Cincinnati. He was appointed trustee of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Home by Governor Mckinley, in 1894, and reap- pointed in 1895. While absent, travelling in Europe in 1884, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate to represent the First District of Ohio in Con- gress. Although he declined to accept, he was supported strongly at the election in November, running ahead of the ticket, but going down to defeat in the avalanche which overwhelmed his party. He has an influential part in the councils of the Democratic party. A prominent Cincinnati lawyer, who has known Judge Peck ever since he was a student in college, says: "He con- ducted the office of city solicitor with great ability, and at the same time was eminently just and fair. As a judge his decisions stand high. He served on the Bench as long as he desired and his retirement was voluntary. He enjoys the confidence of the profession ; is well read outside of the law and is a very clever gentleman. In practice he has had some of the most important cases before the courts." Another eminent member of the Bar Association says :
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" He is a man of broad literary culture, whose decisions stand high among lawyers. He is without assumption, always approachable, and lovable in dis- position. He is especially proficient in laws relating to corporations, and his practice is largely in that class of cases. He is strong as an advocate. He is a man of impulsive nature, but his impulsiveness is always on the right side. He is a hard student and a good talker. As a lawyer he has the faculty of getting at the real points of the case. He is not accustomed in argument to cite numerous authorities, but rather argues on principle. His social attributes enable him to form acquaintances readily, and his acquaintances become friends."
He was married November 18, 1868, to Miss Harriet E. Weld, of Boston, Massachusetts, of the wealthy and influential family of that name. Three children have been born of the union.
JAMES E. CAMPBELL, Hamilton. James Edwin Campbell is a native of Ohio. He was born in Middletown, July 7, 1843, the son of Andrew Campbell and Laura P. Reynolds. Through the lineage of his father his descent is Scotch ; through that of his mother it is English. He is the sixth generation in descent from Jonathan Reynolds, who emigrated from Plymouth Earl, in Devonshire, England, and settled near Plymouth colony in 1645. Through a collateral branch of his mother's family he is descended from John Parker, who commanded the American patriots in their heroic struggle at Lexington. His paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Small, at the age of eighteen, accom- panied Montgomery on his fatal expedition to Quebec and suffered unspeakable hardships on his return through Canada. Both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the War of 1812. After the first settlement of the Reynolds family in Massachusetts, branches of it extended over into New York and Rhode Island, becoming numerous in both States. James E. Campbell attended the public schools of his native town and subsequently received excellent private instruction from the Rev. J. B. Morton, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Middletown for many years, and also a successful teacher. Before attaining his majority he taught school for a time and began a course of reading in law. His inheritance of patriotism was a moving impulse which prompted his en- listment in the military service of the government. In the summer of 1863 he became master's mate on the gunboats Elk and Naiad, of the Mississippi and Red river flotillas, and took part in several engagements. The unhealthful- ness of the climate soon affected him to such a degree that after one year's service he was discharged, on the recommendation of the board of surgeons, and returned home, almost a mere skeleton. Immediately on the recovery of his health he resumed the study of law in Middletown, and was admitted to the Bar in 1865. The interval between that time and the opening of his practice at Hamilton in the spring of 1867 was passed by him as book-keeper of the First National Bank of Middletown and deputy collector in the internal rev- enue service at Hamilton, under General Ferdinand Van Derveer, the col-
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lector. In 1867 he was appointed a commissioner of the United States and performed the duties of that office for two years, in addition to a general practice. During the war and prior thereto he had been a Republican ; but when the Union was restored and the war issues were closed, the changed con- ditions gave prominence to new issues and occasioned a new alignment of par- tisans. In 1872, with thousands of others, he renounced further allegiance to the Republican party and supported Greeley and Brown. Since that time he has been a Democrat. In 1875 and again in 1877 he was elected prosecut- ing attorney of Butler county, holding the office four years and discharg- ing his official duties with entire acceptability. In 1879 he was the can- didate of his party for State senator, and was defeated by only twelve votes. Ile placed his profession above politics and devoted fifteen years un- reservedly to it before entering upon an office which is regarded as strictly politicial. As a lawyer he has few superiors of his age at the Bar of the State, especially in the readiness and skill with which he grasps the real points in a case. He is a clear, strong, logical speaker, well informed on questions of law. No man in Hamilton has a cleaner or more honorable record. In addition to the asual and general practice, he has been charged with many important receiver- ships and other trusts. He has membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and other social or benevolent orders; in Masonry he is a Knight Templar. He is at present one of the trustees of the State University. He works hard and systematically, is thorough in the mastery of details, and therefore accomplishes more than most men. His courteous manner and social disposition win friends, and his integrity of character retains them. January 4, 1870, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Owens, whose father, Job E. Owens, was a native of Wales, and whose mother, Mary A. Price, was of Welsh descent. They have four children. In August, 1882, Mr. Campbell received the unanimous nomination of his party as its candidate for Congress. Although the returns showed his competitor's election by a majority of forty- one, he successfully contested the election, chiefly on the ground of illegal votes of non-resident students in Green and Warren counties. He received the largest vote ever given to a candidate in Butler county, which was the residence of his competitor as well as himself, and carried the county by the unprece- dented majority of 3,187. His first service was in the 48th Congress. He was again elected in 1884 and 1886, serving continuously for six years. In 1889 he was elected governor of Ohio, defeating Governor Foraker. In this office he displayed executive and administrative abilities which commanded the admiration of his party and the respect of all citizens. He was renominated in 1891, but defeated by Governor McKinley. Since that time he has devoted himself to his private affairs, although his name has been publicly canvassed in connection with exalted positions. He was named generally throughout the country as member of the President's cabinet in 1893, but refused to be considered in that connection on account of business interests, which had already suffered too much from the devotion of his time to those of the public. Governor Campbell commands the respect and confidence of his party, as well
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as the public, in a very high degree. His firm and fearless course while governor gave evidence, which the people quickly caught and retained, of the possession of those qualities which make a, chief executive officer both efficient and popular.
EDMOND S. YOUNG, Dayton. Edmond Stafford Young, deceased, one of the ablest members of the Dayton Bar, and one of the most prominent citi- zens of that city, was born at Lyme, New Hampshire, on February 28, 1827, and was the son of George Murray Young and Sibel (Green) Young. He was of Scotch-Irish descent-his grandfather, Dr. Hugh Murray Young, having been an early Irish emigrant to Connecticut. His father, George Murray Young, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, on April 1, 1802. He was educated at Exeter and Poughkeepsie Academies, and then learning the trade of a printer, carried on business for a time as a printer and publisher. In 1836 he married Sibel Green, daughter of Benjamin Green of Lyme, New Hamp- shire, and granddaughter of Colonel Ebenezer Green, a Revolutionary soldier. In 1835 he moved with his family to Ohio, and located at Newark, where for ten years he was extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1845 he went to Cincinnati, where for six years he carried on the produce and commission business. He removed to Dayton in 1851. He was elected mayor of that city in 1854, and re-elected in 1855, and he was subsequently appointed United States commissioner, an office which he held until his death. His wife died in Dayton in 1865. He was Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temper- ance when that order numbered thirty thousand in Ohio. In politics he was a Whig, and subsequently a Republican. During the war he was a staunch Union man. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, and was at all times, in whatever community he resided, honored and respected for his integrity and strength of character. Ile died at Dayton on August 30, 1878. Edmond Stafford Young attended college at Granville, Ohio, and after- wards at Cincinnati, graduating from Farmers College (afterwards Belmont), near that city, in 1845. At the latter institution he had among his fellow stu- dents ex-President Benjamin Harrison and Murat Halstead and Honorable L. B. Gunckel and the late Judge Henderson Elliott of Dayton. He read law in the office of W. J. Mckinney of Dayton, and after a term of service in the office of the clerk of the court of Montgomery county, Ohio, graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, and was admitted to the Bar in the year 1853. Mr. Young's professional partners were, successively, George W. Brown, Hon- orable David A. Houk and Oscar M. Gottschall, with the latter of whom his partnership continued from 1866 until 1879. In 1878 his eldest son, George R. Young, was admitted to the firm, which under the name of Young, Gottschall & Young, continued until the year 1879, when Mr. Gottschall retired, Mr. Young and his son remaining together in the practice under the firm name of Young & Young until his death in 1888. In September, 1856, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Young Married Sarah B. Dechert, daughter of Elijah Dech-
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