USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 40
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"Judge A. T. Holcomb is a well educated man, and a man of brilliant qualities. IIe has a bright intellect, quick in perception, and possesses in a high degree the elements of oratory. He is lucid and logical in statement, and is a well-read lawyer. Since he located in Portsmouth he has not devoted all of his time to the practice of law, although he possesses the elements and quali- fications of a strong and brilliant lawyer. He is always courteous to his breth- ren of the Bar and respectful to the court. He is very fair in the practice of the law and does not press the little matters that he might fairly take advan- tage of. He is very kind-hearted, sympathetic and possessed of a lively enthusiasm. His temperament is hopeful and sanguine. He never foresees defeat, but always expects and anticipates success."
SAMUEL M. HUNTER, Newark, ex-judge of the Common Pleas Court, is a native of Ohio. He was born at Cadiz, in Harrison county, February 21, 1838. His parents were Joseph R. and Letitia McFadden Hunter, the former a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of County Caven, Ireland. His mother came to America when a child, with her parents, who located in Harrison county, Ohio. His paternal ancestors came from the North of Ireland to America in the early history of the country, settling first in Virginia and removing to Pennsylvania about 1780, on account of having to pay tithes. His great-grandfather, Cyrus Hunter, was an ensign in the George Rogers Clark expedition into the territory north of the Ohio river, which succeeded in wresting that section from the British and Indians, and adding it to the domains of Virginia. He was never heard from there- after, and was probably slain by the Indians or carried into captivity and died in an English prison. His grandfather came to Ohio in 1815 and located in Wayne county, upon a tract of land where he reared his family and resided until death. Judge Hunter's father located in Cadiz in early manhood and followed the trade of a cabinet maker. The primary education of our subject was received in the public schools of Cadiz and, fortunately for him, they were excellent. His father had not the means to send him to college, but he had the advantage of a course in higher mathematics privately under the eminent instructor, Professor Brinkerhoff, of Franklin College, and a course of classic studies under the tuition of Rev. Henry Davis, a celebrated Presbyterian divine of Cadiz. He first engaged in teaching, an avocation that has been a stepping stone to many high positions in the legal profession. He then learned the printing trade, but later abandoned that for the law. His legal studies began in the office of J. M. Estep, of Cadiz, one of the oldest attorneys of east- ern Ohio. After the usual course he was admitted to the Bar in 1863. In 1862, prior to his admission to the bar, he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served for some months in West Virginia and was mustered out in 1863. He began the practice of law at Cambridge, Ohio, immediately after leaving the army, but removed to Newark in February, 1864, continuing the practice there. In 1886 he was elected city solicitor of
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Jamie M. Hunter
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Newark, an office he held for five years by successive re-elections. In 1871 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Licking county, serving in this position for two terms, from 1872 to 1876. In the fall of the latter year he was elected to the Common Pleas Bench, in the first subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District. He was re-elected in 1881, retiring from the Bench in 1866, after a service of ten years. He then resumed the practice of law. In 1894 he was the nomi- nee on the Democratic ticket for one of the judges of the Circuit Court, Fifth Judicial District, but was defeated with his party. As a lawyer Judge Hunter ranks as one of the ablest and most successful at the Licking county Bar. He has a tremendous capacity for work. and spares no pains in the preparation of his cases. His honesty and integrity are undisputed, and he is relied upon as being a safe and conservative counsellor. There are but few men in the pro- fession anywhere who have more of the public confidence than has Judge Hunter. Said one of the best known lawyers at the Newark Bar :
" Judge Hunter has made a very creditable record in his chosen profes- sion. He has risen from the bottom to the front rank of practicing attorneys at this Bar, by his own ability, perseverance and industry. As a lawyer he gained the reputation early in his career of being earnest, fearless and inde- pendent-characteristics that have grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength. He proved himself well fitted for the Bench by ten years of successful work. He made a very satisfactory judge. He has read law understandingly, and his judgment was almost unerring. Another feature of his work on the Bench was the celerity with which he arrived at the pith of any question. He avoided all circumlocution, and came straight to the point in a direct and concise manner that left his meaning clear both to the jury and to the members of the Bar. He is of quiet disposition, unassuming in his manners, plain and direct in his speech. He is well qualified for the Bench ; his reserved manner, quiet bearing and logical mind gave him a peculiar and natural adaptability for the position. He has the esteem of his professional brethren and the respect of the entire community."
Judge Hunter is one of the public-spirited citizens of the city, and has taken an active interest in developing its industrial resources. He was instru- mental in locating the Edward H. Everett Glass Manufacturing Company at Newark, in which he is a large stockholder, and at present first vice-president. He is also president of the Advocate Printing Company, publishers of the daily and weekly Advocate, the leading paper in Licking county, and a direc- tor in the Franklin bank, the oldest financial institution in the city. He is a member of the Masonic Order and a Knight Templar ; also of the improved order of Red Men and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was married in 1872 to Miss Ida Eunice Robbins, daughter of Willis and Helen Warner Robbins, of Newark. Mr. Robbins is the senior member of the banking firm of Robbins, Wing & Wingarner. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have three daughters : Helen, Ethel and Louise, and one son, Robbins.
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NELSON WILEY EVANS, Portsmouth. The family of Evans has occu- pied so conspicuous a position in the history of the American colonies and the government of the United States, as to deserve some consideration. In order to the better understanding of this personal biography of a member of the family, it becomes important to sketch briefly the genealogy in chronological order. The first representative in America, or the founder of the American branch, so far as information has come to this biographer, was Hugh Evans, who was living in Pennsylvania about the middle of the eighteenth century. He was a patriot who loved the liberty regulated by just laws and the inde- pendence that belongs to local self-government. When the king of England became tyrannous in the exactions imposed upon the American colonies, he determined to enter the army and fight for the independence of the colonies. He was dissuaded from this purpose by his son, Edward, a boy of sixteen, who volunteered as a soldier himself and prevailed upon the father to remain at home and care for the family. This boy soldier fought in the battles of Ger- mantown and Brandywine, and was near enough to hear the guns of Monmouth. After the treaty of peace had been signed, he crossed the Alle- ghanies in the full vigor and strength of his young manhood and became a pioneer resident of Mason county, Kentucky. He was married to Jemima Applegate and reared a family. He removed to Ohio in 1803, locating in Brown county. His second son, William Evans, born in 1787, became a sol- dier in the War of 1812 and was with the army of Hull at the time of his sur- render in Detroit. He was twenty-five at the time of this disaster-hale, strong and unmarried. One of his messmates was Charles Kilpatrick, a young Virginian, who had become his closest friend through congenial comradeship in the peril and circumstance of war. This friend was the husband of Mary Patton, daughter of John Patton, a prominent land owner of Rockbridge county, Virginia. Kilpatrick died on the way home at Chillicothe, and it became the duty of William Evans to break the sad news to his widow. He performed the duty as a brave man, with loyal devotion to the memory of his dead friend and tender regard for the living widow. The mission was charac- terized by a gracious observance of the proprieties and a winning gentleness of demeanor. The tenderness of his diplomacy bespoke the warmth of his friendship; and at length he was able to assuage her grief with the consola- tion of his own love. In the fullness of time he became the widow's comforter and protector in the relation of husband. His son, Edward Patton Evans, was born May 31, 1814. He became a lawyer and a successful man, honored and esteemed by a large acquaintanceship. He married Amanda Jane King. Nelson W. Evans, the chief subject of this biography, was the son of Edward Patton and Amanda King Evans. He was born in Brown county, Ohio, June 4, 1842. Five years later the family removed to West Union, in Adams county. He attended the public schools in that town until the fall of 1860, and then became a student in the North Liberty Academy, where he was pre- pared for college. In January, 1861, he was admitted to the Freshman class of Miami University, where he remained until June, 1863. At that time the
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spirit of his fathers moved him to offer his services for the preservation of the Union. He enlisted in the 129th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and received a commission as first lieutenant. He was with the division of the Ninth Army Corps which captured Cumberland Gap within three months after his enlist- ment. He was in numerous battles and skirmishes of the Union forces against Longstreet in Tennessee. He resigned in January, 1864, and returned to the Miami University the following March. He was graduated with his class in June following, and afterwards, for a brief period, attended the Military Acad- emy at Philadelphia. In September of the same year he re-entered the army as adjutant of the 173rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Two months later he was promoted to a captaincy and in the battle of Nashville he was adjutant of a brigade. His military service throughout was honorable to himself and in some instances so brilliant as to call for special commendation. After the war closed he attended the Cincinnati law school and pursued the course of study to graduation. He was admitted to the Bar at Cincinnati in April, 1866. In August of the same year he settled in Portsmouth, which has been his home for thirty years. During all of that period he has been engaged in the prac- tice of law and has also held offices of trust, both in the line of his profession and those which are regarded political and educational. He has also held offi- cial relation to business and commercial enterprises of large importance. He served the city as solicitor from 1871 to 1875. From January 14, 1870, to September 1, 1878, he was register in bankruptcy for the Eleventh Congres- sional District. In 1882 he was elected a director of the Cincinnati and East- ern Railroad Company, and it was directly by his influence and vote as director that the railroad was extended to Portsmouth. In 1880 he was elected a member of the board of education for the city of Portsmouth and served until 1884. Three years later he was again elected and served until 1893, giv- ing ten years of his time altogether to the interests of the schools and general cause of education. Captain Evans is a Republican in politics and takes pride in tracing his political inheritance back through the Whig party to the Feder- alists, of whom Washington was the chief. He is a communicant of the Episcopal Church and a vestryman of All Saints. Captain Evans has a good reputation as a lawyer and a man. He believes in the performance of duty whether in the smaller things of every-day life or the larger affairs appertain- ing to the public and the State. He maintains a character without reproach, and in his relations with others lives up to a high standard of manhood. He was married September 9, 1868, to Miss Lizzie Henderson, of Middletown, Ohio.
WEDEN O'NEAL, Cincinnati. The subject of this biography was born in Boone county, Kentucky, April 28, 1839. He sprang from a union of Scotch and Irish ancestors. His father, George O'Neal, was a Scotchman by descent, and the lineage of his mother, Sarah Sleet, was Irish. Both parents were natives of Kentucky. He was prepared for college, entered the Kentucky
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University at Lexington, and was gradnated in 1859. From that time until the opening of the Rebellion he was engaged in teaching school in Boone county, and at the same time studied law. In April, 1863, he enlisted in the Union army and was mustered as colonel of the Fifty-fifth Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry ; served with his command until the close of the war, when he was brevetted a brigadier general. Upon returning to the pursuits of civil life in 1865, Colonel O'Neal was admitted to the Bar and entered upon the practice of law in Covington, Kentucky. After remaining there twenty years, and building up a large business, he moved across the river to Cincinnati in 1885 and formed a law partnership with Charles H. Blackburn, which continued until 1892. Since that time he has carried on the practice alone. Colonel O'Neal was appointed United States Marshal for Kentucky by President Grant during his second term ; he was nominated twice as the Republican candidate for Congress in the Sixth Kentucky District, and although defeated each time, he succeeded in reducing the Democratic majority more than three thousand. He was married September 5, 1862, with Miss Caroline, daughter of the late John W. Fenley, of Crittenden, Kentucky. Three children born of this marriage are John B., an attorney at law, admitted to the Bar in the Circuit Court at Covington, Kentucky, in 1888, unmarried ; George, married to Fredericka, daughter of F. W. Moore, of Cincinnati ; and Zue Lou. The family reside in Covington and are members of the Fifth Street Christian Church. The fol- lowing is from Judge O'Hara, of Covington :
"I have known Colonel O'Neal from boyhood. After completing his education he engaged in the business of merchandising in an adjoining county. In this he was not successful, becoming involved beyond his ability to pav. It was then I became acquainted with him and succeeded in extricat- ing him from his financial troubles. When the war came on, although he had begun the study of law, he abandoned it for the time and went into the army. He was a brave and gallant soldier, serving throughout the war, having attained the rank of colonel. While in the service his health was somewhat impaired, but upon his return home he took up the practice of the law and has been engaged in it ever since. For several years he has practiced in Cincin- nati, and was for a time in partnership with Major Blackburn, a noted crimi- nal lawyer. In fact, Colonel O'Neal has paid more attention to criminal law than to civil business ; has been engaged in many important criminal cases and, in my judgment, stands in the front rank of criminal lawyers, at least in Cincin- nati. He is now associated in partnership with his son, John O'Neal, a very promising young lawyer, whose practice is largely in the Federal and State courts of Kentucky, in defending violators of the revenue laws. He is quite efficient in that branch of practice. Colonel O'Neal is prominent in the councils of the Republican party of his State, has frequently been mentioned as a fit person to represent his district in Congress, and also for the office of governor of the State. He is prominently active in aiding applicants to obtain State and Federal patronage, and is as loyal to his friends as he is to his country. He stands well in the community and is highly esteemed. I should say that as a lawyer he is employed mostly in high grade criminal cases."
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ROLLIN C. HURD, Mount Vernon. Honorable Rollin C. Hurd was born at West Arlington, Vermont, September 12, 1815, and died at Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 12, 1874. He was the son of an intelligent farmer, Honorable Asahel Hurd, who was influential in the affairs of his neighborhood, and rep- resented his town for two terms in the State legislature. He attended public .school in early boyhood and performed his share of labor on the farm. At the age of twelve he was sent to a boarding school at Norwich, Connecticut. At sixteen he came to Ohio with Professor Herman Dyer, of Kenyon College, an old friend of the family, and was placed in the preparatory department of that institution After three years he was admitted to the Freshman class and pur- sued the regular course of the college for two years. About this time he formed relations which not only influenced his immediate plans, but also affected his entire subsequent life. Ilaving come west in youth, unaccom- panied by other members of his father's family, the formation of new ties and family relations naturally followed at an early period. He was fortunate in becoming acquainted with Miss Mary B. Norton, a most estimable young lady, daughter of Daniel S. Norton, a well known citizen of Mount Vernon. His marriage with Miss Norton was consummated in August, 1836, a month before he attained his majority, and instead of continuing his college course to grad- uation he entered upon the study of law at Mount Vernon in the office of Ben- jamin S. Brown, and made rapid progress. His mind had already been disciplined by study; his discernment was unusually keen and his power of concentration enabled him readily to grasp the fundamental principles of juris- prudence. He was, therefore, qualified for practice within a comparatively short period, and was admitted to the Bar April 1, 1837. He wisely remained in the office of his preceptor and enjoyed from the outset the advantage of a clientage. The death of Mr. Brown a year later left him the inheritor of a business which represented the accumulation of years. It was a rare oppor- tunity for a young man who was courageous, self-reliant and ambitious. Young Hurd was equal to the occasion. At the age of twenty-two he was required to appear in the contests of the forum as the adversary of old and successful practitioners. It required ability, skill and study to maintain himself and sat- isfy the clients whose interests had providentially fallen into his keeping; but the necessity and the opportunity served to make him valiant and clothed him with a dignity far above his years. Circumstances not under his control first called him into the front rank ; but his own abilities and acquirements, his acumen and persistent application, his character and method enabled him to maintain the position and advance himself to eminence in the profession. He possessed the elements which enter into the composition of an essentially legal mind, in due proportions and so mixed as to make a lawyer of the first class. He enjoyed the duties of professional life and devoted himself to them without reservation. After engaging in practice continuously some fifteen years he was elected judge of the Common Pleas, in 1852, and served a single term. His judicial duties were discharged with scrupulous exactness, consistent with a high sense of public duty, and with conscientious regard to the obligation
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imposed. He was elected as a Whig, and supported that party in his political allegiance. During the whole course of his life, however, he was a lawyer and not a politician. While on the Bench Judge Hurd began the preparation of a tretise on "Habeas Corpus," which was published within a few years after his resumption of practice. This work is recognized as standard on the sub- ject treated and held in high regard by the profession, and has contributed to give durability to the fame of its author. Judge Hurd was cotemporary with Ranney and Thurman, and was frequently associated with them in cases of importance in the State and Federal courts. In January, 1863, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. During the latter years of his life he gave much of his time, energy and influence, to an enter- prise of vast importance to the community. It was chiefly through his exer- tions and public-spirited activity that the Cleveland, Mount Vernon and Columbus Railroad Company was organized, and the road constructed. As president of the company he exhibited remarkable administrative and execu- tive ability, which had not been called into exercise, and possibly had not been suspected while practicing law or serving on the Bench. Gradually these new and semi-public duties drew him out of the channels in which his reputation had been created ; but it may be claimed that instead of detracting from his reputation they added to his fame. He was a man of magnificent figure and commanding presence, scrupulously neat and modest in his attire, carefully observant of all the civilities of refined society, and scholarly and exact in all he said and wrote. The clearness and force with which he was able to for- mulate and state legal propositions as related to the case in hand was very remarkable. His family life was honorable and irreproachable. His son, the Honorable Frank II. Hurd, late of Toledo, became distinguished. Three of his children died in infancy. A fourth, Rollin Hurd, Jr., died in 1872. One daughter, now deceased, was the wife of John S. Delano. The only surviving member of the family is Mrs. Robert Clark, of Mount Vernon.
SILAS T. SUTPHIEN, Defiance. Honorable Silas T. Sutphen, for more than seven years judge of the Court of Common Pleas, is one of the most prominent attorneys of northwestern Ohio. He is a native of the State, born on his father's farm in Fairfield county, August 28, 1838. After the death of his grandfather in New Jersey, the widow with her family, including Colonel R. D. Sutphen, the judge's father, then a mere lad, came to Ohio and settled in Liberty township, that county, in 1815. Ilis mother, Sarah Zerkel, a native of Virginia, also came into the State with her parents in 1815 and settled in the same neighborhood, where they were among the earliest settlers. It was in the midst of a wilderness, occupied by wild beasts and wild Indians. The Zutphens emigrated from Holland and were among the very early settlers of New Amsterdam and New Jersey. The family is still largely represented in the two States- New York and New Jersey - but S has taken the place of the
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original initial Z. The Zerkel family emigrated from Germany and settled in Virginia not long before the birth of Sarah. Colonel R. D. Sutphen, who assisted in clearing his mother's farm, on which he resided for many years, became one of the prominent and successful farmers of the neighborhood. For several years he was colonel of a military company and was also a local leader. At the age of eighty-nine he is still living, and in vigorous health, at Carey, Wyandotte county. Silas Sutphen attended the public schools of his native township and spent four years in the Union School of Baltimore, Ohio. In 1859 he entered Heidelberg College at Tiffin, in which he took the scientific course, graduating in 1862 as a Bachelor of Science. He took up the study of law during his last year in college, under the tutorship of the late Judge James Pillars at Tiffin, and after leaving college continued his course of read- ing in the office of Judge Pillars for a year and was then admitted to the Bar. He located in Defiance to engage in the practice in 1863 and has pursued it continuously except during the period of his service on the Bench. He served as mayor of the city two consecutive terms, his first election being in 1864. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Defiance county in 1867 and was re-elected twice, serving for six years. Upon retiring from the prosecutor's office in January, 1874, he resumed the general practice and continued in it for ten years, when, in 1884, he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Second Subdivision of the Third District, comprising Defiance, Paulding and Williams counties - for the residue of a term more than half of which had been filled by another. In 1886 he was elected for a full term, which expired in 1892. The only professional partnership ever formed by Judge Sutphen was with his brother, Charles M., now of Van Wert, which was entered into in 1880 and terminated in 1882. The period of thirty-five years covered by his residence in Defiance has been devoted exclusively to his pro- fession ; although he gave time and active support to the public enterprise aiding largely in securing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for his home city, assisting in locating the line from Tiffin to Defiance. He aided in organizing the Merchants' National Bank of Defiance and has been a member of its direc- tory for many years. He inherited from his father a love for the democracy of Jefferson, Jackson and Calhoun, and has always been a working member of the Democratic party. Among the noteworthy cases with which Judge Sut- phen has been connected as counsel, that of the State of Ohio vs. Joseph Wisemantle, indicted for murder in the first degree, was conspicuous. He appeared for the defendant and associated with himself in the case Honorable W. D. Hill. Wisemantle was charged with killing one Miller in the back room of a saloon and there was no other witness of the homicide. The aspect of the case was unfavorable and public sentiment against the defendant was much inflamed when the trial opened. The defense was "justifiable homicide," and counsel rested their case on defendant's testimony, supported by some circumstantial evidence which they industriously dug up and skillfully introduced. The jury was impressed with their view and found a verdict of " not guilty." Another case was the State vs. Jackson Wonderly (fifteen
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