USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 47
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city of Springfield to name half a dozen of the ablest men at the Bar of the city and Mr. Cochran's name will appear on every list. He is conservative and safe, rather than quick and brilliant, and as a practitioner is held in high esteem by the profession. As a citizen he is universally respected for his irre- proachable character, his abhorrence of shams, his public spirit and support of what is best in the community. Everybody who knows him is his friend, and it is not flattery to say that he is worthy the friendships of all. In all his dealings he has been honorable, faithful in the discharge of his duties to his clients, true to his friends and true to himself. His political principles are in accord with the Republican party, but he takes no active interest in politics. He has devoted himself unreservedly to the practice of law, and has persist- ently and unequivocally declined to accept a nomination for any public office, either in the line of his profession or out of it. He is a man of scholarly attainments, acknowledged legal ability and sterling character. He is emi- nently qualified for judicial honors, but his single ambition to be known as a good lawyer is completely satisfying to himself. And he has succeeded. Men of this character exert a larger silent influence than is generally suspected. More of them are needed in this generation, when the mania for public office is a menace to public morals and private honor. Mr. Cochran is courteous in bearing and unassuming in manners. His tastes are quiet and intellectual, courting neither notoriety nor publicity. He was married September 17, 1868, to Miss Perlie A. V. Wilbur, of Cincinnati. They have four children.
ARTHUR E. KERNS, Findlay. A. E. Kerns, Probate Judge of Hancock county, is a native of Ohio, born on his father's farm near Port Jefferson, May 28, 1861. His parents were Joseph and Sarah McKee Kerns, both of whom were natives of the State. The family on his father's side lived originally in Holland and emigrated to America, settling in Pennsylvania, during the seven- teenth century. The family lived for several generations in Pennsylvania, until 1795, when Joseph Kerns, at the age of ten years, came west with his widowed mother and settled near Cincinnati, in Hamilton county. In the early years of the present century, while yet a young man, he removed to Mis- souri and located on a farm adjoining the one occupied by Daniel Boone, then in his old age, still pursuing the occupation of a hunter and trapper. The State was almost an unbroken wilderness and the business of hunting and trap- ping was more profitable than farming. Returning to Ohio just prior to the War of 1812, Joseph Kerns enlisted in the army as a volunteer and was assigned to the western division, serving mostly in the Indian country. He served until the close of the war, and then purchased a farm in Miami county near Piqua, on which he lived for sixty-eight years. His death occurred in 1884, when he was in his ninety-sixth year. Judge Kerns' father, whose name was also Joseph, was born on the Miami county farm and in later years occupied a farm adjoining the old homestead, on which he still lives. He
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married Sarah McKee, whose parents were early settlers of Ohio and of Scotch- Irish descent. Arthur E. Kerns passed his boyhood on his father's farm and attended the public schools of his district. Later he entered the Piqua high school from which he was graduated in 1881. He remained at home until he had reached his majority, when he took up the study of law, in the fall of 1882, in the office of Major Stephen Johnson, at Piqua, continuing his stud- ies there for one year. In the fall of 1883 he entered the Cincinnati Law School. which he attended for two terms. In the spring of 1885, having passed the required examination, he was admitted at Columbus to practice in the courts of Ohio. He opened an office for practice first at Tippecanoe City, and remained there two years. The last year of his residence there he was elected mayor of the city ; but after serving one year of his term he resigned the office and removed to Findlay, where he has since lived and pursued the practice of law. He was elected Probate Judge of Hancock county in the fall of 1890 and re-elected in 1893. He is the first attorney-at-law ever elected to that office in the county, and also the first Republican to fill the position. Fol- lowing in the footsteps of his father, Judge Kerns is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, and up to the time of his election to the Bench, he was an active worker for party success. He was chairman of the county executive committee in 1894, when the Republicans carried the county by 1,172 majority, the largest ever obtained by the party in Hancock county. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and in his religious faith is a Presbyterian. He was married in 1886, to Miss Sallie C. Manson, daughter of the late General Mahlon D. Manson and Caroline Mitchell, his wife, of Craw- fordsville, Indiana. General Manson was a captain in the Mexican War, the first colonel of the Tenth Indiana Regiment during the late Civil War and a brigadier general before the war closed. He served as a member of Congress
and lieutenant governor of the State. He was a brave, generous-hearted, noble-minded man, a hero and a patriot, beloved of all. Judge and Mrs. Kerns have two children, a son and a daughter. This opinion is quoted from the highest legal authority in the State, concerning Mr. Kerns: " He has made a good, careful Probate Judge and is of good character and habits. He will surely win success in the practice, with his excellent equipment. He is of good, easy address and makes an agreeable impression on all with whom he comes in contact." Judge Kerns retired from office February 9, 1897, and resumed the practice of law at Findlay. His experience in the judicial office, requiring the investigation and decision of all classes of cases, enlarged his qualifications as a practitioner, and the favorable acquaintance made while on the Bench has tended to enlarge his clientage. He is therefore meeting with very gratifying success. The reputation of a just and upright judge on the Bench is a tower of strength to him at the Bar when he chooses to re-enter the field of active practice. All the benefit to be derived from such a reputa- tion now accrues to Judge Kerns, and clients know their confidence is not misplaced. He is a growing man, both in the amount of business and the ability to manage it.
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HINCHMAN S. PROPHET, Lima. Mr. Prophet was born January 26, 1836, in Evesham, Burlington county, New Jersey, one of a family of eight children. His parents were John Prophet and Catherine Roberts, natives of England, who emigrated to America in 1829, and lived for a time in Phila- delphia and New York before settling in New Jersey. The family removed to Ohio in 1838, locating first in Columbiana county and afterwards removing to Morrow county. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of Cardington, Ohio, and began the study of law at the age of twenty under the instruction of Ross Burns. His studies were continued at Mount Gilead under Judge J. A. Beebe, and he was admitted to the Bar in that town February 2, 1860, having spent four years in preliminary studies. He was immediately admitted to partnership with Judge Beebe, with whom he con- tinued practice until the opening of the Rebellion. Under the first call for volunteers he enlisted and was elected second lieutenant of a company ; but as the quota of troops required under the first call was filled before his company was mustered, he re-enlisted as a private in Company C, Fifteenth Ohio Infantry, which had already been accepted by the governor. He served three months in the campaign in West Virginia and, after being mustered out, assisted in recruiting and organizing Company B of the Forty-third Ohio Infantry, in which he served successively as second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain. He was wounded in the second battle of Corinth in 1862 and resigned in the summer of 1863, on account of ill health. In his official report of the battle of Corinth the commanding general made honorable mention of Captain Prophet, commending him for conspicuous good conduct, bravery and efficiency in the battle. Upon returning to Mount Gilead he was elected colonel of the Second Regiment Ohio Militia, and received a commission from the governor. For five years next ensuing he practiced his profession and at the same time was editor and proprietor of a county newspaper. In 1866 he was appointed postmaster of Mount Gilead by President Johnson, and in the fall of 1869 was elected State senator, serving one term. In the published history of the Fifty-ninth General Assembly we find this paragraph : " Mr. Prophet has never been absent from his seat with or without leave but once, and that was but for one afternoon to visit the Soldiers' Home at Xenia as a member of the committee. He has never missed a single vote on any question during the two sessions of the legislature. He is a fine speaker, only speaking upon such subjects as interest his constituents, and then he is generally suc- cessful in carrying his point. Socially he is an excellent fellow and has hosts of friends in both parties." At the close of his service in the Senate he removed to Lima, in 1872, where he has resided continuously and been employed exclusively in the practice of law as senior member of the firm of Prophet & Eastman. His practice has been general in the various State and Federal courts and has included a large proportion of the important litigated cases in the Circuit and Common Pleas Courts. One of these cases, which excited general interest, not only in the county, but throughout the State, was "The State of Ohio on the relation of Henry Morgenthaler vs. C. D.
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76.8. Prophet
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Crites, auditor of Allen county, Ohio." This was an action brought by the tax inquisitor for Allen county, praying for a writ of mandamus compelling the auditor to proceed upon the facts and evidence placed before him by said inquisitor and ascertain as far as practicable, and enter for taxation on the tax lists of said county, any personal property, moneys, investments in bonds, stock or otherwise, owned by Calvin S. Brice in any of the five years prior to 1889. It was claimed that Senator Brice had omitted from his tax returns about two million dollars upon which he should have paid taxes. It was also claimed that the auditor, being a personal and partisan friend of the senator, was not willing to do his duty as a public officer, and it was- averred in the petition of the inquisitor that the auditor neither desired nor intended to require Mr. Brice to pay any taxes except such as he paid voluntarily. The constitutionality of the tax laws, and of the law authorizing county commis- sioners to employ tax inquisitors, was involved. The result of the contest was that the writ issued compelling the auditor to put the sequestered property on the tax list. The case is fully reported in 48th Ohio, pages 142 to 176. It was celebrated no less on account of the prominence of the principal party to the suit than on account of the array of eminent lawyers employed in the several branches of the case. The State was represented by William L. Avery, Robb & Leete, Boynton & Hale and ex-Governor J. B. Foraker. The county commissioners were represented by Isaac S. Motter, prosecuting attorney, and Honorable H. S. Prophet. Honorable John McMahon and S. N. Owens, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, appeared for Senator Brice. In politics Mr. Prophet is a Democrat. He has held important official posi- tions and discharged his duty with ability and fidelity. He served four years as city solicitor of Lima, beginning in 1874. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Allen county in 1878 and re-elected in 1880, serving four years. He was mayor of the city for a term in 1881 and 1882 and declined renomina- tion. He also served as a member of the board of education of the city for ten years, was president of the board five years and is now serving as treasurer. He has been a member of the Bar Association of Ohio ever since its organiza- tion. He is a member of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, also an ac- tive member of the National Veteran Union, and was elected Judge Advocate General of Department of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky for the years 1892-93, and elected in August, 1895, Judge Advocate General of the National Com- mand of Union Veteran Union of the United States. He is a member of Mark Armstrong Post No. 202, G. A. R., and also a prominent member of the I. O. O. F. He was married December 25, 1867, to Frances A., daughter of Judge J. A. Beebe, his preceptor and first law partner. Five children were the fruit of this union, of whom four are living-Edgar S., Herbert S., Grace Alice and Catherine E. Mrs. Prophet is a lady of unusual ability, scholarship and attainments. The husband, wife and children constitute a happy family and occupy a prominent position in the society of Lima and the membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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IRA RICHIE LONGSWORTH, Lima. Mr. Longsworth may be classed among the rising attorneys of the Ohio Bar. He was born October 2, 1859, at Van Wert, Ohio. He is a son of William N. and Olivia Richie Longsworth, the former for twenty-five years a prominent physician of Van Wert. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of his native town, graduating from the high school in June, 1876, with the honors of his class. After his graduation, up to the spring of 1878 he continued private study in preparation for a collegiate education, at which time he had prepared himself to enter the Junior class at Wooster University, Wooster, Ohio. In the spring of 1878 his father, who was at that time largely engaged in the manufacture of handles for farming implements at Van Wert, erected a similar factory at Lima, Ohio, and the management of this enterprise was placed in the hands of his son, then only eighteen years old. This business was managed successfully by Mr. Longsworth, and obliged him to give up his collegiate study. In 1882 he bought the handle factory at Lima and operated it there with a good degree of success for a number of years. His connection with this business prevented him from taking a regular and systematic course of studies, but he, having determined to become a lawyer, began and kept up his reading at home with the purpose of entering the profession as soon as the opportunity offered. In 1888 his manufacturing business was moved to Anderson, Indiana (his brother L. R. Longsworth being taken in as a partner and as manager), and his active connection with its management ceased, though he still retains the controlling interest therein. Mr. Longsworth at once went into the office of Davis J. Cable, a prominent member of the Allen county, Bar, under whose direction Mr. Longsworth's previous legal reading had been done, and completed a very thorough course of study. October 2, 1889, he was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court at Columbus, and at once began active practice, in part- nership with F. M. Dotson, under the firm name of Longsworth & Dotson. This arrangement terminated in 1891, and since that time Mr. Longsworth has been alone. His practice is a general one, and has grown with each year of his connection with the profession. He has been engaged in some very important cases, and it may also be said that in the majority of them he has been successful. He is held in universal esteem, and his standing with his col- leagues in the profession is best represented in the direct language of one of the most prominent members of the Lima Bar: "No lawyer is more highly respected among the members of the Bar, and none stand higher in pub- lic esteem and general popularity. He never fails to prepare himself thor- oughly, and in the presentation of a case he shows great logical force, and a keen understanding of the law bearing upon it." In politics he is strongly Republican, and takes an active interest in promoting party success. He was elected mayor of the city of Lima in 1890, for a term of two years, but has persistently declined since that time to be a candidate for any office, preferring to give his undivided energy to his law practice. He is chairman of the Republican county executive committee, and is usually one of the representa- tives of his party in county and State conventions. He was married December
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13, 1882, to Miss Esther M. Metheany, daughter of Charles A. Metheany, a well known and wealthy citizen of Lima. In social cireles both husband and wife are prominent; the latter is an accomplished musician and a fine singer; both are members of the Lima Choral Society, of which Mr. Longsworth has been the president continuously sinee 1890. In 1892 he was chosen president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Lima, and he is justly proud of the fine new building into which the association has recently moved ; he was chairman of the building committee of the association during the ereetion of the new building, and is still president of the association. Mr. and Mrs. Longs- worth are members of the Baptist Church, and have three children-Mary Esther, Walter I. and Helen Olivia.
ISAAC S. MOTTER, Lima. Isaac Snively Motter is a native of Williams- port, Maryland, where he was born January 19, 1852, the son of Isaae Motter, a farmer, who was a native of the same State. His mother, Mary A. Snively, whose aneestors dwelt on the banks of the beautiful river Rhine, in Germany, and came to America during the seventeenth century, was born in Pennsylva- nia. His primary education was obtained partly in the eommon sehools, after which he entered Roanoke College in Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1872. In accordance with a purpose to study law, he entered upon a course of reading in the office of Colonel George Sehley, at Hagerstown, Maryland, which he pursued assiduously for a term of four years. He was admitted to the Bar in 1876, and after practicing one year at Hagerstown, removed to Ohio and located in Lima in 1881, where he resumed the practice of law, first pass- ing the required examination and receiving lieense to praetiee law in the State. Immediately there was formed a partnership with William L. Mackenzie, son of Judge Mackenzie, under the firm name of Motter & Mackenzie. The part- nership continues unbroken, to the mutual advantage of the partners, and the firm has a very valuable practice, extending into the Federal as well as all the State courts. Mr. Motter is a Demoerat in polities. He has served as ehair- man of the executive committee of the county and delegate to the various dis- triet and State conventions, numbers of times. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Allen county in 1888 and again in 1891. He prosecuted the indietment against William Goins for aiding and abetting murder. The defendant was eonvieted of murder in the second degree, but immediately after the jury was discharged evidence of misconduet in the jury room was diseov- ered and the affidavits of some of the jurors were offered in evidence for the purpose of setting aside the verdiet. This case was taken to the Supreme Court on error and was reversed for reasons other than the misconduet of the jury. It is reported in 46th Ohio State Reports, pages 171 and 172. Mr. Motter is a very active, energetie, painstaking lawyer, who does not shirk any duty or seek ease while there is work to do. He was married November 18, 1886, to Harriet A. Meily, a sister of the wife of Senator Calvin S. Brice, and
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daughter of the late John Meily, who was clerk of the County Court and held other responsible offices in the county for many years. He has one son, Benjamin Snively, born in 1893. Mr. Motter is a member of the Lutheran Church. His disposition to dispense charity and exercise brotherly love, finds its opportunity in membership in the Masonic fraternity and other secret orders.
LINDLEY W. MORRIS, Toledo. Judge Morris is a native of Ohio, oorn in Columbiana county on his father's farm near Alliance, October 16, 1853. His father, Thomas C. Morris, and his mother, Minerva J. Preston, were both of English descent and belonged to Quaker families. His father was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and his mother's parents removed from Loudoun county, Virginia, to Columbiana county, Ohio, a short time before her birth. Thomas C. Morris entered the volunteer service of the Union army as second sergeant of Company B of the regiment of Benton Cadets (Fremont Guards), in 1861, and served as such until this regiment disbanded in Missouri in the fall of that year. Subsequently he re-recruited Company K of the Eightieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was appointed captain of this company, and was mustered into the service for three years at Paducah, Ken- tucky, where he joined his regiment March 22, 1862. He afterwards re-enlisted for service until the end of the war. He served in the western army, under Sher- man and Grant, in their campaigns up to the siege of Vicksburg; thence to Ten- nessee through all the hard fighting which led up to and included the battle of Chickamauga. He was in the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns, and marched with Sherman to the sea ; thence through the Carolinas to Washing- ton. In the meantime, by successive promotions, he had received the com- mission of colonel and commanded the regiment in which he first served as captain. After the arinies of Lee and Johnson had surrendered, and the war was practically over, he was sent with his regiment to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he remained until the fall of 1865, when after a total service of four years and four months he was mustered out. On returning home he resumed the management of his farm and his neglected business, and in the fall of 1869 was elected sheriff of Columbiana county. He was re-elected in 1871, serving in all four years. During the time that he occupied the office of sheriff his son, Lindley W. Morris, the subject of this sketch, served as his chief deputy, a service which continued during part of the succeeding administration of the shrievalty. Upon retiring from public office Thomas C. Morris returned to his farm, which he occupied until his death, in 1893. His wife died during the same year. The education of Lindley Morris was begun in the country and village schools, where he was partially prepared for college. The additional and complete preparation was made in private study during the time of his service in the sheriff's office. He entered Oberlin College in 1874, took the full classical course and was graduated in 1878, receiving the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. During the time he was at college he partially defrayed his expenses
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Laidley W. Morris,
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by teaching school during the winter terms. After graduation he continued teaching for a term in Trumbull county, as principal of a normal school attended by a large number of teachers. In January, 1879, he entered upon the study of law in the office of Nichols & Firestone, at New Lisbon, where he remained one year. Upon his admission to the Bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio, in 1880, he settled in Toledo for practice. Since July of that year he has been a resident of Toledo, engaged in practice continuously, until his elevation to the Bench. He never entered into a partnership, but carried on the practice alone. His sympathies politically have always been with the Republican party, and he has been active as well as prominent in the councils of the party. In 1889 he was nominated for judge of the Common Pleas Court, but owing to an adverse majority in the district was defeated. In 1891 he was elected to the common council of Toledo and re-elected in 1893. During the last two years of membership he was president of the board. In the fall of 1893 he was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court for the First Subdivision of the Fourth District, for the term beginning October 28, 1894. Before the opening of his term as judge he resigned the office of councilman. During the two years of his service on the Bench he has given satisfaction to the lawyers and litigants generally. The conscientious discharge of the intricate and trying duties that devolve upon the judge of a nisi prius court has added to his popularity and reputation as a member of the Bar. He was married December 27, 1894, to Miss Fannie May Darling, a native of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and a daughter of Colonel Henry A. and Mary Newcomb Darling. They have one son. One of the old lawyers of Toledo who was associated with Judge Morris for several years has given to the editor a brief estimate of some of his traits, substantially as follows :
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