USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 48
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" I have always found him a very thorough lawyer. He never took a case without making himself thoroughly familiar with every detail. He always knew the strong points of his case and possessed the ability to make the most of them. He was a good advocate and very successful before a jury. At this time numbers of important references were made to him by the courts for find- ing of the law and the facts and for reporting the same to the court. As a rule his reports were confirmed by the courts, demonstrating his care and knowledge of the law. Since he has occupied the position of judge he has shown to the Bar that he possesses the legal training to grasp the questions that are presented, quickly and intelligently, and whether a litigant is beaten or successful the attorney always feels that 'he has had his day in court,' and that the subject-matter of investigation has been honestly and impartially dealt with. His general training well adapts him to the position he now occupies. He is a student, and gives to subjects sufficient, study to arrive at correct conclusions. He knows the law."
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EMERY D. POTTER, JR., Toledo. The subject of this biography is a descendant of Puritan and Quaker lineage, as set forth in the life of his father, the Honorable Emery D. Potter, published in this volume. He was born November 27, 1844, at Willoughby, Ohio. Ile received his early education in the public schools of Toledo, and was graduated from the high school in 1862, taking the valedictory oration of his class. In May, 1862, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Eighty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which formed part of General Wool's reserve, and was stationed at Cumberland, Maryland. The duties of the regiment were the patrol of the Potomac, the protection of gov- ernment supplies and picket duty. Upon serving out his term of enlistment he entered the Law School of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and remained there until he was graduated, in 1864. At this time he further pre- pared himself for the practice of law by entering the office of William Baker and Judge William A. Collins, of Toledo, and supplemented this by continuing his studies in the office of Morrison R. Waite, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Richard Waite. In 1866 he was admitted to the Bar at Columbus, after examination by a committee composed of Allen G. Thurman, Hocking Hunter and L. G. Critchfield. He remained with M. R. & R. Waite until the spring of 1867, when, on the invitation of George R. Haynes, he took a desk in his office and commenced the practice of law. The same year he was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney, and held the office until 1869. He continued to practice alone until 1873, when he entered into a law partnership with Mr. George R. Haynes, which was only dissolved by the elec- tion of Mr. Haynes as judge of the Circuit Court, in 1884. He again carried on practice alone until January, 1895, when was formed the present existing partnership with Mr. Thomas Emery. In politics he has been a life-long Dem- ocrat, and although never a very active partisan, he has always held himself at the service of that party, and at whatever sacrifice might be necessary, he has always undertaken his full share of the duties involved in party fealty. He was a delegate to the Democratic convention in Cincinnati in 1880, which nominated General Hancock for the Presidency. Mr. Potter has a very exten- sive general law practice, and in addition he is attorney in the State of Ohio for the Michigan Central Railroad Company, which responsible position he has held for sixteen years. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway also availed itself of his services for more than twelve years as local attorney for this jurisdiction, which includes the counties of Lucas, Fulton and Will- iams. In the profession he takes high rank as a student, deeply versed in the principles of the law, and as a safe and sagacious counsellor. In the conduct of a case in court he is impressive, earnest and convincing ; his pleadings are always carefully prepared and are sure to cover the most minute details. Noth- ing is overlooked or forgotten. Care and prudence are exhibited in the prepa- ration of his cases ; firmness, courage and a profound conviction of the absolute justice of his case are clearly evidenced in its presentation to the court and jury. He was one of the most prominent figures in the great legal battle that was waged to definitely decide the rights of street car corporations in cities of
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Ohio, which was recently carried from Toledo through all the courts of the State, and was ultimately decided in favor of the side upon which he was engaged. As a citizen he enjoys the good will, respect and esteem of every one, and is exceedingly popular with both Bench and Bar. September 23, 1868, he was married to Miss Caroline Cheney, of Toledo. They have three children, two sons and one daughter : Paul, Rollin D. and Mary L.
HARRY E. KING, Toledo. H. E. King was born near Cumberland, Allegheny county, Maryland, May 12, 1857. He is descended from a historic Virginia family, his grandfather, Alexander King, having been a member of an early legislature in that State, and in those days exercised great influence in its politics and government. The father of the subject of this sketch, Captain Alexander King, made his home in the State of Maryland from the time he was twenty-one years of age, where he married Lavinia McAllister Collins, who was also from the State of Virginia. His sturdy integrity and independence of character were soon recognized in his new surroundings and brought their owner into considerable popularity. He was captain of the local military company, and at one time judge of the Probate Court. During the greater part of his life he was engaged in mercantile business, but passed his later years on his farm in Allegheny county. At the outbreak of the war his sympathies were enlisted upon the Federal side and he strongly espoused the Union cause. Harry E. King commenced his education in the public schools of Maryland, which was followed by a course in the State Normal School at Millersville, Pennsylvania, Fort Edward, New York, Collegiate Institute and Eastman's National Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, completing his studies in the Law Department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. He had entertained a well defined predilection for the law from his youth, combined with a settled determination to adopt that profession. As a preparation his entire training and study had been carefully directed to acquiring a thoroughly practical knowledge of men and affairs, in addition to the principles, practice and knowledge of the authorities of the law. When he was about sixteen years of age his father died and he was left almost entirely dependent upon his own efforts. With the hardy determination and courage derived from his Scotch-Irish ancestry, adverse circumstances served only to strengthen his character, and develop and mature the self-reliant principles of his nature. Upon leaving the University of Michigan in March, 1882, he settled in Toledo, and at once began to read law in the office of Swayne, Swayne & llayes. He was admitted to the Bar of Ohio in the early part of 1883, becoming a member of this firm in 1885 and continuing as such until April, 1892. At that time he withdrew and formed the existing law partnership with Thomas H. Tracy, under the firm name of King & Tracy. They have an extensive general practice and are the attorneys for a large number of important corporations and mercantile firms. On June 12,
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1883, Mr. Harry E. King was married to Miss Mary E. Haring, the eldest daughter of Dr. J. J. Haring, of Tenafly, New Jersey. They have two sons and two daughters : Harry Swayne, twelve years of age ; Margaret Haring, nine years ; James Ernest, five years ; and Grace, two years old. In his political affiliations he has always been a Republican and was for seven years ·secretary of the Toledo board of elections, to which responsible office he was appointed by Governor J. B. Foraker, and which he resigned to accept appoint- ment to a membership in the same board, which he yet retains. He is deeply and earnestly interested in all religious work, responsive to the calls upon both his time and pocket for well-doing, and active in the various organizations of Chris- tian effort. He is one of the trustees of the Central Congregational Church and a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, and interested in Sunday-school work. In the practice of his profession he is quick, careful and accurate, possessing a great faculty for details. He is most industrious in the preparation of his cases and brings to the cause upon which he is engaged a clear head, a practical, sound common sense and untiring energies. One of the oldest and best known members of the Bar of Toledo says :
" I have been intimately acquainted with Harry E. King since he first came to Toledo and have watched his life with unusual interest. He is of a deeply religious nature, upright, honorable and conscientious. In his profes- sional work he is scrupulously exact. He spares himself no pains to acquire the most complete and minute details of any case in which he is interested. Indeed the facility with which he brings every point to light that has any bearing upon the matter in hand, no matter how involved it may be, is quite remarkable. He does this apparently without extraordinary effort, and as he is possessed of great energy and vitality it is probably the power of concen- trating these faculties that enables him to reach such results. His sterling integrity, honesty and scrupulous care inspire the implicit confidence of all who become associated with him."
ISAAC N. HUNTSBERGER, Toledo. The subject of this sketch is a native of Ohio, the son of John Huntsberger and Susan Shriver. His paternal ancestors were German, while the lineage of his mother contained a strain of Scotch blood. His descent may therefore be written German-Scotch. The ancestors of both parents emigrated to America in colonial times. Some of them fought in the Revolutionary War to achieve the independence of the colonies ; some fought in the second war with England, to preserve the inde- pendence and honor of the Nation ; members of the family fought in the war with Mexico. Franklin Shriver, uncle of our subject, was a captain in the Union army during the Rebellion, serving under General Sherman in the Army of the Cumberland. All of the earlier generations of the family were devoted almost entirely to agricultural pursuits. The parents of Isaac N. Huntsberger, who were natives of Pennsylvania, removed to Ohio in 1852. He was born in East Union township, Wayne county, February 24, 1858, being the third of
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five children. His primary education was received in the schools of Wayne county, and he was a student in Smithville Academy from 1876 to 1879. In 1880 he entered the University of Wooster, whose curriculum in the classical course he completed and from which he was graduated in 1882, as the saluta- torian of his class. During the period of his attendance at the academy and the university he employed the intervals in teaching. While in Wooster he was an instructor of the undergraduates in several branches, and after gradu- ation he was superintendent of a summer term of the university. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in course, and three years later the Master's . degree was conferred by his Alma Mater. His first employment after gradu- ation was as superintendent of the public schools at Seville, Ohio, and during that time he obtained from the board of State examiners a life certificate to teach in the State. He had marked out for himself, however, a different course, and in 1884 entered the Law Department and school of Political Science of the University of Michigan. Prosecuting the course of science and law simultaneously, he was graduated from the university in 1886 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, having also nearly completed the course for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He was still further honored in being chosen the orator of his class, numbering one hundred and thirty members. In June, 1885, while attending the university, he was admitted to the Bar in Michigan. Immediately after the completion of his course he removed to Toledo and set- tled down to the practice of law, after his admission to the Bar of Ohio. His examination before the commission appointed by the Supreme Court of Ohio was perfect in all branches, which was a distinction never attained by any other applicant for a license to practice law in Ohio. The records of the Supreme Court perpetuate this honor, in the report prepared by the examin- ing committee October 7, 1886, from which the following is quoted : "The committee desire to make especial mention of the examination of Mr. Isaac N. Huntsberger, whose answers to the questions propounded evinced such thought and accurate knowledge of the law that the committee unanimously concurred in marking him perfect on both papers. The committee make this mention, not only in justice to him, but also in the hope of encouraging others." It is respectfully submitted and signed by A. W. Jones, Arnold Green, S. F. Steel, George B. Okey, W. O. Henderson and W. F. Porter. The clerk of the Supreme Court, J. W. Cruikshank, certifies to the correctness of the fore- going quotation from original papers on file in his office. The Supreme Court declared that to be the first instance of perfection in examination and the first of which especial mention was made in the committee's re- port. Mr. Huntsberger received the congratulations of all present, from the governor down. It is the custom nowadays to place all the stress upon the importance and consequence of individual character, affecting to disregard the potency of ancestry in the formation of character. This custom is not justified. It is no depreciation of a man's individuality to be fortified by a lineage of which he may be proud. On the contrary, an honorable lineage serves as a stimulus, in this country, to higher achieve-
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ments by the individual. Mr. Huntsberger's great-grandfather, John Shriver, emigrated from Germany and took part in the Revolution. His great-grand- mother was May Hendricks, a member of the same family to which the late Vice-President Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, belonged. At the time of his admission to the Bar he declined the assistant professorship of mathemat- ics in Wooster University, which was tendered. Soon afterwards he accepted the professorship of medical jurisprudence in the Northwestern Ohio College of Medicine, at Toledo, which he held four years and then resigned on account of the pressing demands of his increasing law business. In March, 1887, he formed a partnership with Charles S. Ashley, son of the late Governor James M. Ashley, under the style of Huntsberger & Ashley, and soon afterwards the firm became general counsel of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railroad. This position was retained until October, 1891, and then resigned by Mr. Hunts- berger, to enable him to devote his entire time to general practice (his partner- ship with Mr. Ashley having already been dissolved). He has succeeded in building up a lucrative business. His only specialty is admiralty practice, to which he has given very marked attention and careful study. He has acquired almost exclusive control of local admiralty litigation, as no other member of the Toledo bar has devoted himself with such persistency to the mastery of the laws and decisions affecting lake navigation and commerce. Mr. Huntsberger's reputation for scholarship clings to him. In 1891 he was elected a member of the board of education of Toledo and in 1892 he was chosen a director and trustee of the Toledo University, of which the manual training school is a department. He has been a director of the Young Men's Christian Association and president of the Lucas county Bible society for several years. In Septem- ber, 1895, he received the offer of a professorship in the Law Department of the University of Michigan at a salary of $2,500. The offer, which was wholly unsolicited and without his knowledge, he was obliged to decline because its acceptance would require the sacrifice of his lucrative practice in Toledo and the abandonment of his beautiful new home, for which the salary and a resi- dence in Ann Arbor afforded inadequate compensation. Nevertheless the tender was a high compliment to his ability and learning. Mr. Huntsberger has always been identified with the Republican party and has given it active support in council and campaign, when such service did not interfere with professional business. He was especially interested and active in the recent campaign resulting in the election of President Mckinley. He gives much time to church work in its organized societies, especially the Epworth League. He is a fine parliamentarian and is referred to as an authority on parliamentary laws governing deliberative bodies. He was married March 9, 1884, to Miss Lizzie J. Snyder, daughter of Christian Snyder, of New Phila- delphia. They have four living children, two sons and two daughters, named respectively John Paul, Karl E., Maude E. and Ruth I. Huntsberger. Isaac N. Huntsberger has relied mainly on his own efforts for support since he was thirteen years of age. His father died about that time, leaving to him almost no estate, but a valuable inheritance of pluck, versatility, industry and perse-
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verance, with a hereditary tendency toward those things that are honest and right. He kept himself constantly employed, shifting from one thing to · another under stress of circumstances, but mainly as a school teacher and book canvasser, until his education was completed. He was a student from early boyhood and gifted with a genius for work. Thoroughness has been charac- teristic of his attainments in science, literature and law. In the retention and practical use of his acquirements he has been wonderfully aided by a strong, well-trained memory. The report of his examination before the Supreme Court gave him a standing at the Bar and brought engagements from other lawyers, and his subsequent career has justified the unique record there made. A well-known Toledo judge, responding to an inquiry, says of Mr. Hunts- berger : "His moral character is high, his ability as a lawyer, either as a trial lawyer or counsel, is in the first class. He is financially responsible, is an excellent scholar and an all round lawyer."
LINN W. HULL, Sandusky. Honorable Linn W. Hull, judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Sandusky, was born on a farm in Perkins township, Erie county, near Sandusky, on the 9th day of April, 1856. His father, John L. Hull, was a farmer and a native of Pennsylvania. He came to Ohio in 1825, when three years old, and settled in Erie county, where he became prominent and held many offices of trust. He was county commissioner for two terms. The Hulls are of English ancestry. The first members of the family to emi- grate from the mother country settled in New Jersey and afterwards removed to Pennsylvania. His mother, Angeline Walker, was born in New York State and came to Sandusky, Ohio, with her parents, in 1819. She is of Irish extrac- tion and is still living, in the eightieth year of her age. Young Hull, when old enough, was sent to the country district schools and the public schools of San- dusky, then to the preparatory department at Oberlin and Oberlin College. Later he was a student at Union College, New York, and in 1879 entered Cor- nell University, where he remained a little over one year. In October, 1881, he entered the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in 1883. Returning to Sandusky, he was admitted to the Bar and commenced the prac- tice of law alone and continued that way until 1886, when he formed a part- nership with Homer Goodwin, now deceased, and L. H. Goodwin. The style of the firm was Goodwin, Goodwin & Hull. This partnership continued until 1892, when the firm was dissolved and he then formed a partnership with Edmund B. King, under the firm name and style of King & Hull. The rela- tion was maintained until February, 1895, and until Mr. King took his seat on the Bench, pursuant to his election in the fall of 1894, as judge of the Sixth Circuit of Ohio. Mr. Hull then practiced alone until February of the follow- ing year, when he formed a copartnership with W. E. Guerin, Jr., under the firm name of Hull & Guerin, which continued until he took his seat on the Common Pleas Bench, on the 9th of February, 1897, to which he had been
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elected in the fall of 1896. As a practitioner few men have attained greater distinction at the Sandusky Bar. Commencing almost immediately after his admission to practice and continuing up to the time of taking his seat on the Bench, he enjoyed a large litigated business. He was engaged on many impor- tant cases and always displayed marked ability in the trial of a cause. Judge Hull is a man of strong will, honest purpose and great determination. He is favored by nature with the instinctive sense of fairness and the just mental equipoise which always insists upon an impartial hearing and an unbiased judgment. The assemblage and adjustment of his faculties constitute a legal mind and he has the acquirements of a capable, successful lawyer. His work on the Bench has thus far been most acceptable to the Bar. Judge Hull was a member of the Board of Education of Sandusky for two terms. He is a Republican and has always been active in the councils of the party. He has been many times chairman of the Republican executive committee of Erie county. He was a delegate from the Thirteenth Congressional District to the Republican National Convention in 1896, which met in St. Louis and nomi- nated Mr. Mckinley. In 1883 Judge Hull married Emily M. Hall, of Cincin -. nati, and by this union there are three daughters. Mrs. Hull died in August, 1887.
STEPHEN A. COURT, Sandusky. Stephen Arthur Court was born at Marion, Ohio, on the 11th day of May, 1855. His father, Joseph Court, is a farmer, and came to Ohio in 1821, from Virginia, where he was born, and set- tled in Marion county, where he has since resided. He has always been promi- nent in affairs and has held many offices of trust in his adopted county and city. His ancestors were German, and settled in Virginia in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The mother of S. A. Court, Maria Sherman, was a native of Vermont, and came to Ohio in 1828. She was a direct descendant of Roger Sherman. Young Court's early education was in the public schools of his native city. In 1873 he entered Northwestern University at Ada, Ohio, for the completion of his scholastic education. Having at this time fully determined to make the law his profession, he also commenced the study of law with C. H. Norris (now one of the circuit judges) as his instructor. So he pursued both his collegiate and legal education simultaneously, teaching school during the vacations. On the 12th of May, 1876, he was admitted to the Bar, and on the 17th of June following, he took his degree as Bachelor of Arts. In the summer of the same year he began the practice of law alone, and four years later formed his first partnership, with G. D. Copeland, the firm being Court & Copeland. This firm continued until 1892. It was dissolved upon Mr. Court's removal to Sandusky, and since that time he has practiced alone. He enjoys a large general practice, almost entirely in litigated cases. He has the greater part of the criminal practice in Erie county. He is a lawyer of ability and devotes great care to the preparation of his cases ; is conscientious in the discharge of every duty. He is a fluent speaker and presents a case to
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the court and jury with much force and clearness. Mr. Court was for two terms of three years each city solicitor for the city of Marion. In politics he is an ardent Democrat, always consistent in the support and advocacy of the principles of his party. Since locating in Sandusky he has refused all offers to take office, preferring to devote himself to the practice of law. Mr. Court is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, and was in 1887 and 1889 Grand Chancellor of the State of Ohio, and from 1889 to 1893 was the Grand Secre- tary of the Order in Ohio. In 1877 he married Olive Inskeep, of Delaware, Ohio, who died in 1887. By this union there is a son living. In 1889 he mar- ried Mrs. Mazie Day, of Marion. By this marriage there are no children.
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