USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 50
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mitted as certainly as features and physical characteristics. Every man is in a large measure at once the exponent and the resultant of his ancestors. Judge Beer is the descendant of ancestors in whose veins was commingled the blood of three types or nationalities - the Norman, the Scotch and the Dutch. He may therefore naturally be expected to exhibit the enterprise, fortitude and spirit that incites to conquest ; a high moral standard for himself and for others; capacity to reason and arrive deliberately at conclusions ; a disposition to investigate and prove any matter presented to him before accepting it; conscientiously holding opinions as convictions and not yielding them easily. He has ever manifested a deep, abiding love of home and a due appreciation of the sanctity of the family relations. He is therefore a man who is honored and loved by his family, respected in the community, and one capable of direct- ing affairs whether they relate to his profession or to public business. Judge Beers was married April 23, 1856, to Miss T. M. Dinsmore, of Ashland county, Ohio. He has a family of four boys and three girls, all living : James D. is a practicing physician at Wooster; Robert is reading law with his father; Will- iam C. is manager of a surety company ; Thomas is a farmer.
THOMAS F. HAM, Wauseon. Thomas F. Ham, judge of the Probate Court of Fulton county and a prominent attorney at law, is a native of Pennsyl- vania. He was born on his father's farm in Wayne county, December 1, 1847. His parents were John C. Ham and Mary A. Keyes, the former a native of Wadebridge, England, the latter a native of Massachusetts. His father came to America at the age of twenty years, in the early thirties. He had been bred to the carpenter's trade in England and engaged in boat building and the heavy carpenter work connected with civil engineering, as well as house building, for several years after settling in the United States. He then purchased a farm in Pennsylvania, on which he resided until he came to Wauseon, in 1873, where he died twelve years later, at the age of seventy-four. The education of Judge Ham was received in the public schools of Bethany, Pennsylvania, not far from his father's home. His attendance was during the winter terms until eighteen years of age, and he was employed at work on the farm during the remainder of the year. At eighteen he commenced teaching terms of winter school and about the same time took up the study of law, which he pursued during evenings and vacations. His recreation in the meantime consisted in helping his father on the farm. His reading of the law was under the instruc- tion of Wallers & Bently, and he was admitted to the Bar in 1869, shortly after coming of age. The following summer, accompanied by his brother, Henry H., who had studied law with him, he came to Ohio and located in Wauseon, where the brothers have been engaged in practice together con- tinuously. In 1892 he was nominated as a candidate on the Republican ticket for the residue of the term of a Probate Judge who had died in office. He was elected, and discharged the judicial duties with such general satisfac-
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tion during the remainder of the term as to be re-nominated and re-elected in the fall of 1893 for a full term. He was re-elected again in the fall of 1896 for a second full term. The announcement of his candidacy on the Republican ticket suggests his politics. He has been an earnest supporter of that party ever since he became old enough to distinguish the difference between the principles advocated by the two leading parties. The only office held by him is the office of judge, which he now occupies. Since Judge Ham assumed the duties of Probate Judge of Fulton county he has practically revolutionized the system of keeping papers and records in the office, by inaugurating method where confusion existed. He found great difficulty at first in ascertaining the condition of estates from the records and papers. In many cases papers belonging to the same estate were scattered and placed in different receptacles without regard to arrangement or convenience. His sense of order made him conscious at once that a system was absolutely necessary to the orderly con- duct of the office. He therefore prepared indices and arranged all of the papers belonging to an estate, placing them in a single packet and these packages in appropriately numbered boxes, to which the index was a ready reference. Prior to the election of Judge Ham there was a popular prejudice against placing an attorney in the Probate office, as it was generally regarded the plum of a layman. There was an impression that litigation would be augmented by having a lawyer in the office. Experience, however, has proved the contrary to be true. Judge Ham's legal knowledge enables him to pass upon the law governing settlements with as much carefulness and satis- faction as could be done by the judge of another court. He has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the public his capacity and special fitness to discharge the duties of the office. He was married in January, 1869, to Miss Charlotte A. Scudder, a native of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and daughter of Isaiah and Margaret Hadsel Scudder, natives of New York, who had previously removed to Pennsylvania. Their family consists of four children: Thomas J., a pharmacist, at Toledo, Ohio; Frank Scudder, an attorney at law ; Harold Hadsel, a student ; and Mary Alice, the only daughter.
HENRY H. HAM, Wauseon, was born at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1845, the son of John C. and Mary A. Keyes Ham. He was educated at Wyoming Seminary, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and studied law in the office of S. E. & W. H. Dimmick, prominent and able attorneys of Honesdale. He was admitted to the Bar in 1869 and came to Wauseon the following year with his brother. The two practiced law together and built up a profitable business in Fulton county. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the county after a residence of less than eight years at Wauseon, and served five terms. In 1879 he returned to Pennsylvania and married Miss Kate E. Barnes, daughter of Erastus Barnes, a well known citizen of Warren county, in that State. Their family consists of one child, a daughter. Mr. Il. H. Ham has not only made his reputation as an able and successful lawyer, but also as a business
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man. He is connected with and has been the moving spirit of important business enterprises, which he has aided financially and by his personal influence and co-operation. He has manifested a liberal public spirit, which is recognized as essential to the progress and prosperity of any community. He has been the trial lawyer of the firm in most of the cases, and has proven himself capable in the management of litigation. Having no love for technicalities, he goes boldly to the merits of any controversy and conducts it on that line, despising the tricks, subterfuges and hair-splitting sometimes resorted to by lawyers. He is diligent in preparation, applying himself to the mastery of all the law ques- tions involved and to the discovery of all the testimony bearing upon the case entrusted to him. These habits, pursued systematically in the preparation for trial, places him in position not to be easily disconcerted or disturbed by any question that may come up during the progress of litigation. His powers of oratory, coupled with capacity for reasoning, make him influential with a jury. His genial courtesy and affable manner, reinforced by an impressive presence, are also factors which enter into his qualifications as a successful advocate and political orator. His individuality is marked as much by his fine physique and attractive personality as by his well defined methods of conducting a discourse or a controversy. He is powerful whether rated as to mental or physical organism. His personal courage under all circumstances is unquestioned, and he is never timorous in the presence of opponents. Where the battle is hottest he is found at his best. He excels as a jury lawyer. As a man his intercourse is marked by great kindness of heart proceeding from his naturally generous impulses, and he is popular alike with his legal brethren and the people. The legal work of the firm has always been conducted by a division of labor in accordance with the tastes and special qualifications of the two brothers. Judge T. F. Ham was essentially the office lawyer and H. H. Ham the man- ager of the business in court. The latter is also a good adviser and safe coun- sellor, as well as a careful business and commercial lawyer.
FRANK S. HAM, Wauseon, is a son of the judge. He was born in 1872, educated in the schools of Wauseon, read law with his father and uncle, and was admitted to the Bar in June, 1895. He has already made a record as a code pleader. He is unusually careful and thorough in the preparation of pleadings and in the skillful presentation of the strong points of his cases. He has exhibited critical powers of discrimination and a capacity to make the most out of the material facts and the citation of authorities to sustain a contention. His discernment of whatever is immaterial, and its exclusion from the plead- ings tends to give conciseness and strength to his complaints and other legal papers. His beginning is promising. He is now associated with H. H. Ham in the practice of law.
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HENRY B. HARRIS, Defiance. Mr. Harris is of Scotch descent, although born in Ohio. His mother was also a native of this State, but his father's nativity was New Jersey. About one hundred and fifty years ago John Har- ris, equipped with a patent from King George II., covering a large tract of land in the colony of New Jersey, emigrated from Scotland and settled in New Jersey on his own domain. He was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this biography. The family continued to reside in New Jersey for a cen- tury, and much of the landed . estate was leased to small farmers and settlers for ninety-nine years. These leases expired during the lifetime of Mr. Harris's father, who was too generous to take advantage of the lapses by dispossessing the descendants of the lessees and beneficiaries of the leases. On the contrary he permitted them to remain in peaceable and undisturbed possession of the property to which they were attached, if they had no color of title, by inher- ited possession and long residence. The grandfather of Henry B. Harris died in New Jersey, and his father, Thomas D. Harris, then a young man, came to Ohio in 1842, bringing with him the other members of the family, settled first in Brown county, where he married Elizabeth Ashton and resided several years. In 1851 the family moved to Defiance county and Thomas D. Harris lived in Defiance over thirty years, and afterwards on his farm near the town of Defiance until his death, in 1891. Henry B. Harris was born in Defiance on the fourth day of November, 1853. His early education was received in the public schools of Defiance, and he completed the high school course at the age of eighteen. After studying for a time under the tutorage of Dr. W. G. Strong he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, in 1871, where he remained three years completing the studies of the regular classical course, and was graduated in 1874. For one year thereafter he filled the position of superintendent of the union schools of Hicksville, and then began the study of law in the office of Henry Newbegin, at Defiance. His reading and law studies were prosecuted under instruction for two years and a half, and he was admitted to the Bar in December, 1877, after passing the examination required by the Supreme Court. On the first day of January, 1878, he entered into a partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Newbegin, which was maintained a little more than two years. In 1880 he formed a partnership with John P. Cam- eron, which continued for several years, until Mr. Cameron was elected clerk of the courts of Defiance county. Mr. Harris then became associated with Samuel S. Ashbaugh in a partnership which continued till Mr. Ashbaugh was obliged by business interests to give up the practice at Defiance. When Mr. Camcron retired from the office of clerk the firm of Harris & Cameron was again formed, and has had a continuous and very active existence since its reorganization. The gentlemen composing it have been retained in nearly all litigation of the first importance in Defiance county. The first case in which they were retained was tried in all of the State courts, having been twice adjudicated and reported by the Supreme Court of Ohio, was then taken to the United States courts and considered twice by the Supreme Court of the United States. After thirteen years of litigation in the State and Federal
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courts, Messrs. Harris & Cameron secured a final judgment in favor of their clients. Mr. Harris was admitted to practice in the United States District and Circuit Courts in 1880, and in the Supreme Court of the United States in 1884. His admission to the Supreme Court was moved by Judge William A. Maury, assistant solicitor general of the United States. He has always been a Repub- lican, but the exacting requirements of his profession have prevented activity in partisan contests. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Knights of Pythias, and the Order of Elks. He has travelled extensively in the United States, either on business matters or for pleasure and recreation. Mr. Harris was married October 14, 1883, to Miss Alice Reese Shaw, daughter of John W. Shaw, a prominent farmer and stock dealer of Fairfield county, Ohio, and his wife, Elizabeth Reese Shaw. They have one son.
FLORENCE CRONISE, Tiffin. Miss Florence Cronise, a member of the Tiffin Bar, is a native of Ohio. She was born in the town of Republic, Seneca county, October 28, 1845. She is of German descent, but her lineage is American for three or four generations. Some of her ancestors settled in Maryland and Virginia prior to the Revolution. The German orthography of the name was preserved long after the transplanting to this country. Her great-grandfather, Henry Kronise, served in the Colonial Army during the Revolutionary War, and her grandfather, Henry Cronise, served in the War of 1812. The family removed to Ohio and settled in Seneca county in 1827, among the first settlers in the neighborhood. The early education of Miss Cronise was received at home, and later she attended Heidelberg College (now University) at Tiffin. This is the western educational institution of the Reformed Church. She was a student there five years, completing the regular classical course, and was graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1865. In 1870 the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon her by reason of continuance in literary, and educational pursuits. For six years after graduation Miss Cronise devoted herself to teaching, most of the time at Princeton, Illinois, as teacher of mathematics in the township high school. At the end of that time, having returned to Ohio, she accepted the position of principal of the high school at Tiffin, with the understanding and agreement on the part of the board of education that she was to receive the same salary as a male teacher for the same grade of work. At the end of the year the board was unwilling to carry out its agreement except on the condition that she would continue in the position five years. She declined to accede to the new condition, and abandoning school work, entered upon the study of the law. Three months later the school board sought ineffectually to re-employ Miss Cronise, offering her the position of principal of the high school at a salary of $1,000 per annum, unconditionally. The offer was declined with thanks. She had deliberately formed the purpose to devote all of her time and talents to the law, which she had already been reading for some time in rather a desultory manner. In the
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furtherance of her resolution she entered the law office of Judge John McCauley in 1872, and pursued her studies under his instruction until she was admitted to the Bar, after an examination before the District Court at Kenton, Ohio, in September, 1873. Without any delay she commenced the practice in partnership with her sister, in the firm of N. & F. Cronise. In the course of a year her sister withdrew from the partnership to marry N. B. Lutes, a promi- nent lawyer of Tiffin, and become one of the firm of Lutes & Lutes. For about eight years thereafter Miss Cronise continued in practice alone and suc- ceeded in building up a profitable business supported by an excellent clientage. In 1882 she admitted to a partnership Miss Edith Sams, who had studied law in her office, forming the firm of Cronise & Sams. This relationship was also broken by the marriage of the junior partner. Since that time Miss Cronise has continued to conduct a general practice alone. She has devoted herself almost exclusively to civil business, and has managed cases in court with grati- fying success. She has displayed real ability in the profession, both in the preparation of pleadings and the conduct of litigation. Calm, dignified, earnest in manner ; clear, dispassionate, logical in style, she makes a strong argument before court or jury. Without any show of pedantry, she chooses from an extensive vocabulary the familiar words which will most clearly express her meaning, most readily be understood by a jury, and hence most effectively impress her argument. There is method in her speech, which is plain and simple rather than ornate. She has a genius for the law and is a good coun- sellor. Miss Cronise was for eight years a member of the county board of school examiners, and for many years a member of the city board of exam- iners. She was nominated in 1895 as a candidate for membership in the board of education, by the Republican party, of which she is a supporter. Complying with a request of the editor for information, a prominent Tiffin judge contributes the following :
" Miss Cronise first obtained a collegiate education, and was really a good scholar. She seemed to have taken most interest in mathematics and lan- guages, and paid less attention to the trifling and effeminate studies in the course. After she left college she taught for a year or two in a high school, and could have continued teaching on very favorable terms. But she gave it up and began the study of law. From the beginning of her studies she showed unusual ability to understand it, and with the mature scholarship she went rapidly through a course of legal study, and when she was admitted to practice she was really a well disciplined and well educated lawyer. She has now had perhaps twenty years of practice, and is very capable to try any case. She is to-day capable to be a very efficient judge of any court in the State. She is not a voluble talker, nor an eloquent one. She makes no effort to talk learn- edly ; is free from any affectation. She attends mainly to the logic and reason of her case. Her real worth of character amply protects her from the unpleas- ant things that might be sometimes said by an opponent wanting in delicacy. She is a good lawyer-I think probably there is not a better woman lawyer than she in the whole country."
Another judge says : " Miss Cronise entered the profession at a time when women in the law were not regarded with that favor accorded them in later years ; but by her force of character, ability and close attention to business,
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she made rapid advancement, until to-day her position at the Bar is second to none. All members of the Tiffin Bar recognize the fact that whatever she has to do is done at once ; and while courteous to all, professional courtesy is never permitted to interfere with the interests of her clients. She never enters upon the trial of a case without giving the closest attention to the law and the evi- dence, and she has a clientage and success that place her on a level with the foremost in the profession."
FREDERICK L. HAY, Defiance. F. L. Hay, Probate Judge of Defiance county, is a native of Pennsylvania, born at Girard in that State, December 22, 1856, the son of James L. and Emma Bennett Hay. His paternal ancestors came to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Pennsyl- vania on a farm near Girard, which remained in the possession of the family until recently. On the maternal side his ancestors were among the early Puritan settlers of New England, the family seat being in New Hampshire. The great-grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the American army during the seven years of the Revolutionary War. The grandfather removed from the family homestead in New Hampshire to Oneonta, New York, about fifty years ago, and about ten years later again removed, settling in Pennsyl- vania, near Girard. Judge Hay's parents are now living in the town of Girard, and in the public and the select schools of that town and at Girard Academy he obtained his education. Leaving school, he went to Cleve- land and entered the employ of a mercantile firm as book-keeper, retaining the position for four years, when he went to Cincinnati and followed the same occupation for two years. During that time he took up the study of law, privately. In 1884 he went to Defiance and entered the office of Frank W. Knapp, to continue his legal studies, and in December, 1885, he was admitted to the Bar at Columbus. He at once began the practice of law at Defiance, and continued until he was elected to his present position of Probate Judge of Defiance county, in 1893. He has twice been elected mayor of Defiance, the first time in 1888 and again in 1890. Judge Hay has been the attorney of the Defiance Home Saving and Loan Association since its organization, in May, 1888. He is prominent in fraternal societies ; is a member of the Masonic bodies, the Blue Lodge, Council, Chapter and Commandery. He is also a charter member of the Knights of Pythias, and has been their representative to the Grand Lodge of the State and a member of the committee on laws and supervision, now known as the judiciary committee. He has not travelled abroad, but is familiar with most points of interest in the United States and Canada. In his political affiliations Judge Hay is a Republican and has always been an ardent supporter of the principles of that party, its policies and nominees for office. He was married October 18, 1887, to Miss Margaret C. Daoust, a native of the province of Ontario, Canada. She is of French- Scotch descent, her father being of French and her mother of Scotch extrac- tion. They have three children, two boys and one girl.
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L. Hay
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CHARLES H. MASTERS, Bryan. Charles Homer Masters is a native of the State. He was born on his father's farm at Masters' Corners, near West Unity, in Fulton county. His parents were Honorable Ezekiel and Susanna B. Masters ; his father a native of Maryland and of English descent ; his mother a native of Ohio and of English-German descent. Ezekiel Masters came to Ohio with his parents when a boy and was raised on a farm. He settled in Fulton county in 1846, on a tract of timber land which he cleared up and cul- tivated until 1870. He then removed to Pioneer, in Williams county, where he died in 1887. He had so ordered his life as to gain the respect and esteem of the communities in which he resided. He was for many years one of the justices of his township and represented Fulton county in the legislature for two terms, from 1863 to 1867. He was a public-spirited citizen, and his enter- prise occasioned the loss of most of the accumulations of his earlier years. He took a contract to build a section of the Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan Railroad, but as it was never completed he lost the money he invested in the enterprise, some $20,000, and lost his health at the same time. His son, the subject of this sketch, was then thrown upon his own resources for obtaining an education. He had in his boyhood attended the public school of his district, and when his father moved to Pioneer in 1870, he attended the high school of that place, and later for one year was a student in the Normal Academy at Bryan. To provide means for prosecuting his studies he began teaching school, which he followed for six terms, during the winter, and worked on a farm in the summer. He pursued advanced studies in his leisure hours. In 1876 he went to Chicago and engaged in collecting, which he followed for two years and then entered the Union College of Law, where he pursued legal studies for two years. After passing an examination before the Appellate Court of Cook county he was admitted to the Bar. He at once re- turned to Bryan and began the practice of his profession. In connection with his law business he took up stenography and became so expert that the Bar of the county united in recommending him for the position of court stenographer and the appointment was made. He held this position for a period of three years. He was for several years the confidential clerk and assistant for the firm of Pratt & Bently, one of the most prominent and able law firms in northwestern Ohio. In February, 1888, he entered into partnership with Thomas Emery, now one of the attorneys of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, which continued to 1893. Of the important cases he has conducted or participated in, the most prominent are those of Zelzman vs. tlie L. S. and M. S. R. R. Co., and the State vs. Plummer and Elkins. The former was a suit for damages for personal injuries received on that road. It was tried three times in the Court of Common Pleas of Williams county and a verdict for the plaintiff was obtained at each trial; but the first two were reversed, by the Circuit Court in the first and by the Supreme Court in the second trial, and each time remanded for a new trial. In the first trial, which took place in 1887, the verdict was for $6,000, and in the third and final trial, it was for $9,000 and interest, which made almost $10,000. The railroad
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