USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
.
The Century Publishing & Engraving Co. Chicago
443
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
he retained until 1892. In that year he was made the Republican nomi- nee to represent the district in Congress, and was elected, and re-elected in 1894 and again in 1896. Mr. Van Voorhis was a successful lawyer, but was not prominent in the practice after his election to the position of bank presi- dent, the affairs of the bank and his private business making a large draft on his time. Before taking his seat as congressman he resigned the office of bank president, but is still a director and stockholder. He possesses the esteem of the profession and the confidence and respect of the community. Said one of the old and prominent practitioners of the Zanesville Bar, in-reference to Mr. Van Voorhis's ability as a lawyer and standing as a business man and citizen :
" Mr. Van Voorhis while in active practice was a very successful lawyer. He had iufluences behind him that materially assisted him ; but he has ability, and being an indefatigable worker, he would have succeeded without this help, but his rise might not have been so rapid. He was more of a chancery than a trial lawyer, though his practice was a general one. Had he elected to devote his entire time and attention to the profession he undoubtedly would have attained a prominent position. Hard work counts more than brilliancy in win- ning law cases and Mr. Van Voorhis has ever been a worker in whatever posi- tion he has been placed. When a young man at school he was a conscientious student; in the study of law he was thorough ; and in practice he never slighted the drudgery of the profession. He proved himself to be a success- ful business man and banker, and as a member of Congress he belongs to the active working element and is one of the best ever sent to the House from this district. His natural ability, supplemented as it is by a thorough business training, makes him a valuable member where trained talent is all too scarce. He is at present on the committee of banking and currency and has charge of the bills on the floor of the House reported by that committee. Personally he is of an accommodating disposition, courteous and affable in his manners and of strict integrity. That he has three times been elected to the same office when there are several other men in the district who would be quite willing to serve in the place, is the best comment on his standing in the community and the estimate placed on his ability by the public."
He was married in 1875 to Miss Mary A. Brown, daughter of Judge Will- iam H. and Margaret Brown, of Perry county. They have two sons and two daughters.
GILBERT DWIGHT MUNSON, Zanesville. Honorable Gilbert D. Munson, judge of the Common Pleas Court, First Subdivision, Eighth Judicial District, is a native of Illinois, born at Monticello, September 26, 1840. His father's family were of English and his mother's of Scotch origin, but both families had become distinctively American by a residence of over two centuries in the colonies and States. Captain Thomas Munson, the founder of the American branch of the family, came to America in 1637, and located at Hartford, Con- necticut, but shortly after settled permanently at New Haven. The records show that he took a leading part in the stirring events of those days, as soldier, legislator and judge. The stone, with inscription of name, date of birth and deatlı, which marks his burial place, is still to be seen back of the
444
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
old Presbyterian church on the college green in New Haven, Connecticut. Barkhamsted, Connecticut, was the native place of Professor Horace D. Mun- son, the father of Judge Munson, a lineal descendant of Captain Thomas Munson. He married Mary B. Griggs, of Brimfield, Massachusetts. Judge Munson began the study of law in the office of Judge Lucius P. Marsh, of Zanesville, in the fall of 1860, but long before he had completed the prescribed course, the call for volunteers to maintain the Union was made, and in July, 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier and at once went into active service with his regiment. He participated in the capture of Fort Donaldson, battle of Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg and the Atlanta campaign, in Sherman's march to the sea and north through the Carolinas and to Washington, D. C., and the "Grand Review" at the collapse of the Confederacy. He was promoted to orderly sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major and lieu- tenant colonel, while in the service. He commanded his regiment from the time it entered North Carolina until its final discharge in July, 1865. In the fall of 1866 he entered Columbia College Law School, New York City, for the purpose of completing his legal studies. He took the Junior and Senior courses of study in one term, and was admitted to the Bar in New York in 1867. Returning to Ohio, he entered upon the practice of his profession at Zanesville. He soon afterwards received an appointment of register in bankruptcy, an office which he held for seven years, resigning in 1874. For a period of two years during this time he was in partnership with Judge Moses M. Granger, under the firm name of Granger & Munson. From 1872 to 1883 he practiced alone. In the latter year he formed a partnership with John J. Adams (now one of the judges of the Circuit Court of the Fifth Circuit of Ohio), under the firm name of Munson & Adams. This association continued until Mr. Mun- son, in 1893, was elected to the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas of the First Subdivision of the Eighth Judicial District. He was elected without opposition. In his political affiliations Judge Munson is a Republican. He was married June 6, 1872, to Miss Lucy S. Potwin, daughter of Honorable Charles W. Potwin, a prominent merchant and banker of Zanesville. They have one daughter living, Miss Sarah Munson.
JAMES TRIPP, Jackson. Mr. Tripp was born October 17, 1824, at Cannons- burg, Washington county, Pennsylvania. Emigrants of his name, from the Isle of Man and from Wales, settled in Connecticut, but that they were his ancestors cannot now be fully established. His ancestors, about the time of the Wyoming Valley massacre by the Indians, moved from Connecticut to Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer, contractor and builder. His paternal grandmother was of German descent, and was born in eastern Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather, Haft, was of English descent. As a boy he had the benefit of good common schools and a local academy, but never received the advantages of a collegiate course or liberal scientific instruction. He read
445
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
law at Carrollton, Ohio, with his brother, John H. Tripp, and afterwards for three years with R. C. Hoffman, then of Jackson, but now a resident of Colum- bus, Ohio. He was admitted to the Bar at Portsmouth, in 1857, on the recom- mendation of a committee of which Colonel O. F. Moore and Wells A. Hutchins were members. Immediately thereafter he located in Jackson and began the practice of his profession, to which he has been devoted ever since. In 1858 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county of Jackson, Ohio, and was re-elected in 1860. Up to the time of his first race the county had been Dem- ocratic, but the majority was reversed in that election and has continued to be Republican down to the present time. Judge Tripp advanced in his profes- sion by mastering the principles of the law and becoming familiar with the text- books and statutes. He seldom turned aside from his profession for political office, and never except at the earnest solicitation of his friends and neigh- bors. In 1863 he was elected to the legislature, and was re-elected in 1865. In that body he was active and influential in support of all measures for the vigorous prosecution of the war and the unquestioning support of the National government. He was also active in the organization of regiments and bat- teries to fill the quota allotted to Ohio, and accepted appointment by the gov- ernor in 1864 as commander of a battery of Ohio National Guards, which was mustered into the United States service for one hundred days, and was assigned to duty at Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie. In 1872 he was elected a member of the Constitutional covention, attending the sessions held at Columbus and Cincinnati. His general acquaintance with the people and wants of the State, no less than his broad and critical knowledge of the law, qualified him in the highest degree for membership in such a body. The records of the convention indicate clearly his activity and influence in the preparation of a new Consti- tution for the State. When submitted for adoption the new Constitution failed to receive a majority of the votes cast, but many of its more valuable provisions have since been adopted by popular vote of the people, and are now amendments to the Constitution of the State. In 1878 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Seventh Judicial District of Ohio, and held the position for two full terms of five years each. No better commentary on his judicial character, insight into legal questions, and impartiality in the trial of causes is needed than the simple mention of a fact which is of record, namely. that his decisions were reversed in only two cases of the whole number appealed to the Supreme Court during his ten years of occupancy of the Bench. Since his retirement from the judgeship, in 1889, Judge Tripp has been engaged in the practice of his profession, and connected with most of the important cases which have been tried in Jackson county, as well as in some other coun- ties. His talents have been employed in an honorable way to protect the interests of his clients and promote the ends of justice. Members of the Bar who have been associated with him in practice, and who have had cases decided by him on the Bench, speak in the highest terms of his honor, integrity of pur- pose, freedom from bias and painstaking habit of investigation. One of the oldest of them, who has known him long and intimately, says : "Judge Tripp
1
446
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
is entirely truthful, perfectly honest, exceedingly fair, not quick in making up his mind, but firm when his opinion is formed. As a judge he had good execu- tive ability, was clear in expression, and impartial in the statement of an opin- ion. He knew no friends or enemies while on the Bench. He is a careful, well balanced lawyer, equally efficient in law and equity cases." Judge Tripp was married in 1849, to Miss Christina Smeltz, who died October 24, 1882. Nine children were born to them, two sons and seven daughters, three of whom are dead. William L., the eldest, is a mechanic; Kate is the wife of Charles H. Warth, cashier of the National Bank at Muskogee, Indian Terri- tory ; James M. succeeded his father on the Common Pleas Bench for a term of five years, and declined a re-election because of his preference for the prac- tice. He is the father of two sons, and is now (1895) in partnership with his father, under the firm name of Tripp & Tripp. Mary L. is the wife of Tom Moore, editor of the Jackson Sun ; Gertrude is the wife of Frank Ellsworth Stewart, travelling salesman, Kansas City, Missouri ; Stella lives at home with her father. Judge Tripp is an upright citizen, highly esteemed by his neigh- bors, and has long been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church.
WILLIAM DOW JAMES, Waverly. To be called by the people to such a position of trust and responsibility as presiding judge over the court nearest them, is a public recognition both of ability and integrity in the man. But however gratifying this evidence of trust and confidence, it is a less distinction in the judge than the well known fact that he fitted himself for such honors and gained the necessary knowledge to enable him to properly discharge such duties, by his own individual efforts. It is worthy of note to pass examina- tion before the learned judges of the Supreme Court and be admitted to the Bar under the circumstances most favorable to preparation, but a greater honor to pass such an examination entirely unaided. Mr. James bought his books, and paid all the expenses of preparation for the law out of his own earnings while a student. He was largely self-taught and wholly self-reliant ; and the popular knowledge of these facts commended him to the suffrages of the people as a candidate for an office intimately related to their interests and their rights. He is the son of David and Charlotte Beauchainp James, born near Piketon, the first county seat of Pike county, December 1, 1853. He is of German extraction. His ancestor, John James, emigrated to America in 1750, located in Bedford county, Virginia, and became the head of a numerous posterity. John, a favorite name in the family, was the name of the grandfather of our subject, who was second generation from the founder of the family in America, and whose father's name was also John. The grandfather was born in 1785, and came to Ohio shortly after the North- west Territory was ceded to the general government and thrown open for settlement, and settled in Gallia county. He resided with his parents until 1805, when he removed to Pike county, and later married a Miss Allison,
447
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
locating in Beaver Valley, ten miles from Piketon. Nine sons and daughters were born of this union; among the number was David, the father of our subject, who married Miss Charlotte C. Beauchamp, and became a prominent, successful farmer in the community. Here William Dow James was born and reared. He remained at home, attending the public school and receiving lessons from private instructors, until he was about the age of twenty, when he began the study of law, under lawyer John T. Moore. This was continued until Mr. Moore removed to Jackson in 1875. He then prosecuted his studies with George D. Cole, teaching school in the winter and devoting his time to his text-books in summer. This course was pursued until the spring of 1877, when he was admitted to the Bar. He began to practice at Piketon, but only remained there four years, when he removed to Waverly, the county seat of Pike county, his present home. In 1879 he was elected mayor of the town of Piketon and held the office until he moved to Waverly. He continued in the practice of his profession in Pike and adjoining counties until 1893, when he was elected to the Bench of the Common Pleas Court in the second subdivision of the Seventh Judicial District. The conscientious work done for his clients and the thoroughness shown in preparing his cases kept his practice con- stantly growing, so that for ten years previous to his elevation to the Bench, there was not a case of importance tried in Pike county with which he was not connected as counsel on one side or the other. He made quite a reputa- tion during these years as a criminal lawyer, and the one case that gained for him the greatest notoriety was that of a man named Isaac Smith, charged with the murder of his cousin. There was no direct evidence to show that he was guilty as charged, but the circumstantial evidence was so strong that he was found guilty in the Court of Common Pleas and sentenced to be hanged. Judge James took an appeal to the District Court, but the finding of the lower court was sustained. Again he appealed to the Supreme Court, where the judgments of the lower courts were affirmed. Thereupon application was made to the board of pardons for commutation of the sentence to life imprisonment. This was recommended by the board to James E. Campbell, then governor, who, after a full hearing of the evidence and arguments of counsel, commuted the sentence as recommended by the board. The honor- able mention of Judge James's connection with this case by the. Bar and public press, gained for him a wide acquaintance and consequent increase of business. His professional reputation rests largely on his success as a trial lawyer, and his reputation as a man is equally high all over the district. IIe
was. married in 1882 to Miss Terrena Vulgamore, of Portsmouth, Ohio. A lawyer who knows him thoroughly says: "The first noticeable character- istic of Judge James is his courteous and affable manner both on and off the Bench. The second characteristic is his remarkably clear and logical mind, having in high degree that power so essential to the successful lawyer-discrim- ination, and the ability to make a correct application of the law to the facts of the case ; a third is his painstaking care in the preparation and trial of his cases. On the bench he is never hurried in arriving at his decisions, but when
448
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
announced, they show careful and thoughtful consideration of the questions involved, without favoritism or partiality, and are generally approved." Another judge of high repute says : " Judge James may be regarded as some- what slow and laborious in his mental operations both at the Bar and on the Bench, but he is thorough. He has the judicial quality to withhold judgment until he has fully investigated a subject and satisfied his own mind ; and, when his mind is well satisfied, he has the moral courage to stand by his con- victions regardless of the consequences." A lawyer of Jackson says: "Judge James is a self-made man of strong natural ability. I think he has a strong comprehension of the law. He is somewhat slow in arriving at a conclusion, but firm in his conviction. He is a better jurist then practitioner ; is very affable and courteous in all his work."
JOHN J. ADAMS, Zanesville. John Jay Adams, a judge of the Circuit Court of Ohio, Fifth Circuit, was born on his father's farm near Dresden, Muskingum county, Ohio, November 18, 1860. His parents were George W. and Mary J. (Robinson) Adams, the former a native of Virginia, and the lat- ter of Coshocton county, Ohio. Judge Adams received his education in the district school and the high schools of Dresden and Zanesville, graduating from the latter in June, 1875. The next four years were spent at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1879. He then taught for three years in Harcourt Academy, at Gambier, a prepara- tory school for boys. He commenced his legal studies in September, 1880, under the direction of Judge Moses M. Granger, and was admitted to the Ohio Bar January 2, 1883. He practiced in Zanesville for nearly eleven years in partnership with Judge Gilbert D. Munson and for a few months with Thomas J. McDermott, Esq. At the November election in 1894 he was elected to his present position for the full term of six years, from February 9, 1895, by a plurality of eight thousand eight hundred and ninety-four. The Fifth Circuit is composed of the counties of Ashland, Richland, Wayne, Stark, Morrow, Knox, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Coshocton, Licking, Delaware, Fairfield, Perry, Morgan and Muskingum. Judge Adams was married October 26, 1892, to Dora May Black, only daughter of Captain Thomas S. Black, of Zanesville, Ohio.
LEONIDAS M. JEWETT, Athens. Leonidas Morris Jewett belongs to that class of practitioners at the Ohio Bar who give the profession their undivided attention. Money will procure degrees from institutions of learning and place men in positions of trust in public life, but it will not place a man high up in the legal profession. That is the one calling in which the degree of success is measured by the double standard of industry and intelligence. Leonidas M. Jewett is purely a lawyer. His ancestors on the paternal side hailed from
1
The Century Publishing & Engraving Co Chicano.
e
449
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
New England and were cultured people. His grandfather came to Ohio early in the present century and located at Athens, where he was a practicing physician for many years. His father, Leonidas Jewett, was a lawyer and attained prominence in his profession. His mother, Elizabeth Robinson, was a native of England, but was brought to the United States at an early age. Leonidas M. was born at Athens, November 22, 1844. He was educated in the Ohio University at Athens, from which he was graduated in 1861, at the age of eighteen. It was at a period when recruits were enlisting under the first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers for the Civil War, and, true to the patriotic impulses of his New England ancestors, he was among the first to offer his services. He enlisted in the Third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the three months' service. He was among those who re-enlisted ; was transferred to the Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed to the post of adjutant of the regiment. In April, 1862, he was promoted to a captaincy and commanded Company C, the color company, and served in that position until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged with the brevet rank of major. His regiment was first attached to the Army of the Potomac and participated in the battles of Second Bull Run, Fredericks- burg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and other engagements, under different commanders, until September 25, 1863, when it accompanied Hooker's corps to the department of the Cumberland, and was with that intrepid commander in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, and all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, including the fall of Atlanta. His entire military service was hazardous as well as honorable. On his return from the war, following his original intention, he began preparation for the Bar under his father's tuition, and in the fall of 1865 was admitted. He immediately entered into partnership with Rudolph De-Steiguer, under the firm name of De Steiguer & Jewett, which soon became one of the most prominent and best known law firms in southeastern Ohio, with practice in all the courts of that section. In January, 1867, Major Jewett was elected prosecuting attorney of Athens county and filled the office continuously until 1880. He has repeatedly been offered important political positions, but invariably declined any office outside his profession. In the thirty years at the Bar of Ohio he has built up a very large and lucrative practice, much of which is in the higher courts. He has made a high reputation as a corporation lawyer and represents several local companies, but his practice is general. In politics he is a Republican, and is active and prominent in his neighborhood in organizing the party and con- ducting political canvasses. He has often been chairman of the Republican executive committee of his county, and is an ardent and enthusiastic Repub- lican. He frequently represents his county in judicial, Congressional and State conventions. He takes great interest in the affairs of the Ohio Uni- versity and is a member of its board of trustees. He has also taken great interest in the erection and care of the soldiers' monument at Athens. lle is prominent in social circles and is a member of the Masonic order, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of Kappa Chapter, Beta Theta Pi. He was married September 27, 1871, to Miss Ella Reynolds, of Martins- ville, Indiana.
450
BENCH AND BAR OF OHIO.
SAMUEL W. COURTRIGHT, Circleville. Judge Courtright was born on his father's farm in Walnut township, Pickaway county, Ohio, December 9, 1842. His parents were Honorable Jesse D. and Sallie (Stout) Courtright, the former a native of Fairfield county, and the latter of Pickaway county, Ohio. The Courtright family were of Dutch and the Stout of English descent, but both have been for so lang a period residents of the new world as to almost have lost their foreign identity. Judge Courtright is a lineal descendant of the Von Courtrights who came to America from Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and settled on Staten Island when it was yet a Dutch colony. Jesse Von Courtright, of Revolutionary fame, was a captain in the Continental army, and served during most of the seven years' struggle for independence. After the termination of the war he removed to Pennsylvania, and in accordance with his Democratic principles, dropped the title prefixed to his name, which from thenceforth went down to posterity as Courtright. John Courtright, the grandfather of the judge, came to Ohio with his family from his Pennsylvania homestead in the year 1802, travelling over the mountains and through the forests in a three-horse wagon, and settled in Fairfield county near Royalton. He became a large land owner and a prominent and progressive citizen, build- ing the first brick house in his community. From the Fairfield county home- stead the family scattered, Jesse D., the father of our subject, locating in Pickaway county. The Stout family came to Ohio in the latter part of the eighteenth century and settled in Fairfield county, where some branches of the family still reside. Judge Courtright was sixth in a family of nine chil- dren, and, like other farmers' sons of the period, his boyhood days. were spent between the district school house and assisting with work on his father's farm, the farm receiving the greatest proportion of his time. His common school education was supplemented by a course at the Salem Academy, which he left in 1861 to take up the study of law in the office of D. M. Jones of Circleville. Scholarship cannot be measured by the length of time spent in college, but is correctly gauged by the degree of perseverance with which the student pur- sues his studies. Young Courtright has been a hard and faithful student and was well advanced when he took up the study of law. In October, 1862, he entered the Law Department of the Cincinnati College, from which he was graduated in 1863 with the degree of LL. B. He at once began the practice of his profession in Circleville. His qualifications and native ability were soon recognized by the public by electing him the next year to the office of city solicitor, to which he was re-elected at the close of his first terin. In 1867 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Pickaway county, serving in that capacity for two terms. In 1875 he was elected to the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas, of the Third Subdivision of the Fifth Judicial District, without opposition, and at the time was the youngest judge in the State. He retained the position for five years, since when he has given his time entirely to his practice and to his private business. In his practice he has been eminently successful and has gained an honorable distinction both as a jurist and as a lawyer. For over a quarter of a century he has been
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.