USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. I > Part 8
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to the Republican National Convention of 1856, after which he returned to Toledo, where he continued to practice. He was invited in 1854, by the syndi- cate organizing the Wabash Railway System, to take charge of the legal depart- ment of that system for the state of Ohio ; prepared the articles of incorpora- tion, the first bonds and mortgage which were issued, and had charge of the legal business of the company until his death. From 1870 to 1879 he was in partnership with General Wager Swayne, the eldest son of the late Judge Noah H. Swayne, under the firm name of Osborn & Swayne, and in 1883 formed a partnership with his nephew, Alexander L. Smith, which continued to the end of his life. Judge Tilden was born in Central New York, August 15, 1814, and was the son of Dr. Myron W. Holmes, who died before the birth of the subject of this sketch. When three years of age the family came to Ohio, settling in Huron county, where he was adopted by Dr. Daniel Tilden, a pioneer physician, whose name was given him. He was educated at Norwalk Seminary, meantime devoting his spare moments to the reading of standard literature. In 1833 he entered the law office of Thaddeus B. Sturgis, then a leading lawyer of Norwalk, and completed his reading in the office of Judge Lane of the State Supreme Court. Mr. Tilden was admitted to the Bar in 1835. In 1833, in connection with John Kenman, he started a newspaper, the Western Intelligencer, at Norwalk, which was ere long removed to Milan. He commenced practice at Norwalk, with fair success, but seeking a larger field he removed to Toledo, where he formed the partnership with Mr. Osborn, which lasted one year. Soon thereafter C. W. Hill, and ere long Henry Ben- nett, became associated with Mr. Tilden. In 1839 Mr. Tilden was elected to the city council, and in 1840 as mayor, and re-elected in 1842, serving in the latter position for four years. In 1842 he was the Whig candidate for Con- gress, though, owing to a strong Democratic majority, he was not elected. In 1843 he was chosen president judge of the Common Pleas district, serving as such until his resignation in 1847. Soon after this, in order to protect his inter- ests as a stockholder in the steamboat Indiana, he bought that craft and ran it for two seasons. Not long thereafter he resumed practice, with William Baker as partner. In 1850 he removed to Cincinnati, where he died in 1888.
In the fall of 1837 there appeared the professional card of Swayne & Benjamin I. Brown, who opened an office at Toledo. Swayne then lived at Columbus, and Brown, living in Toledo, attended to the Toledo business of the firm. Judge Swayne became interested largely in Toledo real estate, which he held for many years. As an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States he became known throughout the whole country as an able lawyer, an upright judge, and a man of sterling worth. Two of his sons, Noah H. Swayne, Jr., and Frank B. Swayne, are now practicing in Toledo, with success, and are both good lawyers and estimable gentlemen. Ilis eldest son, General Wager Swayne, who also practiced in Toledo for a number of years, is now a member of the firm of Dillon & Swayne, New York City.
Caleb F. Abbott was one of the carly settlers in Toledo. He came from Massachusetts, was a graduate of Harvard, and always prided himself on his
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New England birth and education. He was a painstaking and industrious lawyer, an intense Whig, an ardent admirer of Henry Ciay, and greatly in love with politics. In a convention to choose delegates to a State convention, the question arising as to the choice between Clay and Harrison for President, he exclaimed : " Who is this General' Harrison ?" He became, however, a warm supporter of the General after his nomination. Mr. Abbott died in April, 1855.
At the time of the organization of the county Henry Bennett resided at Perrysburg, Wood county, but subsequently removed to Toledo and formed a partnership with Charles W. Hill, which lasted but a short time. He con- tinued to practice for a number of years, but quit the profession some forty years since, devoting his time to other pursuits. He died in 1887. He had lived in retirement from active business for many years, enjoying a comfort- able income. He was an amiable, even-tempered gentleman of the old school, at peace with the world and possessing the confidence of the community in an unusual degree.
Among the lawyers practicing here in 1854 was Judge Thomas M. Cooley, subsequently for so many years on the Bench of the Supreme Court of Mich- igan, member of the faculty of the Law School of the University of Michigan, a member of the Inter-State Commerce Commission, and author of many val- uable text-books in law. He was in 1854 the independent candidate for judge of Common Pleas, against John Fitch, candidate of the " Anti-Nebraska," since the Republican party, who was elected. Soon after that time, Mr. Cooley returned to Michigan.
Frederick A. Jones died in Toledo, February 8, 1873. He was born at Grafton, Lorain county, October 10, 1823; received his education at Norwalk, Oberlin and Granville; and was admitted to the Bar in 1849. For a time he taught school at Jackson, Mississippi, but soon returned to the North and practiced law at Granville until coming to Toledo, in 1853, where he continued his practice, having at different times M. O. Higgins and J. M. Ritchie as partners. In 1860 he was elected Probate Judge, and was serving on his fourth term at the time of his death.
Charles E. Perigo was a native of Otsego county, New York, and came to Toledo in 1844, entering the law office of Hill & Bennett as a student, and became a member of the firm as soon as his term of study was completed, which position he held at the time of his death, from consumption, January 27, 1857, aged 33 years. He was a man of strict integrity, pure morals and correct habits.
I am unable to give a complete list of the lawyers who have practiced in the Lucas county Bar. At a meeting of the Bar held in November, 1851, to take action of a complimentary nature on the retirement of Judge E. B. Sad- ler, there were present thirty-one members. Twenty-six others were either residents at the time or became such soon afterwards. Edward Bissell, Sr., took an active and prominent part in the earlier history of Toledo. His son, Edward, Jr., was educated at Yale College, and began the practice of law in
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Toledo in 1849, after serving as a volunteer in the war with Mexico, 1846-48. He was for many years one of the leading and most successful lawyers at the Bar. His chief characteristic was the absolute thoroughness with which he prepared every case and every matter connected with his professional work. He was one of the thorough scholars connected with the profession. In 1864 he formed a partnership with William H. Gorrill, John H. Doyle and W. S. Thurstin, under the firm name of Bissell & Gorrill. The members of this firm have changed many times since. Mr. Gorrill died in California with con- sumption, in 1874. Judge Doyle left the firm and went on the Bench in 1879, but Mr. Bissell never would consent to have the firm name changed.
William H. Gorrill died at Oakland, California, in September, 1874, aged thirty-eight years. He was born at Bowling Green, Wood county, in 1836, where he was raised and received his education until his entrance at Michigan University, where he was graduated from the legal course in 1862. Locating in Toledo, he formed a partnership with Edward Bissell, Jr., and was soon on his way to permanent eminence and success at the Bar, when disease of a pulmonary character developed itself in increasing force. Hoping by such change of habit to stay the progress of the enemy, he sought exercise in trips on the lakes and rivers, on which occasions he corresponded freely and very acceptably for the Toledo Commercial. In 1869 he sought health in California, where he established the Pacific Bridge Company. The change was successful in a business way and for a time promised confirmed improvement in health ; but this was only temporary, as the result showed. He left a wife (a daughter of Judge Walker, of St. Clair, Michigan,) and one child. Few young men have entered active life with higher promise of both business success and per- sonal honor and usefulness, than did Mr. Gorrill.
Henry S. Commager, of Toledo, died at Galveston, Texas, of yellow fever, August 14, 1867. He was there in the capacity of an internal revenue officer. He settled in Otsego, Wood county. in 1838, when quite young. and there was married with a daughter of David Hedges. In 1841 he entered the office of Young & Waite, Maumee. as a student at law ; was admitted to the Bar in 1842; commenced practice at Maumee; removed to Toledo in 1852, and was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1854, his opponent being Richard Mott, the Anti-Nebraska or Republican candidate, who was elected. Mr. Commager was among the first citizens of Lucas county to volunteer for the defense of the Union, in 1861, enlisting first as a private in the Fourteenth and subsequently in the Sixty-seventh Regiment, of which later he was major and lieutenant-colonel. Afterwards he was colonel of the One Hundred and Eighty-ninth Regiment. In 1866 he was again the Democratic candidate for Congress, when he ran 800 ahead of the party ticket, though not elected. He led the Sixty-seventh Regiment in the dreadful charge at. Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, July, 1863, where he was severely wounded. As a citizen he had a large circle of friends. Judge David HI. Commager, of Toledo, is his son.
Charles M. Dorr was among the earliest law students of Toledo, as he was for thirty-five years prominent in political and public affairs. He was born in
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Hoosac, New York, in 1815, and settled in Toledo in 1838; read law with John Fitch; was admitted to practice in 1839 ; elected to the city council in 1847, and again in 1849; elected mayor of the city in 1851, '53, '55, '57, '65. He was a man of genial temperament and marked personal popularity, as indicated by the elective positions held by him. He died suddenly of apo- plexy, April 20, 1870, aged 55 years. October 5, 1841, he was married at Toledo, with Miss Caroline Hertzler, and reared a family of five children.
James M. Whitney died at Toledo, February 7, 1874. Born in Salem, Washington county, New York, November 9, 1802, he was married in 1829, with Lovinia Remell, who died April 5, 1862. February 8, 1863, he was mar- ried with Imogene Nicholas, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, who with one child sur- vives him. With his father-in-law, Mr. Whitney came to Toledo in 1831, and built a log house near what is now the corner of Bancroft and Fulton streets. He subsequently practiced law, and, about 1854, engaged in the hardware trade. He was one of the first justices of the peace in the county, holding the position for several years. He was a man of genial disposition and had many friends.
James M. Ritchie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, July 28, 1829, and came with his parents to the United States in 1832. In 1852 he moved to Lorain county, Ohio, and there taught school. He was elected justice of the peace in 1854 on the " Anti-Nebraska" issue, and commenced the study of the law, and in 1857 was admitted to the Bar in Lucas county, and permanently settled in Toledo in September, 1858. He was elected judge of the Police Court in 1867, and after holding the office for about a year and a half resigned to resume the practice. He was a delegate to the Republican National Con- vention in 1880 that nominated Garfield for President, and in the fall of that year was nominated for Congress and elected, serving as a member of the 47th Congress. He is a thorough student, a lover of books, and an orator of con- sidera ble polish and power. In criminal cases he has been unusually successful.
Charles Kent was in active practice from 1850 until his death in 1892, dur- ing the later years in partnership with his son, Charles E. Kent. The old firm of Bassett & Kent was long a leading one in the profession. It was succeeded by Kent & Newton, and later by Kent, Newton & Pugsley, and commanded more than the average business and confidence. Mr. Kent bore the reputa- tion for a quarter of a century of being one of the ablest lawyers of the Toledo Bar. His first partner here was Edward P. Bassett, whose im- paired hearing and feeble health compelled him to abandon active duties long before his death. John T. Newton, for many years his successor in the firm, before retiring from the practice accumulated an ample fortune, whose manage- ment occupied his later years. The other member of the firm, Judge Isaac P. Pugsley, was appointed judge upon the elevation of Judge Doyle to the Su- preme Court, and was, at the election in November, 1887, chosen as judge of the Common Pleas Court for five years, to succeed Judge Pike.
Judge Joshua R. Seney, who served part of a term as judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and resigned to resume the practice which he preferred, was
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a native of Seneca county, and came to Toledo in 1864. He has been and still is a prominent member of the Bar, and an affable and courteous gentleman.
Judge William A. Collins was in active and general practice for many years, always enjoying the confidence of his brethren and clients. He was an incorruptible and learned judge, and distinguished for his ability and integrity as a lawyer.
Charles H. Scribner was a leading lawyer in Knox county for twenty years before removing to Toledo, in 1869. [Has a separate biographical sketch .- Editor.]
It would be a pleasure to continue these sketches of the brethren of the Bar, but the limited space allotted to this article forbids. Several of the lead- ing lawyers have extended notices elsewhere, and many others are no less en- titled to distinction as lawyers of ability and honor than those already noticed.
THE SUPREME COURT IN LUCAS COUNTY.
The first term of the Supreme Court in Lucas county at which material business was transacted was in 1838. There was, however, a short term at which some formal matters were transacted held in July, 1837, presided over by Judges Ebenezer Lane and Reuben Wood; in 1838 the court was held by Judges Lane and Grimke; in 1839, by Lane and Wood; in 1840, by Wood and Peter Hitchcock; in 1841 and 1842, no session of this court was held in this county; in 1843, it was held by Wood and Matthew Burchard; in 1844, by Wood and Nathaniel C. Reed; in 1845 and 1846, by Wood and Burchard; in 1847 and 1848, by Burchard and Edward Avery; in 1849. by Hitchcock and William B. Caldwell; in 1850, by Hitchcock and Rufus P. Spaulding; and in 1851, by Hitchcock and Caldwell.
The new State Constitution went into effect in 1851, and the District Court was created which took the place of the old County Supreme Court. The District Court was held during the thirty-two years of its existence by the following named judges, to wit: Samuel Humphreyville, Lucius B. Otis, Stark weather, Horace Foote, John Fitch, Thomas Bolton, James S. Carpenter, Jesse P. Bishop, Sebastian F. Taylor, Samuel T. Worcester, John L. Greene, James M. Coffinbury, Stevenson Burke, Samuel B. Prentiss, Walter F. Stone, W. W. Boynton, Charles E. Pennewell, Samuel W. McClure, Robert F. Payne, Darius Caldwell, J. M. Jones, Jesse H. McMath, G. M. Barber, E. . T. Hamilton, S. E. Williamson, Henry Mckinney, J. E. Ingersoll, John W. Heisley. The judges of the Supreme Court who sat with the District judges at various times from 1852 down to 1884, when the Circuit Court was organ- ized, were Thomas W. Bartley, Jacob Brinkerhoff, Milton Sutliff, Josiah Scott, William White, Luther Day and John Welch.
By an amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1884, a Circuit Court was created, which commenced in February, 1885, when Judges William H. Upson, Charles C. Baldwin and George R. Haynes were elected, for a term of
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five years. Lucas county is in the Sixth Circuit, and two terms of the court are held annually in each county of the circuit. [The history of this court is published in another article .- Editor.]
There were twenty-seven Common Pleas Judges elected in 1851, under the Constitution which then went into effect. Of these it is believed that the following only are now living: Judges Warden and Whitman, both of whom are ex-judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio ; Judge Bates, of the Columbus District ; Judge Otis, of the Toledo District, and Judge Welker. Judge Horace Foote, of Cleveland, held' District Court in Lucas county in sixteen different years; and there was not a term of the District Court in this county omitted during the existence of that court.
THE FEDERAL COURT IN TOLEDO.
By Act of Congress, passed February 10, 1855, the State of Ohio was divided into two Judicial Districts- the Northern, with the courts of Cleve- land ; and the Southern, with the courts of Cincinnati. In July, 1870, an Act was passed providing for the holding of two terms of the District Court at Toledo, annually, at such times as the district judge should fix, but giving to it no term of the Circuit Court. Judge Charles T. Sherman was then the judge, and held several terms of the District Court here. In 1873 he resigned, and Martin Welker was appointed to succeed him by President Grant, ou the 28th of November, 1873. Judge Welker held his first term at Toledo in December of that year, and with three terms at Cleveland and two at Toledo annually, never missed holding his court until his retirement on account of age limit, in January, 1890.
Augustus J. Rix was appointed to succeed him as district judge, January 16, 1890, and has since filled the office. He is a lawyer of deep learning and a judge of high character.
On the Sth of June, 1878, by Act of Congress, the Northern District of Ohio was divided into the Eastern and Western Subdivisions, the Western Division consisting of Lucas, Williams, Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert, Mercer, Auglaize, Allen, Putnam, Henry, Fulton, Wood, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Union, Delaware, Marion, Wyandot, Seneca, Sandusky, Ottawa, Erie and Huron counties. The Act required all suits of a local nature in the Circuit and District Courts against a single defendant, resident of the State, to be brought in the subdivision in which he should reside; and where there were two or, more defendants, residing in different divisions, permitting the action to be brought in either of these. It made all offenses cognizable and indictable in the division where committed, and required all jurors to be residents thereof. This Act made Toledo a judicial center for the territory embraced in the sub. division. The business of the court has been very important, and has brought to our city many of the leading lawyers of the country. During the period covered by the sessions of the court at Toledo, the railroads of the country
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have furnished an important part of its work. Foreclosures of mortgages, administration of railroad properties by the instrumentality of receivers, and the sale of the property, have been a part of the work of nearly every term. The Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis, the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, the Ohio Central, the Michigan & Ohio, the Toledo & Indianapolis, and its successor, the Toledo, Columbus & Southern, are among the railroad com- panies that have furnished such litigation in the Western Division, and have furnished a large and lucrative business to the legal profession. Two terms of the District and Circuit Courts are held annually at Toledo (in June and De- cember), each lasting six to eight weeks of active work.
At the time of the organization of the Western Division, Judge H. H. Emmons, of Detroit, was the judge of the circuit comprising the States of Ohio, Michigan. Kentucky and Tennessee, but Judge Emmons never presided at Toledo. He was succeeded by Judge John Baxter, of Knoxville, Tennessee, a man of immense energy, indomitable will and remarkable ability. He was somewhat a terror to the Bar until he became known and his methods under- stood. He would dispose of a case in the most arbitrary manner, without hear- ing counsel. and often without hearing the evidence beyond a point which he thought decisive. He was no respecter of persons. The most distinguished member of the Bar had no greater consideration shown him than the humblest and least known. He grew on the profession. As they came to recognize his wonderful perception, his impatience at the " law's delays," and the consump- tion of time by attorneys which he deemed unnecessary, his absolute impar- tiality and integrity, the lawyers fell into his way of disposing of business con- tentedly after the first few years, and the remark would be often made, " He shoots quick but very straight." Off the Bench he was genial, kind and soci- able, an entertaining talker and fond of his brethren and their company. Dur- ing the war Judge Baxter was an uncompromising and fearless friend of the Union, and showed it in many ways that exhibited his nerve and unconquer- able will in a place where it was not free from danger. He died at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1886, and was succeeded by Judge Howell E. Jackson, of Nashville, Tennessee, who was tendered a complimentary banquet by the Bar of Toledo on his arrival here, at which Judge Doyle presided and which was largely attended. Judge Jackson won his way quickly to the confidence of the Bar and was distinguished for his courtesy, his scholarship in the law, and the patient hearing he gave to every case. He was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President Harrison in 1893 and won the fullest confidence and the highest esteem of his colleagues in that great tribunal during the two years he was permitted to sit with them. Hc died in 1895. [Adapted from Munsell & Company's History of Toledo and Lucas County, and reviscd.]
EARLY JUDGES, COURTS AND MEMBERS OF THE BAR.
REMINISCENCES.
BY HON. HENRY B. CURTIS.
In 1817, then at the age of seventeen years, having just completed a fair academical education, on the advice of my elder brother, the late Hosmer Cur- tis, then a practicing lawyer at Mount Vernon, I left our home farm in Lick- ing county, and accepted an appointment of deputy clerk in the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts of Knox county, and for more than three years princi- pally discharged all the duties of those offices. My subsequent course of study was under my brother above named, and I was examined personally by Judges Hitchcock and Pease, at Newark, and admitted to the several degrees of our profession on the ninth of December, 1822.
The judges of the Supreme Court, at the early period to which I have referred, were Peter Hitchcock, Calvin Pease, Jacob Burnet and Joshua Collett. Each had peculiar and distinctive characteristics. Hitchcock and Burnet were, perhaps, most profound in knowledge of the law, the former of clear percep- tions of the justice and equity of the side his convictions led him to espouse, unbending and unconciliatory. Hence he was generally regarded as pretty hard on young lawyers. On the other hand, Judge Burnet, with equal learn- ing and discriminating powers in the legal questions presented for his corsid- eration and decision, commended himself to the Bar generally for his amiable and courteous manners, and especially to young members, for whose embar- rassment in their early efforts he was ever more considerate. Judge Pease was of most jovial temperament, of ready wit, and enjoyed a joke in delivering an opinion from the Bench, or from the forum. Following the judges above named were Justices Sherman, Wright, Lane, Wood, Spalding, and others, whose services seem to me so recent that their characteristics and generous qualities are yet well known and remembered by most of my legal brethren of the present day, and need not be further mentioned.
There was a class of lawyers in central Ohio, belonging to the period of 1810 to 1820, whose names should be mentioned, but who, from age, retire- ment or removal, had ceased to practice in this part of Ohio at the period to which my sketches are intended to apply. I refer to Philemon Beecher, of Lancaster ; Granger, of Zanesville; Edward Herrick and Jeremiah Munson, of Newark, and others.
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My early practice was chiefly limited to the counties of Knox, Licking and Richland ; later, embracing other and adjacent counties. It was the custom to follow the courts in their terms, for the several counties of their circuit ; so that, substantially, the same Bar would be in attendance, at courts distant from others fifty to one hundred miles. We traveled on horseback, over very bad roads, sometimes mid-leg deep of mud, or underlaid with the traditional " corduroy bridge." Our personal riding gear, the saddlebags stuffed with a few changes of lighter apparel, often our law books; our legs protected by " spatter-dashes," more commonly called " leggins," and our whole persons covered with a camlet, or Scotch plaid cloak ; we were prepared to meet what- ever weather befell us.
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