USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 12
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SAMUEL B. PRENTISS, Cleveland. Honorable Samuel Blake Prentiss, late of Cleveland, for fifteen years judge of the Fourth Judicial District of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Montpelier, Vermont, in January, 1807. He was the son of Judge Samuel and Lucretia Houghton Prentiss (his middle name was that of his father's old preceptor in law), and was the oldest of twelve children, of whom eleven were boys. He was the eighth generation in descent from Captain Thomas Prentiss, who won great distinction in some of the early wars, notably that of King Philip in 1676, when he commanded a troop of horse. His father, nearly all his life in public service and faithful and atten- tive to duty, left the care of the children mainly to his mother, who was indeed a very superior and competent woman, as a housewife at home, as a lady in society. Either in Montpelier or Washington, as a woman of efficiency and judgment, in care of so large a family of sons, she was equally capable. Her mildness and force and good sense were beyond praise, and her sons have deemed her perfect. The ten sons grew to manhood ; all but one practiced law ; that one was clerk in the United States Court, of which his father was judge. Samuel Blake Prentiss had, when a boy, such education as Montpelier
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afforded, and later went to the University of Vermont. The burning of that college ended his academic education. He received, however, an education by heredity-for few men had so much by nature-such mental qualities as usually result from a severe and careful education. He studied with his father and remained in Montpelier in practice until the year 1840. His father in early years was judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, and a few years afterwards was in the United States Senate for two terms, until the year 1840. Samuel B. had not only a fine and accurate early school- ing, but an opportunity for responsible practice while his father was in Wash- - ington. In 1840 his father was made United States judge for the district in which he lived. A younger brother, Frederick J., still kindly remembered by many old citizens of Cleveland, had come to Cleveland in 1839, and urging the step was joined in 1840 by his brother in a business long and successfully con- ducted, under the firm name of S. B. & F. J. Prentiss, except during the years 1854 and 1855, when Mr. John T. Newton, now of Toledo, was a partner. This firm was broken in 1861 by the retirement of Mr. F. J. Prentiss, who became clerk of the courts. Mr. S. B. Prentiss then took into partnership Charles Candee Baldwin, formerly a student in his office. The firm continued for six years, until 1867, when Mr. Prentiss was elected to the Bench of the Cuyahoga Common Pleas, and he was twice re-elected, the last election being just before he reached the age of seventy years, and he entered upon his third term of office when past seventy. Judge S. B. Prentiss in 1840 made some polished Whig speeches, but thereafter took little public part in politics. He devoted himself closely and with affection to his profession, taking a hearty interest but very modest part in public affairs. He was a quiet citizen, but always performed very conscientiously the duties of citizenship. He took a great and intelligent interest in the late war. He even expressed, in the early part of the war, a desire to enlist. Being then and generally rather feeble, he modestly said he could not march very well, but he could shoot. He never held public office, except that of judge. His life offers little of adventure or little out of the ordinary save his character, and there, where so many eminent men fail, he was conspicuous. He was remarkably well fitted for his work. His mind was always acute and accurately logical. Apparently his hard work was easily done. He advanced in a difficult or complicated case step by step, each finished ere the next was determined. With him, more than with any other lawyer at the Cleveland Bar, law seemed like logic. He was known as a remarkably safe counsellor and safe in his presentation of cases. Though personally modest and retiring, indeed to yielding his own personal claims, he was most tenacious on the rights of his client and the merits and fate of a law suit-a training, by the way, infrequently gained in the legal profession and a very high praise to deserve. He was much urged to accept a place on the Bench in 1862, but declined. Four years later he accepted and continued in the office until he was seventy-five years old. To the present generation he is chiefly known as a jurist. His mind and disposition were very favorable to his excellence. He inherited mental discipline. His first American ancestor,
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Captain Thomas Prentiss, of King Philip's War, had for his service therein "the Pequot'County," in Stonington, Connecticut. His descendant, Colonel Samuel Prentiss, was in the Revolution and a man of public affairs. His son Samuel was an educated and skilled physician, who settled in Massachusetts. The third Samuel born in Stonington was the father of Samuel Blake. This formed quite a line of professional men. The characteristics of the father, Judge and Senator Prentiss, were very marked, even to peculiarity. He was a judge remarkable for the accurate logic and solid good sense of his opinions. A few years ago Honorable E. J. Phelps, erstwhile United States Minister to England, delivered in the legislative hall of Vermont a discourse upon Judge Samuel Prentiss, which it is impossible to read without seeing in it a picture of the son. Mr. Phelps said : "Prentiss carried the scales hung on a diamond point, fit to weigh the tenth part of a hair; so conscientious was he, so patient, so thoughtful, so considerate, so complete in his knowledge of every principle and every detail of the law of the land, when he held up the scales he not only weighed accurately, but everybody felt that he weighed accurately." Judge S. B. Prentiss had also a remarkable faculty of making the losing lawyer feel that the decision was correct. His opinion had the sound of mathematical accuracy. While he was on the Bench, he adorned it both by his learning and by his manners. His patience was perfect under all circumstances. His man- ner was very dignified, yet gracious and kind, and he was very greatly a favorite with younger members of the Bar for these reasons. While all sub- mitted cases to him with great confidence, there was never any suspicion that he might be swayed even by prejudice. His ruling was marked by great. gentleness. Although he never seemed strong, he had great vitality, and at a very advanced age slowly failed, dying at last slowly, and with much less dis- comfort than he had previously suffered, at one o'clock P. M., on Tuesday, the 27th day of November, 1894. On April 14, 1851, Judge Prentiss married Jane Atwood, daughter of Warren and Janett A. Russell, of East Haddam, Connecticut, and by the union had two daughters, one the wife of J. D. Cox, Jr., son of ex-Governor Cox, and Lucretia J. Prentiss. The following beauti- ful tribute is from Judge Samuel E. Williamson :
"Although Judge Prentiss has been withdrawn from active connection with his profession for several years, his death brings personal grief to every lawyer who knew him on the Bench or at the Bar. I have no very distinct recollection of him as a practicing lawyer, as he became a judge at the request. of substantially the whole Bar when I was a student. The first event which attracted my attention to him was his vigorous attempt to secure the resigna- tion of a public officer who, in his judgment, had been false to his professions made when he was elected. I believe he failed to secure the united support of his associates at the Bar, and it is not now important to decide whether the attempt was wise or not, but the incident serves to indicate to those who knew him only in later years not only his patriotism but his intense devotion to duty. Once convinced that duty demanded a certain line of conduct, no per- sonal sacrifice could turn him from it. Indeed it was duty that guided and controlled his life. It inspired him in his work, which was so completely and conscientiously performed that it gave him the relief from pressure so essential
ly Yours . Силу С. Капи-
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to every lawyer burdened with the cares of others. He said once that he had, when a cause had been submitted to the court or jury, no further anxiety or uneasiness about it. He had done his duty and that ended his responsibility. It is not strange that such a man should outlive most of his contemporaries, and that the affection of his associates and the respect of the whole community should follow him in his retirement and remain with him to the end. It is as a judge that he is best remembered by the Bar of the present day. If ever legal learning, judicial temperament and absolute integrity were united in a single man it was in Judge Prentiss. He came to the Bench with every advantage that could be given by birth, education and experience. But they would have been of little avail to arouse the tender memories which enshrine him in our hearts to-day without the con- spicuous purity which made it impossible for the worst defeated litigant to doubt it, and the kindness which took the sting from the most adverse opinion. I have heard it said that he was born with a hot temper, but if so, no man ever had his temper under such complete control. Those who knew him well were aware that he had strong and clear views upon most subjects of common interest. But no opinion or prejudice ever had the least influence in preventing the calm consideration of every case upon the law and testimony. Wherever these led him he followed. If argument ever worried him he gave no sign of it A full hearing he never denied or avoided. His practice in this respect was probably the result partly of a desire to hear all that could be said, partly of his boundless kindness. I have seen him sit for hours with perfect calm- ness and listening to a flood of bombastic rhetoric without a thought which could aid him. Lawyers have made propositions in coming before him which would have called out an indignant outburst from any other judge, but he heard them patiently to the end and then in the calmest tone disposed of them by the application of legal principles. The most severe reproof that counsel engaged in a personal altercation ever received, was the statement that court would be adjourned to facilitate a proper trial of the case, but you may be sure that there was no occasion to repeat the reproof. I think it is the memory of this uniform kindness which won them. All else dominates our thought of him to-day, and brings mourning and pain to the hearts of those who have not seen this loved and venerated judge for years."
HENRY CLAY RANNEY, Cleveland. The subject of this biography is a native of Ohio, of Massachusetts ancestry on both sides. He sprang from the union of two historic families, distinguished in the annals of New England and Ohio. His father was Elijah W. Ranney, a successful merchant and the oldest of the three brothers, Elijah W., Rufus P., and John L. Ranney. His mother was Levana L. Larcom. He was born June 1, 1829, in Portage county, and bereft of his father when only six years old. At the age of eight he became a member of the family of his uncle, the late Judge Rufus P. Ran- ney, by whom he was educated. His education was limited to an academic course, because it seemed desirable that he should qualify himself for the pro- fession of law, which he had chosen, and become self-supporting as early as practicable. With that object in view he took up the study of the law in the office and under the instruction of his uncle, who was then one of the judges
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of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He was admitted to the Bar in 1852 and immediately commenced practice at Warren, in the office of Judge Matthew Birchard. He left Warren in the fall of 1855 to enter into a partnership with his uncle, John L. Ranney, at Ravenna, with whom he was associated until the death of the latter in 1866. He continued practice at Ravenna until 1874, when he came to Cleveland and became associated with his uncle, Rufus P. Ranney (the firm later including Judge Ranney's youngest son, John R.). Since the death of Judge R. P. Ranney in 1891, he has continued in practice alone. His education in the law was not restricted to any single branch or division, but was in fact unlimited in scope. This statement is also applicable to the character of his practice, at least during the first twenty-five years of his membership at the Bar. Latterly the legal business of railroad companies and other corporations has commanded most of his time, and he is now seek- ing to limit or confine his practice to special cases. Richly endowed by the instinctive quality of mind which is the inspiration of a lawyer, and by that happy association of faculties which permits the highest distinction in the pro- fession, Mr. Ranney has not allowed himself to rely upon inspiration or nat- ural endowments. Strong in mental power and resource, he has ever been mindful of the proverb, " Labor omnia vincit." Not only have his intellectual powers been consecrated to the profession, but his time and his energy have been equally and unreservedly devoted to the professional work. He has had the breadth of view to appreciate the immensity, the infinity, of possible achievement in the profession, and the wisdom to understand that perpetual growth is dependent upon perpetual study and investigation. He has given himself with unflagging industry and unfaltering faith to the study and the mastery of all the intricate problems and involved questions presented in the important cases entrusted to him. And in the prosecution of this study he has been actuated quite as much by the purpose to know the real intent and meaning and application of the law, as by the desire to win a particular case. From the year of his admission to the Bar down to the present time, with the exception of a brief period in the army and the time spent in the recuperation of impaired health, he has labored constantly, earnestly and sometimes pain- fully in his practice of the law. Interests of very great magnitude have received his solicitous care; but whether the financial consideration was large or small made no difference with his devotion to the interests and the rights of his clients. Principle, in his ethical code, has a value inestimable in the money of the realm. Favored from his youth up by associations which tend to the cultivation of a legal mind and the enthronement of high ideals, Mr. Ranney has given his mind and heart with singular integrity to the law. No allurements have been strong enough to tempt him to turn aside; noth- ing has prompted a division of his allegiance. And it may be asserted with candor that he has found quite as gratifying recompense in the love of his profession as in its monetary rewards. He is a master of the art and the law of pleading. His pleadings are noted for strength, directness and perspicuity. Anything added would be superfluous, anything elimi-
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nated would detract from the force and symmetry of the argument. There is not a word too many or too few. He is unfamiliar with the "tricks". of the trained orator and the specious arts of the advocate, preferring to convince the court or jury by plainness of speech and the choice of words . which will most clearly express his meaning, and the logic which will most powerfully enforce his reasoning. His statements are made in such argumentative form as to seem unanswerable. They are characterized not more by clearness and logic than by candor and earnestness. His own con- victions of right and justice are deep and strong, and he has the faculty of impressing others with them. If one seeks for the hiding of his power and the fundamental resources of his remarkable success in the management of great cases, he will find it in the thorough preparation ; the masterful grasp of all the issues and the powerful influence of his own personality. He is gifted in a high degree with the rare faculty of holding in memory the details, both as to authorities bearing on a given case and the facts essential in proof. The keenness of his insight, the calmness of his demeanor and the equability of his temper are all potential factors in his conduct of a controversy. He understands his cause so thoroughly as not to be surprised by any question which may be sprung during the progress of a trial ; and his self-control is so complete that he is not disconcerted by any interruption. He is permeated with the old-fashioned notion that courts are organized for the purposes of declaring the law and securing the rights of all who appeal to them for redress. In the secret chambers of his private office the substantial triumphs of the great lawyer are wrought out. There he meditates and investigates ; consults the authorities and takes the bearings of his case ; prepares his plead- ings and arranges his facts ; presents his motions and arguments ; anticipates the rulings of the court ; even puts himself in the jury box and imagines how the case thus presented would affect his understanding and judgment as a juror. Mr. Ranney is a great lawyer in all the work of preparation. He is a solid lawyer who regards with becoming gravity every interest, every prin- ciple and every right involved in a case, and then applies himself sedulously to the law and the evidence. His methods are peculiarly his own and his strong individuality impresses itself upon the organized courts. His reputation as a railroad and corporation lawyer is not excelled by that of any lawyer in the State, and has extended beyond the borders of the State. Whether as counsel or advocate, he prefers that kind of law business. He is no less distinguished as a man than as a lawyer. His citizenship lias endeared him to the people of Cleveland in a very marked degree, because of the fine texture of his mind, his unselfishness and magnanimity. Cultured by wide reading and extended foreign travel, his companionship is charming. Successful by industry and the observance of correct principles of economy in accumulating a competence, he is generous towards the public. Mr. Ranney is at the present time presi- dent of the Cleveland, Canton and Southern Railroad, and a director in the Cleveland Pittsburg Railroad and the Belt Line Railroad. He has been a member of the American Bar Association from its organization, and also a
,
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member of the Ohio State Bar Association. In 1894 Kenyon College con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He is president of the Western Reserve Historical Society ; a member of the State Board of Chari- ties ; one of the trustees of all the bequests given for the establishment and maintenance of a museum of art for the city of Cleveland, amounting to over $1,500,000. He has always been a patron of the arts, a lover of literature and the legitimate drama. He is a member and junior warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Cleveland, also a patron of Freemasonry and has attained the highest degrees save one known to the order. He has never held political office, or sought the honors that appertain to public station. For a year dur- ing the war he held the position of assistant adjutant general, First Brigade, Third Division, Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, and was in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville ; resigned in the fall of 1863 and returned to his law practice. He was married September 19, 1853, to Helen A. Burgess, of Ravenna, who for more than forty years has contributed to the cheerful and genuine hospitality of his home. Of the seven children born to them three are living. The following brief estimate is from Judge H. C. White, of Cleveland : " Mr. Ranney is profoundly read in the common law- always a close student ; holds first rank among lawyers in the State as a sound lawyer ; is always faithful to a trust. There is a kindliness about the man that is charming. With his clients he is not only their attorney; but their friend. No man ever lived in Cleveland who more fully had the respect of lawyers and the people of all classes. While he commands large fees, he is also the poor man's friend and lawyer, and if necessary will take cases with- out pay if he feels a wrong is being done. In all his work there is always an innate quality of greatness and goodness that has made him dear to the hearts of the people of Cleveland and all that know him."
JOHN L. RANNEY, Ravenna. One of the brightest and most profound lawyers at the Ohio Bar forty years ago was the late John L. Ranney, of Ravenna. He lives in the memory of those who knew him best as a modest yet conspicuous representative of the class of men whose attainments are self- acquired, who achieve intellectual independence through the exercise of self dependence. Mr. Ranney was born at Blanford, Massachusetts, on the 14th day of November, 1815, and died at Ravenna, Ohio, in 1865. His paternal lineage had its origin in Scotland, and the traits of his character were such as to establish kinship with the noblest of that high principled race. His father, Rufus Ranney, was a farmer in Massachusetts, a pioneer farmer and village merchant in Ohio. His mother was Dollie Blair. The family came west and settled in Portage county in 1822, when the practically unbroken forest afforded a refuge for wild animals and a dangerous abode for the few scattered settlers. The white men first to locate in this western wilderness were not adventurers or speculators, moved by the hope of acquiring sudden fortune to
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spend in more luxurious living in New England. They came to subdue the forests and establish permanent homes for themselves and their descendants. They were "settlers," therefore, in the truest and broadest meaning of the word. John L. Ranney was only seven years old when he came with his father's family to the wilds of Portage county ; but he contributed his full share as boy and young man to the hard work of opening and cultivating a farm. The opportunities and advantages were meager indeed, but such as were found he grasped and utilized. The schools of the back woods were not up to the modern standard in system and text-books, but the learning which they imparted appears to have aided in the development of a high standard of manhood, both in morality and intelligence. Mr. Ranney's scholastic educa- tion had its limitations in the primitive public schools of the country and a single year in a school at Ravenna. While performing the duties of clerk in his father's country store he employed the spare hours in reading such text- books of law as he could procure. A little later he took up the study of law regularly at Ashtabula, in the office of his elder brother Judge Rufus P. Ranney, and Benjamin F. Wade, who were associated in partnership. By the application and diligence which characterized his whole professional life, he was enabled to grasp the principles of the law and qualify himself for admis- sion to the Bar in the course of two years. He passed the examination at Jefferson and was admitted to practice in the courts of the State in 1839. The following year he located at Ravenna and formed a partnership with Daniel R. Tilden, who subsequently removed to Cleveland and served as pro- bate judge of Cuyahoga county for thirty years. Later he was with Ezra B. Taylor. His last partnership was with his nephew, H. C. Ranney, now of Cleveland, and continued until his death. Mr. Ranney was devoted to his profession from the time he began the reading of law books until he was cut down in the noonday of life and the meridian of his powers. He died Febru- ary 22, 1866, only rounding out the half century, but his remarkable talents had gained for him recognition throughout the State. That recognition was tersely expressed in a single sentence by Benjamin F. Wade : "He knows all the law there is in the books." Mr. Ranney was indeed a distinguished lawyer, and the distinction was due to his vast and exact knowledge of the law, and his skillful use of it in the conduct of litigation. His transcendent ability as a pleader was known to the giants of the profession with whom he was called to measure intellect and skill. It is reported as a historical fact, sustained by the records of the courts, that under the old system of practice no demurrer was ever sustained to any complaint drawn by him. His state- ments in argument were as clear and concise as his pleadings. He was always above any attempt to mislead the court or befog the jury. His candor and sincerity commended his speech, and being free from any coloring of specious- ness it had the quality of absolute reliability. The clearness of his argument arose from his complete knowledge of the subject and his felicitous use of the English language. He was able to instruct the court upon any obscure point or involved construction, and he was one of those high-minded lawyers who
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