USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 13
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recognize the duty of aiding rather than embarrassing the trial judge. His style of delivery as an advocate was earnest and forcible rather than impas- sioned or inflammatory, and he possessed the rare faculty of impressing a listener with the truth of his utterance. He was mentally and morally honest ; his sympathy was large; his sensibilities were quick ; his sense of justice was innate and intuitive. He was exceedingly learned in the law and excessively modest in his pretensions. Quiet and undemonstrative in manner, upright in deportment, frank and generous in social intercourse, companionable with all who appreciate nobility of character and rectitude of conduct, genuine in the fiber of his manhood, firm and unyielding in his friendships, he was much loved by that inner circle of men admitted to the fullest measure of his confi- dence and the freest intercourse of his fellowship. He was a good man and a great lawyer. He was at the time of his death president of the First National Bank of Ravenna. Mr. Ranney was married on the 20th day of February, 1836, to Eliza E. Remington, and three sons and three daughters were born of the union.
HENRY B. PAYNE, Cleveland. Honorable Henry B. Payne, who died at his home September 9, 1896, was about the last of the " Old Guard " of really emi- nent lawyers that made the Bar of Cuyahoga county great. He was of Eng- lish descent through the lineage of his father, while his mother descended from the stock of the great Douglas, Earl of Angus, Scotland. His immediate ancestors dwelt in New England, and his parents were natives of Connecticut. His father, Elisha Payne, a man of remarkable probity, strong character and resolute spirit, left Connecticut in 1795 and settled in Hamilton, Madison county, New York. At this place Henry B. Payne was born, November 30, 1810. He was carefully and thoroughly educated, graduated from Hamilton Col- lege at twenty-two. He possessed in a high degree the innate qualities which are the source of the largest professional success, and his bent was towards the law. His preceptor was John C. Spencer, of Canandaigua, an eminent lawyer and statesman, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Tyler. While a student of law he formed the acquaintance of Stephen A. Douglas, who was at the same time pursuing his studies with another firm of lawyers in the same town. A close and intimate friendship was formed between the two young men, whose recognized abilities even then were prophetic of the exalted station attained and the commanding influence exercised by each of them in later life. The bond which united them in young manhood, based upon good fellowship, mutual confidence and esteem. strengthened by association in the same profes- sion and by political sentiments held in common, grew stronger with the years and was broken only by death. Mr. Payne settled in Cleveland in 1833, confident of his own powers and with astute prevision of the future greatness of the embryo city. He continued his law studies for one year in the office and under the wise supervision of Sherlock J. Andrews, whose fame as a lawyer- advocate was at its zenith. Mr. Payne was admitted to the Bar in 1834, and
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in the following year formed a partnership with Judge Hiram V. Wilson, who twenty-five years later occupied the Bench of the United States. District Court with such distinguished ability. The success of this firm, Payne & Wilson, was very remarkable. Within ten years its business had grown to proportions unpar- alleled in the county and unexcelled in the State. The enthusiastic and unre- mitting application of Mr. Payne to the exacting demands of his profession and the interests of his clients was too severe to be endured long by his deli- cate physical organism. His health was broken at thirty-six, and he became conscious that the exactions of such a law practice as he had built up were incompatible with a reasonable degree of health. The strain to which he had been subjected and the resultant debility superinduced hemoptysis. Yielding to the inexhorable law of self-preservation, he retired from the practice of law and entered upon a business career which, while affording ample scope for the useful employment of extraordinary abilities, permitted larger freedom and more activity in the open air. The state of his health improved rapidly and he was permitted, after retiring from the Bar, to spend sixty years in great usefulness to his city and State. His marvellous success in the practice of law, during the dozen years of his practice in Cleveland, was matched by his tri- umphs in commercial business and his achievements in statesmanship. He was the first city solicitor of Cleveland under its municipal charter, and during the whole course of his life the growth, prosperity and good name of the city appealed to his civic pride and found in him a wise promoter. His counsel, prompted by public spirit, was freely given and gratefully accepted long after his retirement from the office of counsellor and the practice of law. He thus rendered vast service to the municipality. He was prominent in the railroad construction of the State, inaugurating and carrying to comple- tion, with two or three associates, the Cleveland and Columbus Railroad, which was opened in 1851 with Mr. Payne as president. He was also in the directory of the Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, which at length expanded into the Lake Shore. Perhaps no single individual contributed more of thought, energy. enterprise and money to the metropolitan develop- ment of the beautiful Forest City. He was a member of the first board of water works commissioners and was the trusted instrumentality in planning and establishing the comprehensive system for supplying the city. From 1862 until the end of his life, a period of thirty-four years, he was president of the board of sinking fund commissioners, and to his admirable executive manage- ment the unprecedented increase of that fund was due. He was always lib- eral, broad-minded, sagacious and conservative in the control of a public trust. Mr. Payne exhibited a remarkable talent for politics while yet a young man. In 1848 he was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Cass ticket. In 1851 he was elected to the State Senate and before the close of the first session displayed rare skill as a parliamentarian and a party leader. He was then the choice of his party caucus for United States senator, but the few Free-soilers in the legislature holding the balance of power secured the election of Ben Wade. In 1857 Mr. Payne was the Democratic candidate for governor and.
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came near defeating Governor Chase, who was before the people for re-elec- tion. He was a delegate to the National convention of his party in 1856 from the Congressional district, and a delegate from the State at large to the mem- orable convention at Charleston in 1860. In the latter he was the personal representative of Douglas and repelled the sectional assaults of the Southern leaders - denouncing the spirit of secession disclosed by their inflammatory utterances and warning them of the ruin they were about to bring upon them- selves and their section. In that convention his reputation as a political orator, already established in Ohio, became nationalized. During the civil war which followed he was steadfast in his devotion to the Union, pledging his wealth. to the extent needed, for military equipment, giving his time and the influence of public addresses to promote enlistments. In 1872 he was chairman of the State delegation in the Baltimore convention which nominated Horace Greeley. In 1874 he was nominated and elected to Congress in the Cleveland district, overcoming a very large adverse majority and having 2.500 votes to his credit. As a member of the committee on Banking and Currency he found opportunity for the display of the rare financial ability with which he had long been accredited by his friends. He was the author of a compromise measure, bearing his name, which secured the united support of the extreme gold Democrats of the East and the Greenbackers of the West, and had for its major purpose the appreciation of all the currency to a gold standard. He proposed the retention of the National Banks and the Greenback currency, paving the way to an easy resumption of specie payments by retiring twenty per cent of the paper money put into circulation by the banks and by the government. The compromise effected an adjustment of differences requiring superior skill in diplomacy, and presented a scheme for maintaining a stable currency of varying volume according to the requirements of trade. In this the keenness of the financier was happily blended with the ability of the statesman. In the contest following the Presidential election of 1876, to determine the manner of declaring the electoral vote, Mr. Payne with com- mendable patriotism supported the bill providing for an electoral commission, and was one of the five members of the House elected to membership on the commission. It is a historical fact worthy of mention in this connection that he was supported for President by a large representation of his party in the National convention of 1880, and his nomination could have been effected but for the instructions of the State convention, which bound the Ohio delegates to vote for Senator Thurman. In 1885 Mr. Payne was elected senator of the United States and served six years, retiring permanently from politics at the close of his term in 1891. In 1836 he married Miss Mary Perry, the daughter of Nathan Perry. His home life built upon this union was singularly felici- tous. Of the five children born - Nathan P., Oliver H., Flora, Henry W. and Mary - two only survive, viz., Colonel Oliver H. Payne, of New York, and Mrs. C. W. Bingham, of Cleveland. On the occasion of Senator Payne's death, the Bar of Cuyahoga county held a memorial meeting and adopted res- olutions expressing appreciation of the noble traits of his character, the worth
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of his private citizenship and the value of his public services. Addresses were delivered by the ablest and oldest members of the profession. An extract from the address of Judge Franklin J. Dickman is selected for the close of this sketch :
"No man could be taken from our midst who is so well known to the community, to the people of our State and to the country at large as the Honorable Henry B. Payne. It would be difficult, therefore, for me to add anything to the common knowledge of his varied claims to distinction, of his noble traits of character, of his intellectual attainments, of his eminent abilities displayed at the Bar and in the arena of public life, of his spirit of large nationality, of his patriotism, of his benevolence, of his fidelity to friends, of his genial courtesy and kindness to all who came in contact with him, of the manifold virtues which irradiated the sphere of his private life: Many years have elapsed since he laid aside his armor and retired from the contests of the Bar. When I first came to Cleveland to enter upon the practice of iny pro- fession he had just left the Bar, in obedience to a warning of failing health; but he had retired with a reputation for legal ability and powers of advocacy seldom attained, and attained, too, among rivals whose names will always shed luster upon the Bar of this county and State. To many of you his distinguished career as a lawyer is a tradition only - knowing him only as a statesman, in the public eye up to a comparatively recent period. And so it has been with many of the leaders who have illustrated the English and American Bar. In their day and generation their triumphs were on the lips of men-virum volitare per ora-but when their lips were sealed in death the stream of time soon began to wash the dissoluble fabric of their forensic fame. Thus it is that even Alexander Hamilton, of whom it is said that those who heard him at the Bar were lost in admiration at the strength and stretch of the human understanding, is now known and honored rather as the great and constructive statesman, whose genius shines in the papers of the Federalist, and from whose financial system streams of revenue gushed forth to fill an exhausted treasury. Yet it will not be forgotten that the growth of our juris- prudence is, in a large measure, the result of the assistance which the practicing lawyer extends to the judiciary, and, in so doing, may take part in rendering a public service not inferior to the highest achievements of statesmanship. I have often heard the characteristics of Mr. Payne as a lawyer, when he was in the full tide of a large practice, described by contemporaries who knew him well, and who had seen him and heard him before court and jury. He was a logical thinker, skilled in the dialectics of the law, withering in sarcasm when occasion required the use of that weapon, possessing a rich fund of humor, a perfect acquaintance with the English tongue, a familiar knowledge of human nature, courage in every emergency, and the most consummate pru- dence and address. We may, I think, fitly apply to him the words of Lord Brougham in delineating Erskine wlren in his prime at the English Bar: 'His understanding was eminently legal. Ilis memory was accurate and retentive in an extraordinary degree ; nor did he ever, during the trial of a cause, for- get any matter, how trifling soever, that belonged to it. His presence of mind was perfect in action ; that is, before the jury, when a line is to be taken up on the instant, and a question risked to a witness, or a topic chosen with the tribunal, on which the whole fate of the cause may turn. No man made fewer mistakes; none left so few advantages unimproved ; before none was it so dangerous for an adversary to slumber and be off his guard, for he was ever broad awake himself, and was as adventurous as he was skillful ; and as apt to take advantage of any, the least opening, as he was cautious to leave
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none in his own battle-line.' * * * The political career of Mr. Payne virtually terminated upon his retirement from the United States Senate, of which he had been an honored member for six years. He did not, however, cease to take a lively interest in the important questions which divide the great political parties. He was fond of reading the constitutional history of our country, and the lives of the public men who have been conspicuous and instrumental in shaping the fortunes of the republic. He aimed at mental power and not mental acquisition alone ; and with that in view his literary tastes were severe, and he preferred the great books of the world-the vital books -- which have been called the precious life-blood of master spirits embalmed and treasured for all time. * * He was a charm and orna- * ment of social life ; his urbanity and cordiality of manner, and rare conversa- tional powers, drew around him a circle of warm and admiring friends."
SHERLOCK J. ANDREWS, Cleveland. A large proportion of the first lawyers and earliest settlers of Cleveland emigrated from Connecticut. They were men of the best New England type-enterprising, honest, industrious and sagacious; men broad enough to apprehend and wise enough to avail themselves of the superior advantages offered to settlers in the Ohio division of the Northwest Territory, and especially in the district of New Connecti- cut, or the Western Reserve. Sherlock J. Andrews was a native of New Haven county, Connecticut, born on the 17th day of November, 1801. His father, Dr. John Andrews of Wallingford, was then one of the most distin- guished physicians of Connecticut, and in later life became a resident of Cleve- land. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college in the excellent academy at Cheshire, in his native State, controlled by the Episcopal Church. He matriculated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and pursued the classical course, from which he was graduated in 1821. He was at the time not quite twenty years of age, but was a man in maturity of judgment and the learning acquired from books. A key to his character in this early stage of manhood is found in the diary of the great Professor Silliman, of Yale, who employed young Andrews as his private secretary and assistant professor of chemistry. The following brief excerpt will suffice: "He was a young man of vigorous and active mind, energetic and quick in his movements and deci- sions ; with a warm heart and genial temper; of the best moral and social hab- its ; a quick and skillful penman ; an agreeable inmate of my family, in which we made him quite at home. He continued about four years, serving with ability and the zeal of an affectionate son, without whom I could scarcely have retained my place in the college." While employed by Professor Silli- man, Mr. Andrews found time to pursue the study of law in the law school at New Haven, so that when he settled in Cleveland at the age of twenty- four he was qualified for practice. Upon admission to the Bar in 1825, soon after coming West, he formed a partnership with Judge Samuel Cowles, which gave him a business and standing in the profession at once. The fortunate relations between the old practitioner and judge, and the inexperienced but
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capable young lawyer, was terminated by the retirement of the former from the active duties of the forum and the office. Soon afterwards Mr. Andrews became associated with the late John A. Foot, in a partnership to which James M. Hoyt was subsequently admitted (in 1837). The firm of Andrews, Foot & Hoyt, which is remembered by many living lawyers to-day, was the best known and most successful of any in northern Ohio for many years. All of its members were endowed with large natural abilities, dedicated to the profession of law. Mr. Andrews was the greatest advocate and orator. His remarkable gift of eloquence brought him into great prominence on the hust- ings in the campaign of 1840. He was a Whig, actively and earnestly sup- porting the candidacy of General Harrison for President. His surpassing gifts in political oratory and debate completed his availability as a candidate for political office and he was elected in 1840 to represent the Cleveland dis- trict in Congress. The activities of the canvass and close attention to his political duties at Washington, to which the active demands of a large law practice superadded a heavy burden, proved too great a strain on his physical endurance. His health was impaired to such an extent that he felt obliged to decline further public service and limit his professional engagements to the most important cases, in which he continued to act in the relation of counsel- lor and advocate. In these capacities his practice was maintained until 1848 when he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland. His judicial career, in all respects honorable, was terminated by the con- stitutional convention of 1851, which abolished the Superior Court, largely at his own suggestion. Judge Andrews was a member of that con- vention and of three of its most important committees-judiciary, revis- ion and temperance. His broad and deep understanding of the law, and of judicial construction, his splendid vocabulary and familiarity with the best English, and his fixed moral principles contributed to make him a most valuable member of the committees on which he served. The records of that body bear evidence of his activity and usefulness in creating and mod eling a constitution so well adapted to the wants of the commonwealth as to have required few material amendments during the almost half a century of its operation. This was proved by the action and results of the convention of 1873, called for the purpose of revision, of which Mr. Andrews was also a member. His nomination for the position by conventions of the two great political parties acting separately is evidence of the high esteem entertained for him in the community and the universal confidence in his fairness and impartiality, his integrity and fidelity. His scholarship, experience, thorough knowledge of the law, and demonstrated ability made him chairman of the committee on judiciary in this body composed of the most eminent and pro- found lawyers of the State, after he had declined the presidency of the con- vention tendered by the Republican majority. The interval of twenty-two years between the two conventions had been employed with great success by Judge Andrews in general practice, especially as counsellor and advocate. No lawyer was ever more devoted to his profession, and none ever had a higher,
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purer conception of the sanctity of the obligation assumed upon his admission to the Bar. It is seldom that the various and distinct talents which endow the able pleader, the successful trial lawyer and the great advocate are bestowed so copiously upon any man as they were possessed by Judge Andrews. These existed in due proportion and perfect harmony. All of his pleadings were prepared with scrupulous care and exactness. All of the evidence was exam- ined, weighed and sifted, so as to separate the material from the immaterial ; he counselled wisely in matters requiring fine discrimination and acuteness of judgment ; his argument in summing up a case evinced wonderful power of memory, facility of illustration and that insight into human nature which enabled him to adapt his reasoning to the understanding of a jury in such a way as to secure their sympathy. In forensic discussion he was an especially dis- tinguished member of the very able mid-century Bar of Cleveland, unsurpassed in the West then or since that time. He was dearly beloved by his brethren in the profession and by the community in which he lived so long and so use- fully. His death took place February 11, 1880. The tributes to his memory, brought out with unaffected sorrow and unfeigned sympathy at the meetings of the Bar association. the city council, the trustees of the public library and the board of education, testify to his abilities and moral excellence, his sim- plicity, sympathy and great usefulness. In his prime he was accustomed to battle with the giants in the forum-Reuben Hitchcock, Henry B. Payne, Edward Wade, F. T. Backus, Governor Reuben Wood, Judge Horace Foote, Judge S. B. Prentiss, Judge Thomas Bolton, Judge Samuel Stark weather, Moses Kelley and Charles Stetson, all of whom were rated as profound law- yers. Intimate friends and professional associates declare his brilliant intellect, his professional ambition, his thorough study were all dominated by his innate love of right. These qualities made him invincible. All the powers of the orator were among his gifts. As an advocate "all his speaking was guided by the spirit and essence of the law as a science, which mingles itself so inti- mately and blends so fully with all efforts made in the illustration of facts that they are not to be separated. It is therefore but saying of him as a lawyer, that, having the clearest apprehension of the science of the law, he applied his fund of knowledge to it and to the case in such a manner as we have never witnessed." " He had those qualities of mind and heart which enabled him, by a few well chosen words, almost in a moment to reveal to courts the true meaning of statutes and of legal principles and to juries the path of right and justice. * * Judge Andrews was a life, and it is in the life that he lived and the influence that life has had and will continue to have upon the lives of others that he was greatest." More severe words of denunciation against wrong never fell from human lips than were uttered by him. With the most scathing sarcasm, with wit and humor, with all the boundless resources of lan- guage at his command, he could open the very heart and reveal it to the gaze of all who looked and listened. And yet in all places he was the same genial, kind, good-hearted man. His conscience was pervaded by the spirit of Chris- tianity, which exhibited itself in his daily conduct. As spoken by Judge Dick-
John Hutchins
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man : "Such was the kindness of his heart that one could hardly leave his presence without being a happier man. And so made up, how could he be otherwise than a man of deep religious convictions ? The charities of life were his ; and living ever in his great taskmaster's eye, under the guidance of rev- elation, of reason and instinct, he looked forward with unfading hope to tliat immortality which has been brought to light in the Gospel." In 1828 Judge Andrews married Miss Ursula McCurdy Allen, of Litchfield, Connecticut, whose father was at one time a justice of the Supreme Court of the same State and one of the most celebrated lawyers in New England, and whose brother, Honorable John W. Allen, was among the most prominent settlers of Ohio. Mrs. Andrews was connected with the Wadsworths and McCurdys, famous 'in Connecticut, and was a lineal descendant of the old-time governors Wolcott and Griswold, and traced a common ancestry with Chief Justices Ellsworth and Waite, of the United States Supreme Court, and Chancellor Walworth of New York. Judge Andrews left five children, viz., Sarah, Ursula M. (afterwards Mrs. G. E. Herrick, now deceased), Cornelia B., William W. Andrews (a member of the Cleveland Bar, not now in active practice), all of Cleveland, and Mrs. Harriet S. Whittlesey, of Wallingford, Connecticut.
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