USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 16
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FRANK HOLMES SHAFFER, Cincinnati. Frank H. Shaffer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 31, 1857. His father was William Shaffer, one of that sterling class of merchants whose enterprise and integrity built up the com- mercial strength and reputation of Cincinnati. His mother was Susan A. Lewis, who descended from families identified from early times with the growth and prosperity of Hamilton and Butler counties. After graduating at the Chickering Institute at Cincinnati, in 1873, Mr. Shaffer entered the class of 1877 at Yale College, and was graduated in June of that year. Entering the Law Department of the University of Michigan he completed the full course in 1879, and was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio in May, 1880. Mr. Shaffer began the practice of the law at once, opening an office in Hamilton, Ohio, where he remained in active practice until 1884. He held the office of solicitor for that city during the years 1882 and 1883, having been elected on the independent Republican ticket, although the other candidates on that ticket were defeated, and the political complexion of the city had been strongly Democratic for many years. A favorable opportunity came to him to continue his practice in broader fields by the offer of a partnership with Mr. W. G. Mayer, the surviving partner of the old and well-known firm of Forrest, Cramer & Mayer, of Cincinnati. Coming to Cincinnati in 1884, Mr. Shaffer associated himself with Mr. Mayer and Mr. Smith, and practiced his
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profession with marked ability and success. In 1890 he formed a partnership with Judge Hiram D. Peck, who had a short time previously 'completed a full term on the Bench of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. The law firm thus formed is one of the strongest and most successful of the Cincinnati Bar, and is engaged continuously in important litigation. To this work Mr. Shaffer brings a geniality of disposition and kindliness of manner which endear him to all with whom he comes in contact. His fidelity to their interests binds old clients to him, while his high character, skill and reputation bring increasing business from year to year. Mr. Shaffer has had in his charge as important matters as any lawyer of his age in Cincinnati, and numbers among his clients some of the leading citizens of his county. On September 25, 1883, he was married to Miss Alice A. Blackwell, of Louisville, Kentucky, and has four children : Lucy, Annie, Susie and Frank H., Jr.
JAMES B. SWING, Cincinnati. Honorable James Black Swing was born in Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, May 15, 1854. He is a son of Judge George L. Swing (native of Ohio, but of German descent) and of Elizabeth (McMean) Swing (a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, of Scotch-Irish descent). The subject of this sketch went through the public schools at Batavia and completed his education at Hanover College, Indiana, from which institution he was graduated in 1876, after which he studied law with his father at Batavia and was admitted to the Bar in 1877, and was at once taken into partnership with his father. In 1881 he was nominated and elected probate judge by the Republican party in Clermont county, and in 1884 he was renominated and again elected to the same office. At the expiration of his second term of office, in 1888, he came to Cincinnati and formed a partnership for the practice of law with Howard Ferris, which continued until Ferris was elected probate judge of Hamilton county in 1890. Immediately thereafter Judge Swing formed a partnership with Frank R. Morse, which lasted until January 1, 1897, when it was succeeded by the present firm, Swing, Cushing & Morse, Wade Cushing being taken into the firm. Judge Swing was married in 1881 to Carrie M., daughter of the late Judge Philip B. Swing of the United States District Court. In 1884 Judge Swing was a delegate to the National Republican Con- vention from the then seventh, now the sixth, district of Ohio. On several occasions the nomination to Congress was tendered him, at times when a nom- ination was equivalent to an election, but he could not be induced to accept. He invariably disclaims any knowledge of politics or the affairs of State, yet his advice is sought, and he has a way of knowing the inside of everything that is going on. He is a strong partisan, and whether it is his friend or foe he (to use his own language) is always "for " the Republican nominee. While Judge Swing is a far-seeing, clear headed man of affairs, remarkable for penetration and faultless judgment, an orator with few equals, a style peculiarily his own- logical, clear and convincing, yet his mind is at its best and shows more capa-
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bility in the law than anywhere else. He seldom makes notes in the trial of any case, and never forgets or misses an important point. His great mind grasps and at will reproduces every point at the proper time. In the prep- aration of a case he works it out in his mind without the assistance of book or pencil. When that is done you are sure to hear his favorite expression : "That is the law, and if I can just find some authority to support me the case is won." Another expression peculiar to him is, "There is a turning point in every case." A judge of the second highest court in this State said of Judge Swing, that his statement and presentation of a case were the strongest of any man that had come before him in his experience of more than twenty-five years on the Bench.
CHARLES TOWNSEND, Athens. Honorable Charles Townsend is a native of the State of Ohio. He was born at Harrisonville, December 22, 1834, and in childhood removed to Athens county with his parents, which has been his home continuously since that time. Through the lineage of his father, James Townsend, he is of English extraction, and through that of his mother, Rebecca Morrison, he is Irish. The ancestors of both emigrated to America during the early colonial period. All were patriots in the sense of loyalty to self-govern- ment and the independence of the colonies. Many of them were soldiers in the war for such independence, and to this fact may be due the martial blood which quickened his pulse and tingled his veins when the rebellion was organ- ized against the government of the United States, seventy years after it was established. He attended the common schools of Athens county, and was ambitious to go higher. Paying his own expenses with the wages earned at teaching, he was enabled to take a thorough course in Ohio University at Athens. More time for this was required than if he could have studied con- tinuously ; but the time was not lost. There was abundant compensation in the discipline and the practical application of his acquired knowledge in the work of teaching others. So many men who have started as teachers have become prominent and successful in other professions, have found their best impulses for high achievements and their best preparation for success in such early employment that we may almost regard such a start essential to the best results. All who have considered the subject and become familiar with the illustrious examples are disposed to regard the boyhood years spent in teaching intelligently and conscientiously as important and valuable. It promotes devel- opment and brings the immature mind to a state of maturity and self-confi- dence more rapidly and effectually than any other employment. Let no one . decry the work of the teacher, even though it is undertaken as a means of tem- porary relief from financial stringency to enable the vealy young man to pros- ecute his studies in the line of another profession. Let no man be so high-minded as to ignore or refuse to mention this "pony " which may have helped him through college or to the threshold of success in law. Before his graduation young Townsend had the qualification and the nerve to organize and conduct
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the De Camp Institute in Meigs county, and he was employed as principal of this institution when the Government was assailed by rebels in 1861. Laying aside the text books on mathematics and science-implements that succeeded the birch and the ferrule of the pioneer schools-he responded to the call for volunteers as though it was personal. With enthusiasm and haste he recruited a company of one hundred and twenty men, whose services were tendered through the governor to the President, and accepted. He was elected cap- tain of this company and led it in the battle fields of West Virginia under Rosecrans, of the Potomac, under Pope and Mcclellan; thence to the west, attached to Sherman's corps in the army of the Tennessee; in the battles around Vicksburg and down through Tennessee and Georgia to Atlanta. While storming a battery at Hickajack he was severely injured by the explo- sion of a shell, from the effects of which he was obliged to leave the service just before the final triumph of the Union armies. He had been promoted to the rank of major of the Thirtieth Ohio Infantry in 1864, and subsequently had declined the colonelcy of another regiment because he preferred service with the friends who had gone with him to the field and became near to him by association in peril and victory. He was, under all circumstances, a good soldier, an obedient subaltern, an intelligent commander. On returning home he took a course in the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in 1866. On admission to the Bar he settled in Athens for practice. Not long after- wards he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county and re-elected twice, serving six years continuously. In 1876 and again in 1878 he was chosen to represent his county in the State legislature. In 1880, largely through the influence of his associates in the House, who had become closely attached to him and recognized his merits, he was nominated by the Republican State convention and elected secretary of State. His ability on the stump was a factor in that campaign, as it has been many times since. In 1890 he was nominated and elected to represent in the State Senate a district which had always been Democratic. His popularity was sufficient to overcome an adverse majority of nearly two thousand, and he is entitled to the distinction of being the first Republican who ever won success in the district. In 1894 he was elected Department Commander of the G. A. R. for the State of Ohio. Major Townsend is a gentleman of high personal worth, who enjoys the esteem of a very wide circle of friends. He belongs to the Masonic order and hasa mem- bership in the higher divisions-the Chapter and the Commandery. He was married in October, 1859, to Miss Margaret J. Allen, and has three children : Helen M., Charles H. and Mary.
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LORENZO ENGLISH, Columbus. Lorenzo English was a son of John English and Laura S. English. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, May 22, 1819. upon his father's farm, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age. and received only the advantages of such an education as the common schools of his native county then afforded. In 1837 the family removed by wagon-then the usual mode of traveling by those seeking homes in the West-to Ohio and finally, located at Mount Vernon. Our subject was one of the family then and proved a useful member, not only performing his full share of toil incident to a long and tedious journey, but also in adapting himself readily to any kind of labor common in a new country, and continued so to do for a period of two years. In the fall of 1839 he entered Oberlin College as a student, and pushed his way through by hard study during term time, and by hard work in any honorable vocation which first presented itself during vacations, and was graduated with honor in August, 1843. He came to Columbus in September of the same year, and commenced the study of law under Edwards Pierrepont, afterward attorney-general of the United States. He completed his legal studies in 1845, and was admitted to the Bar in that" year by the Supreme Court at Mount Vernon, Knox county. He immediately thereafter commenced the practice of law in Columbus. Mr. English was well qualified for success in life as a lawyer. He possessed patience, industry, integrity and great popularity, a rare combination in a young man starting out upon a professional career, which was a success from the beginning. In 1850 he was the choice of the Whigs as their candidate for mayor of Columbus, and was elected to that office over a Democratic nominee by a handsome majority. He was re-nominated in 1852, and the same result followed. Again in 1853, 1855, 1857 and 1859 he was nominated and elected over his Democratic opponents by handsome majorities. In 1853 both of the leading political par- ties nominated strong men for the office of mayor, and Mr. English was induced to stand as an independent candidate. The result was that he was elected over both party candidates by a large majority, thereby demonstrating that he was stronger before the people than the organization of the two parties and all the factions put together. His record as mayor of Columbus for eleven successive years is without blemish. He contributed largely of his means to aid in the relief of the families of the soldiers who enlisted in the armies of the Union, and shouldered a musket as a private soldier when John Morgan invaded the State in 1864. After his retirement from the office of mayor he resumed the practice of law, and his clientage increased to the extent that it may be said to have been larger, if not more lucrative, than that of any other lawyer at the Columbus Bar. He was methodical and a very hard- working lawyer. In 1871 his party nominated him for the office of county treasurer, and at the October election following the result showed that he had overcome a previous Democratic majority of 1,800 votes and had received 800 more votes than his opponent. He made a popular and faithful county officer. He held many other places of trust and honor besides those named, discharg- ing the duties of all with singular fidelity and skill. It is not often that it
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may be said of a man, who had been so long in active professional life, and in politics, that he had no enemies ; yet it may truthfully be said of our subject, that he departed this life on the 14th day of March, 1888, at the age of sixty-nine years, without a known enemy, and his death, was mourned by countless friends.
EMILIUS O. RANDALL, Columbus. Honorable Emilius [Oviatt Randall was born in Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, October 28, 1850. He is the son of Rev. David A. Randall, author and traveller, and Harriet Oviatt Randall. Both parents were natives of Connecticut and descendants of early Puritan stock. His great-grandfathers on the side of both father and mother were soldiers in the army of the American Revolution. Mr. Randall was brought to Columbus, where his parents were then residing, when but a few weeks old, and that city has always been his home. His education was begun in the pub- lic schools of Columbus and he was prepared for college in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1870 he entered Cornell University, and in 1874 was graduated in the literary course of that university, with the degree of Ph. B. He then pursued a two years' post graduate course at Cor- nell and in Europe. From 1878 to 1890 his attention has been given to mer- chandising and literary pursuits in Columbus, and in the intervals of business he read law under the direction of Frank C. Hubbard, of the Columbus Bar. He was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio, June 5, 1890, and was graduated from the Law School of the Ohio State University, in 1892, with the degrees LL. B. and LL. M. He is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Delta Phi, college fraternities. Mr. Randall, was made instructor of commercial law in the Ohio State University in 1892 and professor of com- mercial law in the same institution in 1895. On the 14th of May, 1895, he was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio by the judges of that court. He was elected president of the Columbus Board of Trade for the year 1887 and was a member of the board of education of Columbus from 1887 to 1889, declining a re-election. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Colum- bus Library, having been first elected to that office in 1884 by the city council and re-elected every two years since that time. He is a member of the Ameri- can Bar Association, American Library Association, American Historical Association, Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Ohio State Bar Association. In February, 1893, he was appointed by , Governor Mckinley a trustee of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, to which position he was reappointed by Governor Bushnell in February, 1896. He has acted as secretary of that society since February, 1894, and has edited three volumes of the society's publications. Mr. Randall is a Republican in politics. He was a member of the committee of seven chosen by the Colum- bus Constitutional Convention in January, 1891, to draft the charter of the present municipal government of the city. October 28, 1874, he married Miss Mary Coy, of Ithaca, New York, and by this marriage has three children, a
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daughter and two sons. Mr. Randall's preparation for practice at the outset was far superior to that of the average lawyer upon his admission to the Bar. His literary attainments were broad and high ; his judgment was mature ; his experience in affairs was large and varied ; he knew much of business and of men; he was familiar with the practical side of life through the intercourse of business and trade. 'This accumulation of experience was invaluable and gave him at once a standing at the Bar which young lawyers without such aids attain only after years of effort and struggle. He is a patient and thorough student of the problems of the law. His mind, trained to study and investi- gate, is satisfied with nothing less than a clear understanding of the principles and the philosophy of Constitutional and statute law. He is not a showy law- yer, but a very substantial one. Integrity of mind and character insures hon- esty of purpose and action in all matters, personal as well as professional. He is a polished orator. His vocabulary is ample, his diction pure, his delivery graceful. Having an abundance of ready wit, he is the best after dinner speaker at the Columbus Bar. He is as clever with the pen as with the tongue. The historical article which he contributes to this volume is in evidence.
JAMES P. GOODWIN, Springfield. Mr. Goodwin's early career is a prac- tical illustration of what a young man may do for himself who begins his lifework without any resources except those with which he is endowed by nature. His parents, James P. and Mary Goodwin, are of Scotch-Irish descent, natives of the North of Ireland, who came to the United States and settled in New York City, where James P. was born August 12, 1857. Acting on Horace Greeley's advice to go West, the family early in the sixties removed to Illinois, and settled on a farm. His early educational advantages were confined to the district school of a thinly settled community. He found greater opportunities in developing his muscle on his father's farm than he did in training his mind in a school room. Rural life was distasteful to him, and when seventeen years of age he left the parental roof to carve out for himself a place in the world. His first ambition was an education, but the means for getting it must first be carned. In 1874 he came to Springfield and obtained employment in one of the industrial establishments of the city. While working in the shop he seized every opportunity to improve his mind, and when he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a few years after coming to Springfield, he was able to take quite an advanced position in some of his classes. Of the years passed at Ann Arbor the last two were spent in the Law Department of the University. Returning to Springfield he read law in the office of W. A. Scott for almost three years, and was admitted to the Bar in 1883. Hc began practice the same year in Springfield, alone, and has not at any time since had a business associate. His natural abilities werc of a high order ; he had been a hard student, and before he had been long at the Bar the public gained recognition of his merits, and he, carly in his professional career, found him-
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self in possession of a lucrative practice. Possessing a talent for public speak- ing, and taking an active interest in the principles of the Republican party, of which he is an ardent supporter, without any efforts of his own or desire to become active in politics, he was made the candidate of his party for mayor of the city of Springfield in 1887, and at the ensuing election in the fall was elected by a handsome majority. He managed the affairs of the city in a man- ner to give satisfaction to his constituents and reflect credit on himself. The men who have made the Darke county Bar so famous for the past half cen- tury are rapidly being gathered to their fathers, and those who will fill their place in the next quarter century and maintain their high reputation are the rising young members of the profession to-day. Amongst those who will stand in the very front rank, James P. Goodwin is placed by unanimous con- sent. Speaking of his standing and future prospects one of the oldest and ablest of the Springfield Bar said: "James P. Goodwin is rated high as to ability, and is held in very high esteem by the profession. He is already a good lawyer, and being a hard student possessing a good legal mind, honest and conscientious in the discharge of his duties to his clients, he will rise in his profession until he goes to the top. He is not a politician, but stands ready to discharge his duties as a citizen, and when such a man possesses the attributes that fit him for a public position is called upon he cannot well decline. He is a good citizen, a credit to himself and to his profession."
STEPHEN JOHNSTON, Piqua. Major Johnston is of Irish descent. his ancestors coming from the North of Ireland. The Johnston family are inti- mately associated with the pioneer history of Western Ohio. Colonel John Johns. ton, for many years the Indian agent for Upper Piqua, was his uncle; and his father, Stephen Johnston, was factory agent for the government at Ft. Wayne in pioneer times. The latter was killed by the Indians in August, 1812, near Ft. Wayne. Major Johnston's mother was Mary Caldwell, who was born at Bry- ant Station, Kentucky, a frontier port near Lexington, in 1788, and was con- temporary with Daniel Boon, Simon Kenton, Tecumseh, and other famous spirits of those times. Major Johnston's maternal grandfather came to Ohio in 1805 and entered two sections of land, on part of which is now located the city of Piqua. The subject of this sketch was born at Piqua, September 20, 1812, one month after the death of his father. The house in which he was born is still standing, though modernized by its present owners. His early education was limited to the rather meager advantages offered by the public schools of those days. He belonged to that class whose education was largely obtained at night by the light of the ruddy fire or tallow dip. When he was fourteen years of age he was put out to learn a trade, and his individual career began as a saddler's apprentice in the village of Urbana. He became an effici- ent workman and devoted fourteen years to the avocation of journeyman sad- dlemaker in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland. During these years of
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work at his trade he had kept up a course of reading and study of law text books. In 1841 he was elected sheriff of Miami county and at the close of his first term was re-elected. In the fall of 1845 he was chosen to represent Miami county in the State legislature. During this session of the legislature the law establishing the ad valorem valuation of property was enacted. This at the time was a radical measure in Ohio, cutting loose as it did from a discrimi- nating system in favor of actual settlers entering upon public lands and improving them. The construction of canals in Ohio by the State at great cost made this change necessary to meet the expenditures. In the debates on this measure Major Johnston took an active and influential part. Ile supported and voted for the bill, and the system it created still stands. After leaving the State legislature he determined to take up the practice of law and after reviewing his studies was admitted to the Bar in 1850, and has continued in the practice up to the present time, though he has not been actively engaged in recent years. Major Johnston has for over forty years been the central figure of the Piqua Bar. He was one of the principal organizers of the Colum- bus, Piqua & Indiana railroad. drew its charter and was for twenty-five years its chief attorney. That line now forms a part of the Panhandle system of roads. The major served one term as mayor of the town, was for several years city solicitor, has been a member of the city council, one of the board of trustees of the city water works, and various other places of trust have been filled by him with entire satisfaction to the public and with credit to himself. Major Johnston has always been a public spirited citizen and it is to his inde- fatigable energy that the city owes its splendid hydraulic and water system which has made it the manufacturing town that it now is. Steps were taken as early as 1854 to construct these works, but nothing practical was accom- plished until 1868, when Major Johnston was placed at the head of the com- pany that had undertaken the work of construction, and six years later they were completed, after overcoming financial difficulties and obstacles in the way of privileges that had proved insurmountable to his predecessors. Piqua's hydraulic and water works are an enduring monument to Stephen Johnston's public spirit, energy and integrity. In 1877 when the Ohio Senate unani- mously passed Senate Bill No. 132 to abolish the Lewistown reservoir, Major Johnston's service and good judgment were instrumental in defeating the measure in the House. Piqua was vitally interested, because the destruction of the reservoir would have been about equivalent to destroying the Piqua hydraulic. Major Johnston immediately went to Columbus to meet the House committee on public works, to which the bill had been referred. He had forti- fied himself with canal statistics and was thoroughly conversant with canal history and the vested rights of the people in western Ohio and with the moral obligations of the State. He presented the case with such force and made so convincing an argument to the committee, that they unanimously reported the indefinite postponement of the bill. The statistics submitted by Major Johnston were embodied in the report of the committee, which is the strongest argil- ment for the maintenance of the canals that has ever been formulated. The
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