USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 21
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Chat w burnett
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CHARLES D. EVERETT, Cleveland. Charles D. Everett was born in Lib- erty township, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 17th day of November, 1836. His father, Samuel Everett, was for a number of years engaged in the manu- facture of linseed oil. He was born in Pennsylvania and came to Ohio with his parents in 1802. Mr. Everett is of English descent. His ancestors came to America in 1636, settled in Massachusetts and early in the eighteenth cen- tury moved to Pennsylvania. His grandfather, although too young to enlist during the Revolution, was employed as courier and bearer of dispatches, and was attached to Washington's army. His mother, Sarah Pheil, born in Penn- sylvania, was of Prussian extraction. Her father came to the United States in 1795, settling in Pennsylvania at Little York, and in 1808 the family re- moved to Columbiana county, Ohio. For several hundred years the Pheils have been prominent in Prussia. During the Franco-Prussian war one of that name was chief quartermaster general of the Prussian army. Young Ever- ett's education was obtained in the public schools of his native county until he was fourteen years of age. In 1850 his parents moved to Cleveland, where he continued and completed his education in the public schools. In 1856, hav- ing determined upon law as his profession, he entered the office of Mason & Estep, and commenced his studies. Later he entered the Cincinnati Law School and was graduated in 1858. Returning to Cleveland he continued in the office of his preceptors for two years, in the meantime having been ad- mitted to practice by the district court in Hamilton county. In 1860 he opened an office and commenced the practice of his profession alone. In 1866 he went to Montana, where he engaged in gold mining somc ycars. Return- ing to Cleveland in 1871 he at once resumed the practice of law, and shortly afterwards formed his first partnership with ex-Judge McMath, under the firm name of McMath & Everett. This association continued but a short time, when he withdrew and formed a partnership with M. B. Gary. Later his . nephew, Frank E. Dellenbaugh, became a member of the firm, the name and style becoming Everett, Gary & Dellenbaugh. Shortly afterwards Mr. Gary retired and the firm became Everett & Dellenbaugh and later Everett, Dellen- baugh & Weed, and so continued until 1895, when Governor Mckinley ap- pointed F. E. Dellenbaugh to the Common Pleas Bench of Cuyahoga county. In January, 1897, Mr. W. D. Meals and Mr. E. E. Sluss were taken into part- nership and the style of the firm became Everett, Weed, Meals & Sluss, since which time no changes have been made. Mr. Everett has for years enjoycd a large and profitable practice of a general character. Ile is of a studious turn, devotes great care and thought to the preparation of his cases, and con- ducts the trial of a case with great skill and ability. Ile is a man of high moral character and his standing in the community is of the highest order. He always has been a Republican, consistent in the support of party principles and taking at all times as active interest in party matters as his professional work would allow. With the exception of six years in the Cleveland city coun- cil he has never held office. In 1874 he was elected a member of the council for a term of two years and thereafter was re-elected for two successive terms,
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being president of that body during the last term. He is an active Mason, having attained the Knight Templar degrees. In 1868 he married Fannie S. Johns, a native of Devonshire, England, who came to this country and to the State of Ohio as a child with her parents, settling in Cleveland. There are no children living by this union. Mrs. Everett is living.
LEONARD CASE, Cleveland. The late Leonard Case, Senior, was born July 29, 1786, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, near the Monongahela river. His father, Meshach Case, was of Holland stock. The grandfather was one of four brothers who came to this country from Holland early in the last century. We know little of these brothers as individuals, only that they came from a nation that had fought the longest and bloodiest wars for religious and civil liberty against the Spanish inquisition, and had become the rival of Great Britain for the supremacy of the seas, and in planting colonies in America, Africa and the East Indies. These four Case brothers settled on Long Island and in Morris county, New Jersey, and one of them, Butler, moved into Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1778, where Meshach, a farmer, the father of the subject of this sketch, met and married Magdalene Eckstein in 1780. On the maternal side there is more knowledge of the family history. Leonard Eckstein, the grandfather, was a native of Bavaria, and was born near the ancient city of Nuremberg, the old walled and castellated city founded in medieval times, about ninety miles from Munich. Some of the brothers of Leonard Eckstein were sculptors and carvers. One worked for Frederick the Great in Berlin and Potsdam, and others at The Hague in the Netherlands. In 1750 Leonard Eckstein landed in Philadelphia, pushed on to Virginia, married in Winchester and moved again into western Pennsylvania, where his daughter Magdalene and Meshach Case were married. As the fruit of this union of the Holland and German stock eight children were born, Leonard being the oldest. In 1799 his father and mother went on an exploring expedi- tion into Ohio, and on horseback came into the Connecticut Western Reserve, buying two hundred acres of land in the township of Warren, Trumbull county. Before returning they had raised a log cabin and cut away an acre of timber around it. The next spring, April 26, 1800, the family arrived on the spot, and with them came several of their Pennsylvania neighbors. There were not fifty people on the whole domain of the Connecticut Land Company. It was here they celebrated their first Fourth of July. Mr. Case in his narrative gives an account of the celebration, when even the musical instru- ments were made on the spot, the drum from the trunk of a hollow pepperidge tree with a fawn's skin stretched across the ends, and the fife from a large, strong stem of elder. Every settler, man and boy, had a gun. From April, 1800, to October, 1801, the lad (Leonard), upon whom the whole family leaned for the heaviest work on the farm and for hunting game (deer and bear), was in robust health and untiring strength. Suddenly he was prostrated with fever,
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in consequence of crossing Mahoning river when overheated in pursuit of the cattle, resulting in ulcers, which made him a cripple for life, and he was never free from pain during the long years of his life. This sickness was prolonged, and it was not until the end of two years that he was able to get up and about. He determined that he would not be dependent upon charity or the labor of others. He schooled himself in reading and writing, made instruments for drafting, and in order to get books and clothes bottomed all the chairs in the neighborhood, made riddles and sieves for the grain of the farmers, and finally found himself necessary to those around him. Then his handwriting attracted the attention of the clerk of the court at Warren, and in 1806 he was absorb- ing all that there was to know in the laws and land titles of the county. He was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court for Trumbull county in 1806, and had an opportunity to study and copy the records of the Connecticut Land Company in the recorder's office, and when he was employed by General Simon Perkins, who was the land agent of the company in 1807, he was made his confidential clerk. From that time until 1844, when General Perkins died, they were bound together in strong and true friendship. He studied law under the direction of John D. Edwards, who at that time held the office of recorder of Trumbull county, then comprising all of the Western Reserve. While studying law he made an abstract of the drafts of the Connecticut Land Company, showing from the records of that company all the original pro- prietors of the Reserve and the lands purchased by them, an abstract which was so correct that it became the standard beginning of all searches of land titles, and is still copied and used by all the abstractors and examiners of titles in all of the twelve counties of the Reserve. The war of 1812 found Mr. Case at Warren, having among his other duties that of the collection of non-resident taxes on the Western Reserve. Having to go to Chillicothe to make his set- tlements, he prepared for his journey to the State capital by making a careful disposition of all official matters, so that in case of misfortune to him there would be no difficulty in settling his affairs and no loss to his bail. The money belonging to the several townships was parceled out, enveloped and marked, in readiness to hand over to the several trustees. The parcels were then deposited with his friend, Mr. Edwards, with directions to pay over to the proper parties should he not return in time. The journey was made without mishap, but on his return he found that his friend had set out to join the army on the Maumee, and had died suddenly on the way. To the gratification of Mr. Case, however, the money was found untouched where he had left it. In 1816 Mr. Case received the appointment of cashier of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, just organized in Cleveland. He immediately removed to Cleve- land and entered on the discharge of his duties. These did not occupy all of his time, so he practiced law and conducted the business of land agent. The bank was compelled to suspend operations, but later was revived with Mr. Case as president. He earnestly devoted himself to the practice of law. He had a natural taste for the investigations of titles and the history of the earlier land transactions. He had ample scope to gratify his taste, and his
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agency for the Connecticut Land Company from 1827 to 1855 enabled him still further to prosecute his researches. His strong memory retained the facts acquired until he became complete master of the whole history of titles derived from the Connecticut Land Company. From his earliest connections with Cleveland Mr. Case took a lively interest in the affairs of the village, the improvement of the streets, the maintenance and enlargement of the schools and the extension of religious influences. To him Cleveland is indebted for the name of " Forest City " more than to any one man. It was his thought- fulness and public spirit that the work of planting shade trees was commenced. From 1821 to 1825 he was president of the village. When Cuyahoga county was created he was the first auditor. From 1824 to 1827 he was a member of the State legislature, where he was distinguished by his persistent labors in behalf of the canals. He organized and drafted the first bill providing for raising taxes on lands according to the value. They had been before that time taxed so much per acre without regard to their value. This change in the method of raising taxes has been continued. Out of his experience and practical sense he was enabled to furnish a system of checks for the systematic estimates and auditing of accounts on the great public works then set on foot, which was adopted, and proved a safeguard against frauds, jobbery and defal- cation. He headed the subscription to the stock of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company with the sum of $5,000, and was largely influential in the organization of this first railroad project for Cleveland. One of his rules from which he never deviated was not to contract a debt beyond his ability to pay within two years, without depending upon a sale of property. His opportunities of buying in the earlier days were, of course, unlimited, but he never refused to sell lands, and never placed any obstacle to their settlement and improvement by keeping large tracts out of the market. He married at Stow, Portage county, September 28, 1817, Elizabeth Gaylord, a native of Middletown, Connecticut. His son, William, was born August 10, 1818, after- wards mayor of Cleveland, and Leonard, June 27, 1820. There were other great men in Cleveland in those days, but Leonard Case, although feeble physically, was a tower of strength; broad, square and lofty in wisdom, char- acter and financial stability. He was looked upon as the source of all wisdom on all Ohio land laws, most of which he had helped to make. There was not a man, woman or child that did not feel at liberty to approach and shake his friendly hand. A sufferer of physical pain from his boyhood days, he was never known to complain. Both of his sons were quick and diligent in their studies. William devoted himself to looking after the interests of his father. Leonard entered Yale and graduated with honors in the class of 1842. He afterwards read law, but literature was more to his liking. It was the second son that by deeds of trust to valuable real estate founded the "School of Applied Science" in Cleveland, which will ever stand as a worthy monument to both father and son. Leonard Case, Senior, died December 7, 1864, in his seventy-ninth year.
NOTE-We are indebted to Judge J. D. Cleveland, now President of the board of trustees for the School of Applied Science, for the valuable data from which this sketch is prepared.
Franklin adams
Medatury Publishing C.Eingroval Cu. Chin.
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FRANKLIN ADAMS, Bucyrus. The name of Adams is one of the most honored as well as eminent of all names in the history of the American Colo- nies and the Republic of the United States. The subject of this biography is descended from a collateral branch of the same family that inspired the Con- tinental Congress and furnished two Presidents of the United States. He was also a native of New England, born at Alsted, New Hampshire, on the 16th of November, 1813. His father was John Adams, a farmer, and his mother bore the name of another historic New England family-Morse. His ances- tors, of course, were English, and they were also among the early emigrants to Massachusetts. Frank Adams attended the common schools in early boy- hood and acquired such knowledge of the common branches of learning as these schools were able to impart. Later he attended, as a student, acade- mies located at Middlebury, Wyoming county, and Henrietta, Monroe county. in the State of New York. At the threshold of manhood he came West, located in Ohio, and took up the preliminary reading and study of the law, first under the instruction of Silas Robbins, of Ashland, and later under that of James Purdy, of Mansfield. He was admitted to the Bar of the State by the Supreme Court of Ohio at the July term held at Bucyrus in 1836, and by the District Court of the United States held at Columbus in 1839. He settled permanently at Bucyrus before entering upon independent practice, and has remained there. While his practice has been general, covering the usual variety of litigated cases that make up the docket of nisi prius courts in a country town, he has given special attention to chancery cases and business appertaining to the administration of estates. However sedulous his applica- tion to the books may have been, however careful and exact his pleadings were prepared, however alert, shrewd and persistent at the trial table, and however able, logical and convincing his arguments before a court or jury may have been in the conduct of litigation, it may confidently be asserted that his great- est victories as a lawyer have been achieved out of court. When clients have come to him in a spirit of contention he has advised them to compromise the differences with their neighbors rather than take their complaints into court. Even in the early years of his practice it was not unusual for disputants to bring before him their respective grievances for arbitration and for him to become, in the best sense, counsel for both parties. The integrity of his mind, the amiability of his disposition, his unfailing tact, his insight into human nature, and his regard for equity as well as law, enabled him to solve hun- dreds of difficulties and restore the relations of friendship and confidence between men who came to him out of temper, ready to destroy each other's substance by litigation. The wisdom of his counsel so often and deeply impressed disputants that it is claimed the private records of Mr. Adams' law office, if brought to light, would disclose the amicable settlement of more cases out of court than have been tried in the courts of Crawford county during the last fifty years. However this may be, there is little doubt that scores of thrifty, upright citizens of the county have found in their own experiences abundant reason for adopting the beatitude, " Blessed is the peacemaker "-
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especially if he is at the same time a lawyer. Franklin Adams is in no sense a timid or a weak man ; for such a man is never skillful in diplomacy. He is courageous, strong and honest. Moreover he is a great chancery lawyer- probably the greatest in his section of the State. His profound knowledge of the law and his keen discernment of the principles of equity united make this pre-eminence possible. His character and his reputation for honesty, so thoroughly established as to be unquestionable, have gained for him the highest standing at the Bar and the fullest confidence of the community. Naturally reserved in manner, as students usually are, and strong in himself, he does not seek to form the confidential relations with a multitude. His acquaintances are many ; his intimates are few. He is kind and benevolent and his charities are dispensed without ostentation. Mr. Adams is a Demo- crat in political affiliation, but has never held office except that of prosecuting attorney of Crawford county, which he filled for seven years. His residence at Bucyrus has been continuous since 1837. He has never married.
WILLIAM S. WAGNER, Tiffin. The subject of this biography is a native of Seneca county, and has never resided elsewhere. His mother's father settled in the county in 1829. Her name was Catherine Berkey. Her grandmother's father, named Carpenter, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His extrac- tion through paternal ancestry is Dutch. His father came to Seneca county in 1846 and purchased a farm, on which his home was established, and which he cultivated successfully. William was born June 27, 1860, and his early education was received in the public schools. Later on he attended the normal school at Ada to qualify himself for teaching, which became his gateway to the profession of law. For the five years next ensuing he taught in the public schools of Seneca county, and employed all his leisure in reading the standard text books of the law. He spent 1885 and a portion of 1886 in Kansas, and upon returning home applied himself sedulously to the study of law in the office of George E. Schroth, of Tiffin. Upon passing the required examination he was admitted to the Bar in 1889, and immediately thereafter engaged in a general practice alone. At the opening of his practice he was fortunate in representing the Union Central Life Insurance Company in their investments in several counties. While the work was heavy and the duties exacting, the opportunity was of vital importance in the experience and knowledge of real estate law required. The study of titles and conveyances, essential to the suc- cessful management of the insurance company's business, made him a sound title lawyer, and afforded a material part of his substantial qualifications for the office which he now holds. While at all times interested in political ques- tions, and active in support of his party in campaigns, Mr. Wagner has not been a candidate for any office until his nomination for judge of the Probate Court in 1896. He was elected to that office in November, and entered upon the four-year term of judicial service in January following. The unusual
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advantages enjoyed during the six or seven years of practice were in the nature of a special training for probate business, and he is therefore able to dispatch it with unusual facility and accuracy. His majority, the largest ever given in the county for a candidate on the Democratic ticket, may be accepted as the popular estimate of his fitness for the office as well as the measure of his per- sonal popularity. For the number of years spent in professional reading and practice he is a capable, strong and well-informed lawyer. He is active, diligent and intensely earnest in the prosecution of his practice in the management of judicial business. As a man he is honest and fair-minded ; as a citizen he is progressive and public-spirited. He is not a churchman, but bears a good reputation. As evidence of his cautious investigation into the merits of a con- troversy, and his carefulness in the preparation of complaints and pleadings, it is proper to state that in all his experience at the Bar he has lost only two cases in which he represented the plaintiff and brought the action. He sup- ports the Democratic party actively in all city, county, district, State and National campaigns.
JOHN H. RIDGELY, Tiffin. Honorable John H. Ridgely, late judge of the Court of Common Pleas, is one of the prominent and successful lawyers of Seneca county. He is a native of Allegheny county, Maryland, where he was born on the 16th day of August, 1847. His parents, William Ridgely and Catherine Hoye, were also natives of Maryland. In fact, the Eastern Shore of that State was the cradle of the family in America. Five brothers settled there in the seventeenth century, coming from England, and from them all of the Ridgelys in the United States are supposed to have descended. The family records in possession of the judge are not complete as to the achievements of the several members, but historical information of a trustworthy character proves that many of them have occupied prominent positions in Maryland and some have distinguished themselves in the civil and military service of the country. Judge Ridgely's father was a merchant at Grantsville, Maryland, and the owner of a fine farm in the neighborhood, which he operated for many years, rather as a, diversion, while the main drift of his pursuit was commer- cial. The judge was only one year old at the time of his father's death. His education was begun in the schools of Grantsville, where he remained until fifteen years of age. In 1862 he came to Tiffin, Ohio, for the purpose of com- pleting his classical education in Heidelberg University. He entered the uni- versity and pursued his studies until June, 1863, when he was impelled by patriotic fervor and the general war excitement throughout the country to offer his services to the Nation. He enlisted in Company I, Eighty-sixth Regiment Olio Volunteer Infantry, and went into active service under General Burn- side in southern Kentucky and thence into eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville, where he remained with the regiment until March, 1864. The command then being mustered out by reason of expiration of time of enlistment, he returned to Tiffin and re-entered the university. In February next following he enlisted
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again and was mustered in the 197th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving with the command around Washington and in his native State until the close of the war. Mustered out finally in August, 1865, he returned to his classes and pursued his studies until June, 1867, when he was graduated as a Bachelor of Arts. Going back to Maryland immediately afterwards he took up the study of law at Cumberland, in the office of George A. Pearce, then one of the prominent lawyers of the State. He passed the required examination and was admitted to the Bar in 1869. During his term in college he had formed attachments at Tiffin which led to his location there as soon as he was prepared for practice. He settled in that city in January, 1870, and continued in active practice until 1887, when he was elected judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas for a full term, which expired in February, 1893. He was accus- tomed to take all kinds of cases offered to a general practitioner in a country town, and by his assiduity and fidelity succeeded in building up a large client- age and a profitable business. Judge Ridgely has had his full share of the important litigation in the courts of Seneca county, and his successes have been commensurate with the number of his clients, and the magnitude of inter- ests involved. At the Bar his knowledge of the law, his industry in learning all that can be known of a case, his faithfulness to clients, and courtesy to brethren commend him. For the Bench he was peculiarly well fitted. Natur- ally of a reserved and somewhat conservative nature he could not be led away from justice by any momentary impulses. In his decisions he recognized no friendships, no enmities. Never was litigation known to suffer at his hands by considerations of a personal nature, but on the contrary his decisions were reached and judgments rendered only after the most careful and impartial examination of the facts and the law applicable. His integrity was never questioned, and through the reputation made by him during his six years on the Bench he found awaiting him on his return to the practice a large and remunerative clientage. No member of the Bar in the State is held in higher esteem than is Judge Ridgely throughout the judicial district in which he pre- sided. In private and social intercourse he stands well among men and natur- ally takes his place with the best of the community. He is a Mason, a Knight Templar, and member of De Molay Commandery of Tiffin; a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and commander of William H. Gibson Post No. 31. He is a director of the Tiffin National Bank, and a member of the board of trustees of Heidelberg University. His wife, formerly Miss Ella E. Bacher, of Tiffin, to whom he was married in 1870, was a fellow student and a graduate of the same college as her husband, and 'twas within these classic walls that the acquaintance began, which ended in a life long union.
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