USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 23
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parliamentary procedure, and the dispute, conducted in a masterly way, was held within these limits. This was not the first time Mr. Welty had identified himself with the friends of silver. When a delegate to the National convention of 1892, he opposed the nomination of Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency solely on account of the latter's pronounced hostility to silver. In 1897 he was a strong candidate for the nomination for governor in the State convention at Columbus, and many of his friends entertained no doubt that he would have been the choice of a large majority of the delegates had he not withdrawn. He, however, declined to permit his name to be placed before the convention, as in his judgment the perfect harmony of the party was pre-eminently desira- ble this year, when an unusually stubborn fight was anticipated all along the line, with the almost assured success of the Democracy. He made his personal ambition subservient always to the interests of his party. Faithful to his friends upon all occasions, he can never be diverted from what he deems to be the greatest good of the greatest number. His active affiliation with the Dem- ocratic party dates back to his boyhood days. At nineteen he was stumping his home counties for the party's cause, and right along he has worked strenu- ously and effectively for the sound principles of Democracy. Never having sought office or reward, he has maintained a dignified and influential position. His high standard of political morals, combined with his unquestioned personal integrity and strength of character, promise eventually to place him among the Nation's leaders, as they have already made him a popular chieftain in his State. Mr. Welty is a man of substantial means ; he enjoys a lovely home in Canton, where he is surrounded by all the refinements that a cultured mind could suggest or desire, and where he entertains his friends with genuine hos- pitality. He is broad and liberal in his views on the most important questions in life : he is big hearted and generous, deeply interested in all that tends for the welfare of his city and county. Among the local enterprises to which he has contributed his support are the Peoples' Savings Bank, of which he is the president ; the Diebold Safe and Lock Company ; the Crucible Steel Company, and many others. In public improvements he is always active ; in matters of church and morals he has been vestryman and treasurer of the Episcopal Church for ten years, besides being an earnest and generous supporter of all educational and philanthropic work. He was married October 11, 1878, to Miss Anna T. Graham, the daughter of Charles H. Graham, a prominent capi- talist of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An eminent jurist, who recently retired from the Bench in Ohio, contributes the following :
" My personal acquaintance with Mr. Welty las extended over many years. He is peculiarly and essentially a trial lawyer; he possesses greater tact and exercises more skill in the trial of a case than any other man I have known. He is known throughout the entire State, and is recognized by the members of the Bar as a great trial lawyer. His characteristics are kindli- ness, affability and courtesy. No matter what attitude the opposing counsel may assume, it is met by him with a courtesy and attention that throws his opponent completly off his guard from its unobtrusive and unexpected charac- ter. Hle is an excellent judge of human nature, and exercises this faculty
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keenly in the selection of a jury. In examination of witnesses, and in address- ing a jury, he is exceptionally strong, and is invariably on good terms with the court. He is a great worker in his office, constantly searching the authorities, and apparently possesses inexhaustible energy and resources. As a man he is honest and sincere ; in his friendships, true as steel. He was never known to speak an ill word of anyone. Kindly in disposition, firm in convictions, strong of soul, a man of splendid individuality, he is a born leader of men."
ULYSSES L. MARVIN, Akron. Judge Marvin was born at Stow, Summit county, Ohio, on the 14th of March, 1839. His father, Ulysses Marvin, was a native of Connecticut and of English ancestry. The Marvins settled in Connecticut in the early part of the seventeenth century. He is a lineal descendant of that captain and deacon on whose monument, still extant, is the inscription, " This Deacon, aged sixty-eight, is freed on earth from serving (sarvin) ; May for a crown no longer wait Lyme's Captain, Rey- nold Marvin." His mother was Elizabeth Bradley, whose ancestors were also among the early English settlers of Connecticut. Young Marvin's early edu- cation was obtained in the public schools in the neighborhood of his home until at the age of thirteen he was sent to the Twinsburg Academy, where he remained for some time pursuing academic studies. He then entered the Franklin Institute, in which his scholastic education was finished. At the age of sixteen he commenced teaching in a country school, and in 1861 and 1862 was superintendent of the union schools at Kent, Portage county, Ohio. While teaching he took up the preliminary study of law under Mr. H. B. Foster, whose influence and instructions were most helpful. He was a scholarly gen- tleman and a thorough lawyer. According to the family traditions the Mar- vin men have either been clergymen or lawyers for many generations. In compliance with the wish of his father, Judge Marvin determined to enter upon the study of law in earnest and equip himself for practice with as little delay as possible. With that object in view he entered the office of Edgerton & Sanders, the former of whom was afterwards appointed governor of the Territory of Montana, and the latter elected the first United States Senator from the State of Montana. On the 2nd of May, 1860, Mr. Marvin was admitted to the Bar at Canton, Ohio, and at once commenced practice in partnership with Mr. Sanders. Shortly afterwards, upon the breaking out of the Civil War, his law preceptor went into the army, and he commenced teaching school at Kent. In August, 1862, Mr. Marvin enlisted as a private in the 115th Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and in the following year was commissioned first lieutenant in the Fifth United States Volunteers. In 1864 he was promoted to the rank of cap- tain, and in the spring of 1865 brevetted major, his commission reading " For gallant and meritorious service." He was severely wounded before Richmond on the 29th of September, 1864. He participated in all the engagements of his division during the sieges of Richmond and Petersburg. At the close of the war in 1865 he was appointed judge advocate of the district of Newbern,
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North Carolina, and remained in that service until the 4th of October, 1865, by which time civil government had been established. Upon being mustered out of service he at once returned to his native State and commenced the practice of law in Portage county. In the fall of 1867 he removed to Akron, where he formed a partnership with J. J. Hall, which continued until 1869, when he was elected probate judge, serving six years. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Foster and Charles R. Grant, the firm being Foster, Marvin & Grant. In 1883 he withdrew from the firm, having been appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Upon retiring from the Common Pleas Bench he formed a partnership with Mr. F. M. Atterholt, which continued for nine years. They then associated with them Rolin W. Sadler and D. L. Marvin, under the name of Marvin, Sadler & Atterholt. Judge Marvin retired when he was elected to his present position as judge of the Cir- cuit Court of Ohio for the Eighth Circuit. Judge Marvin when in practice enjoyed a large and lucrative business, having been engaged in many important cases. He is a lawyer of ability and an orator of note; has delivered a num- ber of addresses and made many political speeches. In politics he has always been a Republican and manifested commendable interest in political affairs, taking such active part as his law practice and judicial positions would permit. Judge Marvin is the senior warden of the vestry of St. Paul's Protestant Epis- copal Church at Akron. He is an active member of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic. On the 24th day of November, 1861, Judge Marvin married Dorena, daughter of Honorable David L. Rockwell, of Kent. Mrs. Marvin is living and there are four sons by this union : David L., a law- yer at Akron; George U., a journalist at Columbus ; Charles A., a journalist at Akron ; and Frank R., now a student in Williams College.
JAIRUS KENNAN, Norwalk. Jairus Kennan, who was honorably engaged in the practice of law at Norfolk for a period of thirty-seven years, died on the 16th of June, 1872. He was born at Moira, Franklin county, New York, on the 22nd of April, 1813. His father, Thomas Kennan, was a Presbyterian minister, a native of Vermont, where his family settled at a very early period. They were of Scotch-Irish descent. When the Rev. Thomas Kennan began his ministerial work he removed to New York State, where he resided until 1833, in which year he settled at Norwalk, Ohio. The grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch was a colonel in the American Revolution. Mr. Kennan came first to Ohio when he was fifteen years of age, joining an elder brother who resided at Norwalk. He remained two years, and during this period taught school a part of the time. At an early age he began the study of law. In 1831 he returned to New York and was for two years a student at Potsdam Academy. In 1833 his father removed to Ohio and he came with him. He then entered the office of Judge E. Lane and began regularly the study of his profession, and in 1835 was admitted to practice. At different times he was
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in partnership with Gideon T. Stewart, G. R. Walker, B. F. Bryant, and at the time of his death his son, Colonel C. L. Kennan, was his partner. Mr. Kennan was one of the oldest members of the Bar at the time of his death. He commanded the confidence and respect of all who knew him or who had business with him. Every trust confided to him was always faithfully dis- charged. He never carried a case in court until he had first exhausted every means of settlement. For a number of years he was interested in the old Norwalk Seminary. All his life he was prominent in church work. He helped build the First Presbyterian church; also the Second, which was completed about a year before his death. No man was ever more useful in church work. He was leader of the choir for a full generation. He had been connected with Sunday school work longer than any other member of the church, and as an elder he was second to no man in usefulness and fidelity. In his family his gentle, quiet, unconscious influence and character were most marked, and at his death the heart of an intelligent, cultivated, Christian husband and father had ceased to beat. In 1837 Mr. Kennan married Charlotte E. Gardiner, a sister of John Gardiner, president of the Norwalk National Bank. She was a native of New London, Connecticut, and of English ancestry. Of the nine children born of this union eight are living, two daughters and six sons.
C. WOODRUFF OSBORNE, Painesville. C. W. Osborne was born at Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 31st day of December, 1845. His father, Rev. Hezekiah W. Osborne, was a Presbyterian minister; came to Ohio in 1836 from New York State, where he was born, and was for six- teen years pastor of the church at Mesopotamia. In 1852 he removed to Hambden, Geauga county, where he died in 1854. He was of English descent. His mother was Evelina L. Smith, of New Haven county. Connect- icut, and was of the Smiths of North Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Osborne's early education was obtained in the common and select schools of Hambden. Later he entered the Kingsville Academy, Ashtabula county, and was grad- uated therefrom in 1866. He then became a teacher in the district and high schools of Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties for five years. During this time he commenced the study of law. He then entered the office of Canfield & Canfield, at Chardon, where he remained one year preparing him- self for the practice of the profession he had chosen for his life work, and on the 2nd of September, 1872, he was admitted to practice. He at once opened an office at Chardon, but shortly afterwards he formed a partnership with T. W. Porter, under the firm name of Porter & Osborne. This con- tinued about three years, when he became the partner of Honorable I. N. Hathaway, the firm name being Hathaway & Osborne. In the spring of 1889, Mr. Osborne withdrew from this firm, removed to Painesville and soon there- after formed a partnership with W. A. Breed, the firm being Osborne & Breed. In the spring of 1897 this firm was dissolved, and the firm of
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Osborne & Reynolds was formed, Judge Reynolds having retired from the Probate Bench of Lake county. Mr. Osborne has for a number of years been recognized as one of the leading lawyers in north-eastern Ohio, with a good practice in the State and Federal courts. He was prosecuting-attorney for Geauga county from 1882 to 1887. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association, a prominent Mason, having attained the 32nd degree, and has been chief officer in all the branches of the masonic order, including the Commandery. Politically he is a Republican and has always taken an active interest in county, State and National politics. He is an effective and ready speaker and from time to time has delivered many speeches. In the campaign of 1896 he displayed great energy, enthu- siasm and determination in his efforts on the stump. His speeches were both argumentative and eloquent. Mr. Osborne in 1872 married Flora A. May- nard, of Hambden. There are five children-Merton S., Allyn L., Carlotta M., Bessie E., and Carrie E.
GEORGE E. SCHROTH, Tiffin. Mr. Schroth, prosecuting attorney for Sen- eca county, is a native of Ohio, of German parentage. His mother, Cathrina Biehler Schroth, was a native of the province of Alsace and his father of Wurtemberg, Germany. The senior Mr. Schroth came to the United States and settled in Cincinnati about the year 1848, after the revolution in Germany, in which General Carl Schurz and General Ashboth participated, and on account of which they became citizens of this country. George Schroth was born April 7, 1863, at Cincinnati. His education was obtained principally in the public schools of that city. After passing through the primary and grammar schools, he entered the high school, where he studied for several years, but left the city just before his class was graduated. He located at Tiffin, and soon afterwards began teaching a district school, at the age of six- teen. This was his avocation for six years, teaching during the school year and attending the short term of normal school during the summer vacations at Ada. While teaching he was also a student of law text books. In 1885 he entered the office of John K. Rohn, of Tiffin, for the purpose of complet- ing his law course. He remained with Mr. Rohn for one year when he was examined by the Supreme Court and admitted to practice. He opened an office at Tiffin, and in the time intervening between that date and the present, has established himself firmly, and secured a lucrative practice. In 1887 he was appointed school examiner for Seneca county, holding the position for three years. In 1890 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, and re-elected in 1893. During his term of office as prosecutor, he has tried two capital cases and secured the first conviction in Seneca county for murder in the first degree with a death penalty. The first of these cases was that of the State vs. Marvin Kuhns, an Indiana desperado, who had murdered a fellow horse-thief, named Canipeau. The evidence was wholly circumstantial and resulted in a verdict of murder in the second degree, and the accused received
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a life sentence. The second case was one that attracted the attention of the entire country, and Mr. Schroth, as the representative of the State, has been eulogized by the press and people in the strongest manner for the able and impartial discharge of his official duties in the premises. The title of the case was the State vs. Leon J. Martin, indicted for murder in the first degree. The capital crime of Martin was the murder of the city marshal who had a warrant for his arrest on complaint charging the minor offense of assault with intent to kill. The feeling against the prisoner was so strong that an attempt was made to lynch him, and the official guards who were defending the jail shot and killed two members of the assaulting mob. What followed has passed into history. State troops took possession of the jail and protected the prisoner. Tiffin fortunately escaped the odium attaching to the execution of vengeance by an inflamed mob, and the slower but defensible processes of the law were faithfully executed. The prisoner was tried in an orderly manner, found guilty by the verdict of a jury, and was sentenced by the court to suffer the death penalty. The case was duly taken to the Circuit and Supreme Courts on error, and the judgment of the Common Pleas was affirmed. The case is fully reported by Judge Price in Vol. 13 on page 67 of the Circuit Court Reports of Ohio. The leaders of the mob were indicted on the charge of inciting a riot, and the cases against some of them are still pending. Mr. Schroth has been a fearless and zealous upholder of the law as he finds it. He is a Republican in politics and an active supporter of the party in every cam- paign. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the order of American Mechanics. He was married in August, 1889, to Miss Rose Wolfe, daughter of Solomon and Mahala Wolfe, prominent citizens of Seneca county, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of northwestern Ohio. They have one daughter.
EDWIN F. VORIS, Akron. Edwin Francis Voris was born at Akron, July 31, 1855. His father, General Alvin C. Voris, is an eminent lawyer who was at one time judge of the Court of Common Pleas of his district, and at the close of the late war was, in December, 1865, mustered out of the service as a brevet major general of volunteers, having served through the entire war with great distinction and gallantry. The Vorises (originally Van Voorhees) are of Holland stock. The first of the name came to this country in 1660 and settled in New Amsterdam. Mr. Voris's branch of the family removed thence to New Jersey, where his great-grandfather was born; the latter removed to Pennsylvania where his grandfather was born, who, in 1815, came to Ohio. The Vorises were prominent during the American Revolution. From first to last about one hundred of that name took part in the great struggle for inde- pendence. His mother was Lydia Allyn, born in Ohio of Connecticut parents, who came to the State in 1817, settling in Summit county. The Allyns are of English ancestry. The first of the family, Robert Allyn, came to America
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about 1640 and settled in Massachusetts, and later removed to Groton near New London, Connecticut. Here they became prominent in the early history of the State and were most active during the American Revolution. Collat- erally he is related on his mother's side to Governor Eaton, the first governor of Connecticut, and the author of the Blue Laws. E. F. Voris's early educa- tion was obtained in the public schools of Akron. He passed through the city high school and in 1872 entered Buchtell College, from which he was gradu- ated in 1875. He at once took np the study of law, entered the Law School at Harvard, and received his degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1877. Returning to Akron he was, on the 7th day of October, 1877, admitted to practice. Entering his father's office he remained there until the following May, when he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where be engaged in practice. After remain- ing there one ycar he returned to Akron and formed a partnership with his father, the firm being Voris & Voris. The firm continued until General Voris took his seat on the Common Pleas Bench, in January, 1891, to which he had been elected in the fall of 1890. He then formed a partnership with Charles Baird, under the firm name' of Baird & Voris. This lasted until June, 1895. Since that time he has practiced alone. His practice has always been of a general character. Mr. Voris has been identified with much of the important litigation in this and the neighboring counties. He has won for himself an enviable position as an able and conscientious lawyer, always dili- gent and painstaking in matters entrusted to him. He possesses a fine mem- ory and has the faculty of being able to recall authorities that are applicable to the principles of law involved in a cause with great promptness and at the proper time. He has always been a student. His arguments to the court are strong and logical, and in the presentation of facts to the jury he is forcible and convincing. Mr. Voris is a man of high moral character, and with his genial and sociable nature he has a large circle of friends, both in and out of the profession. A Republican, politically, he has always taken an active gen- eral interest in political questions. In 1886 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Summit county to fill the unexpired term of John C. Means, who dicd while in office. From 1888 to 1892, he served two terms as a member of the school board of Akron. In 1879 he married Miss Lizzie U. Slade, daugh. ter of W. H. Slade, of Columbus, and has five children, all of whom are living : Lydia, born July 17, 1880; William S., born August 28, 1882; Lizzic, born August 12, 1884 ; Edwin F. and Marion, born October 15, 1892.
EZRA B. TAYLOR, Warren. Honorable Ezra B. Taylor was born in Nel- son township, Portage county, Ohio, July 9, 1823. Ilis parents were Elisha and Theresa (Couch) Taylor, who came from Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Ohio in 1814. Like the average pioneers they were not blessed with a super- abundance of this world's goods, and the family endured all the hardships and privations suffered by the carly settlers. After Ezra had attended the district
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school until seventeen years of age, he was thrown very much upon his own resources. He had from youth manifested a love for books and firmly resolved upon fitting himself for a professional career. With this end in view he devoted himself closely to study and by earnest application acquired an intimate knowledge of a wide range of literature. He studied law under Honorable Robert F. Paine, then of Garrettsville, and in 1845, when twenty- two years of age, he was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court at Char- don. In 1847 he settled at Ravenna, where he engaged in the practice. After a year alone he entered into partnership with General Lucius V. Bierce, who was in the zenith of his career. This was a great opportunity for a young man and at once introduced him into a profitable practice and placed him in intimate relations with the foremost members of the Bar. These advantages were improved, and the characteristic ability displayed by Mr. Taylor was soon appreciated in a wider field than he had theretofore occupied. At a subsequent period he entered into partnership with John L. Ranney and still later with Judge Luther Day. He continued the practice of his profession at Ravenna until 1861, when he moved to Warren, which has since been his home. He had in 1849 been elected prosecuting attorney of Portage county. From the outbreak of the civil war Mr. Taylor had been a strong supporter of the Union, active in all movements tending to the success of that cause. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in the 171st Ohio National Guards, serving three months in the field, and upon his return home was elected colonel of his regiment. On settling at Warren, in 1862, he formed a partnership with L. C. Jones, for the practice of law, which was dissolved in 1876. In 1877, upon the death of Judge Servis, of the Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Taylor was tendered the position, but declined the offer. He was subse- quently greatly surprised to learn that nearly every lawyer, both Republican and Democrat, in the sub-district composed of Mahoning, Trumbull and Por- tage counties, had signed a petition for his appointment, which the governor . made and he accepted. He was elected in the fall of the same year to succeed himself, and subsequently re-elected, being continuously on the Bench until 1880. In this year General Garfield was elected to the United States Senate, creating a vacancy in the representation in Congress for the Nineteenth con- gressional district, and Judge Taylor was at once selected as the most suitable candidate. He did not participate in the preliminary canvass personally, but confined himself entirely to his duties as judge. He received the nomination over a large number of influential aspirants, and resigned his position on the Bench so that he might take an active part in the canvass. He was elected, and for thirteen years thereafter served in Congress. In 1892 he was strongly urged to again accept the nomination of his party, but for personal and family reasons he declared his purpose to withdraw from public life. In the Forty- sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses he served on the committee of claims; in the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses he was on the committee of manu- factures ; in the Fifty-second Congress he was a member of the committee to investigate the Homestead riots, of Pennsylvania, and of the sweating system
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