USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 25
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DANIEL E. THOMAS, Toledo. Mr. Thomas came from revolutionary stock. His ancestors earned their title to citizenship by active participation in the battles of the war for independence. They came to this country from Wales, three brothers, prior to the Declaration of Independence and settled in Connecticut. All of them entered the American army, and all passed through the war unscathed except one, who lost an eye in battle. James Thomas, the grandfather of our subject, was the son of one of these brothers. He left the family homestead and settled in Pennsylvania, where his son, Daniel M., the father of Daniel E., was born. When a young man, Daniel went to New York State, where he married Mary E. Tuttle and soon afterwards removed to Michigan, not long after that State was admitted to the Union. He followed both farming and merchandising and opened the first store in Quincy town- ship, Branch county. It was there that Daniel E. was born, March 16, 1846. Later the family removed to Dowagiac, where. he received his early education. He was graduated from the high school of that town in 1865. Shortly after this he entered Kalamazoo College, where he spent several years. Returning to Dowagiac he became superintendent of the public schools of that city. He followed teaching in Michigan for about seven years, and was reckoned one of the leading instructors in the State. He was professor of mathematics in Milwaukee Academy one year. He took up the study of law in 1869, in the office of D. Darwin Hughes, at Marshall, Michigan, and pursued legal studies in connection with his other duties until 1873, when he was admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court of the State and immediately entered on the prac- tice of law at Sturgis. He remained at Sturgis in practice until 1885, when he removed to Toledo, Ohio. During that interval he held the office of circuit court commissioner and prosecuting attorney of St. Joseph county, serving in each office for four years. Upon locating at Toledo he devoted his time and attention exclusively to his law practice with well merited success. He was vice president of the People's Savings, Loan and Building Company. His fra- ternity spirit and belief in Christianity were evidenced by membership in the Masonic order and the Episcopal Church. He was vestryman of St. Mark's from the organization of the society to the time of his death. In his political affiliations he was always a Republican, but after his removal to Ohio, he was not active in party work. He was married July 14, 1868, to Miss Agnes Van Horne, daughter of John A. Van Horne, of Marshall, Michigan, for many years county clerk of Calhoun county. To them were born three sons, all of whom have reached man's estate. One of the ablest and best known lawyers of Toledo thus briefly characterizes him: " Mr. Thomas has been a member of our Bar for a number of years; is a lawyer of high standing and a man of excellent character and reputation." Daniel E. Thomas died May 6, 1896. He was stricken with paralysis February 28. After a few weeks, brain trouble developed and he grew rapidly worse, dying after an ill- ness of nine weeks, in the prime of life. The following is quoted from a memorial prepared and adopted by the Toledo Bar Association:
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" His high ideals and unswerving integrity together with his feeling of loyalty and patriotism made him one of the very best of citizens. He was lib- eral to a fault, both with his time and his not over-abundant means. The needs of his unfortunate fellows and the affairs of his community, his city and his church appealed to him with a force that the majority of men know nothing of. It has been noted and commented upon that the present extraordinary good criminal record of St. Joseph county, Michigan, began with the con- scientious and skillful official work of Daniel E. Thomas as its prosecuting attorney. In time his practice became one of the most desirable in his county. His Michigan Supreme Court cases form two full bound volumes, and several of his cases have made the law of the State of Michigan as to the points involved. . Though in his later years he had given some special attention to patent law, vet in variety of information and all-around ability as a lawyer he had few equals. As counsel he was safe, for in addition to his legal ability he was possessed of unusual good judgment and he was conscientious at all times and in all things. To the good influences of his beautiful home-life he yielded most willingly and this made him and kept him the pure Christian gentleman that he was."
WILLIAM H. TUCKER, Toledo. The subject of this sketch was the son of Dr. John A. Tucker and Elizabeth Brush. He was born at La Porte, Lorain county, Ohio, October 6, 1849. On his father's side he is descended from Eng- lish and Scotch ancestors, who were Quakers by profession and practice. Their religion caused them to favor peace, and prevented their taking up arms in war. On the other hand, his maternal ancestors were Connecticut patriots, who participated in the war of the Revolution and the later war with Great Britain. His grandfather's family, on his father's side, came to Ohio in 1816, while his mother's father settled in this State in 1832, coming to Lorain county when it was a forest, dense and almost unbroken. The boy grew up in Lorain county and learned to work, as all well bred farmers' boys are required to do. His early education was received in the public schools of Huron county, and enlarged in the Normal School at Milan ; some of the accomplishments were added by a year's study in Yale College and at Cornell University ; finally, his college education was completed by a four years' course in Baldwin University at Berea. All of these years afforded the preliminary mental training and the scholarship which formed the broad foundation on which to build his profes- sional studies and his success in the law. He began reading law in the office of Haynes & Potter, in Toledo, and was admitted to the Bar in April, 1876. His first partnership association was with John T. Greer, and continued for a period of ten years. After its dissolution he continued the practice alone, and has won enviable success. Two branches of the law have claimed his atten- tion and commanded his abilities. First, all of the laws relating to real estate; and second, all matters relating to probate business. In these he has become very proficient. His time has been given wholly to his profession. He has never held a political office, and never been a candidate for such office, and yet he has at all times taken lively interest in political affairs. He has sup-
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H. Jucker,
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ported and been identified with the Republican party from his earliest recol- lections ; has participated actively in its campaigns, and whenever matters of importance are under consideration has given to the managers the benefit of his counsel. Indeed, it may not be amiss to say that he has been prominent in planning the work of campaigns, and in executing the plans. He has for some years been a member of the Republican county committee, and is now chair- man of the congressional committee. He has frequently been a delegate to State conventions, and in 1892 was a delegate to represent his congressional district in the National convention at Minneapolis. In 1884, April 10, he was married to Miss Harriet Van Gorder, a native of Warren, and a daughter of George W. Van Gorder and Martha Ewing Murdock. They have two sons and two daughters. Mr. Tucker was a friend of the late John Poag, and was pecu- liarly fortunate in having the friendship and confidence of that gentleman. For several years he attended to the personal concerns and the law business of Mr. Poag, who had been his room-mate for some time prior to his marriage. Their friendship was intimate and confidential to a degree seldom enjoyed between man and man, and yet Mr. Tucker was unaware of the eminently practical turn Mr. Poag's friendship for himself had taken until the latter's will was opened. On November 2, 1894, while at Fostoria engaged in litiga- tion growing out of a contested will, he was advised by telegraph that his friend Mr. Poag had been thrown from his buggy and dangerously injured. Procuring a postponement of the case, he went immediately with kindly min- istrations to the bedside of his friend, whom he found unconscious, and who died the same evening without recovering consciousness. When the will was probated it was first discovered that Mr. Poag had remembered him most gen- erously, bequeathing to him a private library containing forty-five hundred volumes, well selected, and many letters of historic value-autograph letters of General Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Robert Morris and La Fayette-all conspicuous in the Revolution and the formation of the gov- ernment ; and of Generals Grant. Butler and others, distinguished in the late civil war; and of the historians Lamartine, Jared Sparks and George Bancroft. The library and the manuscripts are indeed one of the most valuable collections owned by any private citizen in the State. In addition to this princely gift, he received by the terms of the same will a cash bequest of twenty thousand dollars. Some of the books are rare and costly, requiring a lifetime for their procurement. In the collection are also found valuable paintings, bronzes and bric-a-brac. With the exception of membership in the board of education of the city of Toledo, of which he is president, Mr. Tucker has never held public office. He has been devoted solely to his profession, and by giving undivided attention to the law has earned reputation and achieved success of which all who know him bear willing testimony. One of the prominent members of the Bar says : " He has made a deep study of laws pertaining to real estate, and is a recognized authority upon that branch of the law. He is a general student as well as a law student, and possesses what is probably the finest and most complete general library in Toledo. He is a hard-working, industrious, care-
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ful and thorough lawyer." Another attorney who has been most intimately associated with him for twenty years, and had every opportunity to acquire accurate information concerning him, says : " His opinions on titles and real estate law are regarded very highly. He commands the esteem and confi- dence of all. He has been executor of many important estates, and is at pres- ent acting in that capacity in estates comprising unusually large and valuable properties. He is honest, public-spirited and exceedingly careful. Taken all in all, as a man, a citizen and a lawyer, Mr. Tucker has integrity of character, uprightness in conduct, qualities which are esteemed in a friend and abilities which command attention in the profession."
BARTON SMITH, Toledo. Mr. Smith was born on his father's farm, near Joliet, Illinois, June 2, 1852. He was the son of a liberal and public-spirited farmer and stock dealer who had settled on the farm in 1835, having left his native State of Tennessee in boyhood and lived some years in Indiana. His mother was a native of the State of Indiana. He attended the University of Michigan, and upon completion of the full literary course was graduated in 1872. After spending a year in the stock business with his father he returned to Ann Arbor and took the course in the law school of the University of Michigan, receiving his degree from that department in 1875. Immediately afterwards he settled in Toledo for practice, where he first formed a partner- ship with Mr. Geddes, which was continued six years and dissolved in July, 1881. He then formed a partnership with William and Rufus H. Baker, under the firm name and style of Baker, Smith & Baker. This relation was main- tained until the death of William Baker, the senior partner, in the fall of 1894. Since that time the business has been continued by the remaining members of the firm. Mr. Smith has made a particular and profound study of real estate law. For several years his practice was confined to that branch of the law exclusively. In the course of time, however, it was naturally enlarged so as to include a corporation practice. He has for a long time been the attorney of street railroad companies, electric light companies and other large corpora- tions. Perhaps the most important of these engagements, in its relations to the public, is the attorneyship of the street railroad interests. Fifteen years ago (1881) the street railroads of Toledo were controlled by four or five separate and independent companies. Mr. Smith was the attorney and coun- sellor of the original owners of one of the several roads. After much litiga- tion and diplomacy a consolidation of all the small companies was effected, and a single, powerful organization incorporated as the Toledo Traction Com- pany. The advantage of this to the municipality and the people is unques- tionable, and the counsellor is entitled to his full share of the credit for bring- ing it about. Mr. Smith was a member of the board of education for one term, a position which his interest in popular education compelled him to accept. He has never held a political office or been a candidate for one,
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although he has not manifested want of interest in politics. On the contrary, he has been active in support of the Democratic party and its cardinal prin- ciples. His views on economic questions had the effect of placing him with the minority in the National convention of his party held in Chicago in July, 1896. He was a sound money delegate to that convention. A former judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio contributes the following:
" The old firm of Baker, Smith & Baker handled immense interests for corporations, including the business of the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company. When the street railroad litigation of this city commenced Barton . Smith was acting for the company. This was a kind of red letter litigation for the whole State, and the best legal talent was employed in it. Barton Smith was eminently qualified to handle these large, important and involved interests. He possesses the clearest and most analytical mind of any man of his age that I have met. He is great in the solution of intricate legal ques- tions involving philosophical study. He has a peculiarly logical mind, and is a great student of the authorities. He is very popular and successful. . He is an intense man, earnest, self-sacrificing in his duties; thorough, working out every detail and examining every authority, even at the sacrifice of his health. He is very strong before a jury, a fascinating speaker-logical, clear, pointed and impressive ; always courteous toward opposing counsel. He is a man of spotless, character. I know no man who is his superior in personal integrity, and none who has a higher sense of professional honor. He is of sweet dis- position and admirable temper."
Mr. Smith was married on Christmas day, 1877, to Miss May Searles, of Kendall county, Illinois. He has two children, a boy seventeen and a daughter seven years old.
THOMAS H. TRACY, Toledo. Mr. Tracy is a native of Ohio, having been born near Bowling Green, Wood county, July 13, 1859. His father, Joseph R. Tracy, was a farmer who came from Chenango county, New York, in 1836, and was one of the early settlers of Wood county. Both his father and mother were descendants of old Connecticut families and brought to their Western home those substantial virtues of industry, diligence and frugality which so extensively prevailed among the early families of New England. Their son, Thomas H., spent his early days upon the farm, commencing his education in the public schools and afterwards entering college at Mansfield, Ohio. He read law in the office of the old firm of Bissell & Gorrill, of Toledo, and was admitted to practice in June, 1883. In the following year he became a partner of the firm, which association was continued until April 1, 1892, when he withdrew for the purpose of forming the present existing law part- nership, King & Tracy. Besides their extended general law practice these gentlemen are general attorneys for a number of corporations of great com- mercial importance, including financial organizations, railroad corporations. and many others. In politics Mr. Tracy has thoroughly identified himself with the Republican party, and were the demands upon his time by his pro- fessional duties less exacting he would gladly give to that organization more
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active assistance. He is [in complete harmony with its creed, traditions and history, and feels that its success is essential to the best interests of the entire country. In 1889 he was appointed by Governor Foraker one of the trustees of the natural gas department of the city of Toledo, whose duty it became to formulate plans, make all necessary arrangements and to construct the natural gas plant for that city. He takes a deep and earnest interest in church and educational matters, being a member and trustee of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church. Until recently he was a member of the city board of education. In all the duties of a citizen he is active and energetic. Any movement for the advancement of the interests of Toledo, either of a com- mercial, political or educational character, is certain to receive his cordial sup- port and hearty co-operation. As a lawyer and counsellor he is well versed in the authorities, diligent and faithful in acquiring a complete knowledge of the facts, and cautious and sagacious in his opinions and suggestions. In court his language is simple, his manner earnest, while his bearing displays unbounded confidence in the justice of the cause he represents. He is of dis- tinguished presence, a good talker-logical, earnest and impressive. On Janu- ary 1, 1885, he was married to Miss Laura E. Pratt, of Weston, Ohio. They have five children, three boys and two girls-Pratt, Newton, Thomas, Ethel and Laura. An old and prominent member of the Toledo Bar in speaking of him says : "He presents his cases thoroughly and supports them amply by authorities. He is bright and ready in almost any emergency, prompt and quick to meet an adversary's point, unusually resourceful, possessing a great deal of reserve power. He is a hard worker, a careful and thorough student, besides being an honorable, whole-souled gentleman."
WILLIS VICKERY, Cleveland. Willis Vickery was born at Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, on the 26th day of November, 1857. His father, Will- iam Vickery, a farmer, was born in Devonshire, England, and in 1857 came to this country with his wife, Sarah (Perkins) Vickery, settling in Sandusky county near the town of Bellevue. Young Vickery received his early educa- tion in the country schools. Later he entered the high school at Clyde, where he was graduated in 1880, being the valedictorian of his class. He then entered the office of Everett & Fowler at Fremont, Ohio, and began the study of law. A year later he accepted a position as teacher in the grammar school at Clyde. He remained in the position one year and then taught for a year in the high school at Castalia. In the fall of 1882 he became a student in the Law School of the Boston University and received his degree of Bachelor of Laws in June, 1884. Returning to Ohio he was admitted to the Bar and in the spring of 1885 commenced the practice of law in partnership with his brother, Jesse Vickery, at Bellevue, under the firm name of Vickery Brothers. This firm continued in general practice until the spring of 1896, when it was dis- solved, and Mr. Willis Vickery removed to Cleveland, where he has since prac-
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Willis Vickery
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ticed alone. While in practice at Bellevue he was prominently identified with much of the important litigation in Huron and the neighboring counties. He was practically engaged during this period in all the important cases in Belle- vue. He was the local counsel for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad and the Sandusky and Columbus Short Line. He was the counsel in the Bellevue Bank cases, representing all the creditors. In these cases he was opposed by nearly all the leading lawyers of the Huron, Erie and Sandusky county Bars. The litigation continued over a period of ten years, from June, 1887, to 1897. In every particular he was successful, collecting all claims in full for some three hundred creditors. Mr. Vickery is a lawyer of recognized ability. He is not only a student of the law, but gives much time to general reading. He is favorably known through the country as a Shakespearean scholar and is the owner of one of the best private libraries in the State of Ohio. He is a mem- ber of the Shakespeare Society of New York, and he wrote the Introduction for Caliban, a continuation of " The Tempest," by Ernest Renan, and trans- lated from the French by Mrs. Vickery. This work was published by the New York Shakespearean Society. He is now writing the Introduction for "A Winter's Tale," a part of the Bankside edition published by the society. In politics he is a Republican and was for some years a member of the central committee for Sandusky county. For four years he was the city solicitor for Bellevue. Hc was urged to accept but declined the nomination for prose- cuting attorney, his practice at that time being so large he could not accept the office without great sacrifice. He is now secretary and Professor of Law in the Baldwin University Law School. He has for some time been quite prominent in the order of Knights of Pythias ; is a member of the Grand Lodge of Ohio; has for five years been a member of the judiciary committee and by virtue of such membership aided in preparing the code of statutes of the order for this State. He is also a Mason. In 1884 Mr. Vickery married Anna L. Snyder of Clyde, Ohio, and of the union three children were born, a daughter and two sons. Mrs. Vickery died in March, 1894. In 1895 Mr. Vickery married Eleanor R. Grant, of Boston, a lady of intellectual ability and high literary attainments who was for some time a correspondent of the Boston Herald. She is very popular personally and is an active member of the leading literary societies of Cleveland.
CHARLES EDWARD SUMNER, Toledo. Sumner is a great American name in letters and statesmanship. The subject of this sketch sprang from a union of the Sumner and Janney families. The ancestors of his mother came to America with the Quaker, William Penn. He was born February 9, 1860, at Lambertville, Michigan. In boyhood he attended the common schools, and the knowledge therein acquired was supplemented by a complete course in the Agricultural College of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1879. Fol- lowing this he took a post graduate course in the Literary Department of the
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University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1881-2. During the last named year he was appointed to a clerical position in the war department at Wash- ington. in which he continued four years. While performing his clerical duties he found time for the study of law and improved it. The opportunity here offered of taking a course in the Law Department of Columbian College was heartily embraced. It could be done without neglecting the duties for which he received a salary, and the salary was convenient for the purpose of defray- ing expenses while securing an education in the law. He was graduated from the law school in 1886, and thereupon resigned from the war department. He located in Toledo, but before engaging in practice on his own account, spent a few months in the office of Swayne & Swayne, in order to become familiar with forms of pleading under the Ohio code. He was admitted to the Bar in 1887, and formed a partnership with Judge Collins, under the name and style of Collins & Sumner. After practicing four years, in the courts generally, he was chosen assistant prosecuting attorney, in 1891, which position he held until January 4, 1897, when he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lucas county. This is an office of large responsibility in so populous a county, and one requiring abilities of a high order to enable that official to meet on equal terms the able lawyers who are frequently employed by defend- ants in criminal cases. Clear and accurate knowledge of the criminal statutes and much technical knowledge are requisite even to enable a prosecuting attor- ney to draw an indictment that will stand against the fierce attacks of critical lawyers, who search for microscopic defects. Equal skill is demanded through- out the trial to keep within the rules and so mass the evidence as to make out the State's case. The prosecutor must be alert, keen, self-contained and strong, standing as the protector of society, the representative of the State, without show of vindictiveness toward the prisoner and without display of temper toward the prisoner's counsel. Justice rather than conviction is the end and aim. Fairness to Mr. Sumner impels the assertion that he has conducted him- self as a high- minded, honorable official, having a comprehensive understanding of his responsibilities and a disposition to perform his duty. Politically he is a very active, earnest Republican. For two years he was chairman of the executive committee of Lucas county. He was married ; December 17, 1884, to Miss Matie H. Ryan, of Huron, Ohio. The union has been favored by the birth of three daughters-Frances, Helen and Katherine.
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