USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 29
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EDWIN J. BLANDIN, Cleveland. Honorable E. J. Blandin, ex-judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Hornby township, Steuben county, New York, on the 13th day of July, 1843. He is of English-German extrac- tion. His father, John Blandin, a farmer, settled in New York State, coming from Vermont, where his family where among the early English settlers. His mother, Parthenia Fisher, was of German descent. Her family settled in the State of New York, where Edwin was born and lived until the age of six years. The family then came West and settled in Wisconsin, where he received his early education in the common schools. Afterwards he entered the preparatory department of Hillsdale College, Michigan, where he remained one term. In the fall of 1866 he came to Cleveland, Ohio, and took a course in book-keeping in the Commercial College. He kept books for an oil refinery and held the position until 1870, when he became a stockholder in the company. During this time he took up the study of law, devoting himself to reading nights and holidays. He remained in the concern five years, when he sold his stock, and in the fall of 1875 he was admitted to the Bar. He at once commenced the practice of law in partnership with George A. Groot, under the firm name of Groot & Blandin. This partnership continued three years, but for the last two years of the time he was assistant prosecuting attorney under Judge J. C. Hutchins, who was then prosecuting attorney for Cleveland. After retiring from office he formed a partnership with E. K. Wilcox, which continued about one year. In 1883 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, serving for two years, the residue of an unexpired term. Retiring from the Bench he practiced alone until 1886, when he formed a partnership with Alfred E. Buell, which continued until 1890. Again he was alone until 1893, when the present partnership of Blandin & Rice was formed. To Judge Blandin more than any one man Cleveland is indebted for its present excellent municipal laws. In 1884 he delivered an address before the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce on the subject of reform of the municipal government, urging the adoption of the Federal plan, separating the legislative and the executive branches, applying the same system in use by the National government. The press of the city at once took up the subject, and it had the support of all good citizens. It was strongly opposed by the element that usually prospers and flourishes under a weak form of government. After four years of hard fighting the act finally passed in the Ohio legislature, and the present system of government was organized in the spring of 1891. Judge Blandin is a broad-chested, broad-minded man, a close student and an able law- yer, who ranks among the first in his profession at the Cleveland Bar. There is nothing narrow in the man. He is determined, brave and outspoken in his views when he feels he is right, even if his cause is unpopular. Honorable and straightforward in all his transactions he has the respect and confidence of the community. In politics Judge Blandin is a Democrat, a strong and able advocate of free trade and independent bimetalism as the only means by which the financial conditions of the country can be permanently benefitted. He has never been an office seeker. He was at one time a member of
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the board of education and a trustee of the waterworks. In 1868 he married Martha D. Van Ness, of Illinois, and by the union has two children, a son and a daughter, both living.
MANUEL MAY, Mansfield. Honorable Manuel May, who for ten years occupied the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas, is a native of Ohio, and has lived in the same town all his life. He is of English extraction on his father's side. John May, a ship captain, emigrated from Mayfield, England, in 1640, and settled in Massachusetts, and became the founder of the family in America. His descendants were patriotic and imbued with the spirit of inde- pendence when the mother country began to oppress the colonies. The grand- father of Judge May served in the Revolutionary War, participated in the battle of Bennington and in that of Saratoga at the time of the surrender of Burgoine. His mother's name was Wolfe, whose parents were of distinguished families, prominent in the Revolutionary War and prior colonial wars, and long resident of the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. Some of the members held military rank in the War for Independence, and some of their descend- ants were equally conspicuous in the war for the preservation of the Union in 1861. John M. May, the Judge's father, was a native of Conway, Massachu- setts ; came to Ohio in youth and studied law in Lancaster with Philemon Beecher, and was fellow-student with the elder Thomas Ewing and the late Judge Jacob Parker. After admission to the Bar he settled in 1815 at Mans- field, and was the first lawyer to reside in that town. Manuel attended the public schools and was prepared for college by Lorin Andrews and William Johnston in Ashland Academy. He then entered Kenyon College at Gambier, and was graduated upon completion of the course. Having adopted the pro- fession of law he took the prescribed course in the Cincinnati Law School and continued the reading and study of law under the tutelage of his father. Upon his admission to the Bar he was received into partnership with his father, continuing to practice with him until the latter's retiracy from the Bar. His subsequent law partners were Honorable John K. Cowen and the late Thomas McBride. The subject of this sketch has taken a prominent part in the edu- cational affairs of his county and city and also has been active and influential in politics. He served as school examiner of Richland county several terms. In 1858 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county and was re-elected in 1860, serving two terms. He was a member of the Mansfield city council four years, and during a part of the time served as president of the body. In 1866 he was elected to the State Senate and also served two terms in that body. He is a Democrat and has always supported that party vigorously, and yet it is a tribute to his personal popularity that for the first term in every election to a political office he was chosen in a district or precinct having an adverse majority. In other words, whenever he was inducted into office he displaced a Republican. The fact is complimentary also to his fidelity and usefulness in positions of trust. He could not without violence to his consci-
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ence and temperament be inactive or indifferent in the performance of a public duty. In the Senate he was known as a hard worker, especially in the important committees of which he was a member. He represented his con- stituents with ability and zeal ; was strong in debate and influential in the deliberations of the judiciary committee. The very satisfactory manner in which he discharged the duties of other positions to which he was chosen by his fellow citizens led to his election as judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He entered upon the duties of this office equipped with a good knowledge of the law, obtained from general practice in all the courts, and with a wide knowledge of business and public affairs. His purpose to be right in the decision of cases tried before him led to careful and conscientious investigation, through which he almost uniformly reached correct conclusions. He was re-elected and served a second term, occupying the Bench altogether for a period of ten years. No other commentary on his ability in this office could be stronger than the record of cases tried by him. During his service of two terms, out of all the cases appealed from his decisions, reversals were rare by the Supreme court, and in one of these that tribunal afterwards approved his decision by reversing itself and the Circuit Court. Judge May is a plain, careful, painstaking, honest man, who shirks no labor necessary to subserve the ends of justice. He is particularly careful to inform himself not only as to the facts but also as to the law, in every case. He is not influenced by personal acquaintance or friendship, or any sort of favoritism, in a judicial decision. His natural equability of temper, his love of justice and his inflexi- ble integrity are among his qualifications for a judicial office. His patience and industry, his earnestness and devotion to the duty in hand are conspicu- ous in his practice as well as his judicial investigations. As may be expected, he prepares his pleadings with a carefulness and cautiousness which combine to make them exceedingly strong. Judge May was known as a War Demo- crat and performed essential and conspicuous services for the Union during the late civil war. He is known to all as a man of noble mind, strong in his convictions and energetic for what he believes to be right. His convictions govern his action in politics and business affairs as well as in professional duties. He has earned and receives the unqualified respect of the community in which he has always lived. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal Church, but he is not an active church man. Judge May is a Mason of the thirty-second degree, Past Eminent Commander of Mansfield Commandery Knights Templar, and has been presiding officer in Mansfield Lodge and in the encampment of I. O. O. F. Upon retiring from the Bench he resumed the practice of law which he has continued without interruption. He has never married.
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JAMES L. BATES, Columbus. The Honorable James Lawrence Bates died at Columbus on the 2d day of May, 1890, highly respected as a judge, a lawyer and a citizen. Judge Bates was born in Canandaigua, New York, on the 4th day of January, 1815. He was descended from sturdy, honorable and patriotic ancestry. His father, the Honorable Stephen Bates, removing from the vicinity of Durham, Connecticut, in the year 1790, was one of the first settlers of western New York. The father was prominently identified with the early history of the State. He filled several offices of trust, among them those of sheriff, associate judge and a member of the general assembly. Judge Batcs was next to the youngest of twelve children. He graduated from Hobart College, Geneva, in the year 1833, and at once began the study of law in his native town. His first preceptor was the Honorable John C. Spencer, a brilliant and distinguished son of the illustrious Ambrose Spencer, and a pro- fessional as well as political leader in the State, the friend and ally of De Witt Clinton, one of the three great lawyers who were engaged from 1824 to 1830 in revising the statutes of New York (John Duer and Benjamin F. Butler being his colleagues), and secretary of war and secretary of the treasury of the United States, nominated to the Bench of the Federal Court, but rejected by the Senate on exclusively partisan grounds. At the close of this course of study Judge Bates had not attained his majority, and he determined to move to Columbus for the purpose of completing his law studies and begin the practice of law. He came in October, 1835, and completed his studies with Colonel Noah H. Swayne, who was afterwards an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Upon his admission to the Bar he entered into partnership with Colonel Swayne in the practice of law, which he pursued with diligence and success until he was elected, in 1851, the first judge of the Columbus judicial subdivision under the present constitution. Prior to his promotion to the Bench he was city solicitor of Columbus when Lorenzo English was mayor, and was also a member of the board of education. He was on the Bench fifteen years, having been elected three successive terms. During his whole judicial life he maintained the upright character, the judicial integrity and the efficiency which had characterized the administration of his eminent predecessor, Judge Joseph R. Swan. He left behind him as a judge the highest reputation for singleness of purpose and honest and efficient labor in the most important and useful judicial tribunal of the State. His retire- ment from the Bench was a serious public loss. Judge Bates served the State as director of the Ohio penitentiary for eight years, from April 5, 1866, to April 5, 1874, during which time he secured a thorough codification and improvement of the law governing that institution, under which the prison became not only remunerative, but most thoroughly disciplined and successful in all its departments. Upon the close of his judicial services Judge Bates seldom appeared in court. He enjoyed the performance of judicial duties, but the warfare of the Bar was not so congenial, and he avoided it. His time and attention were to a large extent occupied in the administration of many important private trusts which were placed in his hands by associates of his
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active life, owing to their unbounded confidence in his integrity and his practical sagacity in the management of whatever might be given him in charge. It would, however, be a mistake to infer that Judge Bates, after he retired from the Bench and the Bar, lost his interest in either. On the con- trary, he took a lively interest in whatever concerned the honor or usefulness or efficiency of the judiciary, and down to the death of his wife and the failure of his own health he manifested his regard and esteem for the per- sonnel of the Bench and the Bar. Judge Bates was a strong man ; strong in mind, strong in body, strong in will, and a tower of strength in character. The last real labor of Judge Bates was a labor of love, affection and gratitude. This was the preparation of a memoir of his father-in-law, Alfred Kelley. Mr. Kelley was one of the most intellectual public men who has appeared in the annals of Ohio. No one who knew Mr. Kelley and Judge Bates could hardly have failed to perceive that the former had exerted a strong influence in the formation of the character of the latter as to his mental traits and marked individuality. On the occasion of the meeting of the Franklin county Bar, held after the death of Judge Bates, the Honorable Richard A. Harrison said :
" I was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1846. The term of the Court of Common Pleas of Madison county, where I began the practice, opened a few days afterwards. I first met Judge Bates at that term of the court. He appeared in a cause as the counsel for one of the banks of this city. I saw him occasionally from the spring of 1846 until the spring of 1852, when he assumed the responsible position of judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and undertook at the age of thirty to discharge the duties and exercise the powers which Judge Joseph R. Swan had discharged and exercised, a fearful under- taking for a young man, however equipped, to assume. From that time until his death I met him very often. He not only held court in his own judicial subdivision, which was composed of Madison, Franklin and Pickaway counties, but he frequently presided in other counties of the district. He never failed in his attendance as a member of the District Court. During the fifteen years I practiced before him I never saw him unjust toward a member of the Bar. He administered justice with a firm, impartial and just hand. Counsel, parties, litigant and the public at large felt that with Judge Bates on the Bench their dearest rights and interests were safe. There was no suggestion of suspicion during his long judicial service that he ever rendered an unjust judgment. He was a power upon the Bench. Every member of the Bar felt and recognized the fact, but he administered his official authority under a full sense of judicial responsibility. He knew counsel at the Bar had their rights as well as duties, and did not intrude upon these rights. The authority he exercised was simply such power in propelling the wheels of justice as was necessary to attain the ends for which judicial courts are established. Any court over which he presided commanded the respect and confidence of all."
In October, 1837, he married the eldest daughter of Alfred Kelley. Mrs. Bates died suddenly in March, 1887, when they had nearly completed half a century of unalloyed devotion to each other, and were looking forward to the "Golden Wedding " that should come with the next autumn. The living children of this union are Mrs. Holmes, wife of J. T. Holmes ; Mrs. Little, wife of W. P. Little; Miss Mary S. Bates, all of Columbus, and the Rev. Alfred
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Kelley Bates, now of Cadiz, Ohio. Judge Bates was a man of strong and decided religious convictions, and he died a member and in communion of the Reformed Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there being no church organization of that denomination in Columbus.
ORRAMEL H. FITCH, Ashtabula. Honorable Orramel Hinckley Fitch was born in Connecticut, January 12, 1803, at Lebanon, a town founded by his ancestors in 1660. His father, Azel Fitch, was a woolen manufacturer, whose business was destroyed by the free trade policy of the United States after the war of 1812. He was of English ancestry and a direct descendant of Baron Fitch of the English Bench. The first of the Fitches who emigrated to America was the Rev. James Fitch, one of the settlers of Norwich, Connecti- cut. The township was granted to him and his father-in-law, Major John Mason, with thirty-three others, in 1659, by Uncas, the noted Mohegan Indian chief, in consideration of the assistance these settlers could render the Mohe- gans against their enemies, the Pequods. At a subsequent period Owaneco, the son and successor of Uncas, in consideration of favors received from Mr. Fitch, granted to him a tract of land five miles square within the present lim- its of Lebanon, a portion of which comprises the homestead which was occu- pied by the family for several generations. Collaterally the Fitches are descended from LeScrope, who was Lord Chief Justice of England in the reign of Edward I. The mother of O. H. Fitch was Fannie Hinckley, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a granddaughter of Governor Hinckley of Plymouth Colony before and at the time of its consolidation with Massachusetts. Mr. Fitch's grandfather, Abraham Fitch, was a captain in the Second Regiment Connecticut Light Horse Cavalry, which played a conspicuous part in the American Revolution and the French and Indian wars. At an early age Mr. Fitch entered Westfield Academy where he was prepared for Yale College, but owing to the loss of his father's fortune he was prevented from entering college. With the assistance of his cousin, who entered Yale about this time, he pursued the college course and was prepared to graduate from the institu- tion, but not having been regularly entered as a student the diploma could not be granted him. He afterwards became the principal of the Westfield Acad- emy, and later of an academy in Richmond, Virginia. He read law with Honorable Calvin Goddard, of Norwich, Connecticut, who was at one time a member of Congress and on the Supreme Bench of Connecticut. He was admitted to the Bar of that State in 1827, and the following year came to Ohio and was admitted to practice in this State, at Cincinnati. After visiting sev- eral points in the State he finally located in Ashtabula, where he practiced law continuously until 1863. He then retired from the practice to look after his large and varied interests. Ile was one of the organizers and president of the Farmers' State Bank of Ashtabula, and when it became a national bank he was elected president, which position he held at the time of his death in 1SS2.
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In 1835 Mr. Fitch was married to Catherine Hubbard, of Holland Patent, New York, and by this union two children were born : Edward Hubbard Fitch, one of the leading lawyers in Ohio, recently deceased ; and Fannie, who married Marshall H. Haskell, of Ashtabula. Few men have ever resided in this part of the State who more thoroughly had the respect and confidence of the people. Mr. Fitch was greatly beloved by those who knew him intimately. Always honorable and just in his dealings, his advice was much sought, even after he had given up the practice of his profession. As a lawyer he was very clear and forcible, and while in practice enjoyed a large and profita- ble clientage. In 1861 Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the United States treasury, appointed him one of the agents to negotiate the seven-thirty bonds issued by the United States government to defray the expenses of the war. From 1835 to 1839 he was a member of the State legislature. In 1841 and '42 he was prosecuting attorney for Ashtabula county. He was the first mayor of Ashtabula, and was most active in securing railroad and harbor improvements. Always prominent and active in church work, he was for forty years an elder in the Presbyterian Church. In 1854 he became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, always attended the annual meetings of the association, and was a Fellow of the Society when he died. He devoted much time to scientific pursuits. He was also promi- nent in securing the establishment of Lake Erie Seminary at Painesville, to which he left a valuable geological collection. He was originally an old-line Whig, afterwards a Republican, but for many years prior to his death had not taken an active interest in political affairs.
WILLIAM B. HUBBARD, 1795-1866. William Blackstone Hubbard, law- yer, statesman and financier, was born in Utica, New York, August 26, 1795. He was the son of Bela and Naomi Hubbard. His ancestors sprang from the best Anglo-Saxon stock. Mr. Hubbard was a descendant of the Stow family, of which the first American progenitor came to this country as early as 1640, only twenty years later than the landing of the Pilgrims. The Stow family settled in Connecticut, where it has been distinguished for many generations. After receiving a thorough classical collegiate education, Mr. Hubbard read law with his maternal uncle, Silas Stow, who was an accomplished lawyer and the father of the late Chief Justice Stow, of Wisconsin. With this excellent equipment for his profession, Mr. Hubbard, after being admitted to the New York Bar, removed to St. Clairesville, Belmont county, Ohio, where he began the practice of law in 1816. He rose rapidly to eminence in his profession and for years stood at the head of the Bar, being contemporaneous with such re- nowned jurists as John C. Wright, Charles Hammond, Benjamin Tappan, John M. Goodenow, Phillip Doddridge and Judges Hallock and Leavitt. Mr. Hubbard served for several years as State's attorney for Belmont county. His great ability and enviable success were acknowledged by his election from
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Belmont county to the Ohio State Senate of the Twenty-sixth and Twenty- . seventh General Assemblies from 1827 to 1829. During his term as Senator, Mr. Hubbard entertained the idea of a railway, and on the 23rd of February a bill was passed by the Legislature which had been drafted by him. entitled, "An Act to incorporate the Ohio Canal and Stubenville Railroad Company." This was the first legislation by the State relating to railroads, and is among the first legislation passed by any State on this important subject. Mr. Hub- bard was elected to the House of Representatives of the Thirteenth Ohio General Assembly in 1831, and his fellow members in that body chose him for their speaker. He presided over the deliberations of that body with dis- tinguished dignity and capability. In the fields of law and politics Mr. Hub- bard thus early won distinction and honor, and had his ambition so aimed he might easily have attained to the highest political preferment, but from choice he gradually identified himself with financial and business affairs, and there also he exhibited the same unusual talent and achieved eminent success. From 1834 to 1865 he was trustee of the Ohio University at Athens, which institution recognized his rare scholarship by bestowing upon him the degree of LL. D. In politics Mr. Hubbard was first a Whig, and afterwards a Repub- lican. During the civil war he was a staunch and uncompromising Union man, and used all the influence at his command in behalf of the Union cause. He was instrumental in the legislation resulting in the establishment of the State banking system. The Honorable Salmon P. Chase frequently consulted him upon financial questions, and held his opinion in high regard. Few men were so well versed in science, literature, philosophy and the arts. In the midst of a most busy life, crowded with cares and financial trusts, Mr. Hub- bard still found time to indulge his taste and talent for learning and culture. His mind retained a perennial vigor and brightness. He never lost his love for the classics, and in his last years he conld converse readily with profes- sional scholars in Latin. Endowed with rare conversational powers his speech sparkled with gems of wit and humor. In his intercourse with his fellow men he was sociable and affable, a most entertaining companion and wise counsel- lor, a firm and fearless advocate of justice and truth ; and a stranger would at any time have marked him for what he really was, an intelectual, dignified, cultured gentleman, with a sincerity of purpose and an unswerving integrity in all his motives. Mr. Hubbard died in Columbus, January 5, 1866, having lived the allotted Scriptural span of three score years and ten. He was mar- ried January 2, 1817, to Margaret Johnson, of St. Clairesville, who survived him many years and was noted for her loveliness of character and the impor- tant part she took in promoting and assisting the many charities in the city of their adoption.
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