USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 8
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ROBERT BRUCE WARDEN was born at Bardstown, Nelson county, Ker - tucky, January 18, 1824. He was the son of Robert and Catherine Lewis Warden. When about three years of age he with his parents went to Cincii - nati, Ohio, where the greater part of his life was spent. He was educated at the Atheneum, a Catholic College in Cincinnati. His education was irregular as to attendance at school. His father died when Robert was twelve years old. After his father's death he combined work with study. Being fond of his books, he was seldom without one in hand. It is told of him that he would
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take with him his Latin grammar when sent to the baker's, and would find himself at the brink of the Ohio river, blocks beyond his destination, so absorbed was he in his book. He commenced the study of the law in Cincin- nati, in 1840, under the tuition of Judge Read, in the office of Morris & Rear- den. Afterward he had Judge Timothy Walker for his legal teacher. He became, at the age of seventeen, deputy clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton county, Ohio. Two years later he was made clerk of that court with charge of the court house desk. This office he held until 1845, when, at the age of twenty-one years, he was admitted to the Bar. Early in 1850, having barely attained the legal age, he was elected by the legislature presi- dent judge of the Common Pleas Court, at Cincinnati. In 1851 he was elected by the people one of the co-equal judges of Court. In 1853 Judge Warden was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He prepared and issued volume 2 Ohio State Reports, and had begun the preparation of volume 3, when on December 9, 1854, he was appointed by Governor Medill to the Supreme Bench of Ohio, to fill the unexpired term of Judge John A. Corwin. Judge Warden served on the Bench until February 9, 1855, when he was suc- ceeded by Judge Joseph R. Swan, who had been regularly elected to the office the previous fall. Judge Warden was immediately reappointed reporter of the Court and issued volume 4. His practice in Ohio was extensive, his legal services having been engaged in cases on trial in various parts of the State. While he was presiding judge of the court in Cincinnati, he assigned Ruther- ford Burchard Hayes (later President of the United States), who had recently been admitted to the Bar, to his first important case, as counsel to defend Nancy Farrar (supposed to be insane), on trial for the crime of murder. Judge Warden removed to Washington City in January, 1873, being at that time engaged in writing his life of Chase. This biography was written at the request of Judge Chase, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was an old and warm friend of Judge Warden. Judge Warden's legal practice in Washington, D. C., was chiefly before the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Claims. He also prosecuted several important matters in the Department of State and in the Treasury Department. In 1877, Judge Warden was appointed by President Hayes a member and attorney of the Board of Health of the District of Columbia. This Board was an important organization, upon which, by laws of Congress, were imposed duties of broad scope, involving the consideration of questions of great scientific importance and action for the protection of the' health of the National Capital. Judge Warden continued a member and attorney of this Board until it was abolished by the law which provided a per- manent form of government for the District of Columbia by commissioners. Judge Warden did much writing for the press. Among his literary works were "A Familiar Forensic View of Man and Law," written in Columbus, Ohio, in 1859; "A Voter's Version of the Life and Character of Stephen Arnold Douglas," written in Columbus, Ohio, 1860; "An Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase," written in Wash-
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ington in 1873, and published in Cincinnati in 1874; "The Law of Art," Washington, D. C., 1878, and many pamphlets. Another of his literary pro- ductions was a drama, entitled "Ardvoirlich," which was produced upon the stage of the old Columbus Atheneum. Judge Warden was a scholar of wide and varied attainments, with a brilliant and original mind, which turned easily from one subject to another, and adorned every topic that it touched. He was a most accomplished and graceful orator, equally eloquent and persuasive before a jury, upon the stump or on the lecture platform. He was also a prolific and polished writer and the author of many pamphlets of a political or literary nature, besides the more pretentious works named above. During the years 1857 to 1860, inclusive, Judge Warden in connection with his brother, William Wallace Warden, published and edited, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Weekly Law Gazette. At the age of nineteen years he married Catherine E. Kerdolff, who died in Washington in 1884. Judge Warden survived his wife four years, his death occurring in Washington on December 3, 1888. He left two children and a niece. (an adopted daughter), namely : Lucy A. Warden (now Mrs. Clifford Warden), and Charles G. Warden, both residing in Wash- ington, D. C., and Emma Becking (now Mrs. Atherton Thayer), of Wyoming, Hamilton county, Ohio.
JAMES HADDOCK SMITH was born November 6, 1822, in Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio. In that place he spent his youth and acquired his education, attending the schools of his native town. He early showed great predisposi- tion for scholarship and literary pursuits. He read law with Charles W. Blair, and upon his admission to the Bar became a partner of his preceptor, the firm being Blair & Smith. With Charles W. Blair he edited and published, in 1847, the Democratic Standard. In the same year Mr. Smith was elected a member from Brown county of the Forty-sixth (1847-1848) General Assembly and re-elected to the Forty-eighth (1848-1849). While a member of the Ohio House of Representatives he displayed great ability as a lawyer and legislator. At the close of his service as representative he removed to Columbus, which always continued to be his home. In September, 1849, he was married to Louise Medary, daughter of Samuel Medary of Columbus the territorial gover- nor of Kansas by appointment of James Buchanan. Mr. Smith was associated with his father-in-law as one of the owners of the Ohio Statesman, for many years the leading Democratic organ of the State, and during the absence of Governor Medary in Kansas, Mr. Smithi was managing editor of the paper, and as such acquired a wide reputation as a fearless, vigorous and most polished and culti- vated writer. He was a man of great natural literary tastes. He .possessed the most complete library of works of literature in the city, and his home was the center of the leading intellectual minds of the State.
Upon the appointment of Robert B. Warden as a member of the Supreme Court, December 9, 1854, Mr. Smith was appointed to take the place of Mr. Warden as reporter. Mr. Warden had partially prepared volume 3, Ohio State Reports. Mr. Smith assumed the work as left by Mr. Warden, and his duties as reporter were confined to the completion of the decisions found in
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the third part of this volume, which appears under the joint names of Warden & Smith. At the expiration of Mr. Warden's term as judge, in February, 1855, he was reappointed court reporter, Mr. Smith vacating the office because of his election to the legislature as a representative from Franklin county, Fifty-second (1856-1858) General Assembly. In the fall of 1859 Mr. Smith was nominated as an independent (Democratic) candidate for the office of clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin county. Although his opponent was Mathias Martin, regarded as the strongest and most popular Democrat in the county, Mr. Smith was elected by a large majority and served with great faithfulness and satisfaction to the people of the county until his death, Feb- ruary 2, 1862. He has a son, Washington Irving Smith, residing in Columbus, Ohio.
LEANDER J. CRITCHFIELD, born January 13, 1827, at Danville, Knox county, Ohio. At the age of eight years he removed with his parents to Mil- lersburgh, Holmes county, Ohio, where he spent his youth, receiving such education as was afforded in the public schools of that place. When fifteen years old he obtained a position in the office of the clerk of Holmes county. In this position, which he retained for some two years, he early became familiar with the various legal forms, and obtained considerable practical knowledge in the methods employed in the practice of the law. With a view to a professional career at the Bar and with the purpose of acquiring a broader culture than was afforded by the public schools, by due diligence he fitted himself for admission to the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, in which institution he spent four years of study, graduating in the regular academic course in June, 1849. During his college course he also studied law, and was duly admitted to the Bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio in Decem- ber, 1849. He immediately began the practice of law in Delaware. He at. once gave promise of great success in his profession, and in 1850, only a few months after his admission, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Dela- ware county, and at the end of his first term was re-elected, serving in all four years. In 1856 he took up his residence in Columbus, and in December of the same year he was appointed by the judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio, reporter of its decisions, in which office he continued to serve, by re-ap- pointment, for five consecutive terms of three years each. During this time he prepared and published seventeen volumes, from five to twenty-one inclu- sive, of the Ohio State reports. At the close of that service (1871), a re-appoint- ment was offered him, but he declined it, in order to devote his entire time and energies to the requirements of his profession. The causes determined by the Supreme Court have never been more accurately and skillfully reported than during the fifteen years of service rendered by Mr. Critchfield, and the Bar of Ohio will ever owe a debt of gratitude to him for this work. In 1858, at the request of Judge Joseph R. Swan, Mr. Critchfield became associated with that distinguished jurist, in the preparation and publication of Swan & Critch- field's Revised Statutes of Ohio, with notes of the decisions of the Supreme. Court. This work was completed and issued in 1860, and was received with
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great favor by the Bench and Bar throughout the State. These statutes con- tinued as the standard authority until 1880, when they were superseded by the Revised Statutes of Ohio, promulgated by the codifying commission. Governor Hayes tendered Mr. Critchfield a position on this commission, but he was obliged to decline it on account of his extensive law practice. Mr. Critchfield took a deep interest in the cause of popular education. He was a member of the Columbus Board of Education for many years, and also a trustee of the Ohio Wesleyan University. He was a member of the committee that planned and organized the Public Library of Columbus. He never accepted any purely political office, but took a deep interest in pub- lic affairs. He was a delegate to the Cincinnati National Convention (1876) which nominated General R. B. Hayes for the Presidency, and during the campaign and the exciting controversy following the election, he was one of the closest friends and most valued advisers of Mr. Hayes. After the assem- bling of Congress he wrote to Senator Sherman earnestly urging the employ- ment of counsel to present and argue the claims of Mr. Hayes before the electoral commission. His suggestion was adopted, and with possibly one exception, the eminent lawyers proposed by Mr. Critchfield were engaged and acted as counsel for General Hayes and the Republican party in that celebrated contest. Mr. Critchfield was married at Delaware, Ohio, in 1849, to Miss Sarah Jane Mansuer. He died at Columbus, Ohio, February 19, 1896, leaving two children, Mrs. John Short and a son, George W., an accomplished artist, recently deceased. At a meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association, held at Put-in Bay, July 15, 1896, high tribute was paid to the memory of Mr. Critchfield, who was one of the early members of the Association. Speaking of Mr. Critchfield, Congressman Harris, of Bucyrus, said : " Mr. Critchfield was thoroughly appre- ciative of the moral principles which underlie the correct and honorable practice of the law, and no one ever more faithfully carried them into practical, personal execution. He had a profound knowledge of law, and was most devoted to his profession. He prepared every cause in which he was counsel with great care, industry and thoroughness. His presentation of the law and the facts in his cases was singularly clear, and was strengthened by his charming refinement of manner, his scholarly and concise use of language, and his fairness, candor and spotless integrity. In his manner at the Bar he set an example of perfec- tion in courtesy. His simplicity of manner, his entire freedom from assump- tion, his gentleness of disposition, and kindness and tenderness of heart, endeared him to his professional brethren and to all who knew him. Mr. Critchfield discharged every duty with alacrity. He was as generous as he was just. He was the soul of honor in all the relations of life. In every per- sonal relation he was a good man to know, a better man to love as relative or friend. He made the consciousness of rectitude, and not fame, the main object of his life. He was a man of sincere religious convictions and of deep relig- ious feelings. His conduct was always consistent with his professions. There was nothing but kindliness in his heart for any human being. Mr. Critchfield's most remarkable endowment was not his great intellectual distinction, brilliant
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imaginative force, or striking originality of mind, but a character which united in itself the rarest gentleness and the sternest sense of duty and resolve to do it."
MOSES MOORHEAD GRANGER is the descendant of a long line of dis- tinguished ancestors. The Grangers originally emigrated from England to America about 1640. Moses was born at Zanesville, Ohio, October 22, 1831. His father was James Granger of Sheffield, Connecticut, who] moved to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1817, where he was married February 15, 1829, to Matilda Vance Moorhead, daughter of a distinguished family of Virginia. She was the mother of Moses M. Granger. He was married at Lancaster, Ohio, December 29, 1858, to Mary Hoyt Reese, daughter of William J. Reese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Mary E. Sherman of Lancaster, Ohio. Mary E. Sherman, mother of Mrs. Granger, was the sister of General William T. Sher- man and Senator John Sherman. He was educated in the town schools of Zanesville and at Kenyon College, from which he graduated valedictorian of his class in 1850. He studied law at Zanesville, Ohio, under Judge Charles C. Convas, having as a fellow student William W. Johnson, afterwards a judge of the First Ohio Supreme Court Commission and of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar at Columbus, January 4, 1853; in June of the same year he began practice and rapidly acquired an extensive business. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he left the pursuits of his pro- fession to engage in the service of his country. On May 14, 1861, he was commissioned a captain in the Eighteenth United States Infantry, and served with that regiment in General R. L. McCook's brigade of General George H. Thomas 'Division, in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. On September 10, 1862, Governor David Tod commissioned him as major in the 122nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted to be lieutenant colonel of the same regiment on May 1, 1863, and later, on the recommendation of his brigade and division commanders, President Lincoln nominated him to be colonel of United States Volunteers by brevet, to rank as such from the 19th of October, 1864, the day on which the battle of Cedar Creek was fought, and in which Colonel Granger performed gallant and meritorious service. The Senate con- firmed the nomination, and he was duly commissioned as such by Andrew Johnson. He participated in the fighting between Milroy's division and Ewell's corps at Winchester, Virginia, 13, 14 and 15 June, 1863; in French's combat with Ewell, at Locust Grove, Virginia, 27th November, 1863; in Grant's battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and Cold Har- bor ; in Sheridan's battles of the Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. After service for more than three years in the Civil War, he resigned his commission on December 16, 1864, and resumed his practice at Zanesville, in January, 1865. The civil services of Mr. Granger have been as conspic- uous as were his military achievements. He was elected city solicitor of Zanesville, serving from April, 1865, to August, 1866; member of the Put- nam village council, April to August. 1866 ; prosecuting attorney of Mus- kingum county, January to December, 1866; judge of the Common Pleas, first subdivision, Eighth Judicial District of Ohio, 10th December. 1866, to
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9th October, 1871, when he resigned as judge and formed a legal partner- ship at Zanesville with Gilbert D. Munson, the present judge of the Com- mon Pleas Court. In October, 1872, while attending a trial of a cause in New York City, he received a telegram from Judge George W. Mellvaine, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, asking him to consent to be appointed reporter for that court. He accepted and served from October, 1872, to March, 1874, editing and issuing vols. 22 and 23 of the Ohio State Reports. Before the first year of his term of service had expired he desired to resume his practice in Zanesville, and tendered his resignation as reporter, but so ably and faithfully did he discharge the duties of this office that by the urgent request of the court he allowed the resignation to remain in the hands of the Chief Justice until vol. 23 had been printed, when he retired from the office. When the Ohio legislature created the second Supreme Court com- mission, to serve for two years from April 17, 1883, he consented to be appointed by Governor Charles Foster one of its five judges, because he wished to urge a change in the mode of examining cases by the highest State court. While reporter in 1872-3, he had observed how slowly the judges progressed with their docket, that much more work could be as well done in less time. During no year prior to 1883 had the court disposed of more than 257 cases on the general docket. The commission consisted of five judges, viz., Moses M. Granger, George K. Nash, Franklin J. Dickman, Charles D. Martin and John McCauley. Mr. Granger was elected each year, by unanimous vote, presiding judge of the commission. The second commission under his lead decided about 330 cases on said docket within the first year. The Supreme Court itself later adopted the improved mode of work, and since 1887 has averaged 315 cases each year. Judge Granger's opinions appear in vols. 40 and 41 Ohio State Reports. Judge Granger, though urged by his legal friends, declined to be a candidate for the Supreme Bench of the State. In 1889 the judges and Bar of southeastern Ohio, and prominent lawyers in Cincinnati, Columbus, Springfield and Toledo, urged President Harrison to appoint him to the seat on the United States Supreme Bench made vacant by the death of Associate Justice Stanley Matthews. Judge Granger was chosen a trustee of Kenyon College in 1866, and served as such almost continuously until 1887, when he tendered his resignation. Among those who served with him as college trustees were Chief Justice Waite, Senator Stevenson of Kentucky, Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano and the distinguished Rufus King. Judge Granger contin- ues to practice law in Zanesville and manage the extensive affairs of the McIntire estate, of which he has been sole administrator since June 4, 1880. Judge Granger has two sons living, Alfred Hoyt, graduate of the School of Technology in Boston, and now an architect in Chicago, and Sherman Moor- head, graduated at Kenyon in 1890, and is now practicing law with his father.
EPENETUS L. DE WITT was born at Marietta, Ohio, June 29, 1839. His father was Luke De Witt. The De Witt family emigrated from Holland to this country about the year 1650. The progenitors of the American line were
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three brothers, one of whom settled in New York City, one in New Jersey, and the third, Ijerck Claeszen De Witt, settled in Kingston, New York. The latter was the ancestor of Mr. De Witt. His mother was Eunice Marnten, of English descent, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Luke De Witt, father of Mr. De Witt, was a Presbyterian minister and a graduate of Auburn Theo- logical Seminary. The family moved from the East to Marietta, Ohio, dur- ing the infancy of E. L. De Witt, and in that town he spent his youth. He was educated in the private and public schools of Marietta and also at Mari- etta College, from which he graduated in 1863. Shortly after graduation he entered the service of the United States quartermaster's department, and was stationed in the discharge of his duties at Baltimore, Maryland; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. In March, 1865, he moved to Columbus, and entered as a law student the office of Judge Chauncey N. Olds, having previously studied law in Baltimore, Maryland. He was admitted to the Bar by the District Court at Marion, Ohio, in August, 1867. Began the practice of law in Columbus, and has ever since resided there. He was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court, February 24, 1874, on the resignation of Moses M. Gran- ger and he served continuously in the office, by reappointment, till June 22, 1885, a period of eleven years, during which he edited and issued nineteen vol- umes of the Ohio State Reports, viz., 24 to 42 inclusive. These reports embrace volumes 27, 28, 30, 32 and 33 of the first Ohio Supreme Court Com- mission, and volumes 40 and 41 of the second Supreme Court Commission. Mr. De Witt, therefore, prepared and published a larger number of volumes than any previous or subsequent reporter, and the excellent character of his work is evidence, not only of Mr. De Witt's legal ability and scholarly acquire- ments, but of his great energy and indefatigable industry. Mr. De Witt is regarded as a very careful, accurate and sound lawyer. He was elected by the Republicans of his ward in 1882 to the city council of Columbus, serving for one term of two years, and declining a re-election, as political life was distaste- ful to him and he has ever preferred to devote his entire energy and attention to the practice of his profession. In April, 1876, he was married to Miss Emily Backus McIlvaine, of Columbus. They have two children living.
GEORGE B. OKEY, born at Woodsfield, Monroe county, Ohio, December 19, 1849. He is a lineal descendant of Colonel John Okey, the regicide, who was a member of the court that convicted Charles I. of England. His father was John W. Okey, who died in 1885 while serving his second term as judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. His mother was Mary J. Bloor, who was born and lived at St. Clairsville, Belmont county, Ohio. His great-grandfather, Levin Okey, came to Ohio from Delaware in 1802, and settled in Belmont county. George B. Okey spent his boyhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his parents then resided. He was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, and attended the Hughes High School of that city. In April, 1871, he graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, and was at once admitted to the Bar and entered into partnership with his father in that city. Mr. Okey annotated the Constitu- tions of Ohio for the use of the members of the Constitutional Convention of
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1873. This work was published by the State. In November, 1877, he was appointed a member of the Codifying Commission to revise and consolidate the Ohio statutes. This commission began its labors in 1875 and completed them in 1879. The commission consisted originally of three members, appointed by Governor Allen, viz., Michael A. Daugherty, John W. Okey and Luther Day. Luther Day resigned February 1, 1876, to accept a seat on the Supreme Court commission, to which he had been appointed, and John S. Brasee was appointed by Governor Hayes to fill the vacancy. John W. Okey resigned November 9, 1877, to accept a seat on the Supreme Bench, to which he had been elected, and his son George B. Okey was appointed by Governor Young to fill the office vacated by his father. At the termination of the work of this commission, in the fall of 1879, Mr. Okey resumed the practice of law at Col- lumbus, where he has since resided. On June 22, 1885, he was appointed, by the judges, reporter for the Ohio Supreme Court, serving for one term of three years and editing vols. 43, 44 and 45, Ohio State Reports. In 1890 he was nominated by the State Democratic Convention for the office of judge of the Supreme Court, but with the remainder of the Democratic ticket was defeated at the election. Mr. Okey enjoys the merited reputation throughout the State of being a most able, learned and successful lawyer. Few practitioners at the Bar are so familiar with Ohio statutory law or the decisions of our courts. He has a most thorough knowledge of the principles of constitutional law, and his counsel and services are especially sought for in questions of that character. Mr. Okey was married December, 1872, to Miss Louise Schoomaker, of Cin- cinnati. He has two sons living.
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