USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2 > Part 45
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William Y. Gholson was a native of Virginia, born in 1807, who had been educated at Prince- ton and had practiced for a time in Mississippi. He came to Cincinnati in early life. Here he soon earned for himself the respect of the bar to such an extent that he was regarded as worthy of the seat on the bench of the new Superior Court. He was appointed in 1859 to the Su- preme Court of the State and served until 1863. At the conclusion of his service he returned to the practice in Cincinnati where he died in 1870. He has been called the embodiment of clear, legal logic. Another eminent judge who succeeded him on the bench says that "he knew nothing of the parties but their names on the docket; noth- ing of the cause but from the evidence ; nothing of the result and its consequences but the judg- ment which the law pronounces." As a judge, whether on the bench of the Superior Court of Cincinnati or on the Supreme bench of the State, he measured up to the standard of Lord Bacon. (Judge Force in Bench and Bar of Ohio.)
Any discussion of the lawyers of Cincinnati that leaves out of consideration the name of George E. Pugh is incomplete. Although his fame is national as a politician, as a lawyer he achieved even greater distinction. Many citi- zens of Cincinnati have occupied prominent po-
sitions in the public mind, but at the bar there has been but one George E. Pugh. He was born in this city in 1822 and graduated at Miami University in 1840. He immediately took up the practice of the law, in which he was very suc- cessful. At the beginning of the Mexican War he became a captain of the Fourth Ohio Regi- ment and also served as aide to Gen. Joseph Lane. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature. In 1850 he became city solicitor of Cincinnati, in 1851 at the age of 20 Attorney General of the State. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat in 1855, his term extend- ing from December of that year to March of 1861. His career in that body is a part of the history of the nation. He was very active and soon became a leader of the Northern Demo- crats. lle was a delegate to the national con- vention held in Charleston in 1860 and made the reply to the celebrated speech of Yancey, point- ing out that the Northern Democracy would not follow the South in its extreme measures. At the outbreak of the war he joined with William S. Groesbeck, Rutherford B. Hayes and others in telegraphing the President the suggestion that General Mcclellan be placed in charge at Cin- cinnati. Hle made the principal speech in the Vallandigham habeas corpus case in 1863, and in that year was a candidate for Lieutenant- Governor on the ticket with Vallandigham. Ile was defeated, as he was the following year for Congress. He was elected delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1873 but declined to act. As an advocate and 'as an orator he was regarded as without a rival. llis intellectual powers matured early in life and for some years his wonderful memory, little short of the mar- velous, and his power of collecting and using his materials even under the most adverse cir- cumstances made him almost invincible. In an argument before the court he was able even without preparation to cite with verbal accuracy decision after decision pertaining to the ques- tion in point. He was never at a loss for an authority and was equally forcible in his pre- sentation of it. Ile died July 19, 1876.
Thomas M. Key, the only judge of the Com- mercial Court organized February 1, 1848, was a Kentuckian who came to this State in early life. He was very eccentric, although quite an able man. During the war he was associated with General MeClellan as judge advocate on the latter's staff. The stories told of his mili- tary service are numerous and amusing.
Another eccentric character was the judge of
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the Criminal Court,-Jacob Flinn. According to Judge Wright, his peculiarities were so great that it became necessary to abolish the court in 1854 to get rid of the judge.
William Johnston moved to Cincinnati in 1839, after having taken some part in politics as a. member of the State Legislature and as prosecut- ing attorney of Carroll County. The first year of his residence (1840) was taken up with the cam- paign for General Harrison, during which he made a great reputation as a stump orator. In the following year he was appointed United States Surveyor General, a position he held for four years. After this he was elected judge of the old Superior Court. In 1850 he was nomi- nated as the Whig candidate for Governor, but was unsuccessful. After this he returned to the practice, where he was very successful, par- ticularly before juries. He was a man of most remarkable peculiarities of manners and dress and very original in his style of oratory and made a marked impression upon all who heard him. He was also very careful to prepare his cases with great thoroughness. In 1861 he moved to Washington, where he was appointed by President Lincoln on the commission to re- vise the statutes of the United States .. After this work was completed, he retired from the practice of the law and lived the life of a student until his death, at the age of 88 in 1802.
George Hoadly, who was elected Governor of Ohio in 1883, came to Cincinnati in 1846 and entered the office of Chase & Ball. He was ad- mitted to the practice of the law in the following year and entered upon a brilliant career at the bar and in public life. His sketch appears 011 Page 17, Volume II, of this work. Few men among the residents of Cincinnati have been more respected and beloved. He was one of the ablest lawyers that Ohio has given to the country.
Another of the great lawyers of this period and subsequently one of the greatest lawyers of the country was Aaron Fyfe Perry, who came to this city in 1854. A sketch of his life is given in the second part of this work.
The name of Rufus King is hard to classify. He stood among the first of the practitioners of his day but was equally distinguished in the advancement of the educational interests of the city. He was born in 1817 at Chillicothe, the grandson of the celebrated man of the sanie name and the son of Edward King, who has already been mentioned in this history. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Worthington, who afterwards became so prominent in Cin-
cinnati life as Mrs. Sarah Peter. Hle came to Cincinnati in 1841, after completing his studies in the Harvard Law School, and almost imme- diately took a position of prominence. His first public service was as member of the City Coun- cil, but soon he became much interested in the schools of the city. He was elected school visitor of the Third Ward in the year 1851 and served 14 years, being president from 1852 until the time of his withdrawal. Upon the consolidation of Woodward and Hughes high schools, in 1851 he was elected president of the board of man- agers, in which position he continued until the time of his death in 1891. He became a director of the University in 1859 and continued on the board until 1887, when he declined a renomina- tion. Ile was president of the board from 1871 to 1872. He became a member of the Library Board in 1867 and president in 1870, which posi- tion he retained until 1873, when he retired from the board. He became connected with the fac- ulty of the Cincinnati Law School in 1875 and ยท served as dean and president of the faculty for some years. He was particularly active in the organization of the Cincinnati Law Library. He was elected vice-president of the board in 1851 and president in 1855, which position he held until the time of his death 36 years later. Ile took an active part in the organization of the College of Music and in the Art Museum. He was also a trustee of Kenyon College. It is ap- parent from this long record of service in the educational institutions of the city that Mr. King was a man of the broadest views with regard to the subject of education. No name stands higher in the educational history of the city than does his. He was also active in other directions. He was a member of the Board of Tax Com- missioners from its organization in 1883 until it was abolished in 1891. He served through- out that time as vice-president and was the actual presiding officer as the mayor was presi- dent ex officio. He was one of the organizers of the Committee of One Hundred and director of Spring Grove Cemetery and director of the Cincinnati Southern and Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railway companies and connected with the boards of several other organizations of this character. He refused to accept any office to which emoluments were attached. During all these years he occupied a leading position at the bar. As a teacher of the law he was remarkably successful and many of the ablest lawyers at the bar to-day acknowledge their indebtedness to him for their knowledge of a large part of the
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principles of their profession. Other facts of his life are presented in his sketch, which appears in the second volume of this work.
William Haines Lytle, another prominent member of the bar of this period, was a son of Robert T. Lytle and grandson of Gen. William Lytle. He was born in the famous Lytle house on Lawrence street on November 2, 1826, and was educated at the Cincinnati College, where he graduated in 1843. He studied law with his uncle, E. S. Haines, but was led by his military enthusiasm to enlist in service in the Mexican War in the summer of 1847. He spent 10 months in Mexico and returned at the end of the war, having attained the rank of captain. Here he entered upon the practice of the law and met with almost immediate success. He was elected by the Democratic party to the State Legis- lature in 1852. Here he served two terms, dur- ing part of which time he was Speaker. In 1857 he was the candidate of his party as Lieutenant- Governor, but was not elected. During this year Governor Chase appointed him major general of militia in command of the first division of the Ohio militia. In July, 1858, he wrote the poem which perhaps has done more to perpetu- ate his memory than any other accomplishment of his life. General Lytle's career at the bar and in the war was brief but brilliant. He or- ganized the first camp in Cincinnati at Camp Harrison. In June, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 10th Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf., and shortly afterwards departed for the seat of war. Prior to his departure he was presented by mem- bers of the bar with a sword and by other friends with a handsome black horse. The regiment was presented with a stand of colors by the women of Cincinnati. He fought at Carnifex Ferry, where he and his horse were both wounded. He was brought back to the city to the residence of his brother-in-law, Samuel J. Broadwell, and was received with great enthusiasm. The colors of the regiment were exposed in Shillito's store window and, covered with blood, were among the first sad realities of war that attracted great attention. He subsequently returned to the ser- vice and was assigned the command of a brigade. He was again wounded at Perryville and left upon the field for dead. He was taken prisoner and released on parole and once more was home in October, 1862. He was subsequently ex- changed and promoted to the rank of brigadier- general. In the battle of Chickamauga on the morning of the second day, while leading a charge, he was struck in the face and died shortly
afterwards, September 20, 1863. His funeral. which took place at Cincinnati on October 22. 1863, was one of the most touching incidents of the war.
Jacob Wykoff Piatt was a Kentuckian born .in 1801. He came to Cincinnati in his early manhood and soon became one of the best known members of the bar. He was a fluent and witty speaker and a hard student and was also minchi given to politics. He soon became a leader among the Democrats and was particularly popu- lar with the Irish element of the party. He was for a time clerk of the Common Pleas Court and member of the Council and especially active, as described elsewhere, in the change from the old volunteer to the paid fire department. Judge Dickson describes him as a "tall slim erect man with high forehead, long grey hair gracefully falling on either side, perfectly regular features, handsome mouth, chin and nose with an alert. keen, penetrating eye, a twinkle in it when lit up by sarcasm, altogether an imposing, dignified figure-Wykoff Piatt." His particular field was the matter of appropriation bills, which he watched with the greatest care to prevent ex- travagance and dishonesty. He was for many years a victim of bad health, which made him rather irascible in temper.
Another eminent lawyer who came to the city in 1839 was Alphonso Taft, a native of Ver- mont, born in 1810. He was a graduate of Yale and also of the law school of that insti- tution. He was associated as counsel in many of the most important cases of his time. For almost fifty years Judge Taft was one of the most prominent of Cincinnati's citizens. The one act of his life, the decision of the Bible case, which at times seemed to interfere with his political ambition won for him the respect of every lover of independent thought and action. regardless of religious proclivities. A sketch of his life is given in Volume II of this work.
Bryant Walker, the son of Judge Timothy Walker, was a young man whose early death cut short a most promising career. Ile had been city solicitor and judge of the Superior Court for a short time. He was killed in his early manhood before Atlanta in 1864. His death aroused deep feeling throughout the community.
William S. Goesbeck was another of the giants of the bar of those days. He was admitted to the bar in 1836 and continued actively in prac- tice until 1857, when he was elected to Congress. His preeminence as a lawyer is shown by the fact that he was one of those chosen by President
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2.
Andrew Johnson to act as counsel in the im- peachment case and his address on that occasion has always been regarded as one of the greatest American forensic efforts. He easily carried off the honors of the trial. As a result his fame became national and on numerous occasions lie was suggested as a candidate for the presidency. In Volume II of this work a full sketch of his life is given.
George H. Pendleton, a grandson of Nathaniel Pendleton and of Jesse Hunt, the pioneer, born July 19, 1825, in Cincinnati, began his career at the bar in 1846. In 1853 he was elected Senator and during the rest of his life he de- voted his attention to politics. He represented Hamilton County in Congress from December, 1857, to March, 1865. He was the nominee of the Democratic party for the vice-presidency on the ticket with MeClellan, the real choice of his party for the presidency four years later, al- though defeated for the nomination by a few votes at the last moment, and Senator from Ohio from 1878 to 1884. His connection with the civil service law has given his name a prominent place in the annals of the country. In 1885 he was appointed United States Minister to Ger-
many. He died in Brussels four years later. Although throughout his life a partisan, Mr. Pendleton was almost as popular among his op- ponents as among the members of his own party. He was one of the ideal statesmen of the school that is fast passing away. The sobriquet by which he was commonly known, "Gentleman George," is an index of the view that was taken of him by the public in general. No man ever stood higher in the estimation of his fellow citi- zens.
Andrew J. Pruden began the practice of the law in Cincinnati in 1841. Richard Henry Stone was admitted to the bar in 1844. Ile was a member of the first Ohio Legislature under the new constitution in 1852-53 and clerk of the courts in 1858 to 1861. Edward A. Ferguson, "Father of the Southern Railway," and for many years one of the leaders of the local bar, began the practice of the law in 1848. In this year, too, another well known lawyer, George B. Hol- lister, came to the city and entered the law office of Thomas J. Strait. Thomas A. Logan came to the bar in 1851. Two years later Alexander B. Huston was admitted to the practice. Sam- uel T. Crawford began the practice of the law in this city in 1854. John Burgoyne, who so re- cently died, began the practice of the law in the fall of 1853; he was a son of Judge John Bur-
goyne. The well known firm of Hagans & Broadwell was formed in 1857. E. P. Bradstreet began the practice in this year. The year later John Fassett Follett was admitted to the bar in Newark County, Ohio, but he did not locate in Cincinnati until 10 years later. In 1858 Gustav Tafel entered upon the practice of the law. Thomas Barbour Paxton was admitted to prac- tice in 1860. Sketches of nearly all these leaders of the Cincinnati bar appear in Volume II of this work.
THE CHURCHES.
Owing to the growth of the city, the num- ber of churches increased so rapidly that it is impossible in a work of this character to be able to give a detailed account of each. After all it is the origin of things that is most interesting and the greatest evidence of success in any undertaking is the fact that it moves along with so little friction as to present no special points of interest. The churches multiplied and religion seemed certainly to be as well established as in other cities of the same size. All that can be done is to note briefly a few points with reference to the changes that were taking place.
The First Presbyterian congregation erected, in the year 1853, the church buikdling now occu- pied by the society on Fourth street a few doors west of Main on the site not far from the site of its first church. The tall spire, 280 feet high, which is 10 feet higher than that of Trin- ity Church in New York, surmounted by a large gilt hand pointing upward, has made this church known for so many years as the "tall steeple church." Since that time the audience room of the church has been refitted on several occa- sions and the land on Fourth street in front of the church has been occupied by stores and offices. Joshua L. Wilson was minister of the church until the time of his death and subse- quently his son, Samuel R. Wilson, was pastor for many years.
The Second Presbyterian Church continued in the classic building on the south side of Fourth street. Its pastor for a period of years was the distinguished Lyman Beecher. After his resig- nation in 1843, Rev. John P. Cleveland was pastor for a short time and was succeeded in 1846 by another much beloved pastor, Rev. Sam- uel W. Fisher, who remained at the head of this church until 1858, when he resigned to as- sume the presidency of Hamilton College. His successor was Rev. M. L. Thompson.
In 1840 seven Presbyterian churches are men-
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tioned. . In 1859 this number had increased to 25, including the Presbyterian Old School, New School and Reformed Presbyterian churches. The Old School churches were the Walnut Hills, the First, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Central, Ninth and the First churches at Glendale and Cum- minsville. The New School churches were the Second, Third, Eighth, Tabernacle, German, West End Mission, Fulton, Walnut Hills and College Hill. Under the head of Reformed Pres- byterian were given the Church of the Cove- nanters, the George Street Church, the Asso- ciate Reformed Church, Associate Church and also the three Congregationalists,-the First and Second. Orthodox and the Welsh Congregation- alist. The last namned church, the Welsh Con- gregationalist, was the first society of Orthodox Congregationalists and was founded in 1840. The Vine Street Congregationalist Church after its break from the mother First Presbyterian Church, from which it had been organized as the Sixth Presbyterian Church in 1831, changed to Congregationalism in 1846. It was known at first as the Sixth Street Congregational Church but after its removal in 1848 to its present build- ing on Vine street it took the name by which it has since been known. At the time of its change to Congregationalism, it reaffirmed its old reso- lution on the question of slavery, resolving that no candidate could be received who held slaves or believed in the holding or using of men as property. It also took a firm stand against the use of alcohol. Its principal pastor during this time 'was Dr. Charles B. Boynton, who was its pastor at three separate times. Dr. Dudley Ward Rhodes tells us that he was a man of firm and positive character, whose convictions were not mere opinions and that the Vine Street Church can never have any pastor who will be to it what Dr. Boynton was.
The First Orthodox Congregationalist was the old George Street Presbyterian Church. It made its change of name and allegiance in 1847. The corner-stone of its new building on the north side of Seventh street between Western row and John was laid by Lyman Beecher on July 16, 1845. The building was first occupied in 1849.
The congregation of Christ Church ( Protest- ant Episcopal) had become permanently installed in its present location on Fourth street. Its pastor during the carly part of this period was Dr. John T. Brooke, who seems to have been one of the ablest ministers in the history of the city. Other pastors were Rev. Alfred Blake, Rev. Dudley T. Tyng and Rev. C. M. Butler.
At the opening of the war the pastor was Rev. Kingston Goddard. Bishop Charles P. Mell- vaine, who officiated for a short time at this church, was throughout his life a strong force in the city life. He was born in New Jersey in 1799, graduated at Princeton in 1816 and after service as professor at West Point and the Uni- versity of the City of New York as well as at the head of churches both in Georgetown and Brooklyn he was consecrated Bishop of Ohio in 1832. He was president of Kenyon College and the Theological Seminary at Gambier. From the time of his incumbency until 1859 he was very active in the life of the community. After this time his health made it necessary for him to cur- tail his labors. He died in Florence, Italy, in 1873. A church that is still very prominent in the city life, the Church of the Advent on Walnut Hills, was formed in 1855.
But two Episcopal churches, Christ and St. Paul's, are given in 1840. Twenty years later there were seven in the city. In addition to Christ Church and St. Paul's were St. John's at the southeast corner of Plum and Seventh (now St. Paul's), Trinity, Church of the Redemption, Church of the Atonement and Calvary in Clif- ton.
The most important event in the Catholic Church at this time was the completion of St. Peter's Cathedral and the creation in 1851 of the Archiepiscopal See of Cincinnati with Arch- bishop Purcell at its head and suffragans at De- troit, Cleveland, Louisville, Vincennes, Fort Wayne, Sault Ste. Marie and Covington.
But two Catholic churches are mentioned at the beginning of the second half century of Cin- cinati life: St. Peter's Cathedral, at that time ou the west side of Sycamore between Sixth and Seventh, and the Church of the Holy Trinity on the south side of Fifth between Smith and Park; this latter was a German congregation. At the end of this period the number of Catholic churches and religious societies had increased to 24. The old name of St. Peter's Cathedral had. been transferred to the new structure ou Eighth and Plum and to the original congregation was given the name by which it is at present known- St. Francis Xavier.
A similar increase is to be observed in the Methodist churches. In 1840 there were but nine of these, including such well known churches as Wesley Chapel ( which possessed the largest auditorium in the city ), Asbury Chapel, Ninth Street Chapel and the Fourth Street Chapel. 1u 1859 there were 22 Methodist
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churches in the city. Included in this number was the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist (on the west side of College street) of Rev. Howell Powell, which dissented from the Methodist Episcopal Church both in doctrine and discipline; the First Wesleyan Church on Sixth street, which. was called the "Anti-Slavery Church," and the Col- ored Methodist Church on Sixth street east of Broadway, which was independent.
The Baptist churches, of which there were in 1840 but three, including the well known Ninth Street Church, twenty years later were seven in number.
The Campbellite Baptist Church, headed by Elder James Challen, had become the church of. Christian Disciples by 1841, at which time it was on the west side of Sycamore between Fifth and Sixth. At a later time the Central Christian Church grew out of this organization and built a new church on Eighth and Walnut in. 1847. In addition to this church, three other Disciples churches were formed, including the Church of the Messiah and a colored church and a mission church, the latter being the church of the cele- brated Elder Stratton.
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