USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 39
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The fifteenth elector, General John Beatty, was in 1860 a resident of Cardington, Ohio, where he had been engaged in the banking business from 1852. He is the sole survivor of the electoral college of Ohio, which cast its vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and as far as known the only surviving elector who cast a vote for President Lincoln when he was chosen to his first term almost half a century ago.
General Beatty was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1828 and in 1852 en- tered the banking business in Cardington. In 1861 he entered the military service, first as captain, and was promoted lieutenant colonel of the Third
GEN. JOHN BEATTY, Last Survivor of Lincoln Electoral College, 1860.
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Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted colonel of the regiment in 1862, and brigadier general later in the same year. He stepped from the counting room into the tented field and was, with his men, seasoned to war and the shock of battle within three months. He served with gallantry and dis- tinguished bravery in Kentucky, at Stone River, around Chattanooga, at Chickamauga and in other campaigns until the close of hostilities and then came back to his bank at Cardington.
He was elected three times to congress and served in the fortieth, forty- first and forty-second. He came to Columbus and took up the banking busi- ness here, with which he is still connected, but not in the active manner that characterized the first half century of his business career.
RICHARD A. HARRISON
BIOGRAPHICAL
RICHARD A. HARRISON.
Richard A. Harrison, deceased, was a member of the Ohio legislature dur- ing the formative period of the state, a member of congress during the dark days of the Civil war and declined appointment to the supreme court of the state that he might give his attention to the practice of law, regarding the pur- suits of private life as abundantly worthy his best efforts. In the field of con- stitutional law he gained marked distinction and is numbered among those who have won for the state the high reputation which Ohio has always enjoyed by reason of the preeminent ability of those who have framed her judicial his- tory.
The life record of Richard A. Harrison began in the city Thirsk, York- shire, England, April 8, 1824. He was a son of Robert Harrison, who was not only a good mechanic but a man of intellectual prowess and sterling character, who became a local minister of the Methodist church. He wedded Mary Alm- gill, of Yorkshire, and in 1832 the parents removed with their family from England to America, influenced in this step by a son who had preceded them to the new world. The family home was established in Waynesville, Warren county, Ohio, but soon afterward they went to Springfield, Clark county, where Richard A. Harrison, the youngest of nine children, was reared.
He was but eight years of age when he became a resident of Ohio and the opportunities of his youth were limited by the financial circumstances of the family that made him dependent upon his own resources for a living from an early age. Desirous, however, to obtain an education, he eagerly embraced the advantages offered in the public schools, continued his studies in the high school of Springfield, Ohio, and then started out to fight life's battles equipped with the strong purpose of winning successs if it could be attained through persist- ence and honorable purpose. Even before this time he had served as "devil" in a printing office, and when twelve years of age he secured employment in the office of the Springfield Republican, of which John M. Gallagher, at one time speaker of the Ohio house of representatives, was then editor. This was a fortunate association for Mr. Harrison, for Mr. Gallagher was a man of wide
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erudition and his paper was the influential whig organ of the state. He not only mastered the mechanics of the office but also constantly gained in that knowledge which comes through investigation into the subjects that are con- tinually under discussion as matters of public moment in a printing office. This service also brought to him a broad vocabulary and prompted his analyza- tion of the meaning of words, so that in latter years his use of English became one of the conspicuous traits in his successful law practice. He not only had the ability to impress upon the court the salient points of his cause but also to make his every fine gradation of meaning clearly understood.
Leaving the printing office, it was Mr. Harrison's determination to prepare for the bar, and his preliminary reading was done under the direction of Wil- liam A. Rogers, one of the eminent representatives of the legal profession in Ohio, whose office he entered in the year 1844. He was a fellow student there of William White, who later served for ten years as common pleas judge of Ohio, for twenty years as one of the supreme judges of Ohio, while at the time of his death he was on the bench of the United States district court. After reading law for eighteen months Mr. Harrison matriculated in the Cincinnati Law School, the first institution of this character west of the Alleghenies, and there benefited by the instruction of William S. Groesbeck, Charles Telford and other eminent lawyers of that day. He was graduated in the spring of 1846 and without further examination was admitted to the bar on his twenty-second birthday, April 8, 1846, at London, Ohio, by Judges Hitchcock and Wood of the supreme bench.
Mr. Harrison located for the practice of law in London, Ohio, and made continuous progress in his profession, being recognized for many years as one of the eminent lawyers who practiced in the Ohio courts. He held and merited a place among the representative legal practitioners of the state and the story of his life, while not dramatic in action, is such that offers a typical example of that alert American spirit which has enabled many an individual to rise from obscurity to a position of influence and renown solely through native talent, indomitable perseverance and singleness of purpose. In Mr. Harrison were united many rare qualities which go to make up the successful lawyer. He possessed, perhaps, few of those brilliant, dazzling, meteoric qualities which have sometimes flashed along the legal horizon, riveting the gaze and blinding the vision for a moment, then disappearing, leaving little or no trace behind, but rather possessed those solid and more substantial qualities which shine with a constant luster, shedding light in the dark places with steadiness and continu- ity. Mr. Harrison had in an eminent degree that rare ability of saying in a convincing way the right thing at the right time. He continued in practice at London until May, 1873, when he removed to Columbus, and in the latter years of his life his practice was of a most important character, connecting him with the principal points of litigation that came into the courts, while many leading business concerns and corporations employed him as counselor.
While Mr. Harrison gained distinction at the bar he became equally well known and was as highly honored by reason of his service in public office. To each position he filled he brought wide learning, invincible integrity, sound wisdom and indefatigable devotion to duty. He studied closely the ques-
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tions and issues of the day, giving stalwart allegiance to the whig party until new issues arose and he joined the ranks of the republican party. He was elected to represent Madison county in the state legislature in the fall of 1857 after an exciting contest against one who stood as a candidate for both the democratic and know-nothing parties. It was also the first time that a repub- lican ticket was in the field and although there was strong opposition he won the election by a vote of twenty-four. The legislature met inJanuary, 1857, and numbered many distinguished members, including Judge J. A. Ambler, of Columbus ; Judge W. H. West, of Logan ; Judge J. M. Briggs, of Fayette ; Judge W. R. Rankin, of Franklin; James Monroe, afterward congressman ; Judge Isaac C. Collins, of Hamilton ; and Judge William B. Woods, afterward a mem- ber of the United States supreme court. Mr. Harrison was regarded as the peer of the ablest members of the house and was prominent in the discussion of those questions which were matters of intense interest as the country was approaching a crisis in its history. Messrs. Harrison and Ambler were the only republicans appointed to the judicial committee, consisting of seven members, but Mr. Har- rison was accorded a very large share of the work, and in this field his legal learning, unerring judgment and fervid patriotism found ample employment. Through this committee he introduced many bills which found their way to a place on the statute books of the state and today constitute important features in the laws of the commonwealth. These include the laws concerning the rela- tion of guardian and child; the one providing for the semi-annual payment of taxes ; for the relief of the district courts; and others of equal importance. Party feeling ran very high in those days and it was a period when projects were formed in caucus and were carried through as partisan measures with little opportunity for discussion among the members of the legislature. Mr. Harrison recognized the falsity and injustice of the methods and when occasion arose made a most formidable protest against the course then prevailing. The opportunity came to him when an attempt was made to implicate and besmirch the character of Governor Chase, who was then serving for the second term, in connection with the investigation of a state treasury defalcation, by a com- mission appointed for that purpose. In his special message, communicating the commissioners' report to the house, the governor called attention to the invid- ious criticism embraced in the report. To rebuke the governor it was moved to print the report of the commission without the accompanying message from the chief executive. Mr. Harrison, aroused by the rank injustice of such a par- tisan course, arose to defend the governor, and when the earnestness of his effort brought on a sudden attack of hemorrhage of the lungs he still proceeded in his discussion, after a brief respite, until he brought his speech to its forcible conclusion, when in a condition of complete exhaustion he was carried from the room. This course was characterized by his fearless love of justice and fairplay and by his persuasive, logical and just argument he won support for his cause, resulting in the publication of the message of the governor with the report of the commission, so that the attempted partisan thrust on Mr. Chase proved unavailing.
Mr. Harrison continued in public life during the critical period of the Civil war and his course was one which reflected honor and credit upon the state.
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He was elected to the senate in 1859 and was the associate during the succeed- ing session of James A. Garfield, afterward United States president; Jacob D. Cox, later a general of the army, governor of the state and member of General Grant's cabinet ; Judge Thomas C. Jones, Judge Thomas M. Key, James Mon- roe, F. A. Ferguson and others who were recognized as among the most prom- inent men in state and national affairs. In the senate Mr. Harrison was made chairman of the judicial committee and was elected president pro tem of the upper house. As a presiding officer he displayed the utmost impartiality, combined with the clearest interpretation and most correct application of par- liamentary law principles. Perhaps no other senate has sat at such a critical period in history, for the questions under discussion not only affected the com- monwealth but were of national importance as well. There had been called to office men whose patriotism was above question and whose ability was of the highest character, for in critical moments the American people have never risked the control of public interests in unskilled hands. The senate had to deal with such measures as strengthening the public credit, providing ample currency, raising and equipping armies, providing ways and means for the common defense and the maintenance of the Federal Union in all its entirety and integrity. Every movement that related to the state and national honor, that tended to strengthen the Federal government and promote the cause of the Union received the hearty endorsement and cooperation of Mr. Harrison, whose labors in behalf of his country were no less valuable and essential than were those of the general upon the field of battle.
Before the outbreak of the war Mr. Harrison, whose nature caused him to love law and order rather than discord, did all in his power to prevent strife between the two sections of the country. James Buchanan was still president and, in view of the threats of the southern states, had sent a special message to congress on the subject of the contemplated uprising of the south against the Federal government, in which he had ostensibly taken a position in favor of the maintenance of the Union. Mr. Harrison with his colleagues took the ground that they should assume the integrity and sincerity of President Buch- anan in his message, and in support of such a policy Mr. Harrison had the honor, on January 12, 1861, to introduce in the Ohio senate the following resolutions, of which he was the author :
"I. That the people of Ohio, believing that the preservation of the unity of government that constitutes the American people one people is essential to the support of their tranquillity at home, of their peace abroad, of their safety, of their prosperity, and of that very liberty which they so highly prize, are firmly and ardently attached to the national constitution and the union of the states.
"II. That the general government cannot permit the secession of any state without violating the obligations by which it is bound under the compact to the other states and to every citizen of the United States.
"III. That whilst the constitutional rights of every state in the Union should be preserved inviolate, the powers and authority of the national govern- ment must be maintained, and the laws of congress faithfully enforced, in every state and territory until repealed by congress, or adjudged to be unconstitutional
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by the proper judicial tribunal; and that all attempts by state authorities to nullify the constitution of the United States, or the laws of the Federal govern- ment, or to resist the execution thereof, are revolutionary in their character, and tend to the disruption of the best and wisest system of government in the world.
"IV. That the people of Ohio are inflexibly opposed to intermeddling with the internal affairs and domestic relations of the other states of the Union, in the same manner and to the same extent as they are opposed to any inter- ference by the people of other states with their domestic concerns.
"V. That it is the will and purpose of the people of Ohio to fulfill in good faith all their obligations under the constitution of the United States, according to the spirit and intent thereof, and they demand the faithful discharge of the same duty by every state in the Union; and thus, as far as may be, to insure tranquillity between the state of Ohio and the other states.
"VI. That it is incumbent upon any state having enactments on their statute books conflicting with, or rendering less efficient, the constitution or laws of the United States, to repeal them ; and it is equally incumbent upon the general government, and the several states, to secure to every citizen of the Union his rights in every state, under that provision of the constitution which guarantees to the citizens of each state all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several states ; and thus inspire and restore confidence and a spirit of fraternal feeling between the different states of the Union.
"VII. That the Union-loving citizens of those states who have labored, and still labor, with devotional courage and patriotism to withhold their states from the vortex of secession, are entitled to the gratitude and admiration of the whole American people.
"VIII. That we hail with joy the recent firm, dignified and patriotic special message of the president of the United States, and that the entire power and re- sources of Ohio are hereby pledged, whenever necessary and demanded, for the maintenance, under strict subordination to the civil authority, of the constitu- tion and laws of the general government by whomsoever administered.
"IX. That the governor be requested to forward, forthwith, copies of the foregoing resolutions to the president of the nation, and the governors of all the states of the Union, and to each of the senators and representatives in congress from this state, to be by them presented to each branch of the national legisla- ture."
Well has a distinguished contemporary said that those resolutions, so pa- triotic in their spirit, merit for Mr. Harrison a just immortality. They passed the senate with but one dissenting voice and received but two opposing votes in the house.
When in the following February Abraham Lincoln, then en route to Wash- ington to be inaugurated as president, was the guest of Governor Dennison, on being introduced to Mr. Harrison, asked if he was the author of the patriotic and timely resolutions and expressed great pleasure at meeting the one who had penned those lines. When Civil war was inaugurated it was only his physical frailty that prevented Mr. Harrison from joining the army, and throughout the period of hostilities he remained as one of the most loyal and undaunted
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champions of the government and its policy, while to the soldiers at the front he extended every possible aid and support. He furthered the work of the na- tion by his service in congress, to which he was elected as successor of ex-Gov- ernor Corwin, who was appointed minister to Mexico. He entered the national house of representatives during the momentous extra session called by Presi- dent Lincoln which convened July 4, 1861. He left the impress of his individ- uality upon the work of the house and none questioned his lofty patriotism or the wisdom of his actions when subjects of such vital moment were up for set- tlement. On the 3d of March, 1863, he retired to private life, for in the legis- lative reapportionment of the congressional districts of Ohio in 1862 Madison county was attached to the Franklin district, which made its democratic ma- jority a large one, and Mr. Harrison was succeeded by Samuel S. Cox.
Again taking up the purusits of private life he gave to his clients the bene- fit of unwearied service and great talent at the bar. Judge W. H. West said of him in this connection: "The opportunities of Mr. Harrison, while pursuing his legal studies, were most fortunate. The bench of Springfield was adorned by the modest learning of Judge J. R. Swan, its bar by the sterling qualities of Edward Cummings, the courtly dignity of Sampson Mason, and the brilliant genius and gifted versatility of William A. Rogers. The lessons of precept and example derived from these model gentlemen of the old school ripened into fixed and most agreeable traits of professional character. Not less fortunate was the opening of Mr. Harrison's professional career. The ancient circuit practice had for him a fascination which yet continues. The intricate system of land titles peculiar to the Virginia Reservation, within which his circuit lay, had not ceased to be a fruitful source of litigation. The magnitude of individ- ual estates in the Scioto valley often gave rise to controversies about their suc- cession. His rapid rise at the bar soon opened to him these fields of legal con- tention, in which he was early accustomed to encounter, and often successfully contend with ex-Justice Swayne, John W. Andrews, P. B. Wilcox, Governor Nelson Barrere, the lamented Judges Briggs, Sloan and Dicky, Jonathan Ren- nick, distinguished for his great good sense, the late Hocking H. Hunter and occasionally to meet the venerable Thomas Ewing. In these rencounters he early learned that there could be no excellence without labor; that undis- ciplined genius may transiently soar, but only toil can maintain the ascent it makes. To have once achieved success in those contests was worth ambition ; to maintain the conflict on equal terms through a succession of years was its goal. To this he bent his powers and he has not been disappointed. Jealous a mistress as is the law, he paid her assiduous devotion, crowning her with gar- lands gathered from every department of her domain. Studying her precepts as a system of philosophy, he applied them as a science, not as an art. Not omitting to cultivate familiarity with adjudicated cases, it was rather to extract from each its underlying principle than to employ it unintelligently as judicial 'ipse dixit.' Aided in this by strong sense, quick perception, discriminating judgment and great power of analysis, he has united familiarity with the in- tricacies of procedure to a substantial mastery of judicial construction and in- terpretation, and the general principles governing in the adjudication of the multiform rights which spring from the ever-colliding relations of life."
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Mr. Harrison always remembered with interest the early days when he rode the circuit and incidents concerning his early legal career. On the occa- sion of the Thurman banquet, November 13, 1890, he spoke thus of the early Ohio bar :
"In the early history of Ohio each judicial circuit was composed of many counties, and each county was very large. The lawyers traveled with the pres- ident judge of the circuit from county to county, on horse, over wretched roads a great part of the year, with their papers and books in their saddle-bags, and some of them not without flasks and packs. They were often compelled to lodge two-in-a-bed, thus carrying into practice Blackstone's theory that the science of the law is of a sociable disposition. A session of a judicial court in a county was an event of interest to all the inhabitants thereof. It was largely attended by mere spectators. The lawyers were thereby stimulated to do their best, much more than they were by the pittances received from their clients. The elegant courtrooms of the present day, devoid of spectators, are by no means as favorable schools or theaters for advocacy and oratory as the primi- tive log courthouses crowded with appreciative listeners. The early lawyers were noted for their mother wit, their knowledge of human nature, and their knowledge of the underlying principles of jurisprudence and of right, and the facility and accuracy with which they applied them. They were active and influential politicians and they sought the gratification of their ambition by service in public life. In these times to render the state some service was re- garded as honorable and praiseworthy as to have rendered service to the nation. .(Would that this view were again adopted!) The early lawyers were not dwarfed by the barren littleness of the profession when followed as a mere trade. They were less anxious about fees as they were to win the applause and gain the suffrages of their fellow citizens. They practically illustrated the no- tion which regards the fee of the lawyer as the offering of gratitude, not as the wages of labor, and that a lawyer is the servant of his fellowmen for the attain- ment of his justice, in which definition is expressed both the lowliness and the dignity of his calling. There were no stenographers in the times of the early lawyers. Trials were of short duration. The lawyers went straight to the ma- terial points in controversy and the fray was soon ended. A trial was not a siege, but a short hand-to-hand contest.
"The early Ohio bar cultivated a warm professional feeling, and their standard of professional integrity and honor was high. There were then no bar associations with disciplinary jurisdiction. None were needed. Profes- sional ethics and professional honor were very rarely violated and, when vitiated, the offender was at once completely ostracized by his brethren and his occupation was gone. The free, open, fraternal and honorable character of the profession of the law has never been better illustrated than it was by the early Ohio bar."
The qualities of his mind well fitted Mr. Harrison for judicial duty, but when a candidate for the supreme court bench of Ohio in 1870 the entire re- publican ticket met defeat. In 1875 Mr. Harrison declined an appointment as a member of the supreme court commission of Ohio when Governor Hayes
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named him for the office and the senate unanimously confirmed the appoint- ment. His private practice was then too large and remunerative for him to sacrifice it for the inadequate emoluments of judicial office. Again he declined to serve on the supreme bench of the state when Governor Foraker would have appointed him the successor of Judge William W. Johnson, in 1887. The mind of Mr. Harrison was analytical, logical and inductive, with a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, he com- bined a familiarity with statutory law and a sober, clear judgment, which en- abled him to understand with a remarkable clearness the salient points of every case and the relative value of other points bearing upon the case before the courts. He continued through the whole of his professional life a diligent student of those elementary principles that constitute the basis of all legal science and this knowledge served him well in many a legal battle before the superior and appellate courts, where he sucessfully conducted many cases. If there was a close legal point involved in any case it was his habit to thoroughly examine every authority within his reach bearing upon the question and this made him a most dangerous adversary. When he came to the discussion of the most intricate questions before the court it was perhaps then his great powers as a lawyer showed to the best advantage. He was constantly inspired by an innate, inflexible love of justice and a delicate sense of personal honor which controlled him in all of his professional relations. His fidelity to the interest of his clients was proverbial, yet he never forgot that he owed a higher al- legiance to the majesty of the law.
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