USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 43
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There had been in the years of his youth and early manhood various evidences of his elemental strength of character. From his childhood's log- cabin home he emerged into the great world at the age of thirteen and be- gan clerking in a store at three dollars per month and board, and with his first money he bought books. From that time on he made his way with very little-
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aid from others. Before coming to the bar had acquired great skill as a civil engineer, in fact his skill in that direction was not inferior to his learning as a lawyer, although the practice of law became his real life work.
During the early years of his practice Mr. Wright resided at Dublin and his law work called him into several counties of Central Ohio, also to the supreme court of Ohio and several courts of the United States. Later he re- moved to Worthington and maintained his residence there while largely con- fining his law practice to Columbus. His long-time associate and friend, L. J. Critchfield in presenting the memorial and resolutions to Franklin County Bar Association, said of him: "As a lawyer he was broadly and solidly founded upon the principles of law as a science. He was also expert in the law as an art. His preparation for the bar was accurate and thorough. His mind was analytical and was intent on getting at the ultimate reason. His inclination was to solve legal questions by the application of principles, rather than by adjudications-testing the latter by the touchstone of principle. In the ethics of the profession he was a very martinet. His standard of the ideal lawyer was high. The Esprit de Corps of the profession in him was strong. He regarded the bar as a learned body of men entrusted with grave respon- sibilities and sacred duties. In his estimation the profession was a high calling and not merely a money-making art. He detested the commercial idea and the drummer methods of recent times. In his bearing, James E. Wright seemed to be conscious that the high-toned lawyer is not merely an individual seeking personal interests, through special privileges, but an individual member of a body of men invested with important official functions requiring for their discharge the best powers of the mind and the purest purposes of the heart. While not deficient in any department of the law, he preferred, and, there- fore, became most proficient in equity jurisprudence. In his thought, as in its best definition, equity is the soul and spirit of the law, and in its natural justice humanity and honesty, equity was more in harmony with the just, humane and liberal tendencies of his mind than were the rigid rules of the common law. In the active period of his professional career, to the aid of a clear legal mind he brought indefatigable industry and exhaustive investi- gation. He kept well up with the learning of the profession, and the best developments of jurisprudence, and to that end spared no expense for the best books as they came from the press, as his large law library attests. His cases were always well prepared for hearing. The leading facts, the govern- ing principles, the controlling adjudications were in line and readily avail- able. His arguments were clear and concise. He was a good lawyer in every sense of the word."
At a memorial meeting held in honor of Mr. Wright, Judge H. B. Al- bery said: "I think that Mr. Wright delighted more in the learning of the English law writers than in any other writers upon that subject. He fre- quently referred to and often quoted from his favorite English authors, es- pecially the English chancellors and writers upon equity. In fact, it seemed that equity was his delight. He was a lawyer of ability as an advocate and often expressed himself in oral argument with great force, but was particularly strong in the preparation of arguments on paper. His briefs were master-
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pieces. He was, as a lawyer, the soul of honor and courtesy. No lawyer was superior to him in his kind and gentlemanly bearing towards members of the profession. He was a lawyer who never belittled the position or arguments of an opponent; he always treated whatever was presented in argument with candor and consideration and met whatever was said with that sincerity that betokens a man of great mind."
"His briefs were always scholarly and finished and exhaustive," said Judge E. P. Evans, "and in every paragraph could be seen the skilled hand of an accomplished master. He was a most courteous lawyer and was the soul of professional honor. The trial of jury cases was peculiarly distaste- ful to him, and it was seldom he could be induced to engage in them, but when he did, he always showed himself to be a powerful jury lawyer; and in my experience, I have seldom, if ever, seen his equal as a cross-examiner of a hostile witness. The reason why he was disinclined to engage in jury trials, may, perhaps, be discovered in his dislike for personal contentions and wrangles which so frequently arise on such trials. His mind was wonder- fully quick in its operations and his memory was the most accurate and served him longer than any I have ever known, except Judge Okey's. I have seen him examine legal questions and then sit down and write his brief, citing perhaps a dozen authorities without again turning to one of them."
Mr. Wright did much toward schooling himself in the art of oratory and eloquence by hearing in his early manhood all of the great men of his time when opportunity offered. While visiting in the city of New York, he made the acquaintance of Garrett Smith and Washington Irving, and later listened to such orators as Daniel Webster, Louis Kossuth and others. His broad read- ing did undoubtedly give him the splendid command of language for which he was noted. He did much to encourage reading and study in others and in his earlier years, while still a resident of the vicinity of Dublin, he took pleas- ure in giving the youth of the neighborhood the benefit of his learning. He also revived the drooping Sabbath school of the Methodist church of that place, gathering the young people into a Bible class until the class became a house- ful, so instructive and popular were his talks upon biblical questions. He also very frequently delivered lectures upon the British poets and other liter- ary subjects. He was a student of the literature of Greece and Rome as well as of more modern ages and was a most comprehensive and thorough student of the Bible.
Dr. Gunsaulus said of him: "I count it one of the good fortunes of my early ministry to have reviewed with him the writings and career of Moses, from a lawyer's point of vision. Rarely have I heard more wise or more vivid statements concerning the far reaching effect of the mosaic legislation in the history of jurisprudence than those which adorn and strengthen the pages of his lectures * It was always a joy when some man of great schol- arship or pronounced intellectual ability visited Columbus, to take him to Worthington and let him have the joy of discovering such an ample soul. The wide range of his reading kept him from that narrowness and pedantry which are oftentimes the characteristics of a man who so loved solitude. I shall never forget with what ardor and success he debated with Bronson Al-
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cott through the long summer afternoon, on the theme of the priority of thought. Under the red vines of autumn he loved to sit with a problem of integral calculus, and he loved it as he loved nothing else, save following his thoughts along some wooded stream with a fellow disciple of Isaac Walton. l'hus, the birds sang as though they welcomed him, and every poet whom he had read, lived upon his lips."
Mr. Wright, with all of his love of solitude, which was one of his most marked characteristics, possessed nothing of the spirit of a recluse but was at all times so in touch with the sense of duty that his practical responsibilities suffered not in the slightest. His public career as a citizen and official was inspired by the most thorough-going patriotism. He was a thorough believer in popular government and always felt that public service and public ballot should be the expression of popular desire. While he was not eager for public office, he responded to the call of his fellow citizens for his services. His first county office was that of treasurer, to which he was appointed by the county commissioners August 3, 1869, and was again appointed to fill a vacancy in that office July 26, 1870, following the death of the treasurer-elect. He was chosen to the office by popular suffrage in 1872 and again in 1874, receiving almost unanimous support in his own part of the county where he was best known.
James E. Wright came to Worthington from Dublin, Ohio, in 1869. In a year or two he unearthed the fact that thirteen hundred acres in the school district which ought to have been taxed for school purposes were not on the tax duplicate. He appeared time and again before the board asking why such a thing existed and the fact developed that members of the school board owned most of the unlisted property. He asked about the school loans and found that school money was loaned at one rate and accounted for at another. He found the school had a right to the land where the drug store and Wor- thington Savings Bank Company now hold forth, school being taught where the present town hall now stands, conducted by two women, giving only part of their time.
Where the present school buildings and playgrounds are, existed a barn- yard, partly enclosed, with cows and horses roaming freely around. James E. Wright came home every noon from his duties in the city and surveyed and surveyed and surveyed until he found that this property also belonged to the public schools. It was necessary to get a bill through the state legislature to sell the different tracts of land and have a levy made. Mr. Wright framed that bill. By this time his friends were numbered.
The day the bill was to be considered came in midwinter. There was a freight train at five o'clock in the morning. James E. Wright's wife wakened him and said, "Jimmy, did you hear that train whistle?" He jumped up, put on his clothes and started for the depot. She called after him, "You forgot your overcoat." He replied, "Things will be warm enough to-day without any overcoat."
A big delegation started at nine o'clock for the city to oppose all action. When they reached Columbus, they were informed that the bill had been passed. James E. Wright saw every brick put in the building. Time and
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again he advanced his personal funds so that work would not lag. While plans for which he had worked for the high school building were under con- sideration ill health and finally death came. Such in brief was his work for education in Worthington.
He was never ambitious for public office but greatly preferred his chosen profession of the law and the cultivation of general literature. He was never oblivious of an opportunity to assist those in need, was kind in his nature, generous in his gifts, charitable to the poor and sympathetic to the afflicted.
Notwithstanding all this, the best traits of character were manifest at his own fireside in the midst of his family. It was in the year 1855 that James E. Wright wedded Elizabeth Davis, of Dublin, and to them were born five daughters and three sons, all of whom survived the father, although the fam- ily circle has since been broken by the hand of death. Mattie, the eldest of the family, born September 27, 1857, a graduate of the Normal Institute, died January 19, 1900. Carrie, a graduate of the Normal Institute of Columbus and of the Ohio State University, has been a teacher in the Armour Institute of Chicago since its organization sixteen years ago. Annie, the wife of Rev. Wayland D. Ball, is now living in New York City. Nelle, a graduate of the Worthington high school and of the Ohio State University, is a teacher of German and English in Spokane, Washington. Edith, born July 31, 1865, was married June 14, 1888, to G. B. Goodrich and died February 7, 1904, leaving two children, George and Margaret. Daniel, born February 26, 1868, was a graduate of the Worthington high school, of Delaware College, and Harvard and Yale Theological Seminaries, and at the time of his death, March 26, 1907, was a critic on the Columbus Dispatch. Paul, born March 11, 1876, is a graduate of Cornell University Law School, and, residing in Worthington, is engaged in looking after various interests for different parties in his home town. Moses James, born December 16, 1878, a graduate of the high school and of the Ohio State University, afterward attended the Cornell Law School for two years, but his course was interrupted by typhoid fever and later he was graduated from the Columbia Law School of New York city, where he has now practiced for the last four years.
During the last three or four years of his life Mr. Wright gave but little attention to business, spending much time in silent communion with nature until he passed away November 17, 1890. In speaking of him, Judge D. C. Jones said: "He took a brave and manly view of life. He was just and genial. He was fond of friends but fonder of solitude. He loved the face and all the other features of nature and so he would pass hours in her company. He loved to sit in the mild nights and contemplate the far off stars as they twinkled in quiet and chaste beauty in the blue fields above. He walked sometimes at night, when the moon permitted, and said, like Thoreau, he loved at such times to hear the corn grow, to listen to the myriad voices of night. * In the parental relation he was a man of rare kindness of heart, the companion and friend of his sons and daughters."
Whatever he did in the way of charity, in the way of kindness, in the way of help to the poor, was done without ostentation and without publicity. Friendship was to him a sacred word and none of his obligations was ever
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forgotten. While his intellectual powers carried him far beyond the merit of his fellowmen, he never forgot for an instant the great truth concerning the universal brotherhood of man. His life was an equally divided one between solitude and activity. In this respect it was a model life. In his solitude he pursued his studies and acquired the knowledge and information which bright- ened and developed his intellect; in the active pursuits of life and in the practice of his profession he cultivated and' developed strength of character.
FRANKLIN RUBRECHT.
Franklin Rubrecht, for seventeen years a member of the Columbus bar, during which time he has rendered faithful and efficient service to the public as well as to those who have employed his talent in the conduct of important litigated interests, is accorded a prominent place in professional circles by the consensus of public opinion. He was born in Delaware, Ohio, August 31, 1867, his parents being Joel and Priscilla Helen Rubrecht. The father was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, born upon a farm there in 1839, and through- out the period of his residence in that state he carried on the work of the fields. Attracted to the west, however, he removed to Delaware, Ohio, and became identified with its building operations as a contractor and architect. A liberal patronage was accorded him and his labors have been an effective element in the substantial improvement of the city in which he located. In 1894 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who was born in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1842, and for many years was a faithful companion to him on the journey of life. They had a family of three sons and one daughter, all of whom reached adult age.
In early boyhood Franklin Rubrecht was sent as a pupil to the public schools of Delaware, Ohio, and through consecutive grades completed the high- school course, while later he received a commercial training in Professor Sharp's Business College of the same city. It was his desire to devote his time and energies to professional labors and to this end he sought the preceptorship of R. H. Platt, an attorney of Columbus, under whose direction he pursued his preliminary law studies. He also acquired a knowledge of telegraphy, and entering the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company, was for a con- siderable period employed as an operator in Columbus. In this way he pro- vided the funds that enabled him to pursue his law studies, and entering the Ohio State University, he was graduated from the law department of that in- stitution in October, 1892.
Mr. Rubrecht immediately located for practice in Columbus and the suc- cessive steps of his orderly progression are easily discernible. He recognized the fact that there is always room overhead and that only the lower ranks of life are crowded, and he resolved that comprehensive study, close application and increasing ability should soon carry him beyond the starting point of his career. Knowing that the best aid to advancement was to make his service of value to his clients, he has left undone nothing that would advance the litigated
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interests entrusted to his care and in the course of years has become recognized as one of the strongest and ablest members of the Columbus bar. His reason- ing is analytical, his deductions are logical and his presentation of his case forceful. He was appointed assistant director of law and by virtue of that office became prosecuting attorney of the police department, rendering cap- able service in that position until 1897. He received his appointment from Judge Selwyn N. Owen, who at that time was director of law and was ap- pointed by and served under Mayor Black until 1899. Retiring from the position, he resumed private practice and the records of the court show that he has been retained for the prosecution or defense in many cases of impor- tance. His clientage, too, is large and of a distinctively representative char- acter, and the work he has done at the bar reflects credit and honor upon the profession with which he is connected. In December, 1899, he was elected attorney of the Columbus Humane Society and on the 9th of April, 1900, was appointed first assistant director of law by Hon. Luke G. Byrne. As the in- cumbent of the office it fell to his lot to conduct all the litigation of the city. He retired from public office in 1902 and has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession.
Mr. Rubrecht was married September 18, 1894, to Miss Blanche Newell, of Columbus, a daughter of O. H. Newell, and to them has been born one child, Mercedes. The social prominence of the family is enviable and the gracious hospitality of their home, freely accorded to many friends, is one of its most attractive features. Mr. Rubrecht exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democratic party and has done active work in its support by two terms of service as chairman of the congressional committee of the twelfth district of Ohio. His opinions carry weight in the councils of his party and in all of his relations to Columbus he is actuated by a spirit of devotion to the public good, being identified as a director or trustee of several charitable organizations. He looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities of the future and his labors have been effective forces in general improvement. When not occupied with professional and business duties, his friends find him a man of social nature, in whom good cheer and good will are pleasing attributes.
EDGAR H. LATHAM.
Edgar H. Latham, president and treasurer of the Latham Construction Company at No. 183 West Broad street in Columbus, was born in Mercer county, Ohio, February 7, 1884. His grandfather is a wealthy agirculturist of Franklin county, Ohio. The father, Z. T. Latham, whose natal day was February 19, 1850, is now living retired in Columbus.
Edgar H. Latham acquired his education in the graded and high schools of this city, and at the beginning of the Spanish-American war en- listed as a member of the Twenty-ninth United States Infantry under Colonel Van Horn, who organized the regiment. During two years of his
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three years' term of enlistment he remained in the Philippines and was in- structor of drummers and trumpeters in his regiment. He was also on spe- cial duty at Iloilo, Panay Island, being attached to the engineering corps in the capacity of topographical draftsman, and assisted in gathering data con- cerning the topography, population and resources of the island. On the 28th of January, 1904, at Angel Island, California, he was mustered out of service, returning to Columbus with a most creditable military record. Here he was first employed for two years by F. L. Packard as architectural draftsman and then became connected with the contracting business on his own account. In April, 1908, in association with Fred H. Schroedinger and D. R. Rockey, he organized the Latham Construction Company and was elected its president and treasurer. The concern does a general contracting business and, although a comparatively new enterprise, it has already proven itself a worthy competitor of many of the old established contracting firms of the city. Mr. Latham is identified with the Builders' Exchange and is the youngest member of the board of trade.
As a companion and helpmate on life's journey Mr. Latham chose Miss Martha Rockey, a daughter of D. R. Rockey, who is vice president of the Latham Construction Company and a prominent hydraulic engineer of this city.
In his political views Mr. Latham is independent, casting his ballot for the men and measures that he believes will best conserve the general welfare. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Emanuel Evangel- ical church, and he resides in a pleasant home at No. 598 Gilbert street. Owing to his unremitting industry, excellent business qualifications and un- faltering integrity he has already gained a prominent place in business cir- cles for one of his years and the future looks bright and promising.
WILLIAM NEIL.
Among the names that stand preeminently forth on the pages of history in connection with the pioneer settlement and later development of Columbus is that of William Neil. The year of his arrival was 1818 and from that time until his demise his labors were of a character which contributed in substantial measure to the progress and development of the city and state. He had for three year previous been a resident of Urbana and had gone to that city from Kentucky in 1815. He was a native of Virginia, born in 1788, and a repre- sentative of one of the old families there. His paternal grandfather, Allen Neil, was born in Scotland. When four years of age William Neil accom- panied his parents on their removal to Winchester, Clark county, Kentucky, where he was reared amid the wild scenes and environment of pioneer life. Having arrived at years of maturity, he was married in Kentucky to Miss Hannah Schwing, who was born in Virginia in 1794 and was six years of age when taken by her parents to Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of twenty- two she gave her hand in marriage to William Neil, who was known as "the
WILLIAM NEIL
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old stage king" and owned the first line of stages that ran from Wheeling, West Virginia. to Cincinnati, Ohio.
William Neil was a stone-mason by trade, but following his removal to Columbus became interested in other undertakings and as opportunity offered became a factor in the wonderful development which has brought Ohio to its present stage of progress and prosperity. On his removal from Urbana to Columbus he visited what is now the State University farm, then owned by Captain Vance. While there he formed the acquaintance of Mr. Simkin, an eastern gentleman, and they entered into a partnership for the purpose of deal- ing in flour. They constructed a keel boat from timber procured on the farm and floated their cargo down the Whetstone into the Scioto river, thence down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. This venture, however, proved financially disastrous and the partners returned to Columbus six thousand dollars in debt. When Mr. Neil arrived in Urbana his possessions consisted of a horse, saddle and a bridle-the usual fortune of a young man starting out in life. Undeterred by the disaster which met him in his first business venture in Columbus, he turned his attention to other interests where his sound judgment and keen discrimination led the way and in the course of years became not only one of the most prosperous and prominent residents of Columbus, but also one of the distinguished citizens of the state by reason of his activity in railroad building and his promotion of other business con- cerns that resulted beneficially to the community at large.
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