Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 46

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 46

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

tember, 1862, he was promoted to captain of Company B, of said regiment and served un- til the expiration of his term of service. He returned to his home and again in the autumn of the year 1864, he organized the One Hun- dred and Seventy-fourth Regiment, becoming its colonel, and which he commanded until the close of the war. He was breveted briga- dier-general at the close of the war, for meri- torious service and gallant conduct in the war.

General Jones was mistered out of the service, July 27, 1865, and returned to Dela- ware and entered upon the practice of his pro- fession and was on the second day of April, 1866, elected mayor of the city of Delaware. In October of the same year he was again elected prosecuting attorney of the county, which office he held for four years. In the year 1872, he was appointed trustee of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, one of the most noble institutions of this State. He was president of its Board of Trustees for many years. He gave to this institution much of his best though and many hours of his most valuable time and cherished for it a most kindly feeling up to the date of his death. He was presidential elector on the Grant and Wil- son ticket in the year 1872. representing the Ninth Congressional District. He was elected to Congress in the year 1876 from said Ninth District, serving as a member of the Forty- fifth Congress, but was deprived of a second term by a "gerrymander" of the district. He was elected to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth General Assemblies of the State of Ohio, in which assemblies he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Having served his county, district and State so well and faith- fully, his neighbors and fellow citizens called upon him to serve them in the City Council. which position he filled with as much zeal and ardor as the more responsible positions he had heretofore held. He was afterward, by reason of his faithfulness, chosen a member of the Board of Education, which position he held for many years. He was the instigator of the City Library Association and was a member of its board of Trustees at the time of his death. This organization was the means of bringing

to our city the beautiful Carnegie Library building of which our citizens are so justly proud. Notwithstanding the many positions he held, General Jones was a faithful student in his chosen profession and he became one of the best lawyers in central Ohio. He entered into a partnership for the practice of law, with Jackson Hipple, about the year 1866, which partnership continued for four years. The firm was known as Jones & Hipple. In the year 1870, he formed a partnership with the writer of this sketch. This firm was known as Jones & Lytle and continued for twenty-five years, the partnership having been dissolved by mutual consent, on the first day of April, 1895. At this time both his sons having been admitted to the Bar, he formed a partnership with them and the new firm was known as J. S. Jones & Sons. This partnership continued until about the year 1899, when Carroll H., the younger son, withdrew and went to Chi- cago, where he is now located. He then con- tinued the practice with his elder son, William B. This firm was known as Jones & Jones, which partnership continued to the time of Mr. Jones' death, he having appeared in court but a few weeks prior to his death.

HENRY C. GODMAN was the son of Gen- eral J. W. Godman, who resided in Marion County, Ohio, and who was an attorney-at- law in that county. The subject of this sketch was born in Marion, Ohio, where he received his early education. He came to Delaware as a lawyer, having been a practitioner in that county ; having been a law partner at one time of Judge W. Z. Davis, now on the bench of the Sunpreme Court of Ohio and it is said Judge Davis was a former law student of Mr. Godman.

He first formed a partnership with John J. Glover, the style of the firm being Godman & Glover. This partnership was soon dis- solved and Mr. Godman soon thereafter went into the firm of Reid & Powell, the style of the firm being Reid, Powell and Godman. This lasted until after the death of Colonel Reid, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. God- man retiring. He soon removed to Columbus,

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Ohio, where he went into other business, at which he succeeded and became quite wealthy. He died during the winter of 1908. *

HON. EARLY F. POPPLETON was one of most prominent representatives of the legal profession in Delaware County and was also one of its most influential political leaders, both in county and state politics and he was chosen to fill many positions of trust by his Dem- ocratic adherents.

He was born in Richland County, Ohio, on the twenty-ninth day of September, 1834. His father, Samuel Poppleton, was a native of Ver- mont, where he was born July 2, 1793. He acquired a fair English education and was a regularly ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and often preached, though he devoted the greater part of his life to mer- chandising. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the War of 1812, where he served his coun- try until the close of the war. At the close of the war he removed to the state of New York and in the year 1818, came to Ohio and settled in Richland County, where he engaged in merchandising for many years and it was while he lived in this county that the subject of this sketch was born.

Mr. Poppleton's mother's name before marriage was Julia A. Smith. She was the second wife of Samuel Poppleton. She was born in the Dominion of Canada, though she was descended from New York ancestry. From this union there was born to Samuel and Julia A. Poppleton, a family of children who became very prominent in the business, legal and social circles of this and- other states. Emery E., the eldest son, became the manager of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company. Parthinia P., became the wife of Judge Stevenson Burke. Damaris .A. became the wife of George B. Lake, chief justice of the Supreme Bench of the State of Nebraska. Early F., the subject of this sketch. Houston H., for many years attorney for the Big Four Railway Company, and Julia C., who became the wife of Colonel Thomas H. Linnell, com- pletes the family.

Early F. Poppleton received his early edu- cation in the public schools. At the age of twelve years he entered the Wilcox lligh School at Bellville, Ohio. He also attended the Ohio Wesleyan University for three years. In the year 1855 he entered the law office of his brother-in-law, Judge Burke, at Elyria, Ohio, and completed his course and was ad- mitted to the Bar in the year 1858.

He returned to Delaware after his admis- sion to the Bar, to look after the affairs of his father, who was at that time living in Dela- ware. In the spring of the year 1861, he opened an office in this city and began the practice of his chosen profession. which he followed continuously to the date of his death, which occurred at Delaware, Ohio, May 6, 1899. Mr. Poppleton was an able advocate ; he was sought by his clientage in particular for his ability in that direction and also by his fellow members of his profession, when they had a close question to the jury, and when they had grave doubts about the result of the ver- dict. He was keen and quick in his percep- tions and was ready for any emergency which might develop in the trial of a case and he often wrung from a jury through his great elo- quence a verdict, which, but for his efforts, might have been given to his opponent. Mr. Poppleton was perhaps best known to the pub- lic through his official life. Ile served for six years as a member of the City Council and was its president most of that time. It was during the time he was a member of that body. that the water works were built and the elec- tric light plant was put in, also the electric railway was built, to all of which he gave his ardent support. He was elected to the Ohio State Senate from the Sixteenth Ohio Senatorial District, composed of Delaware and Licking Counties, in the year 1870 and in the year 1874 he was elected to Congress from the Ninth Congressional District, at that time composed of Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Knox and Morrow Counties. Mr. Poppleton was for many years a prominent leader in the Dem- ocratic councils of his State and there were but few great issues promulgated by that party.

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in which he was not greatly interested and in his early death the party lost one of its most valued counsellors. *

HENRY JAMES EATON was the son of James and Elizabeth (Caulkins) Eaton. He' was born October 25, 1828, in Berlin Town- ship, Delaware County, Ohio. James Eaton was for many years surveyor of Delaware. County and the early records of the county are replete with his doings. He was very careful and particular about his surveys and marking his corners, and his son, the subject of this sketch, must have inherited much of his father's carefulness and particularity. The family lived on a farm near Cheshire, in Ber- lin Township, at the date of the son's birth. Ilenry J. Eaton received his early education in the public schools of his native township. The family removed to Delaware in the year 1844, and Henry J. soon entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in the year 1849. He studied law with Thomas W. Powell and was admitted to the Bar in the year 1853. He began the practice in the city of Delaware and soon formed a partnership with Colonel William P. Reid, for the prac- tice of law, which continued until the year 1866, when Mr. Eaton, owing to failing health, was obliged to withdraw from the practice. His health having improved, he again opened an office in the Reid and Powell Block, where he continued his practice for many years. A few years before his death he gave up his of- fice, yet he continued his practice up to a short time before his death. His clients went to his home and met and consulted him there. Mr. Eaton never aspired to become a trial lawyer and he seldom argued a case to a jury, yet he was one of the most careful and technical lawyers at the Delaware County Bar. He prepared his cases with the greatest care and his opponent before the court never knew when he was to meet some technical question which might put him out of the case.

Mr. Eaton never aspired to hold office: in fact. he never held an elective office during the long period he practiced law. Up to the summer of the year 1903, his many clients con-

tinued to see him at his home, and he con- tinued to see and meet them in this quiet, easy way. He died September. A. D., 1903.

GENERAL JOHN CALVIN LEE. John C. Lee was born in Brown Township, Delaware County, Ohio. He was the son of Hugh Lee, one of the pioneer tanners of Brown Township. The subject of this sketch received his early education and began his career of usefulness in the city of Delaware. He chose the profession of the law and studied his pro- fession here and was admitted to the Bar, but he never became an active practitioner in this county. He removed to Tiffin, Ohio, from which place he entered the army as colonel of the Fifty-fifth Regiment, O. V. I., in the Civil War. He later became colonel of the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth, O. V. I., and was breveted brigadier-general. He was nomi- nated for lieutenant-governor of Ohio, on the ticket with General R. B. Hayes in the year 1867, after the close of the Civil War. * * *

JUDGE CHARLES H. MCELROY was born at Gambier, Ohio, March 19, 1830. His par- ents, Rev. James McElroy and Maria (Bur- rows) McElroy, were natives of Ireland. They were married in Ireland in 1828 and came di- rectly to Kenyon College, where he taught for some time. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Ile removed to Delaware, Ohio, in the year 1832 and was rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church. He re- moved to Staunton, Virginia, in the year 1840, at which place the subject of this sketch re- ceived his early education. Judge McElroy attended the Law School of the University of Virginia during the sessions of 1850-1851 and 1851-1852. He was admitted to the Bar by the Court of Appeals of the State of Vir- ginia at Lewisburg in the summer of the year 1852. He immediately came to Delaware, where his parents had removed. He engaged in civil engineering for a few years but re- turned to Delaware and was admitted to the Bar of Ohio in the year 1855, when he began the practice. In the year 1857 and 1858 and again in 1878 Judge McElroy was elected

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mayor of Delaware by the citizens without re- gard to party and with but little opposition.

In August, 1861, Judge McElroy enlisted as a private in Company D. Twentieth Regi- ment, O. V. 1. He soon became captain of the company and in August, 1862, by reason of his meritorious conduct and at the request of the governor of Ohio and on order of the War Department, he was transferred to the Ninety-sixth Regiment O. V. I. and was ap- pointed major of the regiment. He remained with the command in the campaign down the Mississippi and up the Yazoo Rivers and Chickasaw Bayou. but his failing health ad- monished him that unless he quit the service, he would not be able to reach his home alive. and soon after the surrender of Vicksburg, therefore, he resigned his command and came home and after a partial recovery he again began the practice of his profession. He was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the autumn of 1881 and again in the autumn of 1886, in the first Subdivision of the Sixthi Judicial District, comprising the counties of Delaware, Knox and Licking, and served from February, 1882, to February, 1892, and his opinions as a judge were always recognized by members of the Bar as able. He was a close student of the principles of the law and his early reading had made him a recognized authority on what is known as the common law. After he retired from the bench he again took up the practice, which he continued up to the time of his death, which occurred March I. 1904. He was solicitor for the Fidelity Building Association and Loan Company up to the time of his death. He was associated at various times during his long continued practice, with Hon. Early F. Poppleton. Hon. Henry S. Culver and Hon. George W. Car- penter, the styles of his several partnership: being Poppleton & MeElroy, McElroy & Cul- ver. and Carpenter & McElroy. * *

JACKSON HIPPLE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1835. His parents, George and Nancy Hipple, immi- grated to Ohio in the year 1842 and settled on a farm near Kilbourn, in Brown Township,

Delaware County, where the subject of this sketch resided and received his early educa- tion. He was educated in the public schools of Brown Township and was fortunate to have been a pupil of Charles Neil, who for many years taught in that township and who al- ways impressed upon his pupils the principles of a thorough mathematical education. Mr. Hipple was in early life apprenticed to a har- ness-maker in the village of Eden, where he worked for several years at his trade. But having higher ambitions, he left the farm and his trade and came to Delaware, entering the Ohio Wesleyan University, and where he studied for some time. He had determined upon a professional career, and being in haste to begin it, he left the college and entered the law office of Hon. James R. Hubbell, who was at that time and for many years thereafter a successful practitioner at the Bar of Delaware County. Mr. Hipple was admitted to the Bar in the year 1861 and he immediately entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in the city of Delaware, where he continued the practice for over forty-two years. Mr. Hipple was for some years a law partner of General J. S. Jones, the style of the firm being Jones & Hipple. He was later a partner of F. M. Joy, the style of the partnership being Hipple & Joy.

Mr. Hipple applied himself studiously to the practice of his profession and never cov- eted office or political preferment. Though never a seeker of office, he was called upon by his fellow citizens to fill some of the most trustworthy offices in both the city and county of Delaware. He was called upon by the citi- zens of his ward to fill the office of city coun- cilman and was made president of the City Council. He was elected solicitor of the city of Delaware and was also elected mayor of the city of Delaware. He also served as justice of the peace of Delaware Township and was twice elected prosecuting attorney of Delaware County. In all of these offices he was faithful in the discharge of every duty and acquitted himself with honor. Mr. Hipple was a faith- ful student of the law and an able practitioner. He prepared his briefs with great care and was always ready and persistent in the trial of :1

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case. At a time when his country most needed his services he answered its call. He enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, O. V. I., and served with his com- mand until his regiment was discharged. 1Ie was subsequently a member of George B. Tor- rence Post, G. A. R.

Mr. Hipple in early life became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He joined William Street Methodist Church in 1863, but when that church was divided and Asbury Church was built he became one of the charter members and retained his membership up to the time of his death, which occurred in Febru- ary, 1903. His funeral was attended by the members of the Delaware County Bar as a body.

HON. JOHN J. GLOVER was born in Bel- mont County, Ohio, March 12, 1835. His father's name was Samuel Glover and his mother's maiden name was Eliza Thompson McKesson. He was educated in the public schools in the county of his birth and at Alle- gheny College, from which he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He studied law with the law firm of Carroll & Glover and was admitted to the Bar at Zanesville, Ohio, in the year 1860. He imme- cliately started to the great West in pursuit of a location and landed in the gold fields of Colorado. Having imbibed the spirit of min- ing which was so prevalent in that locality at the time, he engaged in gold mining, with some success, but not having been accustomed to the severities of a miner's life, he soon re- turned to his father's home in Belmont County, Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1861. He had just opened an office for the practice of his profession in St. Clairesville, Ohio, when the first call for volunteers in the Union army was made. He joined the first company of volunteers from St. Clairesville and entered the service of his country, where he remained during that, and his re-enlist- ment for over three and a half years. He en- listed as a private, was promoted to second lieutenant and to captain, and was in all the battles in which his command engaged.

He came to Delaware in the year 1868 and opened an office and began the practice of his profession. He was elected prosecuting at- torney of Delaware County in the autumn of 1876 and served for one term. He was ap- pointed clerk in the office of the first comptrol- ler of the treasury, January 5, 1882, and im- mediately went to Washington, D. C., and en- tered upon the duties of his office, at a salary of twelve hundred dollars per year. In the year 1894 he was transferred to the Depart- ment of Justice, with an increased salary, and in the year 1900 he was promoted to the office of chief of the division of accounts, at a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per year, which position he at present holds with a corps of twenty-five clerks to assist him.

* *

DAVID HUMPHREYS was born in Radnor Township, in Delaware County, Ohio. He was the son of Hugh Humphreys, who came to Radnor from Wales at an early date. The sub- ject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of his native township. He then en- tered the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in the year 1860. He then studied law and was admitted to the Bar. He located at Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he remained for several years and then returned to Dela- ware, Ohio, where he opened an office about the year 1870 and began the practice of his chosen profession. He planted and laid out two additions to the city of Delaware, Ohio, in the winter of 1870-1871 and became well identified with the city but he only remained a few years. He located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced for a number of years and then removed to New York City, where he pursued his profession up to the time of his (leath which occurred several years ago in that city.

HON. THOMAS E. POWELL was born at Delaware, Ohio, on the twentieth day of Feb- ruary, 1842. His father, Thomas W. Powell, was a lawyer and for many years a leader at the Delaware Bar. The mother of Thomas E. Powell was Elizabeth Gordon, a native of Ohio. Thomas E. Powell obtained his early

PUBLIC SCHOOL, RADNOR

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RADNOR

BAPTIST CHURCH, RADNOR

RESIDENCE OF F. P. HILLS, DELAWARE

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education in the public schools of Delaware. At the early age of thirteen years he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated in the year 1863 at the age of nineteen years. He then enlisted as a private in Company E. Eighty-fourth Regiment, O. V. I., and served out his time with said regiment. In the month of May, 1864, he again enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, O. N. G. I., and was discharged with the command as a lieutenant of the com- pany.

He at once entered his father's office as a student of the law and was admitted to the Bar in 1865, and during the same year he formed a partnership with William P. Reid. which continued up to the time of the death of Mr. Reid. During the existence of this part- nership there were but a few contested cases in the Delaware County courts in which the firm of Reid & Powell were not interested. A few years before the death of Colonel Reid the firm associated with them Henry C. God- man, formerly of Marion, Ohio, and the style of the new firm was Reid, Powell & God- man. After the death of Colonel Reid, Mr. Powell associated with himself, John S. Gill, and the style of the new firm was Powell & Gill. Later their law student. Frank A. Kauffman, was taken into the new firm after his admission to the bar and the style of the new firm was Powell, Gill & Kauffman, which partnership continued up to the time of Mr. Powell's removal to Columbus, Ohio.

Mr. Powell was always interested in the politics of his State and nation. He was a (lelegate to the Democratic National Conven- tion in 1872, which nominated Horace Gree- ley for president of the United States and was a candidate for presidential elector on the Greeley ticket. In the year 1875. he received the nomination for attorney general on the Democratie ticket, with Governor William Al- len. In the year 1879 he placed General Thomas Ewing in nomination for governor, in the State convention and in the year 1882, he did the same for James W. Newman, when he was nominated for secretary of the State and the same year Mr. Powell was the Democratic

nominee for Congress in the old Ninth Dis- triet and although he was not elected he car- ried Delaware County by a handsome major- ity. In the year 1883, Durbin Ward ( that faithful Democratic war horse) selected Mr. Powell to present his name to the State con- vention. In the year 1884, he was a dele- gate to the Democratic National Convention and at the request of Governor George Hoadly, placed that gentleman's name in nomination for the presidency. During the year 1885 he was chairman of the Democratic State .Executive Committee and in the year 1887 he was the Democratie nominee for gov- ernor of Ohio, and although defeated at the polls he ran about ten thousand votes ahead of his ticket. Mr. Powell has always taken an interest in educational matters. He has been for a number of years one of the trustees of his alma mater, the Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity, in which institution he has always been greatly interested.

He moved to Columbus about the year 1887, where he is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession in partnership with his eldest son, Edward T. Powell, and where he has ever since kept up his active interest in the politics of the State.

Mr. Powell has many friends and ac- quaintances in Delaware and not a few of his old clients here call on him when they have need of the services of an attorney. Since his removal to Columbus, Mr. Powell has ex- tended his practice as a corporation lawyer. He is the general attorney for the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio. He has also been the attorney for the Sugar Re- fining Company of New York and the Stand- ard Oil Company of New York and has been engaged in many of the most important cases in Ohio.

JUDGE JOHN A. CONE was born January 17. 1836, in the city of Delaware, Ohio. His father's name was John W. Cone and his mother's name was Mary ( Williams) Cone. The father was a pioneer of Delaware County, having been born in that portion of the county which comprises Kingston Township. in the

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Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 46

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 926

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926