USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 1 > Part 17
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der that part of the Act of 1868 which was coun- tenanced in the Act of 1879.
The Circuit Court was re-established in 1884, and the judges ordered to be elected for six-year terms.
Judges of Common Pleas. - In the following list the president judge holds first place, and the names of the three associate judges follow the date:
George Tod, 1820, Horatio Conant, Samuel Vance and Peter G. Oliver.
George Tod, 1822, Horatio Conant, William Pratt and Daniel Hubbell.
George Tod, 1823, John Hollister, William Pratt and Walter Colton. George Tod, 1824-25, John Hollister, Robert A. Forsyth and Walter Colton.
Ebenezer Lane, 1825-28, John Hollister, Robert A. For- syth and Walter Colton.
Ebenezer Lane, 1828-30, James Wolcott, Ambrose Rice and Robert A. Forsyth. Ebenezer Lane, 1830-31, Aurora Spafford, James Wol- cott and Robert A. Forsyth.
David Higgins, 1831-35, William Bigger, Aurora Spaf- ford and James Wolcott. David Higgins, 1835-38, William Fowler, William Big- ger and Aurora Spafford.
Ozias Bowen, 1838, David Ladd, William Fowler and Aurora Spafford.
Emery D. Potter, 1839, William Fowler (resigned), Aurora Spafford and David Ladd.
Emery D. Potter, 1842, Benjamin Olney, David Ladd and Aurora Spafford.
Emery D. Potter, 1843-44, Francis Carothers, David Ladd and Aurora Spafford.
Myron H. Tilden, 1844, Francis Carothers, Benjamin Olney and Aurora Spafford.
Ebenezer B. Sadler, 1845, Nathaniel D. Blinn, Benjamin Olney and Aurora Spafford.
Myron H. Tilden, 1850, Jairus Curtis, Benjamin Olney and N. D. Blinn.
Myron H. Tilden, 1851, Gilbert Beach, Benjamin Thomas and N. D. Blinn.
Under the Constitution of 1851, and the sev- eral Legislative Acts reconstructing judicial dis- tricts, the following named judges were elected and presided over the Common Pleas Court of Wood county: Lawrence W. Hall, 1852; M. C. Whiteley, 1857; A. Sankey Latty, 1863; Chester R Mott, 1866; James Pillars, 1868-78; Henry H. Dodge, 1878-83; John McCauley, 1879- 84; Henry H. Dodge, 1883-88; George F. Pen-
they are Charles H. Scribner, elected in 1886 and re-elected in. 1892; Charles S. Bentley, elected in ISSS, and E. B. King, elected to succeed Judge Charles S. Bentley, who was elected in 1884 to serve two years, and was re-elected at the end of his term for six years. George R. Haynes was elected in November. 1896.
Probate Judges .- The judges of the Probate Court, since its establishment, are named as fol- lows: Asher Cook, 1852; John A. Kelley, 1855; J. F. Price, 1857; William Ewing, 1858; Daniel WV. Poe, 1861; Edwin Tuller was appointed in 1863, vice Judge Poe, resigned; was elected in 1863, and re-elected in 1866, but resigned in 1869, when John A. Bonnell was appointed; George C. Phelps qualified in 1869; John Reed, 1879; Frank M. Young, 1885; Guy C. Nearing. in 1891, and Stephen A. Angus, in November. I 896.
Prosecutors .-- The prosecuting attorneys for Wood county, from 1820 to the present time, are named as follows: C. J. McCurdy, May 3, 1820; Thomas W. Powell. October, 1820; John C. Spink, 1831; Jessup W. Scott, 1834; Willard V. Way, 1834; Isaac Stetson, 1835; Henry Reed, 1836; Count Andrew Coffinberry, 1837; Isaac Stetson, 1838; John C. Spink, 1839; Henry Darling, 1841; Willard V. Way, 1842-46; Will- iam H. Hopkins, 1846; Sylvanus Jefferson 'also a surveyor), 1852: Josiah F. Price, 1858; J. E. McGowan, 1862 (now of Chattanooga, Tenn. ); James R. Tyler, 1862; George Strain, 1864; Alexander Brown, 1866; John W. Canary, 1869; John A. Shannon, 1871; Jasher Pillars, 1873; Frank A. Baldwin, 1877; James O. Troup, 1879; R. S. Parker, 1884: Andrew J. Mears, 1890; A. B. Murphy, November. 1893, and Frank A. Baldwin, February, 1895, to act during the ill- ness of the prosecutor; Arthur B. Murphy, re- elected in November. 1896.
Transactions of Supreme Court .- A Supreme Court record, now in possession of Clerk Baird. dleton, 1884-89; John H. Ridgeley, who was , shows that Judges Jacob Burnet and Charles R. elected (under the Act of 1868), served as addi- tional judge from 1888 to February, 1893; Arte- mus B. Johnson, from February, 1889, to Febru- ary, 1895, (under the Act of 1879); J. W. Schau- felberger (under the same Act), from February, - 1893. to the present time, his term not expiring until February, 1898; and Charles M. Melhorn from February, 1895, to the present time, his term not expiring until February, 1900. Sherman presided at Perrysburg, August 1, 1825, and heard eight cases. At that time Silas Lee was admitted to the Bar. In July, 1826, the same judges being present, Wolcott Lawrence was admitted to practice. At the August session of 1827, Judges Peter Hitchcock and Charles R. Sherman presiding James .1. Scranton was ad- mitted to the Bar. In 1828, Judges Calvin Peas and Sherman were present, and, in 1830, Judges Circuit Judges .- The judges of the Circuit 1 Court, re-establshed, in 1884, were Henry W. Seney, Thomas Beer and Jolin J. Moore. So far as the Sixth Judicial Circuit is concerned, Peter Hitchcock and Henry Brush. The trial of George Porter (an employe of E. Foote), for the murder of Isaac Richardson at Roche-de-Bœuf. July 22, 1830, was heard at this term, the court
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appointing Orish Parrish and David Higgins to de- fend the prisoner, while Thomas W. Powell pros- ecuted. The jury in the case comprised Robert Shaw, Palmer Kellogg, John M. Jaques, Aurora Spafford, Elijah Huntington, Sewell Gunn, Thomas Leaming, Nathaniel K. Decker, Knowl- ton Young, Nathaniel Blinn, Reuben Freshwater and Andrew Hoover. This jury found Porter guilty of murder in the first degree when he was sentenced to be hanged at Perrysburg November 5, 1830, on which day he was executed by John Webb. Thousands witnessed the execution. At that session, also, James W. Robinson was ad- mitted an attorney of the Ohio Bar.
In 1831, Judges Joshua Collett and John C. Wright were present; Elijah Huntington was ap- pointed master commissioner of the court. Judges Collett and Reuben Wood presided here in July, 1833, when Jessup W. Scott was admitted to the Bar, and a number of civil cases disposed of. In 1834 Judge Ebenezer Lane was present with Judge Collett; but in 1835, when Frederick Lord, John C. Champlin and Henry Reed were admitted to the Bar, Judges Wood and Collett were here. In 1836, Francis H. Gillet, Samuel M. Young, and Emery D. Potter were admitted before Judges Lane and Wood, and at that time the celebrated trespass case of David Hedges vs. Isaac Van- Tassel was disposed of. In 1837, before the same judges, Henry Darling, Samuel B. Camp- bell, Daniel F. Cook and Henry Bennett were admitted to practice. The judges who presided in 1839 were Ebenezer Lane and Frederick Grimpke. David Allen and Joseph Utley were admitted attorneys. In 1839, Judge Wood was present with Judge Lane. Josiah G. Abbott and Joshua B. Davis were admitted to the Bar, while in July, 1840, the last term recorded in the old book, Judges Hitchcock and Wood presided. Janies Coffinberry was admitted to the Bar and a number of assumpsit and chancery cases heard.
In 1841, the same judges were present, the cause celebre being the Utley divorce suit, which resulted in a decree giving Mrs. Mary Ann Utley $2,000 alimony and costs. The same judges presided in 1842; but, in 1843, Judge Matthew Birchard appeared with Judge Wood, who were also present in 1844 and again in 1845, when Joseph Utley was appointed clerk of the court for the constitutional term of seven years. In 1846, the same judges were pres- ent; but, in 1847 and 1848, Matthew Birch- ard and Edward Avery were on the Bench. The July term of 1849 was presided over by Judges Hitchcock and William B. Caldwell, and in 1350 by Rufus P. Spalding. With the excep-
tion of the admission of Asher Cook to the Bar in 1848, there is no record of admissions for the three years ending in 1851. In September, 1852, John A. Corwin, John M. Palmer and L. W. Hall appear as judges of the District Court, with Thomas L. Webb, coroner, acting sheriff and L. O. Simmons, clerk, and the records of the Supreme Court sessions in Wood county cease.
Under the Constitution of 1851, the District Court, composed of a judge of the Supreme Court and two district judges, was established, and held regular sessions until 1884, when the Circuit Court was established under an amend- ment to the Constitution.
United States District Court .- From 1855 to 1870, Wood county was in the Cleveland di- vision of the United States District Court. In July, 1870, it was ordered that two terms of this court should be held at Toledo by Judge Charles T. Sherman, who was succeeded in 1873 by Judge Martin Welker, who preceded Judge Ricks. In June, 1878, Wood county was placed in the western subdivision of the Northern District, with Toledo the seat of justice. The United States Circuit Court subsequently held terms here, Judge John Baxter, of Tennessee, presid- ing until his death in 1886, when Judge Howell E. Jackson, of Tennessee, succeeded him. and he in turn was succeeded by W. H. Taft, the pres- ent circuit judge.
Justices' Courts .- Many volumes might be filled with the serio-comic administration of jus- tice by the justices of the peace of Wood county, since the days when it was a part of Waynesfield township, of Logan county, or, as our brothers of Michigan would call it, "Maumee township of Erie county, Erie District of the Territory of Michigan." It would not be practicable to treat the subject extensively, but a little may be writ- ten to show the idiosyncrasies of the pioneer justices and, incidentally, of their unofficial neighbors.
In the reminiscences of the late Willard V. Way, the story of Joshua Chappel, who settled at Perrysburg in 1817, and who was a constable of Logan county in 1819, is related. At that time Logan county appears to have been attached to Champaign for judicial purposes, and in the jail at Urbana prisoners from Wood county found a temporary home. It appears that, in 1819. Jacob Wilkinson sued a fisherman for $9, which the fellow refused to pay. The debtor also was impadent enough to say to his creditor that, if he wanted fish for his pay, he must turn out and catch them himself. The reply was an irrita- ting one. The creditor sent the debtor to Urbana
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
in charge of Constable Chappel, to be held there until the $9 and costs would be paid. After traveling 150 miles, Chappel offered his prisoner to the sheriff, but that official would not receive him until his board bill was guaranteed. This Chappel could not do, and the only alternative was to return with the debtor to Perrysburg. The expenses of the trip and law proceedings exceeded $150, for which a bill was presented to Wilkinson. This was one of the incidents which urged the people to ask for the organization of Wood county.
Elijah Huntington, who succeeded Justice Powell in 1830, had advantages which were not offered to the lawyer while in office. He did not stop to consider technical points of law, but entered at once into the equity of a case, and decided it quickly. Hezekiah L. Hosmer tells of one of the first cases tried by him:
The "Old Squire" (Huntington) was a local institution. His knowledge of politics was ency- clopædic. He read "Nile's Register" through regularly, and knew it by heart. In all matters of local interest he was always prominent, poli- tics and schools receiving his special attention. No man ever discharged the duties of a magis- trate or legislator more conscientiously, or gener- ally with better judgment; but his court was often the scene of a funny incident. On one occasion a lawless character, known by the sobri- quet of "Catfish Smith," a sort of land pirate, who had a shanty below the town, was arrested and brought before him on the charge of steal- ing Doctor Wood's pigs. The evidence disclosed the facts that the Doctor, on missing his property and suspecting Catfish, went to his premises and found the pigs penned up. Summoning Catfish, he charged him with the crime:
"And here," said he, pointing to the pigs, "are the very pigs themselves."
"Which are yours?" inquired Catfish; "I should like to know."
"That one, and that one, and that one," replied the Doctor, pointing to several.
"Them's all mine, every one on 'em. I raised 'em."
" Is that speckled one yours, that yellow one and that little hump-backed one ?"
"Every one on 'em. I raised 'em. They ain't one on 'em as belongs to you."
The Doctor was a pepper-pod. The effrontery of Catfish made him very angry. "It's a lie and you know it !" he exclaimed.
"They're all my pigs," reiterated Catfish, "and you can't have 'em, Doctor Wood !"
"Well, take 'em," roared the Doctor, in a 1
tempest of anger. "Take 'em all and go to the devil with 'em," and turned and left. Convinced, however, that the pigs belonged to him, he made complaint and Catfish was arrested. Catfish was in the last stages of whiskey disease; bloated, blotched, a most pitiable object. He employed Count Coffinberry to defend him. Wood's attor- ney claimed that the case was clear, and asked that the defendant be punished. The Count in reply urged a justification.
"Admitting, may it please your honor, " said he, "that the pigs were originally the property of Doctor Wood, the evidence shows that Wood gave them to the defendant. He told him to. 'take them,' and the prisoner did so, and of course for this he is not liable to punishment. He told him furthermore to 'take them and go to the devil with them;' and any one, the most common observer, may it please your honor, can readily perceive, from the appearance of the man, that he had done no more than comply with this request. He had taken the pigs, that was unde- niable, and, may it please your honor, he is going to the devil as fast as any man in the country."
Pig cases are not confined to that of Catfish and Dr. Woods. Wild hogs offered sport for hunters in early days, and men, armed with rifles and possessed of elastic consciences, did not always stop to learn whether they killed tame or wild swine. This haste led some of the sports- men into the criminal court on charges of theft or robbery, and many men barely escaped the penalty attached to such crimes.
To show how the law was administered in Perrysburg in olden days, let the following copy of a page of Thomas W. Powell's justice docket be given :
State of Ohio rx. John Harris:
September 4, 1830, Elijah Huntington personally ap- peared before me and made complaint in writing and under oath that John Harris, of Auglaize, did, on the third day of the present month, run a horse within the limits of the town of Perrysburg, at Perrysburg township aforesaid. And there- upon a warrant was issued which was forthwith returned by Jonas Pratt, constable, with defendant in custody. Pro- ceeded to trial, and upon hearing the proof and "allega- tions" of the parties, it is considered by the court the said John Harris pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, and 50 cents the cost of the prosecution.
This extraordinary docket of Justice. Powell gives the history of 224 cases tried by him from 1823 to November 16, 1830, when he transferred the record book to Elijah Huntington. While the greater number of entries concern debtor and creditor, a large minority deal with social evils, showing, after all, that, in the quiet, pastoral days of this county, prior to the close of 1830, the people were not, morally, very far above
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what the inhabitants of the busy. ambitious county of to-day are. Justice Hezekiah Hos- iner's docket is also to be found in the archives of the county, and, like that of Justice Powell, is filled with accounts of big and little crimes, petty wrangles and numerous suits for debt. Beyond such trifling infractions of the law as that given in the Harris case, the writer of history may not go ---- the old books should be bound and made a part of the records of Wood county.
Members of Old and New Bars .- The first attorney named in the Court of Common Pleas record was C. J. McCurdy, the prosecuting at- torney, whose permit to practice is not a part of the record. The admissions to the Bar of Wood county from the fall term of that court in 1820 to the fall term of 1840 are noticed as follows: Thomas W. Powell, Maumee, Eleutherus Cook, Huron county, Ebenezer Lane and Phillip R. Hopkins, in October, 1820: Charles L. Lanman, of Michigan, Moses B. Corwin and Oliver Over- ton, in 1822; John C. Spink, 1831; Jessup W. Scott, 1833; Sidney Smith and Willard V. Way, 1834; (Mr. Kinney, 1835, semi-lawyer); Isaac Stetson, 1835; Andrew Coffinberry, Henry Reed, James Purdy, Albion N. Olney and Henry C. Stowell, in 1837.
From 1826 to 1840, the Supreme Court, in session at Perrysburg, admitted the following named attorneys to its Bar: Silas Lee and Wol- cott Lawrence, 1826; James A. Scranton, 1827; Orris Parrish and David Higgins, 1829: Fred- erick Lord and John C. Champlin. 1835; Fran- cis H. Gillett, Samuel M. Young and Emery D. Potter, 1836; Henry Darling, Samuel B. Camp -. bell, Daniel F. Cook and Henry Bennett, 1837; David Allen, Joseph Utley, Josiah G. Abbott and Joshua B. Davis, 1839; and James M. Coffin- berry, 1840.
In many cases the admissions were mere for- mal permits to practice in the courts of Wood county, and even this formality was not observed in all cases. In the "twenties" and early " thirties," such lawyers as William Dougherty, Rodolphus Dickinson, Charles Ewing, Henry Cooper (of Fort Wayne), Charles Robey, James Lee Gage, Jonathan E. Champlin, George W. Ewing, David A. Colerick (of Fort Wayne) and Cyrus Lee Gage practiced here without a per- mit, so far as the records tell. Later in the "thirties," John M. May, James G. Haley, David Allen, Horace Sessions, Willis Silliman, Hezekiahı L. Hosmer, Nathan Rathburn, Horace F. Waite, Henry S. Commager, Morrison R. Waite, Caleb F. Abbott, Richard Cook, George B. Way, D. O. Morton and Patrick G. Goode
practiced in the courts of Wood county; but there is nothing of record to point out the date of their formal admission to the Bar of this county.
Hezekiah L. Hosmer, the old justice of the peace, and later chief justice of Montana Terri- tory, in his reminiscences of Perrysburg (written in 1862), speaks as follows of the lawyers whom he found at Perrysburg, when he settled there:
" There is no portion of the twenty-five years that I passed in the Maumee Valley filled with more agreeable associations than the ten-years' residence at Perrysburg. My partner, the late John C. Spink, was the oldest resident practi- tioner on the river-a good lawyer, of abundant resources as an advocate; a cute, sharp intellect : and aside from his professional accomplishments. one of the most genial, kind-hearted gentlemen I ever knew. His generosity to all knew no limit. save that of his contracted means, and always kept him poor. Indeed, his very . failings leaned to virtue's side.' These characteristics surrounded him with friends, but failed to increase his store: and he, though ambitious of his professional rep- utation, and of political preferment, cared little for the accumulation of wealth. He was fond of conviviality and mirth, and always contributed his share of humor to enliven the leisure hours of our varied circuit experience. We were sure of a jovial evening when Spink was with us. He was full of anecdote and fun, and possessed a fine vein of quaint humor, which was ever at his com- mand, and made him a very enjoyable compan- ion. He was the soul of honor, and scorned a mean action with all the bitterness of an intense nature. A western man in birth and breeding, he exemplified in his intercourse with his fellows those hearty, hospitable and disinterested quali- ties of character common among the early set- tlers of the western States. His practice -- a good one for the time-was in the courts of Wood, Lucas, Sandusky and Williams counties. and, after Lucas and Williams were divided, in Fulton and Defiance. The other resident law- yers in Perrysburg, when I went there, were Ben- nett & Campbell, Isaac Stetson, Henry C. Stow- ell, and Willard V. Way. Joseph Utley and Albion N. Olney, also residents, had been ad- mitted but were not in practice. I formed a pleasant professional acquaintance with all of these gentlemen, and with some of them that acquaintance, as I ain happy to believe. ripene.l into life-long friendship. Bennett & Campbell and Henry C. Stowell are the sole survivors of the number."
Samuel M. Young is now a resident of Tole-
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do: Emery D. Potter died there February 12, 1896, in his ninety-second year. James M. Cof- finberry died at Cleveland in recent years, and Henry Bennett died at Toledo in 1887; so that only the one member of the Old Bar remains. Judge Potter had been postmaster, collector of customs, common pleas judge, served in both branches of the State Legislature, and was a rep- resentative in Congress in 1851, where he led the fight for a reduction of postage to three cents in- stead of from five to twenty-five cents, according to distance. Objection being made in the House to the reduction to three cents because of the difficulty of making change he inserted in the bill a section authorizing the coinage of the silver three-cent piece, which remained until repealed by the coinage law of 1873.
Asher Cook, the first judge of probate, was admitted as an attorney in 1849, and about the same time, William H. Hall, James Mefford, the inventor, and William H. Hopkins, practiced here. D. M. Mckinley, of Grand Rapids, and John Mastin, were here in 1855-58. James Murray, who was Ohio's attorney-general in 1861 and 1862, may be named among the lawyers of the middle period, with Henry H. Dodge, judge of common pleas for ten years; John E. McGowen, who resigned the office of prosecutor to become a soldier in 1862; Edwin Tuller, of Tontogany: B. W. Johnson, E. M. Colver, J. B. Spafford, George N. Parsons, who died in 1867; John A. Shannon (who died at Mason, Mich. ), Josiah F. Price, Samuel B. Price, J. M. Hord, George Strain, M. B. Doyle, L. Fuller, Patrick S. Slevin (who died in 1895), Francis Hollenbeck, and John H. Reid, deceased; W. R. Bryant of Prairie Depot (1863); James R. Tyler, who died at Perrysburg; William H. Gorrill (who grad- uated with the Michigan University law class of 1862, and died in California in 1874); Peter Bell and D. K. Hollenbeck, of Perrysburg, were law- yers in the Wood county courts between the close of the pioneer period and March, 1867, when many of them signed the resolutions on the death of George N. Parsons.
Willard V. Way was a native of Springfield, N. Y., born in 1807, and his early life was passed on a farm. He was graduated from Union Col- lege, and then began the study of law in the of- fice of Bangs & Haskell, at Le Roy. N. Y., and completed his study under Payne & Wilson, in Paynesville, Ohio. He was admitted to prac- tice in the latter State in 1832, and from this date he soon became and was widely known as an honored member of that profession. He set- tled in the practice of law at Perrysburg in 1834.
His death occurred August 25, 1875. His at- tachment for the village of his adoption was great and he proved one of its greatest benefactors, be- queathing to it upward of $15.000 for the estab- lishing and maintaining of a Public Library. In his younger life he took an active part in politics, and served as the prosecuting attorney for the county.
Judge Asher Cook was born in Pennsylvania. but in early childhood came to Ohio with his par- ents, who located for a time in Richland county, then settled at Perrysburg. He learned the trades of a stone mason and plasterer, and for a short time followed them. He also served for a time as a-common sailor on the lakes. His am- bition and thirst for knowledge, however, soon led him into a higher and broader sphere of use- fulness. Without means, other than the earnings of his daily labor, he acquired a thorough knowl- edge of the common branches of learning. as well as several of the higher, and he had a special liking for the study of languages. Without the benefit of a college training, he was able to read, with ease, Latin, French, German and Spanish. He was admitted to the Bar in 1849. In the practice he was associated with and pitted against the ablest lawyers in northwestern Ohio, and was second to none of them in ability and knowledge of the law. The late Chief Justice Waite once said of him: "In knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of law, Asher Cook has no equal in the Maumee Valley." Immedi- ately on his admission to the Bar our subject was
elected prosecuting attorney for his county, and, in 1852, was elected probate judge. From 1862 to 1864 he represented Wood and Ottawa coun- ties in the Fifty-fifth General Assembly of Ohio. He was a delegate to the convention which nom- inated Gen. Grant for the Presidency in 1868. In 1873, he was elected to the convention to re- vise the State Constitution, and was made chair- man of its committee on education. He showed inarked ability in the deliberations and debates of the convention, and was recognized as among the best constitutional lawyers in that body of able men. Throughout his professional and political . career Judge Cook's great ability, his unquestion- able integrity, his genial courtesy and fairness. won for him the profound respect and esteem of his associates and competitors.
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