USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 38
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COMMON PLEAS COURT.
The present common pleas court was established by the constitution of 1851 and subsequent legislative enactments defined the duties of the court and divided the state into judicial circuits. The state was divided into nine districts at first, Champaign being placed in the second, with Montgomery and Miami counties, and this district remained unchanged until 1879, when Champaign and Miami counties were united in one district. Since 1879 a resident of Champaign county has been elected.
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The legislative act establishing the office provided that the first election for common pleas judges should take place on the second Tuesday of Octo- ber, 1851, and that the judges then chosen should take their seats on the second Monday of February, 1852. The judge elected for the district of Champaign, Montgomery and Miami was S. Hart, who served from 1852 to 1857, being followed by E. Parsons for another period of five years. Will- iam White occupied the bench for the five years prior to 1867, when Ichabod Corwin, of Urbana, was elected. The records disclose the names of I. J. Winans and William J. Gilmore, as special judges in 1867.
As stated above, a resident of Champaign county has been elected com- mon pleas judge since 1867 with the exception of the years 1877-1879. George D. Burgess, of Troy, Miami county, served as judge during part of 1877, being followed by H. H. Williams, of the same county, who served until the act of 1879 provided for an additional judge in the subdivision of which Champaign county was a part. Ichabod Corwin died in office, Novem- ber 28, 1872, and the resolutions on his death by the local bar association showed that he was held in high esteem by his fellow practitioners (Common Pleas Minutes, Vol. 32, p. 250).
R. C. Fulton followed Judge Corwin for five years (1872-1877), being followed in turn by William R. Warnock, who served two terms, 1879-1889. Judge Warnock was later elected to Congress and is still living in Urbana. Levi Geiger followed Judge Warnock and after one term on the bench retired in favor of Clarence B. Heiserman, the youngest judge who has ever been elected to the bench in this county, he having been only thirty-two years of age at the time of his elevation to the bench. Judge Heiserman was elected for a second term, but resigned on September 5, 1901, to become solicitor for the Pennsylania railway system west of Pittsburgh. This position had been held for many years by another Urbana lawyer, Frank Chance, and it was upon the latter's death that the railroad company offered the position to Judge Heiserman. Since that time he has been advanced until now he is general solicitor of the company. Without doubt Heiserman is one of the ablest lawyers the county has ever produced. The day after the resignation of Judge Heiserman was received by the governor, Evan P. Middleton was appointed to serve until the next regular election the following November. Judge Middleton was elected in the following November for Judge Heiser- man's unexpired term and re-elected for a full term in November, 1904. During this term the Legislature extended the tenure of the office from five to six years. The record made by Judge Middleton on the bench his first term secured his nomination for a second term and the increasing satisfaction
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with which his work on the bench was received brought him a third nomina- tion and a third election to the bench. He is now filling his third term, which will expire in 1922. No judge in the county during its history of more than a hundred years has occupied the bench for a longer period than Judge Mid- dleton.
A complete list of Common Pleas judges, since 1852 follows: S. Hart, 1852-57; E. Parsons, 1857-62; William White, 1862-67; Ichabod Corwin, 1867-72; R. C. Fulton, 1872-77 ; George D. Burgess, 1877; H. H. Williams, 1877-79; William R. Warnock, 1879-89; Levi Geiger, 1889-94; Clarence B. Heiserman, 1894-1901 ; Evan P. Middleton, 1901.
JUDGE EVAN PERRY MIDDLETON. By Ernest V. Shockley.
We must all die some day; even the lawyer can not live forever. When that last day comes our friends-and even our enemies-will talk about the good deeds we did on earth. As they meet they will deplore our passing ; they will recall the hundreds of kindly acts we performed here on earth; they will then see only the good in our lives.
No one who reads these lines will deny the truth of these assertions, and these same people who say these good things about us will very likely never have said one of them to our face while we were living. They just took it for granted that we were doing our best, but as for ever encouraging us by telling us that they appreciated what we were doing-well, they did not take the time to do it. And so we worked all our lives doing our best day by day, as the days came and went, without a word of appreciation from our friends. It is a way people have of doing things; letting a man live his whole life and, then, after he is gone, telling each other what a good man he was, and what he did for the community in which he lived.
It has been the privilege of the writer of these lines to have spent four months in the early part of 1917 with Judge Middleton, and during that time he learned to know the man. He talked to hundreds of people about him; he heard their comments about his worth as a man and as a judge. Each succeeding day spent with this quiet man in his office, or with him as he went to and from his work as judge of the common pleas court of the county, gave the writer an opportunity to form a fair estimate of him. As general editor of the "History of Champaign County" he has given the work his careful and painstaking supervision and has given the writer, as historian, the benefit of his wide knowledge of men and affairs in his county. It, therefore, falls
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to the lot of the historian to present to the future generations of Champaign county an estimate of the man whose name will be associated throughout all the coming years with this history.
It should be said at the outset that all of the manuscript of the history has been carefully gone over by Judge Middleton, and the only part of the history with which he is not familiar is this sketch of himself. This apprecia- tion of the man is meant to be as fair and accurate an estimate as can be drawn, and no attempt will be made to indulge in a surplusage of adjectives. He would be the last man on earth to seek to draw from others a kindly word for himself. When he dies people will say kindly things about him; the local papers will eulogize him; the members of the bar will pass resolutions setting forth his long and honorable career on the bench and praising his efforts along all lines to make himself a useful citizen to the people whom he so long served. Why can not some of these things be said while he is still living? Why save all the flowers for a man until he is gone forever ? Does it not seem a bit sad, when such a man dies, and so much is said of him that is good, that he could not have heard some of these things while he was still alive?
Hence this effort to present to the people of Champaign county a word concerning the career of Judge Middleton. If an apology were needed for such an effort on the part of the writer, let it be said that he believes in letting people who are still living feel that they have won the good will of their fel- low citizens-that flowers for the living are really appreciated. Future generations of the county will wonder what sort of man Judge Middleton was and what he did that entitled him to an honored place in the annals of his county and state. Therefore, it becomes the duty of the chronicler to set forth briefly at this point certain genealogical facts concerning him.
Evan Perry Middleton was born on a farm in Wayne township, Cham- paign county, Ohio. April 19, 1854. His parents were John and Mary ( McCumber) Middleton, early residents of the county. The Middletons came to the county in the thirties and the many members of the family have faithfully borne their respective parts in the life of the community.
John Middleton, the grandfather of Judge Middleton, and his wife, Elizabeth West, came to Champaign county about the year 1832. Both were born in Fairfax county, Virginia. When quite young they moved with their parents to Kentucky where they remained for several years, removing from there to Brown county, Ohio, near Georgetown about the year 1810. John Middleton served as a soldier in the War of 1812. When he located
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in Champaign county in 1832, he purchased of James Abernathy one hun- dred and eighty-six acres of land in Huffman's Survey, No. 6238, Wayne township. about two and a half miles southeast of Cable, and continued to make this his place of residence until his death on August 12, 1873. He was past ninety-five years of age at the time of his death. His wife, Eliz- abeth, survived him until the following 13th day of December at which time she passed away at the age of ninety-three years. They were the parents of six sons and five daughters and had passed their seventy-second wedding anniversary before the death of either. Their sons were William, James, Thomas. John. Edward and George; their daughters were Lettuce, Eleanor, Susan, Sarah and Elizabeth. all of whom with one exception, lived to ma- turity and old age. One of these sons, John, Jr., was the father of Judge Evan P. Middleton. He devoted all his life to farming, but always found time to take a part in the affairs of his community. For several years he served as justice of the peace of Wayne township.
The boyhood days of Judge Middleton were exactly the same as those of millions of other American boys who were brought up on a farm in that generation. All the boyish pleasures, all the trials of those youthful days were his. He planted corn in his bare feet ; he hoed and plowed it; he helped harvest it. He worked through the summer on his father's farm and at- tended the country school of his neighborhood during the winter months. Thus he grew from youth to manhood.
That Judge Middleton must have profited by his early meager educa- tional opportunities is shown by the fact that when only sixteen years of age he was teaching in the rural schools of his home township. But teaching was only a means to an end. He had other aspirations and he taught only to provide the means for and the opportunity of acquiring a better education with a view to the study of the law. In all he taught eight years, during which time, under such private instructors as he was able to secure, he pursued a course of study which included the higher branches of mathematics, the Latin classics, history and English literature. Had he chosen to follow the teaching profession there is no doubt he would have risen to the top, just as he has in the legal profession. While still a mere youth, however, he deter- mined to make law his life work and the school room was but the stepping stone to the profession in which he was to engage later in life. During the leisure periods of the last three years he spent in the school room he read law under Gen. John H. Young, He and his brother, Arthur N. Middleton, studied law together and both were admitted to the practice by the supreme
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court of Ohio on October 2, 1878. In the spring of 1879 he and his brother opened a law office in Urbana, under the firm name of Middleton & Middleton, a partnership which continued until the death of Arthur N. Middleton on December 23, 1889.
The first few years of Judge Middleton's practice were fraught with the same discouragements which fall to the lot of all young lawyers. There were cases won and cases lost; but through it all he kept studying and per- fecting himself in the profession to which he has devoted his life. Whether he ever had visions that one day he might attain to the highest honor that may be conferred on a member of the legal profession-a position on the bench-the writer does not attempt to state, but undoubtedly the young lawyer hoped some day to rise to such a position.
After four years of faithful attention to his profession, he made the race for prosecuting attorney of his county and his election to this office in the fall of 1882, he then being twenty-eight years of age, is ample evidence that the people of the county had confidence in his ability to perform its duties. His re-election to the same office three years later testifies to his efficient administration of the duties of the office during his first term. He served in this capacity from January 1, 1883, to January 1, 1889, two terms, a period of six years. Then followed a decade during which he gave all of his time to his rapidly growing law practice. Each succeeding year brought him new clients and his careful and skillful handling of their cases grad- ually added to his prestige as a lawyer. Always a student, he never relaxed in his efforts to gain a deeper insight into the underlying principles of his profession. For this reason he eventually became identified with the most important cases coming before the courts, not only in his home county, but in many other parts of the state. In other words, he was coming to the place where he was becoming recognized as one of the leaders in his pro- fession. Few lawyers attain the topmost rounds of their calling without going through years of slow growth; the law is a peculiar mistress-she must be assiduously courted if one is to be favored of her.
In 1898. at the end of the first term of Capt. A. Lybrand as repre- sentative of the eighth congressional district, Judge Middleton was induced to become a candidate in opposition to Captain Lybrand's re-election, and in the selection of delegates to the nominating convention succeeded in electing a solid delegation from Champaign and Hardin counties and the majority of the delegates from Logan county-these being three of the six counties then comprising the district. The fact, however, that Captain
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Lybrand was running for his second term proved too strong an argument in his favor for even the popularity of his opponent to overcome and the judge failed of the nomination.
This decade of Judge Middleton's life, from 1889 to 1899, was, as stated, filled with an ever increasing amount of legal business, but at its close an opportunity was presented whereby he could again enter public life. He was nominated by the Republicans of his senatorial district-Cham- paign, Clark and Madison counties-as their candidate for the state Senate and was elected in November, 1899. He served as a member of the seventy- fourth General Assembly of Ohio until he resigned to accept the appointment of common pleas judge. As a member of the Senate he was chairman of the committee on state buildings, a member of the committees on judiciary, county affairs, common schools, school lands, insurance, federal relations and privileges and elections.
The appointment of Judge Middleton on September 5,1901, at the hand of Gov. George K. Nash was a fitting recognition of his long career as a lawyer. He was appointed judge of the court of common pleas for the second sub-division of the second judicial district, comprising the counties of Champaign, Clark, Darke, Miami and Preble, to serve until the election on the following November, Judge Clarence B. Heiserman, the incumbent, having resigned to become solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany. In the election of that fall Judge Middleton was chosen to fill the unexpired term of Judge Heiserman and in November, 1904, was re-elected for a term of five years. During this term a change in the constitution of the state extended the term of the office to six years, which resulted in his term being extended one year. He was re-elected in November, 1910, for a term of six years and in November, 1916, was again re-elected to the office making the fourth time he had been elected to the office by the people of his county. Within the past few years the judicial and sub-districts have been abolished by constitutional changes and subsequent statutory enact- ments, so that at the present time he is addressed as judge of the court of common pleas of Champaign county. His present term will expire on January 1, 1923. He has now been serving sixteen years and it is not too much to say that he is universally recognized as having a more extensive knowledge of law that any other lawyer in the county. The very nature of his duties has made it necessary for him to study the law from every angle. and his written opinions on a wide variety of cases, touching hundreds of different aspects of the law. show that he has a firm grasp of its fundamental principles.
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As evidence of the fact that Judge Middleton's reputation and ability as a lawyer and judge extends much beyond the limits of his own county and district, it may be stated that in the spring of 1914 he was frequently called into conference with prominent members of the bar throughout the state and with leaders of his party, who strongly urged him to become a candidate at the following November election for chief justice of the state supreme court. Had he followed the advice of his friends in this regard, it now seems quite certain he would have been elected. Notwithstanding the fact that he was assured the party nomination without opposition, he de- clined to enter the contest, preferring to continue his work uninterruptedly upon the common pleas bench of his own county, to which he had devoted so many years of his life.
Judge Middleton was married on December 29, 1875. to Zeppa Rippe- toe, a daughter of William and Martha Rippetoe. She died on November 3, 1901, leaving three children: Lucie E., the wife of A. Jay Miller, an attorney of Bellefontaine, Ohio; William R., now with the W. H. Anderson Company, of Cincinnati; George S., a practicing attorney and captain of Company D, Third Ohio Infantry, which was mustered into the federal service on September 4, 1917. The Judge was married, a second time, June 29. 1904, to Ella G. Sullivan. a daughter of William and Martha Sullivan, of Norwood, Ohio.
When the writer sought from local members of the bar an expression regarding Judge Middleton's ability, the purpose of the question not being known, he was informed that he ranked among the best common pleas judges of the state; that as a student of the law he was without a peer in the county : that as a pleader before a jury he ranked as one of the best lawyers Champaign county ever produced. Certainly, higher praise could hardly be given and it seems no more than right that this generous estimate of his fellow practitioners be recorded in this connection. During his long career as a judge he has made every effort to render absolutely fair and accurate decisions and no one has ever questioned his honesty of purpose. A judge can not always please everyone; he tries to give a just decision, but it must always be for one side and against the other. The one against which the decision is made is naturally not always satisfied, but Judge Mid- dleton has, to an unusual degree, administered the duties of his office in such a way as to command the respect of the people of his district and county.
The reader of these lines might get the idea that Judge Middleton, by (26)
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virtue of his long services on the bench, was interested only in his own profession. But this is far from being the case. Some of us are so prone to keep our noses so close to the daily grindstone of our little lives that the dust often rises to our eyes and obscures our vision; we can see nothing but our own petty affairs and even these too often become indistinct; still others find themselves so blinded by the dust that they lose sight altogether of themselves, as well as of those who are around them. The Judge has not allowed himself to lose sight of the fact that he is a part and parcel of his community. He has been a resident of Urbana since 1877, nearly forty years, and during all these years he has taken a prominent part in every movement launched for its betterment. As a citizen, he has interested hin- self in those affairs which make for better citizenship; as the head of a family, he has fulfilled his duties with singular fidelity; as a friend of his fellowmen, he has conducted his life so as to merit the high esteem in which he is universally held; as a judge of the court, he has administered its exact- ing duties with a judicious balance of justice and mercy which has endeared him to the hearts of his people.
Such a man is Judge Middleton as seen by the writer of these lines; a good man to know. No other man in the county is confronted with such responsibilities as face him from day to day in the discharge of his official duties. He deserves the co-operation of the people of the county in his efforts to make it a better county in which to live, and, in justice to his constituency, it may be said that they have given him loyal support. In the years to come, long after he has been gathered to his fathers, some will pick up this volume and here read of this man. May these lines preserve for generations unborn the name and fame of this son of Champaign county -Judge Evan Perry Middleton.
THE PROBATE COURT.
The office of probate judge was created by the Constitution of 1851 and has been in continuous operation since that time. Prior to that year all mat- ters of a probate nature were in charge of the court of common pleas. The Constitution of 1851 (Art. IV, Sec. 7) provided that "There shall be estab- lished in each county, a Probate Court, which shall be a court of record, open at all times, and holden by one judge, elected by the voters of the county, who shall hold his office of three years (later amended to make tenure of four years), and shall receive such compensation, payable out of the county treasury, or by fees, or both, as shall be provided by law."
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Subsequent constitutional changes and statutory enactments have changed the tenure, defined the jurisdiction of the court and made the court an efficient working arm of the judiciary of the state. The history of this court and all the facts necessary to a thorough understanding of the court and its workings may be found in the volume of William M. Rockel, former judge of probate of Clark county, Ohio, entitled "The Complete Law and Practice in the Pro- bate Courts of Ohio" (1912).
JURISDICTION OF PROBATE COURT.
The jurisdiction of the court extends to all probate and testamentary matters, the 'appointment of administrators and guardians, the settlement of the accounts of executors, administrators and guardians, the issuing of mar- riage licenses, the sale of land by executors, administrators, and guardians, and "such other jurisdiction as may be provided by law." The court also has congnizance of all matters pertaining to the care and protection of children; that is, the court, in effect, is a juvenile court. It also appoints the board of visitors; has general charge of the administration of the mothers' pension act, and determines commitments to the insane asylum, children's home, poor farm, etc.
LAWYERS AS PROBATE JUDGES.
There is nothing in the law which defines the qualifications of the incum- bent of the office, and until within recent years many of the counties of the state elected judges who were without any knowledge whatever of the law, Champaign county, on the other hand, has elected members of the local bar in every instance with two exceptions, A. F. Vance, Sr., and Joseph P. Northcutt. Joseph Brand, who served by appointment from September 3, 1861, to October 25, 1861, was not a lawyer. Five of the former probate judges of the county are still living, Judges Todd, Northcutt, Cheney, Owen and Seibert. It seems that the duties of the office are conducive to good health and longevity. The act establishing the court provided that the incum- bents should take their seats on the first Tuesday of February, 1852, and the day happened to fall on the ninth of the month. For sentimental reasons, despite the legal provision, the change in succession has ever since taken place on the ninth of February, irrespective of whether it was Tuesday or not. Judge Gibbs, the present incumbent, took his office on Friday, February 9, 1917.
A list of the probate judges since 1852 follows: Samuel V. Baldwin,
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1852 (died in office, August, 1861) ; Joseph C. Brand, September 3 to Octo- ber 25, 1861; A. F. Vance, Sr., 1861-78; David W. Todd, 1878-90; Joseph P. Northcutt, 1890-96; E. Erwood Cheney, 1896-1902; Thomas B. Owen, 1902-08; George Pearl Seibert, 1908-17; Virgil H. Gibbs, 1917.
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