History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 16

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 16

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surveys for his black people, without designating, however, the one intended for them, and directed that, as euch should arrive at the age at which he was to be free, he should be entitled to a lot of this survey of a given number of acres, probably forty. Peter and his wife, under the provision of the will, secured their freedom, and almed to secure their lands, with what success remains to be told. Captain Peyton's will was so drawn that, Instead of securing freedom to euch slave on arriving at a certain age. fixed by the will, they were sold into slavery at a distance, and the lands designated for their homes were parceled out among those for whom they were not intended. Soon after Captain Peyton's death, the younger slaves, who had not yet arrived at the age at which they were to be free, were sold without limitation as to the duration of the servitude. Seeing the drift of things, Peter Peyton and wife started on foot for Ohio. They arrived at Stone Lick creek, on the Peyton survey, In the year 1814, as Is de- lieved. U'p to this time the whole survey was in a state of nature, heavily wooded, and. for months of each year, an unreclaimed swamp. Peyton immediately went about erecting a cabin, which was a small and rude structure, to live in, and preparing ground for a crop. The settlers were few, and were, in general, Inte arrivals, with wide reaches of swampy wood between their balf-finished cabins.

"Early settlers are generally proverblal for kindness and reciprocation of rude but well-meant civilities. Peter Peyton thought his neighbors were of another kind. They did not like the color of Peter and his wife: they wanted white neighbors of none; they did not ald him In raising his house; they did not spenk to him or of him elvilly ; they would not associate with 'niggers.' He claimed that they gave him per- sonal abuse. On March 15, 1$15. Peter, by Daniel F. Barney (a name unknown), his attorney. commenced sult against Samuel Batson (given Batson on the court record} and Isaac Daniela, laying his damages at one thousand dollars On May 6, 1815, Mr. Barney unfolded the nature and magnitude of the case. His charge against them wns

that they assaulted, bent, wounded and illtreated him, so that his life was despaired of, and afflicted other Injuries upon him to the damage of one thousand dollars This, it was claimed, was done with staves, clubs, knives and dogs, and on the - day of March, 1815. Process was served upon Batson May 16, 1815, and upon Batson and Daniels both May 16, 1815, by Joseph Roberds, sheriff of Clinton county. This suit abated in consequence of the death of Peyton.

"The grand jury at the February term, 1816, was composed as follows: Benjamin Farquhar, foreman, William Austin. Peter Lieurance, Jonathan Fallis. Thomas MeMil- lan, William Stanton, George Richards, Abraham Hester, George Moon. Samuel Reed, David Evans, Owen West, John Wilson, James Haworth and Samuel Cox. They pre- sented that. 'Robert Anderson, Inte of the township of Vernon, In the county afore- said (Clinton), and Jobu DeWitt, late of the same, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil. on the 13th day of November, In the year of our Lord 1815, with force and arms, at the township aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, in and upon one l'eter Peyton, a black man, In the presence of God and the state of Ohio, then and there belug. feloniously, willfully. purposely, and of their deliberate and premeditated malice aforethought. did make an assault, and that the snid Robert Anderson had a certain rifle gun, of the value of fifteen dollars, then and there loaded, and charged with gunpowder and one lenden bullet, which rifle gun. he, the said Robert Anderson, in his hands then and there had and held, to and against and upon the said Peter Peyton, a black man. then and there feloniously, willfully, purposely, and of bis deliberate and premeditated malice afore- thought, did shoot and discharge, and that the said Robert Anderson, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the rifle gun aforesaid, then and there, by force of the gun- powder, shot and sent forth, as nforesaid, Peter Peyton, a black man, in and upon the back part of the head of him, the sald Peter Peyton, a black man, then and there,

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with the lenden bullet aforesaid, out of the gun aforesaid, by the said Robert Ander- son, so and aforesaid shot, discharged and sent forth, felouiously, and of his dellb- erate and premeditated malice aforethought, did strike, prostrate and wound, giving to the said Peter Peyton, a black man, then and there, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid shot, discharged and sent forth out of the rifle gun aforesaid, by the said Robert Anderson, in and upon the back part of the head of him. the snid Peter Perton, a black man, one mortal wound of the depth of six inches, and of the breadth of half an inch, of which said mortal wound the aforesaid Peter Peyton. a black man, then and there Instantly died; and that the aforesaid Jobn DeWitt then and there feloniously, willfully, purposely. aud of his deliberate and premeditated malice afore- thought, was present, alding, helping, assisting, abetting. comforting, counseling. pro- curing and maintaining the said Robert Anderson, the felony and murder aforesnid, in manner and form aforesaid, to do and commit; and so the jurors aforesald. upon their onth aforesaid, do say that the said Robert Anderson and John DeWitt, the said Peter Peyton, a black man. then and there, in manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, purposely, and of their deliberate and premeditated malice aforethought. did kill and murder contrary to the form of statute of the state of Ohio. in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio.

"*J. COLLETT, P. C. C.'"

"At a court of common pleas holden at Wilmington, in the county of Clinton and the state of Ohio, on the 6th day of February. 1816, before the Hon. Francis Dunlavy, president, and Jesse Hughes, Thomas Hinkson and George MeManis, his associate of the court of common pleas of the county aforesaid, the jury was impaneled. On the 6th day of May. 1816. before the Hon. Ethan A. Brown and Jessup X. Couch. Esqs, Judges of the supreme court of the state of Oblo, assigned to keep the pence. etc., came as well as the said Jobn DeWitt in his own proper person, as William R. Cole, Esy., who prosecutes for the state of Ohio in their behalf. Whereupon the said John DeWitt, by Thomas Freeman, Esq., his attorney, who moves the court here that he (DeWlitt) be discharged for the reasons following, towit :

""Because, first, this court has no jurisdiction to try the defendant; second. the court of common pleas, at the term of February. 1816, had no power or authority to indict the defendant in manner as they have done, they baving first, at a called court. In November. 1815, committed him to prison. to be tried in the supreme court : third, no legal jury can be made in this court to try him: fourth. the prosecutor bas not summoned a grand or traverse jury to attend this court, either to indict or try the defendant on said charge. For these causes and others that may be urged. the de- fendant moves as above he has moved the court. Thomas Freeman, attorney for de- fendant, May 7. 1816.'

" "Whereupon, all and singular the premises being seen and by the said supreme court now here fully understood, it is considered and ordered by the court that the said John DeWitt do take nothing by bis motion aforesaid, but that the sald be over- ruled .*

"Afterward, in the same term of May. the defendant. DeWitt, by his attorney. moved the court to quash the indictment. After hearing the reasons and arguments of counsel : 'But because the court will advise themselves of and upon the premises before they give their judgment thereon, day Is given as well to the said William R. Cole. Erq .. who, etc., as to the snid John DeWitt, here at Wilmington, until the 12th day of May next to hear their judgment thereon, because the court now here thereof not yet, etc.' The defendant (DeWitt) was therefore remanded to the jail of Clinton county, At the May term (May 12), 1817, of the supreme court of the state of Ohio. before the Hon. Ethan A. Brown and John McLean. Esys., judges of the supreme court

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of the state of Ohio, the case was continued until May 9, 1818. At the May term, 1818, the prosecuting attorney, William R. Cole, entered a nolle prosequi in the case."

( See Supreme Court Record No. 2, Clinton County, for the foregoing facts, and for the proceedings on the trial of Samuel Batson on a similar charge, pages 6 to 11, inclusive. )

"Samuel Batson, on November 23, 1815, executed his sealed note to Thomas Freeman for two hundred dollars, payable in six months. (See Second Common Pleas Court Record, Clinton County, Ohio.)

"Peter Peyton was living In his house when killed. Hle wus forcibly taken to the woods, not far from his house, and there shot from behind by DeWitt. He re- sisted capture to the last, but was overpowered and tled. The place of his death is still shown. His former residence was on a lot adjoining the farm of Peter Rude. on Stone Lick. Peyton's wife had no children. She was kidnaped by DeWitt, Batson and others, the murderers of her husband, and then offered for sale; but, being some- what old, a purchaser could not be readily found. At length she was offered for sale to a man whose wife suspected that all was not right. She inquired as to the kinds of work the old colored woman could do, and refused to buy without having an expo- sition of her skill. This was consented to. In the kitchen the black woman was ques- tioned closely, and thereupon told the story of the murder of her husband and the kid- naping of berself. DeWitt was arrested, but on his way to the jail, feigned to have a falling fit. and fell from his horse. This caused an abatement of vigilance on the part of his guard, so that he was able to escape, and he was never afterward arrested."

THE EARLY JUDGES.

The courts of the county have been traced frow their establishment on through the successive changes, and now attention is turned from the offices to the officers who served these courts, and also the active lawyers who served in these courts,

A. H. Dunlevy, of Warren county, Ohio, In a letter written in 1875 upon "Wilming- ton Sixty Years Ago," published in the Wilmington Journal, speaks thus of matters pertaining to the early courts and bars:

"The scenes which I witnessed at Wilmington in the spring of 1815. the first time I visited it, are all passed away. The few inhabitants then dwelling there are prob- ably all gone, and a new people occupy their places Isaiah Morris, who then Hved there, was clerk of the court, an office which he fled subsequently, for over twenty years. Francis Dunlavy was presiding judge: Peter Burr, Jesse Hughes and Thomas Hinkson, if my recollection is correct, were the associate judges, and William R. Cole, who settled here in 1812, was prosecuting attorney. He was the successor in that office of James Montgomery, who came to Wilmington in 1810, and removed to Fayette county in 1813. He was the first member of the bar in Wilmington, Mr. Hale the sec- ond member, and Mr. Cole the third member. Court was held in a log bouse near the site. or on the same spot. where the court house now stands. . . . Samuel H. Hale (who lived to be the oldest member of the Miami or Scioto bar) purchased the Western Star in 1500 from Nathaniel McLean and sold out two years afterward, re- moving to Wilmington. Benjamin Hinkson commenced practice in 1820. . . . Wilmington was almost the only place where the Miami and Scioto bars met at the courts, and it being then customary for lawyers to ride the circuit almost as regu- larly as the presiding judge, it was an occasion of great interest to see the members of both bars together, and frequently testing their legal knowledge and powers of advocacy before the same tribunal. The late William Creighton was one of the ablest of the Scioto bar. and Richard Douglas, or "Dick" Douglas as he was usually called. was more noted for his rendy wit than for his legal talent, though I believe a good lawyer. Both were from Chillicothe, and frequently in attendance upon the Wilming-

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ton courts, and there they met John Alexander, of Xenia, and Thomas Corwin, Thomas Ross and others, of Lebanon, and, in early times, Thomas Morris and O. T. Fishback, of Williamsburg, then the county sent of Clermont. William R. Cole came to the Wil- mington bar, as near as I can recollect, about 1812, and remained over twenty years."

Judge Francis Dunlavy (spelled by other members of the family Dunlevy), the first presiding judge of the district which included what is now Clinton county, re- sided in Warren county, near Lebanon. Judge Harlan sald of him: "He was born near Winchester. Virginia. about 1701 or 1762. At the age of fourteen years he entered the army of the Revolution as a substitute for a man with a large family. He served In several campaigns, mostly against the Indians. In the summer of 1778 he assisted ju building Ft. MeIntosh, on the bank of the Ohio river. a few miles below Pittsburgh. This was the first American fort north of the Ohlo river. In May. 1782, he was with the unfortunate expedition from the Ohlo and Washington county, Pennsylvania, under command of Colonel Crawford, to destroy the Delaware and Wyandot towns on the Sandusky river. Mr. Duulavy and two others escaped from the field of the defeat and made their way safely through the woods to Ft. Pitt. Without having studied law or having been called to the bar. he was elected by the General Assembly of Oblo, at its first session, in December, 1803, president judge of the first judicial circuit of Ohio: yet be held the office for fourteen years, or until 1817. He rose by the successive steps of schoolmaster, member of the Territorial Legislature, and member of the first constitutional convention of Ohio, to the important position. He was forty-one years of age when elected to the office of judge. Strictly honest, he had no motive to do wrong and every motive to do right. He had a quick perception, a clear and logical understand- ing. He must on the bench, at least first. have keenly felt his want of legal study and the technical knowledge of proceedings in a court of justice. With these he never became familiar, but must have overcome them to a certain extent. We have slender means of knowing how he performed his judicial duties, but we may infer from his great good sense and love of Justice among men that he was able to arrive at the justice of the case brought before him. In qualifying himself for the discharge of his duties, he was afded by an excellent education. Immediately after his election, he began earnestly the study of law. Being of quick and solid parts, he soon acquired a fair amount of legal knowledge, which, turned to good account, enabling him to decide debated points with general accuracy and to detect the sophistry of attorneys who bud given their days and nights to the study of Bacon, Blackstone and Coke. He was admitted to the practice of law at the May. 1516. term of the supreme court of Ohio."

Peter Burr, Jesse Hughes and Thomas Hinkson were the Arst associate judges, as has been previously mentioned.

Peter Burr immigrated to this country in 1798. Judge Burr was a justice of the peace in Warren county before the establishment of Clinton county. He was one of the two members of the House of Representatives from Warren county in the fourth and fifth sessions of the General Assembly, serving with Matthias Corwin on each occasion. After serving in the capacity of associate judge for about three months, a vacancy occurred in the office of clerk of the court of common pleas for the county and he was appointed to fill It. first by a pro tem. appointment, June 21, 1810, and afterward for the full term of seven years, June 4. 1811. In 1814 he was elected clerk of the supreme court. He died holding both of these offices. Judge Burr bad not the qualification for the office of clerk. He wrote a poor hand, and was wholly unacquainted with the sub- stance and forms of the simplest legal entry. He was a surveyor and was often appointed by the county commissioners to survey the proposed routes for new roads. Judge Burr died on August 8, 1816.

Jesse Hughes was born January 22. 1767, and came to this county, originally, from Berkeley county, Virginia. His early life was spent in Indian warfare aud early pioneer

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life characteristic to the settlers of that date. He was re-elected to the office of associate judge three successive times, serving twenty-eight years in all. It is not supposed that Judge Hughes, owed bis elevation to the bench to his knowledge of law, for he made no pretentions to legal leurning. He owed far more to his high moral character, good seuse and unimpeachable integrity.

Thomas Hinkson was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, In 1772. Mr. Hinkson also accompanied many expeditions against the Indians and gained some valu- able experiences which enabled him to deal with his fellow men. He was elected to the office of justice of the peace of Highland county and served until 1810. He was a farmer and also store keeper by trade and had no actual knowledge of law when he took his office as associate judge. Mr. Hinkson removed to Indiana in 1821.

George MeManis was successor to Judge Burr. He took his seat upon the bench, September 10, 1810. Before this he had served the county as commissioner. which office he was still holding at the time of his election to the judgeship. Judge MeManis was born in Philadelphia, March 16. 1706. He came to this part of the state in the spring .of 1808. He served the county two terms on the bench, from 1810 to 1824. Judge Hughes died March 16, 1826.

Aaron Sewell was elected, In 1817, by the General Assembly of Ohio one of the associate judges of Clinton county to fill the vacancy on the bench occasioned by the expiration of the term of Judge Thomas Hinkson. He was elected in 1824, and again in 1831: whole term. twenty-one years. Mr. Sewell was born in Loudon county, Vir- ginin. August 27, 1774. In 1814 Judge Sewell was elected justice of the peace for Vernon township. The office was one of great dignity at that time and was generally bestowed upon the most substantial citizens. In conversation, Judge Sewell was not a many of many words, but he expressed his ideas clearly, sensibly and candidly. His Integrity was beyond question and his moral character unblemished. He died January, 1842.

Benjamin Hinkson was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky. He Immigrated to Clinton county with his father. Judge Thomas Hinkson. He became deputy clerk of the court for Fayette county. He was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Wilmington in 1820, which he continued until elected secretary of state for Ohio, In 1834. In 1536 he was elected president judge of the court of common pleas for the Judicial district composed of the counties of Clinton, Warren, Butler and Greene. At the close of his term of seven years as Judge, he resumed for a time the practice of law. but his interests returned to the farm and, in 1852, he retired from the law field and engaged in stock raising. Dr. A. Jones, who knew Judge Hinkson intimately, spoke of him in these terms: When he first appeared In court, at the age of twenty-one, he was modest, courteous and gentlemanly. We have met but few men, perhaps none, who possessed a higher sense of honor, a greater veneration for truth. than did Judge Hink- son. I'ntruth and Insincerity had no abiding place in his mind or heart ; benevolent, generous and kind, he was ever ready and willing to aid the needy. In March, 1877, Judge Hinkson died of paralysis, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

The preceding were the early judges of the district, all prominent as pioneers and members of the judiciary. Our sturdy settlers seem to have been of the opinion that good character, sound sense and judgment, and unimpeachable Integrity were qualifica- tions quite sufficient to enable a judge to do justice between man and man in general, and if these were known to be possessed by the Judge, no others were deemed necessary. How far in error were they? The schoolmaster, without a knowledge of technical law. generally found means to arrive at the justice of the case brought before him, and those without previous study of law were seldom at a loss to And law to support the right and were seldom able to see any to sustain wrong. They lived in times which many of this generation seem to regard as only once removed from barbarism. This is a great mis-

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take. Where could be found men of better walk and conversation than Judge Hughes, Judge MeManis and Judge Sewell? Or, ascending to a higher rank of judges, examine the moral standing of Judge Dunlavy, of Judge Collett and of Judge Mclean-every- one a Christian gentleman.

EARLY MEMBERS OF THE BAR.

The first Inwyer to settle in Clinton county was James Montgomery. He was first licensed to practice law at Lebanon in 1803, at the first term of the supreme court in Warren county. His name appears on the records of our courts for the first time at the fall term of the common pleas court, October 18, 1510. On that day the court appointed Mr. Montgomery to the office of prosecuting attorney for the county, at n salary of sixty dollars per year. During Mr. Montgomery's entire stay here he was without a rival, but he bad by no means all of the business of the courts. Two reasons may be assigned for this. He may not have been a lawyer of great skill and talent, while several of the non-residents of the bar who practiced in this court were lawyers of great skill, legal talent, learning and ability. He probably left this county before 1813 as we find a record where he is called a citizen of Fayette county, in June, 1813.

The honor of being the second lawyer in this county is awarded by Judge Harlan. to W. R. Cole, while A. H. Dunlavy accords this honor to Samuel R. Hale. Both came to this county in the latter part of 1812.

William R. Cole was born in the city of New York, in 1750. He was reared and educated in Lexington, Kentucky. He was licensed to practice law by the supreme court at Cleveland, August 13, 1810. On the 5th day of October, 1812, Mr. Cole was elected by the court of common pleas to the office of prosecuting attorney. This position he held until the second Tuesday in October, 1834, when the office became elective by the people. Mr. Cole removed to Indiana in the month of April, 1837. He died April 10, 1847. A friend writing of him snld. "He died in the ripeness of his intellect, and fullness of his Christian faith and hope."

Samuel R. Hale was born. February 14, 1787. in Randolph county, North Carolina. His father was a wagon-maker, in whose shop Samuel served until be had reached the nge of twenty years. He had very little actual time for attending school, but he was a great render, especially of historical and biographical facts. In 1810, he moved to Lebanon, made the acquaintance of Hon. John McLean, and commenced the study of law with him. The Western Star was published by this firm of MeLeau & Hale. Toward the close of 1812, Mr. Hale removed to Wilmington, bringing with him his young wife. whom he had married ouly a short time before, and started in the practice of law. Dr. Jones says: "The life of the advocate was too monotonous for his active temperament. Full of impulse and energy, he could not confine bimself to the practice of law. He could not remain quiet and soon engaged in a multifarious trade. In the latter part of 1812 be opened a hotel in Wilmington and invested capital in a stock of goods and groceries. In 1813. he was elected to the General Assembly of Ohio, and in December of that year, when the Legislature met at Chillicothe, he took his seat as representative from Clinton county. He was very philanthrople, but was also very Interested in the affairs of the town and county and contributed Hberally to anything for the uplift of humanity -- schools, churches and libraries, He again took his sent in the Legislature from 1822.25. He retired from public life after serving in the State Senate In 1528-29. After a long period of prosperity, he at last met reverses and lost his fortune."

Daniel Radcliff was born on the South branch of the Potomne river, In Maryland. He was admitted to the bar and licensed to practice law in Kentucky in 1812. Two years later be removed to Ohio and was licensed a second time. He followed his pro- fession for several years. He served as county treasurer of Clinton county for eight years, and as justice of the peace for Union township from 1818 to 1829. He removed to Illinois in 1836.

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 16

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108