USA > Ohio > Defiance County > History of Defiance County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, etc.; military record; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; farm views, personal reminiscences, etc > Part 19
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The first court at Defiance was attended by Eleu- theros Cooke, of Sandusky City, Rodolphus Dickin-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
son, of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), James L. Gage and Thomas W. Powell, from Perrysburg, Charles and William G. Ewing, from Fort Wayne, and one or two from Dayton.
THE BENCH.
Judge Ebenezer Lane continued to preside at the courts of Williams County until the appointment of his successor, David Higgins, of Norwalk, in Febru- ary, 1830, to the Second Judicial Circuit of Ohio, which then included Huron, Richland, Delaware, San- dusky. Seneca, Crawford, Marion, Wood, Hancock, Henry, Williams, Putnam, Paulding and Van Wert Counties. Of the voyage to Defiance in the pirogue " Jurisprudence," Judge Higgins wrote: "We had been attending court at Findlay. Our circuit route from that town was first to Defiance and from there to Perrysburg. A countryman agreed to take our horses directly through the black swamp to Perrys- burg, and we purchased a canoe, and taking with us our saddles, bridles and baggage proposed to descend to Blanchard's Fork and the Auglaize Rivers to Defi- ance and then to Perrysburg. Our company consisted of Rodolphus Dickinson, J. C. Spink, Count Coffin - berry, myself and a countryman whose name I for- get. The voyage was a dismal one to Defiance, through an unsettled wilderness of some sixty miles. Its loneliness was only broken by the intervening set- tlement at Ottawa Village, where we were hailed and cheered lustily by the Tahwa Indians as would be a foreign war ship in the port of New York. From Defiance we descended the Maumee to Perrysburg, where we found all well. In descending the Mau- mee, we came near running into the rapide, where
we should probably have been swamped had we not been hailed from the shore and warned of our danger."
At the expiration of his term, Judge Higgins was succeeded by Ozias Bowen. In 1839, the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit was established, embracing the fol- lowing ten counties: Lucas, Wood, Henry, Williams, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Allen, Hardin and Hancock. Emory D. Potter was elected Presiding Judge of this circuit and held the office until 1844, when he resigned to take a seat in Congress. He was succeeded on the bench by Hon, Myron H. Tilden, who resigned eighteen months later. February 19, 1845, the Sixteenth Judicial District, embracing the counties of Shelby, Mercer, Allen, Hardin, Hancock, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert and Willams was erected, and Patrick G. Goode, of Sidney, elected Presiding Judge. The county of Defiance, erected the following month, was attached to this circuit. He served until 1848, and was succeeded by George B. Way, of Defiance, who served until 1857. Judge Alexander S. Latty was then elected and remained on the bench twenty years. At the time of his election he was a citizen of Paulding, but during his service he removed to Defiance. He was succeeded in 1877 by Judge Selwyn N. Owen, of Bryon, who is now serving his second term. Defiance County, with Paulding and Williams, composed the second sub- division of the Third Judicial District of Ohio.
The Associate Judges of Defiance County, from its organization to the adoption of the present constitn- tion, were Andrew Bigelow, William O. Ensign, and James S. Greer, 1845; Jesse Haller, 1850; Na- than M. Landis, 1851.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BAR.
H NOR many years after the organization of Williams County, the seat of which was at Defiance, the legal services required in the newly settled country were rendered chiefly by an army of legal luminaries, who were accustomed to travel from county to county at the heels of the Presiding Judge. Business was then transacted much more expeditionsly than at pres- ent, and a few days would suffice to complete the business in one town, and the journey would then begin to the next. Probably almost as much time was consumed on the road as in court, so large were the circuits traversed, and so tedious the journeys. Many of the foreign practitioners already have been
mentioned. The first intimation we have of a local attorney at Defiance is given in a letter written March 24, 1862, by James L. Gage and published in the Union Press, of Bryan, Ohio, in which he says: "In the winter of 1826, I opened a law office in De- fiance, Williams County -- I think the first in the county. It was in an upper room in the inn of Benjamin Leavell, an upright man, in whose ex- cellent family I boarded. My office was also my bed - room, and on public days it was also the bed room of many others." Mr. Gage came to the Maumee coun- try in 1824, settling first in Maumee. He did not remain long at Defiance, but moved from place to
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place and finally settled in McConnellsville, Ohio, where he attained distinction as an able lawyer.
The first lawyer to settle permanently at Defi- ance, was probably Horace Sessions, a full sketch of whom is given further on. He located at Defiance in 1833, and maintained a practice there for many years.
William Seamans, a biography of whom also ap- pears hereafter, was admitted to the bar at Defiance in 1835, and at once commenced practice.
In 1836 or 1837, Curtis Bates located at Defiance aud commenced practice at the bar. He was soon after elected State Senator. His election was suc- cessfully contested by his opponent on the ground that Mr. Bates had not been a resident of Ohio for the prescribed period. A new election was ordered, but the required period of residence having elapsed, Mr. Bates was placed in nomination again by his Democratic friends and re-elected his own successor by an increased majority. He afterward removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he became a prominent at- torney and politician. He was at one time the Dem- ocratic candidate for Governor of Iowa.
William C. Holgate, who is still an active practi- tioner of Defiance, was the next attorney. He came to Defiance in 1836, and two years later was admit- ted to the bar, and at once entered upon the labors and duties of his profession.
John B. Seamans practiced at Defiance from 1839 to 1841. Samuel H. Greenlee was an early practi- tioner, and died in 1852. Erastus H. Leland came to Defiance in 1841, but soon after removed to Bryan and became a prominent attorney. He afterward returned to Defiance. Hamilton Davison removed to Defiance in 1849 and was received in the land office. He had previously been admitted to the bar and been engaged in practice, but subsequent to coming here has given his attention chiefly to other pursuits.
George W. B. Evans was a practicing attorney at Defiance in 1845, and rendered efficient service in or- ganizing Defiance County. He was a social and promising young attorney, but left the county before establishing a practice. He emigrated to California at the commencement of the gold excitement and died at San Francisco.
John M. Stilwill came to Defiance and began practice about 1846. He served as Justice of the Peace for a number of years. After a practice of some time he removed to Bloomington, Ill.
Woolsey Wells came to Defiance as Commissioner for the sale of Western Reserve School Lands. After a practice here of some years he removed to Fort Dodge, Iowa.
The firm of George B. Way and William Sheffield was one of the earliest and most successful at Defi-
ance. The former came from Toledo, was a fine scholar and brillant speaker and was elected and served as Judge of the Common Pleas Court. He afterward received an official appointment and removed to Washington, D. C. Mr. Sheffield was from Na- poleon. He became Receiver of the United States Land Office at Defiance.
David Taylor came to Defiance about 1852 and was clerk for his father, John Taylor, who was Re- ceiver in the land office. He read law, was admitted, and became a successful politician and lawyer. He, about 1860, received an appointment as Paymaster in the service, and was afterward paymaster in the reg- ular army. He died in Leavenworth, Kan.
PRESENT BAR
The attorneys now in practice at Defiance are as follows: S. S. Ashbaugh, C. E. Bronson, William Carter, J. F. Deatrick, B. F. Enos, E. H. Gleason, Hardy & Johnson, Harris & Cameron, Sherrod Heacock, W. C. Holgate, S. A. Justice. G. W. Killey, Knapp & Scott, Latty, Hill & Peaslee, Abijah Miller, Newbegin & Kingsberry, M. E. Orcutt, W. M. Randall, John W. Slough, S. T. Sutphen, Will- iam C. Travis.
HORACE SESSIONS.
This gentleman, whose moral, social and profes- sional qualities were widely known and highly valued throughout the Maumee Valley, was born in Painesville, Ohio, April 16, 1812, and removed to Defiance in 1833. He was married to Miss Lucia C. Candee, January 3, 1854, at Watertown, N. Y., and died at Adrian, Mich., June 6, 1868. Mr. Sessions left no children living -two having died in infancy, and one daughter at the age of five or six years. After his decease, his widow returned to her former home at Watertown, N. Y., but afterward removed to Painesville, where within the last two years she married Mr. George W. Steele, a prominent capitalist of that place, who has since about April 4, 1881, died.
We will give the proceedings of a meeting of the bar held at the court house in Defiance on the 15th of June, 1868, at which William C. Holgate, who during a period of more than a quarter of a century was his intimate associate and friend-was made chairman, and Edwin Phelps, secretary, which will convey an idea of the esteem in which Mr. Sessions was held by his professional brethren- Upon accepting the posi- tion tendered Mr. Holgate addressed the meeting as follows:
BRETHREN OF THE BAR: Horace Sessions is gone. The All-wise Being who rules and governs the affairs of men has taken him to Himself. He died at Adrian, Mich., on the 6th inst., where he had stopped off to visit a friend as he was returning from the Republican
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National Convention at Chicago, which he had been attending as a delegate. I was present at his death, and with other friends and citizens of our town ac- companied his remains to Painesville, in this State, where on the 9th they were interred in a beautiful cemetery near the tomb of a loved little daughter and of a father and mother and other relatives.
Our relations with him and his worth require something more than the usual resolutions of re- spect and sympathy. Being the first lawyer that ever settled and stayed here, he may truly be called the father of the Defiance bar. He was also a pioneer of our valley, and the son of a noble patriot of our conn- try and pioneer of our State. In 1794, under An- thony Wayne, his father was in the great battle that first secured the white man possession of and title to the lands we occupy, and he helped to construct the fort which gives our town its name. In 1800, he settled on a farm near Painesville, and there on the 16th day of April, 1812. Horace Sessions was born. He was a vigorous, stout boy, delighting in agricult. ural pursuits and in watching the habits and caring for the animals reared upon the farm. But at the age of twelve years a great misfortune befell him. He was takeu down with a severe sickness, resulting in a fever sore that racked his constitution, shattered his nervous system. producing untold pain and crip- pling him through his whole life. His father dying in 1827, left him a poor, crippled boy, and a widowed mother and sisters in destitute circumstances. His bodily infirmities incapacitating him for farm work, he reluctantly relinquished his favorite calling and cast about to see what else he could do to make a liv- ing for himself and his destitute relations. This re- sulted in his choice of the law for a profession.
Being admitted to the bar at the age of twenty- one, he first went down the Ohio and Mississippi Riv- ers as far as Vicksburg without finding a satisfactory location, when returning he came to the Maumee Valley and settling at Defiance in 1833, he began the first practice of his profession. Defiance at that time was the county seat of Williams County, and to it was attached several other counties for judicial purposes. Though the field was entirely open, there being no other lawyer here, professional business was very limited. But Horace Sessions was poor; he had a mission to fulfill and he would not be idle. In addition to his professional duties, he wrote in the county offices and taught in the district school. I see several present bere who, like myself, have a life- long business acquaintance with him. Mine, perhaps, has been of the longest and of the most intimate charac- ter. Thirty-three years ago, accompanying my father from the State of New York, on a tour of ex. ploration to the Wabash, with an eye to a settlement
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at Fort Wayne, we spent a week or more as we were passing at Defiance. During that week, I first became acquainted with Horace Sessions, and I have often since thought that acquaintance fixed my destiny in my choice of a future home, and brought me a year later to come here to live. At the time Mr. Sessions was occupying a room in the second story of a brick building on Lot 58 of the original plat of Defiance, which building was the court house, and I may add the schoolhouse and also the "meeting house" of the village. In the same room were kept most of the offices of the county. He invited me to occupy the room with him and continue the study of the law, which I had before begun. His bed was in the same room, and this we occupied together. From that time to the time of his decease, whilst a generation of men have passed from earth, we continuously have occupied an office together. From the time he came here, each summer he would go to the home of his aged mother, consoling and comforting her with his presence and giving that material aid that relieved the wants of herself and family. And glad was I the other day whilst assisting at Painesville in the last du- ties to the dead on earth to hear an aged and eminent statesman of that place say, Mr. Sessions has been very generous with his father's family; he has ever most bountifully supplied them. And here let me say his generosity was not confined to his relatives alone. In all his dealings he was liberal. Every charitable en - terprise and good cause he helped on. He was in- dustrious, temperate and frugal in all his habits. He cut his own wood at his office for years; he built his own fires at home. He sought property only to make himself independent and to do good. and in this God bountifully blessed him, as he will ever bless any man of like industry, temperance, carefulness, frugality and honesty of purpose. As a lawyer, to understand, digest and to bring to a successful issne delicate, intricate and complicated business matters, Horace Sessions had few or no superiors, and I believe no party selecting him as their counsel or ever had occasion to regret their choice. He was warm in his friendships, social in disposition, hospitable, unos- tentatious and mild in his manners. He was uni- formly the same unruffled Horace Sessions yesterday, to-day and to-morrow. Though unobtrusive and mild, within him was a heart; he has said to me, that never had a sensation of fear, which statement his truth- fulness leave me no reason to doubt. It is a part of the history of that county that his father was the bravest man that ever lived on Grand River. Truly can we say as we look back on the battle of life he has fought, Horace Sessions was a brave son of that brave man. To him the summons came suddenly. His sickness was brief and severe Loving hearts
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
and willing hands did all that could be done to stay the dreaded approach of the destroyer. Confident that the trying hour had come, he calmly approached the grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.
On motion, a committee of five, consisting of Will- iam Carter, Edwin Phelps, Hamilton Davison, Will- iam D Hill and Henry Newbegin, were appointed, to draft resolutions expressive of the feelings of the members of this bar, which committee, through their chairman, Hon. William Carter, reported the follow- ing: "Whereas, by a dispensation of an All-wise Providence, our late associate and brother, Horace Sessions, has been removed from our midst by death, it is, by the bar of Defiance County, as expressive of the great loss they have sustained, Resolved, That in the death of Horace Sessions the bar of Defiance County has lost one of its oldest, ablest, most useful and worthy members, and this community one of its most worthy citizens. Resolved. That we sincerely deplore the loss of our departed brother and associate, and shall revere his memory as one whose professional life was without blemish and worthy of imitation.
Resolved, That our heartfelt sympathies are ex- tended to the widow and relatives of the deceased.
Resolved, That these resolutions, together with the proceedings of this meeting, be published in the De- fiance papers, with the request that the same be copied in the several papers published in the Mau- mee Valley, and at Painesville, Ohio.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be fur- nished by the Secretary to the widow of the deceased.
On motion, the resolutions were received, and unanimously adopted.
It was also resolved that the proceedings of this meeting be presented by the Chairman to the Honor- able Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Defiance County at its next session, with the request that the same be entered upon the journal of said court.
WILLIAM C. HOLGATE, Chairman. E. PHELPS, Secretary.
JOHN BEASTON SEMANS.
John Beaston Semans, brother of William Semans, was born in Monroe County, Ohio, December 16, 1804. His parents had moved for a short time to the Ohio side of the Ohio River. He worked upon his father's farm in Highland County until old enough to be apprenticed to a trade, when he entered the office of the Hillsboro Gazette, to learn printing. In 1825, shortly after he had closed his apprenticeship, he went to Wilmington, Ohio, and became proprie- tor of the Wilmington Argus. In August, 1829, having sold the Argus, he removed to La Fayette, Ind., then a small village, and commenced the publi-
cation of the La Fayette Free Press, the only paper in Northern Indiana. In 1836, having disposed of the Free Press, he removed to Defiance, and for two years was engaged in mercantile pursuits, in company with his brother William. He then published the Defiance Barometer, and afterward the Defiance Banner, for a short time-small, 'yet sturdy and independent papers; meantime he studied law with Curtice Bates, and was admitted to practice in 1839. He engaged in the active practice of law in Williams (Defiance) County and the surrounding counties until 1841, when he was solicited by his friends to return to La Fayette. Ind., and re-purchase the Free Press. He did so, changing its name to the La Fayette Journal. On his return to La Fayette, he was admitted to practice in the Tippecanoe County Court, but the care of his paper so engrossed his attention that he neglected to work up any law practice. He was fearless in his advocacy of what he deemed the right, being an anti- slavery Whig. He was a member of the national'con- vention of 1844, which nominated Henry Clay for President, and he most earnestly advocated his elec- tion. He, too, had inherited an unquenchable op- position to slavery, and when, in 1848, the Whig party nominated Zachary Taylor as candidate for President, he believed it had sold itself to the slave power, and refused to advocate Taylor's election. At the solicitation of leading Whigs, and at a great sacrifice, he sold his paper and retired from editorial life; he continued, however, advocating the cause of liberty by frequent contributions to anti-slavery journals. In 1847, he was appointed Collector of Tolls on the Wabash & Erie Canal, which position he held at the time of his death, August 22, 1853. John B. Semans was pre-eminently a philanthropist. The motto which he adopted for his paper was " While I have Liberty to write, I will write for Liberty." In politics, nothing is right that will not meet the sanction of morality. Every human being he regarded as his brother. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and was buried with Masonic honors. He had long been a consistent, active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a member of the official body and a teacher in the Sunday school; though, during the last four years of his life, he was a pro- nounced believer in the doctrines of the 'Church of the New Jerusalem. He was of medium height, in- clined to full habits and of a remarkably benign and pleasant countenance; a man whom one would always choose as his friend. He was 'three times married, and was the father of ten children, six (daughters) are now living.
WILLIAM SEMANS.
William Semans was born in Ohio County, Va., October 11, 1800. His father, Simon Semans, was
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born in Cecil County, Md .; his mother, Sinai (Mc- Kay) Semans, was born in the State of Delaware. They were married in Delaware, and moved to the Virginia side of the Ohio River, near Wheeling, at the close of the last century. For a time they moved to the Ohio side, and then returned to Virginia. When William was about ten years old, his father settled in Highland County, Ohio. The father of Simon was a farmer, and lived and died the owner of slaves, but his son early became an uncompromising enemy to slavery, a trait much developed in his sons, and so he sought a home for himself and family in a free State. William, with his brothers, of whom he had four, he being eldest, worked upon his father's farm, attending such schools as they had in the neighborhood until he was about sixteen years old, when he determined to fit himself for the practice of law. The better to do this, and that he might have his winters for study, he apprenticed himself to his brother-in-law, Robert Wason, who had married an older sister and who lived in Hillsboro, to learn brick- making and brick-laying. With Mr. Wason he worked summers and lived at home in winter, clear- ing land, making rails and attending a school taught by a paternal uncle, Benjamin Hill, who could cipher through the rule of three and was thought to have a wonderful education. Through his assistance and his own studious habits, he got so far advanced that he was soon enabled himself to teach the winter schools in the neighborhood. The first slate he owned he purchased by cutting several cords of wood for a mer- chant of Hillsboro. He continued, after learning his trade, to work at it in summer through that region, making the brick and building houses, and as the demand was limited he was compelled to travel over a large extent of country seeking business. He was now about twenty-four years of age, had saved up some money, and was about fitted to enter Miami University, at Oxford, which had about this time opened its doors to students, when, by some unfortunate venture, he lost all his money. He was now thrown back on his labor. His brother-in-law, Robert Wason, had, about the year 1842, removed to Defiance, some two years after the laying-out of the town by Phillips and Leavel, and was engaged in working at his trade when he could find employment. In the summer of 1826, William went to Defiance to visit his sister, Elizabeth Wason, and her husband. They prevailed upon him to stay, and teach a winter school. During the sum- mer he helped Mr. Wason make brick, build chimneys and lay hearths for the cabins in the neighborhood. The brick was made and burned on a plot of ground northwest of the old burying-ground near the Au- glaize. He continued his work for several years, teaching school during the winters. He helped make,
burn and lay the brick of the old court house on Wayne street, near the Presbyterian Church and east of county buildings. Meantime, he commenced acting as Deputy County Clerk for Dr. John Evans, and was in his office for several years. He was Auditor of old Williams County for a time, and served as Jus- tice of the Peace for many years. He, during this time, studied law with Amos Evans, a brother of Dr. John Evans, and cousin of Pierce Evans, and was ad- mitted to practice some time in 1835. He immedi- ately commenced active practice in the counties of Williams, Henry, Paulding, Putnam and Van Wert, following the Circuit Judges in their rounds from county to county on horseback, with the required books and papers in a portmanteau, the roads being sometimes but blazed paths through the forests of the black swamp. In 1836, he entered into partnership with his brother, John B. Semans, who had removed to Defiance from La Fayette, Ind., in a general mer- cantile business, and continued for two years. The store room was in his residence, on the northeast cor ner of Jefferson aud First streets, the present resi- dence of Mr. Davidson. This house he built in 1834, the first brick dwelling house in the town. In 1838, the store was closed, and he devoted his entire time to the practice of law. About this time, he en- tered into partnership with Andrew Coffinbury, of Maumee City. Mr. Coffinbury, usually called Count Coffinbury, practiced in the same judicial district; a man of strange talents, full of humor and of a poet- ical temperament. Many a time has the writer of this sketch, in boyhood days, listened in rapt atten- tion to the weird stories, the improvised verse and the comical oddities of this remarkable man, while he was in attendance at the Defiance (Williams) County Court. He was the life of the jolly band of men that went from county seat to county seat during all those long years. A volume of poems was the result, printed in 1842, through the subscription of his fel- low-attorneys, entitled " The Forest Ranger; a Poet- ical Tale of the Wilderness in 1794." The scene is laid in and about the plateau of Defiance, at Girty's Point, and near the battle-field of Fallen Timbers, during Wayne's campaign. When mesinerism came in vogue, the Count became wonderfully skilled in the art, and many are the sittings he used to have with us children, showing his wonderful power in controlling our wills, and through his mesmeric influence causing us to do all sorts of ludicrous things. It was the children's holiday when the Count came around. To return to the subject of our sketch. We find that close attention to business and a constitutional ten- dency to dyspepsia had seriously, affected his health, so in 1844 he withdrew from all law practice for a time. In 1846, he commenced building the Defiance
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