USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 49
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Jay Linky, Johns France,
Representative Citizens
JOHN SCOFIELD BRASEE, the leading lawyer of his generation at the Fairfield Co. bar, was one of Nature's great men. He was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, August 19, 1832, his parents being John Trafford Brasee and Mary Jane (Scofield) Brasee.
Mr. Brasee was descended from numerous long lines of distinguished ancestors, among whom may be mentioned the old Saxon family of Trafford, that flourished long before the Norman conquest (1066), and has since unin- terruptedly held a high place among the prom- inent families of England. The present English representative of the family is Sir Humphrey de Trafford, of Trafford Park, Pat- ricroft, near Manchester, which land is a por- tion of the original tract that has been handed down from his Saxon ancestor who lived prior to 1030.
- Several branches of this family have come to America. Richard and John, both sons of John Trafford, came in 1672, and later Wil- liam came and resided in Livingston Manor.
The Brasee family was Huguenot, going from France into England at the time of the persecution. There were several members of this family which came to America, became prominent and served with distinction during the whole period of the Revolutionary War. Andreas Brasee, the great grandfather of John
S. Brasee, was one of them. The head of the family in England is Baron Brassey (Sir Thomas, K. C. B., D. C. L.), of Buckley, county palatine of Chester.
Col. Thomas Cresap was another English ancestor, who acquired fame during the French and Indian war and the War of the Revolution. He was a member of the House of Burgesses and was the founder and one of the organizers of the first Ohio Company. Scharf, in his history of Maryland, speaks of him as "the guardian genius of the Western frontier." His son. Capt. Thos. Cresap, who was killed at the foot of Savage Mountain during the Indian wars, was a maternal great grandfather of Mr. Brasee. Col. Cresap's de- scendants have served with distinction in the Revolution, the War of 1812, Mexican War. Civil and Spanish Wars, both in the army and navy. They have helped to frame the consti- tutions of different states, have become judges of Supreme Courts, United States senators and members of Congress.
Mr. Brasee's mother, Mary Jane Scofield Brasee, was a daughter of Judge Elnathan Scofield, who was in direct descent from the Scofields of Scofield, county of Lancaster. England. Judge Scofield was one of the men who surveyed the Northwest Territory. There are many branches of this old family in Amer-
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ica today. The New York, Connecticut, first in his classes in scholarship and deport- Maryland and Virginia Scofields are all of this ment. family.
Garret Van Swearengen, patroon, a younger son of a titled family in Beemsterdam, Hol- land, came to America on the "Prince Mau- rice" in 1656. having been sent out by his government in charge of supplies for the Dutch West India Company in New Amster- dam. He married Barbara De Barrette, of Val- enciennes, France, returned to Holland for two years in the interest of the colony. When he came back to America he went to Maryland and was the ancestor of a long line of distin- guished men and women. Mr. Brasee is sev- enth in line of descent from this immigrant.
His grandmother, Drusilla Reid, wife of Judge Scofield, was a daughter of John Reid of Maryland. Another daughter, Elizabeth, was married to a brother of Governor Huber, of that state. Another, Sophia, was married to Elijah Merwin, a lawyer who practiced in Lancaster from 1804 to 1815, and later moved to Zanesville, Ohio.
In 1833 the parents of the subject of this sketch, John T. Brasee and Mary Jane ( Sco- field) Brasee, removed with their two children -Ellen (later Mrs. T. W. Tallmadge) and John S. Brasee-to Lancaster, Ohio, where the latter continued to reside until his death, which occurred February 23, 1905. His early educa- tion was obtained in the public and such pri- vate schools as were available. At the age of thirteen he entered the Greenfield Academy, re- maining there two years, under the tutorage of the distinguished educator Dr. John Wil- liams, after which time he spent one year at Milnor Hall, Gambier, Ohio, under the Rev. Norman Badger. He then entered Kenyon College, became a member of the Philomathe- sian Literary Society, and at the completion of the entire scientific and classical courses, ranked
A pleasing incident occurred in 1882, when John Trafford Brasee Jr., son of John S. Bra- see, was receiving his A. B. degree from this same institution. Without solicitation, or any knowledge of the faculty's intention on his part, President Bodine, with an eloquent trib- ute to the achievements of John S. Brasee, con- ferred upon him the M. A. degree.
On the completion of his college course, Jolin S. Brasee immediately entered upon the study of law with his distinguished father, John Trafford Brasee, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. In partnership with his father he began the practice of his profession and con- tinued with him until the latter's retirement in 1860.
When John S. Brasee came to the bar he was indeed a finished scholar, possessing that rare classical and philosophical equipment essential to great professional eminence, and for which there is no substitute. He had mastered the Greek and Latin languages, was familiar with the ancient and modern classics, was conver- sant with the Bible and had a love for litera- ture, history and the sciences, all of which, together with the law, he continued to study throughout his life. He was endowed by Na- ture with a master mind, and by the opinions of his elder compeers, among whom were Thomas Ewing, Sr., Henry Stanberry, John Trafford Brasee, Hocking H. Hunter, and many others, he rapidly rose to great distinc- tion as a lawyer of thorough and complete edu- cation, great genius and power at the bar, both as a profound jurist and brilliant advocate, and as a student and leader of thought and argu- ment on great legal questions. One by one these legal lights went out and he remained the oracle of the Lancaster bar as long as he lived.
He was now at the zenith of his intellectual
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vigor and professional greatness, and as coun- sel in more than two hundred cases pending at one time upon his home docket, and a practice extending over the State of Ohio and into vari- ous other states, and into all the courts, State and Federal, he was for many years the busiest man in Fairfield County. His friends and con- temporaries throughout the State conceded that, as lawyer and advocate, his talents and achievements were second to none in the judi- cial history of this County.
Gen'1. Chas H. Grosvenor in writing of Judge Brasee says :- "It is seldom that there has appeared in Ohio a man who reached such distinction as a lawyer and yet took so great and constant an interest in public affairs of every character. He was able, elo- quent and accurate, he never boasted.
He held the profession of law in such esteem and placed its attributes and requirements at such high valuation, that he could not do any act in connection with his profession that did not honor his life and adorn his character. In social life Jolin S. Brasee was one of the pleasantest of men. His wit and re- partee were of the highest character and an hour with him in social conference was a pleas- ure and a joy to his friends, among whom I might mention Gen'l Sherman, John Sherman, Gen'l Lew Wallace, Gen'l Thomas, Gen'l Cus- ter, Gen'l Scofield, Rutherford B. Hayes, James G. Blaine, Gen'l Phil Sheridan and Chief Jus- tice Waite. He left behind him a record of a great lawyer. He was a faithful friend and a citizen the memory of whom the state of Ohio may well be proud."
Mr. Brasee was a general practitioner, excel- ling in all departments of the law and was an expert in railroad corporation law. He lived in an age of great development of railroads and always manifested an active interest in the same. He was the efficient power in the organ- yer that Ohio has yet produced.
ization of the Ohio and West Virginia Rail- road, now a part of the Hocking Valley, and was its first president. As a boy he assisted in the survey of the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railroad, now a part of the Pennsyl- vania system, and during his entire professional career of nearly fifty years, was employed by them in some legal capacity, and as general solicitor for about forty years prior to his death. He was tendered the position of gen- eral counsel for the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg and was sought by the Nickel Plate Railroad magnates to locate in New York City and there engage exclusively in this department of law, both of which offers he declined, not wishing to remove from his native state.
Hon. Frank A. Durban, general counsel for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in writing of Judge Brasee says :-
His mind was keen and broad; his knowl- edge of the law wide and accurate. He had, to a marked degree, that valuable faculty of being able to determine, at the outset, just what legal principle a given controversy involved. His great power of analysis and ability to get almost instantly at the very vitals of a case, together with his knowledge of the law and its reasons, made him one of the greatest and most profound lawyers I have ever known. He was remarkably balanced, and always fair and cour- teous. He was a dangerous adversary, in the sense only, however, that it is always danger- ous to be pitted against a man possessing such a combination of abilities. Judge Brasee was a profound jurist and a great trial lawyer.
The Bar of Fairfield County has included, among others, such giants as the elder Ewing and Henry Stanberry; and a greater compli- ment cannot be paid to it than to refer to the fact that in later days it numbered among its members John S. Brasee ; the peer of any law-
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In 1883 Governor Charles Foster tendered him an appointment as member of the Second Supreme Court Commission of Ohio, and this too he declined. Ile kept aloof from public office, and with but one exception his career was that of a strict practitioner. In politics he was a Republican and was a delegate to the National Convention at Philadelphia in 1872, which nominated General Grant. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church and was always a consistent Christian gentleman.
In 1875 (March 27th) the Legislature of Ohio passed a bill creating a commission to re- vise and consolidate the statutes of Ohio. Gov- ernor Hayes tendered to John S. Brasee an ap- pointment on this commission which he accepted. The labors of this commission ex- tended over a period of four years and were attended by many perplexities and complica- tions. The general laws of Ohio and the deci- sions thereon, from the origin of the state down to 1880, occupying many volumes, with varied and complicated indexes and arbitrary arrange- ments, were to be revised, compiled and abridged into two volumes. So confusing and complicated was all this mass of legislative en- actments, that it was impossible to secure and maintain concurrent court decisions in different parts of the state, or permit the most intelligent legislators any latitude in reenactments or re- peals of laws in, or supposed to be in force. When these facts are taken into consideration, some idea of the magnitude and importance of this work may be realized. In this capacity Judge Brasee rendered, with the other gentlemen on this commission, great and valued service to the state, and as a result the State of Ohio, its bench, bar and people, were given one of the most complete, accurate and convenient Revi- sions of the Statutes to be found in the United States.
The following are extracts from memorial
addresses delivered by members of the Lancas- ter bar upon the occasion of the public proceed- ings of the Bar Association in commemoration of the life and character of John Scofield Brasee.
"In the death of Judge Brasee, personally I feel that the lawyers here have lost a staunch and true friend, this bar has lost its greatest lawyer and the state has lost an eminent ju- rist."
"There was no deceit nor duplicity in this man. This great head of his contained a brain and mind that already furnished the sufficient and logical reason for every position and atti- tude that he assumed in life, and having once taken a stand, his moral and physical courage to maintain it were simply sublime. He once said to me that he had never experienced the sensation of fear."
"As a lawyer, I find my vocabulary too mea- gre to portray him as his merits and abilities deserve. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable and I think his learning covered a wider range and a greater variety of subjects than that of any person of my acquaintance. He especially enjoyed the study of medicine, and it would undoubtedly be conceded by those who have had the opportunity to witness his attainments in this line that in his knowledge of medical jurisprudence he was without a su- perior any where among lawyers."
"He was a man of marvelous mental powers. Perhaps the most prominent was the power of analysis and his application of the old fashioned logical syllogism. From the time he began to examine a witness until the time he closed his argument, every third sentence of his meant victory for his client. There never was a con- fusion of tangled and contradictory testimony that he could not, if he took his time and gave his attention to it, analyze and harmonize with the truth." Referring to the Revision and
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Consolidation of the Statutes: "He brought to that work his analytical mind and put the state and the profession under lasting obli- gations to him as one of the codifiers. That same logical cast of mind, that same ana- lytical power put him head and shoulders above his fellows. He came from a genera- tion of lawyers. His contact with men of the former system of pleading made him a sort of connecting link between the com- mon law and the code. He got the benefit of the accuracy of the first system together with the comprehension and breadth of the latter system. He was an accurate, I might almost say a perfect pleader, a master of the art of cross-examination, an eloquent advocate, but through it all ran as a sort of minor theme the syllogistic proposition in which the third sentence was in favor of his client. He will ever be remembered as a lawyer without a superior."
"The one impression which consultation with him has left with me is, that he always seemed to know the law because he knew what it ought to be, resulting from that un- erring and almost infallible understanding of natural justice which is back of and the foundation of all law.
If I were now called upon to express my opinion of the most eloquent, the most con- vincing and most effective address delivered to a jury in this court room within the last twenty years,. I would name the argument of Mr. Brasee in the celebrated Thompson will case. In my judgment it was never surpassed in this court room. He was a companionable man, a loyal friend, and the master mind of this bar for more than a quarter of a century."
On December 6. 1854. John Scofield Brasce was married to Mary Anna Dickin- son, who still resides at the family home in
Lancaster. She was born October 29, 1832, a daughter of Dr. Joseph Aston Hecley Dickinson and Marianne Morris, his wife, of Newark, Ohio. Dr. Thomas Dickinson and wife and children, including Dr. J. A. H. Dickinson and wife, came to America from Staffordshire, England, in 1832. The Doc- tors Dickinson were both prominent physi- cians and surgeons, both having graduated from the London Medical College and Guy's Hospital, London, under the tutorage of Sir Astley Cooper and of Abernethy. Members of this family had earlier come to this country, prominent among whom were John Dickinson, signer of the Constitution, and Ann, who was the wife of Benjamin Harrison, member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and signer of the Declaration of Independence. She was grandmother of William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, and great grand- mother of Benjamin Harrison, twenty-third President of the United States. Dr. Thomas Dickinson left a sister in England, who was the mother of Sir James Joseph Alport. Knt., of Littleover, County of Derby, and grandmother of Lady Agnes Lydia Brocklebank, wife of the late Sir Thomas Brocklebank. Baronet of Liverpool and Irton Hall, Holmwood, Cumberland.
Mr. and Mrs. Brasee were the parents of six children, all of whom are living at this time, namely: John Trafford Brasee ; Marian Amelia Brasee who was married to Charles Hilliard Sawyer, of Meriden, Conn .: Charles Dickinson Brasce; Alice Louise Brasee who was married to Frank Elbert Sands, of Meriden, Conn .; Anna Dickinson Brasee : and Clara Ellen Brasee who was married to Frederick Mortimer Towt. of Nyack, N. Y. There are also six living grandchildren, namely: Anna Brasee
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Sands, Marian Sawyer, Gertrude Van ginia. They reared their children in Ohio, Buren Sawyer, Edward Brasee Towt, El- but spent their latter years in Kansas.
bert Sawyer Towt and Mary Elizabeth Towt.
THOMAS H. DOLSON, who has been called the foremost criminal lawyer in the state of Ohio-a title not easily won in a commonwealth where so high a standard of legal ability obtains-has been established in practice in Lancaster for almost forty years, and although now in his sixty-first year, has lost no part of his force or brilliant qualities as a lawyer. He was born in Mor- gan county, Ohio, November 22, 1851, a son of Ebenezer B. and Huldah (Steven- son) Dolson. He is a grandson of Thomas H. Dolson and a great grandson of John Van Dolson, who served as a "minute man" in the Revolutionary war. This Revolu- tionary ancestor of our subject served under Washington at the battle of Trenton, Christmas night, 1776, was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army, October 17, 1777, at Saratoga, N. Y., and later witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., October 19, 1781, which marked the attainment of American independence. He died at the age of 84 years, his father at 104 years, and his grandfather at III years, this extraordi- nary longevity proving the soundness and vigor of the Dolson stock.
Thomas H. Dolson, grandfather of the present bearer of that name, served as a soldier in the Mexican war. Coming from New York state, he settled in Muskingum county, Ohio, acquiring large tracts of land in the then new territory. There Ebenezer B. Dolson was reared and subsequently married Huldah Stevenson, a native of Vir-
Thomas H. Dolson, our direct subject, attended the public schools in his home neighborhood and was also for three years consecutively under the instruction of a celebrated teacher (Mr. Geo. W. Pickrell). This was during the rebellion and whilst his father was in the army, being Q. M. Sergt. Ist Ohio Heavy Artillery. He sub- sequently entered the high school at Logan, Ohio, where he was creditably graduated in the class of 1868. After leaving school he had two years of business experience as bookkeeper for his brother-in-law, who was a merchant at Cameron, Mo., and with whom he remained for two years. He had resolved, however, to adopt the law as a profession, and with this intention he then returned to Ohio and for two years was a student in the office of Judge C. D. Martin, at Lancaster. In December, 1873. he was admitted to the bar, and immediately after- ward established himself at Lancaster. Since then he has devoted the best years of his life to his profession and has been re- warded by a high degree of success, having gained a reputation as an adept and able lawyer that extends far beyond the confines of his native state. Though thoroughly proficient in every branch of the law, it is perhaps as a criminal lawyer that he is best known. His services are in demand in the most important cases, civil or criminal, and his legal learning, his clear concise logical and forceful presentation of facts, his skill in interpretating the technicalities of the law, together with his convincing oratory, have gained for him many notable victories at the bar. His success in the defense of men charged with murder in the first and
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second degree, has been remarkable. Of scores of such cases in which he has ap- peared, not one has been convicted of a higher grade of homicide than man- slaughter and his percentage of acquittals, considering the number of cases tried, is the highest. Mr. Dolson has been asso- ciated with partners and has at times also practiced alone, at present being a member of the firm of Dolson & Dolson, at Lancas- ter. His brilliant son, Ben R. Dolson, being the other member of the firm. He served six years as prosecuting attorney of Fair- field county, but has never shown any un- due interest in public position, reluctingly consenting, at one time only, to be the nominee of the Democratic party for the State Senate.
Mr. Dolson was married in 1876 to Miss Alida Reinmund, a daughter of B. F. Rein- mund, of an old and honored Fairfield county family her brother H. J., having been commissioner of insurance under Gov- ernor Hoadly. They have four children. The family belongs to the English Luth- eran church.
LAFAYETTE W. COFFMAN, whose finely improved farm of 127 acres lies in Greenfield Township. Fairfield County, O., is a prominent citizen and successful farmer and stockraiser of this section. He was born in Bloom Township, Fairfield County, September 10, 1853, and is a son of Samuel and Jane (Allen) Coffman.
Samuel Coffman for many years was en- gaged in the nursery business in Bloom Township and was a pioneer in this indus- try in this section of the state. He later re- tired to Carroll, O., and served many years as a justice of the peace for Greenfield Township. He was a man of liberal mind
but in politics usually voted with the Re- publican party. He belonged to the Methi- odist Episcopal church and was liberal in his support and constant in his attendance.
Lafayette W. Coffman was reared in Bloom Township and attended school there and later at Carroll. From youth he has been interested in farm pursuits and owns one of the best improved farms in Green- field Township, with buildings of modern construction and with machinery and appli- ances which facilitate farm work. He is a man of progressive ideas and uses scientific methods in the conduct of his business.
On March 7, 1877, Mr. Coffman was mar- ried to Miss Ella Azbell, who was born in Logan County, O., a daughter of the late John Azbell, of Carroll, O. Mr. and Mrs. Coffman have three children: Gertrude, who is the wife of William Scott, of Green- field Township; Theodosia, who is the wife of Charles Witham, of Lancaster; and Clarence W., who is a well known dentist at Lewisburg, O. For three years Mr. Coffman has served on the township school board and for three years was road super- visor. He is a Republican in politics.
WILLIAM H. SHAFFER, president of the school board of Walnut Township, is a well known resident of Thurston, O., and is manager of the Columbus Gas and Fuel Company. He is a native of Ohio, born near Marshfield, in Athens County, October 18, 1855, and is a son of Milton B. and Phoebe (Kerr) Shaffer.
The parents of Mr. Shaffer were born in Pennsylvania. A short time after marriage they came to Ohio and settled in Athens County, where Milton B. Shaffer followed the carpenter's trade. He died in 1887, at the age of sixty-seven years and his widow
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in 1901, when aged sixty-six years. They were well known and highly respected people. Six children were born to them, namely: George A., who lives at Jackson, O .: William Huston; Alice, who is the widow of David G. Jones, and lives at Pitts- burg, Pa .; Margaret, deceased, who was the wife of A. C. Cumpston : Hugh B., who lives at Jackson, O .; and John Franklin, who probably lost his life at the time of the earthquake at San Francisco, of which city he was then a resident.
William H. Shaffer obtained his educa- tion in the schools of Marshfield and in a private seminary conducted by Prof. Amos Miller. He was industrious as a boy, work- ing for different farmers in the neighbor- hood during the busy seasons and after- ward became a school teacher and taught for seven years in Athens County. With his father he learned the carpenter's trade and for four years worked as a carpenter at Jackson, O. In February, 1890, he came to Fairfield County and for five years rented farm land in Walnut Township, in October, 1895, coming to Thurston and accepting his present position. In politics Mr. Shaffer is a Democrat. He was elected a justice of the peace and served one year and then re- signed, and in the fall of 1909 was elected a member of the school board and has given careful attention to educational matters in his township on all occasions.
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