USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 15
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It has been recorded that the first court in Fayette county was held in the log cabin belonging to John Devault, a little north of the present site of Bloomingburg, and was presided over by Judge John Thomson. It appears that chairs were scarce articles and Mrs. Devault's bed was pressed into service by the Judge, for which he received a severe lecture by the lady. Sometimes a stable, and again the adjoining hazel thicket, accommodated the grand jury in its sittings. Judge Thomson was known as a man of puritani- cal morality and distinguished himself by the long and tedious moral lectures he invariably delivered in court to the prisoners.
According to the best authorities, the year ISII was the date of the holding of the first court in the town of Washington C. H. A double round-
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log cabin was standing on the corner of Court and Main streets, fronting on Court, consisting of two independent rooms, probably ten or twelve feet apart, with the roof meeting in the center and covering the space between. In the room nearest Main street the first court in Washington C. H. was held. The jury retired to the hazel brush nearby to hold their deliberations and whenever the presence of the sheriff or prosecuting attorney was needed their names were loudly proclaimed from the thicket. It is stated that while justice was solemnly dispensed in one room, whiskey was as hilariously sold by the owner of the cabin, Valentine Coil, in the adjoining room. It is not certain just how many terms of court were held in this cabin, but it appears that the court house was ready for occupancy at least as early as the spring of 1814; also that court was held in the cabin during the latter part of the year 1812, and by good authority it is stated that court was held in the Coil cabin a much longer period than elsewhere. It is surmised that the cabin served as a court house from 1812 until the latter part of 1813, then was removed to the Melvin, afterward Vandeman, corner, and from there to the first court house.
FAYETTE COUNTY LAWYERS.
The attorneys practicing here in 1836 (three in the entire county) were Wade Loofborrow. Robert Robinson and Samuel Kerr, all long since de- ceased and their names forgotten, save by the families they represented and a few of the older citizens of the county. They were all excellent men and good lawyers for those days. Robert Robinson died in the fifties.
Another whose name should not be omitted is Robert M. Briggs, who died in 1869, aged less than forty years of age. He was a splendid type of American manhood; was unusually eloquent and had a promising future before him. He was judge at one time and had a state-wide reputation.
The attorneys practicing in the county in 1861 included these: Madison Pavey, Horatio Maynard, George B. Gardner, M. J. Williams, Nelson Rush and Mills Gardner.
In 1880 these were found in active practice here: R. C. Miller, O. T. Gunning, Mr. Barclay. T. N. Craig, M. Willard, J. B. Koontz, Thomas D. McElwain, Gregg & Chambers, W. T. Tanzey and Maynard & Hadley.
Another attorney was Col. S. F. Kerr, of a pioneer family, who was born in Kentucky October 5, 1805, came with his parents to Ohio in 1809. settled in Ross county, where he remained until 1811, then removed to Jeffersonville, Fayette county. He studied law under Attorney Phelps. (II)
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was admitted to the bar in 1835 and continued in active practice in this county until his death, in the early eighties. . He was a public-spirited man, held the office of state representative and was probate judge.
All but five of the above 1880 lawyers are deceased now, some for many years, others more recently.
Of Samuel Buck, the second attorney in the county, C. A. Palmer, a native of the county, later of Indianapolis, relates the following :
"Samuel Buck was later a resident of Greene county, where he resided on his farm. He was a man five feet and six inches tall; was stocky built and very stout. At the time he began his practice in Washington C. H., Peter and Jesse Funk (of the famous Funk family) were known as the bullies of this county. They were probably not bad men, but the times and customs, with environments, made them what they were, dangerous and undesirable characters in the community. It was the custom then to meet in town on general muster day of the militia, and fight just to see which was the best man. At this the Funks were counted the 'cocks of the walk.' This seemed to render them immune from prosecution for crimes of which they were suspected. Samuel Buck announced himself a candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney, and in this he promised, if elected, to prosecute the Funks and thus break up their terrorism.
"A short time afterward Peter Funk-at least one of the boys, the worst one-came into town and, hearing of Mr. Buck's proposition, announced that he would whip him on sight. They met between the present Arlington hotel and the Trust building, and immediately the fight was on! The result was the little lawyer whipped the big bully to a frazzle. This resulted in the election of Buck, who at once proceeded to cause the arrest of the two Funks. One of the brothers, fearing the outcome, went away from the county, while the other remained and barricaded himself in his cabin home and resisted the sheriff and his posse. During the night he made his escape, left the county and state and never came back. There was no attempt to capture them and all were too glad to be without such citizens. This cabin of Funk's was what gave rise to the phrase 'Battle of Funk's Cabin,' so much heard about in this county. The log house stood in the present Klever-Tway settlement."
MISCELLANEOUS LIST OF ATTORNEYS.
Through the kindness of Hon. H. L. Hadley, we are permitted to give a list of lawyers, as remembered by him, as having practiced in the county at
.
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one date or another. Some of these have already been given, while many more have not, for lack of sufficient data. Mr. Hadley's list is as follows :
S. F. Kerr, Judge H. B. Maynard, Judge M. J. Williams, Hon. Mills Gardner, Hon. Madison Pavey, Judge T. M. Gray, J. B. Priddy (probate judge), C. A. Palmer, T. D. MeElwain (probate judge), Manford Willard (probate judge), Humphrey Jones (arrived here in April, 1870), Judge Ace Gregg, Hon. A. R. Creamer, H. L. Hadley (who came in 1874 to practice), C. M. Jones, Willis M. Pine, Nye Gregg. Pope Gregg, C. Thompson, W. A. Paxon, M. S. Creamer, Mr. Mudd, Mr. Hixon, J. N. VanDeman, C. A. Reid. C. W. Russell, J. D. Post, T. N. Craig, J. H. Patton, Judge Carpenter, H. H. Sanderson, John Logan, Mr. Kimball, C. E. Baughn, Lee Rankin, H. Ran- kin, Judge Joseph Hidy, E. L. Bush, F. A. Chaffin, J. L. Zimmerman, Rell G. Allen, D. L. Thompson, Fred B. Creamer, C. W. Spangler (deceased), George Hitchcock, Nathan Creamer, Thomas S. Maddox, W. B. Rodgers. P. E. Dempry.
Some of these lawyers never practiced long and did not make much of a record, but have been members of the Fayette county bar. Others have moved to other parts of the country, while very many have died with the passing years. Many of these have brief sketches in this work, while others have none. The list of names, at least, should here appear as a tribute to their memory, and some as connecting links between the long-ago years and the active practice of the present day.
Ace Gregg, former judge of the court common pleas, was born in Washington C. H., Jefferson township, this county, the son of John F. Gregg and wife. He was married in 1871 to Amelia J. Jones, of Bloomingburg. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Royal Arcanum societies. He read law at Washington C. H. under Hon. M. J. Williams, took a law course at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and commenced law practice in 1870, under the firm name of Gregg & Cochran, continuing until 1880. During his practice he was prosecuting at- torney for six years. In the autumn of 1880 he was elected judge of the common pleas court. Mr. Gregg died in about 1893.
Hon. Horace L. Hadley, now retired from the legal practice, was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire (see biographical sketch). He married S. Lizzie Emerson, of Massachusetts. He enlisted in 1862 as a soldier in the Union cause in the Civil War, having commenced the study of law before that date, and resumed the same after the close of the war. He read law with Hon. Sidney C. Bancroft before he entered the army, and finished his
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studies at Salem, Massachusetts, with Perry & Endicott, both celebrated law- yers and authors. Mr. Hadley was admitted to the bar in September, 1863, and first located that year at Danfers, Massachusetts. He remained there until April. 1870, then came to Ohio, and since 1874 has been engaged in the practice of law at Washington C. H. He was of the firm of Maynard & Hadley, and in 1881 was elected to a seat in the House of Representatives from Fayette county. He has accumulated a good property and in his ad- vanced years is leading a retired life, enjoying the hard work of former years. He was one of the substantial members of the Fayette bar many years and now is beloved and highly esteemed by everyone in his district, county and city.
Joseph Hidy. another Fayette county attorney of considerable promi- nence, was born in this county in 1854, son of Urban and Mary A. Hidy. Mr. Hidy was a member of the Jefferson Masonic Lodge. He received his edu- cation at the common schools, after which he took a philosophical course, re- ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy at Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio. He then went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, took a collegiate course in the University of Michigan, graduating in the spring of 1878, and was ad- mitted to the bar that spring, and commenced practice the following May, under the firm name of Savage & Hidy. He has been in the law practice at Cleveland many years and is now just retiring. He was judge a number of years, filling the position with credit.
Horatio B. Maynard, Washington C. H., was born in Holden, Massa- chusetts, October 12, 1826, the son of John P. Maynard and wife. He was married in 1856 to Kesiah Blakemore. He entered the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Regiment in August, 1862, and resigned February, 1863. He was prosecuting attorney of Fayette county for 1868-69, and was later a member of the well-known and strong firm of Maynard & Hadley. His early education was obtained at Ludlow, Vermont, but he passed his youth in New Hampshire. He was for two years assistant superintendent of the Black River Academy, of Vermont. He died in 1908, greatly mourned by the bar and the community in which he had lived so long and been so true to good citizenship.
Thomas McElwain, lawyer at Washington C. H. for many years, was a native of this city, but of parents who emigrated from Kentucky to this county. He attended school here until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlisted as a private soldier in Company A, First Ohio Cavalry, with which he served three years and was honorably discharged. He returned
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home and in 1867 took up the law practice. He died at the State Soldiers' Home in 1912.
R. C. Miller, a native of Fayette county, Ohio, was born in 1853, the only son of Robert and Marie Miller. In 1881 he married Eva J. Parrett, of the pioneer family of this county. He received his education in Wash- ington C. H., sttudied law under Gregg & Creamer, and was admitted to the bar December 7, 1880. He began law practice in April, 1881. Politically, he was a Republican. He spent a few years in the West, variously engaged, but finally settled down as an attorney in this county. He served as prose- cuting attorney at one time here. He died several years ago.
J. H. Patton, attorney at Washington C. H., was born in this county in 1849, a son of Mr. and Mrs. James Patton. He was united in marriage December 3, 1870, to S. E. Durnell. He received his education at Lebanon, at South Salem Academy, and commenced the study of law with Hon. M. J. Williams, of Washington C. H., and in 1869, when only twenty years old, commenced the practice of law. He passed from earth's shining circle in 1893.
John N. VanDeman, formerly of the firm of VanDeman & Russell, at Washington C. H., was born in that city in 1845, the son of John L. Van- Deman and wife. He lived there, attended the village school, until February, 1858, then moved with the family to Frankfort, Ross county, Ohio. His father was a merchant and when the son was twelve years of age he com- menced clerking in the store, where he soon acquired a liking for the affairs of commerce and trade. When seventeen years old he attended Duff's Commercial College, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then went to Miami Uni- versity, remaining there until twenty years of age. His father then gave him a one-third interest in his large mercantile business. On March 1, 1865, he began business for himself and bought the stocks of merchandise. A wholesale department was soon added to the business, and the former twenty- five thousand dollar sales increased to eighty-five thousand dollars per an- num. In 1872, however, he turned to the study of law at leisure hours, not thinking he might ever practice, but for the general information he might thus obtain. He had also taken a commercial law course while at Pittsburgh. By 1876 he had become infatuated with the law and decided to enter into the real profession and quit the dry goods trade, which he did. Three months later he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court and immediately opened a law office at Washington C. H., where he soon acquired a large, paying practice at the Fayette county bar. Mr. Van Deman is a Republi- can, a member of the Presbyterian church, and identified with the Odd Fel-
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lows order. He is now practicing law at Dayton, Ohio, and is very success- ful at the bar.
Gen. Stephen B. Yeoman was born in Fayette county, Ohio, December 1, 1836, the son of Alvah and Elizabeth Yeoman. The father came to Ohio in 1806 and the mother in 1815. When fifteen years old young Yeoman shipped as a sailor, visiting New Zealand and points in South America, Asia and Africa. After much experience, observation and adventure abroad, he returned to his native land. His great-grandfather served with much credit in the Revolutionary struggle, while his grandfather served in the War of 1812-14. When the civil conflict broke out in 1861, he . immediately volun- teered : was under General Rosencrans, with whom he continued as a private in the Twenty-second Ohio Regiment, Company F. He served his first term, returned home and raised Company A of the Fifty-fourth Regiment. He was ordered by General Sherman to take ten picked men and penetrate the rebel lines to learn their strength, if possible. While in service he received the following wounds: Slight wounds at Shiloh ; battle of Russell House, shot in the leg, arm and abdomen ; again wounded in 1863 in his right arm, entirely severing the member below the elbow. For gallant bravery he was promoted to major of his regiment. Being one handed, he concluded to resign, which he did. In May, 1864, President Lincoln appointed him colo- nel of this regiment, and he was detailed by the department to Camp Caley, Virginia, a recruiting station. In November, 1864, he took active command of his regiment and was in all the actions of the same. He was finally breveted brigadier-general of volunteers. In 1866 he was elected probate judge of Fayette county and later took up the law practice. He was not a highly equipped, or even a natural, lawyer, but did some business, from time to time, aided by other members of the bar. He is now deceased.
Hon. Marshall J. Williams, son of Dr. Charles Williams, was born February 22, 1836. He was ever a close student and at the age of nineteen graduated from Wesleyan University. soon afterward beginning his legal studies at Washington C. H., with Nelson Rush. He finished when twenty- one years of age and opened an office at Sigourney, Iowa, remained one year, then returned to Fayette county and at once entered his active law career. He was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1870 and was re-elected in 1872, serving through both sessions with credit and honor. He still kept his law practice, in which he was highly successful and accumulated a handsome fortune. He was elevated to the supreme bench and was its chief justice a number of years. Few men in Ohio stood higher in his profession, or as a
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man, than did Judge Williams. In fact, he is said by many to have been "a famous lawyer."
Hon. Mills Gardner was born at Russellville, Brown county, Ohio, in 1830. He was married in 1851 to Margaret A. Morrow. He came to Fay- ette county in 1854. He received a common school education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1855 and followed his profession ever afterward. He was prosecuting attorney for Fayette county four years; was an honored member of the State Senate in 1862-64; presidential elector on the Lincoln ticket, in 1864: was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, 1866-68; member of the state constitutional convention, 1873 ; was elected to a seat in the fifty-fourth Congress of the United States, as a Republican member. He died in 1910, at Washington C. H.
Col. S. F. Kerr, another bright light in the legal profession of Fayette county, was born in Pendleton county, Virginia, October 21, 1805, and in 18HI removed with his parents to Fayette county, Ohio. Here, midst the rural and romantic scenes of farm life near the village of Jeffersonville, his youth was spent. He wanted to possess knowledge and worked hard to secure a suitable education. He finally succeeded and became not only a scholar, but a scientist as well. As an astronomer, he was proficient; also in chemistry and philosophy did he excel. Having a military spirit, he took much interest in militia and training days. At the age of twenty he was elected captain of a company of militia and later rose to the rank of colonel, from which he obtained the title he ever afterward went by. In 1848 he was elected and commissioned brigadier-general of the Fourth Brigade, Tenth Division of the Ohio militia. Having chosen law as his profession, he studied hard and was admitted to the bar in 1835, the same year being elected prosecuting attorney, which office he held a number of terms. By one well acquainted with his career, both as citizen and attorney, the follow- ing was written of him: "He had the highest sense of professional dignity and honor. His compeers were the old lawyers of renown of southern Ohio. Among these were Thomas Ewing, Hunter, Allen G. Thurman, Bond, Dickey, Douglas, Nelson, Barrere, Robert Robinson and their contemporaries. With such associates he learned the law, and from them the duties and amenities of the lawyer. He was eminent in the profession, particularly in land law and land litigation. In this department of the law he was a mine of informa- tion and knowledge.
"Upon the adoption of the constitution in 1851, he was elected the first probate judge. Later he was elected to the Legislature twice to fill terms,
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and once to fill a vacancy. The code that followed the adoption of the 1851 constitution retired from the active practice many of the older attorneys. Colonel Kerr, however, left the practice for a place on the bench, and then was sent to the State Legislature. In his day in court, and this, too, in the days of Loofborrow, Willard, Dickey and Robinson, he was the acknowl- edged leader of the bar." Another associate of his said upon one occasion : "Sometimes, as usual with attorneys, I have for the moment felt that he was harsh in his rulings; yet, after mature reflection and more careful inquiry into his motives and reasons for his decrees, I have always found, as I do now, in looking back over his life, a golden cord of integrity and honesty of purpose encircling all his official acts and decisions, which, in my memory of him, will always be bright. I have represented the cause of the rich and the poor in his courts, and I have always found that the poor oppressed who appealed to him for redress of wrongs, or supposed grievances, suffered at the hands of the more independent oppressors, found in him a tender and sympathetic regard for their causes ; and if the scales of justice, as they stood poised in his hands, were swerved one hair from the stern rule of the law and right, it was always on the side of mercy."
FAYETTE COUNTY BAR.
In the autumn of 1914 the following were the attorneys of this county and entitled to practice in the courts. All resided in Washington C. H. with the single exception of U. G. Creamer, who resided and had his office at Jeffersonville : J. F. Adams, Frank M. Allen, Rell G. Allen, T. L. Barger, Carey E. Baughn, E. L. Bush, Frank G. Carpenter, Frank A. Chaffin, A. R. Creamer, U. G. Creamer (Jeffersonville). F. B. Creamer, Nye Gregg, Pope Gregg, H. L. Hadley, Joseph H. Harper, G. H. Hitchcock, Humphrey Jones, A. J. Kearney. J. B. Koontz, John Logan, T. S. Maddox, Thomas W. Mer- chant, A. C. Patton, J. D. Post, Harry M. Rankin, Lee Rankin, Charles A. Reid, W. B. Rogers, H. H. Sanderson, W. C. Tranzey, D. L. Thompson.
JUDGES COURT OF APPEALS.
Hon. James I. Allread, Greenville; Hon. H. L. Ferneding, Dayton ; Hon. Albert H. Kunkel, Springfield.
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JUDGES COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
Hon. Cyrus Newby, Hillsboro; Hon. Frank G. Carpenter, Washington C. H .; Hon. James F. Goldsberry, Chillicothe; Hon. Clarence Curtain, Cir- cleville.
OTHER COURT OFFICERS.
E. W. Durflinger, clerk ; Oliver S. Nelson, sheriff ; Stella D. Hendricks, court stenographer ; James Clark, court constable; T. S. Maddox, prosecut- ing attorney ; Rell G. Allen, probate judge.
HON. H. B. MAYNARD.
Judge H. B. Maynard, who located in Fayette county in 1854, died at the ripe old age of eighty-one years, in September, 1907. He was born in Holdren, Massachusetts, October 12, 1826, and commenced the study of law and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. When about twenty-eight years old he came West, that being in the autumn of 1854. He finally decided to locate permanently in Washington C. H. Soon after his arrival he was engaged to teach the school on the corner of Market and Hinde street. Two years later he formed a law partnership with Judge Briggs, which busi- ness relation continued until the death of Mr. Briggs.
After the Civil War came on, Mr. Maynard volunteered as a member of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Regiment and soon rose to be lieutenant-colonel of his regiment, serving with marked distinction. During the famous Morgan raid through Ohio, he re-enlisted as colonel of the regi- ment raised for home defense against the rebel raider. After the war had closed he resumed his legal pursuits, and was elected as proscuting attorney, which position he held until 1869. About that date he formed a partnership in law with Hon. H. L. Hadley, and the firm took a conspicuous part in the many cases brought about by the great 1873 panic. In 1894, upon the death of Judge Ace Gregg, Governor William McKinley appointed him to fill the vacancy on the bench. At the next election he won out for the judgeship by a majority of two thousand four hundred. He was president of the board of education a number of years and was the gentleman who named Sunny- side school building. He was also a member of the board of trustees for the County Children's Home.
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HON. JOHN JAMES HARPER.
Judge J. J. Harper, ex-judge and eminent lawyer of southern Ohio, was a man of more than ordinary ability and prominence in the county and state in which he spent his life. He passed to higher realms October 21, 1906, aged seventy-two years. He was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, July 6, 1834, and was educated in the common schools and saw many early hard- ships in securing his coveted education, but finally obtained an excellent Eng- lish education in all branches. Before he had reached man's estate he taught several terms of district school in both Pickaway and Fairfield counties. In 1858 he located at Portsmouth, Ohio, as a law student under Hutchins & Gabby and was admitted to the bar April 25, 1860. In 1856 he was united in marriage to Emily Jones, of Portsmouth, Ohio, by whom four sons were born: John Ellis, who practiced law in Denver, Colorado; Will- iam A .; Samuel G., of Portsmouth, Ohio; John H., of Washington C. H., a partner with his father in the law firm of Harper & Harper. The wife and mother died in 1874, and in 1875 Mr. Harper married Anna Eliza Robinson, of Washington C. H., Ohio. She died the same week of the Judge's death, and before him.
On being admitted to the bar, Mr. Harper began his practice in Ports- mouth. In 1863 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Scioto county, Ohio, and was re-elected in 1865. In May, 1864, he enlisted as a member of Company G, One Hundred and Forty-first Ohio Infantry Regiment, and served during the balance of the Civil War. In 1868 he was presidential elector and cast his vote for U. S. Grant. In 1871 he was elevated to the bench of the court of common pleas in the second sub-division of the seventh judicial district of Ohio. He was re-elected in 1876, serving in all ten years, retiring in 1882. He was an able, industrious and very popular judge. After his retirement from the bench he formed a law partnership with Hon. John K. Richards, and subsequently was associated with John C. Milner and also J. C. Searl, continuing till 1891. He moved to Washington C. H. in 1886 and there spent the remainder of his days, practicing law. During that time, for three years he was a law partner of T. W. Marchant, but in 1892 his son was admitted to a firm known as Harper & Harper.
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