History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 41

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 41
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 41

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In 1871 he formed a copartnership with Hon. I. N. Hathaway, which lasted until the fall of 1875, when he was elected Common Pleas judge, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge M. C. Canfield, and served in that capacity until the expiration of his term, at which time he again resumed the practice of his profession.

The Canfields were among the earliest, as they have always been among the most substantial, respected, and influential families of Chardon. The subject of this sketch may be styled emphatically a self-made man, owing more to his for- tunate parentage, especially to a most excellent, intelligent, and devoted mother, and to his own native energy and will, than to any outward advantages for his success in life. He received only a common education. As a lawyer he early took a prominent position at the bar of his county, which he has ever since main- tained, the experience acquired in a long and successful practice having in later years added greatly to his professional resources. Possessing very considerable natural force and fluency as a speaker, combined with quick discernment, ready tact, and an earnest, pleasing manner, he has the essentials of a good advocate, and, in the presentation to a jury of a case in which his sympathies are enlisted, is not often excelled. The duties of the several honorable and responsible positions to which he has been called have been discharged with ability and fidelity. In the House he served with credit on the judiciary and other important committees, and was recognized, even by his political opponents, as a most useful member ; and it is believed that no judge with so short a term of service ever left the bench with a better record. He has always been active and efficient in the promotion of the interests of his town and county, every enterprise having this end in view meet-

ing with his cordial support. . He is also a strong advocate of the temperance and other reform movements. Though by early education and associations a Democrat, he became identified with the Republican party from its organization, and has long been one of its acknowledged leaders in Geauga County. A man of clear intellect, ardent temperament, and strong attachments, few have more decided elements of popularity or success.

Mr. Canfield's life has been blessed with that greatest of benefactions, a wife in whom those qualities that grace and ennoble womanhood are united in a marked degree. To him she has always proved a real helper and a loving com- panion. Active in the affairs of the church and society, and faithful to the duties of the home-life she so fondly loves, she has ever proven herself to be the true woman, wife, and mother.

He has three children living,-one son, Ira W. Canfield, and two daughters : Eva C. Metcalf, wife of Thomas Metcalf, Jr., of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Lizzie L. Canfield, of Chardon. He has lost one daughter,-Della W., who died August 23, 1877, aged eleven years and eleven months,-which bereavement was the greatest of all the sorrows of his life. In religion he has been a member of the Christian church for more than thirty years.

WILLIAM HOWARD,

AUDITOR OF GEAUGA COUNTY,

was born in Bainbridge township, in said county, November 7, 1833. His father was William R. Howard, of Washington, Berkshire county, Massachu- setts, who, with Martha Howard, his wife, removed to Bainbridge, Geauga County, Ohio, in the year 1821, where his. aged and estimable widow still resides. The subject of this sketch in early youth evinced an ardent desire for an education, and hence availed himself of the best opportunity afforded him in the common schools for obtaining an education. When his school days were ended, he continued to study and improve his mind continuously while engaged in his labors upon his' farm. He was married October 8, 1856, to Lorinda A. Osborne, who for several years had been an efficient teacher of the schools of the county, and one of the most estimable young ladies of the township, who, by her intelligence and amiability, is entitled to great credit for the progress made by her husband. In 1860, William had prepared himself to enter the schools of the medical profession, and was only prevented by circumstances that seemed to render such a course impracticable. In 1870 he was elected justice of the peace, and served until elected to his present position, in the fall of 1870. He has a family of three daughters. In religion he has for nearly twenty years been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,'in which he takes a lively interest. He and his family have always enjoyed the confidence and esteem of their neigh- bors, and of all with whom they have been associated. In politics he has been a strong Republican since the organization of the party, and has always been an earnest advocate of the temperance cause, and all other reforms that have a tendency to elevate and better the condition of the human race. By his ability, sound judgment, industry, and sterling integrity, he now possesses a competency of property, has a highly respectable and accomplished family, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him, with every prospect of many years of useful and honorable life before him.

S. E. BODMAN

was born in Huntsburg, Geauga County, on August 6, 1843, and is the youngest child of Samuel and Susan Bodman, who were natives of Williamsburg, Massa- chusetts, and removed to Ohio, settling in Huntsburg in 1833. They still reside in that township. The subject of this sketch received his education primarily at common school. He had the advantage of two terms at Chardon Academy and the same at Burton Academy. Upon the completion of his education he was married, September 25, 1866, to Miss Lazette D., only child of Smith Wright, of Huntsburg. After marriage he engaged in mercantile pursuits with his father-in-law, and continued until the fall of 1873, when he relin- quished it to accept the somewhat arduous position of treasurer of Geauga County. He served his first term acceptably, and was re-elected in the fall of 1875. His term expires by limitation in the fall of 1878. He has been an efficient and obliging officer. In the spring of 1877 he purchased a half in- terest in the store of Rose & Smith, and from the court-house enters the store, under the firm-name of Smith & Bodman. From the marriage one child was born, August 15, 1868: this Mary Jenette. Politically, Mr. Bodman is a member of that grand old Republican party. He is a member of Chardon

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

Lodge, No. 93, Chardon Chapter, No. 106, and Eagle Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar, of Painesville. He is a member of the Congregational church of Chardon.

SILO P. WARRINER, COUNTY SHERIFF,

was born May 10, 1840. He is the second of a family of four children. His parents were Willard and Emeline A. Warriner, of Claridon township. The father settled there at an early date, and now lives at Riverton, Franklin county, Nebraska. The mother died September 7, 1846, aged thirty-two years. The education of the subject of the present sketch was derived from the common schools of his native township. Upon the completion of which, or upon attain- ing his majority, he became one of the noble band who went out to do battle for the flag. He enlisted September 10, 1861, as a private in Company G, Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was promoted to sergeant, then orderly-sergeant, and then first lieutenant, of his company, in which position he was mustered out on the 27th day of November, 1865. He was with the regiment in all its hard- fought battles. Upon the call for re-enlistments he was among the first of his company to respond, re-enlisting for another term of three years. He was wounded at the battles of Chickamauga-where he was slightly wounded in the right ankle-and at Mission Ridge,-at the latter battle receiving a gunshot wound through the right arm above the elbow, and another in his right side, the ball passing out near the spine. This was a painful affair, from the effects of which he was disabled for a short time.' His record as a soldier is something of which he may well be proud. Discharged as above mentioned, he returned to his native county, and was actively engaged in the milling and lumber business until 1875, when he closed out, and purchased a half interest in an extensive cooperage manufactory. This was burned March 6, 1876. He was elected to the office of sheriff of Geauga County in October, 1876. Having been renomi- nated by acclamation at the county convention, fall of 1878,-thus paying him the highest possible compliment to his faithfulness as an officer. He was united in marriage, October 14, 1868, to Miss Sarah M., daughter of Benjamin K. and Louisa Brainard, of Hambden. From this marriage has been born one child, Elwin P., born April 2, 1875. Mr. Warriner has ever been a member of the Republican party. He is a member of the fraternity of Freemasonry, at present affiliating with Chardon Lodge, No. 93, Chardon Chapter, No. 106, and Paines- ville Council, No. 23, R. and S. M.

WILLIAM N. KEENY,

oldest child and son of Cyrus and Margaret Keeny, was born in the township of Berkshire, Tioga county, New York, on the 3d day of November, 1824, and with his parents removed to the township of Chester, Geauga County, Ohio, in July, 1827, where he resided until February, 1833, when he removed to the adjoining township of Munson. In 1836, May 20, he lost his right leg near the hip, by reason of an injury from the falling of a tree cut down by himself and a younger brother. From that time attended common district school for about two years, and then a private or select school-taught by Wm. A. Lillee-for some three or four terms. The winter after he was eighteen years of age he taught school with rather indif- ferent success, and in the latter part of summer and the autumn following at- tended the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, under the management of Dr. Asa Lord, afterwards for many years superintendent of the Ohio Asylum for the Blind. Taught school the next winter with fair success, and the next summer again attended the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary. In November, 1844, obtained employment in the office of the clerk of the courts of Geauga County. This in a great measure determined his business for life, as, with a few short inter- missions employed in teaching, etc., he has been employed in the clerk's office of Geauga or Cuyahoga counties up to the present time. During his employment in Geauga County he commenced the study of law with Phelps & Riddle, and was admitted to the bar at Chardon, in April, 1854, but has never practiced his pro- fession. In 1853, June 1, he was married to Miss Julia A. Smith, of Chester, in Geauga County, Ohio. They have had three children, as follows : Leslie, born September 20, 1854; Ernest Sumner, born August 10, 1858, and Clara T., born November 21, 1859, the last two of whom are still living. Leslie died January 15, 1856, at Cleveland, and is buried in Chester. In July, 1853, he found em- ployment in the clerk's office of Cuyahoga county, where he remained until Octo- ber, 1856, when he returned to Chester, Geauga County, and at the October election, 1857, was elected clerk of the courts of Geauga County, Ohio, and has held that office continuously since January 4, 1858, at which time he took posses- sion of his office, and is now renominated for another term of three years.

In politics he was originally a Whig, but since the organization of the Republican party he has acted with that, and is still an advocate of the prin- ciples proclaimed by that party. In religious belief he would probably be called orthodox, being rather inclined to the doctrine and practices of the Baptist church.

HENRY LAWRENCE HITCHCOCK, D.D.,

president of Western Reserve College, was born in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, October 31, 1813, and died in Hudson, Summit county, Ohio, July 6, 1873. His father, Hon. Peter Hitchcock, was chief-justice of Ohio, and for twenty- eight years sat on the Supreme bench of the State. After a good preparatory education in his native place, he entered Yale College in 1828, at the age of fif- teen. Graduating in 1832, he returned home and took charge of the academy at Burton, where he taught two years with complete success. He remained still a year longer at Burton, teaching private pupils and himself studying theology. In 1835 he entered Lane Seminary, where he studied theology under Dr. Beecher for two years. In 1837 he was licensed to preach at his home in Burton, and there preached his first sermon. In the same year he was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational church at Morgan, Ashtabula county, remaining there about two years and six months, when he was called to the newly-organized Second Presbyterian church of Columbus. He remained in charge of this church fifteen years, laboring with great zeal and success. A fine building was erected, and so great was the interest in spiritual affairs attending his ministry that this building was soon found to be inadequate. He organized a Congregational church out of the surplus membership of his own church, and succeeded in placing it on a strong foundation, while continuing to increase and strengthen his own or- ganization. By his ability, energy, and unaffected piety he won for himself a lead- ing place among the clergy of central Ohio, and attracted to his church strangers from all parts. In May, 1855, he was elected president of Western Reserve Col- lege, and was inaugurated July 12 of that year. The work he had undertaken was one of labor and difficulty. The college was in great financial embarrass- ment, and the prospect was every way discouraging ; but he devoted his entire time and means to the task before him, and the result was success. His labors were multifarious. It was his duty to raise, collect, invest, and superintend the funds of the college. He preached twice every Sunday in the college chapel during term-time, and taught in the department of natural theology and evidences of Christianity. Besides these duties, he was subject to incessant calls to perform ministerial labors of every description. As a result of his efforts, all the ineum-

brances of the college were removed and over one hundred and seventy-five thou- sand dollars added to the permanent fund. The grade of scholarship was kept to its high standard, and in the year 1869-70 the number of students was larger than it had ever been before. Under his administration one hundred and forty- seven young men completed their college course, and were graduated by him.

In the autumn of 1867 his health gave indications of breaking down, and the necessity of rest became apparent. The winter was spent in the south of Europe and in England, and in June, 1868, he returned with his health much improved. Returning to his college work with the old vigor and courage, it was not long before the discovery was made that the recuperation was but temporary, and that he could no longer perform the duties of the position with the old success. Two years after his return he desired to resign and seek some easier field of labor; but a proper successor could not be obtained, and so he was induced to remain a while longer. Three years afterwards he found it absolutely necessary to surrender the responsibility of the presidency, whilst continuing actively engaged at the old work. Two years more were spent in this manner, when, in the latter part of June, 1873, he was called away to solemnize a marriage in the neighboring town of Atwater. On returning in the evening he took to his bed and never rose again. He was very anxious to preach the baccalaureate sermon, for which he had prepared, but was unable to do so, and after a few days his illness terminated in death, July 6, 1873. Whether considered as a minister of the gospel, a president of a college, or as a teacher, his abilities were remarkable. As a financial manager he had few equals. This was shown by his great success in establishing two large churches in Columbus on a sound foundation, and by his bringing Western Reserve College out of the embarrassments in which it was wellnigh sunk and putting it on a sound financial basis. As a college executive he had the rare quality of being able to maintain strict discipline and at the same time retain the sincere and un- qualified respect and affection of the studenta, who loved him as a kind father. Patient, modest, self-sacrificing, faithful, he was beloved by all who knew him, and had.not a single enemy. Few who have lived so long, and held for so many years a position like his, could truthfully have such a tribute paid to their character.

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Silo P. Mariner

& & Bodman

William Howard

Aut. Dimmick

LITH BY L. N. EVENTS, PHILA. PA.

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ALBERT GALLATIN RIDDLE.

ALBERT GALLATIN, sixth son of Thomas and Minerva Riddle, was born at Monson, Mass., May 28, 1816. . When he was but seven years old his father died, leaving the family fortunes, never the most prosperous, much shattered by the withdrawal of. their sole dependence. . The household was partly broken up, and the young boy had the usual fortunes of a child in a family thus dispersed. A. year after his father's death he was sent from home to live, but after three weeks he escaped, and returned to his mother. Soon again, a young lawyer of Chardon, D. H. Haws, who aided in settling the estate, visited the Riddles, took a fancy to the lad, and carried him behind himself on horseback to Chardon: Here he lived in the family of the late. Ralph Cowles a few weeks, when he ran away again through the woods to his home. He was now permitted to remain with his mother for a year, or more, until her second marriage, when he went to live with Apollres Hewett, the administrator of his father's estate, who seems to have had a strong liking for the youth. His mother's second marriage proved most unfortunate, Discovering her mistake within a month after the wedding-day, she collected the few effects she had brought to the new home, placed them in an ox-wagon, and taking her children, went with them on foot a distance of ten or twelve miles back to the cabin, built by her first husband. In the autumn the third son, Harrison, returned home to the aid of his mother, and the two elder remained away. Harrison was about seventeen, manly and precocious, of strong character and unbounded energy, and under his management, the family affairs began to prosper. The ensuing spring, in the absence of her husband, Mrs. Hewett dispatched home the lad Albert .. About this time, also, there came into the neighborhood Dr. O. W. Ludlow, a man of considerable attainment, possessed with a passion for books, and of a rare faculty for imparting instruction. Harri- son was a youth after the doctor's own heart, and fell much under his influence. The Munns and Utleys, for the time and section, were cultivated people, and the Riddles had the reputation of possessing unusual intelligence. They had books, and had secured several of the leading newspapers, among them the old New York Mirror ; and later. the township library, of which association one of the brothers (Almon) was president, was located in their house, which became a resort. for the reading people of that region.

Albert remained at home for two years. He is remembered as a quick, for- ward boy, with an uncomfortable tendency to say sharp things and invent rhymes and couplets at the expense of other members of the family and neighbor- hood. He was a devourer of books and newspapers, and had at the time, together with his sister, next younger, and who quite exceeded him in literary hunger, read Gibbons' " Rome" and every other book in the small collection before alluded to. When he was twelve years old his elder brother, Almon, took him to Seth Harmon, a farmer in the northeast corner of Mantua, and as his guardian apprenticed him to Harmon as a farmer. The Harmons were well-to-do and well connected, and young Riddle was in all ways accepted and, treated as one of the family. In the winter he went to school, in the summer he planted and hoed corn and made hay, and in the fall he dug potatoes, husked corn, made cider, and got in as much hunting and rough, riding of colts as any boy of his age in Portage county. From the warmth with which to this day he cherishes the memory of his Mantua life, it may well be supposed that his home, there was a pleasant one. It was not, however, in the books that he should be a farmer, and in the summer of 1831 he returned to Newbury, where, during this and the following season, he engaged with. his elder brothers, Almon and Merrick, in house-carpentry. But his ambition was for something beyond lumber and jack- planes, and the following two years were spent partly under the tuition of Dr. Ludlow; so much of his time alternating between his books, and guns, and fishing-rods, as to win for him a reputation for idleness and uselessness. In the spring of 1835 his brother Harrison, began the study of law at Jefferson, in the office of Giddings & Wade. At his earnest desire Albert, with a set of bench- tools, went to Hudson, where a feature of manual labor had been organized for students in connection with the preparatory, department and college. He seems now to have entered upon his carpentry or studies there, although an article in " Johnson's Encyclopedia" says he was educated at, Western Reserve College. At the end of, a few months he appeared again to his disgusted and disheartened friends in Newbury. He was understood to have visited relatives in southern Ohio, and did not feel called upon to give any reason for returning. Very likely it was

only a choice of two methods, and he preferred rather the one he followed at home to planing and chiseling his way through Caesar and Euclid at . Hudson. He now entered upon his books with zest ; taught school in Auburn during the winter, and the following spring entered the Painesville Academy, where he re- mained a year with great profit to himself. He found here a popular lyceum, of which the young lawyers and students were members, and among whom he at once took a high position as a debater. When asked how he discovered that he had the gift of oratory, he replied " that he did not know. That he could neither remember when his mother taught him to read, nor the time when he could not speak." His first public appearance, as recollected by others, was in reply to the Mormon apostles at Newbury Centre, some years before this date. .

While in Painesville he met with one of the great misfortunes of his life, in the sudden death of his brother Harrison, a young lawyer, and partner of Reuben Hitchcock, of Painesville. His end was caused by intense aud long-continued application to study. Albert entered upon the study of law under the tuition of the late Governor Seabury Ford, in the spring of 1838. It was thought by some that he undertook the profession reluctantly,-an injustice, for such was his ardor in his new pursuit that in three months he was obliged to give himself a vacation in which to recuperate. He was admitted to practice in 1840. At his examination, in the presence of the Supreme judges, one question, mooted among the lawyers of that day, was asked him concerning certain estates tail in Ohio. His answer was accepted as the solution of it. To his grief and disgust, not another was put to him, and he was obliged to sit through the torment of three or four other young men under the pitiless queries of the committee, and was not permitted to correct their blunders. He had almost memorized the first volume of Chitty's " Pleadings," in which he found his profit through all his professional life. His legal curriculum also, embraced, among other books, Buller's " Nisi Prius" and Bacon's " Abridgment,". He found for the first time in Governor Ford's office Shakspeare's, Scott's, and Irving's Works, and Smith's " Wealth of Nations," all, of which he found time to read. He also made himself felt. as a political speaker in the Harrison campaign of 1840. Three weeks after his admission to the bar the Whig county convention nominated him for the office of prosecuting attorney, and he was duly elected. His predecessor and competitor, O. P. Brown, held the office by appointment until his successor should be elected and qualified. At a term of court immediately following his election Mr. Riddle appeared to enter upon the duties of his office, when it was objected that to qualify him he must be commissioned by the governor of the State. The statute was silent on that point. The matter was argued at length by the older lawyers of the opposing parties, before the Democratic associates, Wright, Brackett, and Bosley, and decided against the prosecutor elect. Mr. Riddle then arose in his own behalf, and in. a brief speech brought out a new point : that the clerk of the court was the returning officer, and the governor could alone be informed of the election by the clerk's certificate. Mr. Riddle exhibited that certificate to the court which appointed the clerk, but which decided that it could not see it, and must wait to be told by the governor what the certificate was .. The point was brought out so broadly and made to look so absurdly ridiculous that the whole bar and crowded court-house burst into a shout of laughter, in which the court joined, though adhering to its decision. The applause and congratulations from the old lawyers quite compensated the young advocate for the delay of his office.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 41

Author: Williams Brothers Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 443

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443