USA > Ohio > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Ohio : containing a history of the county, its townships, towns portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of the Northwest Territory, history of Ohio, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc > Part 30
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The first judge of the court of common pleas in this circuit, after the or- ganization of Hancock County, was Hon. Ebenezer Lane, who served up to the close of 1830. His successors under the old constitution have been as follows: David Higgins, 1831-37; Ozias Bowen, 1838; Emery D. Potter, 1839-42; Myron H. Tilden, 1843-44; Patrick G. Goode, 1845-51. Since
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the adoption of the constitution of 1851, the common pleas judges of the subdivision to which Hancock County belonged have been as follows: Law- rence W. Hall, February, 1852, to February, 1857; Machias C. Whiteley, February, 1857, to February, 1867; George E. Seney (additional judge), February, 1858, to February, 1863; Chester R. Mott, February, 1867, to February, 1872; James Pillars (additional judge), May, 1868, to May, 1878; Abner M. Jackson (additional judge), February, 1872, resigned in the sum- mer of 1874, and Thomas Beer, appointed August 15, 1874, and elected in October, 1874, to serve the unexpired term of Judge Jackson up to Febru- ary, 1877 (Judge Beer was re-elected in October, 1876, for a full term, but the subdivision was soon afterward changed, Crawford County, wherein he lived, becoming a part of another subdivision); Henry H. Dodge, May, 1878, second term expires in May, 1888; John McCauley (additional judge), February, 1880, resigned in April, 1883, to accept an appointment on the supreme court commission, and Luther M. Strong appointed to fill vacancy until the following October election, when George F. Pendleton was chosen to serve the unexpired term of Judge McCauley, up to February, 1885. Judge Pendleton was re-elected as his own successor in October, 1884, and began his regular term in February, 1885, which expires in February, 1890. Judges Dodge and Pendleton are now the judges of this subdivision.
The associate judges of Hancock County from its organization up to the abolition of the office were as follows: Abraham Huff, March, 1828, to March, 1835; Robert McKinnis, March, 1828, to March, 1835; Ebenezer Wilson, March, 1828, to March, 1842; Robert L. Strother, March, 1835, to March, 1842; John W. Baldwin, March, 1835, resigned in July, 1835; Major Bright, appointed in August, 1835, served till March, 1836; William Roller, March, 1836, to March, 1849; John Ewing, March, 1842, to March, 1849; Michael Price, March, 1849, to 'March, 1851; John Cooper, March, 1849, to March, 1852; Gamaliel C. Barnd, March, 1849, to March, 1852; Levi Sampson, March, 1851, to March, 1852.
The prosecuting attorneys since the organization of the county have been as follows: Anthony Casad, of Bellefontaine, June, 1828, resigned in September, 1832; Edson Goit, appointed in September, 1832, served till May, 1836; Arnold F. Merriam, appointed in June, 1836, resigned April 4, 1837; Edson Goit, appointed April 4, 1837, resigned October 2, 1838; Ja- cob Barnd, appointed October 2, 1838, served till January, 1839; Jude Hall, January, 1839, to January, 1843; Abel F. Parker, January, 1843, to January, 1845; William M. Patterson, January, 1845, to January, 1847; Abel F. Parker, January, 1847, resigned April 5, 1849, while serving his third term; John E. Rosette, appointed April 5, 1849, and served by elec- tion to January, 1854; William Gribben, January, 1854, to January, 1858; Edson Goit, January, 1858, to January, 1862; James A. Bope, January, 1862, went into the army and resigned in October, 1862; Henry Brown, appointed November 10, 1862, served by election to January, 1868; Will- iam H. Anderson, January, 1868, to January, 1872; George F. Pendleton, January, 1872, to January, 1876; Henry Brown, January, 1876, to Janu- ary, 1880; Aaron B. Shafer, January, 1880, to January, 1885; Henry Brown, January, 1885, term expires in January, 1888.
The first visiting lawyers who practiced at this bar were Anthony Casad, of Bellefontaine, Andrew Coffinberry, of Mansfield, and afterward of Per- rysburg, Rodolphus Dickinson, of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), James
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H. Godman, of Marion; Curtis Bates, of Maumee City and Defiance; Abel Rawson, of Tiffin; and John M. May, of Mansfield and Maumee City. Most of these attorneys attended court at Findlay before the village pos- sessed a single member of the profession, and for years afterward some of them were retained in nearly every important case. Those early practition- ers were generally men of marked ability in their profession, and belonged to that sound and thorough class of thinkers who have done so much to build up the jurisprudence of the State, and who, by reason of the limited facilities afforded by reports and precedents, were compelled to search out by their own thinking and investigation the true principles of the law. In the course of time, as the county advanced in population and wealth, the local practice of these itinerants fell into the possession of the few resident attorneys who had located in Findlay, and the visits of the circuit-riding lawyers became less frequent, as they only appeared occasionally in some im- portant lawsuit.
As the race of hardy, adventurous, circuit-riding lawyers who organized the courts of Northwestern Ohio have passed away forever, it may be inter- esting to the younger members of the bar to contrast the hardships and per- ils of the past with the ease and security of the present. Fifty-five years ago Judge David Higgins held his first term of court in Findlay. Rain fell in torrents for several successive days. The bridgeless streams swelled over their banks, and it became impossible to proceed overland to Defiance to hold court at the appointed time. But the indomitable Judge Higgins, and the hard-headed old stagers who traveled his judicial district, were equal to the occasion. They hired a man to take their horses through the Black Swamp to Perrysburg, purchased a pirogue, which they appropriately named the "Jurisprudence," freighted it with their saddles, bridles and baggage, and floated down the Blanchard and Auglaize Rivers to Defiance, where they held the term, then re-embarked and floated down the Maumee to Perrysburg. From an account of the trip written by Judge Higgins in 1872, for Knapp's " History of the Maumee Valley," we take the following extract: "Our company consisted of Rodolphus Dickinson, John C. Spink, Count Coffinberry, myself and a countryman whose name I forget. The voyage was a dismal one to Defiance, through an unsettled wilderness of some sixty miles. Its loneliness was only broken by the intervening Indian settlement at Ottawa village, where we were hailed and cheered lustily by the 'Tawa 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 Maumee, we came near running into the rap- ids, where we should probably have been swamped had we not been hailed from the shore and warned of our danger."
In a letter to the writer, Hon. James M. Coffinberry, of Cleveland, gives the following reminiscences of pioneer law practice in Northwestern Ohio: "In May, 1840," says Judge Coffinberry, "Judge Potter held his first term for Putnam County. The Judge, with two or three lawyers, came into Kalida, the then county seat, from Defiance, where he had been holding court. One or two lawyers came over from Lima and two from Findlay. One of the Findlay attorneys, John H. Morrisson, a slender, one-armed man, combining the physical strength of a girl with the energy of a buzz-saw, was mounted on an unbroken three-year-old colt, having left his own horse disabled by the way. The other, Edson Goit, put in an ap-
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pearance on foot, carrying his saddle on his shoulders, his horse having broken a leg in a floating corduroy bridge near the village. Every man had been compelled to swim one or more streams to reach the county seat, and all were thoroughly saturated with water and covered with mud. The only hotel-a good one for the time and place-was adequate for the accommo- dation of all who came. His honor, with three of the brethren of his choice, had one little room to themselves. The rest of us lawyers, grand and petit jurors, suitors, witnesses and spectators, slept well on the rude beds which covered the floors. The table groaned with its weight of wild turkey, venison, mutton, fish, wild honey and butter. Everybody washed in what. was called 'the county wash-bowl,' and dried on the 'county towel.' A barrel of new corn whisky on tap stood invitingly in one corner of the dining-room, with a tin cup under the faucet, so that whosoever would could drink without" money and without price. And yet complaints were made of the exorbitant charge of $1 per day for all this luxury, the care and feed of our horses included."
Edson Goit was the first resident lawyer of Findlay. He was a native of Oswego Co., N. Y., born October 17, 1808. When Edson was quite small his father died, but, through improving every opportunity during his boy- hood years, he managed to obtain a fair education, and taught school ere reaching his majority. In 1827 he left his early home and traveled across Ohio until arriving at the village of Fremont. Here he halted, and subse- quently taught school in Fremont and Tiffin. During this period Mr. Goit read law under Rodolphus Dickinson, of Fremont, and Abel Rawson, of Tiffin, and July 12, 1832, was admitted to practice. Learning that Find- lay, the then new county seat of Hancock County, had no lawyer, he at once concluded to cast his fortunes with that village. Traveling on foot from Tiffin, he reached Findlay on the third day of his journey, and went to reside in the home of Dr. L. Q. Rawson, a practicing physician of the village. This was in August, 1832, and in September he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which position he held until May, 1836. The office of prosecutor, however, paid a very small salary during this period of the county's history, and for several months after settling in Findlay, Mr. Goit patiently waited for clients that never came. Discouraged at the poor out- look he at last made up his mind to leave the town, but ere carrying out his intention the tide turned, he was engaged to teach a school, and was thus guaranteed sufficient to pay his board. Clients soon began to consult him, hope took the place of despondency, and he gave up the idea of leaving Findlay. While boarding at the tavern of William Taylor, in 1835, he married Miss Jane Patterson, a sister of Mrs. Taylor, with whom she was living. In May, 1836, Mr. Goit was appointed auditor, vice John C. Shan- non, deceased, and served till March, 1837. In April, 1837, he was again appointed prosecuting attorney, but resigned the office in October, 1838. The same month he was elected treasurer, and filled that office two succes- sive terms. He was now on the high road to prosperity, and besides attend- ing to the duties of his profession launched out boldly into other pursuits. He accumulated a large amount of land, and engaged extensively in mer- cantile business in Hancock, Allen and Putnam Counties. He, however, got "too many irons in the fire;" his business was too complex for judicious management, and his large landed interests finally became an incumbrance and proved his financial downfall. From January, 1858, to January, 1862,
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J.M. Coffin kung
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he again filled the office of prosecuting attorney, and this closed his official career. Mr. Goit possessed unbounded energy, and though a fair lawyer did not devote sufficient attention to his profession to keep up with the times. He was a man of fine personal appearance and dignified carriage, and was regarded as a very strong jury lawyer. Though he finally lost the fruits of a lifetime of persevering industry, he did not, however, "fail," as that term is commonly understood, but paid his creditors to the last farth- ing, no man losing a cent by him, and his every promise being faithfully redeemed. Such was his sterling honesty, that his principal solace at the hour of death was the fact that he owed no man a dollar. His first wife died in the spring of 1863, leaving a family of three sons and one daughter. (One of the sons was subsequently killed in the Rebellion, the other two re- side in Wood County, and the daughter in Michigan. ) Mr. Goit was afterward married to Mrs. Sarah A. McConnell, of Van Buren, and in the fall of 1867 removed to Bowling Green, Wood Co., Ohio, where he died May 29, 1880. Two daughters were born of the second marriage, both of whom are dead, but his widow is still a resident of Bowling Green. No man has ever lived in Findlay who is more kindly remembered than Edson Goit. He was charitable to a fault, and every worthy public enterprise found in him a warm friend and generous supporter.
Arnold F. Merriam was the second lawyer to locate in Findlay. He was born in Brandon, Rutland Co., Vt., December 17, 1811, and was there educated and began the study of law. In early manhood he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where he completed his law studies and was admitted to practice. He soon afterward started for Vinton County, where he intended to locate, but during his journey met Wilson Vance, who induced him to change his mind and come to Findlay. He arrived here in the spring of 1835, and entered into partnership with Edson Goit. In June, 1836, he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which office he filled till April, 1837, when he resigned. On the 27th of May, 1837, he married Miss Sarah A. Baldwin, sister of Dr. William Baldwin, who bore him one son and two daughters. In January, 1838, Mr. Merriam started the Hancock Repub- lican, the first Whig paper published in the county, which he published about a year. He then removed to Mansfield, Ohio, sold the press, and subse- quently went to Kentucky, where he died in July, 1844. His widow re- turned with her family to Findlay, subsequently married Judge Robert L. Strother, and is still a resident of Findlay. Though Mr. Merriam followed his profession about four years in this county, he left Findlay at such an early day that little is remembered of him except by his immediate friends.
John H. Morrison, the next resident lawyer, is one of the best known members of the pioneer bar. He was born in Uniontown, Penn., in 1802, but removed when quite young, to Perry County, Ohio, where at the age of fifteen he lost his right arm by an accident. Young Morrison received a good common school education, read law in the office of Philemon Beecher, of Lancaster, Ohio, began practice in Bucyrus, and afterward filled the offices of prosecuting attorney and treasurer of Crawford County. In the fall of 1836 he located in Findlay, and soon became well known through- out Northwestern Ohio. Mr. Morrison was talented, blunt and fearless to a remarkable degree, possessed untiring energy, and was an indefatigable worker in the interests of his clients. He was very eccentric, and many amusing anecdotes are told by the older members of the bar to illustrate
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his marked peculiarities. Judge M. C. Whiteley says that during a certain term of court held by Judge Goode, at Findlay, Mr. Morrison had a case in which he manifested much interest, and after the evidence had closed he felt that the cause of his client was lost. Feeling somewhat irritated, he began his address to the court and jury in the following blunt manner: "May it please the court; by the perjury of witnesses, the ignorance of the jury and the corruption of the court, I expect to be beaten in this case." The Judge, very much surprised, turned to the counsel and sharply inquired: "What is that you say, Mr. Morrison ?" Then the latter promptly replied, "That's all I have to say on that point," and went on with his address. At another time, says the same authority, one of his clients made application to the court for a license, and Judge Goode announced that the application was refused. Considerably excited Mr. Morrison arose and addressed the associates as follows: "Judge Ewing, is that your decision ?" "Yes." "Judge Roller, do you concur in that decision?" "Yes." He was about putting the same question to Judge Hammond, when Judge Goode, very much surprised at the proceeding said, "Mr. Morrison, what are you about ? What are you doing ?"" "Why, I'm polling the court, your honor." Mr. Morrison was married in Perry County, Ohio, to a Miss Henthorn, who died in Bucyrus without issue. He afterward married Miss Nancy Williams, who reared a family of five children, four of whom with the mother are residents of Findlay. He died April 19, 1854, but he is as vividly remembered by the old members of the profession as if his death occurred only a year ago instead of thirty-two.
Jacob Barnd was a bright, promising young lawyer, who died in 1845. He was a native of Perry County, Ohio, and a son of Christian Barnd, a pioneer of 1831, in which year he removed with his parents to this county. In 1832 the family moved from the farm into Findlay, where Jacob after- ward studied law under Edson Goit. He was admitted in 1837, and in October, 1838, was appointed prosecuting attorney, but served only till the following January. He filled the recorder's office two terms, from October, 1838, to October, 1844, and it is probable he did not practice much during that period. He left two sons, one of whom lives in Fostoria, and the other in Kansas.
Jude Hall came to Findlay about 1836, where he followed the carpenter trade, and sometimes preached the gospel. He was a queer specimen of the genus homo and quite an eccentric character. He read law with Edson Goit, and soon after admission, in 1838, he was elected prosecuting attor- ney, and re-elected in 1840. In 1843 he removed to Defiance, and thence to Upper Sandusky, where further trace of him is lost in the fading twilight of tradition.
Hon. Charles W. O'Neal comes next in the order of time. He was born in Middletown, Frederick Co., Md., January 19, 1811, and in 1833 removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where the following year he was married to Miss Amy J. Baldwin. In July, 1835, he came to Findlay, and began the study of law in the office of Goit & Merriam, and in August, 1838, was admitted to practice. Mr. O'Neal was a practical surveyor, and did a great deal of sur- veying in this county. He was also one of the pioneer school teachers of Findlay. In 1836 he was elected auditor, serving one term, and also represented this district in the State Senate from 1844 to 1846. He prac- ticed his profession in Hancock County nearly forty years, retiring from
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active practice a few years prior to his death, and removing to Indiana, whence he returned to and died in Findlay, December 20, 1879. Mr. O'Neal, though a safe counsellor, was not an advocate, and rarely appeared in that capacity in any important case. He was very methodical and dignified in his practice, terse and forcible in argument, and always courteous to the opposing counsel. He was close and economical in his business habits, and very successful in the accumulation of wealth, leaving to his descendants a handsome fortune.
Abel F. Parker was born in Cavendish, Windsor Co., Vt., May 11, 1800, and died in Findlay, May 31, 1881, in his eighty-second year. In early manhood he settled in Genesee County, N. Y., where he was married in 1823 to Miss Maria Strong. In December, 1836, he removed with his family to Blanchard Township, Hancock Co., Ohio., and two years after- ward located in Findlay. He read law under Edson Goit, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. The same year he was elected prosecuting attorney and served one term. In 1846 he was again elected prosecutor, and re-elected in 1848, but resigned the office in April, 1849. Mr. Parker also filled the office of postmaster of Findlay. His first wife died in 1848, leaving a family of one son and two daughters. In 1852 Mr. Parker married Mrs. Sarah A. Robinson, who bore him two sons and one daughter. Five of the six children survive, and all were living at the time of their father's death, the eldest, Edwin, having since died. Though Mr. Parker lived to the ripe old age of more than four score years, he nevertheless continued in practice up to within a short period of his decease. He loved his profession and was highly respected by his associates of the bar.
Ezra Brown is the oldest surviving member of the present bar of Find- lay, though not now in active practice. He was born in Lower Canada, August 4, 1814, and when about three years old removed with his parents to what is now the town of Albion, Orleans Co., N. Y., where he resided till October, 1839, when he came to Findlay. He entered the law office of John H. Morrison, and was admitted to practice in July, 1842. He formed a partnership with his preceptor, and continued in practice until February, 1847, then removed to a farm in Wood County, near Fostoria. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Brown returned to Findlay and resumed the practice of his profession. He remained in practice till the fall of 1880, and then retired from the active duties thereof. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Brown was elected justice of the peace, which office he now holds. He has been mayor of Findlay, and also served in the town council. On the 11th of November, 1845, he was married to Miss Jane E. Bigelow, who died Feb- ruary 4, 1873, leaving a family of two daughters. One son died at Mem- phis in 1863, while serving in the late Rebellion.
Elijah Williams was also a student in the office of Mr. Morrison, and was admitted with Ezra Brown in July, 1842. He practiced in Findlay about eight years ere his removal to Oregon, and is remembered as a sharp, shrewd but diffident lawyer. Judge Coffinberry, in a recent letter to the writer, says: "I found Elijah Williams, one of the early lawyers of Find- lay, at Portland. He is seventy-six, well preserved in mind and body, well heeled financially, and living as pleasantly as a widower can live, on one of his farms on the margin of East Portland. He feels that his life work is about done, but from the snap of his eyes when we talked finance, I judge that he still feels the inclination as well as the pecuniary ability to discount a good note for any reasonable amount."
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Hon. Machias C. Whiteley can be justly called the Nestor of the bar of Hancock County, as for nearly forty-three years he has been an active par- ticipant in the courts of this portion of the State. He comes of Scotch-Irish stock, and was born May 24, 1822, in East New Market, Dorchester Co., Md., on the eastern shore of that State. His paternal grandfather was a patriot of the Revolution, and his father served in the war of 1812 against the same old foe of American liberty. In 1832 his parents, Willis and Elizabeth Whiteley, removed with their family to Baltimore, Fairfield Co., Ohio, where Machias worked on a farm and attended the common schools of the neighborhood. He subsequently learned the harness and saddler trade, which he followed until coming to Findlay in 1840. For two years he worked in the clerk's office, devoting his spare time in reading law with Goit & O'Neal, and then returned to Fairfield County, where he continued his law studies with Medill & Whitman, of Lancaster. On the 4th of July, 1843, he was admitted to the bar at Tiffin, and immediately opened a law office in Findlay, where he gradually grew into a lucrative practice. In 1847 Mr. Whiteley was married to Miss Sarah A. Henderson, a native of Wayne County, Ohio, and daughter of William L. Henderson, a leading pioneer surveyor and official of Hancock County, and one of the early settlers of Findlay. Nine children were born to this union, the survivors being Willis H. and Frederick P., of Findlay; Mrs. George B. Stevenson, of Upper San- dusky, Ohio, and Mrs. F. B. Satterthwaite, of Ottawa, Ohio. In 1848 Mr. Whiteley was elected to the Legislature, and re-elected in 1849. While in the Legislature he took part in the election of Salmon P. Chase to the United States Senate, and secured the charter of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which nominated Buchanan and Breckinridge for President and Vice-president of the United States. The same fall he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the third subdivision of the Ninth Judicial District, and re-elected in 1861, serving on the bench ten years. In 1864 Judge Whiteley was nominated on the Democratic ticket for supreme judge, but with the balance of the ticket was defeated, the State going largely Republican that year. Upon retiring from the bench in 1867, Judge Whiteley resumed practice in Find- lay, and has ever since devoted his attention to his professional duties, the firm of Whiteley & Bope being long recognized as one of the prominent legal firms of Northwestern Ohio. Judge Whiteley's wife died July 27, 1880, and the following year he married Mrs. Mary C. Hollinger, daughter of Dr. A. F. Burson, of Mt. Blanchard, who died February 1, 1886.
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