USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 11
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These were the pioneers of the Lorain bar, men of learning, ability and integrity; and in proportion to the amount of business to be done, the bar would seem to have been as large then as in the past ten years. The court of common pleas then, and for many years after, held only two sessions a year of a. a week each, and the supreme court only one session of a single day. The first journal of the court of common pleas, which extends to the spring of 1832, and includes all the probate business, contains about the same amount of matter as the present journal of the same court for a single year, and the probate busi- ness is now all removed to the probate court. Over against this, however, is to be set the undoubted fact, that a greater proportion of the litigation was theu disposed of finally before justices of the peace. Small as the business was, however, the Lorain bar by no means had the monopoly of it. Lawyers from adja- cent, and even from remote counties, were at Elyria attending court, and did no inconsiderable part of the business. Prominent among these were:
REUBEN WOOD. (afterwards common pleas and supreme judge, ) and JOHN W. WILLEY, of Cleveland, afterward presiding judge of the court of common pleas. SAMUEL COWLES, of the same city, also did a considerable practice. WHITTLESEY & NEWTON, both eminent lawyers, of Warren, Trumbull county, and THOMAS D. WEBB, of the same place, also appear frequently upon the records of the courts of Lorain during its early years. During this period, also, there commenced a practice which continued consecutively for about twenty years, and at intervals ever since. We refer to that of
S. J. ANDREWS, of Cleveland. He was never a
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
resident of Lorain county, and hence no extended notice of him will be attempted here, but a history of the bar of Lorain which omitted to mention him would be incomplete. Admitted to the bar in Cleve- land in 1828, he immediately commenced attending the courts at Elyria, and rapidly acquired a practice. A thorough and accomplished lawyer, a fiery and eloquent advocate, quick and incisive at repartee, full of the spirit of genuine and healthy mirthfulness, and withal a perfect gentleman, Mr. Andrews will long continue a prominent figure in the memory of the earlier inhabitant of Lorain county. He was for a short time judge of the old superior court of Cleve- land, and also a member from that county of the Ohio constitutional conventions of 1850 and 1843. He still resides in Cleveland, at the ripe age of seventy-seven years, in full possession of his mental faculties, and remarkably well preserved physically, in the regular practice of his profession-the honored Nestor of the Cuyahoga bar,
The period from 1831 to 1845 with large increase of population and business in the county witnessed the advent of no fewer than twenty new lawyers to Elyria, the county seat. Prominent among these were Ed- ward S. Hamlin, Horace D. Clark, Joel Tiffany, Albert. A. Bliss, Philemon Bliss, Judson D. Benedict, Robert Me Eachron and William F. Lock wood.
The earliest of these to begin practice at. Elyria was EDWARD S. HAMLIN who held a prominent position at the bar and had a large practice for a period of abont eighteen years. He commenced, as the records indicate, about. 1831, and soon after entered into partnership with Frederick Whittlesey, which partner- ship continned until Mr. Whittlesey left Elyria in 1835. In 1833-4-5, he held the office of prosecuting attor- ney of Lorain county. In 1834 he removed to Cleve- land, but returned in a little over a year. In 1838 or 1839, he formed a partnership with Albert A. Bliss, (of whom more hereafter) which arrangement con- tinned until 1843, when Mr. Hamlin was elected to Congress for an nnexpired term. About the time of its dissolution William F. Lockwood became his partner, and seems to have contianed so until Mr. Hamlin left Elyria in about 1849. Mr. Hamlin was known as a close, thorough and industrious lawyer. and though not as eloquent an advocate as some of his cotemporaries, an eminently safe" man to have the charge of litigation. He is still living and prae- ticing his profession, and when last heard from by the writer was at Cincinnati.
HORACE D. CLARK, one of the lawyers who had the largest continuous practice in Lorain county, was born May 22, 1805. at Granby, Connectient, where his mother still resides at the advanced age of ninety-four years. Ile went to district school summers till he was eight years of age, and in the winter till he was sixteen, when he was taken from school and placed in a country store, where he served his apprenticeship and was taken in as a partner. In this business he continued some four years, at the end of which time,
says he in a recent letter, "I found we had lost so much by bad debts and the stealings of clerks that. there was but little left, and I quit the business in disgust." Ile studied law one year in Connecticut, and in November 17, 1832, started for Ohio, and reached Hudson in this state, in December of the same year. On the eighth of that mouth be entered the law school of Judge Van R. Humphrey, and a year later was admitted to the bar by the supreme court in bank at Columbus.
On the fourth of the following July (1834) Mr. Clark opened a law office in the southeast corner room in the court house in Elyria. He continued to practice law in Elyria from that time for about thirty years, having during a large portion of that time the largest practice in the county-a practice never approached in magnitude by more than one rival at a time. A. A. Bliss, Hamlin and Bliss, Joel Tiffany, Benedict and Leonard, Hamlin and Lockwood, and W. F. Lockwood alone, were at different times, his nearest competitors, but Mr. Clark steadily maintained the leading position he had gained. until after he ceased to reside in Elyria; for though he continued to practice there till 1864, he removed with his family to (leve- land in 1851.
In 1845 Mr. Clark took in as a partner Cyrus Olney, who came from lowa, where he had been in practice. He stayed about a year and returned to lowa, where he was soon after elected a judge. " He was about twenty-eight." says Mr. Clark, "and the best special pleader of his age I ever saw."
In March. 1849, Mr. Clark formed a partnership with Stevenson Burke, who had been admitted to the bar the Angust previous, having been a student in Mr. Clark's office. His partnership continued till about June. 1852. John M. Vincent and John V. Coon were also students with Mr. Clark during his practice in Elyria. In 1850 Mr. Clark was elected a member of the constitutional convention of Ohio, and served in that body, which completed its labors March 10, 1851. This is the only official position held by Mr. Clark.
Ile was an excellent lawyer, though not especially an eloquent advocate. He abandoned the practice of law in 1865 and removed to Montreal, Canada, where he now resides.
JOEL TIFFANY, one of the the most remarkable men who ever lived in Elyria, was a native of Barkham- stead, Connecticut. He removed to Elyria from Medina, in 1833, and remained in Elyria, as the court records indicate, until 1848. In 1840. he seems to have been associated with Mr. Silliman, of Wooster. Mr. Silliman was an able lawyer, and practiced in Elyria for a number of years, though never a resident there. Mr. Tiffany seems also to have been associated with L. G. Byington, for a short time, and with Mr. E. H. Leonard, for about two years. He was prose- enting attorney in 1838 and 1839. Upon leaving Elyria, he went to Painesville, and subsequently to New York City. From 1863 to 1869, he resided in
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
Albany, where be was reporter of the court of appeals of New York, and published volumes twenty-eight to thirty-nine, inclusive, of the New York reports. From there he removed to Chicago, where he still resides.
Mr. Tiffany approached nearer to being a " genius," as that word is ordinarily understood, than any other practitioner of the Lorain bar. With acute and acen- rate perceptions, great mental powers of acquisition and assimilation, a prodigious memory, and, withal, an eloquence seldom equalled, he was extremely well equipped for all forensic encounters. In the locally celebrated " counterfeit cases," Mr. Tiffany exerted his great powers to their utmost, and made for him- self a reputation that will long endure in Lorain county. These were tried in 1838-9, when he was prosecuting, and no fewer than fourteen persons were sent to penitentiary for being implicated in the mak- ing and issuing of counterfeit money.
The great qualities we have mentioned were, how- ever, handicapped by an unsteadiness of purpose, and lack of application to his profession, which rendered them of comparatively little value to their possessor. Hle engaged in a variety of enterprises, outside of his profession, while in Elyria, none of which proved protitable, while they prevented his reaching that success in his profession which he might otherwise have attained.
During his residence in Albany, in 1864, Mr. Tiffany, in connection with Mr. Heury Smith, pub- lished a work upon practice under the New York code, under the title of "Tiffany & Smith's New York Practice." It is highly spoken of by the law reviewers. A second edition has just been published, edited by H. G. Woods.
In 1862. in connection with E. F. Bullard, Mr. Tiffany published a work, under the title of " The Law of Trust and Trustees, as administered in England and America." Professor Theodore W. Dwight, re- viewing this work, in the American Lar Register of July. 1863, says: " This appears to be an excellent work. The arrangement of topies is simple and log- ical, and the discussion lucid and satisfactory. "
In 1865, Tiffany & Smith published a book of " forms adapted to the practice and special pleadings in New York courts of Record."
Mr. Tiffany also published. in Iser, " A Treatise on Government and Constitutional Law, being an inquiry into the source and limitation of govern- mental authority, according to the American Theory."
ALBERT A. BLIss was born March 23. 1811. in Canton, Connectiont. In 18221, his father's family removed to Whitestown, Oneida county, New York. In 1825, he left home, to learn a trade, and served until 1830. He then attended school for a couple of years at the Oneida Institute, at Whitestown, an excellent institution. on the manual labor plan, then recently organized. In the spring of 1833, Mr. Bliss came to Elyria, and commenced studying law, in the office of Whittlesey & Hamlin. During the period of his studying he engaged also in newspaper work. He
was admitted to the bar in Cleveland. September, 1835, and the following spring moved to that city, and engaged in editing a newspaper, the Daily Ga- zelle. during the political campaign of that year; after which he returned to Elyria, and engaged in the practice of his profession until 1842. In 1840. he ent red into partnership with E. S. Hamlin. and the firm did a large business until sometime in 1845. when it was dissolved. Previous to 1845. Mr. Bliss had, for a short time, been in partnership with his brother, Philemon Bliss.
A deep interest in polities, however interrupted the continuity of Mr. Bliss' application to the practice of his profession. He was three times elected to the legislature-in 1839, 1840 and 1811, and was oceu- pied at different times in the editing of political newspapers. In the winter of 1846-2, he was elected treasurer of state by the legislature, and held that office until January, 1852. He removed to Columbus in the spring of 1847, but seems to have kept up, somewhat. his law practice at. Elyria, as a member of the firm of Bliss & Bagg, until 1849. He returned to Elyria late in 1852, and remained until the spring of 1863, when he removed to Jackson, Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business until 1844. when. finding the business becoming unprofita'de, he sold it out and re-engaged in the practice of the law. He still resides at Jackson, where he is, as he always has been wherever he has lived, a highly respected citizen.
He isa member and the treasurer of the city school board, and one of the inspectors of the Michigan penitentiary, which is located at that place.
JUDSON D. BENEDICT came to Elyria from Medina in 1838, and engaged in the practice of the law for abont ten years from that time. In 1840 or there- abouts, he formed a partnership with E. H. Leonard, who had then recently finished a long term as clerk of the courts, and been admitted to the bar. This partnership continued some two years, the firm doing a large business during the time. After the dissolu- tion of his connection with Benedict, Mr. Leonard soon formed a partnership with Mr. Tiffany, which lasted till about 1815, after which time his name does not appear upon the records of this court.
After the dissolution of the firm of Benediet and Leonard, Mr. Benedict associated with himself Robert Me Eachron, under the firm of Benedict & Me Eachron. which firm continued some three years, after which Joshua Myers was partner with Mr. Benedict for about two years more. About. 1848, Mr. Benediet abandoned the practice of law, and became a preacher of the denomination known as Disciples or Campbell- ites, and left Elyria. Ile removed to the vicinity of Buffalo, New York, where he resided most of the remainder of his life. He died in Canada three or four years ago.
Mr. Benedict did a very considerable business during all his residence at Elyria, but was not considered a strong lawyer; as a pleader, he was especially weak.
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.
PHILEMON BLISS, a brother of A. A. Bliss, was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1838. He com- menced practice at onee in Elyria in partnership with his brother, A. A. Bliss, but soon after, by reason of ill-health, was forced to abandon business, and went west. Regaining his health, he re-commenced his practice in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, in 1842, but returned to Elyria in the winter of 1846-7, and remained in practice there, except when inter- rupted by otlice holding, until the spring of 1861. During that period, he was elected probate judge, being the first probate judge of Lorain county, also common pleas judge in the winter of 1848-9, and to Congress in 1854 and 1856,
In 1861, he was appointed chief justice of Dakota territory, which office he held until the fall of 1864, when he removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he resided until 1872. During this period, he was cleeted probate judge, and, in 1868, supreme judge of Missouri, which office he tilled to the end of the term with credit to himself and benefit to the jurisprudence of that state. In 1872, he was elected resident pro- fessor of law at the university of Missouri, and dean of the law faculty, and removed to Columbia, where he still resides. Mr. Bliss is a man of great mental ability. A more extended sketch of his life will be found in that part of this volume devoted to Elyria. He is the author of a work on pleading, which is just published.
WM. F. LOCKWOOD, one of the latest lawyers to settle in Elyria during the period of which we are now speaking, was born April 1, 1822, in Norwalk. Fairfield county, Connecticut, and there received a common school education. In 1837, he went to New York, and became a clerk in a wholesale grocery store. In 1840, he came to Ohio, and, in 1841, settled in Elyria, where he became a law student in the office of Hamlin & Bliss. In 1842, he was admitted to the bar at Medina. He was a candidate on the whig ticket, the same year, for the office of prosecuting attorney, but was defeated by H. A. Ten- ney, the democratic candidate. He was elected to that office, however, in 1844, and held it for four years, being re-elected in 1846. In 1852, he was a delegate from his congressional district to the whig national convention, which met at Baltimore and nominated Winfield Scott as a candidate for the presidency. The same year he was the candidate of his party for con- gress, but was defeated, Harvey Johnson, of AAshland county, the democratic candidate, being elected.
In 1854, he was elected probate judge of Lorain county, succeeding Philemon Bliss. In 1856, he was a candidate before the Republican convention for the nomination for common pleas judge, but Judge Car- penter, of Akron, was the nomince.
By reason of impaired health, he resigned his office, and in the spring of 1857 removed with his family to Nebraska and settled at Omaha, where he resided some two years, when he removed to Dakota City,
which continued to be his home till he returned to Ohio in 1867.
He was one of the federal judges for the territory of Nebraska, from April, 1861, until the admission of Nebraska as a State in 1867, when he was nom- inated by President Johnson as United States district judge for the district of Nebraska, but was not con- firmed by the Senate. Hle then returned to Toledo, in this State, where he still resides.
He was the democratic candidate for congress in the Toledo district, in 1870, but was unsuccessful, the district being republiean.
In 1828, he was recommended by the bar of Lucas county for the office of common pleas judge, which recommendation was ratified by both the republican and democratic conventions, and he was elected to that office.
Mr. Lockwood had a large practice when at the bar in Elyria, and is a man of fine abilities, as the large number of important positions he has held with credit to himself well attests.
Other lawyers who resided in Elyria during the period of which we are now speaking were:
THOMAS TYRRELL, from 1834 to 1838. During a part or all of this time, he was a partner with E. S. Hamlin. He engaged also in the newspaper busi- ness.
A. C. PENFIELD, from abont 1833 to 1854. He did a moderate business for a number of years. He died in Elyria.
C. WHITTLESEY, 1835. HEMAN BIRCH, 1835 to 1847. LE GRAND BYINGTON, 1837 to 1839. A. II. CURTIS, 1838.
L. F. HAMLIN, 1838 to 1855, He was considered a good equity lawyer, but his practice was limited. He was for a time a partner with Mr. Lockwood. He died in Elyria.
ROBERT MCEACHRON, 1842 to 1850. He came from Richland county, was a partner with Mr. Benedict from 1842 to 1845, and with Joshua Myers under the name of MeEachron & Myers from 1847 to 1849, and did a very considerable business. Ilis health failed while in Elyria, and he died soon after leaving there.
JOSHUA MYERS came to the bar about 1844, and remained in Elyria until his death, in 187%. He was first associated with Mr. Benedict, then with Mr. MeEachron, as already stated. From about 1850 to 1854, he was associated with Judge Bissell, of Paines- ville, in the firm of Bissell & Myers, which did a. considerable business. His practice when alone was never large. During his later years, he held the office of justice of the peace for a single term, securing his election partly by means of the anti-temperance excite- ment, which grew up in opposition to the "erusade." in 1874.
FORDYCE M. KEYTH was admitted to the bar in 1839, and commenced practice in Elyria, but removed to Stark county in 1840, and subsequently to Jackson
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.
county, Ohio. Ile served with distinction in the late war as major of infantry, and wajor and lieutenant- colonel of artillery, and in 1865 removed to White Cloud, Kansas, where he now resides, engaged in the practice of law, and farming.
MYRON R. KEITH was born in Wingfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., March 3, 1819; came to Elyria with his father, Colonel Ansel Keith in October, 1832; and was admitted as an attorney in 1841. Ile commenced the practice of law in Elyria in 1841, and in 1849 removed to Cleveland and practiced with Harvey Rice, in the firm of Rice & Keith, until 1846. In January, 1846, he returned to Elyria and was appointed clerk of the courts for Lorain county, and officiated in that capacity until the spring of 1852. In August, 1852, he removed to Cleveland, and since that time he has been and still is engaged in the practice of the law there. In June, 1867, he was appointed register in bankruptcy, and is still acting in that capacity.
II. A. TENNEY came to the bar in 1842, and was elected prosecuting attorney that year. He remained in Elyria a few years engaged in the law practice and newspaper work, and then removed to Wisconsin.
JOHN B. GREEN was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1842, and, after remaining a year or two. removed to Newark, Ohio, where he died in 1845.
ELEAZER WAKELY was admitted to the bar in Elyria in 1844, and remained there about two years, when he removed to Wisconsin, and, subsequently, to Nebraska, where he held the office of federal terri- torial judge, in which he was succeeded by Judge Wm. F. Lockwood in 1861. He still resides in Omaha eminent in his profession.
During this period, 1831 to 1845, the law business of the county had increased, so that, in 1844, it was something more than half its present amount as indi- cated by the journal of the court of common pleas. Still, up to this time, very few, if any, of the lawyers had devoted themselves exclusively to the practice of the law, almost all engaging in newspaper publication and some in other enterprises. The relative amount of business done by foreign attorneys was much less than in the earliest period, but still a large number of attorneys from Cleveland and other points prac- ticed occasionally in Lorain. Prominent among these were W. Silliman, of Wooster, and C. L. Lattimer, of Norwalk.
The period from 1815 to 1860 witnessed an almost. complete change in the personnel of the Lorain bar. About thirty new men came to the bar during that. period, and, at its close, Philemon Bliss remained the only resident attorney who had begun practice prior to 1845, although Mr. Clark, then residing in Cleve- land, still practiced at the Lorain bar. Of some seven or eight of those who came to the practice within this period it is proper to make somewhat extended men- tion.
SYLVESTER BAGG, who has since served a number of years on the bench in a sister State. was born
Angust 6, 1823, at. Lanesborough, Berkshire county, Mass. He removed to Elyria in May, 1845, and, in 1846, entered the office of A. A. Bliss as a partner, and continned in the practice until December, 1856, when he removed from Elyria. During his residence in Elyria he was also associated with Mr. Edmund A. West, now of Chicago, in the firm of Bagg & West, and later with Mr. George Olmsted, now of Elyria, as Bagg & Olmsted. He also engaged at times in the drug and insurance business while in Elyria. After remaining a few months in Chicago, he removed to lowa in March, 1857, and settled at Waterloo, where he now resides. He was commissioned in the army as A. Q. M. with the rank of captain, October 22, 1862, and served until November 26. 1865, being discharged with the brevet of major. He was elected circuit judge in 1868, and re-elected in 18:2 and 1876, and elected district judge in 1878, which office he now holds.
STEVENSON BURKE was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, November 26, 1826. He com- menced studying law in the office of Powell & Bnek, at Delaware, Ohio, and afterwards went into the office of HI. D. Clark at Elyria, where he continued till his admission to the bar, August 11, 1848. In the fol- lowing March he entered into partnership with Mr. Clark, which partnership continued until May or June, 1852. He continued to reside at Elyria with a rapidly increasing practice until 1861, when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the counties of Lorain, Medina and Summit. Prior to his elevation to the bench he was associated for a short time with Mr. Lake and Mr. Sheldon, under the firm name of Burke, Lake & Sheldon. This firm. however, lasted but a short time. In 1857 he was associated with E. F. Poppleton, and, in 1860, with H. II. Poppleton.
Mr. Burke was a sound and thorough lawyer and a man of remarkable industry, being, no doubt, the hardest working lawyer who ever practiced at the Lorain bar. Ile was elected to the common pleas bench October, 1861, and took his seat the February following. and continued to hold the office until Feb- ruary. 1869, having been re-elected in 1866. lle re- signed his office January 1. 1869, his resignation taking effect at the end of the judicial year the 9th of the following February. Immediately upon his resignation he became a member of the firm of Backns, Estep & Burke in Cleveland. Messrs. Backus and Estep having previously been partners in the practice in that city. Judge Burke also kept for a time an oflice in Elyria, where he still resided, in connection with Mr. 11. H. Poppleton. This was soon diseon- tinned, however. Not long after Mr. Burke went to Cleveland the partnership of which he was a member was broken up by the death of Mr. Backns. After a short time more Messrs. Estep & Burke dissolved their connection, since which Judge Burke has been practicing alone in Cleveland, and doing a large and highly lucrative business. ITe has become interested
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