History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 57

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207

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Jobn. Robert Tanner was born in Pleasant township. Madison county, Ohio, October 2. 1874. He attended the common schools. He entered the Ohio State University, in 1890, and was a student in civil engineering until 1894. He afterward attended. the law school of that institution, where he graduated in 1900. and. being admitted to the bar at the same time, at once began the practice of law in Mt. Sterling. He was elected probate judge of this county in November, 1905. and began his services as such. Febru- ary 9. 1906. He was 're-elected in 1908 and held the office until 1913. During his first term. by an act of the General Assembly. passed April 2. 1906, the term of probate judge was made four years, and Judge Tanner served four years his second term. Upon his retirement from the bench he began, and still is, practicing law in London.

Frank James Murray was born in London, Ohio. October 19, 1884. He attended the village schools and graduated from the London high school in 1804. He attended the Ohio State University. and graduated in the College of Arts there in the class of 1908. In the same year he was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity-a distinguished honor for literary and scholastic attainments. He attended the Law

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College of the University of Minnesota, 1908-9, and graduated from the law department of the Ohio State University in 1910, being admitted to the bar at the same time. He was elected probate judge of Madison county, Novmeber 5. 1912, took his seat upon the "wool sack" February 9, 1913, and is now the incumbent.

THE JUDICIARY.

The Legislature, in March. 1875. passed an act creating an extra subdivision of the fifth judicial district. In April of that year, Samuel W. Courtright, of Circleville, was elected judge of the new subdivision, consisting of the counties of Pickaway and Madison. He was born in Pickaway county, read law with Bellamy Storer, of Cin- cinnati, graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1863, and began the practice of law in Circleville. He was prosecuting attorney of Pickaway county for two terms, and, after twelve years' practice, was elected judge of the new subdivision. as before stated. The supreme court, near the close of its term, declared the act creating an extra subdivision, known as the fourth subdivision, unconstitutional, for the reason that by the terms of the constitution a judicial district was divided into three sub- divisions, and could contain no more. The office therefore died at the expiration of Judge Courtright's terms. It was held, however, that, while he was not legally judge, he was de facto judge, and his decisions would not be disturbed for that reason. He was at that time said to be the youngest judge then upon the bench. He was exceed- ingly formal and impressive when presiding upon the bench. a habit contracted while he was a very high official in the Masonic order. He died on January 2, 1913.

Under the act of 1878, Eli P. Evans was elected judge of the fourth subdivision. He was born in 1842 in Franklin county, Ohio. He read law with James E. Wright, a most able lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1870, immediately commencing the practice of law in Columbus. He was elected judge of the court of common pleas in April. 1878, in a new subdivision of the district, known as the fourth, consisting of Franklin county. This office, like Judge Courtright's, expired under the decision of the supreme court, but the Legislature, in 1881, passed an act creating an extra judgeship for the third subdivision. and in October, 1882, Judge Evans was elected to fill the position.

Judge Evans was re-elected several times to succeed himself, and continuously held the position until February, 1903, when his last term expired. He was a model judge, studious, careful, patient, learned and upright. He served a longer time upon the bench than any of his predecessors. He died in 1905.

Edward F. Bingham was born in Concord, Vermont. August 13. 1828. He received his early education in that state, and came to Ohio in 1846. He was a student in Marietta College one year. He studied law and was admitted to the bar at George- town, Ohio, in May, 1850, Chief Justice Peter Hitchcock presiding. He began the prac- tice of law in Vinton county, Ohio; was prosecuting attorney of that county, 1851-1855. and represented the counties of Jackson and Vinton in the Legislature, 1856-57. He was a delegate from Ohio to the famous Democratic national convention at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1860, which broke into two factions, part of it adjourning to Balti- more and nominating Stephen A. Douglas. He came to Columbus in 1861 to practice law. He was city solicitor, 1867-71. In 1873 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the subdivision of which Madison county was a portion, and held the office continuously until April 25, 1887. He was then appointed, by President Cleveland, chief justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia and held that office until he retired, April 30, 1903. He died at his country home near Union, West Virginia, May 11, 1903. At the time of his death he was president of the board of trustees of Washington College of Law; a member of the National Geographic Society.

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Judge Bingham was held in the highest esteem by the bar, and was an able judge. He frequently held court in London.

George Lincoln was born in Ashford county, Connecticut, in 1825. He attended the common schools and Munson Academy, Massachusetts. He taught school in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, for three years, and in 1851 came west and taught school in Indiana, Wisconsin and Woodstock, Ohio. He studied law with General Young, of Urbana, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He began the practice of law with Hon. Cornelius Hamilton at Marysville and located in London in 1860. In 1862 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Madison county, which office he held for one term. In 1879 he was elected common pleas judge of this subdivision, and was re-elected in 1884. Mr. Lincoln was a good advocate. He was strong and alert in cross-examina- tion. He grasped the main point in a case and hung to it with tenacity. He had a retentive memory. He was well informed on current events. He was sociable and liked to mingie with the people. He had decided opinions, which he maintained with firmness. He was a unique character, blunt, sincere and kind. He had little regard for the frivolities of modern life, but believed in the plain old ways of the early people. He was a good associate counsel, but when he was opposed to you he fought with vigor and fairness. He died in May, 1905.

David F. Pugh was born on August 23, 1846. He was reared on his father's farm east of Columbus, until he was just short of sixteen years old. in October, 1861, when he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After re-enlisting, he was dis- charged at the close of the war, July 28. 1865. He was wounded twice. He attended Ohio University after the war for three years. He then went to West . Virginia, where he studied law for seven months. He was admitted to the bar and practiced there until December, 1880, when he returned to Columbus. He was prosecuting attorney of Tyler county. West Virginia, for ten years, and during that period represented the county in the lower house of the Legislature one term, and also represented the county in the constitutional convention, which made the most of the present constitution of West Virginia. He was appointed judge of the common pleas court in April, 1887, by Governor Foraker, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Bingham, who was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia. He was elected judge in 1888 and re-elected in 1893, serving until May, 1898, when his term expired.

Judge Samuel F. Steele was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, July 5. 1837. He attended, in his native town, the school of Prof. Isaac Sams, a noted educator of that day, from which school he entered the sophomore class of Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. From Miami he entered Center College. at Danville, Kentucky, and graduated from that institution in 1859. Following his graduation, he served as a tutor in Kentucky until he returned to Hillsboro in 1862. Upon his return to Hillsboro he took up the study of law in the office of the Inte Judge James Sloane, at that time one of the leaders of the bar of southern Ohio.

Judge Sloane early recognized the high order of legal talent possessed by his pupil and, upon Judge Steele's admission to the bar in 1864, testifled to his appreciation of young Steele's ability and his entire confidence in his future as an attorney, by forming a partnership with him in the practice of the law. This partnership con- tinued under the name of Sloane & Steele until the election of Judge Steele to the common pleas judgeship in the old second subdivision of this district. in the autumn of 1871. He held the office until February 9, 1882. He was a very able lawyer and was held in high appreciation as a judge. He died on December 23, 1913. He often held court at London.

Isaac N. Abernethy was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, August 9, 1844. and gradu-

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ated at the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1866. He studied law under Judge Yaple, of Chillicothe, for a while, and R. A. Harrison, at London, Ohio; was admitted to the bar in 1868, and began the practice of law in Circleville in 1869. He was prosecuting attorney of Pickaway county two terms, 1872-76. He was elected judge of the common pleas court in this subdivision in 1889 and served one term, which ended February 9, 1895.

Cyrus Newby was born in Highland county, Ohio. February 7, 1855. He attended the common school in the country, and was a student for one year in the normal school at Lebanon. Ohio, under the instruction of the celebrated Professor Holbrook. He read law with Sloane & Smith at Hillsboro, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. He practiced law there alone for five years, and then formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Ulric Sloane. Four years later Mr. Sloane located in Columbus, and Mr. Newby entered into partnership with D. Q. Morrow, which continued until Febru- ary 9, 1892, when Mr. Newby took his seat on the common pleas bench from the second subdivision of the fifth judicial district, composed of the counties of Highland, Ross and Fayette. He was re-elected in 1896 in the new second subdivision. created by the act of 1894, consisting of the counties of Highland, Ross, Fayette, Pickaway and Madi- son, and has been re-elected every five years since, being the present incumbent.

By an act passed May 17, 1894. the subdivisions of the fifth judicial district were changed, and the counties of Highland, Ross, Fayette, Pickaway and Madison were made the second subdivision of the district. In 1894 Festus Walters was elected judge of the court of common pleas in the new subdivision. He was re-elected in 1899. In 1902 he was elected circuit judge of the fourth circuit, and was re-elected in 1908, and again elected in 1914, being the present incumbent of the position.

Judge Walters was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1849. He worked on the farm and attended the common school in the winters. When he was eighteen he entered the preparatory department of Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, and in 1869 he entered the sophomore class at Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio; from there he entered the junior class at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where he graduated in 1870. He graduated at the Law School at Ann Arbor, in 1872 and in 1873 began the practice of law at Circleville, Ohio. He practiced law there until 1894, when he was elected judge as before stated.

Horatio B. Maynard was born at Holden, Massachusetts, October 12, 1826, and died at Washington C. H., Ohio, September 11, 1907. He passed his youth in New Hamp- shire, and was educated at Ludlow, Vermont. He was admitted to the bar in that state, and in 1854 located in Washington C. H., Ohio, where he resided until his death, being one of the leading' members of the bar. He volunteered in the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1863, and served as lieutenant colonel of the regiment until the close of the war. In 1868 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Fayette county and served one term. On the death of Judge Gregg, in 1894, he was appointed by Governor Mckinley to fill the vacancy on the bench, and was elected soon afterward common pleas judge for the second subdivision, composed of Highland, Ross, Fayette, Pickaway and Madison counties; he served one term, ending February 9, 1890. He was a very able lawyer and judge and a most worthy and exemplary citizen. He held court in London frequently.

DeWitt Clinton Badger was born in Range township. Madison county, Ohio, in 1857. .He received a common-school education and attended the Bloomingburg Academy and Mt. Vernon College, in Stark county. He taught school four years, during which time he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1879, beginning the practice of law in London. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Madison county in 1882, and served one term. In 1893 he was elected common pleas judge of the second subdivision, com-

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posed of Franklin, Madison and Pickaway counties. He then went to Columbus to reside. In 1898 he was elected common pleas judge in the new third subdivision, con- sisting of the county of Franklin, and served one term. He was elected to Congress from the Columbus district in 1902 and served one term. In 1905 he was elected mayor of the city of Columbus, and at the expiration of his term resumed the practice of law in that city.

Joseph Hidy was born in Fayette county, Ohio, August 22, 1854. He attended the common schools and graded school at Jeffersonville, in the same county. He became a student at Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio, and graduated there in 1876. He then entered the law school of the University of Michigan, graduating there in the spring of 1878, and the same year was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law at Washington C. H. He was elected judge of the common pleas court in the new second subdivision in 1898, and served until January, 1904, when he resigned a month before his term expired, which would have been February 9, 1904. He then located in the city of Cleveland and has practiced law there since.

S. W. Durflinger was born in Madison county in 1836. He received a fair early education and, at the age of eighteen, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, gradu- ating in 1860. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the Thirty-third Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and was honorably discharged in 1865. He was elected county recorder in 1866 and served three years, during which time he studied law under R. A. Harrison and was admitted to the bar in 1869. He was prosecuting attorney two terms, 1871-74. In 1883 he was elected a member of the state Senate, serving one term. In 1903 he was elected common pleas judge for this district, and served one term.

Mr. Durflinger was very quiet and as modest as a maiden. He was industrious and constantly at work. He did not care particularly to appear before a jury, but when he did he was prepared and instructive. He acted slowly and with caution. His career upon. the bench was short, but his charges to the jury and his opinions and decisions were clearly and ably expressed ..

Charles Dresbach was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, August 15, 1859. After a common-school education, he attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Afterward he was a student in the University of Michigan, in the literary department and the law depart- ment, and graduated from the law school in 1886. He was admitted to the bar in Michigan in 1885, and in Ohio in 1886. He at once began the practice of law in Circle- ville, and continued until 1903, when he was appointed common pleas judge by Governor Nash to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Walters, who had been elected circuit judge. In 1905 Judge Dresbach was elected common pleas judge and served one term, until February 9, 1911. He then resumed the practice of law in Circleville and resides there.

Frank G. Carpenter was born in Greene county, Ohio. His parents died when be was quite young and he was placed with a family named Story. He attended the common schools until sixteen years of age, when he entered the Forest Home Seminary. a private school conducted by Prof. Robert Story, and from which he graduated. He taught school three years, attended the Ohio Wesleyan University two years, and then attended the University of Michigan: he graduated from the law department in 1877, and began the practice of law with Hon. Mills Gardner at Washington C. H., Ohio. In 1879 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Fayette county and held that office until 1885, when he formed a partnership with Jobn Logan. In 1892 he was elected state senator from the fifth-sixth senatorial district. He practiced law in Columbus from 1803 to 1899, when he returned to Washington C. H. In 1908 he was elected common pleas judge in the second subdivision of the fifth judicial district, of which Madison

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county was a part. Under the new constitution of 1912, each county is entitled to a judge of the common pleas court, and in 1914, Mr. Carpenter was elected common pleas judge for Fayette county, being the present incumbent.

John W. Goldsberry was born in Petersburg, Highland county, Ohio, October 21, 1852. He attended the country schools, and graduated from the Oblo Wesleyan Uni- versity. He studied law in the University of Michigan and was admitted to the bar in 1881. He practiced law in the city of Chillicothe from that time until 1909, when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of the second subdivision of the fifth district. of which Madison county is a part. He was re-elected in 1914, and now holds the position. He has held several terms of court here.

Clarence Curtain was born in Deer Creek township. Madison county, Ohio, June 23, 1853. He obtained his early education at Coniac country school, near his home, and the London high school. He graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1874; was admitted to the bar the same year, and at once began the prac- tice of law in Circleville. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Pickaway county in 1884, and served six years. In 1909 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of this subdivision and is the present incumbent.

Roscoe Garfield Hornbeck was born near London, Madison county, Ohio, August 18, 1879. In his youth he attended the common schools of Union and Deer Creek townships. and later the London high school, from which he graduated in the class of 1899. He was a student at the Ohio Northern University, at Ada, one year. He then became a student of the Ohio State University, graduating from the law department in 1903; he was admitted to the bar the same year, and at once began the practice of law in London. In 1909 he was appointed postmaster of London, by President Roosevelt, and held that office until October 1, 1913. During his term as postmaster he was largely instrumental in securing city mail delivery for London.

The new constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1912, provided that, "one resident judge of the court of common pleas, and such additional judge or judges as may be provided by law, shall be elected in each county of the state by the electors of such county." Under that provision, an act was passed by the General Assembly, approved May 5. 1913, authorizing the election "In Madison county, in 1914, one judge, term to begin January 1, 1915." Accordingly, Mr. Hornbeck was elected in November, 1914, resident judge of the court of common pleas of this county, and took his seat January 1, 1915. He is, therefore, the first judge to hold that office under the new constitution. Two other judges of the common pleas court have held that position who were. at the time, residents of this county-Judge Lincoln and Judge Durflinger-but they were elected in a subdivision of which Madison was a part.

THE EARLY BAR.

In the early days of mud roads and log cabins, the lawyers rode the circuit with the judge, on horseback, from county to county, equipped with old-fashioned leggings and saddlebags, averaging about thirty miles a day. The party had their appointed stopping places, and, where they were expected on their arrival, the chickens, dried apples, maple sugar, corn dodgers and old whiskey suffered. while the best story tellers regaled the company with their humor and anecdotes. With the organization of Madison county came also the attorney-a necessary attendant to the administration of justice. Throughout the earlier period of the county's history, the disciples of Black- stone and Kent do not seem to have looked upon London as a fruitful field for their profession, and for many years the county did not possess a single lawyer. From Chillicothe, Circleville, Columbus. Xenia. Urbana and Springfield came the first attor- neys who figured before the courts of this county, and, as some of them held the office

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of prosecuting attorney during those early days, it will be appropriate to give them a brief space in this chapter.

VISITING LAWYERS.

Ralph Osborn, a native of Waterbury, Connecticut. where he studied law, came to Franklinton in 1806. He remained a few years, but upon the organization of Dela- ware county, in 1808, he was appointed prosecuting attorney of that county. Soon after- ward he removed to Circleville and in December. 1810, was elected clerk of the Ohio Legislature, which position he filled five consecutive sessions. Upon the organization of Madison county, he was appointed at the first term of court prosecuting attorney, serv- ing in that capacity from 1810 to 1814, inclusive. In 1815 he was elected auditor of state, holding that office eighteen years in succession, and in 1883 was elected to the Ohio Senate to represent Franklin and Pickaway counties. After his election as auditor of state he did not practice his profession. He died in Columbus in 1835.

Richard Douglas, the prosecuting attorney for Madison county from 1815-17, was born in Connecticut. He rend law with Henry Brush, and settled as an attorney in Circleville; about 1815 he removed to Chillicothe, where he died in 1852. He was a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and his abounding humor and fund of anecdotes made him the most agreeable company to the lawyers while riding the circuit. It is said that he possessed considerable poetic talent and bore the title among his contempor- raries of "The Poet of the Scioto." His descendants now reside and are prominent peo- ple of Chillicothe.

Caleb Atwater located in Circleville about the close of the War of 1812 as an attor- ner at law. For several years he was postmaster and was a member of the Ohio Legis- lature for one term from Pickaway county. At the June session of the court of com- mon pleas of Madison county, in 1815, he was appointed prosecuting attorney and held the same position from November, 1822, to the same period in 1823. About the year 1827 he was appointed by President Jackson to treat with the .. Indians for the purchase of their lands at Prairie du Chien. Mr. Atwater's information was extensive,. but he was better known as an antiquarian and historian, upon which subjects he wrote several works. He died in Circleville in 1867, nearly ninety years old. He was a native of Massachusetts.

John R. Parish was the. next prosecuting attorney of this county. . He was born at Canterbury, Connecticut, in 1786. He was admitted to the bar at Windham. Connecti- cut; in 1816 he came to Columbus, Ohio, and began the practice of law; in 1820 he was elected to the Legislature from Franklin county ; prior to this he served as prosecuting attorney of Madison county from the September term. 1816, to the close of 1819. He was a man of vigorous mind and a good lawyer, but, like many lawyers of that period. in- dulged in the convivialities of the times. He died in. 1829.

Among the early prosecuting attorneys were George W. Doane, of Circleville, in 1816: David Scott, of Columbus, in 1817; James Cooley, of Urbana, in. 1820. and George W. Jewett,. of Springfield, in 1822. Donne was a native of New Milford, Connecticut ; graduated at Union College, New York, and attended the famous law school at Litch- field, Connecticut. He located in Circleville in 1816 as an attorney-at-law .. He died on the 4th of February, 1863. David Scott .was born in Peterboro, New Hampshire, in 1786; in 1811 engaged in the practice of law at Franklinton and was appointed prose- cuting attorney of that county in 1813, serving. until 1819, a portion of which time he was prosecutor of Madison county. James Cooley was one of the early pioneer lawyers of Urbana, and in 1826 was appointed United States minister to Peru, where he died in 1828. He was a young man of brilliant parts, of fine appearance and prepossessing manners and stood in the front rank of his associates. . We have been unable to learn

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History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 57

Author: Chester E. Bryan Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1207

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207