History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 64

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 64

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In 1846 he was elected prosecuting attor- ney of the county. In 1873 he was again elected prosecuting attorney, and the duties of this office he ably and faithfully dis- charged. Mr. Robinson was never of robust frame and during the latter period of his life was in very poor health. On the night of January 2, 1878, while traveling by steamer from Beverly to Marietta, he fell overboard and was drowned. His body was recovered and buried by the side of his deceased wife in Beverly Cemetery. During his career in life as editor, merchant, and lawyer, Mr. Rob- inson deserved and received the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens.

DAVIS GREEN, son of Rev. Allen Green, was born in Tyler County, Virginia, February II. 1822. In 1823 his parents came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Belmont County.

Davis attended, in the winter season, the schools of his neighborhood, and at the age of 21 years completed his education at Madison College. Guernsey County. In 1842 and the two following years he was partially engaged in teaching, and in the meantime studied law in the office of Judge Evans of Cambridge. For nearly a year after the fall of 1845 he was editor and part owner of the Guernsey Times.

In 1846 he was admitted to the bar at

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Mount Vernon and in the fall of the same year located at Marietta and commenced the prac- tice of law. By close application and diligence he soon became prominent in his profession. In 1849 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, and for two years ably dis- charged the duties of that office. In 1854 he was elected Probate judge, and served his three years' term) to the entire satisfaction of the public. In 1856 he was chosen one of the elec- tors for Ohio of President and Vice-President of the United States, and voted for Fremont and Dayton.

In 1858 he was elected Senator in the Ohio Legislature from the district composed of Washington and Morgan counties, and was an eloquent, influential and highly esteemed mem- ber of that body.

In 1861, at the breaking out of the Rebel- lion, he took a decided and prominent part in defense of the government, and labored un- remittingly to encourage and promote the cause of the Union.

Judge Green was a man of great energy and industry ; and his natural abilities were of a high order. Those who knew him best esti- mated his mental capacity the highest. At the time of his death he ranked as one of the best and most successful lawyers in Washing- ton County. In the prime of his life and the midst of his influence, he died at Marietta. .August 22, 1862. He was married in 1851 to Columbia Ferguson, who is now the wife of Dr. D. Walter. Mrs. Dr. Curtis is a daughter.

WILLIAM SPENCER NYE, Son of Arius Nye, was graduated from Marietta College in 1843. He studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He com menced practice in Marietta, associated with his brother, Dudley Selden Nye, as D. S. & W. S. Nye.

He was elected and served as prosecuting attorney of the county from March, 1848. to March, 1850. About 1854 he was appointed attorney for the Marietta & Cincinnati Rail- road Company. In 1861 he was again prose- cuting attorney of the county. Shorth there- after he removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he died of typhoid fever in 1862.

Mr. Nye was an accomplished gentleman, and a lawyer of fine abilities and attainments. A rather sensitive and retiring disposition in- clined him to shrink somewhat from the more rugged conflict of the court room practice and to thus take a less conspicuous position as a trial lawyer than his legal learning and acumen entitled him to occupy. It was for his breadth, soundness and candor of view, as a counselor, that he was best known in the profession.

His disposition was peculiarly amiable, and in his domestic and social life he was a most genial companion, and warmly attached to himself all who knew him intimately.

DUDLEY SELDEN NYE, son of Arius Nye. was admitted to the bar at the November term. 1843, of the supreme court, sitting in Mor- gan County. In 1847 he and his brother, Will- iam S. Nye, associated themselves in the prac- tice of law at Marietta, succeeding to the busi- ness of Arius Nye & Son, as D. S. & W. S. Nve, and continued in practice until the au- tumn of 1852.

In 1852 he removed to Tennessee, and in the spring of 1855 removed to Council Bluffs, lowa, and in 1857 was elected county judge of Pottawattamie County, in that State. In November, 1862, he returned to Marietta. where he engaged in the practice of law.

Dudley S. Nye was a good office lawyer, and a safe counsellor. He served four years as postmaster of Marietta under appointment of President Cleveland. He died at his home in Marietta in 1901.

HENRY A. TOWNE was born January 5. 1826, at Litchfield, Herkimer County, State of New York. Upon the death of his father. Rev. Abner Towne, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Litchfield, his mother returned with her son, then five months old, to her parents at Amherst, Massachusetts, and coming after- ward to Gallipolis, Ohio, the residence of her brother, Hon. S. F. Vinton, married May 28. 1831. Dr. Robert Safford, of Putnam, Ohio, now the Ninth Ward of Zanesville, at which time the subject of this sketch became a resi dent of Ohio. He entered Marietta College when 15 years of age, and graduated in 1845: was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati, Ohio,

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in 1849, and practiced law at Marietta, Ohio, in partnership with Hon. William A. Whittle- sey, from 1849 to 1854, and afterward with Davis Green, Esq., now deceased, until his removal to Portsmouth, Ohio, December I, 1855, where he entered upon the practice of law. He married, December 18, 1856, Harriet Nye, daughter of Arius Nye, now deceased.

In 1858 he was elected one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the Seventh Judicial District of Ohio, and hekl that po- sition until July, 1870, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law at Portsmouth.

He has been connected with several of the furnaces of the Hanging Rock iron region, and is now a stockholder and director in the Globe Iron Company, of Jackson, Ohio; and is also a stockholder and director in the Scioto Star Fire-brick Works, at East Portsmouth, Ohio.

In April, 1879, he was elected mayor of the city of Portsmouth. In 1880 he was ap- pointed supervisor of census of the Fourth District of Ohio, and superintended the taking of the census in the eleven counties compris- ing the district. He died in 1888, in Califor- nia, where he had gone on account of ill health.

RODNEY M. STIMSON was born in Milford, New Hampshire, October 26, 1824. He at- tended Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hamp- shire, during three years preceding 1845, when he entered Marietta College and graduated from that institution in 1847. He studied law, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar ,at Marietta. Soon thereafter he removed to Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio, and there es- tablished the Register, a newspaper which, as editor and proprietor, he successfully conduct- ed for 12 years. In 1862 he removed to Ma- rietta, and there edited and published the Marietta Register during the 10 years follow- ing. In 1800 he was elected Senator in the Ohio Legislature, and was re-elected in 1871, serving four years. In 1877 he was appointed State Librarian, and for two years acceptably discharged the duties of that office. His resi- denge is at Marietta. He is a trustee of Ma- rietta College, to which he gave a very valua- ble selection of books for its library. He de-

votes his time to literary pursuits. He has Leen twice married, first in 1851, and again in 1862.

SAMUEL S. KNOWLES, son of Samuel and Clarissa ( Curtis ) Knowles, was born in Ath- ens, Ohio, August 25, 1825. In 1846 and the three years following he was a student in the academy and the Ohio University, at Athens. After finishing his course of studies at the Uni- versity he read law with Lot L. Smith and L. Jewett, at Athens, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. During the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Athens County, was re-elected in 1853, and held that office for four years. In 1861 he removed from Athens to Marietta, engaging in the latter place in the practice of his profession. In 1864 he was commissioned captain of a company in the 148th Regiment, Ohio National Guard, and | served with his company, stationed at Ber- muda Hundred until September of that year, when the regiment was mustered out of serv- ice. In 1864 he was elected mayor of the city of Marietta, and re-elected in 1866, serving four years. In 1865 he was elected Senator in the Ohio Legislature from the counties of Washington, Morgan, and Noble, serving two years. In 1875 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of the Third Sub- division, of the Seventh Judicial District of Ohio, to fill a vacancy caused by the resigna- tion of Judge Plants, and in 1878 he was re- elected for the full term of five years. He was married January 23, 1852, to Henrietta Devol, youngest daughter of Capt. Charles De- vol, of Hockingport, Athens County. He died in Marietta in 1895.

THOMAS W. EWART, LL. D., was born February 27, 1816, at Grandview, Washing- ton County, Ohio. His mother, Mary Coch- ran, was a native of ( West) Virginia, of Scotch descent: and his father, Robert K. Ewart, a Pennsylvanian, of Irish parentage. Thomas received such early education as he could obtain in the common schools of that date, in which he was a diligent and ambitious student.

September 30. 1831, he left school and farm, and became an assistant in the office of

OLD COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

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clerk of the courts of Washington County, where he improved his time not demanded in the office in studies under private instructors. He was appointed clerk of the court of this county in December, 1836, and continued in office until October, 1851. While still clerk of the court, he was elected to represent Wash- ington County and Morgan County in the Constitutional Convention of 1850, which formed the present constitution of Ohio, and was one of its youngest members. On the ex- piration of his ternr as clerk of the court, he was elected Probate judge of Washington County, the first under the new Constitution.

In the meantime, while in the prosecution of official duties as clerk of the court, he had pursued a rigid course of legal study under Judge Nye, and when he attended the Consti- tutional Convention at Cincinnati, in 1851, was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio.

He held the office of Probate judge one vear, and resigned to practice his profession. in which he had a great degree of success, and attained a prominent position as a law- ver of recognized ability.

Thomas W. Ewart was an active partner in the following law firms, and was the lead- ing member of all except the first .- to-wit- Clarke & Ewart : Ewart & Shaw : Ewart. Shaw & Sibley; Ewart, Gear & Ewart : Ewart, Sib- ley & Ewart: and Ewart & Ewart. These were the leading law firms of Marietta for about 25 years.

Mr. Ewart was a man of indefatigable in- dustry : and spared no labor to make himself master of his cases. He was not a genius; but he had made hard work do the part of genius.

In politics he was a Whig. serving as chairman of the central committee of the county for many years. At the organization of the Republican party, he identified himselt with that party.

.As a citizen he was active. enterprising. seeking the welfare of the community ; espe- cially so in connection with the temperance and Sunday-school movements.

A member of, and liberal contributor to. 26

the Baptist Church, he was superintendent of the Marietta Baptist Sunday-school 40 years. and deacon of that church 30 years.

In 1838 he married Grace Dana, of New- port, who died in 1854: and in 1855 he mar- ried Jerusha Gear, daughter of Rev. II. Gear, late of Marietta, deceased. He moved from Marietta to Granville, Ohio, where he died in 1881.

WILLIAM R. RICHARDSON was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1824. In 1841 he entered Washington Col- lege, and there pursued a three years' course of study. In 1846 he enlisted as a volunteer in the "Steubenville Grays," a company raised for the Mexican War, and assigned to the Third Ohio Regiment. After his return from Mexico, he was engaged for several years. teaching in Brooke County, ( West ) Virginia. and Harrison County, Ohio, and in the mean- time studied law with Allen C. Turner, of Cadiz, and was there admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1853 he moved from Harrison County to Woodsfield, in Monroe County, Ohio, and after a year's employment as prin- cipal of the Monroe Academy, commenced there the practice of law in partnership with L. C. Wise, and afterward associated himself with Edward Nechteld.

In 1855 he was elected prosecuting attor- ney for Monroe County, and was re-elected in 1857, and again in 1859. In 1861, soon after the attack on Fort Sumter, he raised two com- panies of volunteers, which were assigned to the Twenty-fifth Ohio Infantry, three years' service, of which regiment he was appointed major, and soon after lieutenant-colonel, and with that rank proceeded to the field. In 1862 he was promoted to the colonelcy of his regi icent. In 1863. at the battle of Chancellors- ville, he was wounded in the right shoulder. and on account of the severity of the wound was an invalid for eight months. In January. 1864. he was detailed as president of a general court-martial at Camp Chase, near Columbus. Ohio, and in February following was placed in command of that post. In October. 1864. he was elected attorney general of the State of

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Ohio, and it was his intention to retire from the army, but upon the urgent solicitation of Governor Brough, he resigned the attorney generalship and remained in the service. The same year he was breveted brigadier-general. In 1865 he was ordered to Charleston, from thence to Columbia, and finally to Darlington. in command of the district of East South Caro- lina. In June, 1866, he resigned his position in the army. In July, 1866, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth District of Ohio, and in November moved from Woodsfield to Marietta. In May, 1869, he resigned his office of collector, and then engaged at Marietta in the successful prac- tice of his profession as a lawyer. As a com- manding officer General Richardson possessed the confidence and esteem of his men. His services in detached positions were frequently commended. He was connected professionally with various enterprises, and was a director of the Cleveland & Marietta Railroad. He was married in 1848 to Sarah E. Smith, of Brooke County, ( West ) Virginia, who died at Marietta, May 11, 1879. He died at New- castle, Indiana, in 1886.

DAVID ALBAN studied law in the office of Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, of Gallipolis, Ohio. In the spring of 1855 he was admitted to the bar by the District Court sitting in Gallia County. In the summer of 1855 he removed to Marietta and commenced practice in part- nership with Hon. Arius Nye.

In 1862 he volunteered as a private sol- dier in the United States service, and served with his regiment, until he was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry, September 13, 1862, and paroled.

In 1861 he was elected prosecuting attor- ney of the county, and was re-elected in 1863. and in 1865, serving for six consecutive years. For several years he was associated with Hon. W. B. Loomis, in the law firm of Loomis & .Al- ban, which was recognized as one of the leading law firms in the city. In 1870 he was again elected prosecuting attorney of the county. He died in Marietta in 1882.

WILLIAM B. LooMIS was born in New

London, Connecticut, February 1, 1837. In the spring of 1840 he came with the family of his father, Christopher C. Loomis, to Marietta, Ohio, where his father engaged in the mercan- tile business. He attended the Marietta Acad- emy, and completed his early education at the Marietta High School, having in 1853, gradu- ated with the first class of graduates from that school. After leaving school, he was en- gaged for a few months as merchant's clerk, after which he was employed as deputy clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and clerk of the Probate Court of Washington County, Ohio. During his clerkship in these courts, he studied law with Messrs. Clarke & Ewart, and in April, 1857, was admitted to the bar by the District Court of Washington County. He then en- gaged in the practice of his profession at Ma- nietta, in partnership with Thomas W. Ewart, Esq., which relation continued until the fall of 1859. In the spring of 1860 he became the law partner of Melvin Clarke, and so con- tinued until Colonel Clarke was killed in the battle at Antietam, in 1862. He was mar- ried October 1, 1860. to Harriet Frances Wheeler, daughter of F. J. Wheeler, Esq., of Marietta. In 1862 he was elected city solicitor of the city of Marietta, which office he held for four years. From the spring of 1863 to May, 1865, he was associated with the late Judge Simeon Nash, of Gallipolis, as partner in the practice of law at Marietta, when he became the law partner of Samuel S. Knowles, and so remained until June, 1868, at which tinye he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the Third Subdivision of the Seventh Judicial District of Ohio, and held that position for five years.

In March, 1870, his wife died, and in June, 1880, he was married to Mrs. C. N. Hodkinson, of Marietta.

After his retirement from the bench, Judge Loomis resumed the practice of the law in Ma- rietta, first as the senior member of the firms of Loomis. Alban & Oldham, and Loomis & Alban; and afterward alone. He built up a large business in both the State and Federal courts.

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Judge Loomis had what is properly called a fine legal mind-a mind acute, discerning. penetrating, and analytical. He was a wide and intelligent reader, and not only absorbed but assimilated knowledge. He had a won- derful power of clear statement, which left no misty points. Taken all in all, he is be- lieved to have been the most profound lawyer that Washington County has ever produced. He died suddenly, in January, 1898.

HENRY MANASSEH DAWES was born at Malta. Morgan County, Ohio, March 11, 1832. He was the eldest son of the late Henry Dawes, a prominent and active citizen of that county, and a grandson of Rev. Manas- seh Cutler. His boyhood was spent at Malta. whence he came to Marietta about the year 1850, and pursued a regular course at Marietta College, graduating in 1855, after which he studied law in the office of the late Hon. Davis Green, and was admitted to the bar at the April term of the District Court of Washing- ton County, 1858. Ile at once became a part- ner of Judge Green, and continued in the practice at Marietta until his death, which occurred August 13, 1860.

Mr. Dawes was endowed with a mind of unusual strength, quick perception, and fine reasoning powers, and his talents and acquire- ments gave promise of great professional suc- cess and distinction.

Decended from a line of ancestors who participated in the stormy events of the Revo- lution, he seemed to have inherited the pa- triotic spirit of that period, and developed an early fondness for the study of the political history of the county, and for active partici- pation in political discussion. When vet a student, he delivered a course of lectures upon the life and times of Henry Clay, the "Great American Commoner," in which he gave evi- dence that he comprehended the spirit of our institutions. He was also a frequent contri- butor to the local press on these subjects.

A man of decision and firmness, unyield- ing where principle was involved, he was at the same time genial, generous, and courteons to all, and having a face full of tenderness

and indicating a frank and kindly nature, he was one whom to know well was both to re- spect and love. His untimely death was the cause of general sorrow and regret, and de- prived the bar of a member who would have honored the calling.

FRANK BUELL was born at Lowell, Wash- ington County, Ohio, April 24, 1837. Ile studied law with Hon. W. A. Whittlesey. of Marietta, and in January, 1859, was admitted to the bar. In 1859 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county. In 1861. at the break- ing out of the War of the Rebellion, he re- signed his office as prosecuting attorney and was commissioned as a captain of Company B, 18th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the three months' service. Afterward, in the fall of the same year, from recruits re- siding on the borders of Ohio and West Vir- ginia, he raised an artillery company, the "Pierpont Battery," and by the Governor of West Virginia was appointed and commis- sioned captain of the same. With his com- mand he was in the campaigns in West Vir- ginia, under Generals Fremont, Schenck, and Sigel, was engaged in several severe artillery duels, and in the battles of Cross Keys, Port Republic and Cedar Mountain.

On the 22nd of August. 1862, at Free- man's Ford, in Fauquier County, Virginia, whilst engaged in an artillery skirmish, a shell fom the enemy's battey struck the ground be- neath his horse, and, bursting, a piece passed through the horse and broke the Captain's thigh. The horse fell dead across the Cap- tain's lxdy, inflicting internal injuries from which he died in a few hours.

Captain Buell, during his short career as a soldier, was the favorite with his command, and his services were highly commended by his superior officers. His speedy promotion to a coloneley of artillery was contemplated by the government.

WALTER BRABHAM was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, September 29. 1812. He obtained his early education at the common schools of that county, and commenced the study of law with William Benton, Esq.

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In 1835 he moved from Virginia to Ohio, ' Virginia, March 3, 1849. He attended the Mor- and in Morgan County, and afterward in Washington County, was engaged for several years in the business of teaching, merchandis- ing, and farming.

In 1859, having completed a course of law studies, under the preceptorship of Hon. Davis Green, of Marietta, he was admitted to the bar and commeneed the practice of law.

In 1867 he was elected prosecuting attor- ney of Washington County, and was again elected to the same office in 1871, and accept- ably discharged the duties thereof until 1873. He continued the practice of law here until his death in 1882.

HIRAM L. GEAR, son of Rev. H. Gear, was born at Marietta, Ohio, December i, 1842, prepared for college in the High School of Marietta, and entered Marietta College in 1858, and graduated therefrom in 1862.

After acting as tutor in Marietta College for one year. he read law with Thomas W. Ewart, and then removed to California, where he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of that State. He was an energetic young man, of a logical turn of mind, and en- tered heartily into the active business life of the community ; and, while at Quincy, Plumas County, California, was elected prosecuting attorney. Subsequently he became editor of the Plumas County Herald, at Quincy, Cali- fornia, which position he held until his return to Marietta in the fall of 1870. Here he again engaged in the practice of law, as a partner in the firm of Ewart, Gear & Ewart, and con- tinued in that business until the fall of 1872, when, impelled by the impression that he ought to preach the Gospel, as his father had done, he left the law and became a minister, preach- ing at Newport, Ohio, Norwalk, Ohio, and finally he was called to the position of superin- tendent of State missions of the Baptist de- nomination.

Mr. Gear afterward returned to the prac- tice of law ; and is now a successful practition- er and law writer in San Francisco, California.

FRANCIS F. OLDHAM, Son of Wylie H. Oldham, was born at Moundsville, ( West ) '

gantown ( West Virginia ) Academy during the four years preceding 1865. when he moved with his father to Marietta, Ohio, and in 1866 entered Marietta College, and graduated therefrom in 1870 with the highest honors of the class. He studied law with his father at Marietta, attended law lectures at Cincin- nati, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. Immediately after his admission to the bar, he entered at Marietta upon the practice of his profession, the first year in partnership with his father and W. G. Way, as Oldham, Way & Oldham ; for the next four years in partner- ship with W. B. Loomis, as Loomis & Old- ham, and since 1876 in partnership with R. L. Nye as Nye & Oldham.

In 1875 he was the nominee of the Demo- cratic party for the office of prosecuting at- torney of the county, and was elected, and re- elected in 1877.

In January, 1876, he was married to Betty W. Lovell, granddaughter of A. T. Nye, of Marietta.

Francis F. Oldham removed from, Marietta to Cincinnati in 1888; and has since practiced lawy there with success. For several years past he has given much of his time to legal work for the United States government, as special agent for the Comptroller of the Cur- reney.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 64

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490