History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 60

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Mr. Eddy closed up his business a few years after, and moved to Madison, Wis- consin. There he was chosen county judge, and held the office many years, and died in the capital of his last adopted State.

Thus far we have mentioned only the lawyers who practiced in Lower Sandusky prior to the year 1842, who with the ex- ception of General Buckland, are all dead or have removed from the State. However, while the ranks of the practicing lawyers of the olden time have been thinned by death and removal, the recruits have been abundant since, and the force not only kept up but largely increased from time to time by the settlement in the county from abroad, and by admissions to the Bar of those who lived and studied within its limits. Of those who came into practice in 1842, and since that time, we have to mention the follow- ing:

J. W. CUMMINGS is now a resident of

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Green Spring. He was born in Richland county, Ohio, in 1836, and in 1838 removed with his parents to Lagrange county, Indiana, where he resided until 1864. He was educated at Ontario Academy, Indiana, and Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mr. Cummings studied law at Lagrange, Indiana, and was admitted to the Bar there in the year 1860. He was elected to, and held the office of district prosecuting attorney for the five northeastern counties of the State; was afterwards a candidate for circuit prosecuting attorney for the circuit composed of the ten counties in the northwestern part of the State. This can- didacy was in 1864, and Mr. Cummings was not elected. In 1864 he went to Washington, and there held a position in the land office until 1866, when he left Washington and located at Toledo, Ohio, and resumed there the practice of the law. Here Mr. Cummings' merits and talents soon gave him prominence, and he held public office several terms. He in the meantime married a daughter of the late Robert Smith, of Green. Spring, and in 1876 retired from the practice of the law and engaged in other business.

While Mr. Cummings was engaged in practice at Toledo he was frequently seen attending to business in the courts of Sandusky county. He always commanded the close attention of Court and Bar wherever he appeared. He was made administrator of his father-in-law's estate, and the large amount of property and the widely extended business thus thrown on Mr. Cummings' care and management, together with the fact that he has a large share of this world's goods, will probably prevent a good lawyer and admirable man from returning to the drudgery of practice.

JOHN H. RHODES, now in practice in our courts, and residing in Clyde, in the eastern part of the county, was born in

February, 1836, in Westfield township, then Delaware, but now Morrow county, Ohio. He was educated at Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.

Mr. Rhodes commenced the study of the law in the year 1860, with O. D. Morrison, at Cardington, Ohio, and completed his study under the teaching of Homer Everett, of Fremont, Ohio, in the year 1870. At the April term of the district court of Sandusky county, he was admitted to practice and at once opened an office at Clyde, Ohio, where he has since done, and still is doing a good business.

Mr. Rhodes was married on the 28th day of December, 1867, in Brooklyn, New York, to Miss May Antoinette Brown, also a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University. They now have a happy family of three children.

Mr. Rhodes served a term as Repre- sentative of Morrow county in the General Assembly of Ohio. He had also served in the Union army in the War of the Rebellion, having volunteered.

In purity of life, in gentlemanly conduct and courtesy, and in pleasing manners, Colonel Rhodes has no superior in the Sandusky county bar. As a lawyer, he ranks well and is a good and faithful attorney.

Mr. Rhodes enlisted as a private in company B, of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. He served with his regiment through the entire war, being mustered out as lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted in obedience to the desire of the officers and men of his own regiment. After returning from his honorable service in the army, the people of Morrow county elected him to represent them in the General Assembly for the sessions of 1866-67. He filled the office with satisfaction to the people and credit to himself.

HENRY R. FINEFROCK, now an esteemed member of the Bar of Sandusky county,

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was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 16th day of October, 1837. He was educated in the common schools and high school in. Lancaster, Ohio. He became an approved and efficient school teacher, and spent some years in that profession in Marion county, Ohio, and perhaps in other counties. His brother Thomas P. Finefrock, had been in successful practice for a number of years at Fremont, and while he was a partner with. John L. Greene, sr., Mr. Henry R. Finefrock studied law with them.

In 1862, Henry R. Finefrock was admitted to the Bar at Fremont, Ohio, at the April term of the district court. He, however, did not really commence practice as a lawyer until 1867, when he located in the city of Fremont, for the purpose

of entering into practice. Mr. Finefrock is highly esteemed among the members of the Bar, as an upright, moral man, and an attorney with excellent business qualifications. He has rendered good service to the county, and helped much to improve our schools, while acting as a member of the board of examiners of school teachers. For this position his accurate learning and his experience as a teacher, gave him good qualifications, and he exercised them happily in advancing the qualifications of our teachers. Mr. Finefrock is still in active practice at Fremont, in partnership with Colonel Joseph R. Bartlett.

M. B. LEMMON, now an active member of the Sandusky county Bar, located at Clyde, Ohio, was born August 7, 1847, in Townsend township, Sandusky county, and therefore "to the manor born." He is the youngest son of Uriah B. Lemmon, one of the pioneers of the county. The subject of this sketch was educated in early life in our common schools, and attended quite regularly until 1864, when he volunteered in the military service of his

country a little before coming to the age of eighteen years. He enlisted as a private in company B of the One Hundred and Sixty- ninth regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served with this regiment until it was finally mustered out. On his return young Lemmon determined to obtain a better education and to that end promptly entered Hillsdale college at Hillsdale, Michigan, which he attended one year. After leaving Hillsdale, he taught school several terms, after which he began service as a railroad engineer, which he followed for a time, and then began reading law. He commenced the study with Stephen A. Powers, esq., at Fremont, in the State of Indiana, and was admitted to the Bar September 5, 1876, at Angola, Indiana, and at once went into practice. In March, 1877, he entered into partnership with his brother, John M. Lemmon, of Clyde, and remains an active member of the firm.

He was married October 11, 1871, to Miss Emma T. Stewart, of Fremont, Indiana, and is now the happy father of three children.

WILBUR G. ZEIGLER is the son of Henry Zeigler, formerly a prominent merchant and business man of Fremont, who, after the war, located in the South with his family, and returned a few years ago, bringing his son Wilbur with him to Fremont.

Wilbur G. was born at Fremont, Ohio. While in the South, he, though compara- tively a young man, displayed unusual literary ability in his correspondence with various newspapers, which marked him for a literary career. For some time he read law with Henry Mckinney, now judge, in Cleveland, Ohio. However, he came back to Fremont, and finished his legal studies in the office of Ralph P. & Horace S. Buckland. He was admitted to practice under the lately established rules, in the

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supreme court at Columbus, in March, 1881.

Mr. Zeigler was educated in the public schools of Fremont, graduating in the high school in the class of 1876. On his admission to the Bar, Mr. Zeigler at once entered upon the practice of his profession and was received into partnership with the Bucklands, with whom he had finished his studies. He is unmarried, but his future career is full of promise whether he shall devote himself exclusively to his profession, or strike off into a literary career.

F. R. FRONIZER was born October 15, 1852, at the city of Buffalo, New York, and emigrated to Ohio with his parents in the spring of 1853. He was educated in the common schools of Ohio. For some time Mr. Fronizer was a school teacher, and while so engaged, taught the high school at Woodville, Ohio.

He commenced reading law in the law office of John T. Garver in Fremont, in the fall of 1874, and was admitted to the Bar in Sandusky county in the fall of the year 1877. He has since been elected a justice of the peace for Ballville township, which he resigned, and is now engaged in practice at Fremont.

P. O'FARRELL was born at Sandusky City, Erie county, Ohio, May 24, 1856. In the spring of 1860 he moved with his parents, and settled in Scott township, Sandusky county, Ohio. Here young O'Farrell worked on the farm of his father, attending a district school in the winters until the spring of 1871, when he went to the Northwestern Normal School, then located at Republic, Seneca county, Ohio, to prepare himself for teaching. The ensuing winter he taught his first school for a term of four months in Montgomery township, Wood county, Ohio. At this time Mr. O'Farrell was not sixteen years old, yet lie taught with good success, which indi-

cates an aptness to acquire learning which is quite unusual. He continued to teach in the winter, and attend school in the summer until he commenced the study of the law, which was in the summer of 1876. He, however, taught the Hessville graded schools when studying, and there closed his career as a school teacher in April, 1880.

In June, 1880, Mr. O'Farrell passed examination under the new rules of the supreme court at Columbus, Ohio, and was there admitted to practice. He was elected a justice of the peace for Sandusky township in the spring of 1879, but resigned the office on the 16th of August, 1881. He was appointed a member of the board of county school examiners on the 3d day of July, 1881, which office he still creditably fills.

On the 24th day of May, 1881, Mr. O'Farrell married Miss Catharine O'Connor, daughter of Bryan O'Connor, who is now one of our most popular county commissioners.

Mr. O'Farrell has fine, natural gifts of perception, memory and language, which, if properly used, will make him a good advocate and lawyer.

MARCUS D. BALDWIN was born at Fre- mont, Ohio, on the 25th day of September, 1851. He received his early education at Toledo, Ohio, finishing a course at Oberlin, attending the latter institution about four years. He commenced reading law at Toledo, Ohio, borrowing the books he read from Messrs. Dunlap and M. K. Waite. He subsequently was located at Green Spring, Ohio, and while there read law under the tuition of Hon. T. P. Finefrock, of Fremont, Ohio. He was admitted to practice at Fremont by the district court on the 1st day of March, 1874, and began practice at Green Spring, May 1, 1874. He subsequently removed to Fremont and opened a law office. He

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was chosen city solicitor for the city of Fremont soon after settling in the city; and satisfactorily discharged the duties of that office for several years. At this writing (May 1, 1881,) Mr. Baldwin is still in practice, doing quite a successful business as an attorney, and dealing in real estate, but contemplates a removal to Shelby, Ohio. At one period Mr. Baldwin resided and taught school at Mitchell, Indiana. On the 31st day of October, 1874, he was married at Shelby, Ohio, to Sarah S. Rogers, by whom he has two living children, having lost one.

THOMAS P. DEWEY, now residing at Clyde, Ohio, was born on the 27th day of December, 1852, in Crawford county, State of Pennsylvania., and was educated at the common schools, mainly at Kelloggsville, Ashtabula county, Ohio. He commenced reading law at Painesville, Ohio, with Tinker & Alvord in the spring of 1876, came to Clyde in the spring of 1877, and finished his course of legal study in the office of Lemmon, Finch & Lemmon at that place, reading there until 1879. He was admitted to the Bar April 27, 1879, and commenced practice in Tiffin, Ohio, in September following. He, however, returned to Clyde, and is now practicing. Mr. Dewey was married on the 9th day of September, 1879, to Miss Jennie Stilwell. He is a young man of good faculties, and no doubt will in time make a successful lawyer.

BYRON R. DUDKOW was born in Adams township, Seneca county, Ohio, on the 1st day of March, 1855. He was educated at Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio, from which institution he received the degree of Master of Arts. He commenced the study of law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, Ohio, on the 18th day of June, 1877. On the 26th day of April, 1879, he was admitted to the Bar by the district court of the county. He did not, how-

ever, at once enter into active practice. He served as deputy county clerk from the time of his admission to the Bar. until April 26, 1880, at which time he commenced practice in Fremont. On the 22d day of November, 1878, he was married to Miss Mary E. Meek, daughter of Basil Meek, who is now the popular clerk of Sandusky county. Mr. Dudrow is a promising young member of the Bar, and with his excellent habits and genial good manners will probably attain a high professional standing. He is now, by election, the city solicitor of the city of Fremont, and is to all appearance on. the road to prosperity in his profession.

JOHN B. LOVELAND was born in New Haven township, Huron county, Ohio, on the 10th day of February, 1827. At the age of nineteen years he left his father's farm for Oberlin College to supplement the education picked up in a pioneer district school on the classic Huron River. On the 22d day of August, 1850, he was married to Miss Martha Jane Watts, of New Haven, by whom he has had three children. In 1854 he removed to Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio, to take a position as teacher in the Fremont graded schools. This position he held with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned for the term of ten years. From his position in the schools of Fremont he was called to

the superintendency of the schools at Bellevue and Green Spring respectively, in which position he spent eight years. All this time he was one of the reliable members of the board of county school examiners, in which position he well and faithfully discharged the duties of the office for the term of fourteen years. He commenced the study of the law while superintending the schools of Green Spring, with Marcus D. Baldwin, esq., and was admitted to the Bar by the district court of

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Sandusky county at Fremont, Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1876, where he commenced the practice of law, and has continued to practice until the present time. Although a member of the legal profession Mr. Loveland does not make the practice of the law a specialty, preferring the retirement of his farm, situated one and a half miles southwest of the city. In solid scientific attainments, and in that practical common sense which is the result of learning and original thought, Mr. Loveland has few superiors. His father, Mr. John Loveland, one of the oldest pioneers of Huron county, is still in good health at the advanced age of eighty-three years.

BASIL MEEK was born at New Castle, Henry county, Indiana, April 20, 1829, In 1832 he removed with his parents to Wayne county, Indiana. In August, 1841, with his parents, he went to Owen county, Indiana, and there resided until September, 1864, when he came to Ohio and settled at Clyde. His school education was that of the common schools. He was married to Cynthia A. Brown, in December, 1849, who died August 14, 1861, at Spencer, Owen county, Indiana. By this marriage he had four children, viz .: Minerva B., Mary E., Lenore Belle, and Flora B. Mary E., who is the wife of B. R. Dudrow, esq., and Lenore .Belle, only, are now living. He was married to Martha E. Anderson, September 30, 1862, by whom he has had two children, both living, viz .: Clara C. and Robert C. He served as clerk of the courts of Owen county, Indiana, continuously from February 20, 1854, to February 20, 1862. At the November term, 1861, of the Owen county circuit court, he was admitted to the Bar, and formed a law partnership with Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk, practicing at Spencer till his removal to Ohio. In 1871, at Clyde, he resumed the practice of law, continuing in the practice until

he entered the clerk's office of Sandusky county, February 10, 1879, to which office he was elected in October, 1878. He is at this time serving as such clerk, and was, at the October election, 1881, re-elected to said office.

THOMAS P. FINEFROCK was born at Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1826. He came to Ohio and settled in Lancaster, where he studied law with Medill & Whitman. He was admitted to the Bar in August, 1851, and came to Fremont and began practice with Brice J. Bartlett in the following September. He soon be-came well known as a lawyer, and the firm became prominent in the legal business of the county. Mr. Finefrock was chosen to the position of prosecuting attorney in 1853, and served two successive terms. In 1857 he was the Democratic candidate for representative in the General Assembly, his Republican opponent being Ozias L. Nims, a prominent merchant of Fremont. After a closely contested campaign, Mr. Finefrock was elected by a small majority. During the war he took an active interest in politics, being a leader of the ultra-Democratic party. In 1866 he received the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Tenth District, but was defeated by General R. P. Buckland, the Republican candidate. His practice from the time he located in. the county was large and remunerative. In 1874 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas, on the Democratic ticket, and served for the full term of five years, when he again re-turned to the practice of law, entering into partnership with Charles H. Bell, under the firm name of Finefrock & Bell. The firm is now in full practice. He has always maintained the reputation of a good jury lawyer. Mr. Finefrock was married in May, 1854, to Miss Emma E. Carter. They have raised a family, of children, and reside east of the city.

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S. S. RICHARDS is a native of Townsend township, this county, and was born Au-gust 8, 1857. He was educated in Clyde, and graduated from the high school of that place in 1875. Just after graduating he went to California, where he spent about one year. Re-turning, he began the study of law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, in the fall of 1876. He was admitted to the Bar by the supreme court at Columbus in the spring of 1879, and immediately opened an office at Clyde. In June, 1879, he formed a partnership with D. A. Heffner for the practice of the profession, which partnership still continues. Mr. Richards is a promising young member of the Bar.

D. A. HEFFNER came to Sandusky county with his parents, who settled in York township in 1856. He was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1849. He was educated in the common schools and in Hillsdale college, Michigan, where he spent one year-1869--7o. From 1870 to 1875 he taught school in the winter and farmed in the summer. In the spring of 1875 he entered the Normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877. He then entered the office of J. H. Rhodes and continued two years, teaching school each winter. In April, 1879, he was admitted to the Bar by the district court at Fremont. He began to practice in partnership with S. S. Richards in June, 1879. He was married May 27, 1879, to Miss Belle Haff, daughter of Hiram Haff, of Townsend town- ship. He is an honorable and worthy member of the Bar.

JOHN T. GARVER was born in Congress, Wayne county, Ohio, July 26, 1848; was educated in the common school and at the academy at Smithville, Ohio; taught school six terms. He commenced reading law in March, 1846, in the office of

Hon. H. G. Blake, at Medina, Ohio, where he remained until September, 1869, when he entered the Ohio State and Union Law college at Cleveland, where he took a regular course, and from which institution he was graduated on June 29, 1870, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws; was admitted to the Bar by the supreme court of Ohio at Columbus, on March 17, 1870, and in June of the same year he was admitted to practice in the West Salem district and circuit courts at Cleveland. He commenced the law practice at West Salem, Ohio, in July, 1870, where he remained until May, 1871, when he re-moved to Fremont, where he has ever since been engaged in the active practice of his profession. In politics a Democrat, he was elected to the office of solic- itor for Fremont in April, 1873 and re-elected to the same office in April, 1876, holding that position four years. In October, 1877, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Sandusky county, and reelected in October, 1879, which position he now holds. He has been a member of the board of teachers' examiners of this county since August 5, 1876, of which board he is now president; was married, in February, 1878, to Miss Sarah E. Gilbert, of Medina county; and is the father of two children. Mr. Garver has built up a good practice, and is now in partnership with his brother, S. C. Garver.

JAMES H. FOWLER is a native of Fremont, Ohio, and was born January 5, 1846. His father was, by birth, an Englishman, and his mother a Pennsylvania German. He attended common school and desired more extensive school privileges, but the financial circumstances of his father seemed to forbid. James, however, met these circumstances honorably, by amply remunerating his father for the loss of his services, from the time of leaving home- eighteen-to the time of his majority. He

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taught school for several terms and then learned the printer's trade in the office of the Sandusky County Democrat. He enlisted as a private in the One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry April 24, 1861. He was advanced from the ranks to the first lieutenancy. At Limestone Station he was taken prisoner, with many others of his regiment. For four months he suffered the hardships of prison life at Salisbury and Libby, the greater part of the time at Libby. While in prison he fell into association with a well-educated Frenchman, who was also a prisoner. Mr. Fowler indicated a desire to learn the French language, and was instructed by his fellow prisoner. He was an apt student, and advanced rapidly until the time of his escape, which was really a romantic episode of prison life. The suffering in-mates of Libby were detailed each day to gather wood to supply the prison. One damp day, while on this dreary mission, a companion and Mr. Fowler made a daring and successful attempt to escape. As soon as they reached the woods they speed on their way northward, being aided and guided by negroes. They slept during daylight and travelled at night. Pursuing blood hounds were evaded by travel-ling the rocky beds of streams. At last they safely reached the Union lines at Knoxville, and re- entered the service. At the close of the war he was mustered out with his regiment as first lieutenant, and returned to Fremont. He at once began the study of law in the office of Homer Everett, and was admitted to practice August 15, 1876. After a short time of practice, he formed a partnership with Mr. Everett, and the firm has been continued without change since that time. Mr. Fowler has a fair knowledge of the French and German languages, has a large fund of general information, and by his own in- dividual efforts has earned a good standing

among members of the Bar of the county.

ERNEST B. WILLIAMS is a native of Salem, Oregon, and was born February 15, 1853; was educated at Willamette University, Oregon; studied law at Portland, Oregon, with W. W. Thayer, now Governor, and was admitted to practice by the supreme court of the State, in August, 1874. He began practice at Salem immediately after his admission, and came to Fremont, Ohio, in May, 1880. He shortly after entered into partnership with M. D. Bald-win, who has since removed from the county, and Mr. Williams is now practicing alone.

GEORGE W. GLICK and CHARLES S. GLICK for some time practiced law at Fre- mont. Both removed to Kansas, and practiced there for some time. Charles S. died there several years ago. George W. is still living at Atchison, Kansas. He has been a member of the State legislature, was a centennial commissioner, and is a man of considerable local influence.

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 60

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