USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Memoirs of the Miami valley > Part 47
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Judge Harvey H. Needles, born in Miami county, was admitted to the bar in 1901, and was a member of the firm of Wicoff, Em- mons & Needles until his election to the probate bench in 1917, a position which he still holds.
David Oldham, born in Miami county in 1854, and reared in Darke county until 1869, came to Sidney, Shelby county, in Sep- tember of that year and entered Sidney high school, graduating the following June with the first class to whom were awarded diplo- mas by the board of education. Motherless from earliest infancy, David Oldham was cared for by an aunt, to whom he rendered the filial service of a son in her old age. Apart from her help, Mr. Old- ham is a self-made man. After his graduation from high school, he learned plastering, at the advice of an English uncle, and while so engaged conceived the idea of himself constructing a house, which he carried out-his first house, a very small one, being finished in 1872. Some years later, when the houses had multiplied to eleven, he traded them for a timber farm, bought a second-hand portable sawmill and cut the timber himself. This not being imme- diately marketable, the young builder made his own market, and built more houses with the quarter-million feet of lumber yielded by the tract. Yet he found time between the year of graduation and 1875 to study law with Conklin and Burress, and was admitted to the bar at the same time with S. L. Wicoff. He has practiced law continuously since (though much engaged in his building activi- ties), making a specialty of collections and of private counsel. David Oldham is responsible for about seven hundred renting houses and business buildings, most of which have passed from his possesion to purchasers. There is much very just objection to the extremely cheap type of dwelling houses and tenements included in the list,
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which have not beautified Sidney, certainly. Yet it cannot be denied that these cheap habitations have provided shelter for hundreds upon hundreds of workmen who were absolutely vital to the welfare of Sidney's rapidly growing industries, which would have been entirely lacking except for the Oldham houses.
Harry Oldham, son of David Oldham, was born in Sidney and educated in classics and the law, but while a member of the Shelby county bar, he devotes his time and energies chiefly to the editing and publishing of the Sidney Daily Journal, the republican organ of the county.
John Oldham, another son, also a practicing lawyer for sev- eral years and a member of the Oldham-Bennett company, died during the winter of 1918-19. Judge I. A. Eshman, born in Loramie township in 1870, attended the local schools, and the Versailles high, and later the Lebanon normal, taking up law with George A. Mar- shall, for the following few years. In 1905 he was elected to the probate bench, having previously entered politics and served as justice of the peace. He also held a position on the board of school examiners for six years, and becoming interested thus in educational affairs, taught school for several years. After a long term of serv- ice as probate judge, Mr. Eshman at last took time to be admitted to the bar, and has since been an active lawyer in high standing.
James E. Way was born in Washington county, Ohio, in 1851, was admitted to the bar in Marietta, Ohio, in the seventies, and came to Sidney in 1882. He entered politics, and in 1884 was elected city solicitor, serving two terms; after which he was elected prose- cuting attorney, holding the office from 1889 to 1895. He has since been in active practice of law, and for fifteen years has been a trustee of the Children's Home, in which his enthusiastic interest is as unquestionable as his ability is valuable.
Andrew J. Hess, born at Columbus in 1864, was cared for dur- ing his infancy and early boyhood by two most estimable ladies of that city, Mrs. McCormack and Mrs. Martha Taylor, both of whom did all that was in their power to supply the place of the parents he had lost. The lad came to Shelby county in 1873, working on a farm while struggling for further education. "Self-made" is a term that may be applied with propriety to Mr. Hess (although he at- tributes much to his early benefactresses) for he had as hard a fight with circumstances as need be instanced in the Shelby county bar association. From nine to sixteen years of age he worked on a farm and attended school at every opportunity, beginning to teach at sixteen. For four year he taught school at various places in the northern part of the county, and studied at the same time. He prepared for law practice at Michigan university, and was admitted to the bar of Ohio in 1885, locating at Sidney. He is one of the foremost lawyers in the county, the firm of Hess and Hess-which consists of himself and his two elder sons-being given largely to corporation law. Mr. Hess has never sought political prominence, but has been elected to the school board and has served several years on the examining board. With S. L. Wicoff and S. J. Hat- field, Mr. Hess completed the board of commissioners who planned and built the Shelby county Children's Home.
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The sons and partners, Royon G. Hess and Harry K. Hess both were born in Sidney and educated in the Sidney high school, later attending Ohio State university, from the law department of which both graduated, in 1908 and 1914 respectively. Royon G. has been a member of the law firm from his graduation and admission to the bar, while Harry K. went first to Washington, D. C., as secretary to Congressman J. Edward Russell, afterward returning to join the firm. Both are regarded as coming men. The character of the firm individually and collectively is of the highest.
Charles R. Hess is a well known lawyer, at one time representa- tive of the county in the state legislature, an expert abstract writer, and now a justice of the peace.
Hon. J. E. Russell, of late the Republican congressman from the fourth district, is a native of Shelby county, born August 9, 1866, on the home farm of William and Laura Russell in Turtle Creek township, where the boy attended school and learned practical farm- ing, afterward coming to Sidney, where he completed the high school course in 1888, and then took up school teaching, in the intervals of which he began reading law. About 1890 Mr. Russell entered the law office of George A. Marshall as a student, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1893, at which time he opened his office in Sidney. He has enjoyed a large practice and has been employed in many cases of note. Politically a Republican, Mr. Russell enjoys the distinction of being the only man of his party ever sent to congress from the fourth district. He has been twice re-nominated since 1914. At the outset of his legal career he served two terms as city solicitor, and in 1905 was elected state senator from the twelfth senatorial district. In 1910 he was appointed super- visor of the census from the fourth congressional district. In addi- tion to his professional and political activities, Mr. Russell has now for twenty-four years filled the position of secretary of the Board of Agriculture of the Shelby county fair.
Joseph C. Royon, of French ancestry, settled in Sidney after a brief experience in Greenville, in 1878, following his admission to the practice of law, in which he had received his training at Michigan university. In the following year Mr. Royon married Miss Mary A. Flinn, of Loramie township. In the practice of law Mr. Royon was associated with Judge Conklin. He entered public life and was city solicitor of Sidney for four years. His specialty as a lawyer was in the organization and adjustment of business, in which his inter- ests gradually withdrew him from court practice, and he retired from the practice of law about 1891, taking up a permanent resi- dence on his farm near Houston. Mr. Royon's interest in educa- tional matters has been broad and constant, and the first example, in Shelby county, of the modern centralized country school was erected in the Houston school district during his presidency of the Houston school board, Mr. Royon being a notable sponsor for the movement, which augurs a new era of education for the boys and girls of the rural districts.
Hugh Doorley, born in Washington township, Shelby county, December, 1855, wrested his legal education from circumstances, teaching school for several years, and attending Ohio Northern uni-
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versity at intervals. He took law at Ohio State university, com- pleting his legal studies under difficulties, but persevering until ready for practice, to which he was admitted in 1901, in the mean- while filling the offices of deputy clerk and clerk of Sidney for several terms. Death cut his career short in 1910, while still in the prime of life.
Frank J. Doorley, son of Hugh Doorley, was born in Sidney in 1890, and educated in the parochial and in Sidney high school, afterward attending Notre Dame university for a year or two. He then engaged in business for a year, before beginning the study of law at Ohio State university, which he attended for one year, finish- ing his legal courses in the office of Percy R. Taylor, after which he was admitted to the bar, upon examination, in 1911. In 1913 he was elected city solicitor, and re-elected in the three following years, being also appointed to other positions of honor in political circles. He died in 1916, while still in office. Urban H. Doorley, his brother, was born in Sidney in 1892, graduated from the public schools, and attended Ohio State university, from the law department of which he graduated in 1915, and was admitted to the bar the same summer. He entered practice at once, but in 1916 was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Frank Doorley. At the close of the term he was elected to the same office, and is still serving in that capacity (1919).
John Quinlin, native of Shelby county, born in 1862, graduated from Ann Arbor (Michigan) university law school in 1889, and returning to Sidney formed a partnership with Hon. George A. Mar- shall, but, after practicing only a few months, developed tubercu- losis; and being sent to Colorado in a vain quest for cure, died in the spring of 1890.
The law firm of Marshall and Marshall includes the brothers, Robert E. and Charles C. Marshall, both native sons of Shelby county. Robert Marshall has practiced in this county only a few years, his intervening experience having been gained in Indiana. He is at present prosecuting attorney of the county, a position also once held by Charles C. Marshall, who is at present chairman of the State Public Utilities commission.
Logan W. Marshall, a well-known member of the Shelby county bar, is for the present engaged with the Miami conservancy district work.
Charles C. Hall, born in Sidney in 1873, graduated from Sidney high school in 1894. He then read law for two years with John F. Wilson, and graduated from the law department of Ohio State uni- versity in 1897. He was admitted to the bar in the same year. Mr. Hall has filled the office of city solicitor, and has been twice elected prosecuting attorney of Shelby county.
D. F. Mills was born at Newport, Shelby county, in 1879, and educated in the county schools, in which he afterward taught for four years. He then attended Ohio Northern university at Ada, Ohio, completing the academic and legal courses there, and passed the examination for admittance to the bar, in December, 1906. After teaching for six months he came to Sidney and entered the office of Judge E. L. Hoskins as junior partner. Upon Judge Hoskins' death
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in 1909, Mr. Mills, after a few months' single practice, formed a partnership with J. D. Barnes which continued until the duties of prosecuting attorney detached him from regular practice. Mr. Mills has served as city solicitor from 1910 to 1914, and as prosecuting attorney from 1915 to 1919.
Harry K. Forsythe was born in Sidney in 1889. He was gradu- ated from Sidney high school and entered Ohio State university in 1910, completing the academic course there, after which he attended Cincinnati law school, from which he graduated in 1915, having been previously admitted to the bar. He began practice in Sidney immediately after graduation. In 1917 he was elected mayor of Sidney, and 'is still in office (1919).
Hugh Bingham, born in Sidney, 1890, the son of R. O. and Alice Conklin Bingham, graduated from Sidney high school in 1908, and from Western Reserve university in 1911. He passed the entrance examination for the bar in the summer of 1915, and began practice in Cleveland, where his legal studies had been followed. In 1916 he returned to Sidney, and, while in regular practice, has given part of his time to teaching higher mathematics in the high school, as a supply, and has also been acting city auditor during the absence of Melville Rhodes in military service.
Samuel J. Hetzler, born and educated in Sidney, graduated in law at Ohio State university, being admitted to practice in 1917. Having been in military service ever since, he has thus far not come into actual experience in his profession. Mr. Hetzler's name is men- tioned for city solicitor.
Emerson V. Moore was born in Shelby county in 1868. He received his early education in the county schools, later attending the Normal university at Lebanon. He studied law and was ad- mitted to the bar. Since coming to Sidney, Mr. Moore has once been city solicitor, and twice elected mayor. He served in the Spanish-American war, but returned to his practice subsequently, and is still a member of the Shelby county bar association. He has now for some years been connected with the state insurance department.
Percy R. Taylor is a native of England, born in 1872. He came to America (Toronto) at the age of ten years, graduated from Bishop's college (Lenoxville, province of Quebec), and became a bookkeeper, as his first venture into business life. Mr. Taylor came to Sidney twenty-seven years ago, in July, 1892, and secured a posi- tion as a reporter for the Sidney Journal, under Trego and Binkley, which he filled until 1898. The next few years were spent as editor of the Piqua Dispatch, and with the Lanning Publishing company (publishers of law books), following which he was proofreader for the Western Publishing company of St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1901 he took a position as traveling salesman through Maryland and the Virginias, and including Ohio, utilizing his spare hours during the years from 1901 to 1905 in the study of law, to the practice of which he was admitted by examination, though he did not engage in it until 1905, when he returned to Sidney and opened his office and began a successful career in his profession. In 1918 Mr. Taylor
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removed to Toledo, where he is a member of a prominent law firm. Mrs. Taylor was Miss Dorothy Cary, of Sidney.
Among other lawyers of briefer residence in Sidney and Shelby county who are remembered by name, but concerning whom scant information beyond this is obtainable, are listed: Calland and Sprague, Bodell and Souder, William C. Hale, Daniel O'Connell, Keepers Alberry, and (older) a Mr. French and a Mr. Pettit.
Joseph D. Barnes, son of J. H. Barnes and Mary Hubbell Barnes, was born in Champaign county, Ohio, June 14, 1869, coming to Sidney in 1884, at which time he entered the Sidney high school, graduating four years later. After leaving school he engaged in the study of law in the office of Davies and Hoskins, and attended Cin- cinnati law school in 1889-90, graduating in the spring of that year. Admitted to the bar, he entered politics and law almost simulta- neously, being elected city solicitor in 1891. In 1894 he was first elected prosecuting attorney of Shelby county, and re-elected in 1898.
As a lawyer, Judge Barnes rose to a leading position very early in his practice. As an official he has been competent and without fear. As a man of affairs, his advice is sought on all sides and his support is regarded as a solid guaranty of safety. No lawyer of his time has enjoyed a greater popularity in office, nor success in prac- tice. From 1909 to 1915 he was associated in practice with D. F. Mills, under the firm title of Barnes and Mills.
In 1916 he was elected to the common pleas bench, taking office January, 1917, and his first term is as yet unfinished. As judge, he is winning deservedly high position in public esteem, being called to hold court in numerous emergencies outside of Shelby county.
Judge Barnes has occupied many positions of court appoint- ment in the settlement of financial affairs, in which he has exhibited expert sagacity and given the highest satisfaction. He is at present a member of the Miami conservancy court.
The past legal history of the county has been signalized by many men of great talent who have made wide reputation for them- selves and for the city and county, and the present roster of the Shelby county bar is such that the community may take pride in it as upholding the best traditions of the past. The lawyers of today have not the spectacular opportunities of former times for winning reputation, when litigation was so common a mode of settling all disputes and difficulties that it was the most popular public enter- tainment known. But the lawyer of today, who more often than not settles his cases out of court is not less astute than he who used to exhaust a half day's eloquence over a neighborhood quarrel, though he may never be the hero the old-time successful lawyer seemed to his client and the hangers on of the court room. Older citizens can still remember the oratory which used to make the ceilings of the old brick courthouse tremble, and remark that they "do not hear the like, now." However, weightier and more intricate legal problems now exact from the lawyers of today equal, if differ- ent talents, as did any case of olden times in which sensational elo- quence aroused tumults of enthusiasm or drew tears from the auditors. A clear head in the council room is often worth more to a client than a golden tongue in the court room. Not less dignified
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than in the stormier past, the law has become subject to disciplined calm, both in the appeal to justice from the bar, and its administra- tion from the bench.
The Medical Profession
"The ills that human flesh is heir to" make the general medical history of pioneer districts in the middle west more nearly identical than any other department of life under consideration. It was in- evitable that the same epidemics should sweep the contiguous counties of each latitude, and that all physicians should come from a limited selection of medical training schools-and equally inevi- table that many of these should be inexperienced youths or self- taught "herb doctors"; so that if Shelby county was protected from professional charlatanism-from which it seems to have been re- markably free -- the credit must be given to an over-ruling provi- dence, or an exceptionally wise set of pioneer fathers.
Sidney's first recorded physician was Dr. Pratt, who died early in the twenties. The infant community was, perhaps, left without a doctor by this calamity, and it is certain that the leading pioneers saw the advisability of securing a physician whose competency could not be questioned; for it was by urgent request and strong inducement that Dr. William Fielding, the first of a long list of rather remarkable men, was persuaded to locate in Sidney in the year 1824.
Dr. Fielding was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1796, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Henderson) Fielding, who afterward removed to Cynthiana, Kentucky, where young Fielding received his scientific education, then studying medicine under Dr. Burnett at Falmouth, Kentucky. Interrupted by six months' service in the war of 1812, his studies were resumed and, in 1816, the lad of twenty years was pronounced ready, and began the practice of his profession at once in Madison county, Ohio. In 1818 he married Miss Elizabeth Vail and settled in Franklin, Ohio, where he prac- ticed for six years, when he came to Sidney with his young family, and remained for the rest of his life, with the exception of a few years spent in Clinton county for the benefit of his children's education.
Dr. Fielding was an important acquisition to the new town, and took a leading position in its affairs at once, becoming a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church upon its organization in 1825, and an original petitioner of Temperance Lodge No. 73 in the same year. He was worshipful master of the latter for a great part of the time during twenty-seven years. He built the first brick residence in Sidney, the site being that occupied in after years by the Frazier drug store* on Main avenue, on the east side of the square. A small office building stood on the rear of the lot, reached from the alley. Dr. Fielding also represented the county in the state legislature for seven years. As a physician Dr. Fielding was skillful and capable, but his genius was composite and he shone equally in other roles,
* The Frazier drug store afterward occupied the building on Ohio street where the Taylor hardware store now is.
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especially in Masonry, inquiry into his activities in that fraternity revealing a usefulness that was unique and widespread. He was the author of the ritual of the Masonic order that was in use all over the state of Ohio for nearly fifty years, and there are still preserved, in the local Masonic archives, drawings of signal power and expression. illustrating the application of the ritual. His beneficence in Masonic circles is still called to mind among surviving friends and his name is permanently woven into the early history of Sidney. None of the numerous members of his family remained here, however, and it is many years since Mrs. Fielding passed away. Dr. Fielding's death preceded hers, occurring in 1873, at the country home, "Ever- green Farm."
A long list of physicians of whom little or nothing is recorded except their names (among them Drs. Ezekiel Thomas, James H. Stewart, Robert C. Johnston, A. Sanborn, Levi Houston, Julius Deppe, S. B. Musselman, William C. Ayers, W. L. M. LeFevre, T. V. W. Young, Peter Julian, Lewis A. Davis and L. K. Milton) practiced in the town and county during its first half century.
Dr. Park Beeman, who came from New York in 1838, was a well remembered surgeon in Sidney, where he was valued and re- spected for his sincerity as physician and citizen. He left Sidney for Kansas, but returned, and took up his practice after a few years, and died about 1870.
Dr. John C. Leedom was a physician of the county who won the love and confidence of the community where he practiced, his home being near New Palestine. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1817, and given a thorough education in Philadelphia. His death occurred October, 1891. A son resides in Sidney, where Dr. Leedom was also held high in professional and personal regard.
Dr. H. S. Conklin, born in Champaign county in 1814, began the study of medicine under Dr. Robert Rogers in Springfield, Ohio, and later graduated from Ohio Medical college at Cincinnati, locat- ing in Sidney immediately after, in 1836, when he was but twenty- two years of age. The county at that time was still heavily timbered, and the roads for the greater part mere bridle paths, and the practice of the physician was one of real hardship and sometimes danger. Overwork and exposure in attending patients account for the early retirement or death of many whose names appeared for a while on the county roster only to vanish. All the hardship and privation, joined with the rough but kindly hospitality, and loyalty in follow- ing, which characterized the times and places, were his experience in practice, in which he adapted himself to every circumstance. While the saddle was still the only practical mode of travel, Dr. Conklin was for about fifteen years surgeon of the state militia, besides which he bore a large part in public affairs and was a strong influence in securing the railroads for Sidney. He also served during the Civil war, first as medical examiner and afterward as surgeon under Gen. Fremont. In diagnosis Dr. Conklin attained wide recognition for his accuracy and correctness, and was called into frequent consultation in many parts of the state. He stood at the summit of the profession locally, during nearly all of the fifty- four years of his residence in Sidney-the longest life-work of any
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professional man in the city or county. He was of splendid phy- sique, and as broad in mentality as in shoulder, while the generosity of his nature endeared him to every one who knew him. Younger physicians who came into Sidney inexperienced in life and practice pay tribute to his gracious treatment of them in their struggling days.
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