USA > Ohio > Wyandot County > The History of Wyandot County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns general and local statistics, military record, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc > Part 41
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" The reminiscent first saw Jude Hall in 1844, during a term of the Common Pleas of Crawford County, where he defended a client, from the western part of the county who had been indicted for perjury in swearing to an answer in chancery. His principal ground of de-
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fense, and which was urged with great vehemence and much itera- tion, was, that there had been no intentional perjury, but that the un- lucky falsehood was "a mere discrepancy of the pen." The defendant was acquitted. At another term of the same court, held in the same year, our learned advocate was trying an action of trespass for hog-stealing, brought into court by appeal from Crawford Township. Among the adverse witnesses was the pettifogger who had been pitted against Jude before the Justice, and whom, in his argument to the jury, he demolished in the words and figures of speech following: ' Gentlemen of the jury,
you may put one foot upon Hercules, and the other upon Jupiter, and lay your telescope, astraddle of the sun, and gaze over this wide creation, and you can't find as mean a man as John Smith." At another time. when trying a case in a Justice's court at Bucyrus, he attacked and overwhelmed the opposing counsel, with this pondrous climax: "Why, your honor! He's a mere circumstance, a fabric, a ruta baga." The writer was present at a trial in the high court of Osceola, then presided over by Bishop Tuttle, when Hall was counsel for the defendant, and Col., af- terward, Judge Scott, represented the plaintiff. At the close of the plaintiff's testimony, the usual motion for a non-suit was made and argued, and Jude began his closing speech, in this crushing and magniloquent style: "The gentleman may roar like a salamander, but my positions are adamantine, and must prevail." With these few specimen bricks, we dismiss this erratic genius, whose stay with us was as brief as it was brilliant. We never shall see his like again, nor know we whence he came or whither went. Peace to his metaphors, his climaxes and his allegories."
Hon. Chester R. Mott* was born in Susquehanna County, Penn., July 15, 1813. Having obtained an excellent common school and academic ed- ucation, he engaged for a brief period in teaching at Erie, Penn. Subse- quently he studied law under the instructions of J. W. Riddle and William Lyon, of Erie, and in 1837 was admitted to practice. He continued at Erie until the spring of 1844, when he removed to the town of Upper Sandusky. He assisted in the organization of Wyandot County, and in the spring of 1845, was elected its first Prosecuting Attorney. He was elected County Auditor in 1849, and re-elected to the same position in 1851. In 1857, he was chosen to represent the counties of Hardin and Wyandot in the State Legislature. He was again elected Prosecuting Attorney of Wyandot in 1865. The following year he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Fourth Subdivision of the Third Judicial District, composed of Crawford, Hancock, Seneca and Wyandot Counties, for the full constitu- tional term of five years. He has also served as Mayor of the town of Up- per Sandusky, and as an efficient member of the Board of Education.
Hon. Moses H. Kirby,* who for many years has enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest member of the Wyandot County bar, was born in Hal- ifax County, Va., May 21, 1798. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1820, and returning to Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio (to which place his widowed mother had removed from Virginia, in 1815), at once began the study of law under Richard Collins, Esq Three years later he was admitted to practice, and the same year (1823) was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for Highland County, which office he held for seven years. In 1826, he was elected to represent Highland County in the State Legislature, and being re-elected from time to time served in the same po- sition until 1831, when by a joint ballot of the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives, he was elected Secretary of the State for a term of three years.
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At the expiration of his term as State Secretary he resumed the practice of law at Columbus, Ohio. Subsequently he was elected and served as Prose- cuting Attorney for Franklin County, Ohio. In 1842, he was appointed by President Tyler Receiver of the United States Land Office at Lima, Ohio, where he remained until the summer of 1843, when the office was removed to Upper Sandusky. After the expiration of his term of service as Land Receiver, he once more resumed the practice of his profession in the town which has since been his continuous place of residence-Upper Sandusky. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Wyandot County in 1847, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Mott, and, in an alternate man- ner, has since served in the same capacity for a period of twenty years. In 1858, he was elected Probate Judge, serving two terms, and in 1879, the people of his district chose him as their Representative in the State Senate. He was re-elected to the same office in 1881, and concluded the term to the entire satisfaction of his constituents.
Hon. John D. Sears,* a leading member of the Wyandot County bar since the county's organization, was born in Delaware County, N. Y., Feb- ruary 2, 1821. He became a resident of Crawford County, Ohio, in 1836, and soon after entered the Ohio University at Athens, where his literary studies as a student were completed. Afterward he studied law at Bucyrus, with Hon. Josiah Scott (since Chief Justice), and in 1844 was admitted to the bar. On the 3d of March, 1845, he settled in the town of Upper San- dusky, then a hamlet of less than a dozen buildings of all classes, and has ever since taken an active part in promoting its prosperity, as well as that of the whole county. He has not been an office-seeker, but has given his attention to the practice of his profession, in which he occupies a conspicuous place, being regarded as an able and sound attorney. However, in 1873, he was elected and served as a member of the Third State Constitutional Conven- tion which assembled at Columbus, Ohio. He served on the judiciary and other important committees, and was recognized as one of the ablest and most- accomplished members of that body. He has also served as Mayor, and for many years as School Examiner, member of the Board of Educa- tion, etc., of the thriving town which has entirely grown up under his per- sonal observation.
Hon. Robert McKelly* is another whose name stands out conspicuously in the history of Wyandot County. He was born in Lancaster County, Penn., April 8. 1815. He became a resident of Ohio in 1834, and after reading law under Henry B. Curtis. Esq., and Col. John K. Miller, was admitted to the bar in 1842. The same year, he began to practice his pro- fession at Bucyrus, where he remained until the summer of 1845. when he removed to Upper Sandusky, and assumed the duties of Register of the United States Land Office, a position to which he had been appointed by President Polk, and which he held for three years. He became the first Pro- bate Judge of Wyandot County under the constitution adopted in 1851. In 1857. he was elected to represent the Thirty-first District, composed of Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot Counties, in the State Senate. He also served as Director and President of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad before its consolidation with other lines, under the title of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. He is the present Prosecuting Attorney of this (Wyandot) County.
Capt. Peter A. Tyler was a resident of Mccutchenville long before the organization of Wyandot County. About 1852, he removed to Upper San- dusky, where he continued to reside until his death. In April, 1861, he
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recruited a company of Wyandot County men and joined the Fifteenth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving with that command as Cap- tain for a term of three months. Subsequently, he led into the field another company of Wyandot County Volunteers. (See Military Record in this work). Some time after the war he became involved in a personal difficulty at Bucyrus, Ohio, which resulted in his being wounded by a pistol shot, of which injury he died soon after at Upper Sandusky.
William K. Wear, who is mentioned as an attorney at Upper Sandusky as early as the spring of 1845, came here from Highland County, Ohio. Possessing neither transcendent abilities nor good looks (he had a stiff neck, carrying his head to one side, and was deaf in one ear), and prone to indulge in transactions not altogether reputable, he did not prove to be a success in this field. After tarrying here for a year or so, he left one day or night in a rather hurried manner, proceeding southerly, and breathing maledictions against John D. Sears, Esq., which are best repeated by the "Judge" himself. Wear was last heard from in California.
Hon. George W. Beery, Sr., President of the Wyandot County Bank, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, July 22, 1822. In June, 1847, he be- came a resident of Upper Sandusky, and, with Aaron Lyle as a partner, engaged in the practice of Jaw under the title of Beery & Lyle. This partnership continued for two years, when Col. Lyle started for California, dying en route. Mr. Beery, however, kept on in the practice of his profes- sion until the inauguration of the internal revenue system, during the late civil war, when he was appointed by President Lincoln Internal Revenue Assessor for the (then) Fifth Congressional District of the State of Ohio. After being relieved from the duties of that office by Andrew Johnson, he organized the Wyandot County Bank, of which flourishing institution he has been President since April 1, 1867, the date of its organization. Mr. Beery has ever been known as a man of great positiveness and strength of character -- a most worthy and honorable citizen, and a public-spirited, noble-hearted gentleman.
Col. Aaron Lyle, already mentioned as the law partner, for a brief period, of George W. Beery, Esq., also came to Upper Sandusky from Fairfield County, Ohio, in the summer of 1847. Soon after, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney, but he did not continue long in that position. for in April, 1849, accompanied by Col. A. McElvain and Editor William T. Giles, he started overland for the California gold fields. He died en route, and was buried far from the haunts of civilization.
S. R. McBane, an attorney at law, came to Upper Sandusky about the year 1848, but remained only a short time. Of his subsequent career we have derived no information.
Hon. B. P. Smith was for some years a resident at Carey. He was an able attorney, and during his residence in this county served as a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1850-51. He removed from Carey to Huron County, Ohio.
B. F. Ogle and A. F. Anderson, attorneys at law, also resided at Carey years ago.
Henry Maddux, a native of Somerset County, Md., was born July 7, 1819. He became a resident of Marion County, Ohio, in the spring of 1836. In 1846, he came to Wyandot County. Subsequently he studied law, and at June term, 1851, was admitted to the bar. He was appointed School Examiner in 1853, which position he held until 1868, when he resigned and removed to Springfield, Ohio. In the spring of 1870, he
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returned to Upper Sandusky, and soon after was elected Prosecuting Attor- ney. Mr. Maddux was quite successful in the accumulation of worldly wealth, and during the last years of his life served as a Director of the First National Bank of Upper Sandusky. His death occurred during recent years.
Nelson W. Dennison, known to early residents of Upper Sandusky as an attorney at law, also as the publisher and editor of the Democratic Vindicator for a brief period, removed to Boonesboro, Boone Co., Iowa, in the summer of 1857.
Col. Cyrus Sears, a brother of Hon. John D. Sears, was admitted to the bar in September, 1856. During the late civil war he rendered efficient service as Lieutenant of a battery of light artillery, and as Colonel of a col ored regiment. (See his biography, also Chapter 12, of this work). For about three years after the close of the war of the rebellion he practiced law with his brother before mentioned. He is now engaged in various business pursuits in this county, having abandoned the legal profession.
Hon. John Berry was born in the region now embraced by Wyandot County April 26, 1833. After completing his literary studies at the Wes- leyan University, Delaware, Ohio, he began the study of law at Upper San- dusky with Hon. Robert McKelly. Subsequently he attended the Cincin- nati Law School, graduated therefrom with honor, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1857. He then became identified with the interests of Upper Sandusky and resided here until his death. Although he was a gentleman possessed of much ability and widely esteemed, yet it appears that he pre- ferred the practice of his profession rather than office-holding. However, he served as Mayor of Upper Sandusky, and as Prosecuting Attorney for the county, and in 1872 was elected to represent the Fourteenth Ohio District in the United States House of Representatives, 1873-75.
Hon. Curtis Berry, Jr., * a brother of Hon. John Berry, was also "to the manor born," a native of the territory now known as Wyandot County. Having completed his literary course of studies at the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity, Delaware, Ohio, he read law at Upper Sandusky under the instruct- ions of his talented brother, and at June term, 1860, of the Wyandot County Court, was admitted to the bar. He has since served three terms as Clerk of Courts for Wyandot County. He also represented the Thirty-first Dis- trict, consisting of Seneca, Crawford and Wyandot Counties, in the State Senate, during the years 1866-68 and 1868-70. Mr. Berry, now an invalid, resides in the eastern part of the town of Upper Sandusky, on grounds ren- dered historic, as the place where Col. Crawford's men stopped to quench their thirst, at a spring, on their outward march in June, 1782; as the site of Fort Ferree, war of 1812-15, and as the place where William Walker, of Wyandot Indian memory, resided. He has been known as a firm Demo- crat, a good attorney, and a forcible speaker.
D. A. Harrison, who was chiefly employed while here as Superintendent of the Public Schools, at Upper Sandusky, now resides in the town of Springfield, Ohio.
Henry A. Hoyt, who was associated with Hon. Robert McKelly for a brief period, is a present resident of the State of Iowa.
George Crawford, Esq., known years ago as a young attorney at Upper Sandusky, also as a gallant soldier during the war of the rebellion, is the present publisher and editor of the Independent, at Marion, Ohio.
George G. White,* Esq., now and for a number of years past known as a resident attorney in active practice, was admitted to the bar in August, 1867.
yours July
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Thomas E. Grisell,* Esq., a native of Columbiana County, Ohio, came to Upper Sandusky in 1852. In 1854, he was elected Clerk of Courts of Wyandot County, and served a term of three years. Besides attending to his law practice, he has found time to engage in other business pursuits, which have been conducted in a very successful manner. He is an able lawyer and highly respected as a citizen.
Elza Carter, * a member of the present Wyandot County bar, is a part- ner of the gentleman above mentioned (Grisell).
Hon. Darius D. Hare,* the present Mayor of the town of Upper San- dusky, was born in Seneca County, Ohio, January 9, 1843. He completed his literary studios at the Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, in 1863. In 1864, he enlisted in the Signal Corps of the United States Army, in which service he continued till the close of hostilities. Subsequently he was detailed, in the same service, as Clerk at the headquarters of Gen. Sheridan at New Orleans, till discharged by Special Order of the War De- partment in 1866. He then entered the Law Department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, and after a thorough course of studies, was admit- ted to the bar by the District Court of Wyandot County, in September, 1867. He practiced at Carey for a brief period, but in 1868 located in Upper Sandusky, which has since been his place of residence. He has served as City Solicitor, as Mayor, and as a member of the Board of School Examiners for this county through several terms. Although one of the youngest members of the present bar, Mr. Hare has built up an extensive and lucrative practice, and is known as one of the ablest expounders of the law in Wyandot County.
Allen Smalley,* Esq., was born December 26, 1841, in Ashland County, Ohio. With his father's family he became a resident of Wyandot County in 1854. In the spring of 1862, he enlisted in the Forty-ninth Ohio In- fantry, in which command he served nearly one year, or until discharged for disability. After recovering his health, he attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, through two terms. In the spring of 1864, he again entered the service of the United States as a member of the Signal Corps. He was with Commodore Farragut's fleet at Mobile, Ala. After the close of the war he entered the Law Department of the Michigan University, and graduated from that institution in 1868. Soon after, he was admitted to the bar at Olney, Ill., where he practiced until 1870. Subsequently he passed some months in the South. Next he taught school in Posey County, Ind., for five months. Then he returned to Wyandot County. Since 1874, besides practicing his profession, he has served as Justice of the Peace, and , as an active member and officer of the County Agricultural Society.
Hon. Peter B. Beidler,* was born in Berks County, Penn., December 23, 1818. He became a resident of this region in 1842, was elected County Surveyor of Crawford County in 1843, assisted in the, organization of Wyandot County in 1845, and after a close contest with Azariah Root, was by order of court awarded the same position in the new county of Wyan- dot. Since that time he has served as County Surveyor through several terms. Also as Probate Judge for nine consecutive years, and as Mayor of the town of Upper Sandusky. He was admitted to the bar in 1874.
George G. Bowman, Esq., now a successful attorney in the State of ยท Nebraska, was a member of the Wyandot bar some ten years ago.
Adam Kail, Esq., a resident of the county from early boyhood, and who had served as a volunteer during the war of the rebellion, was also an
10
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attorney of considerable ability. He died of consumption in Florida in December, 1881.
Hon. Willard D. Tyler, a son of Capt. Peter A. Tyler, now resides in the State of Texas. He served one term as prosecuting attorney for Wyan- dot County, and represented the same county in the State Legislature during the sessions of 1878-80, and 1880-82.
William F. Pool,* Esq., was born in Richland County, Ohio, July 23, 1848. Having obtained a good English education, he began teaching at the age of nineteen, and continued in that occupation until 1872, when he began the study of law under the preceptorship of Henry Maddux, Esq., of Upper Sandusky. He was admitted to the bar in 1875, and at once began to practice in the Wyandot County courts. He was for a time associated with George G. Bowman, and subsequently with Adam Kail until the death of the latter.
Judge Joel W. Gibson* was born in that part of Crawford County, Ohio, now known as Wyandot, December 19, 1842. His education was chiefly acquired in the public schools. In 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, and with that gallant command partici- poted in numerous actions fought in the Valley of Virginia. He was severe- ly wounded in the right leg in the battle of Winchester, June 15, 1863, and fell into the enemy's hands. A few days later, an amputation of the wound- ed member was successfully performed. He was honorably discharged, and for a few years was engaged in various occupations. He has served as Revenue Collector, Justice of the Peace, and Probate Judgo. In 1875, he was admitted to the bar. After retiring from the office of Probate Judge, in February, 1883, he formed a partnership for the practice of law with Hon. Robert McKelly. This firm still continues.
Enoch D. Bare, * Esq., was born in Richland County, Ohio, September 16, 1848. His education was obtained in the public schools, supplemented by a course of studies at the Northwestern Normal School of Ohio. He began teaching at the age of eighteen, and continued that occupation during the major portion of his time until 1874, when he commenced the study of law in the office of Hons. John and Curtis Berry, Jr., of Upper Sandusky. He was admitted to the bar in April, 1876, and at once entered upon the prac- tice of his profession at Upper Sandusky, his present place of residence.
Darius D. Clayton,* Esq., the present Probate Judge of this county, was born in Pitt Township, Wyandot County, Ohio, February 19, 1850. His literary studies were completed in the Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and the Oberlin College of same State. He graduated from the last- named institution in 1876. In 1877, he began the-study of law under the instruction of Darius D. Hare, Esq., and November 8, 1878, was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio. His term as Probate Judge began February 12, 1883.
Robert Carey,* Esq., was born in Ontario, Canada, February 17, 1845. Having completed his studies in the Toronto Provincial Normal School, he early engaged in the occupation of teaching, and continued as an instructor in Canada and the United States, until 1877 when he began the study of law with D. W. Brooks, Esq., of Detroit, Mich. Subsequently he attended the Law Department of the Michigan (Ann Arbor) University, for one year. Then returning to Upper Sandusky, he still further pursued his law studies, under the instruction of Judge Mott, until May 5, 1880, when he was admitted to practice in the various courts of the State.
Milton B. Smith * and W. T. Dickerson, * attorneys at law, are present
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residents of the town of Carey, where they have been established for a num- ber of years.
James T. Close, * Esq., the youngest member of the present Wyandot County bar, was born in Alexandria City, Va., October 27, 1856. He was educated at Alexandria, Va., Washington, D. C., and Whitestown Seminary, N. Y. In 1874, he began the study of law with Judge Michael Thomp- son, of Washington, D. C., at the same time attending lectures at the National Law University, and concluding a three years' course in the office of David L. Smoot, of Alexandria, Va. In 1877, he was admitted to prac- tice in the courts of Virginia and the District of Columbia. In 1878, he came to Wyandot County, Ohio, and opened a law office in the town of Nevada. Subsequently he visited the South, and was also employed in the War Department at Washington, D. C. In September, 1882, he became a resident of Upper Sandusky, and in 1883, was appointed official stenog. rapher of the county of Wyandot for a term of three years.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
A WRITER CONFRONTED BY DIFFICULTIES-MEDICAL MAKESHIFTS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS-ONE OF THE OLDEST DESCRIBES THE AGUE-THE PHY- SICIANS OF THE COUNTY IN 1845-EARLY AND PRESENT PHYSICIANS AT UPPER SANDUSKY-A SKETCH OF DR. FOWLER-OF DR. SAMPSON, AND OF DR. MCCONNELL.
U NDER this caption, it would be a pleasurable task to mention the names, locations, characteristics, etc., of all regularly educated physi- cians who have lived and practiced medicine in the region now known as Wy- andot County; but from the fact that, as a class, the gentlemen of the medi- cal profession lead a life more nomadic than their brothers of legal accom- plishments, that no reminiscences of Wyandot's early medical practitioners have ever been compiled, and that no medical association has ever been formed and perpetuated in the county, the work, at this late day, of com- piling a chapter in any respect complete, and within the time placed at our disposal, is wholly impracticable.
The early settlers of this and adjoining counties were great sufferers from "fever and ague," and, occasionally, from another form of disease termed the "milk-sickness." But few of the people being acquainted with the last-mentioned disease, its effects, cure, or prevention, and having but few physicians among them, and those when they first came here were mostly unacquainted with the disease, a large percentage of these cases proved fatal. Some heads of families would obtain from distant towns supplies of jalap, calomel, " tartar mattix," etc., and dose their families and neighbors; others would boil a kettle full of butternut bark, and make & supply of butternut pills, or dig up a quantity of blue-flag, culver, may- apple and blood-root, pulverize and swallow them, or take them in pills or decoctions, just as might suit the fancy of the prescriber or patient. But, as an old resident has said, "We soon had plenty of doctors traversing the highways and byways so much, that any one who wished to be doctored could be so treated to his heart's content."
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