USA > Ohio > The Ohio hundred year book; a hand-book of the public men and public institutions of Ohio from the formation of the North-West territory (1787) to July 1, 1901 > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
W. B. Thrall, 1859-1862; Joseph H. Riley, 1862-1865; Moses R .. Brailey, 1865-1871 ; William T. Wilson, 1871-1877.
Office abolished in 1877.
(454)
PART FOUR.
THE JUDICIARY OF THE TERRITORIAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT IN OHIO.
(455)
TABLE OF CONTENTS- PART FOUR.
PAGE
Commendation of the Judiciary. 457
Biographical Sketches of Present Judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio 458
The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio 464
Judges of the Territorial Courts of the Northwest Territory (1787-1802) 465
Judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio (1802-1851) .
467
Judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio Under the Constitution of 1851. 472
The Supreme Court Commissions 478
479
The Reporter of the Supreme Court
The Clerk of the Supreme Court.
486
Stenographer of the Supreme Court.
488
The Circuit Courts of Ohio. 489
The Courts of Common Pleas 494
The Courts of Common Pleas Since 1851 545
(456)
The Supreme Court Law Library 483
COMMENDATION OF THE JUDICIARY.
G I OVERNOR JOSEPH VANCE in his inaugural address says, among other things, of the judiciary of the state (December 13, 1836) :
"I have again and again, whilst on business in the eastern cities, heard our judiciary spoken of in terms that made me proud that I was a citizen of Ohio. 'No collusion or fraud, sir,' says an eminent mer- chant of one of our eastern cities, 'can stand before your judiciary.' This is the character, gentlemen, that causes capital to seek employ- ment here; this is the character that gives security to our rights, and value to our property ; and to these combined causes, are to be attributed a large portion of that flowing prosperity that is felt throughout every portion of our commonwealth."
( 457)
THADDEUS A. MINSHALL. CHIEF JUSTICE.
+
THADDEUS A. MINSHALL, who is serving his fourth term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, is a native of Ohio, born in Ross County, June 19, 1834. His educational .. training began in the country schools, and rounded up by attendance at Mt. Pleasant Academy, in his native county. His legal education was obtained in the office of S. L. Wallace of Chillicothe, being admitted to the bar in 1861. He served in the War of the Rebellion with distinction, at the close of which he began the practice of law at Chillicothe. He has filled the positions of prosecuting attorney and judge of the Court of Common Pleas, being first elected to the latter in fall of 1876, holding it until elected to fill the vacancy on the Supreme bench caused by the resignation of Judge McIlvaine in 1885. In 1890 and 1896 he was re-elected] for full terms.
As a nisi prius judge he presided over many important trials and displayed rare ability as a trial judge. Some of his charges to the jury have become noted. As judge of the Supreme- Court, his opinions bear evidence of learning, careful thought and study. He regards the- law as founded upon principles, and not alone upon cases. His words are susceptible of but one meaning, and are never placed in print without the most careful scrutiny and con- sideration. He has written some very important opinions which are models for brevity andl conciseness. Ford v. Osborne 45 O. S. I., is perhaps the most frequently cited of any late' case. It settles the degree of proof required to set aside an instrument which purports to be sealed and acknowledged, and that the Supreme Court will review the evidence for the' purpose of determining if the rule has been violated. State ex rel. v. Standard Oil Company 49 Ohio St. 137, was a case argued by able counsel, in which was involved the question whether or not an agreement by which stockholders of a corporation transfer their stock to trustees in consideration of the agreement of stockholders of other companies and partner- ships engaged in the same business doing likewise, all to receive in lieu of their stock trust certificates, and the trustees thereafter to control the affairs of the corporation in the interests of the trust, is against public policy as tending to create a monopoly and control production and prices.
(458)
MARSHALL J. WILLIAMS.
MARSHALL J. WILLIAMS, a present member of the Supreme Court, was born on a farm! in Fayette County, Ohio, February 22, 1837. He has the educational advantages afforded by the excellent schools at Washington C. H., to which was added a course of two years at the Ohio Wesleyan University; after which he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Nelson Rush, then one of the prominent lawyers in that part of the State. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1857, and immediately: entered upon the practice of his profession; at Washington C. H., taking a prominent position at the bar. In 1859 he was elected prose- cuting attorney, and re-elected to a second term; after the completion of his term in that office he rapidly grew into an extensive and lucrative practice, being stationed on one side or. the other of the most important cases in the courts of his county, his practice extendingi. to the surrounding counties. He pursued the business of his profession uninterruptedly until. 1869, when he was elected representative in the General Assembly, serving two term therein. He was a recognized leader of that body, a clear ,and forcible debater, and no one possessed in greater degree the respect and confidence. of his fellow-members. His counsel was much: sought by members in the preparation of legislative measures. Upon the close of his legis -. lative term of office, he resumed the practice of his profession until 1884, when he was elected. Judge of the Second Circuit Court. He was chosen as the first Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of the State. While occupying a position upon the bench of the Circuit Court, he was nominated by the Republican State Convention of 1886, for judge of the Supreme Court, and. was, elected at the ensuing election, taking his position upon the bench of that court on the ninth. day of February, 1887; was its Chief Justice February 9, 1891, until February 9, 1892, when he entered upon. his second term as judge of that court. Judge Williams possesses a high order of legal and judicial mind, and his opinions speak well for his ability. Judge Williams was elected as the first Dean of the Faculty of the Law Department of the Ohio State University, and was active in the promotion of the school. He is in the full possession of physical health and intellectual vigor, which, with his industrious habits, enable him to. accomplish a vast amount of work. Judge Williams was re-elected in 1891 and 1897. He will become Chief Justice in February, 1902, having served in that honorable chair twice previ -- ously during his membership of the Court.
(459)
JACOB F. BURKET.
JACOB F. BURKET, a present member of the Supreme Court, was born in Perry County, Ohio, March 25, 1837. He was elected to the additional judgeship created by the legislative enactment of 1892. In his younger days he taught school and also followed the carpenter's trade. He commenced the study of law in June, 1859, at the same time teaching school during winter months. He was admitted to the bar July 1, 1861, and commenced the practice of his profession at Ottawa, Ohio, removing to Findlay, Ohio, in April, 1862, forming a partnership with Henry Brown, Esq., which firm was dissolved May 1, 1869, after which he practiced alone until January 1, 1888, when he formed a partnership with his son Harlan F., which firm continued until taking his seat upon the Supreme bench, in February, 1893. As a lawyer he was noted for the clear manner in which he presented his principles upon which his cases were founded, his practice in more recent years being in the line of railroad and corporation law. He devoted some time also to business interests as president and director of the American and National Bank of Findlay, Ohio. Judge Burket has also taken great interest in fraternal societies, being elected Grand Master of the Odd Fellows of Ohio in 1881. He is a member of the American Bar Association and of the Ohio State Bar Asso- ciation, seldom failing to attend their meetings. Judge Burket was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1897, in which year he was re-elected to succeed himself as a member of the court.
(460)
WILLIAM T. SPEAR.
WILLIAM T. SPEAR, a present member of the Supreme Court, was born June 3, 1834, in Warren, Ohio, from whence came several of Onio's distinguished judges. His father, Edward Spear, also a judge, was a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent; his mother, whose lineage is traced back to colonial times, came from Norwich, Connecticut. His parents came to Ohio, setting at Warren in the year of 1819.
Mr. Spear received a common school education in the excellent union schools of Ohio, supplemented by a most valuable experience_at the printer's trade. After serving an ap- prenticeship upon the "Trumbull Whig and Transcript", published at Warren, he went to New York City, where he was employed in the office of the New York "Herald", and there- after became a compositor, and later a proofreader, in the publishing house of the Appletons. The value of the practical lessons thus derived, laying as they did a solid foundation for important duties which he was called upon to perform in after life, can hardly be esti- mated. Perhaps no pursuit quickens the powers of conception more than the craft of the printer, and especially has the experience herein outlined been of service to the judge in the preparation of judicial opinions. Says one distinguished in the craft: "Herne has uttered a sneer at the husk and shell of learning, but the best bread is made from the whole meal, and includes the 'shorts' and the 'middlings' as well as the fine flour. If every lawyer, physician, and clergyman were to spend six months at the 'case' before entering upon his profession, he would find, even in that short time of labor, a useful and fitting preparation for such literary tasks as may afterwards devolve upon him."
The young printer appreciated his calling, but growing tired of the confinement of the printing office, and having imbibed an ambition for the law, he returned to Warren, and at once began to learn something of the practical side of the profession of his choice, by service as deputy clerk of the Probate and Common Pleas Courts of Trumbull County. He served in these capacities for several years, devoting his spare hours, in the meantime, to the study of the law under the direction of Hon. Jacob D. Cox, since Governor of Ohio, but then of the Trumbull County Bar, nor Dean of the Cincinnati Law School, and Father of many lawyers. This preparation was followed by a course in Harvard Law School, where Mr. Spear was graduated in 1859. Being thus equipped by reason of his practical theoretical training, and ready to enter the field of contest, and having returned to Warren, where he was admitted to the bar of Ohio, he at once became a member of the firm of Cox & Ratliff. Later he was associated in practice with Hon. John C. Hutchins, now of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of Cuyahoga County. In 1871 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Trumbull County, serving two terms, and solicitor of his native city for two terms; and for several years he was engaged in the practice with C. A. Harrington, Esq., the firm enjoying a lucrative business. Soon after laying down the duties of those minor positions, Mr. Spear was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of which office he entered upon in 1898. He was re-elected at the expiration of his first term, but did not complete the second term, because of his election to the Supreme Court, which occurred in 1885. He has since been three times elected to succeed himself as a member of the Supreme Court, and in 1892 and 1897 was Chief Justice.
(461)
WILLIAM Z. DAVIS.
WILLIAM Z. DAVIS was born in th village of Loydsville, Belmont County, Ohio, June 10, 1839. He is of Virginian descent. His father, Dr. Bashford Washington Davis, was a native of Loudon County, Virginia, and descendent of the revolutionary stock in the Old Dominion. The late Dr. John Davis, an eminent physician and surgeon of Dayton, was his uncle. His mother nee Miss Harriet Hatcher of Belmont County, was also a member of a Virginian family. He was educated in the public schools and in private academy; has been a life-long student and was for many years a member of the American Microscopical Society, withdrawing only because pressure of business duties interfered with scientific experiment; served out a three months' enlistment in the 4th Ohio Regiment, during the civil war; and afterwards served in the 96th Ohio Regiment until physically disabled and honorably dis- charged during the Vicksburgh Campaign; in the meantime was admitted to the bar; and after coming out of the military service, and upon regaining his health, he entered upon the practice of the law; almost from the beginning was recognized as a leader at the bar, and enjoyed a large practice, extending into all the state and federal courts. The sugges- tion of his name for the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio was received with remarkable enthusiasm by lawyers of all political parties throughout the state; was nominated by the Republican party in June, 1899, as its candidate for that office, and was elected in November of that year, up to which time he had never held an elective office. On the 10th day of January. 1900, he was appointed by Governor Nash to fill a vacancy on the Supreme bench caused by the resignation of Judge Joseph P. Bradbury, who had resigned the day before; on February 9, 1900, he entered upon the regular term for which he had been elected in the preceding November.
(462)
JOHN A. SHAUCK.
JOHN A. SHAUCK was born on a farm near Johnsville, Richland County, Ohio, March :26, 1841; descendent from German stock; ancestors on his father's side emigrating from the fatherland and settling in America before the American Revolution. He obtained his early education in a private school and the public schools of Johnsville. In 1866 he graduated in the classical course from Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio. He attended the law school of the University of Michigan, graduating from the same in 1867. He entered upon the general practice of the law at Dayton, Ohio, continuing the same until 1884, when he was elected upon the Republican ticket to the Second Circuit Court. He was re-elected Judge of the Circuit Court in 1889. At the Republican Convention held in Columbus, June, 1894, Judge Shauck was nominated for the office of Supreme Judge. He was elected in the following fall and took his seat February 9, 1895, to serve for a full term of six years. Judge "Shauck was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1900, during which year he was re-elected for the full term of six years ending February 9, 1907.
(463)
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OHIO. MEMBERSHIP JULY, 1901.
THADDEUS A. MINSHALL, Chief Justice.
JUDGES.
MARSHALL J. WILLIAMS, JACOB F. BURKET, WILLIAM T. SPEAR,
WILLIAM Z. DAVIS, JOHN A. SHAUCK.
T HE Supreme Court of the State of Ohio as at present constituted consists of six judges who are elected for six years, the term of one judge expiring each year. This court is divided into two divisions of three judges each, the first division consisting of the Chief Justice and the third and fifth judge in the order of the expiration of their terms, and the second division consists of the remaining three.
When the judges comprising either division divide as to the decision in a cause before it, the cause shall be reserved for decision by the full court ; and when different causes involving the same question are before the respective divisions at the same time, such causes shall also be re- served for decision by the full court. If the whole court be divided evenly as to the decision in any cause, the judgment of the lower court shall be entered as affirmed, and such decision shall be held to be the law as to all such questions in other causes until overruled by a majority of all the judges. And when the members of the court, in any matter of original jurisdiction, divide evenly on any question or questions therein, the deter- mination of the members with whom the chief justice votes shall be held to be the judgment of the court.
Owing to inadequate accommodations, the court has been unable to avoid embarrassment in its sittings heretofore, but has just entered into possession of its new quarters in the Law Building of the Capitol, where each division will find the proper accommodation, and the two courts will relieve the present congested calenders.
WEEKLY COURT CALENDAR.
For the mutual convenience of the court and of parties in suit before it, the following rule in practice is observed :
Mondays - Reserved for consultation.
Tuesdays - Reserved for decisions of the Court.
Wednesdays - Reserved for the hearing of oral arguments. Thursdays - Reserved for hearing motions.
Fridays - Reserved for the hearing of oral arguments. Saturdays - Reserved for consultation.
( 464 )
JUDGES OF THE TERRITORIAL COURTS OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
(1787-1802.)
T HE first judicial system to be inaugurated in that part of the United States which is now known as the State of Ohio, was that put in operation by the "Ordinance of 1787" by which the "territory northwest of the River Ohio" was set apart as a separate governmental unit, and a form of local government provided for it by the Congress. By a reference to Section 4 of the ordinance, which is printed in Part One of this volume, it will be seen that it was provided that there should be "appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have therein a freehold estate, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices; and their commission shall con- tinte in force during good behavior." These judges, with the gover- nor, were to select from the civil and criminal laws of the original states such laws as they deemed suitable for the territory, and were given the power to promulgate such laws, and to enforce them, until they should be amended or repealed by a general assembly to be later organized ac- cording to the provisions of the ordinance under which they were ap- pointed.
In accordance with this provision of the Ordinance, Congress did, on the 16th day of October, 1787, elect as judges for the Northwest Terri- tory : Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong, and James Mitchell Varnum.
In the place of Mr. Armstrong, who declined the appointment, Con- gress appointed, on the 19th day of February, 1788, Mr. John Cleves Symmes.
The first Territorial Judges (in 1787-8) were therefore, Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum, John Cleves Symmes.
The salaries of the judges was fixed by Congress in an act bearing the date of October 8, 1787, at $800 per annum.
President George Washington, in a message to the Senate of the United States, bearing the date of New York, August 18, 1789, nominates to be judges of the Northwest Territory "in accordance with the law re- establishing the government of the Northwest Territory," Samuel Holden Parsons, John Cleves Symmes, and William Barton.
Mr. Barton, who was appointed vice Judge Varnum, who had died the preceding February, himself declined the appointment, and on the 8th of September the Senate completed the reorganization of the court by confirming the nomination of George Turner, an associate justice. The
30 H. Y. B.
(465)
466
THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
Judges of the Northwest Territory.
court thus constituted in 1789, and acting under the Constitution of the United States, consisted of the Honorable Judges Samuel Holden Par- sons, John Cleves Symmes, George Turner.
Judge Parsons, then Chief Justice, was drowned in November, 1789, while returning from a treaty with the Indians of the Western Reserve, and the President nominated as his successor on the bench, Rufus Put- nam, of Marietta, whose nomination was promptly confirmed.
The court as thus organized with Judges John Cleves Symmes, George Turner, Rufus Putnam, served from 1790 to 1796, when Judge Putnam was appointed to the office of Surveyor General by President Washington, who, in the same message to the Senate, nominated Joseph Gilman to the Judgeship thus made vacant. "The nominations were con- firmed.
In 1798 Judge Turner resigned and was succeeded by Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., whose appointment was confirmed February 12, 1798. The court as thus constituted, consisting of Judges John Cleves Symmes, Joseph Gilman, and Return J. Meigs, Jr., continued to serve until the admission of the state into the Union in 1803, and therefore, until the organization of the Supreme Court of Ohio. This Court (of the North- west Territory) held its session alternately at Detroit, Vincennes, Cin- cinnati and Marietta.
NOTE 1 .- It is worthy of notice in this connection, that the Territorial Government was set up by Congress in October 1787, but that the first settle- ment in Ohio occurred on the site of the city of Marietta in the following April (1788). In the absence of the Governor, and Judges, who were to form the law-giving power, and until their arrival, Col. Return J. Meigs, Sr., . drafted a code of regulations on common fools cap, which he tacked to the blazed trunk of a large oak, where it was read and endorsed by all the settlers. History does not record a single infraction of those rules. The Governor, with a majority of the court, arrived at Marietta two months later, and set up the official government of the Territory.
NOTE 2 .- Upon the admission of the state into the Union in 1803, and the dissolution of the Territorial Court, Congress by an act passed in February, 1803, provided that a District Court for the District of Ohio, to consist of one judge, should be established at Chillicothe.
NOTE 3 .- By an act of May, 1800, the original Northwest Territory had been divided into eastern and western divisions, and an additional court created for the Indiana or western division, at Saint Vincennes, the court for the eastern division remaining at Chillicothe.
JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
(1802-1851. )
U NDER the Constitution of 1802 the number of Supreme Court Judges was the same as under the Territorial form of govern- ment, three, with the power vested in the general assembly to authorize the selection of an additional judge at its discretion.
The tenure of office was fixed at seven years, or such part thereof as the judge was well behaved. The salaries of the judges was fixed at not to exceed one thousand dollars per annum ..
Under these provisions of the constitution and the laws, the General Assembly elected, on April 2, 1803, as the First Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, Samuel Huntington (then the Senator from Trumbull County ), Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. (then a member of the Territorial Court ), and William Spriggs (of Jefferson County ).
With this establishment of a Supreme Court in Ohio, a search of official records discloses the following to have been the personnel of that "court which has reflected a lasting honor on the judiciary whose repre- sentatives they were, and on the state to whom they paid affectionate fealty.
1803 - Samuel Huntington, Return Jonathan Meigs ,Jr., William Spriggs.
1804 - Samuel Huntington, Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., William Spriggs.
Judge Meigs resigned December, 1804, to accept commission in the U. S. Army as Colonel and Commander of the Department of the Mis- : souri.
1805 - Samuel Huntington, Daniel Symmes (vice Meigs), William Spriggs.
1806- Samuel Huntington, Daniel Symmes, William Sprigg (to April).
Judge Sprigg resigned in April and was succeeded by Senator . George Tod, of Trumbull County, who was appointed to the vacancy by Governor Tiffin,-and was afterward elected to the seat by the General Assembly, January 1, 1807.
In 1807 the Supreme Court consisted of Judges Samuel Huntington, Daniel Symmes and George Tod.
In 1808 Judge Symmes resigned (January 9) and was succeeded by William Spriggs (February 13). Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., having been declared ineligible to the office of Governor of Ohio, to which he had been elected the previous October, was elected an additional Judge
(467)
468
THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Judges of the Supreme Court.
of the Supreme Court on the 13th of February by the joint session of the: General Assembly which also elected his colleague, Mr. Sprigg, to succeed. Judge Symmes, who had resigned to accept the presidential appointment of Registrar of Land at Cincinnati. Owing to these changes the court,. after February 13, was composed of Judges Samuel Huntington, William Sprigg, George Tod, R. J. Meigs, Jr.
The membership of the court remained as above until in December,. when Judge Huntington resigned to become Governor of Ohio. He. was inaugurated December 12. The House of Representatives had pre- ferred charges early in the same month (December) against Judges. Huntington and Tod, of the Supreme Court, and Judge Calvin Pease, presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court of the 3rd District, for- having, by certain decisions, set aside the act extending the jurisdiction. of justices of the peace. Governor Huntington was not tried on these charges, but his associates were brought before the Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, and were acquitted.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.