USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 62
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he was chiefly instrumental in the organization of the First National Bank of Logan, and was its president a little more than two years, when he resigned, to remove temporarily to Pennsylvania. Returning, in 1867 he disposed of his interest in the First National Bank, to organize the People's Bank of Logan, of which he was at once made President, and in which position he still remains. Under his management the career of this bank has been one of wonderful success, not- withstanding the intense opposition with which it met at the hands of a rival banking institution. During almost all this time he has continued to deal more or less in real estate, being a party, in 1881, to one of the most extensive individual land transfers ever recorded in Hocking County. In May, 1880, he was one of the organizers, and is still a member, of the company known by the name of R. W. Keynes & Co., proprietors of the extensive flouring mills at Amanda, Ohio. In the fall of 1881, when the Motherwell Iron and Steel Company (formerly of Lancaster, but now of Logan, Ohio) was newly reorganized and their business enlarged, Mr. Culver, being a prime mover in the enterprise and one of the heaviest stock- holders, was made its President. During his residence in Logan he has held several positions of local importance, all of which he has resigned on account of pressing business, except his membership in the local school board, in which capacity he has been an active supporter of the public schools since 1875. He holds the rank of Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, with which he has been connected since 1857 ; is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and in politics is a Republican. Mr. Culver is held in high re- spect by those who know him, as a valuable citizen, and a man of energetic and correct business habits. He has been an earnest worker for the public good, aiding in the estab- lishment of many useful local enterprises, and at times en- couraging and fostering them, when without such aid they might have ceased to exist; and although comparatively a young man, it may safely be said that few have done more for the advancement of the town of Logan. He was married July 27th, 1859, to Lucy H. Brooke, a daughter of M. D. Brooke, a prominent merchant of Madison, Indiana. Of this union a family of six children has been born, four of whom are still living. Mr. Culver resides in Logan, surrounded with affluence and in the enjoyment of a high social standing.
GEDDES, GEORGE W., lawyer, judge, and Member of Congress, Mansfield, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, July 16th, 1824. Of humble parentage and without the aid of parental influence or support, he was early thrown upon his own resources. His career illustrates the genius of our free institutions. It demonstrates that the poorest and rag- gedest boy that plays in the streets of any village or country place may at no distant period take his seat on the judicial bench, or his voice may be heard in our national councils. He is the son of James and Elizabeth Geddes, and on his father's side of Scotch descent, his paternal grandfather having emigrated to this country from Scotland in the last century. His father removed his family from Knox to Rich- land County, when the subject of this sketch was but a child. There he attended the public schools until he was fifteen years old, when he returned to his native town, and entered a store as a clerk. For five years he performed his duties as clerk, and at the same time diligently improved his leisure hours in pursuing a course of study, including the law. He finally entered the law office of Hon. Columbus Delano,
where he completed his course of study, and was admitted to the bar in July, 1845. In November following he removed to Mansfield, and there began the practice of his profession, among entire strangers. He has since continuously pursued it at the bar or on the bench, until he entered political life, as a member of the Forty-sixth Congress. Mr. Geddes was first associated with Hon. James Stewart in the practice of law, until 1850, when Mr. Stewart was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and thereupon he entered into partnership with Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoff, with whom he con- tinued five years, and until Mr. Brinkerhoff was elected to the Bench of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Mr. Geddes then practiced alone until 1856, when he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the Sixth Judicial District. After serving the term of five years, he was nominated by the Judicial District Conventions of both political parties for a second term, and was thus elected without opposition, and served a full second term of five years, when he retired to the practice of his profession. After two years the Legislature, in 1868, provided for the election of an additional Judge for the district, when Mr. Geddes again became a candidate, and was elected by a majority much above the strength of his party. Having served out the third term, making fifteen years upon the bench, he decided not to be again a candidate, but to return to the bar. His practice at once became ex- tensive and lucrative, he being retained in all cases of im- portance in his own and several other counties. He was the Democratic candidate for Supreme Judge in 1871, without solicitation on his part, but, with the other candidates on the ticket, was defeated. The district of which Mr. Geddes was Judge embraced within it many of the leading lawyers of the State, who have acquired national reputation as lawyers and statesmen. Among them may be mentioned Hon. John Sherman, formerly Secretary of the Treasury; Hon. T. W. Bartley, formerly Supreme Judge of Ohio; Hon. S. J. Kirk- wood, lately Secretary of the Interior; and two of the present Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief- justice Waite and Justice Wood. Judge Geddes has always been fond of his profession, devoting himself to it with in- dustry and energy, but at the same time he has been an ardent Democrat, unswerving in his devotion to his party's principles. At the Democratic Congressional Convention of his district, in 1878, composed of the counties of Coshocton, Knox, Richland, Holmes, and Tuscarawas, he was first nom- inated for Congress. After a severe contest of five days between other parties, and after twelve hundred and fifty bal- lots had been cast for the candidates before the convention, Judge Geddes was prevailed upon to accept the nomination, and thereby reconcile the differences. His election by an unusual majority followed. In 1877 his friends gave him a very flattering support for the nomination of Governor of Ohio, in the Democratic State Convention. But in 1881 his name was still more generally canvassed throughout the State for Governor, and notwithstanding the Judge had up to the meeting of that body declined the honor of being pre- sented as a candidate, yet it is just to state that in that mem- orable contest he stood second in the number of ballots cast. His friends confidently assert that he would have been nom- inated and elected, but for his unswerving determination not to lay down the duties his constituents had imposed upon him by electing him to Congress. As a member of the Forty-sixth Congress, Judge Geddes early attracted public attention, and wrung a full meed of praise from the states-
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men surrounding him as a promising public servant and a national legislator of broad and comprehensive views. His maiden speech in Congress was delivered April 22d, 1879, against the use of federal power to keep peace at the polls. During the session he was a member of the Select Com- mittee on Pensions, Bounty, and Back-pay, and no more ardent or active friend to applicants served thereon. He was the author of the bill creating a Court of Pensions for the speedy adjudication of claims, but it failed to become a law for want of time. The same bill is now pending before Congress, and it is needless to state that Judge Geddes is caring for it. He was renominated for the Forty-seventh Congress, in a new district composed of Richland, Holmes, Crawford, Ashland, and Wyandot Counties, by acclamation, and was elected by a majority of 5,867 votes. For this session he is a member of the Joint Committee on the Library, as also of that on War Claims. The congressional district of Mr. Ged- des was again changed by the redistricting bill of the Legis- lature of 1881 and 1882, and is now composed of the counties of Huron, Lorain, Richland, and Ashland, with a population of only one hundred and twenty-seven thousand, but which counties had, at the election for Governor the previous year, given a Republican majority of 2,183. The Democratic Con- gressional Convention for the District met in New London, Huron County, July 26th, 1882, and nominated Judge Geddes, by acclamation. Hon. R. A. Horr was the nominee of the Republican party. The campaign was earnestly and vigor- ously prosecuted on both sides, but notwithstanding the ap- parently hopeless political condition of the district, the contest resulted in the triumphant election of Mr. Geddes by a majority of 1,670. Judge Geddes was married May 22d, 1848, to Miss Nancy Lemon, of Ashland County, Ohio, who died in September, 1878. Three children, all sons, two of whom are still living, were the issue of this union. He was again married in December, 1880, to Mrs. Amelia B. Gass, of Mansfield, Ohio. In addition to the active and laborious duties of his professional and political life, Judge Geddes has not failed to give attention and support to other fields of labor. He was a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Baltimore, in 1876, and has for many years been one of the trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, and of Mount Union College, at Mount Union, Ohio. As a zealous friend of edu- cation and as an earnest worker in the Christian Church, Judge Geddes presents to the youth of his country an example worthy of imitation.
MCCLURE, SAMUEL W., lawyer and jurist, Akron, Ohio, was born November 8th, 1812, at Alstead, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. His parents, Jairus and Amma (Hobbs) McClure, were of Scottish ancestry, but were among the early settlers of New England. On the paternal side they had lived in Northern Ireland for two generations or more before emigrating to America. When he was about three years old his parents, with himself and elder sister, returned to their former home at Brookfield Massachusetts. There they remained until our subject was seven years old, when they emigrated to Western New York, ultimately set- tling in Monroe County, near what is now the city of Roch- ester. Here they remained until the spring of 1828, when they removed to Medina, Medina County, Ohio, where both died. The mother, inheriting the fervent religious sentiments of her Scotch ancestry, intended to devote her son to the
Christian ministry, and trained his youthful mind in that direction ; and she was so far gratified as to see him enter into full membership with the Congregational Church at the age of fifteen. With the ministry in view he pursued his academical studies while he lived in New York, and until he was near sixteen years old. At eighteen he commenced teaching in the public schools of Medina County, which he followed two or three years, when he entered Allegheny Col- lege, at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He remained here about three years as an industrious student, when he retired from the institution without graduating, but continued to study under the tutorship of a Rev. Mr. Lee, who was then pastor of the church to which he belonged. In 1837 he opened a select school in Medina, which he taught two years, at the same time studying law in the office of Canfield & Camp, with the view of entering the legal profession. In 1838 he went to Ashland, then in Richland County, and organized a select school, which was afterwards known as the Ashland Academy, when transferred to a new building erected by the citizens expressly for its accommodation. He was connected with this school about two years as a successful teacher, at the same time pursuing his legal studies in the office of Silas Robbins, Esq., and afterwards in that of Hon. Charles S. Sherman, late District Judge in Northern Ohio. During part of the above time he also edited the Ashland Phenix, a non-partisan newspaper. In 1846 he returned to Medina, and took charge of the editorial department of the Medina Con- stitutionalist, its former editor, James S. Carpenter, having been recently elected to the State Senate from the Medina District. All through the exciting campaign which resulted in the election of William H. Harrison to the Presidency he was a zealous advocate for the Whig party, both on the stump and through the columns of his paper. Soon after his return to Medina County he formed a law partnership with James S. Carpenter, then member of the State Senate, and,, on the organization of the new county of Summit, Grant B. Turner, of Cuyahoga Falls, was added to the firm-Carpen- ter and McClure residing in Medina County, and Turner in Summit. In January, 1842, he married Miss Matilda E. Deming, of Ashland, and in the spring of the same year set- tled in Cuyahoga Falls, where he continued to live until 1865, when he removed to Akron, where he now resides. Turner soon retired from the firm, leaving it as it was origi- nally formed until 1850, when it was dissolved. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his county in 1847; but the next year, and before his term as prosecutor had expired, he was nominated and elected to a seat in the Ohio Legislature, which he held for one term only. From 1850 to 1864 he had associated with him as law partner the Hon. Henry McKin- ney, late State Senator from the Summit and Portage Dis- trict, and now Common Pleas Judge of the Cleveland subdi- vision. In 1865 he took as a law partner Edward Oviatt, Esq., and that firm continued until the spring of 1871, when he was elected to the Common Pleas Bench for the subdivi- sion composed of Summit, Medina, and Lorain Counties, serving in that capacity five years; and not desiring a re- election, he retired to private life, and measurably from the practice of his profession. He was still largely called upon for counsel in important business matters involving legal questions, and still engages at times in the trial of causes. Possessed of an ample fortune, he did not feel confined to the drudgery and fatigue of active practice in his advanced age, and he resolved to rest and see more of the world. He
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made an extended tour through Europe in company with his youngest daughter, and has since, in company with his wife and daughter, visited California. As a lawyer Judge McClure possessed elements of strength which gave him more than ordinary power. He was an incessant worker, and very en- thusiastic in whatever he undertook to accomplish; had great courage, and was especially quick in his perceptions. These qualities, combined with a natural adaptability to business affairs rendered him an able counselor and, for many years, one among the foremost lawyers in the State. Probably no lawyer in the State tried more cases during the twenty-five years of his life between 1846 and 1871 than he did, or was more successful. He more than made the cause of his client his own. But with all his zeal he never forgot the courtesy due from one gentleman to another, and after the hardest blows in a professional contest he retained the respect and personal good will of his opposing counsel. Especially was this the case with the younger members of the bar, to whom he was always considerate and encouraging. For ready wit, vigorous thought, and effective address he had no superior among his associates at the bar. He was always systematic and logical in his public speaking ; a fact some- what surprising, since at the commencement of his career he dared not venture an attempt at speaking extemporaneously, and until thirty years old had always carefully written and committed to memory his public addresses, being too timid and nervous to trust himself without such preparation. He never was a politician in the popular acceptation of the term, though he always took an earnest interest in public affairs, and occasionally took an active part in political contests, but from a stand-point which was, in his thorough conviction, the better policy in the given contest. From his first appearance before the public until the close of the war of the Rebellion he was an earnest anti-slavery man, taking a resolute and pronounced position against the system of slavery and its aggressions; and upon proper occasions endeavored to in- fluence the popular sentiment to harmony with his own con- victions. He was, as already stated, elected to represent Summit County in the General Assembly in 1847 as a Whig, and was a candidate for re-election again in the fall of 1849, but was beaten by the united votes of the Democrats and Free-soilers by a majority of less than one hundred, while the balance of the ticket was beaten by about four hundred votes. He occupied a high position while in the Legislature, being recognized as one of its most able and useful mem- bers. His nomination to the legislative position was both times without his solicitation or desire, and he only consented to be a candidate as a matter of public duty, on account of the peculiar attitude of the two leading political parties upon the slavery question, that then being the all-absorbing ques- tion with the electors of Northern Ohio. Judge McClure's industry and painstaking in the preparation of cases while a practitioner made him exceedingly restive while on the bench at the heedless and dilatory modes of lawyers who came into court unprepared to try their cases ; and he occasionally gave them sharp reminders that the public interests before him should not be sacrificed to the indolence of attorneys. But as his modes and motives became understood and appre- ciated the lawyers ascertained that their true interests were best subserved by a willing co-operation with the court. He disposed of his judicial business with great dispatch and to the general satisfaction of the bar. His great experience as a lawyer made him a very able trier of causes, and his gen-
eral knowledge of the law and the practice of the courts made him an excellent judge when exercising the jurisdiction of an appellate court, sitting, as he did, during his entire term mainly in Cleveland and Toledo. In the early years of his practice he was appointed United States Commissioner, and had in that capacity to deal with a band of counterfeiters who, for years, had been preying upon the coin and currency of his part of the country, headed by the notorious Jim Brown. While acting as such Commissioner a singular incident oc- curred which will illustrate his character as a public official. Brown had, for years, defied the State authorities in his raids upon the currency, and had thus far been singularly success- ful in eluding the vigilance of the general government. Though notoriously recognized as the leader of these law- breakers he was elected, and served term after term as justice of the peace in Northampton Township. Complaint had been made before Commissioner McClure, and he issued his warrant for the apprehension of Brown upon a charge of counterfeiting, and while this warrant was out, standing in the hands of the sheriff unexecuted, Mr. McClure appeared be- fore Brown for one of two litigant parties. The trial being concluded the justice took the case under advisement, but was arrested and lodged in jail before he decided the case. He then rendered his judgment in favor of McClure's client, remarking, as he did so, that he hoped the Commissioner would take a similar favorable view of his case whenever the same should come up for hearing. The Commissioner did so by holding Brown under twenty thousand dollars bond for his appearance before the United States Court at Columbus, the amount of which was afterward reduced to five thousand dollars by the federal Judge. Owing to the logical and in- dependent cast of his mind he never became thoroughly imbued with the dogmatic part of popular religion, but may be classed with those commonly known as freethinkers or liberal- ists. He believes in being good and doing good for goodness' sake, regardless of religious creeds or beliefs. Thus the original design of consigning his power to the Church was thwarted, but he has led an honorable and useful life in his way, has been an honor to his profession, and left a history worthy of imitation.
CHAMBERS, ROBERT E., LL. D., a practicing lawyer of prominence residing at St. Clairsville, Ohio, is of Scotch-Irish extraction. His paternal ancestors emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland at an early day, and were traditionally descended from the Bruce, a name which figures so conspicuously in Scottish history. Alexander Chambers, our subject's grandfather, with his three sons, William, John, and Alexander, and two daughters, Mary and Margaret, emigrated to the United States in 1798, settling in Pennsylvania, near the forks of the Youghiogheny River. Sub- sequently, about the year 1800, they came to Jefferson County, Ohio, locating near Mount Pleasant, and there remained until about 1812. William, our subject's father, being then mar- ried, purchased a farm in Richland Township, Belmont County, near St. Clairsville, on which he resided until his death, September 6th, 1861, being then past eighty years of age. He was a man of high consideration in the com- munity where he resided, and in 1836-7 represented Belmont County in the Legislature. In 1820 he married Jane Vincent, and the subject of this sketch was the issue of that marriage. Judge Chambers spent his youth on the farm, remaining at home until he attained his majority. His educational advan-
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tages during this while were only such as the common schools of the day afforded ; but on arriving at the age of twenty-one he determined to pursue a classical course of study, but was compelled to provide his own means. He was at length graduated from Franklin College in 1853. Afterward, in 1873, having become exceptionally prominent at the bar, his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. From 1853 to 1858 he taught school, the last two years officiating as principal of the St. Clairsville schools. In 1858 he began the study of law, under the preceptorship of Hon. William Kennon, Sen., and was admitted to practice in 1860. He at once entered upon the practice of his pro- fession, taking from the start a leading position at the bar among the lawyers of note which rendered famous the seat of justice for Belmont County. In 1861 he was made the candidate of the Democratic party for State Senator, but failed of an election, the successful competitor being Hon. Isaac Welsh, late Treasurer of Ohio. In 1862 he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Major W. S. Kennon to accept the position of Secretary of State, by appointment of Governor Tod. In 1870 Judge Chambers was recognized by the Democracy of the Sixteenth District as the most suitable candidate for Congress. He was accordingly nominated to run in opposition to Hon. John A. Bingham, now (1882) United States Minister to Japan. Notwithstanding the strength of Mr. Bingham's constituency, increased by his long and acceptable service in Congress, Judge Chambers was defeated by only four hundred majority. In 1871 he was, without any solicitation on his part, made the candidate of the Democratic party for Common Pleas Judge in the Second Subdivision of the Eighth Judicial District of Ohio, composed of the counties of Belmont and Monroe, and elected to the position over the present incumbent, St. Clair Kelly. Judge Chambers pre- sided on the bench for five years, in which time he added materially to his reputation for peculiar accuracy in the con- struction and application of the law. As a lawyer he is specially successful in those parts of practice involving legal research and investigation, and his briefs are esteemed for their clearness and perspicuity of statement, while he is no less successful in the verbal presentation of his case to a jury.
HANSEN, JOHN, lawyer, of Logan, Ohio, is the son of Samuel C. and Elizabeth Hansen, and was born in Hocking County, December 8th, 1838. His father was a native of the Isle of Wight, is well educated, and spent the early part of his life, as a ship-builder, in the English Channel. His mother is of German extraction, being a descendant of one of the early settlers of Pennsylvania. Samuel C. Hansen migrated to the United States in 1826, coming directly to Ohio, where he joined the small settlement at Nelsonville, in Athens County. After spending a year in this place as school-teacher, he be- gan an extensive series of travels through the South, teaching schools on the way, at Cincinnati, Natchez, and Alexandria, after which he returned to Nelsonville, and prepared to take up his travels again, this time toward the West. He started on horseback, but only got as far as Hocking County, where, falling in with agreeable company, he stopped, married, and has since lived, as a quiet and prosperous farmer. Although John showed early indications of mental activity, his educa- tional advantages were only such as were then afforded by the common school. He made the best of these, however, and took the place of his teacher at the age of seventeen.
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