USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 70
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business. He was retained in many important and warmly contested cases of great public interest, among them the well known Cornelia Williams will case, a protracted controversy between the Methodist Church and the heirs-at-law of Mrs. Williams, in which they sought to break her will in conse- quence of her alleged insanity and large bequests to the Church ; also in the protracted, hotly contested, and exciting trials which grew out of an alleged slander in the case of Benton vs. Wade. In the year 1873 he received the hand- some compliment of a nomination by the conventions of both parties as one of the three Judges of the Superior Court of Cleveland, to which office he was elected without opposition, for the term of five years, from July, 1873, and he entered upon and continued admirably to perform the new duties thus devolved upon him until the court ceased to exist, in July, 1875. In October, 1875 (four additional Judges for the Common Pleas Court having been authorized by law, in place of the Superior Court), he was elected one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, for Cuyahoga County, for a period of five years, from November, 1875. He served the entire term with high credit to himself and to the entire sat- isfaction of the public. In November, 1880, he resumed the practice of the law, with the old vigor and enthusiasm, and within a few months had again secured a valuable practice, which he very soon, however, was destined to abandon, to accept the honors of another judicial career. In Octo- ber, 1881, that exceedingly able and upright Judge, Hon. Samuel B. Prentiss, desiring to retire at the expiration of his fifteen years of admirable service as Common Pleas Judge of Cuyahoga County, Judge Jones was unanimously nomi- nated by the Republican Convention as his successor, and he was duly elected for another judicial term of five years, from February, 1882, by the largest majority ever given to any judicial officer in the county ; and having accepted and entered on the duties of the position, he is now serving his third term as a Judge in said county. Judge Jones is in ap- parently robust health ; is possessed of an alert temperament and strong constitution ; combining unusual quickness of per- ception, strength, studious habits, large knowledge and com- prehension of the law, with capacity for protracted labor. In his practice as a member of the bar his capacity for zeal- ous partisanism was undoubted, but on the bench this quality was always dominated and restrained by his keen sense of justice, and his ever-remembered appreciation of the high responsibilities and duties of the position. That his high reputation as a jurist is well deserved is clearly manifest in all important trials before him, in his prompt and able de- cisions, clear-cut, comprehensive charges to the jury, and in his numerous published opinions, some of which have de- servedly had a wide circulation outside of as well as within his judicial district. He is now, and for many years last past has been, a member of the Board of Directors of the Citizens' Savings and Loan Association, one of the largest moneyed institutions of the city of Cleveland, and which had the dis- tinguished honor of numbering among its directors the late lamented President James A. Garfield.
GROOT, GEORGE ANDERSON, of Cleveland, Cuya- hoga County, Ohio, was born in Shushan, Washington County, New York, August 3d, 1843. His father, John A. Groot, was a shoemaker by trade, whose early ancestry came from Hol- land, in or about the year 1640, in the person of Simon Symonse Groot, who was boatswain of the ship Prince
Maurice, engaged in the West India trade, and who located at Albany, New York, and later at Schenectady, where he remained till death. His mother, Eliza Jane, whose family name was Heath, was of English descent. Her ancestors came to this country at a very early date, either among the Pilgrims or immediately after, and located in Connecticut. The subject of our sketch first attended the common schools of his native town. When eight years of age his family removed to Wisconsin, where he attended school for one year, when the family again removed to the town of Cop- ley, Summit County, Ohio, where they settled on a farm, in 1851. Here the small boy, the oldest of eight children, did most of the work (while the father worked at his trade in Akron), laboring on the farm during the summer and attending school during the winter months. This con- tinued until the spring of 1857, when his parents moved to Camden (now Kipton), Lorain County, Ohio, where they still reside. His father, on his removal to Camden, opened a shop of his own, which he has carried on ever since. He assisted his father in the shop in the spring and fall of each year, and during the summer he worked on a farm, by the month or day, as the case might be, and attended school during winter, until the spring of 1860, when he entered Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, for one term, leaving home on Monday mornings, carrying with him, in a bas- ket, his provisions for the entire week, returning home at the end of each week to visit his parents and replenish his stock of food. These were long and wearisome journeys, made on foot, but with his boyish ardor for acquiring an education, good health, and elastic spirits, the obstacles and difficulties were thought lightly of. In the fall of that year he went to a select school, and during the next winter he attended school at South Amherst, where he sup- ported himself by working for his board. The following spring he hired out on a farm for the summer, at twelve dollars a month, to obtain money to enable him to attend college at Oberlin again in the fall, but the war breaking out in the spring he got released from his contract, to enlist. He, with several other young men of about his own age, whom he induced to go with him, went to Wellington, Ohio, to enlist, but the company then forming being more than full, they all went to Cleveland, in company with General Sheldon (now Governor of New Mexico), and enlisted in Company H, 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on April 20th, 1861, for three months. The regiment went to Camp Den- nison, and was one of the first there. He did not re-enlist in Company H at the expiration of his term of service, but re- turned home on a furlough, and while there he re-enlisted in Company I, in the same regiment, on August 10th, 1861. He was afterward, on August 22d, 1861, at Columbus, Ohio, discharged, the first term of his enlistment having expired. He was mustered in for three years, as a sergeant of Com- pany I, and was soon at the seat of war. With his regiment he took part in the Virginia campaigns of 1861 and 1862. He was in the skirmishes of Romney, Blue Gap, French's Store, Blooming Gap, Cedar Creek, Strasburg, Kearns- town, Woodstock, Edenburg, Mount Jackson, Rood's Hill, Newmarket, Front Royal, Harrison's Landing, Chickahominy Swamps, Germantown, Leesburg, Snicker's Gap, Falmouth, United States Ford, and in the battles of Winchester and Fredericksburg. He was taken sick at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, and continued to get worse, until he was prostrated by disease, and at Rockville, Maryland, he fainted and fell
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in the ranks, and was removed to hospital at Washington. He had continued, however, to perform his duty in every respect, and refused to leave the ranks, until he fell in the ranks, completely prostrated. After recovery he immediately rejoined his regiment at Bolivar Heights. With the excep- tion of being in hospital, he never missed a day, or an engagement in which his regiment took part, though many were his sufferings from heat, fatigue, and exhaustion. At the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862, he was most severely wounded, and given up for lost, the rifle ball entering the throat on the right side, tearing away a piece of the clavicle where it is attached to the sternum, par- tially severing the windpipe (nearly cutting it off ), passing through to the left shoulder, glancing down the left side, and lodging behind the left hip, where it still remains, causing almost continuous pain ever since. For nearly a week he received no attention at all from the sur- geons, and was given up to die. This wound completely incapacitated him for further service. On recovering suf- ficiently to leave hospital, he received his discharge from the service, at Washington, January 8th, 1863, and left hospital about February 20th, and returned home. His first desire was again to enter school, feeling more than ever the necessity of a thorough education. Determined to obtain such, he, as soon as able, again entered Oberlin College, in 1863. This time he took his sister also with him, paying the way for both out of money he had saved while in the service. In the fall of 1863 he secured a school to teach, in Danbury, Ottawa County, Ohio, where he taught for about three months, when school was broken up by sickness among the scholars. He returned to Oberlin, and took a commercial course, with a view of engaging in mercantile business. In the following March he visited Chicago and Milwaukee for the purpose of securing a situation. In this, however, he was not suc- cessful, and returned and taught the same school that he had taught the previous winter, for a period of five months, when he again went to Oberlin for one term. In the fall of 1865 he attended school at Milan. In the winter of 1865-6 he again taught school in Danbury Township. In the spring of 1866 he entered Oberlin, to take a collegiate course, at- tended three terms, and taught school at Danbury in the winter. He returned to Oberlin in 1867, remained two terms, and in the fall entered Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michi- gan, with a view to taking a collegiate course there. In the winter he again taught school in Danbury, and returned to Hillsdale in the spring of 1868, where he remained until January, 1869, when he came to Cleveland, Ohio, and was appointed crier of the United States Court-in the meantime continuing his college studies most assiduously. He re- turned to Hillsdale, still applying himself ardently, and in June of 1870 was graduated with full honors, standing high in his classes. He immediately came to Cleveland, read law in the office of the eminent lawyers, Estep & Burke, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1871. On admission to the bar, the more fully to qualify himself for the active duties of his professional career he made an ex- tensive tour, visiting numerous large cities and places of importance and public interest, among them Salt Lake, Yosemite Valley, California, Mexico, Central America, Maz- atlan, Manzanillo, and Acapulco (he was in Mazatlan at the time when the city was taken by the rebels, in 1871), Port Libertad, Panama, Aspinwall, and Kingston, Jamaica, going westward, and returning by way of New York. He
then visited the old home where born-his first visit to the place of his birth since leaving it when a child, and saw many who knew him when such. On his return to Cleve- land he entered the employ of Estep & Burke, and con- tinued in their employ until the firm was dissolved in July, 1875, when he entered into partnership with Judge Burke, which lasted until November, when he opened an office on his individual account. His ability, thorough knowledge of the law and previous successes, speedily brought to him a large and lucrative practice. Being a lawyer of well known character and high standing in his profession, the cases brought to him are of the more important class. He is a man who has naturally always been deeply interested in educational matters. In 1876 he was elected and served for two years as a member of the Board of Education. In the spring of 1878 he was again nominated for that position, but was defeated. His defeat was owing to propositions and views that he set forth for the better instruction of the chil- dren and management of the schools. The correctness of his propositions and views may be judged from the fact that each one of them has since been adopted. In the spring of 1883 he was again the choice of his party for member of the board, but the entire ticket was defeated by a majority of one hundred and forty-four votes, though he individually had the satisfaction of running one hundred and twenty-five votes ahead of his ticket. In political views he is a Repub- lican, and in the fall of 1883 was the unanimous choice of his party for Judge of Common Pleas Court, but was defeated with the rest of the ticket. He was married December 12th, 1872, to Maora A. Sage, daughter of William G. Sage, Esq., of Huron, Ohio. Mrs. Groot on her mother's side is of Scotch descent, being a Douglas, and on her father's side of Holland descent, from an old Connecticut family. They have five children-three girls and two boys. The record of Mr. Groot's early life is one of toil, labor, untiring industry, continuous perseverance, indomitable pluck, unswerving in- tegrity. A life with such a past brings its own reward. It is by no fortuitous circumstances that he has risen; born with- out any of the advantages that wealth procures, unaided by others, and dependent upon himself alone, he has made his own headway in spite of obstacles seemingly almost insur- mountable. As a lawyer, a man, a husband, a father, he takes high rank, and is honored and respected by all.
STARLING, LYNE, of Columbus, Ohio, merchant and capitalist, was born December 27th, 1784, in the vicinity of Boydton, Mecklenburg county, Virginia. When very young he removed with his father and family to Kentucky; and in the year 1806, to the village of Franklinton, Ohio, opposite Columbus, and long since absorbed in that city. While at Frankfort, Kentucky, and yet a youth, he was appointed deputy clerk of court, and was trained to business and industrious habits by a strict and methodical chief. Not long after his removal to this State, he received the appointment of clerk of the circuit and district courts of Franklin county, and held this position for some years. Mr. Sullivant, to whom he was related, then furnished him means and entered into partnership with him in the mercantile business, in which he became very successful. He was the first to make the experiment of shipping cargoes of produce down the Scioto river to New Orleans in decked flatboats. He contracted largely for supplies to the Northwestern army, under General Harrison. His health failing, he traveled extensively over
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this country and abroad. He was greatly improved by his travels, in mind as well as body. He finally on returning, made Columbus his place of residence, and took charge of the large and valuable estate of Mr. Lucas Sullivant. The central part of the city of Columbus was laid out on land in part owned by Mr. Starling, and he was thus one of its orig- inal proprietors. Shortly before his death he endowed a medical college in Columbus, which bears his name, and has become a most valuable institution. He died November 21st, 1848. He possessed a quick, clear, perception, and retentive memory, a sound unerring judgment, and was extensively known and appreciated by some of the first men of the country.
CLARK, MILTON LEE, lawyer, Chillicothe, Ohio, was born at Clarksburgh, Ross county, Ohio, April 21st, 1817. He is the third son of Colonel William Clark, who was the original proprietor of, and laid out the town of Clarksburgh in 1816, and the subject of this sketch was the first child born there. In the war of 1812, Colonel Clark commanded the 2d regiment, 16th division, Ohio militia, which was called into active service July 28th, 1813, and in that capacity served with distinction during the time his regiment was in the ser- vice, and when it was mustered out he returned to his home in Clarksburgh, and there resided until his death on the Ioth August, 1824. . Having entered the service with the zeal and ardor that characterized him, Colonel Clark equipped his regiment almost entirely at his own expense, for which he was never reimbursed by the government, and this heavy loss, with others, caused by his absence in the service and otherwise, left the family of this brave and patriotic man in straitened circumstances, and the subject of this sketch, while yet a child, was thus deprived of those advantages of early training and educational privileges, which, had his father lived, would doubtless have been liberally bestowed upon him. At his father's death he was well advanced in the common school education of the time, and one of the regrets of his father was that he could not live to give him a thorough education, and remarking at the time that he was the only child he had who would make a great scholar if he had a chance. After that time his opportunities for obtaining an education were limited, for, as soon as he was large enough, he had to work on a farm to aid in maintaining the family, at which work he continued, availing himself of the few opportunities he had to go to school, until January, 1833, when being then in his sixteenth year, he went to Chillicothe, and entered the store of his brother Edward B. Clark, as general clerk, where he remained a few months, and then returned with his brother, who removed his store to their native village, Clarksburgh. He remained here engaged as general clerk in the store, until December 1835, when his brother, having formed a partnership with one Williams, established a branch store in Williamsport, and Williams being inexperienced in the business, young Clark was sent to take charge of it. Here he remained until early in 1837, when he returned to Clarksburgh and taught a quarter's school, and in the fall, returning to Williamsport, went into the dry goods store of Ratcliff and Shaughnessey, where he remained until June, 1838; then he went to Chillicothe, and entered the dry goods establishment of John C. Scott, who had caused him to be written to, though in another county, offering him a situation. He remained with Mr. Scott until he sold out to Douglas and Anderson, and with 32-B
them until May, 1839, when, provided with excellent recom- mendations, he went to Louisville, Kentucky. Up to this time Mr. Clark had given general satisfaction to his various employers, and had made a reputation as an excellent sales- man and trustworthy clerk. Arriving at Louisville he was taken sick among strangers, and was confined to his bed for six weeks. On the second day after getting up, seeing an advertisment for a clerk, he called on Mr. John Watson, and, presenting his letters, solicited the situation. In a few min- utes the reply came : "I have had several applications, but I like your looks better than any of them," and he was imme- diately engaged as bookkeeper in Mr. Watson's wholesale establishment at a salary of $500 per year. Here one of those incidents that strew the pathway of life with flowers occurred. Mr. Watson, looking at Mr. Clark, said "You have been sick, don't you need some money?" and being answered in the affirmative, commenced and continued counting down $5 bills, until told to stop. But a few min- utes before he had never seen or heard of Mr. Clark. Here in a short time the principal management of this large busi- ness was committed to him, with powers of attorney to sign the proprietor's name to checks and drafts, and otherwise to take charge of the bank accounts, and a general supervision over the other employés; Mr. Watson devoting his time and attention principally to his manufacturing operations. A position of such responsibility, acquired by so young a man and through his own unaided exertions, is evidence of a marked energy of character, and shows that Mr. Clark had thus early in life resolved not to be one of the failures of society. At the end of the first year Mr. Watson presented him with a fine suit of clothes, a copy of Dr. Adam Clark's commentaries on the Bible, and increased his salary to $650. He continued here two years longer. During this period in Louisville he improved every opportunity for mental culture, and being an eager student his spare time was spent with his . books, and, having wealthy and influential relatives in and around the city, he also enjoyed the benefit of its best soci- ety. From his earliest recollection his highest ambition had been to become an able and distinguished lawyer. Many of his kinsmen were honorable members of that profession, among whom was his uncle, James B. Clark, of Alabama, a very distinguished lawyer, and at three different times chan- cellor of the middle district of that State. During his third year in Louisville he was offered through his employer, Mr. Watson, the situation of bookkeeper in the house of W. C. Fellows & Co., the largest wholesale dry goods establishment in that city, at a salary of $1,000 a year-a very large salary for those times-and was advised by him to accept it, as it was more than his business would justify paying, and the im- mense business of that house throughout the South and South- west, would prove of great advantage to a young man. Mr. Clark declined the offer, preferring to remain with Mr. Wat- son if he continued clerking, but he had really resolved to carry out the long cherished object of his life, and at the end of his year returned to his home in Ohio, and on August 9th, 1842, began the study of the law with Colonel Jonathan F. Woodside, formerly a member of the Ohio legislature and subsequently chargé d'affaires to Denmark. . He pursued his studies unremittingly, and, November 23d, 1844, was ad- mitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of law at Chillicothe, and with characteristic energy strove to reach the front rank of his profession, omitting no labors to accom- plish that end. He took an active part in the Presidential
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campaign of 1844, full of admiration for Henry Clay, and made quite a reputation as a political speaker. He was com- plimented by the editor of the Scioto Gazette with the remark that he need only follow the teachings of his own experience to become one of the ablest speakers in the party's behalf. In 1845 he was elected by the whigs prosecuting attorney of Ross county, and reelected in 1847 - serving two full terms. The bar of the district at this time contained some of the ablest lawyers of the State, yet with such care, skill and in- dustry did he discharge his duties that he seldom lost a ver- dict, and had but one indictment quashed during the four years. In 1849, having declined a reelection as prosecuting attorney, he was elected to the State legislature by a majority of over a thousand votes, and was there appointed chairman of the committee on claims. The legislature of this term was composed of many lawyers of distinction, among whom may be named Chief Justice Waite, the late George E. Pugh, A. N. Riddle, Judge William Lawrence, and several others, who at the bar and in politics have won high positions. Since leaving the legislature in 1850, Mr. Clark has devoted him- self almost exclusively to the practice of his profession, hav- ing a large practice in Ross and adjoining counties. He has been engaged in many important criminal cases, sometimes assisting the prosecution and at others defending. He prose- cuted Leach, who was convicted of murder in Vinton county, Judge Peck presiding, and was highly complimented by the judge upon his powerful summing up. He prosecuted Roads, in the same county, who was convicted of murder in the second degree. He was opposed in this case by John Welch, afterward supreme judge, Bundy & Hoffman, and William T. McClintick. It excited great interest at the time, and Mr. Clark's closing speech was spoken of by the press and peo- ple as the greatest effort of his life. He aided the prosecu- tion in the Blackburn trial at Chillicothe, being opposed by Mr. Pugh, Judge Sloan, and others. The trial lasted twenty- two days, and created wide-spread interest. His defense of Parks for the murder of Shockey; of Ryan for the murder of Dougherty, in Jackson county; of Larsh for the murder of Rittenhouse ; of young Binckley and young Francis, each charged with murder, and others in Ross county, were all complete victories. Of the great number Mr. Clark has de- fended, charged with penitentiary offenses,-as many as six, in one instance, at a single term of court - it is a signifi- cant fact that not one was sentenced to the penitentiary. Of late years, he has to some extent withdrawn from the crim- inal, and devoted himself more particularly to his large civil practice. There is perhaps no man of his age in his section of the State who has tried more cases, or done more hard work in his profession than Mr. Clark. In addition to his circuit practice he has been engaged in many important cases in the supreme court and has in a large measure aided in the settlement of many disputed questions of law in the State. In the case of Famulener vs. Anderson, 15 Ohio State Re- ports, which he argued orally, Judge Thurman opposing counsel, the chief justice characterized his argument as one of "unusual force and ability." The cases of McArthur vs. Franklin, 15 Ohio State Reports; Phipps vs. Hope's Admin- istrator, 16 Ohio State Reports, and others have become the ruling authorities upon the principles there decided. In the great case of Taylor et al. vs. The Commissioners of Ross County, 23 Ohio State Reports, involving the consti- tutionality of the act of April 23d, 1872, known as the " Boesel law," and millions of dollars voted in various counties of the
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