USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 71
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State, to aid in the construction of railroads, Mr. Clark's oral argument in closing, on behalf of the defendants, was perhaps the ablest effort of his life, and elicited from all who heard it the highest compliments. The case from the magnitude of the interests involved, attracted general attention, and a synopsis of the arguments was published in many of the papers throughout the State. Mr. Clark as a lawyer, is a hard worker, thoroughly read in his profession, and with a memory so tenacious that he can upon the instant refer to almost any authority he desires to use. He is a fluent speaker, often rising to a high degree of eloquence, with a quick wit and often playful humor, and ready at repartee, but at times severe in his sarcasm and invective, while always a close and logical reasoner. He thoroughly identifies him- self with his clients' interests, is most painstaking in the preparation of his cases for trial and spares no labor or exer- tion to insure success. A man of strict integrity, high char- acter, and of acknowledged ability, and standing in the front rank of the profession in his section of the State, he is recog- nized as a formidable opponent in a law suit. In the spring of 1873, Mr. Clark was elected in Ross county, delegate to the Constitutional convention, defeating both the democratic nominee and an independent republican candidate, notwith- standing the county had the fall before gone democratic by 261 majority, and in the fall following gave Governor Allen 647 majority, thus demonstrating his popularity and the high estimation in which he is held at home. He was chairman of the committee on public debt and public works, took an active part in the debates of this body of able men, and was always listened to with attention. His speech, while the con- vention was in session at Columbus, upon the report of the committee on the public institutions, attracted great attention at the time, was published in the State Journal-the first speech of the body published by that paper-and highly, commended. It called forth many compliments from his brother-members, and others, and illustrated in a marked manner his fine legal abilities and statesmanship. His
speeches are scattered throughout the volumes of the debates, are always able, terse and pointed, especially his opening speech, as chairman of his committee, which is a very able one, showing much research and a thorough comprehension of the important subjects discussed. Notwithstanding his devotion to his profession, Mr. Clark has not been unmind- ful of his public duties as a citizen, and in almost all the im- portant political campaigns he has taken an active part as a speaker and otherwise. Upon the disruption of the whig party, he became an ardent republican, and has acted with that party ever since its organization. In 1860 he was a del- egate to the Chicago convention, and struck out boldly for Mr. Lincoln, and notwithstanding days of discussion by the Ohio delegation, refused to vote for any one else. Some others finally uniting with him, caused a break in the dele- gation, and prevented its vote being cast solid against Mr. Lincoln, thereby contributing to his nomination. During the war that followed, Mr. Clark was deeply interested in behalf of the Union and the Constitution, and lost no opportunity by word or means to aid in putting down the rebellion. In 1870 he was a candidate before the republican convention for supreme judge. The press of the State spoke of his ability and fitness for the position in the highest and most flattering terms. He received the highest vote any one from his sec- tion of the State had received since Judge Peck's time, but failed of a nomination. In the fall of 1878 he was a promi-
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nent candidate in his district for the Congressional nomina- tion, his only competitor being Mr. Neal, the present incum- bent then serving his first term. The convention was nearly equally divided in its choice between them, when Mr. Clark to preserve harmony in his party, and in deference to the desire of that portion of the new district which had been a part of Mr. Neal's former district, to compliment him with a second term, mounted the stand and in a stirring speech withdrew from the contest, and permitted Mr. Neal to be nominated by acclamation. On October 11th, 1849, two days after Mr. Clark's election to the legislature, he was united in marriage to Jane Isabel, eldest daughter of Colonel Jonathan F. Woodside, with whom he had studied law. There were nine children from this union, seven of whom are living. The eldest daughter, Eleanor Woodside, is the wife of Mr. John A. Somers, residing at Chillicothe, and the others are unmarried. The union has proved a happy one.
STALLO, HON. JOHN BERNHARD, ex-Judge of Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, and a prominent practitioner of the bar of Ohio, was born in Lierhausen, in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, March 16th, 1823. He was care- fully educated, in his father's house, in the ancient languages and in mathematics, and afterward attended school at Vechta. In 1839, he emigrated to the United States, arriving in Cincinnati in the autumn of that year, when he soon found employment, first as a teacher of German, and afterward as a teacher of Latin and Greek, in St. Xavier's College, in that city, then recently established. During the three years of his connection with this institution, he devoted all his spare time to the study of the higher mathematics, physics, and chem- istry, and in 1844 was appointed professor of these sciences in St. John's College, New York. In 1848 he published "General Principles of Philosophy of Nature." He then re- turned to Cincinnati, having commenced the study of law in 1847, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. In 1853 he was appointed, by Reuben Wood, Governor of Ohio, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas and District Courts, in Hamil- ton County ; and the following year he was elected to the same office by the people. In 1855 he resigned the position, and subsequently devoted himself to the practice of the law in Cincinnati. He was one of the attorneys of the School Board of Cincinnati when it was sought to enjoin them from carrying into effect a rule which they had adopted prohibit- ing the reading of the Bible in the public schools. In politics Judge Stallo originally acted with the Democrats, but upon the organization of the Republican party, united himself with that political body. In 1856 he earnestly advocated the elec- tion of General Fremont as President, and was one of the Presidential Electors in Ohio. In 1872 he took part in the liberal movement which culminated in the Cincinnati Con- vention, but upon the nomination of Horace Greeley he be- came dissatisfied, and withdrew, refusing to support either the Republican nominee or the liberal Democratic. In 1876 he advocated the election of Samuel J. Tilden to the Presi- dency. He is an earnest advocate of the reduction of the tariff to a revenue basis, and the simplification of the ma- chinery of government. Judge Stallo has been a frequent contributor to the scientific journals, both English and Ger- man, his contributions relating principally to questions of physical science, and has recently published a volume, "The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics," published by D. Appleton & Co. in the International Scientific Series.
LAWRENCE, WILLIAM, LL.D., of Bellefontaine, Ohio, statesman, jurist, author, and lawyer, was born at Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio, June 26, 1819; graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, September, 1838, with honors of his class; graduated at the Cincinnati Law School, March, 1840; was reporter for the Ohio State Journal, in the Ohio House of Representatives, session of 1840-41. In July, 1841, he commenced the practice of law in Bellefontaine, which he has vigorously and successfully continued ever since. In 1842, he was appointed, by the United States District Court, Commissioner of Bankrupts for Logan County ; was Prose- cuting Attorney of Logan County in 1846. He was a mem- ber of the Ohio House of Representatives, sessions of 1846-47 and 1847-48 ; was a member of the Ohio Senate, sessions of 1849-50, 1850-51, and 1854. While in the Legislature, he took an active part against legislative divorces, soon after prohibited by the Constitution of 1851. He made a report in favor of a reform school for juvenile offenders, and another in favor of school district libraries, both measures since adopted. He made a report in favor of a measure to quiet land titles, subsequently adopted, and known as "Law- rence's Law," which has done much to give security to the real estate interests in Ohio. He was author of the Ohio Free Banking Law, of 1851, essential principles of which are found in the National Banking Law. As reporter for the Su- preme Court, he reported the 20th volume of the Ohio Re- ports, of which a leading paper in Ohio said : " For the first time in the Ohio Reports an attempt has been made in this volume to reduce the arrangement of the decisions to some- thing like a system. A division is made as follows: I. Criminal cases. 2. Civil cases at law. 3. Chancery cases. Interspersed through the work are the notes of the reporter, referring to previous cases in the Ohio Reports upon the same points, as well as to the reports of other States, a serv- ice which can not fail to recommend itself favorably to the consideration of all the members of the legal profession. Much as the name of Charles Hammond is revered in cer- tain localities, we can not but wish that some one possessing the systematic ability of Mr. Lawrence had commenced the arrangement of the Ohio Reports." In 1852, he was one of the Whig candidates for presidential elector in Ohio. He was twice elected and served as Judge of the Common Pleas and District Courts in the third Ohio district, comprising twenty counties, from February, 1857, to September, 1869, when he resigned, and, in October of that year, was elected a Representative in Congress, and, under that and subse- quent elections, served as such for ten years, from March 4, 1865, to March 4, 1877, excluding one term, from March, 1871, to March, 1873. In 1862, during the Rebellion, he was Colonel of the Eighty-fourth Ohio (three months) Regiment, serving at Cumberland and New Creek. In 1863, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, District Judge of Florida, but declined to accept. As a lawyer he has had a large practice, including some of the most important cases, and some of, perhaps, the largest land cases, ever heard in the Supreme Court of the United States-those involving the title to the Lincoln, Nebraska, "Salt Springs," the " Cherokee Neutral Land" case, involving the title to nearly all of Cherokee County, Kansas, and the " Osage Land" case, in- volving the title to much of the land in La Bette and other counties, which, besides others, he argued orally and with printed arguments ; among the most elaborate ever presented in that court. A judge of that court said, " His arguments go
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to the bottom and leave nothing unsaid." A cotemporary, by no means disposed to over-estimate him, has said: "As a lawyer, he has acquired a reputation for technicality in pleadings and practice. But it is the technicality of learn ing, and is always employed honorably. He never resorts to an unfair advantage, even in the most desperate- cause. His intercourse with his brethren of the profession is charac- terized by the utmost candor, integrity, and frankness. He is endowed with great powers of analysis, and quickness of perception, which enable him instantly to discover the strong and weak points of a cause, and with an astonishing subtilty of logic, by which he rarely fails to fortify or expose them as the case may require. The dexterity with which he conducts a cause, and the merciless minuteness with which he sifts the conscience and the memory of a witness, leaves little room for more than a discussion of the legal principles addressed to the court. The clear statement of his propositions, the perspicuity of his diction, and the marked dignity and ear- nestness of his manner, rarely fail to carry conviction." The same writer, in referring to the eloquence of Judge Law- rence, said: "He throws a polished shaft with unerring precision and irresistible effect, and on proper occasions he rises to the emergency and deals herculean blows." In that greatest historic election contest for the Presidency, before the "Electoral Commission," under the act of Congress of January 29, 1877, he was selected to argue two of the four contested States, Oregon and South Carolina, and the record shows with what learning and ability he conducted the con- test. As a judge he has given the profession, in the Western Law Monthly, of which he was one of the editors, and in other law journals, reported decisions, sufficient to make a large volume, including cases cited with approval by such authors as Bishop, Wharton, and Stille, and others. He is author of valuable works: "The Law of Claims against Governments;" "The Law of Religious Societies," being published in the American Law Register ; "The Law of Impeachable Crimes," a brief treatise presented by Gen. B. F. Butler on the impeachment trial of President Johnson, and for which he said he was indebted "to the exhaustive and learned labors" of the author. He is also author of many articles in law periodicals, and has in preparation a work on "The Law of Interest and Usury." Hon. E. B. Washburne, late Minister to France, in writing of "The Law of Claims," said : "It is wonderfully able and exhaustive. It has gone to the very bottom of the whole business. It is one of the most valuable contributions of the times to national and international law." Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, procured copies and sent them to foreign govern- ments, and the Japanese Embassy procured it for use in Japan. He is also author of the introduction and concluding chapter to a book on Romanism, by J. B. Helwig, D. D., published in 1876. His reports and speeches in the Ohio Leg- islature and in Congress would make volumes, many of them on questions of constitutional law, and on all the great ques- tions in Congress during the period of twelve years following the rebellion. His report in Congress, February, 1869, on the " New York election frauds," led to important legislation in that State and in Congress to preserve the purity of elec- tions. He first urged in Congress the law establishing the " Department of Justice," and is author of most of its provis- ions, converting the "office " of Attorney-general into a "de- partment." He is author of the law giving to each soldier as a homestead, one hundred and sixty acres of the "alter
nate reserved sections" in the railroad land grants, under which so many homes have been secured to these deserving citizens. He was the first in Congress to urge, in the inter- est of securing the public lands to actual settlers, that Indian treaty sales of these lands should be prohibited, as they were by act of March 3, 1871, thus breaking up one of the most gigantic agencies in squandering the public lands and creat- ing monopolies. On the 7th of July, 1876, he carried a bill through the House of Representatives, by a vote of one hun- dred and fifty-nine to nine, requiring the Pacific railroad companies to indemnify the government against liability and loss on account of the government loan of credit to the com- panies, as estimated at $150,000,000. The railroad com- . panies resisted this, employing Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, of New York, and others, as counsel, whose elaborate arguments before the judiciary com- mittee were met by a voluminous report and speeches of Judge Lawrence, which answered every opposing argument and vanquished all opposition. Probably no bill ever before Congress, or at least but few, encountered so much opposi- tion from the array of counsel employed against it and the efforts of those adversely interested. In the annual report of the Secretary of the Interior, for 1877, Hon. Carl Schurz, a thorough reformer, refers to this bill as the "Lawrence Bill," discusses the whole subject ably, and indorses its pur- pose fully. Judge Lawrence took a leading and active part in Congress on all important questions and was the earnest advocate of those great measures to secure equality of civil and political rights. He secured an appropriation of twenty- five thousand dollars from the Freedmen's Bureau fund for "Wilberforce University," in Ohio, in aid of the education of colored citizens. On the 15th of July, 1880, he accepted an appointment which he did not seek, but had once declined, as First Comptroller in the United States Treasury Depart- ment, an office which Alexander Hamilton declared "the second trust in the department." He was the first of the comptrollers to print his decisions. The first and second volumes were printed by the Treasury Department, and re- printed by order of Congress. The joint resolution of Con- gress, of August 3d, 1882, provides for printing annually one volume of the decisions of the First Comptroller. The fourth volume, for 1883, is now being printed. These volumes con- tain much information not obtainable from any other source. In every political contest, commencing with 1840, before he had reached his majority, and up to this time, he has taken an active and prominent part. His published speeches would make a volume. Some of them have been published as campaign documents by the National and Ohio Republi- can Committee. "Franklin College" conferred on him, many years ago, the degree of A. M., and, on the 25th of June, 1873, the degree of LL.D., which has also been since conferred on him by "Wittenberg College." He was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Episco-' pal Church in 1872, and again in 1876. The Lawrence fam-' ily, from which he is descended, is of ancient and English origin, in which country it numbered many men of distinc- tion. The subject of this sketch spent a few years of his boyhood at work on his father's farm, which contributed to his great energy and vigor of body and mind. He taught a . village school for six months in Morgan County, Ohio, when : a law student. His course has been guided by principle and- a sense of duty. In 1854, a committee of the Know-Nothing' order tendered him a nomination for Congress, with certainty.
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of success, but he declined it because he could not indorse their opposition to adopted citizens. He was married De- cember 20, 1843, at McConnellsville, Ohio, to Cornelia, daughter of Hon. William Hawkins, an excellent lady, of rare intelligence, who had been associated with him in teach- ing school at that place in 1839. She died February 29, 1844. His second marriage took place March 20, 1845, to Caroline M., daughter of Mr. Henry Miller, an educated lady, whose many virtues have through long years blessed his home. They have three sons, Joseph H., William H., and John M. Lawrence; and three daughters, Cornelia L., Frances C., and Mary Temperance Lawrence.
WILSON, JOHN H., of South Salem, Ross County, came of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, James H. Wilson, was born in the North of Ireland, and in the year 1748 emi- grated to America with his parents, while he was quite small. They settled first in Pennsylvania, twelve miles south of Pittsburg, and afterward removed to the line between Penn- sylvania and Virginia. In 1775 he married Miss Sarah Hue, the daughter of a renowned Presbyterian Covenanting cler- gyman, from the county of Donegal, Ireland, whose parents came to America while she was yet a small child, settling near Pittsburg. She was born in 1753, and died in 1830. To them were born two sons and eight daughters. In 1797 they settled near Flemingsburg, Kentucky, and in the fall of 1800 moved to the Territory of Ohio, settling in Ross County, one mile and a half south-west of the town of South Salem. He and his family were members of the Presbyterian Church, and he was chosen an elder at the first organization of that Church in South Salem, holding the office until age necessitated his retirement, when his son Robert was chosen to fill the vacancy, which he continued to do for over forty years. James H. Wilson had in the ministry of the Gospel two grandsons, two great-grandsons, one missionary, and one missionary's wife. His son, John H. Wilson, the subject of this sketch, was born May 23d, 1779; was married to Miss Mary Finch, September 26th, 1806; and died September 26th, 1865. Mary Finch was born November Ist, 1788, and died February 3d, 1831, in her forty-third year. To these were given quite a number of children, and those who lived be- came honorable members of society and well-to-do citizens of the country. Three of the sons were doctors-two of them successful dental surgeons, and one a regular practitioner of medicine, who constantly followed his profession in one field for nearly half a century. John H. Wilson was clerk of the South Salem Presbyterian Church for between forty and fifty years. Standing alone in front of the pulpit (as was the old time custom, lining out the hymn by couplets), he led the worship of song with his wonderfully sweet, clear, smooth voice. He was in the war of 1812, and was a brave and fearless soldier ; a calm and thoughtful commander, and a worthy officer. After the war he was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he held in connection with his farming duties for many years, both of which were executed with entire satisfaction, and many were the love-knots he tied sure and strong, and which his family were hastily sum- moned to witness. He was an earnest Christian, a liberal giver, a wise counselor, a loving and tender father, and a sympathetic friend. He was kind to the poor, attentive to the sick, a helper in distress, having often secreted and aided fugitive slaves to escape. He had always a pleasant word and a friendly greeting to all. At his home he was hos-
pitality itself, and everywhere he was truly polite, affable, gentlemanly, and social. His memory has woven itself for ever around his friends and associates with pleasant and hal- lowed associations which they can not and will not wish to forget.
DAVIS, SIMON STEVENS, banker, Cincinnati, was born December 19th, 1817, at Rockingham, Vermont. He is a son of Hiram and Melinda (Stevens) Davis. His ma- ternal grandfather was Judge Simon Stevens, of Washington County, New York. His own father was a great student, and physician by profession, but his health compelled his retire- ment upon a farm, where he spent the most of his days. Like most of the boys of that day, the son was trained to hard work upon the farm, with few opportunities for book education, except the few months he spent each year as a pupil, and afterward as teacher in the common schools. He left the farm in 1840, and spent one year at Howell Works, New Jersey, as teacher in an academy, and in the meantime pursued the study of Latin, French, and higher mathematics. He would have continued in this work longer, but the ill- health of his father recalled him to the farm in 1841, where he remained till 1843. He then came to Cincinnati, and re- mained in that city, St. Louis, and New Orleans, engaged in a general trading business, for the succeeding four years. In 1847 he returned to New York City and Brooklyn, where he was engaged in mercantile business until August, 1853, when he returned to Cincinnati, and established the banking house of S. S. Davis & Co., which he has continued to the present time, with uniform success. His experience of thirty years in the banking business renders him one of Cincinnati's ablest and shrewdest financiers. In 1863, in company with a younger brother, Mr. Davis established the first National Bank in Memphis, Tennessee, in which, until recently, they held a controlling interest. It was the largest and most suc- cessful bank in that city. Mr. Davis disposed of his last ten thousand dollars of stock in that bank in 1882, and is now entirely engaged with the interests of his banking house in Cincinnati. During the war of the Rebellion Mr. Davis was very active and philanthropic in his support of the Union arms, and by the inauguration of a committee system for the care and support of soldiers' families did much for the en- couragement of enlistments and the alleviation of suffering among a class which appealed strongly to the sympathies of a humane and patriotic public. Indeed, he has always been among the first in time and purse to relieve the distress of the poor and the suffering of the unfortunate, whether of a private or a public character. He is a man of sympathetic and benevolent impulses, and never waits for appeals from others for assistance, where the public good or the relief of the needy is demanded. From 1859 to 1861 he was a val- uable member of the City Council; and in 1871 was elected, by the Republicans, as Mayor of Cincinnati, and served his term in that, the highest office in the gift of the city, with great credit to himself. Besides attending to his banking and several other interests, he devotes considerable time in connection with the several public institutions with which he holds official relations. Among others, he has been for twenty-four years a trustee of the Protestant Home for the Friendless and Female Guardian Society, of the public High Schools, and also the Cincinnati Relief Union. Mr. Davis was married February 12th, 1850, to Miss Elizabeth Sayer, of Goshen, New York.
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