USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The founder of the city of Cleveland, and other sketches > Part 7
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kind of law he desired to practise, though well qualified physically to excel in it. He had nothing upon which to depend for gaining a livelihood but his hands and his wits. He did not seek office, but offices fell upon him like a shower of snowflakes. Soon after his arrival at Youngstown a post-office was established there, and he received the appointment of post- master. The emoluments of the office consisted mainly in the honor it conferred. In August, 1800, he was appointed clerk of the territorial court of common pleas and general quarter ses- sions for the newly organized county of Trum- bull. The county seat was at Warren, where the court held its first session between two corn- cribs for the want of better accommodations. The court in its novel surroundings assumed an air of dignity that partook largely of the comical. Pease was born a wit and a humorist, and highly appreciated the situation. He was regarded as a modest young lawyer of unusual promise. He disliked a mere clerkship, and in the following October was admitted to the " western bar by the general court of the terri- tory north-west of the Ohio River. Not long after this he removed from Youngstown to Warren. In 1803 the State of Ohio was ad-
· mitted into the Union. The legislature, in organizing the State government, divided the
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State into three judicial circuits and elected Pease, though but twenty-six years of age, to the office of president-judge for the third cir- cuit, in which the county of Trumbull was included. He held the office for nearly seven years and acquitted himself to the entire satis- faction of the public, except in one instance, when a constitutional question arose under the act of 1805, relative to the jurisdiction of jus- tices of the peace. Judge Pease held that cer- tain provisions of the act were unconstitutional, and therefore null and void. The decision created an excitement which took a political turn, especially among members of the legis- lature who had passed the act, and who pro- fessed to think that the judge had not only exceeded his judicial power, but had unjustly cast a damaging reflection on the wisdom of the legislature. The case was taken to the supreme court, where the decision of Judge Pease was affirmed. This unexpected result so vexed the agitators that they proceeded at once to procure the impeachment of both Judge Pease and the judges of the supreme court, but on hearing before the senate signally failed of success. The consequence was that the decis- ion made by Judge Pease became standard authority, while his popularity as a judge was largely increased. But he was so disgusted
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with this attempt at impeachment that he re- signed the judgeship and resumed the practice of law at Warren, where he resided.
He was a favorite with the people of his county, who, in 1812, elected him to the State senate. As a statesman he took a prominent stand and acquitted himself with eminent abil- ity. In 1815 the legislature elected him a judge of the supreme court for the term of seven years, and at the expiration of his term re-elected him to the same office. He discharged the duties of supreme judge for fourteen years, and for the last seven years of his service was the chief- justice of the State. At the expiration of his second term he retired to private life. In 1831 he was again elected to the legislature. This was the last public office he consented to accept.
Judge Pease wa's a remarkable man in many respects, and happily adapted to the times in which he lived. He began life with a deter- mination to achieve success. Nature had en-
dowed him with enviable gifts. He excelled as a wit and a humorist, and for this reason was regarded as the sparkling centre of the social circle. He was a man of imposing pres- ence and graceful manners, and always seemed to move in an atmosphere of sunshine. Ilis purity of character and integrity as a judge were never assailed or questioned. He was
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quick in his perceptions, and could readily grasp the most perplexing questions, and as readily apply the great principles of law and equity in the solution of them. He would never allow a just cause to be sacrificed on the altar of legal technicalities. His mind, like that of Lord Mansfield, was too comprehensive and too deeply imbued with a sense of right and love of justice to administer the law upon obsolete rules of special pleadings, especially when their rigid application would make the court an instrument of wrong and injustice. He was an admirer of the English classics, and read them with a keen relish, especially Swift and Stearne, and could repeat many of the old English ballads. He often sang snatches of them to beguile the long and tedious journeys which he and his associates on the bench were compelled to make through native forests and muddy roads in order to meet appointments in holding court in the several counties of the State. They all rode on horseback, and often forded swollen rivers at the hazard of their lives, and when belated, as they sometimes were, in reaching their point of destination, were obliged to encamp for the night in the dense woodlands. They wore green baize leg- gins wrapped around their legs from their heels to their knees to protect their boots and panta-
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loons from an unseemly accumulation of mud, and carried in saddlebags changes of linen and other supplies, and also carried in their heads the only law library to which they had access. New questions of law incident to a new country were constantly arising, for the decision of which no precedent existed. The judges were therefore compelled to base their decisions more or less on their own intuitive sense of justice - and equity. It was in this way that they con- structed a system of western common law which is regarded as standard authority. Most of the decisions rendered by Chief Justice Pease, so far as now known, are contained in the first four volumes of "Hammond's Reports." These were the earliest law reports published by the State. The judicial career of Judge Pease ter- minated in 1830. He devoted the remaining part of his life to professional business and the management of his private affairs. He died September 17, 1839, at his residence in Warren. Whether viewed in the light of a judge and statesman, or in reference to his career as a law- yer and citizen, it must be conceded that he was a man of mark, and in all respeets worthy of the enviable honors with which his life was crowned.
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JUDGE HITCHCOCK.
Peter Hitchcock was born October 19, 1781, at Cheshire, Conn. After receiving a common school education he taught a district school in winter and labored on a farm in summer, and in this way obtained sufficient means to give himself a liberal education. He grad- uated at Yale College in 1801, adopted the legal profession, and opened an office in his native town. In 1806 he married and removed to the Western Reserve, and settled on a new farm at Burton. He adapted himself to cir- cumstances, and devoted his time to the im- provement of his farm in connection with the practice of law, and for the want of a more pro- ductive employment engaged in teaching school in the winter months. In the course of a few years the population of the county so advanced as to afford him a much broader field as a law- yer. He soon acquired an extensive practice, and became known as an able and an honest lawyer. His style of oratory was not a's rhetor- ical as it was colloquial and logical. Every- body could understand him, and everybody believed in him. In arguing a cause, whether to a jury, a justice of the peace, or before the judges of the higher courts, he was always lis- tened to with profound attention. He never
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engaged in the management of a cause without having made a thorough and exhaustive prepa- ration. In 1810 he represented Geauga County in the lower branch of the legislature. In 1812 he was elected to the State senate, and in 1814 re-elected to the same position and chosen speaker. In 1816 he was elected to Congress and took his seat in December, 1817. In 1819 the legislature of the State elected him a judge of the supreme court for the constitutional term of seven years, and in 1826 re-elected him to the same office. At the close of his second term a change in politics relegated him to pri- vate life. Yet, like Banquo's ghost, he could neither be put down nor kept down. The people in 1833 returned him to the State sen- ate, when he was again elected speaker. In 1835 he was restored to the supreme bench. For many years he occupied the position of chief justice At the close of his term adverse politieal influences relieved him from judicial service But in 1845 he was again restored to the supreme bench, and in 1850, near the close of his judicial term, he consented to obey the popular voice, and accepted a seat in the con- vention called to revise the constitution of the State. In this capacity he rendered valuable service, and still continued to discharge his duties on the bench. When his teri as judge
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expired in 1852 he had reached the ripe age of threescore years and ten, and from choice, like Cincinnatus, returned to the plough, after a public service of over forty years. He died March 4, 1854.
Judge Hitchcock was beloved as a citizen, and was a truly great man as a statesman and a judge, without being conscious of it. He never indulged in vain aspirations. In his physical make-up he was a man of symmetrical proportions, erect and broad-chested, with a large head filled with solid sense. He had a sedate and Puritanic expression of face that - gave him the air of a clergyman. In legal lore he was profound, plodding in research, and acute in discrimination. He sifted the wheat from the chaff in a law case with intuitive facility, and rarely erred in judgment. He was a man of few words, but when he did speak he always spoke to the point. He was revered by the bar, and was generally regarded as one of the ablest jurists of his times. His judicial decisions are not only esteemed as authority, but as models of sound logic. They will ever remain a proud monument to his name and memory.
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JUDGE TOD.
George Tod was born at Suffield, Conn., December 11, 1773. He graduated at Yale College in 1795. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar and practised law for a few years at New Haven, in his native State. He married in 1797, took the prevalent western fever of that day, and in 1800 removed - to Youngstown, O., a central point at that time in the Western Reserve. Soon after his arrival, Governor St. Clair of the north-western territory happened to make his acquaintance, and was so much pleased with him as a young gentle- man of polished manners and fine literary ac- quirements, that he at once appointed him his private secretary. This brought young Tod into publie notice, and gave him a high posi- tion in the social cirele. He remained at Youngstown until 1816, when he purchased a farm in the vicinity known as Briar Hill, where he permanently settled for life. At the first term of the court of common pleas and general quarter sessions of Trumbull County, hekl August 25, 1800, at Warren, young Tod was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county. His first official business at this term was to prepare indictments against Joseph McMahon and Richard Storer for the murder of two Indi-
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ans at Salt Springs, near Warren. McMahon was arrested, put upon his trial, and acquitted on the ground of acting in self-defence. Storer . managed to escape. Tod, in discharging his duties as prosecuting attorney in the trial of McMahon, displayed a degree of legal ability and a brillianey of oratory that surprised court and jury, and at once gave him prominence as a lawyer. In 1804 the county of Trumbull elected him a senator to the State legislature. In 1806 he was appointed a judge of the su- preme court. At a session of the legislature in 1808-09 an attempt was made to impeach him for affirming the decision made by Judge Pease relative to the constitutionality of cer- tain provisions of the Act of 1805, defining the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, but on trial before the senate Judge Tod was honorably acquitted. Yet the political excitement con- nected with this attempt at impeachment in- duced the legislature at its next session, in 1810, to legislate the judge, with several other judicial dignitaries, out of office. But the people of Trumbull County would not permit the judge to remain in private life, and in the fall of 1810 honored him with an election to the State senate. When the war of 1812 was declared, President Madison tendered 'him a commission as major in the regular army, which
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he accepted. He proved himself a brave and gallant officer, and did not leave the service until the war closed. In the mean time he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth regiment of United States Infantry. When peace was declared he re- signed his commission and returned to the practice of law. In the winter of 1815-16 the legislature appointed him president-judge of the third eireuit for seven years. At the expi- ration of his term he was reappointed for a second term. After a service of fourteen years as the presiding judge of the eireuit he again resumed his law practice. In 1836 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Trumbull County, an office in which he consented to serve for a second time. This was the first and last office which he held in the circle of his official career. He died at Briar Hill, April 11, 1841. He was the father of David Tod, late Governor of Ohio.
Judge Tod was a gentleman whom nature had endowed with rich and rare gifts. She gave him a graceful figure, an eloquent tongue, and the spirit of a true manhood. In his style of manners he was one of the most aceom- plished men of his times. He was always cheerful, cordial, and overflowing with pleas- antries. He ranked high at the bar as a bril-
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liant lawyer, in the legislature as a wise statesman, and on the bench as an able, upright, and discriminating judge. Among the people and in the society of his friends he was always a favorite.
" None knew him but to love him; Nor named him but to praise."
JUDGE WOOD.
Of the later times, or second series of emi- nent jurists, Reuben Wood was prominent. He was born in 1792, at Middletown, Vt. He received an elementary education at home. His father died when he was quite young, and left him to the care of his mother. When he reached fifteen years of age he felt a strong desire to obtain a classical education, and went to Canada to reside with an uncle, and while there studied the classics with a Catholic priest, and at the same time read law with Honorable Barnabas Bidwell. When war was declared in 1812, an attempt was made by the Canadian authorities to subject young Wood to military service against his own country. To this he would not submit, and, though placed under guard, succeeded at the hazard of his life in crossing Lake Ontario in a small boat and in landing at Saeket's Harbor, within the borders of the State of New
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York in safety. He then engaged in farm- work for the summer at the old homestead, with a desire to aid, as far as he could, his widowed mother in supporting herself and the younger children left to her care. In the fall he was received into the office of an eminent lawyer at Middletown, where he completed his legal studies. He married, and in 1818 emi- grated to Ohio and settled at Cleveland, where he engaged in the practice of law with encour- aging success. In 1825 he was elected a mem- ber of the State senate, and re-elected in 1827 and in 1829 to the same position. In 1830 he was elected president-judge of the third judicial circuit, and in 1833 was elected a judge of the supreme court by a unanimous vote of the gen- eral assembly. In 1841 he was re-elected to the supreme bench by a like vote. For the last three years while on the bench he was chief justice of the State. In 1850 he was elected governor of the State by a majority of eleven thousand. In 1851 he was re-elected governor under the new constitution by a majority of twenty-six thousand. In the political field he was known as the "Cuyahoga Chief." In 1852 Marietta College conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1853 he resigned the office of governor and accepted from the general government the appointment of consul
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to Valparaiso, South America, and for some time during his residence in that country dis- charged the duties, not only of consul, but of minister to Chili, to fill a temporary vacancy in the ministership, and was recognized as such minister by both governments. In 1854 he resigned his consulship, returned home, and devoted himself mainly to the cultivation and improvement of his beautiful farm in Rock- - port, known as "Evergreen Place." He died October 1, 1864.
Governor Wood was one of nature's noble- men, large-hearted and generous to a fault. Nature gave him a slim, tall figure, over six feet in height, and a head replete with brains and mother wit. He was quick in his percep- tions, and could seldom, if ever, be entrapped or duped. He was an excellent classical scholar, and could read Latin and Greek with about as much ease as English. He was a man of the people and honored by the people. As a law- yer he was not only prominent, but famous for his tact and shrewdness in defending criminals. In .statesmanship he exhibited an unusual degree of wisdom and forecast. On the bench he manifested a profound legal knowledge that commanded public confidence and secured the universal respeet of the bar, and especially of its younger members, to whom he would listen
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with deep interest when they were conducting a cause before him, and whenever he saw they felt embarrassed would aid them by timely suggestions. This encouraging condescension on his part was highly appreciated. His decis- ions while on the bench display a profound knowledge of law and crown his lifework as one of the ablest jurists of the State.
JUDGE ANDREWS.
Sherlock J. Andrews was born at Walling- ford, Conn., November 17, 1801. He was liberally educated, and graduated with honor at Union College in 1821. He was an aspir- ing, bright young man, who had set his mark high with a determination to reach it. He chose the legal profession, and perfected his studies at the law-school in New Haven. He employed a part of his time while there in the service of the renowned Benjamin Silliman, as assistant professor of chemistry. At the close of his course he was admitted to the bar, and removed in 1825 to Cleveland, where he com- menced the practice of law in connection with Samuel Cowles. Soon after this Mr. Cowles retired from professional life, and young An- drews formed a co-partnership with John A. Foot and James M. Hoyt; under the name of Andrews, Foot, & Hoyt, a law-firm which soon
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became celebrated and which maintained its celebrity for many years. Andrews was the gem of the firm, though the other members . were regarded as able men. In 1840 Andrews was elected a representative to Congress, but ill-health compelled him to decline a renomina- tion. In 1848 he was elected judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland -a court of ex- clusive commercial and civil jurisdiction. In 18449 he was chosen a member of the convention to revise the constitution of the State. In 1852 the Western Reserve College conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1873 he was chosen a member of the second conven- tion called to revise the constitution, and was solicited to accept the presidency of the con- vention, but declined to be a candidate. In aiding to frame the two constitutions, though the last was not adopted, he rendered invalu- able service. He continued in the practice of law until his death, which occurred at his home in Cleveland, February 11, 1880.
Judge Andrews was a man of pure principles and noble aspirations. He was endowed by na- ture with her choicest gifts - wit, humor, and vivacity of spirit. He delighted in the comic, even amid the serious, and could readily illus- frate any argument or sentiment of his own or of others, with an effective anecdote or witti-
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cism. He was a fine literary and scientific scholar, and carried in his head a complete digest of legal knowledge. He had a quick perception, and could read human character at a glance. His style of eloquence was persua- sive and somewhat impassioned. He could "point a moral," or make a "point " tipped with a flash of electric wit that would con- vulse both court and jury. In this way he often secured for his client a verdict when hardly expected. This was emphatically a magic power peculiar to himself. He was not only kind and courteous, but a gentleman in every sense of the word. At the bar he was a brilliant advocate, and on the bench a model judge.
JUDGE RANNEY.
Rufus P. Ranney was born at Blandford, Hampden County, Mass., October 30, 1813. He is of Scotch and French descent. His father removed with his family, in 1824, from Blandford to Freedom, Portage County, O., then a town in the wilderness with only here and there a log cabin. Rufus was but a young lad at that time. He worked with his father six years in clearing the new farm. The elementary education he had received was ob- tained in a common school. He now resolved
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to acquire for himself a liberal education. His parents approved his determination, but were unable to furnish him with the requisite pecu- niary means. But this did not discourage him. He felt that he could help himself. He began by chopping cord wood for a merchant at twenty- five cents a cord. With the avails he pur- chased the necessary text-books, and commenced the study of the Latin and Greek languages with Dr. Bassett of Nelson. After completing his preparatory course of studies, he entered Western Reserve College, and supported him- self by manual labor and teaching school. In 1834 he left college, studied law two years and a half with Giddings & Wade of Ashtabula County, was admitted to the bar, and com- menced practice at Warren, Trumbull County. In the winter of 1836 Mr. Giddings, having been elected to congress, withdrew from the firm of Giddings & Wade, whose office was established at Jefferson. Mr. Wade then in- vited Ranney to take the place of Giddings in the firm, under the name of Wade & Ranney. This new firm soon acquired a wide reputation and enjoyed a lucrative practice. Ranney con-
tinned with Wade for ten years. In the mean time he married a daughter of Judge. Warner. She was an accomplished young lady. In 1845 he left Jefferson and returned to Warren, where
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he engaged in the practice of his profession. He soon became generally popular, both as a man and a lawyer. In political faith he was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school. His personal popularity and his acknowledged abil- ities made him a strong man in the estimation of his Democratic friends, who insisted on his accepting a nomination for Congress, in 1842, in what was then known as the Ashtabula dis- triet. After a change in the extent of dis- tricts he was put in nomination for the same office in 1846, and, in 1848, in the Trumbull District. He accepted these nominations as a matter of duty, and not with any expectation of success or desire of office, well knowing that the opposing party was largely in the ascen- dency. In discussing the political questions of the day in the several campaigns, however, he exhibited a degree of eloquence and tact of logie that was as forcible as it was unanswer- able by his competitors. His efforts proved the fact that if you convince a man against his will, especially in politics, he will remain of the "same opinion still." Yet, in 1850, Ranney was triumphantly elected from his district a member of the State convention for revising the constitution. The convention made him chairman of the judiciary committee. He was, in fact, one of the leading spirits, if not the
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Hercules of the convention. In 1851 he was appointed by the legislature a judge of the supreme court to fill a vacancy. The new con- stitution was adopted the same year, when he was elected by the people to the supreme bench by a majority of over forty thousand votes. In the winter of 1856 he resigned and settled in Cleveland, where he resumed the practice of law under the name of Ranney, Backus, & Noble. At about the same time the President of the United States appointed him district attorney for the northern district of Ohio - an office which he held for a few months and then resigned, for the reason that he found its duties required more attention than he could give in connection with his other more profitable law practice. In 1859 the State Democratie con- vention put him in nomination for governor. The canvass was a spirited one, but the opposi- tion won the victory by a small majority. He did all he could to avert the outbreak of the Civil War, and, when the outbreak came, he devoted much of his time and talents in support of the Union. In 1862 his law partner, Mr. Backus, was nominated for judge of the supreme court by the Republican party. The Demo- cratie party put Ranney in nomination for the same office. He declined. but the party con- tinued his name on the State ticket, and he
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