USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 25
USA > Ohio > Logan County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 25
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"SPOTTY."
BY WM. HUBBARD.
Soon after the termination of the last war with England there came to the town of West Liberty an Irishman, James Ryan by mame, who had been in the American service. He had a small amount of money, and some sort of a title to one hundred and six- ty acres of land. He stopped at a tavern kept by one Clark, where he remained until he had squandered land and money, which he did in a short time, by excessive drinking. Thenceforward, for fif- ty years and more, he was a dweller in the county, and justly earned a place in the catalogue of "Eccentric Characters." Dickens would probably have made nothing of him, for Jimmy was not his style of heroes ; but to Sir Walter he would have been a treasure. His kindly, obliging nature when sober, his ready wit, his flow of spirits, his gossipy disposition, and vagrant habit of strolling from house to house, made him just the sort of a person out of whom the "Great Wizard of the North," would have fabricated one of his most admirable creations.
Of the first fifteen years of Jimmy's life in Logan county, the writ- er can only speak from tradition. That he was often drunk, and when drunk was abusive, was always true of him, from firstto last. That he was frequently beaten, at least once tarred and feathered and once tied to a cart and dragged through the river, is certain. That he often slept in the wood, narrowly escaping death from ex- posure ; that he had "hair-breadth escapes," many times, from his habit, when drunk, of mounting any horse he might see tied to a rack, and running him at reckless speed, are facts with which all were familiar forty years ago.
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Among the earliest recollections of the writer is an incident that occurred at a wedding on Mad River in 1830. Jimmy was there, groggy, as was too often the case. Taking the rein from a gentle- man who was leading a spirited bay mare, he mounted, and lay- ing on the lash the animal was at full speed in a moment. Jimmy fell off behind, and was kicked while falling. He was terribly hurt, and picked up for dead. He bore through life the sears ofthis hurt on his face.
When the writer first knew Jimmy Ryan there had grown up a kindly feeling for him in community, which shielded him from the violence to which he had been subjected during his first years in the county. It had come to be considered a base and cow- ardly deed to strike one who never made resistance, and whose worst fault was a malignant tongue when drunk, an I this only on provocation. He had so many good qualities when sober, that he won the esteem of the generous settlers of the valley, and they took the most chiritable view of his single fault.
There was, in the beginning, a large emigration from Kentucky to Logan county. For the most part the people were "well-to-do" farmers, living in the midst of great abundance, and true to the characteristic hospitality of Kentuckians. Among these were the Wewells, (four families,) the Kellys, the Bairds, the MeBeths, the Walls, the Mellvains, the MeDonalds, the Kirkw », l, Die, Braden, Blair, and many others, whose names at this distinc . of time and place, the writer does not recall.
At least as early as 1830, Jimmy Ryan was "on the circuit." He devised a plan of living without labor, and succeeded, though many wiser heads have failed in the same attempt. For a few days he remained at each farin-house, and then wasoff for the next. It came to pass in time that he was looked for confidently, wel- comed cordially, and his visit made as happy as heart exitdl wish. Thus, for many long years, he visited alternately thirty or forty families. IIe made himself useful in his way. il . havel the farmer and eut his hair and that of his boys. He assist -1the good wife to put her "piece in the loom ;" he carrie 1 in wood though he never cut or split it ; he brought water. If any one was sick, mone was so vigilant, faithful and tender as Jimmy Ryan. Added to all, he was the liveliest of gossip. . He never told anything that could cause disturbance ; but if there was a courtship on his circuit or a marriage impending he was sure to know it. He wa 20 .10.
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portant personage among lovers. He was the bearer of tender messages, and many a marriage was the fruit of Jimmy's diplo- macy. He broke the ice for bashful swains, and truly interpreted the coy but willing maiden. He never seemed happier than when on this duty.
Hle was rarely. if ever, drunk for more than a day at a time, and would stay sober for two or three weeks. He was never heard to express sorrow for his intemperance; he never promised or tried to reform. He considered his spree a matter of course, and seemed not to regar l it as a sin, or transgression of any sort. He never spoke of father, mother, brother, sister or any other relative, or oven alluded to the place of his birth. Of his military service the writer never heard bim make mention but once. The annual burning of the prairie east of the Mad River, a custom long since abandoned, was in progress. "Just such a fire as was made to defait the British," said he. This was as long ago as 1829 or 1830. How such a fire could contribute to "defait the British," or where or when it was kindled. I have forgotten, if he explained.
He never did any manual labor. He was probably incapable of out-door wor His hand was small and delicate as a woman's.
One trait in his character, which contributed greatly to propitiate hospitable treatment, was his scrupulous cleanliness. His clothes were always second-hand ; but he darned them skillfully, and his white shirt was in keeping with his unsoiled coat, and carefully kept hat and boots.
His soubriquet of "Spotty" was assumed by himself, in memory of a faithful dog, which he never forgot while he lived, though he survived the object of his regard for nearly two score years. We have seen him with as many as ten or twelve dogs at his heels, and he the noisiest of all. .
The last time the writer saw Jimmy Ryan was perhaps in 1863. He was then an old man, beyond seventy, rather above the middle size, straight and weil proportioned ; with a full head of hair and Nowing beard, both white as the driven snow, cleanly and tidily dressed, he was altogether a venerable looking person. Calling us familiarly by name, he made the announcement to which he had long been accustomed, namely : "I am round making collections." We gave him the expected sum ungrudgingly, for tous, as a boy and maan he had always had a kindly word. And now his life was ap- proaching a melancholy close. One by one, and of late in rapid
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succession his early friends and benefactor- had been gathered to their fathers.
"All. all were gone. the old familiar faces.
The sons had grown up and married wives, and the daughters were wedded to husbands, whoknew not Jimmy Ryan. New manner and customs had superseded the old. Everything had grown -+range, and he felt that he had gradually but finally been deprived of hi many homes. Besides all, he was infirm and nearly blind, and nº longer able to journey from house to house, as in the pleasant days of yore. For him there remained only the Infirmary, and a quickly succeeding grave. Peace to his ashes.
We do not know what such a life, so aimless and purposeles- a- that of Jimmy Ryan, is for. The universe has been described by the great poet of philosophy, as "a mighty maze, but not without a plan, " and we may be sure that even the long and vagrant life of poor "Spotty" was not without its specific designs and uses.
Napoleon, Ohio.
W'M. HUBBARD.
REMINISCENCES OF THE BAR OF LO- GAN COUNTY.
BY HON. WM. LAWRENCE.
A history of Logan County would be incomplete without at least a brief notice of the men who, while residing here, have been conspicuous at the bar, and in the councils of the State, and Na- tion. But full justice to any one of these is rather the work of the biographer, than the writer who merely sketches the history of the county. The time for an impartial biography is, as a gen- oral rule, not while men are living. It comes only when the record of a life is closed, and can be viewed in the light of past history, and when there is nothing of prejudice or jealousy to de- traet from deserved merit, or of interested motive or bias of friendship to give more of praise than good qualities have earned.
Among the members of the bar who were long residents of the county there are but few who have been "gathered to their fath- ers," and are therefore ready for the pen of impartial biography.
There are some who were well known to the older citizens of the county, but alas ! I fear no one has gathered the historic materials to put in shape and preserve their memories as they deserve.
Wm. Bayles, Anthony Casad, Hiram MaCartney, Samuel Walker and H. M. Shelby, are names embalmed in the memory of our Court records, and fresh in the recollections of many citizens.
They alone of all the Bellefontaine bar repose in that sleep which knows no waking.
I knew all save Bayles, whose demise was chronicled nearly forty years ago.
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The one man who, above all others, could write the history of these men best, is Wm. Hubbard, himself a native of Logan County, whose brilliant qualities as a writer are unsurpassed by any man I ever knew, but who withal has so much of modest dif- fiden e that, like a giant sleeping, he is unconscious of his intel- lectual strength. I hope that leisure may come to him in the years near by, or to some one having a good measure of his tal- ents, to save from oblivion something of the lives of these men.
Mr. Casad came to the county at a very early day, and subse- quently and very creditably filled the offices of Prosecuting At- torney, Representative in the Legislature and Probate Judge - several terms in each of these positions. He was a member of the Legislature in 1838, and voted in the face of a strong public opin- ion to repeal the Ohio fugitive slave law. He lived as he died, an honest man of kind heart, and had but few, if any, enemies. Ho was a devoted member of the Christian or Disciples' Church.
McCartney was a lawyer of more than ordinary ability and great industry, and by these and his indomitable energy stood high at the bar. He was in advance of public opinion, be- ing an abolitionist at a time when that was equivalent to politi- cal ostracism. At his death he left many manuscripts containing his opinions on subjects theological, moral, legal and political. I saw and read some of them, and they proved that he was n stu- dent and a thinker. Doubting or denying a future existence, he lived an honest life, a theoretical and practical philanthropist, and he died about 1842, with a stoical courage and adherence to his peculiar opinions.
Samuel Walker, a cotemporary of McCartney, wasa lawyer for many years in Bellefontaine. He too was an abolitionist, of course sacrificing thereby any hope of official distinction. He was not a man of marked ability, but was a man of marked character for honesty and purity of life and purpose. A zealous member of the Beceder Church, he and Mr. McCartney, while agreeing in their political opinions, differed widely in their religious sentiments.
In one of their religious controversies, McCartney insisted that the Bible justified slavery, which Walker disputed, and declared if that could be proved he would not believe the Bible. McCart- ney undertook the task, and among the manuscript- left at his death was one written to convince Walker of the position MeCart-
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ney had taken. The argument failed of its purpose, for Mr. Walker died as he had lived, not only an abolitionist, but a de- voted member of his church. The argument of McCartney was only an evidence that a man of ability can often pervert the " Book of Books" to purposes for which it never was designed.
Henry M. Shelby died at Bellefontaine in the spring of 1871. He was born and raised near Lewistown, in Logan County. He was admitted to the bar about the year 1841, and soon after made his residence in the then territory of Iowa, where he practiced his profession, and also became a member of the Council, or higher branch of the Territorial Legislature. He resided in Iowa for many years, but subsequently returned to Logan County. He did not seek political distinction here. He however took a somewhat prominent part in politics, and was one of the leading members of the Democratic party, which, in Logan County, has always been in the minority. He contributed political articles to the Demo- cratic newspaper of the county for several years, and in this, as in his professional career, he evinced a very respectable degree of ability. He was courteous in his manners, kind and respectful to all, and an upright citizen.
There were two lawyers who resided at DeGraff, and who prac- ticed at the har in Bellefontaine, both now deceased ; Isaac Smith, who died about 1866, and George H. Neiman, who died about 1870. Mr. Smith resided in the county some twenty years or more, though he only practiced law about the last half of that time. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace. He secured and kept the confidence and esteem of the people generally, and was a prominent and useful citizen. He was a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and must have been about sixty years of age when he died. He was a native of Virginia, and a Repub- lican in politics.
Mr. Neiman was also a native of Virginia, and resided only & few years in this county. He was esteemed as a good citizen, and had acquired a good practice as a lawyer. These two are the only lawyers who resided and died in this county away from the coun- ty-seat.
There have been several lawyers in practice here who have re- moved to other places. One of these is Richard S. Canby, who was born in Warren County, Ohio, but when a small boy came
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with his father, Dr. Joseph Canby, to reside on a farm near Quincy. Dr. Canby was one of the best known and highly e -- teemed citizens of the county, and he continued to reside at his homestead near Quincy until his death, about 1842. Appreciating the advantages of an education, he sent his son Richard to Col- lege, where he became one of the most finished scholars who ever resided in the county. With him the Latin classies were almost as familiar as the standard writers in his mother tongue, with which he was thoroughly versed. About the year 1530 he en- gaged in mercantile pursuits in Bellefontaine, in which he -ue- ceeded well. He studied law and was admitted to the bar about 1839. Soon after, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county, which office he held for four years. In 1845 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and served one term, declining a re- election. In 1846, without seeking it, he was nominated as a can- didate, and elected, as a Representative in Congress. He served one term, and declined re-election.
He retired to a splendid farm he owned near Bellefontaine. where he resided some years, when he returned to Bellefontaine and engaged in business, conducting a flouring and oil mill. Thi- did not meet his tastes and inclinations so well as his farm, where he could, as he did, superintend operations, and devote much of his time to rending, study and meditation.
About the year 1800 ho removed to Olney, Richland county, Illi- nois, and engaged in the law practice. A few years later he was. in a Democratic district politically opposed to him, elected Judge of the Circuit Court, which office he yet holds, and the ilutie- of which he discharges with ability, and to the acceptance of the por- ple and bar. He was an intense student, so much so that he of- ten neglected the dry details of the business of a law office and the law practice, which were not so congenial to hi- mind a- was th study of law, literary, scientific and theological work -. In religion he was and ja a Swedenborgian, in the study of the doctrines an ) teachings of which ('hurch he devoted much time and found great enjoyment. He is a man of much learning, a strong thinker, with very attractive, instructive and entertaining conversational power- and almost without any political ambition. The office- he hell, came to him unsought. Few men have such rare power- of elo- quence as he, and yet he so much preferred the quiet perusal of
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books to the turmoil of debate that he did not seek it often, and in- deed, generally shunned the opportunities offered for a display of his powers. He is not only eloquent but able. His speeches were generally carefully studied out, and he never engaged in debate without full preparation. It was thus, and with such preparation, that he proved his excellence. He was urged to furnish a sketch of his career, and did so in the following brief note :
"I came to the bar in 1839, and stuck out a shingle immediately thereafter. Participated actively, as you know, in the Presidential campaign of the year 1840, and was elected Prosecuting Attorney, If my memory serves me, in 1842-3.
"Became a member of the lower House in the Legislature of Ohio in the spring of 1845, and was elected to the 36th Congress in 1846. Shortly after my term in Congress expired, I relinquished public life for more congenial pursuits, and did not enter it again until compelled by the loss of all that I had earned, when I removed to, Illinois, and recommenced the practice, and was elected Circuit Judge in 1869. Am still on the bench.
" You know my history in Ohio as well as I know it myself, and in giving an account of the early members of the bar in Bellefon- taine, all that you can say, in justice, in reference to me, is that if I had stuck to practice I might, in time, have made a respectable lawyer. R. S. CANBY."
He did, and does, in fact, very thoroughly understand legal prin- eiples, and their application in practice.
I now come to give a little more in detail though by no means fully the history of a man who for more than twenty-five years stood at the head of the Bar of Logan county, and who, during a portion of that time, was the leading lawyer in some of the adja- sent counties-the Hon. Benjamin Stanton. I knew him longer, and have had better opportunities to know more of him than of any other lawyer in the county.
Benjamin Stanton was born on Short creek, near Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, June 4th, 1809. He was the only son and child of Elias Stanton and Martha, his wife, whose maiden name was Wilson. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and possessed the quality of strict integrity, of thrift, hospitality and good citizenship, which have always distinguished the people of that religious faith.
The parents died when their son was about two years of age, and
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he, in consequence, was raised until about fifteen years of age by a paternal grandmother, who resided near Mt. Pleasant.
At this age he went to reside with Amasu Lipsy. his uncle by marriage to his mother's sister, residing about one mile from M1. Pleasant, on a farm adjoining the oid Short creek Meeting House. Here in this Quaker family he found the same sterling qualities which had made his home in infancy and his residence with his pa- fernal grandmother, all alike a school of industry and good morals.
The early training and example of those who so fortunately had the guardian care of the orphan boy doubtless left their impress on his mind and character in all the years of his after life.
Soon after he went to reside with his uncle, an injury to his right heel ocenrred, which finally left him with a stiff ankle for life, and so disabled him in his capacity for speedy locomotion, though in all other respects having great physical capacity, that he was not considered able to farm. He was, when a little over seventeen years of age, apprentieed to a tailor to learn that respectable and useful calling. At this he served about two years, but, unaccus- tomed to the restraints which this business required, and the close application to its duties everywhere then exacted, much more than at this day, and not finding the new field of usefulne-son which ho had entered all in accord with his inclinations, he "retired in good order" before his time was out. It cannot be said that in this busi- ness he ever became a success. He inherited from his father some property, including a farm on Short creek, near Mt. Pleasant, and his means though not large had been carefully husbanded by un- selfish relatives who cared more to prove their faith by works and labors of love, than to make professions unsupported by either. But at a time like that, and in a community where idleness did not make a gentleman, and where indolence shut out all from the pale of respectable society, Mr. Stanton did not fall back in inglori- ous ease to squander the moderate means he had, but, in the win- ter of 1828-9 in the city of Wheeling, he pursued industriously the vocation which he had learned.
In January, 1830, he was married to Nancy Davis, the daughter of a highly respectable farmer near Mt. Pleasant. Mr. Davis was a prominent member of and class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the members of his family were brought up in that faith.
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As Mr. Stanton did not marry in the Society of Friends he ceased to have a birth-right membership, though in fact he had perhaps never claimed one as he might.
He was fortunate in the selection of a most estimerble lady for a wife, and through all the years since intervening, she has given to his home the endearments which only a good and Christian wife can give. She is one of those who knew all her duties and did them fully and well. Neither prosperity nor the honers of office to which her husband attained, ever made her unmindful of the humble.
As a wife, mother, neighbor and member of society she is and always was in every position and relation worthy of all commen- dation. But this is a brief digression from the main object of this limited history. It is necessary to do justice to the sketch now at- tempted, and especially as a good wife performs a large part in se- curing for any husband all that he is or can be.
To return then tothe narrative. At the time of his marriage Mr. Stanton was in the pursuit of his vocation, which he conducted some time thereafter, in part by his own labors, but devoting much of his time to the study of the law, which he had entered upon, originally as the law student of Samuel Stokely and Rowell Marsh o Steubenville, Ohio, then partners in the law practice, and two of the leading lawyers in that part of the State. The partnership was soon after dissolved, and Mr. Stanton finished his studies with Mr. Marsh, and was admitted to practice law by the Supremt Court at Steubenville, in October, 1833.
During his boyhood he had the advantages of the good private schools, at that day well supported in the intelligent community in and around Mt. Pleasant. In these he became well versed in read- ing, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar. That was before the era of common schools and when Ohio could boast but few of the higher institutions of learning.
But to the credit of Jefferson county, and especially that part of it where Mr. Stanton was born and reared, or rather to the people there residing, it should be said the schools of that period, sup- ported as they were by private subscription for scholars sent, were of the best character for all ordinary branches of an education. That was a time, too, when teachers taught and scholars studied. There
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were fewer attractions then than now, to divert the mind of young people from study.
Though Mr. Stanton did not have a Collegiate education, yet he in a great degree supplied that useful advantage by his own appli- eation to study, and the perusal of such works of history, science and literature as a good community afforded. Though Mt. Pleas- ant was not a county seat, it was one of the leading business towns of the eastern portion of the State. During the winter season it frequently, if not generally maintained a debating club, and in this, Mr. Stanton following the example of Henry Clay in his early life, was not only a leading and active spirit but excelled. Here he gave evidence of that talent for which he has since been so dis- tinguished.
In April, 1834, he removed to Bellefontaine, and commenced the practice of the law. C'asad and McCartney were already here. Bellefontaine then had a population of probably 500 people. Ohio then had no completed line of Railroad. Logan county though longer settled and better improved than the counties on the east, north and west, was comparatively new. The farms were gener- ally only partially cleared off. But with a bar few in numbers there was law business, and some of it of much importaner. The east half of Logan county was in the Virginia Military District, and until titles became settled by ing occupation, this was a fruit- ful field for land litigation. Mr. Stanton very soon acquired a good practice. For a time the older lawyer, McCartney, had the better practice, and was more successful than Mr. Stanton. But in less than half a dozen years Mr. Stanton was the leading lawyer of the county. McCartney's health failed him, and he died a few years after. During the period commencing a short time after Mr. Stanton entered upon the practice here, or certainly from the death of Mr. McCartney, and until Mr. Stanton left the county about 1866, he was engaged in most of the important Ftigations of the county, subject of course, to the exception that this was more or less interrupted by a service of eight years in Congress. During most of his residence here, he had a good practice in the neigh- boring counties. The Ohio Reports bear ample testimony that he had more than a full share of the business in the Supreme Court from this part of the State.
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