The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 42

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Ohio > Madison County > The history of Madison County, Ohio > Part 42

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Caleb Atwater located in Circleville about the close of the war of 1812, as an attorney at law. For several years he was Postmaster, and a member of the Ohio Legislature for one term. At the June session of the Court of Common Pleas of Madison County, in 1815, he was Prosecuting Attorney, and held the same position from November, 1822, to the same period in 1823. About the year 1827 or 1828, he was appointed, by President Jack- son, as one of the Commissioners to treat with the Indians for the purchase of their lands at Prairie du Chien. Mr. Atwater's information was exten- sive, but he is better known as an antiquarian and historian, upon which subjects he has written several works. He died in Circleville, on the 3d day of March, 1867, nearly ninety years old ; he was a native of North Adams, Mass.

John R. Parish was the next Prosecutor of this county. He was a son of Roswell Parish, and born at Canterbury, Windham Co., Conn., in 1786; educated in the common schools and the Plainfield Academy, which was in a town of that name close to Canterbury. He read law in the office of his uncle, John Parish, of Windham, and was there admitted to the bar. In 1816, he came to Columbus, Ohio, and began the practice of his profession. He was a man of vigorous mind, a good lawyer, and soon obtained a fair share of the litigated business. In 1820, he was elected to the Legislature from Franklin County, and re-elected in 1821; was a popular legislator, and upon the expiration of his second term, was appointed Prosecuting At- torney of that county. Prior to this, he served as Prosecutor of Madison, viz., in the September term, 1816, and from December, 1817, up to the close of 1819. Mr. Parish married Mary Phillips, of Columbus. Like many lawyers of that period, he indulged in the convivialities of the times. He died in June, 1829 ; was a cousin of Judge Orris Parish, and is said to have been much the abler lawyer, and better versed in the legal learning of the profession.

Among the early Prosecuting Attorneys were G. W. Doane, of Circle- ville, in 1816; David Scott, of Columbus, in 1817; James Cooley. of Urbana, in 1820, and George W. Jewett, of Springfield, in 1822. G. W. Doane was a native of New Milford, Conn .; graduated at Union College, New York, and attended the law school at Litchfield, Conn .; located in Cir-

CAPT. ROBERT M.HANSON. [DECEASED]

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cleville, in the year 1816, as an attorney at law ; was one of the editors of the Ohio Branch, a weekly newspaper of Circleville, now continued and published by S. Marfield, Jr., as the Union-Herald. Mr. Doane was a man of liberal education, and a most exemplary citizen. On the 4th day of February, 1862, he died, aged seventy-six years. For many years previous to his death, he had entirely lost his sight, and, consequently, was disquali- fied for business. He was a brother-in-law of the late Judge William B. Thrall, for a long period publisher of the paper above referred to. A son of his. George W. Doane, is now in practice, as an attorney, in Omaha, Neb. Mr. Doane, for one term, represented the county of Pickaway in the Lower Branch of the Legislature. David Scott was born in Peterboro, N. H., in 1786, came to Franklinton in 1811, engaged in the practice of the law, and was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of that county in 1813. serving until 1819, a portion of which time he was Prosecutor of Madison County. James Cooley was one of the pioneer lawyers of Urbana, and, in 1826, was appointed United States Minister to Peru, where he died April 24, 1828. He was a young man of brilliant parts, of fine appearance and prepossess- ing manners, and stood in the front rank of his associates. We have been unable to learn anything definite of Mr. Jewett, only that he practiced law in springfield for some years, during the early history of that town.

Another of the pioneer visiting lawyers of the courts of Madison Coun- ty, and who was Prosecuting Attorney from November, 1823, until the close of 1824. was Joshua Folsom, born at Henniker, N. H., in the year 1783. His parents were Quakers, and his. ancestors came from the north part of England, and settled at Hingham, Mass., in the year 1638. His grand- father was known as " Quaker Joshua," and was extensively known and re- spected as a man of strong sense and integrity. Joshua Folsom, the subject of this sketch, studied at Dartmouth College, but did not graduate. After leaving college, he read law two years, at Baltimore, in the office of Robert Goodloe Harper, who was a very distinguished lawyer and orator, and mem- ber of the United States Senate. Mr. Folsom began the practice of law at Circleville, Ohio, about the year 1810, and practiced, also, in many other counties of the State, as most lawyers of that day did. on account of the paucity of cases at home. About the year 1824, at the time Gustavus Swan was appointed Judge, he went to Columbus to practice, being re- quested by Judge Swan to come there to take charge of his business. After remaining at Columbus two or three years, he returned to Circleville. In 1830, having accumulated a moderate fortune, for that day, and not being in good health, he retired from practice and settled on a large tract of land which he owned in Logan County. Ohio. Mr. Folsom was a man of verv extensive information, having, also, a respectable knowledge of Latin. Greek and French, and being well read in history and general literature. We have, also, the authority of Hocking Hunter, for saying he was " a very good lawyer." Some of his arguments at the bar are yet remembered as very fine. He never held any office. except that of Prosecuting Attorney of Pickaway and Madison Counties .

Besides those attorneys who were Judges and Prosecutors of the courts of Madison County, the following have practiced at this bar, viz. : John S. Wils, James K. Corey, Noah HI. Swayne. John W. Anderson, Brush & Gilbert and P. B. Wilcox of Columbus. From Urbana came Moses B. Cor -.

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win, Israel Hamilton and John HI. Young. Circleville sent Joseph Olds, Sr. : Chillicothe, William Creighton and Henry Brush, the latter of whom subsequently settled in Madison County, and here died. He was not, how- ever, identified with this bar to any extent, but resided on a farm close to London for many years. From Nenia, came John Alexander, and from Springfield, Charles Anthony, William A. Rogers, Samson Mason, James L. Torbert, William White and perhaps a few others from the several towns of the adjoining counties.

RESIDENT ATTORNEYS.

The first lawyer to locate in London was A. D. Vanhorn, a native of Vermont, who came to Columbus, and in 1819 settled in this town. He made his home at the hotel of Phillip Lewis, and is said to have been a fine- looking man, and a lawyer of considerable ability. We find his name on record as Prosecuting Attorney, in 1820, and we learn that he died shortly afterward. It is said that he left a wife and family in the East, as he often spoke of his children. Ile was somewhat dissipated, and this perhaps was the cause of his leaving his Eastern home, to die far away from wife and family.

The next lawyer who settled in London was Patrick G. Goode. He came from Xenia in the spring of 1821, and from July, 1821, until October, 1822. was Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County. He possessed an over- powering appetite for strong drink, and after remaining here a couple of years removed to Sidney. Ohio. Soon afterward he abandoned his drinking habits, was joined by his wife, who had previously separated from him, became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Member of Congress, and during his lifetime was one of the most prominent men in that portion of Ohio. We have also heard that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in his latter years was a preacher of that denomination.

Samuel N. Kerr comes next in the order of time. He was born in Miami County, Ohio, studied law at Troy, was there admitted to the bar, and in 1824 located in London. He boarded with Philip Lewis, and sub- sequently married Alithea. the second eldest child of Col. Lewis. Of this union were born four sons and two daughters, viz .: Lucien, deceased ; Josephine, the wife of James Jones, of San Jose, Cal : Wellington, who resides in Oregon : Maria J., the wife of Captain Fuller, of Peoria, Ill. ; Newell, who resides on the homestead near Peoria, Ill., and Lewis, deceased. Mr. Kerr practiced his profession for many years in this county, and accumulated considerable property. He was Prosecuting Attorney from 1825 to 1836 inclusive, and again in 1839-40. During a considerable period of the county's history, he was its only resident lawyer, and is said to have been a good one. About 1851, he removed to a farm which he pur- chased near Peoria. Ill., and spent the remainder of his days in that State. Politieally, he was an ultra Democrat. His health and mind became shattered in old age, and he died at Decatur, Ill., while upon a visit to one of his daughters who then resided in that town.

Isaac N. Jones and William R. Roberts were the next to " hang out shingles " in London. The former came from Tennessee, and was Prosecut- ing Attorney in 1837-38. In the fall of 1840, he went to Philadelphia, and engagad in merchandising. Thence he removed to Missouri, where he fol-

lowed his profession with considerable success. While in London, he mar- ried a daughter of George Phifer, a well-known pioncer of Madison County. William R. Roberts came from Philadelphia to Ohio, and settled in London prior to 1838. Ile was a large, prepossessing-looking man, and a talented lawyer, but indulged too freely in strong drink. After a short residence, he removed to Indianapolis, there married a rich wife, and became much respected.

James F. Freeman was born in Belmont County, Ohio, March 6, 1815, and died at Harrisburg, Franklin Co., Ohio, September 21, 1857. His father, Richard Freeman, with his' brother, Thomas, and cousin, Richard, emigrated from Ireland to America immediately after the American Revo- lution, and as early as 1799 settled at Wheeling, W. Va. In 1800, he married Marjory Carter, who died in 1849, of cholera. From Wheeling he emigrated to Belmont County, Ohio, and in 1833 came to Madison County, where he died in November, 1836. James F. received the advan- tages of the town schools, and obtained a good common school education. At the age of twenty or twenty-one years, he entered the law office of Sam- uel N. Kerr, of London, and in 1838 was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, at a session of that court held in Marysville in that year. He immediately began the practice of his profession in London, and devoted to it the whole of his energies, until shortly before his death, when he removed to Harrisburg. He was appointed Clerk of the Court in 1839, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of John Moore, and served in that capacity until May, 1841. During the years of 1852 and 1853, he served as Prosecuting Attorney of the county. On July 3, 1838, he married Eleanor Dawson, orphan daughter of Ephraim and Eleanor (Buckingham ) Dawson, of Virginia, and by her had ten children, of whom seven survive. Shortly before his death, his wife having died, he married Margaret Chafer, of Franklin County, and by her had one child-now deceased. Mr. Free- man was a man of much natural ability. a good lawyer, a keen observer, and a ready speaker. By his witty sallies, for he was a perfect wag, he ingratiated himself into the hearts of a large circle of friends, by whom he was always welcomed as a genial friend and an entertaining companion.

Hon. Henry W. Smith, the nestor of the Madison County bar, was born at Whitestown, Oneida Co., N. Y., April 6, 1814. His ancestors were from Great Britain, and located in Massachusetts and Connecticut at an early day in our colonial history. He was educated at the common schools principally, although he attended the academy at Champion, and the Rensselaer (Oswego) Academy in New York. When he was three years old, his father, who was a farmer, moved to Jefferson County, N. Y. Henry was reared on a farm, working in the summers and going to the common schools in the winters. His leisure time was spent in study and reading while on the farm. In May, 1833, he emigrated to Ohio, and stopped at Circleville. In June, following, he commenced the study of law with H. A. Hedges, Esq., with whom he remained about one year. He completed his study of law with G. W. Doane, Esq. In June, 1840, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, at Delaware, Ohio. Shortly afterward, he settled at London, where he has since resided and engaged in the practice of his profession. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney in the fall of 1840, in 1842 and in 1844, thus holding the office for six consecutive years, the

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last term expiring in 1346. In 1856, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the same office by the court; in the fall of 1860, he was again elected thereto for two years, and yet again in 1864. The duties were performed by him dur- ing all that time to the satisfaction of the court and the people. His business in his profession has been extensive and lucrative ; he has acquired a compe- tence and raised a large family. He commenced life poor. without money or friends, but he soon acquired both, by energy and perseverance. In his polities, Mr. Smith belonged to the old Whig party as long as it lasted, and in 1856 he became a member of the Republican party, and has always remained a consistent and active member of that party to the present time. In the fall of 1848, he was elected to represent Madison, Clark and Champaign Counties in the General Assembly of Ohio, and re-elected in 1849. During his legislative service-the winters of 1848-49 and 1849- 50-he was an active and useful member, and originated and carried through a great reform in the law of evidence. Prior to that time, by the law of evidence, neither parties in an action at law, nor any person, having any pecuniary interest in the event of a suit, could be witnesses. The law seemed to be based on the theory, that a witness who had a pecuniary interest, large or small, in the event of a suit, would be tempted to, and often would, commit perjury, etc. Mr. Smith, early in the session of 1848- 49, introduced a bill "To improve the law of evidence," providing that parties to actions at law might call each other as witnesses, and that a pecu- niary interest in the event of a suit should not disqualify a person from being a witness. The bill, after its second reading, was referred to Mr. Smith and the Hon. George E. Pugh, as a select committee. On February 21, 1849, Mr. Smith, of said committee, made an elaborate report on the bill, which was ordered to be printed. (The report is found in the "Appen- dix to the House Journal," session of 1848-49, page 185.) This proposed reform was so bold and radical, in striking down rules, venerable for their antiquity, that many members hesitated, although the report in favor of said measure was unanswerable and absolutely convincing. Finally, it was pro- posed, in order to give the bar time for reflection and consideration, to post- pone the measure till the next session, which was done. During the next session, 1849-50, the measure was passed into a law with remarkable unani- mity (vide Vol. XLVIII, page 33, session laws of 1849-50). This was a great advance in law reform. This remained to be the law till the adop - tion of the Code in Ohio, when the same principle was carried into the code, extending a little on one point by allowing parties to volunteer as witnesses. In the session of 1848-49, Mr. Smith introdneed a bill to amend the law of descents, by providing that husband and wife, in default of children, should be heirs to each other. Prior to that time, and for a short time after, the act regulating descents postponed the heirship of husband and wife to the last degree before property escheated to the State. The bill was referred to Mr. Smith as a select committee. and on the 24th of February, 1849. he made an exhaustive report thereon, which was ordered to be printed. (This report is in the "Appendix to the House Journal," for 1848-49, page 198.) This bill did not then pass ; and, as it proposed such a radical change in the rules of descent, a great many of the members were afraid to support it, not because it was not reasonable and equitable, but because it was a great inno- vation; the seeds were sown, however, and produced fruit in due time. In

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the session of 1851-52, the principle was adopted, and ever since that time husband and wife, in default of children, have been heirs to each other. At the same session, Mr. Smith introduced a bill to punish the stealing of a will, after the death of the testator, or a testamentary paper before his death. The bill was enacted into a law February 23, 1849 (vide S. and C. ," Stat- utes," Volume II, page 1632). Thus was a great omission in the crim- inal law of the State of Ohio very efficiently supplied. In the fall of the year 1853, Mr. Smith was elected to the Senate of Ohio, from the district composed of Madison, Clark and Champaign Counties. He made a useful and active member, and assisted in enacting a large amount of useful legislation, including the liquor law, the ten per cent law, the fee bill, etc., etc., and aided in reforming abuses and in reducing taxation. He discovered, at the end of his term in the Senate, in the spring of 1854, that he could not live very high, and support his family by going to the Legislature (as many more have before and since discovered), and he de- termined to abstain therefrom in the future, and to devote his time exclus- ively to his profession. This determination he rigidly adhered to until 1864, when he was nominated and elected a Presidential Elector by the Republicans, when the Hon. A. Lincolin was a candidate for re-election to the Presidency. He met the Electoral College of Ohio at the Capital of the State, in 1864. and voted for Abraham Lincoln for President and Andrew Johnson for Vice President of the United States. In the spring of 1865, he aided in establishing the Madison National Bank of London, and was elected its President. He served in this position for about two and a half years, then sold his stock and invested the proceeds in land. In 1870, he was appointed Assessor of Interval Revenue by President Grant, and confirmed by the Senate of the United States, for the Seventh Collection District of Ohio, and he held the office for nearly three years, when the taxes having all been taken off by Congress except on whisky, beer and tobacco, the Assessors of Internal Revenue were abolished by Con- gress. During Mr. Smith's term as Assessor, nearly $2,000,000 internal revenue per year was raised in this district, comprising the counties of Franklin, Madison, Greene and Clark. He administered the office prudently and honestly. and to the satisfaction of the Government and the people. He supported the war of 1861 strenuously, but did not go into the service, as he was over the military age when the war commenced. He did, how- ever, go into the service for ten days, at Camp Chase, during the Morgan raid, as Captain of a company. In 1876, he was selected as the delegate from this Congressional district to the National Republican Convention at Cincinnati, and assisted in nominating Gen. R. B. Ilayes for President. He was married at Whitestown, Oneida Co., N. Y., in June, 1844, to a most estimable lady, Miss Jennette Smith. She is a descendant of the celebrated Otis family, of Revolutionary memory, in Massachusetts. She has been a model wife, and an ornament to her sex. Mr. Smith is still hale and vigorous, and stands a fair chance to live beyond the allotted age of man. Mr. Smith and wife have been blessed with ten children, five of whom survive. They are as follows : Ellen A., wife of W. S. Squires, of Squires and McCollum, grocers, London : Mary G .. wife of G. A. Florence, of Circleville, Ohio ; Luke D., a farmer of Deer Creek Township, who mar- ried Grace Mayne, of Council Bluffs, Iowa : Palmer C., an attorney at law,

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and ex-Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County, who married Bertha. daughter of Hon. George W. Wilson, of London, and Benjamin F., on the farm with his brother, Luke D. During the summer of 1882, Mr. Smith and his wife made the tour of Europe, and visited Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Prussia and Germany, escaping all the dangers, of the sea and land, and arrived home in October, 1882.

Charles Harrold, a native of Stokes Township, this county, came here soon after Mr. Smith. He studied law at Springfield : was admitted to the bar, and in 1842-43 was in partnership with Samuel N. Kerr. He subse- quently quit the profession, and engaged in farming. He was a eripple, and prior to his entering the legal profession, followed school teaching.

In 1843, Z. T. Fisher, a one-armed man, and a native of Delaware County, Ohio, where he had read law and been admitted to practice, came to London. lle was here married to Jemima Jones, daughter of Barney Jones. From 1847 to 1851, he was Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County, and represented the county in the Ohio General Assembly in 1852 and 1854 ; but soon after the latter date removed to Iowa, where he con- tinued the practice of his profession.

Hon. Richard A. Harrison was born April 8, 1824. in the city of Thirsk, Yorkshire Co., England, where his parents then resided. In the spring of 1832, the family removed to the United States, and settled in Clark County, Ohio. He was educated in the common school, the Republic printing office, and in an academy under the charge of Rev. Chandler Robbins, Springfield. Ohio. He was obliged, on his arrival at twelve years of age, and until he commenced the practice of the law, to earn by daily labor as a typographer, the means requisite for his support and education. He studied law in the office of Judge Rodgers, Springfield, Ohio; graduated from the Cincinnati Law School April, 1846, and was admitted to the bar May 23, 1846, at a term of the Supreme Court, on the circuit held at London, Madison County, by Judges Hitchcock and Wood. He at once began the practice of the law in London. He was married, December 25, 1847, to Maria Warner, daughter of llenry Warner, of Madison County, and in the spring of 1848, he com- menced a circuit practice, which he has ever since kept up. He was a mem- ber of the Legislature, from Madison County, during the sessions of 1858- 59 and 1859-60, and served on the Judiciary Committee ; was a member of the Senate from the district composed of the counties of Madison, Clark and Champaign, during the sessions of 1850-60 and 1860-61, serving as Chair- man of the Judiciary Committee, and President, pro tem., of the Senate ; was elected a Member of Congress from the district composed of the coun- ties of Madison, Favette, Clinton, Warren and Greene, at a special election held in May, 1861, to fill the vacaney caused by the resignation of Gov. Corwin upon his appointment as Minister to Mexico : served during the special session held in July, 1861, and until the expiration of his term. March 3, 1863. He was nominated for Judge of the Supreme Court in 1870, but was defeated with the rest of the State ticket at the ensuing election. In January, 1876. he was appointed and commissioned by Gov. Hayes a member of the judicial commission, provided for in the amendment, of Arti- ele IV. of the Constitution of the State, but he declined the appointment. In the spring of 1878, he formed a partnership with Joseph Olds, who had just retired from the Common Pleas beach, and removed to Columbus in the

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spring of 1374. IL, son-in-law, Mr. Marth. i also now a member of the firm of Harrison, Olds & Marth. Mr. Harrison attribute! much of what- ever success he has met with to the encouragement and assistance which he received, in his early struggles at the bar. from Judge Rodgers, Judge J. K. Swan, P. B. Wilcox, Judge N. I. Swayne, and John W Andrews. Mr. Harrison ranks as one of the best lawyers in the State; he is not only learned in the books, but presents his cases with great force to the court and jury. His reputation has extended his circuit practice all over the State, and in the Supreme Court he is engaged, on one side of the other, of many impor- tant cases. His success in the Bread Railroad cases, reported in Granger " Supreme Court reports. established his eminence as a lawyer on constitu- tional questions, while at the same time it saved the people from the impo. sition of an oppressive system of taxation, that would yield no return. Mr. Harrison furnishes another example of the fact that a lawyer who desires to rise to the head of this honorable profession must subordinate every other consideration to the law, which is a jealous mistress and brooks no rival. One of the early students of Mr. Harrison was James S. Jones. a native of London, born July 31, 1830. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and was Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County in 1854-55. His parents were William and Elizabeth Jones, natives of Tennessee, who settled at Lon- don in 1814. Soon after the expiration of his term as Prosecutor, he removed to Lincoln, Ill., where he engaged in teaching school and the prac- tice of his profession, the latter not proving sufficiently remunerative to sup- port him. He returned to London during the exciting period ofthe war. and thence went to Champaign City. Ill., where he was married to Eliza. daughter of Dr. Robert Houston, one of the pioneer physicians of Clark County, Ohio, who practiced at South Charleston, where Mra. Jones was born. subsequently removing with her father to Champaign County, III. Mr. Jones has since continued to follow the legal profession at that place.

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The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 42

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180