FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: SWAYNE, Noah H. (published 1880)
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HIstorical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe LL.D.

NOAH H. SWAYNE

The late Noah H. Swayne,  Judge of the supreme court of the United
States,  was born in Culpepper County,  Virginia,  in 1804, of Quaker
parentage.  When nineteen years of age he was admitted to the bar and, 
disliking slavery,  came to Ohio.  At the age of twenty six he was
appointed by Gen. Jackson United States Attorney for Ohio,  when he
removed from Coshocton,  where he was settled,  to Columbus. In 1839, 
President VAn Buren appointed him United States District Attorney.  He
soon acquired high reputation as a jury lawyer,  his peculiar forte
being the examination of witnesses  and in skillful analysis of
testimony.  On retiring from this office he took no part in politics
until 1856,  when in the Fremont campaign he made speeches against the
extension of slavery.

In February,  1862,  after the decease of Justice McLean,  of the
Supreme court,  he was appointed by President Lincoln his successor. 
This was by the unanimous recommendation of the Ohio delegation in
Congress and in accordance with the oft-repeated expressed desire of
Justice McLean,  in his lifetime,  that in the event of his decease he
would be the best person for his successor.  This opinion of Judge
McLean was coincided in by the leading members of the bar in Washington
City,  who had witnessed his display of eminent ability in some cases
which he  had argued before the Supreme Court and which also had a like
effect upon the judges before whom he had appeared.  He left several
sons,  the oldest of whom is the eminent Ge. Wager Swayne,  now of new
York City,  whose first name was the family name of his mother,  a
Virginia lady.  Wager Swayne was at one time a partner with his father
in the practice of the law.  Another son, F.B. Swayne,  is now a law
partner with a son of ex-President Hayes in Toledo.
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