Hancock County OhArchives History - Books .....Chapter VI, Part III 1886
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ann Anderson ann.g.anderson@gmail.com July 17, 2005, 6:54 pm
Book Title: History Of Hancock County
CHAPTER VI.

THE JUDICIARY—ORGANIZATION OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS IN OHIO AND ITS
SUBSEQUENT CHANGES—PIONEER COURTS OF HANCOCK COUNTY-SESSIONS HELD AT FINDLAY IN
1828,1829 AND 1830—THE JURIES IMPANELED AND PRINCIPAL BUSINESS TRANSACTED DURING
THOSE YEARS—ITEMS OF INTEREST GATHERED FROM THE COURT JOURNALS—THE BENCH AND
BAR— COMMON PLEAS JUDGES—ASSOCIATE JUDGES—PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS —PIONEER
VISITING LAWYERS—REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER PRACTICE IN NORTHWESTERN
OHIO—INCIDENTS OF THE CIRCUIT RIDING PERIOD—FIRST LAWYERS WHO LOCATED'IN
FINDLAY—BRIEF SKETCHES OF RESIDENT ATTORNEYS WHO PRACTICED IN HANCOCK COUNTY
PRIOR TO 1860—PRESENT BAR OF THE COUNTY.

AS people often fail to agree respecting their rights and duties, and as they
sometimes violate their agreements, and even disobey those rules and regulations
prescribed for their conduct, it is necessary that tribunals should be provided
to administer justice, to determine and declare the rights of disagreeing
parties, to investigate and decide whether the laws are observed or violated,
and to pronounce judgment according to law and the just deserts of the citizen.
These determinations are called judicial. Upon the organization of the Northwest
Territory, courts were established and laws promulgated for its proper
government. The court of common pleas was one of the first to take shape, being
established by the governor and the three district judges of the Territory,
August 23, 1788. This court was first composed of not less than three nor more
than five justices, appointed by the governor in each county, and known as the
"County Court of Common Pleas;" but in 1790, the number of justices was
increased to not less than three, and not more than seven in each county. The
regular sessions of this court were, by the same act, increased from two to four
terms annually. When Ohio was admitted into the Union, its judiciary was
reorganized. The State was divided into circuits, for each of which a judge, who
had to be a lawyer in good standing, was elected by the General Assembly for the
term of seven years. Three associate judges were chosen in each county by the
same body, and for the same length of service, who were intelligent citizens,
usually farmers or business men, many of whom, however, knew very little about
law. The president judge, with the associates, composed the court of common
pleas of each county; and thus this court remained until the re-organization of
the judiciary under the constitution of 1851. That instrument provided for the
division of the State into judicial districts, and each district into
subdivisions. It abolished the office of associate judge, and directed that in
each subdivision one judge of the court of common pleas, who had to be a
resident thereof, should be elected every five years by the qualified electors
in said subdivision, but the General Assembly reserved the power to increase the
number of judges, and change the territory composing each subdivision whenever
such a course became necessary.

   Prior to the organization of Hancock County, all of its judicial business,
excepting that transacted by its justices of the peace, was done at the county
seat of Wood County, to which Hancock was attached until March 1, 1828, Hon.
Ebenezer Lane was then the president judge of this circuit, and the same
Legislature that passed the act organizing this county also elected Abraham
Huff, Robert McKinnis and Ebenezer Wilson, associate judges of said county. The
first meeting of the court of common pleas of Hancock County was held, March 14,
1828, in the old log schoolhouse erected the previous year, near the site of the
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad depot. The three associates were
present and composed the court, its only business being the appointment of
Wilson Vance as clerk pro tem, of said court.

   The first regular term of court was opened in the same building, which was
used until the erection of the first Court House, June 3, 1828, Hons. Abraham
Huff, Robert McKinnis and Ebenezer Wilson on the bench; Don. Alonzo Hamlin,
sheriff; Wilson Vance, clerk; and Anthony Casad, of Bellefontaine, prosecuting
attorney. The session lasted only a part of one day. Elijah T. Davis was
appointed administrator of the estate of Thomas Wilson, deceased, with Joshua
Hedges and Squire Carlin as securities in the sum of $400. Joshua Hedges, Jacob
Poe and Charles McKinnis were appointed appraisers of said estate. Mr. Wilson
was a pioneer of Liberty Township, and a brother of Judge Wilson, then upon the
bench. The citizens of the newly erected townships of Amanda and Welfare (now
Delaware), were ordered to elect a justice of the peace for their respective
townships. The court then appointed Wilson Vance recorder of Hancock County for
the term of seven years, after which it adjourned.

   The second term began November 19, 1828, the same judges and officers forming
the personnel of the court as in the previous sessions. The following grand jury
was impaneled: Joseph DeWitt, John P. Hamilton, Jacob Poe, Asa Lake, Charles
McKinnis, Reuben Hale, Mordecai Hammond, William Wade, John Boyd, Henry George,
William Moreland, James McKinnis, William Taylor, Edwin S. Jones and John C.
Wickham. The court appointed William Taylor foreman of the panel. A venire for a
petit jury was also returned by the sheriff at this session, but only eight of
the panel answered to their names, viz.: John Beard, Joseph Johnson, John Huff,
William Moreland, Jr., John Tullis, John J. Hendricks, Thomas Thompson and James
Peltier; and it appearing that there was no business for a petit jury at this
term the jurors present were discharged from further attendance. Rachel Wilson,
widow of Thomas Wilson, was appointed guardian of her two children. Rebecca and
Jane, with Charles McKinnis and Jacob Poe as sureties in the sum of $800. The
grand jury finding no business to transact was dismissed by the court. A license
to "vend merchandise" at his residence in Findlay until April 1, 1829, was
granted to William Taylor upon the payment of $2.25. The same gentleman was
appointed surveyor of Hancock County, and William Hackney, William Taylor and
Mordecai Hammond examiners of common schools. As an illustration of the
remuneration county officers then received for their services, the following
items from the minutes of this term of court will suffice: "Ordered by the court
that there be allowed to the sheriff of this county for extra services the sum
of $15, to be paid one-half at each term of this court. Ordered by the court
that there be allowed to Don Alonzo Hamlin the sum of $10 for his extra services
as sheriff of this county for the present year. Ordered by the court that there
be allowed to the clerk of this court the sum of $10 each year, to be paid
one-half at each term of this court." This closed the business of the second
regular session.

   A special term of court was commenced March 19, 1829, for the purpose of
granting letters of administration on the estate of John Patterson (deceased), a
brother of Mrs. William Taylor; all of the associates were on the bench, and
William Taylor was appointed administrator of said estate, with Job Chamberlin
and John Boyd as sureties in the sum of $1,400; Squire Carlin, William Hackney
and Joshua Hedges were appointed by the court to appraise the property.

   The next session began April 24, 1829, and lasted two days. The same judges
and officers of the preceding terms were present except the sheriff; John C.
Wickham having been chosen to succeed Don Alonzo Hamlin, at the previous October
election. The following grand jurors were impaneled at this term: Robert Long,
Amos Beard, Thomas Cole, John Shoemaker, Reuben "W. Hamlin, Samuel Sager,
William J. Greer, Robert Elder, John Hunter, Isaac Johnson, Nathan Frakes,
Reuben Hale, Jacob Foster, William Moreland, Jr., and Nathan Williams. William
J. Greer was appointed foreman. The only indictment found at this term was
against Thomas Slight, charging him with petit larceny. William Taylor was
granted a license for one year to keep a tavern at his house in Findlay, for
which he was charged $5. The court appointed Anthony Casad, prosecutor for one
year, and agreed to pay him the sum of $40 for his services. What would our
present prosecuting attorneys think of such a salary? On the second day of the
session, the following petit jury was impaneled: Van B. Hancock, Joshua Hedges,
John Elder, Selden Blodget, Sampson Dildine, James McKinnis, William De Witt,
Josiah Elder, Thomas F. Johnston, Asa M. Lake, Asa Lake and Matthew Reighly.
Thomas Slight was tried by this jury, and found guilty of petit larceny as
charged in the indictment. His counsel made a motion for a new trial, which was
granted by the court. Bleuford Hamilton and Eli Powell were the principal
prosecuting witnesses. In April, 1830, the case against. Mr. Slight was
dismissed by the court at the request of the prosecuting attorney, who claimed
there was not sufficient evidence to sustain the charge. This closed the
business of the term, and "the court adjourned without day."

   On the 7th of November, 1829, the fourth regular term of the common pleas was
held at Findlay, with the same judges and officers as the previous term. The
grand jurors of this session were William Moreland, Jr., George Flenner, Squire
Carlin, Asa Lake, Jacob Foster, John Bashore, John Hunter, Edwin S. Jones, John
Boyd, Don Alonzo Hamlin, Asher Wickham, Joshua Powell, Isaac Johnson, Joseph A.
Sargent and Bass Rawson. This jury returned bills of indictment against Charles,
Philip and James McKinnis for assault and battery, after which it was
discharged. Letters of administration were granted to Sarah Beard and John J.
Hancock on the estate of John Beard, deceased, of Amanda Township, John P.
Hamilton and Thomas F. Johnston being sureties in the sum of $300. Andrew Robb,
David Egbert and Thomas Cole were appointed appraisers of said property. The
assault and battery cases of Charles and Philip McKinnis were continued till the
next term of court; but that against their brother James was at once tried
before the following jury: Andrew Eobb, Warren Hancock, Peter George, Minor T.
Wickham, Simeon Ransbottom, John Long, John J. Hendricks, Mordecai Hammond, Van
E. Hancock, William De Witt, Job Chamberlin and Thomas Slight. The jury failed
to agree, and the case was then, continued. The case in debt of Henry McWhorter
vs. Samuel Sargent and Abraham Huff; the larceny suit of the State of Ohio vs.
Thomas Slight; and the petition to sell land of William Taylor, administrator of
the estate of John Patterson, deceased, vs. Eliza Patterson and heirs, were all
continued until the succeeding term of court.

   The next term was opened April 30, 1830, with Hon. Ebenezer Lane, president
judge, and Robert McKinnis and Ebenezer Wilson, associate judges, on the bench.
This was the first session of court held in Hancock County at which the
president judge was present. The following grand jury was impaneled: Adam
Woodruff, Joseph Johnson, Alfred Hampton, George Shaw, Joseph A. Sargent,
Mordecai Hammond, Charles McKinnis, Simeon Ransbottom, Sampson Dildine, John
George Flenner, Edwin S. Jones, Peter George, William J. Greer, Jacob Baker and
John J. Hendricks. Mordecai Hammond was appointed foreman of the jury, and Amos
Beard, Nathan Williams, James Gibson, Reuben W. Hamlin and Peter Shaw, who had
been summoned with the other jurors, were designated as talesmen. The pending
petition to sell land of William Taylor, administrator of John Patterson, was
granted at this term. The will of John Wolford, deceased, of Delaware Township,
was admitted to probate, and Absalom W. Wolford, who was named in said will as
executor thereof, recognized as such by the court. Letters of administration
were granted to Elizabeth Miller and William McCloud, on the estate of Isaac
Miller, deceased, whose cabin stood near the site of Van Buren. John P. Hamilton
and Nathan Frakes were sureties for the administrators in the sum of $600; and
William Taylor, Squire Carlin and Jacob Foster appraisers of said estate.

   The two damage suits of John P. Hamilton against Charles and Philip McKinnis,
for assault and battery (which trouble resulted from the erection of Old Town
Township, and is fully spoken of in the chapter on Liberty Township) were tried
at this session. That of Charles came before the following jury: Jacob Elder,
Don Alonzo Hamlin, Robert L. Strother, Joseph Egbert, Joshua Powell, Nathan
Williams, William J. Greer, John J. Hendricks, Mordecai Hammond, Peter George,
Thomas Thompson and William Moreland, who found the defendant guilty, and
assessed the damages at $75 and plaintiff's costs of suit. The trial of his
brother Philip came next, the following citizens composing the jury: Jacob
Baker, Alfred Hampton, Thomas Slight, Absalom W. Wolford, Willis Ward, James
Gibson, John Shoemaker. Matthew Reighly, H. B. Strother, Aquilla Gilbert, Joseph
Johnson and Reuben W. Hamlin. He, too. was found guilty as charged, and the
damages fixed at $30 and costs. When these suits were decided the indictment of
the State still remained against the McKinnis brothers. Both pleaded guilty of
assault and battery, asked for "the mercy of the court," and were each fined $1
and cost of prosecution. Thus ended one of the most prominent pioneer events in
the annals of the courts of Hancock County, the circumstances connected
therewith being yet vividly remembered by many surviving early settlers.

   Squire Carlin was then carrying on a general store on the corner where he
still resides, and was granted a grocery license at this term for one year, upon
paying into the county treasury the sum of $10. An election was ordered to be
held at the house of Aquilla Gilbert, in Jackson Township, on the last Saturday
in June, 1830, for the purpose of electing two justices of the peace. The will
of Eli Sargent, deceased, was admitted to probate, and Nancy Sargent recognized
as executrix thereof. The case of Henry McWhorter vs. Samuel Sargent and Abraham
Huff, was decided in favor of the plaintiff, who recovered $237.83, the amount
of the debt, and damages assessed at one cent. The suit of Joshua Hedges and
others vs. the Commissioners of Hancock County, brought to set aside the
proceedings of that board in the erection of Old Town Township, was continued,
and the court ordered an election for one justice of the peace for said
township, to be held at the house of Ebenezer Wilson, on the last Saturday of
June, 1830.

   The three associate judges held a special term of court, October 2, 1830,
when the will of Andrew Robb, a pioneer of Amanda Township, was admitted to
probate, and letters of administration granted to his widow, Margaret Robb, and
Aquilla Gilbert, the latter of whom is yet a resident of that township.

   The last term of the pioneer courts of which any special cognizance will be
taken in this chapter, was held November 1, 1830, with Judge Lane and the three
associates—Huff, McKinnis and Wilson being on the "woolsack." The grand jurors
of this session were as follows: William Hackney, John Dukes, John Fishel,
Philip McKinnis, William Wolford, John Rose, Richard Dukes, Minor T. Wickham,
Godfrey Wolford, Jacob Foster, William L. Henderson, Alfred Purcell, James
McKinnis, Selden Blodget and Joseph Johnson. This jury indicted Nathan Frakes,
one of the early-time "bruisers," for assault and battery on Henry Shaw, a
pioneer of Findlay, but the prosecuting witness not appearing in court when the
case was called the indictment was quashed. The suit against the commissioners
by Joshua Hedges and others was decided at this sitting, the proceedings of the
board in the erection and organization of Old Town Township being reversed and
annulled. A grocery license for one year was granted to John Bashore, upon the
payment of $10. These licenses were granted annually, and always included the
sale of whisky—one of the principal commodities of pioneer groceries and
taverns, and without the sale of which few of their proprietors could have
accumulated the handsome competencies left at their decease. William Taylor,
William L. Henderson. Bass Rawson, Thomas F. Johnston and Robert L. Strother
were appointed examiners of common schools for the term of two years. The court
then ordered that the sheriff and clerk be allowed the sum of $10 each per
annum, for extra services, to be paid half yearly, after which the session was
"adjourned without day." The first three years of the journal of the court of
common pleas of Hancock County have now been run through, giving the court items
and lists of grand and petit jurors at each term. The only importance attached
thereto is because these events belong to pioneer days— that period about which
so much genuine interest centers. The principal reason for giving the names of
the jurors is that they were pioneers—a part of the brave vanguard who laid the
foundation of the county's present prosperity—and to perpetuate a record of the
men who figured in the first judicial affairs of the county.

   The first judge of the court of common pleas in this circuit, after the
organization of Hancock County, was Hon. Ebenezer Lane, who served up to the
close of 1830. His successors under the old constitution have been as follows:
David Higgins, 1831-37: Ozias Bowen, 1838; Emery D. Potter, 1839-42; Myron H.
Tilden, 1843-4; Patrick G. Goode, 1845-51. Since the adoption of the
constitution of 1851, the common pleas judges of the subdivision to which
Hancock County belonged have been as follows: Lawrence W. Hall, February, 1852,
to February, 1857; Machias C. Whiteley, February, 1857, to February, 1867;
George E. Seney (additional judge), February, 1858. to February, 1863; Chester
E. Mott, February, 1867, to February, 1872; James Pillars (additional judge),
May, 1868, to May, 1878; Abner M. Jackson (additional judge), February, 1872,
resigned in the summer of 1874, and Thomas Beer, appointed August 15, 1874, and
elected in October, 1874, to serve the unexpired term of Judge Jackson up to
February, 1877 (Judge Beer was re-elected in October, 1876, for a full term, but
the subdivision was soon afterward changed, Crawford County, wherein he lived,
becoming a part of another subdivision); Henry H. Dodge, May, 1878, second term
expires in May, 1888; John McCauley (additional judge), February, 1880, resigned
in April, 1883, to accept an appointment on the supreme court commission, and
Luther M. Strong appointed to fill vacancy until the following October election,
when George F. Pendleton was chosen to serve the unexpired term of Judge
McCauley, up to February, 1885. Judge Pendleton was re-elected as his own
successor in October, 1884, and began his regular term in February, 1885, which
expires in February, 1890. Judges Dodge and Pendleton are now the judges of this
subdivision.

   The associate judges of Hancock County from its organization up to the
abolition of the office were as follows: Abraham Huff, March, 1828, to March,
1835; Robert McKinnis, March, 1828, to March, 1835; Ebenezer Wilson, March,
1828, to March, 1842; Robert L. Strother, March, 1835, to March, 1842; John W.
Baldwin, March, 1835, resigned in July, 1835; Major Bright, appointed in August,
1835, served till March, 1836; William Roller, March, 1836, to March, 1849; John
Ewing, March, 1842, to March, 1849; Michael Price, March, 1849, to March, 1851;
John Cooper, March, 1849, to March, 1852; Gamaliel C. Barnd, March, 1849, to
March, 1852; Levi Sampson, March, 1851, to March, 1852.

   The prosecuting attorneys since the organization of the county have been as
follows: Anthony Casad, of Bellefontaine, June, 1828, resigned in September,
1832; Edson Goit, appointed in September. 1832, served till May, 1836; Arnold F.
Merriam, appointed in June, 1836, resigned April 4, 1837; Edson Goit, appointed
April 4, 1837, resigned October 2, 1838; Jacob Barnd, appointed October 2, 1838,
served till January, 1839; Jude Hall, January, 1839. to January, 1843; Abel F.
Parker, January, 1843, to January, 1845; William M. Patterson, January, 1845, to
January, 1847; Abel F. Parker, January, 1847, resigned April 5, 1849, while
serving his third term; John E. Rosette, appointed April 5, 1849, and served by
election to January, 1854; William Gribben, January, 1854, to January, 1858;
Edson Goit, January, 1858, to January, 1862: James A. Bope. January, 1862, went
into the army and resigned in October, 1862; Henry Brown, appointed November 10,
1862, served by election to January, 1868; William H. Anderson, January, 1868,
to January, 1872; George F. Pendleton, January, 1872, to January, 1876; Henry
Brown, January, 1876, to January, 1880; Aaron B. Shafer, January, 1880, to
January, 1885; Henry Brown, January, 1885, term expires in January, 1888.

   The first visiting lawyers who practiced at this bar were Anthony Casad, of
Bellefontaine, Andrew Coffinberry, of Mansfield, and afterward of Perrysburg,
Rodolphus Dickinson, of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), James H. Godman, of
Marion; Curtis Bates, of Maumee City and Defiance; Abel Rawson, of Tiffin; and
John M. May, of Mansfield and Maumee City. Most of these attorneys attended
court at Findlay before the village possessed a single member of the profession,
and for years afterward some of them were retained in nearly every important
case. Those early practitioners were generally men of marked ability in their
profession, and belonged to that sound and thorough class of thinkers who have
done so much to build up the jurisprudence of the State, and who, by reason of
the limited facilities afforded by reports and precedents, were compelled to
search out by their own thinking and investigation the true principles of the
law. In the course of time, as the county advanced in population and wealth, the
local practice of these itinerants fell into the possession of the few resident
attorneys who had located in Findlay, and the visits of the circuit-riding
lawyers became less frequent, as they only appeared occasionally in some
important lawsuit.

   As the race of hardy, adventurous, circuit-riding lawyers who organized the
courts of Northwestern Ohio have passed away forever, it may be interesting to
the younger members of the bar to contrast the hardships and perils of the past
with the ease and security of the present. Fifty-five years ago Judge David
Higgins held his first term of court in Findlay. Bain fell in torrents for
several successive days. The bridgeless streams swelled over their banks, and it
became impossible to proceed overland to Defiance to hold court at the appointed
time. But the indomitable Judge Higgins, and the hard-headed old stagers who
traveled his judicial district, were equal to the occasion. They hired a man to
take their horses through the Black Swamp to Perrysburg, purchased a pirogue,
which they appropriately named the "Jurisprudence," freighted it with their
saddles, bridles and baggage, and floated down the Blanchard and Auglaize Rivers
to Defiance, where they held the term, then re-embarked and floated down the
Maumee to Perrysburg. From an account of the trip written by Judge Higgins in
1872, for Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley," we take the following extract:
"Our company consisted of Rodolphus Dickinson, John C. Spink, Count Coffinberry,
myself and a countryman whose name I forget. The voyage was a dismal one to
Defiance, through an unsettled wilderness of some sixty miles. Its loneliness
was only broken by the intervening Indian settlement at Ottawa village, where we
were hailed and cheered lustily by the 'Tawa Indians, as would be a foreign
war-ship in the port of New York. From Defiance we descended the Maumee to
Perrysburg, where we found all well. In descending the Maumee, we came near
running into the rapids, where we should probably have been swamped had we not
been hailed from the shore and warned of our danger."

   In a letter to the writer, Hon. James M. Coffinberry, of Cleveland, gives the
following reminiscences of pioneer law practice in Northwestern Ohio: "In May,
1840," says Judge Coffinberry, "Judge Potter held his first term for Putnam
County. The Judge, with two or three lawyers, came into Kalida, the then county
seat, from Defiance, where he had been holding court. One or two lawyers came
over from Lima and two from Findlay. One of the Findlay attorneys, John H.
Morrisson, a slender, one-armed man, combining the physical strength of a girl
with the energy of a buzz-saw, was mounted on an unbroken three-year-old colt,
having left his-own horse disabled by the way. The other, Edson Goit, put in an
appearance on foot, carrying his saddle on his shoulders, his horse having
broken a leg in a floating corduroy bridge near the village. Every man had been
compelled to swim one or more streams to reach the county seat, and all were
thoroughly saturated with water and covered with mud. The only hotel—a good one
for the time and place—was adequate for the accommodation of all who came. His
honor, with three of the brethren of his choice, had one little room to
themselves. The rest of us lawyers, grand and petit jurors, suitors, witnesses
and spectators, slept well on the rude beds which covered the floors. The table
groaned with its weight of wild turkey, venison, mutton, fish, wild honey and
butter. Everybody washed in what was called 'the county wash-bowl,' and dried on
the 'county towel.' A barrel of new corn whisky on tap stood invitingly in one
corner of the dining-room, with a tin cup under the faucet, so that whosoever
would could drink without money and without price. And yet complaints were made
of the exorbitant charge of $1 per day for all this luxury, the care and feed of
our horses included."

   Edson Goit was the first resident lawyer of Findlay. He was a native of
Oswego Co., N. Y., born October 17, 1808. When Edson was quite small his father
died, but, through improving every opportunity during his boyhood years, he
managed to obtain a fair education, and taught school ere reaching his majority.
In 1827 he left his early home and traveled across Ohio until arriving at the
village of Fremont. Here he halted, and subsequently taught school in Fremont
and Tiffin. During this period Mr. Goit read law under Rodolphus Dickinson, of
Fremont, and Abel Rawson, of Tiffin, and July 12, 1832, was admitted to
practice. Learning that Findlay, the then new county seat of Hancock County, had
no lawyer, he at once concluded to cast his fortunes with that village.
Traveling on foot from Tiffin, he reached Findlay on the third day of his
journey, and went to reside in the home of Dr. L. Q. Rawson, a practicing
physician of the village. This was in August, 1832, and in September he was
appointed prosecuting attorney, which position he held until May, 1836. The
office of prosecutor, however, paid a very small salary during this period of
the county's history, and for several months after settling in Findlay, Mr. Goit
patiently waited for clients that never came. Discouraged at the poor outlook he
at last made up his mind to leave the town, but ere carrying out his intention
the tide turned, he was engaged to teach a school, and was thus guaranteed
sufficient to pay his board. Clients soon began to consult him, hope took the
place of despondency, and he gave up the idea of leaving Findlay. While boarding
at the tavern of William Taylor, in 1835, he married Miss Jane Patterson, a
sister of Mrs. Taylor, with whom she was living. In May, 1836, Mr. Goit was
appointed auditor, vice John C. Shannon, deceased, and served till March, 1837.
In April, 1837, he was again appointed prosecuting attorney, but resigned the
office in October, 1838. The same month he was elected treasurer, and filled
that office two successive terms. He was now on the high road to prosperity, and
besides attending to the duties of his profession launched out boldly into other
pursuits. He accumulated a large amount of land, and engaged extensively in
mercantile business in Hancock, Allen and Putnam Counties. He, however, got "too
many irons in the fire;" his business was too complex for judicious management,
and his large landed interests finally became an incumbrance and proved his
financial downfall. From January, 1858, to January, 1862, he again filled the
office of prosecuting attorney, and this closed his official career. Mr. Goit
possessed unbounded energy, and though a fair lawyer did not devote sufficient
attention to his profession to keep up with the times. He was a man of fine
personal appearance and dignified carriage, and was regarded as a very strong
jury lawyer. Though he finally lost the fruits of a lifetime of persevering
industry, he did not, however, "fail," as that term is commonly understood, but
paid his creditors to the last farthing, no man losing a cent by him, and his
every promise being faithfully redeemed. Such was his sterling honesty, that his
principal solace at the hour of death was the fact that he owed no man a dollar.
His first wife died in the spring of 1863, leaving a family of three sons and
one daughter. (One of the sons was subsequently killed in the Rebellion, the
other two reside in Wood County, and the daughter in Michigan.) Mr. Goit was
afterward married to Mrs. Sarah A. McConnell, of Van Buren, and in the fall of
1867 removed to Bowling Green, Wood Co., Ohio, where he died May 29, 1880. Two
daughters were born of the second marriage, both of whom are dead, but his widow
is still a resident of Bowling Green. No man has ever lived in Findlay who is
more kindly remembered than Edson Goit. He was charitable to a fault, and every
worthy public enterprise found in him a warm friend and generous supporter.

   Arnold F. Merriam was the second lawyer to locate in Findlay. He was born in
Brandon, Rutland Co., Vt.. December 17, 1811, and was there educated and began
the study of law. In early manhood he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where he
completed his law studies and was admitted to practice. He soon afterward
started for Vinton County, where he intended to locate, but during his journey
met Wilson Vance, who induced him to change his mind and come to Findlay. He
arrived here in the spring of 1885, and entered into partnership with Edson
Goit. In June, 1836, he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which office he
filled till April, 1837, when he resigned. On the 27th of May, 1837, he married
Miss Sarah A. Baldwin, sister of Dr. William Baldwin, who bore him one son and
two daughters. In January, 1838, Mr. Merriam started the Hancock Republican, the
first Whig paper published in the county, which he published about a year. He
then removed to Mansfield, Ohio, sold the press, and subsequently went to
Kentucky, where he died in July, 1844. His widow returned with her family to
Findlay, subsequently married Judge Robert L. Strother, and is still a resident
of Findlay. Though Mr. Merriam followed his profession about four years in this
county, he left Findlay at such an early day that little is remembered of him
except by his immediate friends.

   John H. Morrison, the nest resident lawyer, is one of the best known members
of the pioneer bar. He was born in Uniontown, Penn., in 1802, but removed when
quite young, to Perry County. Ohio, where at the age of fifteen he lost his
right arm by an accident. Young Morrison received a good common school
education, read law in the office of Philemon Beecher, of Lancaster, Ohio, began
practice in Bucyrus, and afterward filled the offices of prosecuting attorney
and treasurer of Crawford County. In the fall of 1836 he located in Findlay, and
soon became well known throughout Northwestern Ohio. Mr. Morrison was talented,
blunt and fearless to a remarkable degree, possessed untiring energy, and was an
indefatigable worker in the interests of his clients. He was very eccentric, and
many amusing anecdotes are told by the older members of the bar to illustrate
his marked peculiarities. Judge M. C. Whiteley says that during a certain term
of court held by Judge Goode, at Findlay, Mr. Morrison had a case in which he
manifested much interest, and after the evidence had closed he felt that the
cause of his client was lost. Feeling somewhat irritated, he began his address
to the court and jury in the following blunt manner: "May it please the court;
by the perjury of witnesses, the ignorance of the jury and the corruption of the
court, I expect to be beaten in this case." The Judge, very much surprised,
turned to the counsel and sharply inquired: "What is that you say, Mr.
Morrison?" Then the latter promptly replied, "That's all I have to say on that
point," and went on with his address. At another time, says the same authority,
one of his clients made application to the court for a license, and Judge Goode
announced that the application was refused. Considerably excited Mr. Morrison
arose and addressed the associates as follows: "Judge Ewing, is that your
decision?" "Yes." "Judge Roller, do you concur in that decision?" "Yes." He was
about putting the same question to Judge Hammond, when Judge Goode, very much
surprised at the proceeding said, "Mr. Morrison, what are you about? What are
you doing?" "Why, I'm polling the court, your honor." Mr. Morrison was married
in Perry County, Ohio, to a Miss Henthorn, who died in Bucyrus without issue. He
afterward married Miss Nancy Williams, who reared a family of five children,
four of whom with the mother are residents of Findlay. He died April 19, 1854,
but he is as vividly remembered by the old members of the profession as if his
death occurred only a year ago instead of thirty-two.

   Jacob Barnd was a bright, promising young lawyer, who died in 1845. He was a
native of Perry County, Ohio, and a son of Christian Barnd, a pioneer of 1831,
in which year he removed with his parents to this county. In 1832 the family
moved from the farm into Findlay, where Jacob afterward studied law under Edson
Goit. He was admitted in 1837, and in October, 1838, was appointed prosecuting
attorney, but served only till the following January. He filled the recorder's
office two terms, from October, 1838, to October, 1844, and it is probable he
did not practice much during that period. He left two sons, one of whom lives in
Fostoria, and the other in Kansas.

   Jude Hall came to Findlay about 1836, where he followed the carpenter trade,
and sometimes preached the gospel. He was a queer specimen of the genus homo and
quite an eccentric character. He read law with Edson Goit, and soon after
admission, in 1838, he was elected prosecuting attorney, and re-elected in 1840.
In 1843 he removed to Defiance, and thence to Upper Sandusky, where further
trace of him is lost in the fading twilight of tradition.

   Hon. Charles W. O'Neal comes next in the order of time. He was born in
Middletown, Frederick Co., Md., January 19, 1811, and in 1833 removed to
Zanesville, Ohio, where the following year he was married to Miss Amy J.
Baldwin. In July, 1835, he came to Findlay, and began the study of law in the
office of Goit & Merriam, and in August, 1838, was admitted to practice. Mr.
O'Neal was a practical surveyor, and did a great deal of surveying in this
county. He was also one of the pioneer school teachers of Findlay. In 1836 he
was elected auditor, serving one term, and also represented this district in the
State Senate from 1844 to 1846. He practiced his profession in Hancock County
nearly forty years, retiring from active practice a few years prior to his
death, and removing to Indiana, whence he returned to and died in Findlay,
December 20, 1879. Mr. 0' Neal, though a safe counsellor, was not an advocate,
and rarely appeared in that capacity in any important case. He was very
methodical and dignified in his practice, terse and forcible in argument, and
always courteous to the opposing counsel. He was close and economical in his
business habits, and very successful in the accumulation of wealth, leaving to
his descendants a handsome fortune.

   Abel F. Parker was born in Cavendish, Windsor Co., Vt., May 11, 1800, and
died in Findlay, May 31, 1881, in his eighty-second year. In early manhood he
settled in Genesee County, N. Y., where he was married in 1823 to Miss Maria
Strong. In December, 1836, he removed with his family to Blanchard Township,
Hancock Co., Ohio, and two years afterward located in Findlay. He read law under
Edson Goit, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. The same year he was elected
prosecuting attorney and served one term. In 1846 he was again elected
prosecutor, and re-elected in 1848, but resigned the office in April, 1849. Mr.
Parker also filled the office of postmaster of Findlay. His first wife died in
1848, leaving a family of one son and two daughters. In 1852 Mr. Parker married
Mrs. Sarah A. Robinson, who bore him two sons and one daughter. Five of the six
children survive, and all were living at the time of their father's death, the
eldest, Edwin, having since died. Though Mr. Parker lived to the ripe old age of
more than four score years, he nevertheless continued in practice up to within a
short period of his decease. He loved his profession and was highly respected by
his associates of the bar.

   Ezra Brown is the oldest surviving member of the present bar of Findlay,
though not now in active practice. He was born in Lower Canada, August 4, 1814,
and when about three years old removed with his parents to what is now the town
of Albion, Orleans Co., N. Y., where he resided till October, 1839, when he came
to Findlay. He entered the law office of John H. Morrison, and was admitted to
practice in July, 1842. He formed a partnership with his preceptor, and
continued in practice until February, 1847, then removed to a farm in Wood
County, near Fostoria. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Brown returned to Findlay and
resumed the practice of his profession. He remained in practice till the fall of
1880, and then retired from the active duties thereof. In the spring of 1885 Mr.
Brown was elected justice of the peace, which office he now holds. He has been
mayor of Findlay, and also served in the town council. On the 11th of November,
1845, he was married to Miss Jane E. Bigelow, who died February 4, 1873, leaving
a family of two daughters. One son died at Memphis in 1863, while serving in the
late Rebellion.

   Elijah Williams was also a student in the office of Mr. Morrison, and was
admitted with Ezra Brown in July, 1842. He practiced in Findlay about eight
years ere his removal to Oregon, and is remembered as a sharp, shrewd but
diffident lawyer. Judge Coffinberry, in a recent letter to the writer, says: "I
found Elijah Williams, one of the early lawyers of Findlay, at Portland. He is
seventy-six, well preserved in mind and body, well heeled financially, and
living as pleasantly as a widower can live, on one of his farms on the margin of
East Portland. He feels that his life work is about done, but from the snap of
his eyes when we talked finance, I judge that he still feels the inclination as
well as the pecuniary ability to discount a good note for any reasonable amount."

   Hon. Machias C. Whiteley can be justly called the Nestor of the bar of
Hancock County, as for nearly forty-three years he has been an active
participant in the courts of this portion of the State. He comes of Scotch-Irish
stock, and was born May 24, 1822, in East New Market, Dorchester Co., Md., on
the eastern shore of that State. His paternal grandfather was a patriot of the
Revolution, and his father served in the war of 1812 against the same old foe of
American liberty. In 1832 his parents, Willis and Elizabeth Whiteley, removed
with their family to Baltimore, Fairfield Co., Ohio, where Machias worked on a
farm and attended the common schools of the neighborhood. He subsequently
learned the harness and saddler trade, which he followed until coming to Findlay
in 1840. For two years he worked in the clerk's office, devoting his spare time
in reading law with Goit & O'Neal, and then returned to Fairfield County, where
he continued his law studies with Medill & Whitman, of Lancaster. On the 4th of
July, 1843, he was admitted to the bar at Tiffin, and immediately opened a law
office in Findlay, where he gradually grew into a lucrative practice. In 1847
Mr. Whiteley was married to Miss Sarah A. Henderson, a native of Wayne County,
Ohio, and daughter of William L. Henderson, a leading pioneer surveyor and
official of Hancock County, and one of the early settlers of Findlay. Nine
children were born to this union, the survivors being Willis H. and Frederick
P., of Findlay; Mrs. George B. Stevenson, of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and Mrs. F.
B. Satterthwaite, of Ottawa, Ohio. In 1848 Mr. Whiteley was elected to the
Legislature, and re-elected in 1849. While in the Legislature he took part in
the election of Salmon P. Chase to the United States Senate, and secured the
charter of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad. In 1856 he was a
delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which nominated Buchanan and
Breckinridge for President and Vice-president of the United States. The same
fall he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the third subdivision
of the Ninth Judicial District, and re-elected in 1861, serving on the bench ten
years. In 1864 Judge Whiteley was nominated on the Democratic ticket for supreme
judge, but with the balance of the ticket was defeated, the State going largely
Republican that year. Upon retiring from the bench in 1867, Judge Whiteley
resumed practice in Find-lay, and has ever since devoted his attention to his
professional duties, the firm of Whiteley & Bope being long recognized as one of
the prominent legal firms of Northwestern Ohio. Judge Whiteley's wife died July
27, 1880, and the following year he married Mrs. Mary C. Hollinger, daughter of
Dr. A. F. Burson, of Mt. Blanchard, who died February 1, 1886.

   William M. Patterson was admitted to the bar at Tiffin, July 4, 1843, on the
same day as Machias C. Whiteley. He was born in Harrison County, Ohio, March 24,
1812, and in the spring of 1834 came to Findlay with his parents, Major John and
Elizabeth Patterson. He read law with Charles W. O'Neal, and upon his admission
began practice in Findlay. In 1844 he was elected prosecuting attorney and
served one term. He was married, in 1834, to Susan Amspoker, and resided in
Findlay till 1854, when, with his wife and four children, he removed to Kansas,
and died in the spring of 1858, from the effects of an accident caused by a
boiler explosion in the fall of 1855, in a saw-mill which he was then operating.

   Hon. James M. Coffinberry became a member of the Findlay bar in the fall of
1845. He was born in Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio, May 16, 1818; whence in 1836
his father, Andrew Coffinberry, removed to Perrysburg, Wood County. Here James
M. read law in his father's office, and in 1840 was admitted to the bar. His
father, widely known as "Count" Coffinberry, was one of the leading attorneys of
Northwestern Ohio, and practiced in this portion of the State throughout the
earlier years of its history. Soon after admission, James M. opened a law office
in Maumee City, and subsequently served as prosecuting attorney of Lucas County.
Late in the fall of 1845 he settled in Findlay, where he purchased an interest
and took editorial charge of the Findlay Herald, the local organ of the Whig
party. In the spring of 1846 he became sole owner of the Herald, which he
published about three years, then sold out to Dr. David Patton. From the date of
his coming to Findlay, Judge Coffinberry took and retained a leading position at
the Hancock County bar; and in 1852 was a prime mover in the establishment of
the Findlay Bank, the first financial institution established in the county.
Feeling the need of a larger field for the full exercise of his maturer powers,
he concluded in 1855 to remove to Cleveland, where he at once assumed a high
rank among the eminent lawyers of that city. In 1861 he was elected on the Union
ticket, judge of the common pleas court, and served five years on the bench.
Upon the expiration of hit judicial term, he resumed his professional duties,
and continued in the enjoyment of a large and lucrative practice till 1875 when
he retired, and has since devoted his energies to the management of his private
estate. Judge Coffinberry is a man of broad culture, a clear, vigorous and
forcible writer, and has justly been recognized as a brilliant advocate, a
logical and comprehensive reasoner, and an upright, unswerving and impartial
judge. "His charges to the jury." says one high authorily, [sic] "were models
for clearness, directness and logical compactness, and it is complimentary to
his judicial learning and professional ability, that no legal opinion pronounced
by him was ever reversed on review by a higher court." Judge Coffinberry has
always taken a deep and active interest in the social and material progress of
the beautiful city of his adoption.

   Charles S. Coffinberry, a younger brother of the Judge, practiced law in
Findlay about three years. He was a native of Mansfield, Ohio, born February 1,
1824; read law with his father at Perrysburg, and came to Findlay in the spring
of 1846, where he formed a partnership with John H. Morrison. In 1849. in
company with many others from this portion of Ohio, he went to California, and
was afterward appointed by President Fillmore to take the first census of that
State. In the discharge of this laborious undertaking he was ably assisted by
his father, who had followed him to California. He finally returned to Ohio, and
for a few months was associated with his brother in the practice of the law in
Cleveland; but failing health compelled him to again relinquish his professional
labors, and he went to Oregon and New Mexico, where he spent the latter years of
his life, dying of consumption about thirty miles south of Pueblo, December 17,
1873.

   Aaron H. Bigelow was a native of Vermont and a graduate of Middle-bury
College. He there read law and was admitted to practice. In July, 1841, he
located in Findlay, and for a few years was engaged in mercantile pursuits. He
then began the practice of the law, which he followed until 1856, when he gave
up the profession and subsequently removed to Indiana, where he died about ten
years ago. Mr. Bigelow possessed a good education, and was a fair speaker, but
never acquired much practice.

   John E. Rosette first located in Mt. Blanchard, where he was married. In 1848
he removed to Findlay, and in April, 1849, was appoined [sic] prosecuting
attorney, vice Abel F. Parker, resigned. He was twice elected to the same
position, serving until January, 1854. He was a modest, quiet man, of studious
habits, possessing good legal judgment, but diffident and lacking self reliance.
Soon after the expiration of his last term as prosecutor he removed to
Springfield, Ill., where he rapidly secured recognition as a sound, reliable
lawyer. He was appointed by President Johnson United States district attorney
for the southern district of Illinois. For some years before his death he
enjoyed a wide reputation as a criminal lawyer, and commanded the confidence of
a bar embracing many distinguished men.

   Henry Brown, the present prosecuting attorney of Hancock County, is one of
the oldest and best known members of the bar. He was born in Albion, Orleans
Co., N. Y., November 5, 1826, and received a good literary and classical
education at the Albion Academy. In May, 1844, he came to Ohio, and engaged in
school teaching near Fostoria, which vocation he followed three years. During
this period he commenced the study of law under Hon. Warren P. Noble, of Tiffin,
and in the fall of 1848 was admitted to practice. In January, 1849, he located
in Findlay, as a member of the law firm of Goit, Bigelow & Brown. In January,
1851, Mr. Brown became one of the editors and proprietors of the Hancock
Courier, which he continued to publish until January, 1854, when he sold his
interest to his partner, Aaron Blackford, who had also been his law partner for
the last two years. In January, 1855, he assumed entire editorial control of the
Courier, and carried on the paper till December 20, 1856. He was elected auditor
in October, 1854, and served till March, 1857, Mr. Brown was then compelled by
ill health to retire from active business. After a period of needed recuperation
he resumed the practice of his profession, and has ever since remained at the
helm. In November, 1862, Mr. Brown was appointed prosecuting attorney to serve
the unexpired term of James A. Bope, resigned; was elected as his own successor,
and re-elected to the same position. In 1868 he was the Democratic senatorial •
candidate for election in this district, and made a splendid race, reducing the
previous Republican majority 1,973 votes, being defeated by only 227. Mr. Brown
was again elected prosecutor in 1875, and re-elected in 1877. In 1884 he was
once more chosen to fill the same office, and is the present incumbent. Mr.
Brown has hosts of friends, and no member of the bar stands higher in the esteem
and confidence of the people of Hancock County. He is regarded as one of the
county's safest and most honorable attorneys, and for many years has enjoyed a
large and well paying practice, all of which he justly deserves.

   William Gribben is one of the present members of the bar, and might have been
to-day one of its brightest ornaments if he had devoted his talents to his
profession. He was born in Allegheny County, Penn., March 11, 1825, and the
following autumn his parents removed to what is now Ashland County, Ohio, where
William grew to maturity and received a common school education. He read law
with Johnson & Sloan, of Ashland, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of
1850. The same autumn he located in Findlay, and formed a partnership with John
H. Morrison, and subsequently with Judge Whiteley. In 1853 he was elected
prosecuting attorney, and re-elected in 1855, serving two consecutive terms. He
served in the Legislature from 1862 to 1864, and received the certificate of
reelection, but lost the seat on contest. This was during the most
exciting-period in the political history of the State, when Democrats were
publicly branded as rebels, and political passion ran high.

   In 1851, Philip G. Galpin came to Findlay and entered into partnership with
his brother-in-law, James M. Coffinberry, which was the beginning of his legal
career. He was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1830, reared in New Haven, Conn.,
graduated from Yale College, read law in New Haven and was admitted to the bar
at Columbus, Ohio, in 1851, whence he immediately removed, to Findlay. After
about two years' practice at this bar, Mr. Gal-pin went to Toledo, and
subsequently to New York City, where he practiced his profession several years
with flattering success. Frequent bleeding at the lungs warned him that he must
find a more congenial climate, and he sought and found deliverance at San
Francisco. In that great metropolis of the Pacific coast he soon won recognition
as the peer of the many able members of his profession. He now stands at the
head of the California bar as a real estate lawyer, and is in the full tide of a
distinguished and useful career.

   Aaron Blackford is one of the oldest and most prominent members of the
Hancock County bar, to which he has belonged for about thirty-four years. He was
born in Columbiana County, Ohio, February 8, 1827, and removed to Findlay with
his parents, Price and Abigail Blackford, in October, 1834. He received his
education in the public schools of Findlay and at Delaware College, Delaware,
Ohio. He read law with Henry Brown, of Findlay, attended the Cincinnati Law
School, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1852. In January, 1851, he became
associated with Henry Brown in the publication of the Hancock Courier, which
they jointly edited till January, 1854, when Mr. Blackford became sole editor.
He conducted the paper about one year, and then disposed of his interest to his
former partner. During this period Mr. Blackford also practiced law, and with
the passing years has attained considerable local eminence in his profession. He
is well known throughout this portion of the State, and his practice has kept
pace with the growth in wealth and population of his adopted county.

   Andrew, familiarly known as "Count" Coffinberry, was conspicuous among the
old time lawyers of the Maumee Valley, and though not a resident of Findlay
until a few years prior to his death, he practiced at this bar before the county
possessed a single attorney. He was born at Martinsburg, Berkley Co., Va.,
August 20, 1788, where his grandparents had emigrated from Germany in 1750. In
1794 his father, George L. Coffinberry.a Revolutionary patriot, removed with his
family to Ohio County, Va., and in 1796 to Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1807 the family
settled at Lancaster, Ohio, where the father established a newspaper—the first
published in that town. Andrew worked in the office, and subsequently, in
partnership with John C. and James M. Gilkinson, succeeded his father in its
publication, first at Lancaster and afterward at St. Clairsville. Finding the
business not very remunerative, Andrew went to Philadelphia and worked in a
newspaper office and on a press formerly owned and conducted by Benjamin
Franklin. From there he shipped on the United States frigate "Constitution,"
commanded by Capt. Isaac Hull. After a naval service of two years he joined his
parents, who had removed to the then embryo village of Mansfield, Ohio. It is
said lie used to read the one weekly paper which came to Mansfield as early as
1811, from a big log on the public square to the assembled citizens of the
village. He read law hi the office of John M. May, of Mansfield, and was
admitted to practice in 1813. Mr. Coffinberry was the first law student, the
first justice of the peace and the second lawyer in Mansfield, and one of the
earliest, if not the first, common pleas clerk of Richland County. Though
residing at Mansfield his practice extended to the western boundary of the
State. We find him in Findlay as early as 1831, and he may have been here prior
to that date. In the spring of 1836 he removed with his family to Perrysburg,
Wood County, where he resided till 1849-50. From Perrysburg he removed to
Sidney, Shelby Co., Ohio; there he left his family and went to California. Upon
the death of his wife, which occurred during his absence, his son James M.
brought the family to Findlay, where then father joined them on his return from
California. Here he continued in practice until his death, May 11, 1856. Count
Coffinberry was not only a lawyer of ability, but possessed considerable
literary talent and gave some attention to the Muses. "The Forest Bangers," a
descriptive poem on the battle of Fallen Timbers, is yet well remembered as one
of his productions. "He was," says a recent biographer, "a man of rare
endowments and marked characteristics, widely known and greatly esteemed for his
pure and upright life, while his quaint wit and genial manners gave him ready
access to the hearts of all classes. He was called the 'Good Count Coffinberry'
by the younger members of the profession (all of whom if living are now past
middle life), in grateful recognition of services rendered and courtesies shown
them when they most needed direction and encouragement from such veterans of the
bar. His sobriquet of 'Count' was first playfully given him by his professional
associates, from some real or supposed resemblance to the illustrious German
jurist and publicist Count Puffendorf. The title was recognized as being so
appropriate to the man that it stuck to him for life, and thousands of those who
knew him long and well never learned that it was not his real name."

   Hon. William Mungen is a native of Baltimore, Md., born May 12, 1821, and
removed to Carroll County, Ohio, in 1830. Here he received a common school
education and subsequently studied Latin. German and the physical sciences. He
came to Findlay in October, 1842; in February 1845, took possession of the old
Hancock Farmer and changed the name to the Hancock Democrat, and on the 1st of
July, 1845, became the editor and proprietor of the Hancock Courier,
consolidating the two papers. Excepting one year that the office was rented to
William M. Case and a short period to B. F. Rosenberg, Mr. Mungen published the
Courier until January, 1851, when he sold the establishment to Henry Brown and
Aaron Blackford, two leading members of the present bar. In 1846 Mr. Mungen was
elected auditor of Hancock County and re-elected in 1848. In 1851 he was chosen
to represent this district in the State Senate and declined a re-nomination,
which was then equal to election. In the meantime he had been reading law during
his spare moments, and in 1852 was admitted to the bar and began practice. When
the Rebellion broke out in 1861, Mr. Mungen was foremost in recruiting the
Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned colonel of that
gallant regiment, which he commanded until April, 1863, when he resigned his
commission. Col. Mungen served as a Democrat two terms in Congress, from 1867 to
1871, and in recognition of his services in the army is now receiving a pension.
During the active period of his career Col. Mungen was recognized as a clear,
forcible and logical writer, a fair lawyer and a shrewd, vigorous politician.
When not engaged in the duties of the several public offices he has filled, Col.
Mungen devoted his attention to his profession, in which he was quite successful.

   John F. Caples came to Findlay from Fostoria (then Rome) in the fall of 1854,
and practiced law here till the spring of 1858, when he removed to Warsaw, Ind.
He subsequently went to Portland, Oreg., where he is still engaged in the
practice of his profession. "John F. Caples," says Judge Coffinberry, "is one of
the best known and most distinguished lawyers of his adopted State, and one of
the most entertaining and eloquent forensic speakers on the Pacific coast. He is
in good circumstances, has reared an interesting and accomplished family, is
full of anecdote and bubbling over with fun." During his stay in Findlay he was
recognized as a good speaker and a promising young lawyer.

   Daniel B. Beardsley, one of the older members of the present bar, was born in
Licking County, Ohio, May 12, 1832, and was brought by his parents to Hancock
County in 1834, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Beardsley was educated in
the public schools of the county, and followed school teaching for some years.
He read law under Walker & West, of Bellefontaine, and was there admitted to the
bar in August, 1856. In March, 1857, he located in practice in Findlay, since
which date he has belonged to the bar of this county. In 1858 he was elected a
justice of the peace of Findlay Township, and re-elected eight times, serving
continuously from the spring of 1858 to the spring of 1885, a period of
twenty-seven years. Mr. Beardsley was prominent in the organization of "The
Hancock County Pioneer and Historical Association," and an active member during
its existence. His connection with this society prompted him to write a history
of the county, which he published in 1881. Since retiring from the office of
justice in the spring of 1885, he has devoted his attention to his profession. 

   William C. Bunts located in Findlay in the spring of 1858, whither he removed
from Youngstown, Mahoning Co., Ohio, of which county he was a native. He
graduated, in 1854, from Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn., read law with
Ridgley Powers, of Youngstown, and upon admission began practice with his
preceptor. Mr. Bunts practiced law in Findlay till 1860, and then returned to
Youngstown and resumed partnership with Mr. Powers. During the war he served for
a time on the staff of Gen. Rosecrans, and then settled at Nashville, Tenn. He
afterward came back to Youngstown; thence removed to Cleveland, where he filled
the positions of Assistant United States District Attorney and city solicitor,
dying January 16, 1874, while holding the latter office.

   Hon. John M. Palmer was born in Clinton County, N. Y., July 5, 1814, learned
the cabinet-maker's trade in Rutland, Vt., and worked at his trade in that
State. In 1837 he came to Ohio, and attended Granville Seminary. He studied law
with Hon. Henry Stansberry, of Cincinnati, and was there admitted to practice in
1841. In 1843 he was married at Lancaster, Ohio, to Miss Ellen Weaver, and
located in practice at Somerset, Perry County. In 1846 he removed to Defiance,
where he followed his profession till 1852, when he was elected judge of the
court of common pleas. While still on the bench Judge Palmer removed to Putnam
County, in which county he had considerable landed interests, and a township of
which was named in his honor. In June, 1858, he settled in Findlay, and resumed
the practice of law in partnership with John Maston. From 1861 to 1863 he was a.
commissary in the army with the rank of captain, but resigning the office
remained in the South for some time. Returning to Findlay he again took up his
practice and followed the profession up to the illness which resulted in his
death, November 29, 1876.

   Col. James A. Bope, of the firm of Whiteley & Bope, is a native of Adams
County, Ohio, born November 30, 1833. His parents removed to Fairfield County,
where our subject grew to maturity and received the advantages of a public
school education. He graduated from Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, in
1855, and soon afterward entered the law office of Hunter & Dougherty, of
Lancaster, Ohio. In the fall of 1857 he was admitted to practice, and the
following year opened an office in Lancaster. Col. Bope came to Findlay in the
fall of 1859, where he has ever since prosecuted his profession. In October,
1861, he was elected on the Democratic ticket prosecuting attorney of Hancock
County; but he entered the army as captain of Company D, Ninety-ninth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, in July, 1862, and resigned the prosecutorship the following
October. He served until the close of the war, and came out with the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. Resuming practice in Findlay he soon became recognized as
one of the most prominent attorneys of this bar. Col. Bope is a careful,
conscientious, scholarly lawyer, who believes thoroughly in the dignity of his
profession, and is one of the most courteous, popular and successful members of
the legal fraternity.

   A few other lawyers, besides those mentioned, practiced for a brief period.
in Findlay prior to 1860. Alonzo Monroe was here as early as 1847, and after a
few years' limited practice left the county. Jacob Carr was admitted to the bar
in 1848, but after a couple of years' trial abandoned the profession and has
since practiced dentistry. Charles C. Pomroy was practicing here in the spring
of 1857, and in 1858 was elected mayor of Findlay, but he soon after removed
from the town. S. F. Hull's name appears among the attorneys of this bar in
June, 1856, but he remained only a couple of years. John Maston was a partner of
Judge Palmer, in June, 1858, and he, too, soon left the county. Philip Ford, who
came in October, 1859, and a few other names might be added to these, though
none of them staid sufficiently long to acquire much practice, or to become
fully identified with the interests of the Hancock County bar.

   Brief biographies of the principal resident attorneys of the county who
practiced at this bar prior to 1860 having now been given, it only remains to
add the following alphabetical list of the present bar: William H. Anderson.
Oren A. Ballard. Frank Ballard, Daniel B. Beardsley, Jesse C. Bitler, Aaron
Blackford, Jason Blackford, James A. Bope, Ezra Brown, Henry Brown. Jacob F.
Burket, William L. Carlin. Ira B. Conine, Elijah T. Dunn, Alfred Graber, William
Gribben, John M. Hamlin, John H. Johnston, Samuel A. Kagy, Robert Morris,
William Mungen. George F. Pendleton, James M. Platt, John Poe, Aaron B. Shafer,
Morgan D. Shafer, John Sheridan. Theodore Totten, Machias C. Whiteley, Willis H.
Whiteley and Albert Zugschwert.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/hancock/history/1886brown/chapter006.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/

File size: 64.4 Kb