FRANK E. POMERENE was gained a position of much more than local distinction as a member of the legal fraternity, being now regarded as one of the ablest corporation lawyers of northern Ohio.  He is practicing in Coshocton as a junior partner of the firm of Pomerene & Pomerene and fully sustains the high reputation which has always been associated with the family name since his honored father, Judge C. Pomerene, became a member of the Ohio bar.  Extended mention of Judge Pomerene is made on another page of this work and the ancestral history of the family is also given in that connection.
     Frank Etherington Pomerene, whose name introduces this review, was born in Coshocton, Mar. 25, 1868, and, spending his boyhood days under the parental roof, was sent as a student to the public schools until he had mastered the high school course and won his diploma with the class of 1885.  He afterward became a student in the Ohio State University, from which he was graduated in 1891 and then, preparing for the bar in the same institution, he was graduated from the law department with the class of 1895.  Returning immediately to Coshocton, he joined his brother in practice, and the firm has become recognized as one of the leading firms in corporation law in northern Ohio.  Their attention is devoted largely to practice for private corporations, yet they are also legal representatives for several railroad companies and general counsel for the Ohio Electric Railway Company.  They also represent the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, the Toledo, Walhonding Valley & Ohio Railroad, the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, together with various manufacturing and financial institutions in Coshocton county.  Frank E. Pomerene is an earnest student, preparing his cases with great thoroughness and care, and as counsel and attorney before the courts he has manifested ability that places him with the leading lawyers of this part of the state.
     In June, 1896, Frank E. Pomerene was married in Coshocton to Miss Mary E. Wilson, a daughter of James S. and Sarah (Hay) Wilson, the former now deceased.  They are prominent in the social circles of the city and their elegant home on Chestnut street is noted for its gracious and charming hospitality.  Mr. Pomerene is a democrat in his political views but without aspiration for office.  The only public positions he has filled have been in connection with educational interests.  He was appointed for a seven years' term as member of the board of trustees of the Ohio State University and is now serving as president of that board, while his efforts in behalf of the institution have been far-reaching and beneficial.  He has also been active in the upbuilding of the Coshocton public library and was largely instrumental in securing the Carnegie donation thereto.  In person, the talents and in character he is a worthy scion of his race and in a profession demanding strong intellectuality, close application and indefatigable energy he has made for himself a most creditable name.
Source: Centennial History of Coshocton County, Ohio - Vol. I - Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. - 1909 - Page 523

JUDGE JULIUS C. POMERENE, lawyer and jurist, whose name is now on the roll of the county's honored dead, was one of the distinguished members of the Ohio bar.  He well merited the honor and success which came to him, for he labored earnestly to secure advancement, realizing that in no profession does progress depend more largely upon individual merit than in the practice of the law.  He gained notable distinction through the fit utilization of the innate talents which were his, becoming an able lawyer with keen analytical and logical mind, giving to his clients the benefit of ripe ability and unqualified allegiance.  He possessed a mind of singular precision and power, capable of an impartial view of both sides of the question and of arriving at a just conclusion.  His life history forms an important chapter in the annals of this county.
     Family tradition has it that the founder of the family in America was a French youth, Julius Pomerene, who ran away from home, was secreted by La Fayette on one of his vessels and, after the arrival of the French troops in the new world, served with the American forces through the Revolutionary war, one account claiming that he held the rank of sergeant under General La Fayette.  After the close of the war he became a resident of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was there married to Magdalena Heller, a German lady.
     Julius C. Pomerene, a son of Julius and Elizabeth (Piersol) Pomerene, was born in Salt Creek township, Holmes county, Ohio, June 27, 1835.  His boyhood and youth were spent upon the farm where his father settled on removing from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1819.  There the father of our subject lived until called to his final rest in 1863, his time and energies being devoted to general agricultural pursuits. His son and namesake, Judge Pomerene, was a pupil in the district schools until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he matriculated in Mount Union College, where he remained for two years.  He did not have the means to pursue an uninterrupted course through college and he spent his summers and vacations at work on the farm, while in the fall and winter months he taught or attended school as necessity and opportunity pointed the way.  He was for one year a student in the Hayesville Academy and altogether spent about three years in the acquirement of a higher education.
     Ambition to become a member of the bar, Judge Pomerene began reading law as a student in the office and under the direction of Hoagland & Reed, then the leading attorneys of Holmes county, with whom he continued for a year.  At the expiration of that period he entered the State and Union Law College at Cleveland, Ohio, from which he was graduated in June, 1859.  In November of the same year he located for practice at Coshocton and remained an active and prominent member of the bar until his election to the bench of the circuit court in 1892.  He was first associated in partnership with Colonel Josiah Given, another one of the judges of the supreme court of Iowa, and this connection continued until the outbreak of the Civil war.  Judge Pomerene afterward practiced alone for about eighteen months and was then associated with Benjamin S. Lee for six years.  On the dissolution of that partnership he joined Etherington T. Spangler in a partnership that remained in effect for fifteen years.  Judge Pomerene was then alone in practice until 1886, when on the admission of his son, William R., the firm of J. C. and W. R. Pomerene was formed.  Thee was no interruption to this association until Jan. 1, 1893, when Judge Pomerene withdrew to take his place upon the bench of the circuit court.  In the meantime he had gained distinction as one of the foremost members of the bar of northern Ohio.  One who knew him well said of him:
     "There is not a man in Coshocton county who is more highly respected as a citizen than Judge Pomerene.  He is a gentleman both by nature and education.  He is upright in his intercourse with his fellow citizens and has a thorough appreciation of the rights of others.  He is a man of firm convictions, though not dogmatical in enforcing his views on others.  He is open, frank and sincere in his manner and has the confidence and esteem of all those who come to know him well.  As a lawyer he has long been one of the foremost at this bar.  He is conscientious with his clients and is regarded as a safe counselor.  He had a large practice before he went on the bench, which was of a general nature, though he had more chancery practice, perhaps, than business in open court.  He is recognized as one of the best read lawyers in this section of the state and is eminently qualified for the judicial ermine."
     Such was Judge Pomerene's position in the public regard that when he received the democratic nomination for one of the judges of the fifth judicial district it was at once conceded that it was almost useless to place an opponent in the field.  His election was a foregone conclusion and the record which he made on the bench is perhaps best told in the words of an eminent member of the Ohio bar, who said:
     "Judge Pomerene is an able Jurist.  He is adapted by nature and education for a judge.  He has an equitable mind and is well grounded in the principles of law.  He is clear and concise in his statements of questions of law and eminently just in his decisions.  He is conservative and safe rather than brilliant, and his judgment has been sustained by the supreme court.  The purity of his life, the honesty of his purpose and his close adherence to the practice of law, to the exclusion of everything else since he entered the profession, are other elements of his character that have raised him in the esteem of the members of the bar in the district.   He has maintained himself well in the position of judge and fully met the expectations of those who placed him there."
     As previously indicated, Judge Pomerene was a stalwart democrat, yet was without those qualities that are characteristic of the so-called politician.  He was a believer in the principles of his party and recognized the obligations of citizenship but never countenanced in the slightest degree the employment of political methods which would not bear the closest investigation.   On the bench he never allowed partisanship or personal prejudice to interfere with the faithful administration of justice and his decisions were not only strictly fair but were based also upon a comprehensive knowledge of the law.  He was yet the incumbent in the office of circuit judge when death came to him suddenly Dec. 23, 1897.
     Judge Pomerene is still survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.  Mrs. Pomerene, who bore the maiden name of Irene Perky, was a daughter of John F. and Julia Perky, of Hancock county, Ohio.  The sons are William R. and Frank E., associates in the practice of law under the firm name of Pomerene & Pomerene, while the daughter, Helen, is the wife of Lincoln C. Carson, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  She was born Sept. 28, 1869, and was a student in the Coshocton public schools, in Granville, Female College of Granville, Ohio, and a convent school at Nottingham, near Cleveland.  She was married Nov. 11, 1903, and has one daughter, Helen Pomerene Carson, born Sept. 27, 1904.
     Such in brief is the life history of Judge Pomerene.  He was a man respected and honored by young and old, rich and poor.  He had many warm friends and those who came within the closer circle of his acquaintance found him a most genial companion, while all who knew him entertained for him the esteem which the world instinctively pays in recognition of genuine worth.  During his practice his course was such as to reflect credit upon the bar of this district and state.  He conducted important litigation in the state and federal courts with gratifying success, winning well earned fame and distinction.  He convinced by his concise statements of law and facts rather than by word painting and his assertions in court were  seldom questioned seriously, so high was the respect for his legal ability and integrity.  He was an able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice and gave to his client the service of great talent, unwearied industry and rare learning.
Source: Centennial History of Coshocton County, Ohio - Vol. I - Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. - 1909 - Page 529

DR. LISTER POMERENE, whose broad knowledge of the science of medicine and deep sympathy with the sick and suffering has made one of the most capable physicians of Coshocton, was born in Berlin, Holmes county, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1867.  His father, Peter Pomerene, was also a physician and a native of Holmes county, Ohio.
     Family tradition has it that the founder of the family in America was a French youth, Julius Pomerene, who ran away from home, was secreted by LaFayette on one of his vessels and, after the arrival of the French troops in the new world, served with the American forces through the Revolutionary war, one account claiming that he held the rank of sergeant under General LaFayette.  After the close of the war he became a resident of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and there married to Magdalena Heller a German lady.
     Dr. Peter Pomerene devoted his entire life to the practice of medicine and attained much more than local distinction in that line.  He became professor of operative obstetrics in the Ohio Medical University of Columbus, filling the position for two years prior to his death, which occurred Nov. 29, 1892.  He married Elizabeth Wise, a native of Holmes county, Ohio, who survived him for about twelve years and died in the fall of 1904.
     Dr. Lister Pomerene was a student in the village schools of Berlin, Ohio, in his boyhood days, and afterward matriculated in the preparatory department of the Wooster University at Wooster, this state.  Subsequently he pursued the work of the freshman year in the university and afterward entered Princeton University, from which he was graduated with the bachelor of arts degree in 1888, while in 1891 he received the master of arts degree from the same institution.  Determining upon the practice of medicine as a life work he spent one term as a student in the Columbus Medical College and one season in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College.  He next entered the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1891.  IN the meantime he had spent one year in his father's office in Berlin and, assisting him in practice, had added the benefits of actual experience to his theoretical training.  Following his graduation he immediately joined his father in practice and when the father died eighteen months later Dr. Lister Pomerene continued in practice with his brother, Dr. H. P. Pomerene.  They were associated for ten years, at the end of which time the partnership was dissolved and in January, 1905, Dr. Pomerene of this review removed to Coshocton.  He had spent the winter of 1903 and 1904 in St. Alexis Hospital at Cleveland, Ohio, pursuing a post-graduate course.  He has built up a very large practice in Coshocton, his extensive patronage coming to him as an expression of the trust and confidence reposed in him by the general public.  He is constantly broadening his knowledge by research and investigation, and he belongs to the Coshocton Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Society.
     On the 27th of December, 1905, Dr. Pomerene was married to Miss Laura G. Whiteley, of Sombra, Ontario.  The hospitality of many of the best homes of this locality is freely accorded them, and their circle of friends is constantly increasing.  Dr. Pomerene votes with the democracy, but has never sought nor desired office.  A constantly increasing patronage makes heavy demands upon his time and attention, and his devotion to the interests of his patients is proverbial.  He manifests a sense of conscientious obligation in all of his professional work, and the excellent results which have attended his labors are proof of his ability.
Source: Centennial History of Coshocton County, Ohio - Vol. II - Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. - 1909 - Page 149

WILLIAM R. POMERENE.  To know the law indicates close study and retentive memory; to apply it correctly indicates careful analysis, inductive reasoning and logical sequences.  The trend of mind in the Pomerene family is particularly judicial and the law has found worthy exponents in Judge Julius Pomerene and his two sons William R. and Frank E., the former senior partner of the present law firm of Pomerene & Pomerene and the immediate subject of this article.  He was born in Coshocton, Mar. 19, 1864, and after passing through the consecutive grades in the public schools was graduated from the high school in the class of 1879.   His more specifically literary education was pursued in Wooster College, where he spent two years, and in the Ohio State University at Columbus.  His preliminary law reading was done under the direction of his father and a year later he entered the law school of Cincinnati College, from which he was graduated in 1886.  Following his admission to the bar the same year he joined his father in a partnership which was continued until Judge Pomerene's elevation to the circuit court was continued until Judge Pomerene's elevation to the circuit court bench.  William R. Pomerene then practiced alone until 1895, when he was joined by his brother under the present firm style of Pomerene & Pomerene.  He served for two terms as prosecuting attorney for the county but otherwise has never sought nor desired political preferment, for the demands of a growing private practice leave him little time for aught else.
     Mr. Pomerene was married Dec. 22, 1887, at Marietta, Ohio, to Annie L. Warner, a daughter of General A. J. Warner, and has two children:  Warner Merritt, born May 5, 1893; and Walter Holmes, born Jan. 21, 1895.  Mr. and Mrs. Pomerene occupy an enviable position in social circles, for they have many friends among Coshocton's best people.  Cordial in address, genial in manner and entertaining true appreciation for all that is worth while in life, Mr. Pomerene is quick to appreciate the good points in others, while his own salient characteristics have made him popular with his fellow townsmen.
Source: Centennial History of Coshocton County, Ohio - Vol. I - Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. - 1909 - Page 517