ORRIS PARISH was born in Canterbury, Windom county, Connecticut, in the year 1782.  His father was Reuben Parish, and his mother Zurilla Bishop, and his mother Zurilla Bishop.  Orris received the early part of his education in the common schools of Connecticut.  In 1790, his father's family, with those of his grandfather and uncle, Levi Parish, settled in Middletown (now Naples), Ontario county, New York, where Orris attended such schools as were found in the first settlements in the wilderness, and he may have attended the academy a few terms, in Canandaigua, New York.  In 1807, or 1808, he entered the law office of the late John C. Spencer, but, before completing his course, his parents died, and he left Spencer's office, and finished his studies with his cousin, John Parish, in Windom, Windom county, Connecticut.  In 1811, or 1812, he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Franklinton, Franklin County.  He was there during the war, and, in 1815, moved to Columbus, after the capitol was fixed there.  He acquired some distinction as a practitioner, especially in jury cases, where his style of oratory was very effective.  He acquired some distinction as a practitioner, especially in jury cases, where his style of oratory was very effective.  His services were consequently in large demand, and he had a large practice on the circuit, which, in those times, was traveled, on horseback, from court to court, even to distant counties, by the jolly lawyers of the olden time, among whom he was noted.  He was a very eccentric man, and many stories are related of him, his free translation to a jury of the legal phrase "nectus in coma, which he gave as "coming into court head and tail up," was long remembered by the fun-loving generation of that day, and has descended  as a bon mot in the profession.  In 1816 he was elected president judge of the court of common pleas for this district.  At the legislative session of 1818-19 charges were preferred against him calling for an investigation of his official conduct.  They were referred to a committee, and the judge published his address to the committee,  in which he says: "To you, gentlemen, I submit my official conduct, and of you I solicit the most rigid inquiry and the severest-scrutiny," concluding, "I neither ask nor desire, any other justice at the bar of my country, or Heaven, than that which I have contributed my best exertions to measure out to those whose rights have been confided to my hand. "  The committee reported in his favor, and afterwards he resigned, and returned to the practice of the law, at which he continued with great success, as his reputation as a jury lawyer was co-extensive with the State.
     On _____, 181__, he was married to Aurelia Butler, daughter of Judge Butler, of Madison county, New York, at the residence of her brother-in-law, Richard Douglas, in Circleville, Ohio.   He built, on Fourth street, Columbus, a residence known now as the Whitehill property, at present the residence of Chauncey N. Olds, a leading lawyer of the city.  He and Gustavus Swan, David Scott and David Smith, were the first four lawyers, and that located in Columbus after it was laid out i 1812.
Page 66 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880

MRS. ELIZABETH B. POLLAY.   Genealogy Notes.
     Elihu Bartlit, son of Rev. Moses and Lydia Bartlit, of Middletown, Connecticut, was born Mar. 6, 1743.  He graduated at Yale college in 1764, and married, Aug. 7, 1771, Statira, daughter of Deacon Timothy and Mary Meigs, who was born Sept. 14, 1741.  They were the parents of three chidren, namely: Lydia, Elihu, and Miner.  Elihu, the father of the subject of the present notice and of Samuel Bartlit - a sketch of whom appears above (in this book) - was born on Sunday, Mar. 26, 1775, and married, in 1801, Betsey Foot, and died June 1, 1824.  Betsey Foot, who was born in Arlington, Vermont, dec. 25, 1778, and died May 4, 1816, was the second of eleven children of John Foot and Ruth Searl.  They were born, respectively, July 14, 1754, and Oct. 9, 1756; were joined in wedlock in 1775; and died respectively, June 16, 1826, and Jan. 29, 1846.  John Foot was the son of George Foot, of Stratford, Connecticut, who was born in 1687; the son of Daniel Foot, of Stratford, Connecticut, who was born in 1721; the son of Jehiel Foot of Stratford, Connecticut, who was born in 1652; the son of Nathaniel Foot, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who was born in 1620 - the eldest child of Nathaniel Foot, "the settler," who emigrated from England in the year 1633, and settled in Connecticut.
     Elizabeth Bartlit, the subject of this sketch, was born in Jay, Essex county, New York, Dec. 1, 1806.   She possessed a naturally strong inclination for the attainment of an education, which was gratified by the study of such branches as the common and public schools of the time afforded.  When only sixteen years of age, she began teaching in the public schools of Greenwich, New York.  She subsequently taught at various places in her native State, and, at intervals, attended several institutions of learning, spending one term, in 1834, at a seminary in Clinton, New York.  the following year she went to Michigan, and engaged at teaching in the public schools of the town of Branch, then the county seat of Branch county, of that State.  In 1838 - March 1st - she was united in marriage to Lewis Pollay, of Branch, Michigan, who died, Nov. 22d of the same year.  After her husband's death, Mrs. Pollay returned to her former avocation, teaching in Coldwater, Michigan, from 1841 to 1851, when she came to Ohio and took up her residence with her brother, Samuel Bartlit, in Canal Winchester.  In 1853 she was appointed matron of the Central lunatic asylum, of Columbus, Ohio, in which position she served with efficiency two years.  Returning to Canal Winchester, she taught in the schools of that place one year, when she permanently retired from the discharge of public duties.
     Mrs. Pollay is a lady of unusual energy of character and vigor of mind, and is honored and respected for her moral worth by a wide circle of friends.  She has been a member of Westminster Presbyterian church since 1853.  Mrs. Pollay is the mother of one child - Eliza Maria - born Dec. 6, 1838, who was married, Oct. 1, 1863, to Charles H. Town, colonel of the first Michigan cavalry, and died Oct. 26, 1873.  Colonel Town died in May, 1865.  Mrs. Town was a lady of thorough scholarship, and was the first principal of the female department in the high school of Detroit, Michigan.
Page 454 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880

JOSEPH B. POTTER, M. D., of Canal Winchester, Ohio, son of John B. and Nancy (Morse) Potter, was born in Courtlandville Courtland county, New York, Nov. 12, 1815.  His mother died when he was three years of age, and his father, who was a Baptist minister, in1835.  When eleven or twelve years of age, young Potter was sent to school at an academy in Canandaigua, New York, where he remained for six years.  He then attended an academy at Rochester, New York, where he continued three years.  His health having at that time became somewhat impaired, he went South, with qa view to restoring it, and remained some three of four years.  He then returned North, and was subsequently for about a year, employed in the construction of the Michigan Central railroad.  In 1838 he came to Canal Winchester, where his uncle, Stephen H. Potter, was engaged in the practice of medicine.  Having, as opportunity offered, previously read medicine, he formed a copartnership with his uncle, which continued until 1840.  He afterward practiced in partnership with Dr. James Langworthy until 1843, and then alone for a year or two.  He then attended lectures at the medical department of the Western Reserve college, Cleveland, and was graduated in 1845 or 1846.  He resumed his practice in Canal Winchester, and was afterward in partnership, successively, with Dr. Isaac H. Tituss, Dr. Robert G. McLaine, and Dr. A. A. Short, until 1861, when he went into the army.  Dr. Potter entered the service as surgeon of the Thirtieth Ohio army.  Dr. Potter entered in service as surgeon of the Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, the original commander of which was Colonel Hugh Ewing.  The regiment was in West Virginia until 1862, and afterwards with Pope in East Virginia, taking part in teh second battle of Bull Run.  The history of this gallant regiment need not be repeated here.  Suffice it to say, that in nearly all of the great battles of the war - South Mountain, Antietam, Vicksburg, Mission Ridge - it took a conspicuous part, and was with Sherman in his illustrious march to the sea.  At the siege of Vicksburg, Dr. Potter was on the operating staff for a few months, and then in charge of the field hospital of the Second division of the Fifteenth army corps.  While at Black river, Mississippi, he was ordered to take charge of the Second division of the Fifteenth corps, as surgeon-in-chief of the division, in which position he continued until May, 1865, when he was made acting medical director of the Fifteenth army corps.  This position he held until August, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service.
     At the close of his army service, Dr. Potter returned to Canal Winchester, and resumed the practice of his profession, in partnership with Dr. Short, until 1874, and since then alone.  He has always held a prominent place among the medical profession of Franklin county, and has an extensive and lucrative practice.
     Nov. 11, 1840, he was married to Emily D. Holly, of Canal Winchester, formerly of Vermont.
Page 458 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880

Mifflin Twp. -
SAMUEL L. QUINN.     Samuel L. Quinn was born in Plain townshisp, Franklin county, Jan. 5, 1833.  His early life was passed at his boyhood's home, and here he obtained the rudiments of an education, which he afterwards improved at Central College, where he commenced study when about eighteen years of age.  He remained at college a number of years, pursuing an irregular course of study, such as he deemed would be of most advantage to him during life, without attempting to take the prescribed course, and become a graduate.  When about twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, he gave up his studies, and engaged in teaching, which vocation he followed some five years.  He then spent some two years in travel, in the west, crossing the Rocky mountains during his absence.  Then returning to his home for a brief time, he, in 1866, engaged in mercantile business, at Gahanna, which he continued until 1873, when he was appointed deputy sheriff of Franklin county, and disposed of his business in order to assume his official duties.  He was a second time appointed to the same office, in which he served until August 13, 1876, when typhoid fever claimed him as a victim, and he died at an early age of forty-three.
     He was a member of the Young Men's Democratic club, of Columbus, and was held in high esteem by his fellow-members, who passed a series of resolutions on his death, among which was the following:

     Resolved, That we deeply deplore the loss of our brother, who had so many of the virtues that go to make up the true gentleman and patriotic citizen; that his memory will ever be cherished by us with kind recollections of true friendship, as he himself was true to his friends.

     In his death the county lost a faithful and efficient officer, his family a kind, affectionate, and loving husband and father, and the society in which he moved a warm-hearted, genial, and honorable member.  He was married, Apr. 9, 1861, to Miss Sarah A. Grant, of Jackson township, who became to him a helpmeet, in every sense.  To them were born five children, of whom death has taken three.  Those living, are Louis and May.  About a year after the death of her husband, Mrs. Quinn returned to Gahanna and engaged in mercantile business, in the building formerly occupied by her husband, and where she has since remained.
Page 489 - Source: History of Franklin & Pickaway Counties, Ohio - Published by Williams Bros. - 1880