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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Centennial History of Cincinnati & Representative
Citizens
by Charles Theodore Greve, A. B., LL. B.
Vol. I
Publ. by
Biographical Publishing Company.
Geo. Richmond, Prks.; C. R. Arnold, Sec'y and Treas.
1904
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
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RUFUS KING.
Rufus King, one of the greatest lawyers who
ever claimed Cincinnati as home, was born at Chillicothe,
Ohio, May 30, 1817, and died at Cincinnati, Mar. 25, 1891.
He was of distinguished ancestry. His grandfather,
also named Rufus King, took a prominent part
in the American Revolution and served with great credit in
the Continental Congress for a period of three years.
After the adoption of the Constitution, he served 18 years
as United States Senator from the State of New York.
Edward King, father of our subject, was a
lawyer of eminence and marked ability, and engaged in the
practice of his profession many years in Chillicothe and
Cincinnati. He married a daughter of Thomas
Worthington, a very early settler of Ohio, a member of
the first Constitutional Convention and the first United
States Senator chosen by and for the State. Edward
King was a man of much force and influence in the
State; a man of character, enterprise and public spirit,
whose earnest efforts in behalf of improvement and progress
were of immense value.
With these ancestors in mind, it may reasonably be
assumed that Rufus King was richly endowed by
nature for a successful career in the law. His early
education and preparation for college were received at home
under the care and tutelage of his mother, a woman of
superior literary talents and noted likewise for her active
philanthropy. From the excellent school at home he
went to Gambier, where he remained four years, thence to
Harvard University, where he completed a classical course.
He then entered Harvard Law School, where he received
instruction from such masters as Story and Greenleaf.
He was admitted to the bar of Hamilton County in 1841, and
very soon rose to a position of prominence. He engaged
in general practice as was the custom of the times, winning
fame both as a counsellor and as an advocate. He chose
to devote his time and energies to the practice of the law,
and declined to enter politics. Even so exalted and
honorable a position as a seat on the Supreme Court bench of
Ohio was declined by him when tendered in 1864 by
Governor Brough. He was preeminently a
lawyer and is remembered with veneration by __ bar of
to-day. He served as dean of the Cincinnati Law School
and president of the faculty; he was one of the
founders of the Public Library Association. He served
on the Board of Education of Cincinnati from 1851 to 1866,
and his service marked an era in the public school system of
the city. He served as president of the board for 11
years and to his efforts is largely due the evolution of the
public school system into one of the finest in the country.
As a member of the board he was active and influential in
the controversy undertaken to exclude the Bible from public
schools, maintaining that moral and religious instruction,
non-sectarian in character, had a rightful place in the
public schools. Mr. King was chosen in
1873 as a member of the convention to revise the
Constitution of the State and succeeded Morrison R. Waite
as president of the convention, when the latter was
appointed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Rufus King was a lawyer of superior
ability, liberal learning, patient industry and
discriminating judgment. His mind was wonderfully
clear and his penetration deep, but he did not rely upon
these qualities for success. He studied each case and
presented it to the court only after the exhaustive research
which gave him the mastery of its principles and details.
This habit more than any other influence made his reputation
as a successful practitioner. He was married in 1843
to Margaret Rives, daughter of Landon C. Rives
of Cincinnati.
Source: Centennial History of Cincinnati & Representative
Citizens
by Charles Theodore Greve, A. B., LL. B. -
Vol. II - Pt. 1 - Publ., 1904 - Page 88 |
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