IN 1830, the
Judicial Circuit to which we belonged, was
composed of the counties of Huron, Richland,
Delaware, Sandusky, Seneca, Crawford, Wood,
Marion, Hancock, Henry, Williams, Putnam,
Paulding and Van Wert. Ebenezer
Lane was the Circuit Judge, but having
just been elected to the Supreme Bench of
the State was succeeded by David Higgins.
Knapp, in his "History of the Maumee Valley,"
says that Judge Higgins, in his
"Memoirs of the Maumee Valley," relates the
incident of a voyage from Findley to
Perrysburg by way of Defiance, in the good "Piroque
Jurisprudence." "A countryman," says
the Judge, "agreed to take our horses to
Perrysburg by land. We purchased a
canoe, and taking with us our saddles,
bridles and baggage, proposed to descend the
Blanchard Fork, and the Auglaize Rivers to
Defiance, and then to Perrysburg. Our
company consisted of Rudolphus
Dickenson, J. C. Spink, Count
Coffinberry, myself and a country man,
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 settlements at Ottawa,
where we were cheered lustily by the Tohwa
Indians, as would be a foreign ship at New
York."[Pg. 147]
The General Assembly of Ohio, in 1838-39, by enactment,
created the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit.
This embraced ten counties, but out of that
territory the counties of Defiance, Auglaize
and Fulton, have since been erected.
These ten counties were Seneca, Wood, Henry,
Williams, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Allen,
Hardin and Hancock.
Judge Higgins was succeeded in the old Circuit
by Ozias Bowen. But EMERY D.
POTTER was elected Presiding judge, and
held the office until 1844, when he resigned
to take his seat in Congress, He was
succeeded as Judge by Myron H. Tilden.
Judge Potter still resides in Toledo, and but a few
years ago represented the District of which
we are a part, in the Ohio state Senate.
On the 19th of February, 1845, the 16th Judicial
Circuit was formed, embracing the counties
of Shelby, Mercer, Allen, Hardin, Hancock,
Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams, and
Patrick G. Goode, of Sidney, was
elected Presiding Judge. This was the
last of the Circuit Judges.
Under the Constitution of 1851, the counties of Wood,
Seneca, Hancock, Wyandotte and Crawford
formed a subdivision of the Second District,
and Lawrence W. Hall, of Bucyrus, was
elected Common Pleas Judge. After one
term of five years, he was succeeded by
Machias C. Whitely, of Findley.
Judge Whiteley was re-elected in 1861,
the sub-division then being the counties of
Wood, Hancock and Putnam. In 1856,
Seneca having been placed in the
subdivision, George E. Sweeney, of
Tiffin, was elected an additional Judge.
In December, 1866, Hancock, Seneca and Wood being
joined in one sub-division, Chester R.
Mott, of Upper Sandusky, was elected
Judge, and served one term. In 1868,
[Pg. 148]
James Pillars, of Tiffin, was
elected, and in 1871, Crawford and Marion
Counties having been added to the District,
Abner M. Jackson, of Bucyrus, was
elected an additional Judge, but after
serving a short time, he resigned, and
Thomas Beer, also of Bucyrus, was
elected to fill vacancy. At the
expiration of Judge Pillars' term,
Henry H. Dodge, of Perrysburg, (present
incumbent,) succeeded him, and in 1879,
Hardin County having been attached to this
District, John McCauley, of Tiffin,
was elected an additional Judge.
A brief sketch of these men, or some of them at least,
although not residents of the county, will
perhaps be appropriate here, as they were
actors in the early history of our county.
HON. EMERY D. POTTER
is said to have been the first lawyer who
opened an office in Toledo, and that he is
the last of his early professional
contemporaries, and is vet a citizen of
Toledo.
He was born in Providence County, Rhode Island, the son
of a farmer in limited circumstances.
At the age of two years, Judge Potter
was taken by his parents to Otsego County,
New York, then a wilderness. Mr.
Potter entered the office of Hon.
John A. Dix and Abner Cook jr.,
at Cooperstown. After having completed
an academic education, and there diligently
pursued the study of the law, until he was
admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of
the State.
In the fall of 1855, he emigrated to Toledo, a place as
he then thought, opening a good field for a
young practitioner. After a successful
practice of four years, he was in February,
1839, elected Presiding Judge of the
Thirteenth Judicial Circuit.
[Pg. 149]
In 1843 he was nominated and elected to Congress by a
handsome majority. In 1847 he was
elected to a seat in the Ohio House of
Representatives. In 1848 he was again
elected to Congress. In 1875, Mr.
Potter was elected to the Ohio Senate
from the Thirty-third Senatorial District.
In 1845, PATRICK G.
GOODE, of Sidney, was elected Presiding
Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.
Judge Goode was an honest, upright
man, an impartial Judge and a christian
gentleman. He was very punctilious in
the preservation of the dignity of the
court, and the courtesies of the bar.
Pettifogging and undignified conduct, and
vulgar language were his horrors.
After holding court all day, he would not
unfrequently preach at night, as he was a
minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
It is told of Judge Goode, that while holding
court in Mercer County, in 1847, he met a
juryman who was rather too smart for him.
A case had been tried, and just a few
minutes before the regular dinner time, had
been given to the jury, and the court had
adjourned until after dinner. Within a
few minutes, one of the jurymen, Cyrenius
Elliott by name, entered the room at the
hotel, where the Judge was seated. The
Judge was surprised, and exclaimed:
"What are you doing here? Have the
jury agreed?" "Jury agreed,"
hissed Elliott, "you must be a
simpleton to ask the question. You
must understand, Pat Goode, that I
don't believe much in the divine right of
Kings, or in the infallibility of courts,
when run by such men as yourself. Your
right way would have been to let us have our
dinner before sending us to the jury-room,
knowing as you mut, if you have good sense,
that jurors have stomachs and bowels as well
as judges and lawyers."
At another time the Judge was holding court in Findley,
[Pg. 150]
when the late John H. Morrison opened
an address to the jury, with this
declaration: "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 turned to the counsel and
inquired: "What is that you say,
Mr. Morrison?" The latter replied:
"That is all I have to say on that point,"
and proceeded with his argument.
At another time, a man of bad repute, made application
to the court for license. The court
considered the proposition, and Judge
Goode announced that the application was
refused. Mr. Morrison much
excited, arose and addressed one of the
Associate Judges: "Judge Ewing,
is that your decision?" An affirmative
answer was given. "Judge Price
do you concur in this decision?"
"Yes." Morrison was about to
put the same question to the other
associate, when Judge Goode inquired:
"Why, I am polling the court, hour honor."
I have these reminiscences from H. S. Knapp's
History of the Maumee Valley, a very
valuable work.
END OF CHAPTER XXII -
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