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PRELIMINARY to any
account of the members of the bar of Preble county, it would not
be out of the way to notice the organization of the courts.
From the records it appears tha the first court of common pleas
held in Preble county convened at the house of Samuel Hawkins,
in the town of Eaton, on the twenty-third day of August, 1808.
Hon. Francis Dunlavy, of Lebanon, was the president, and
James I. Nesbit, John Merony, and John C. Irvin,
associate judges; Alexander C. Lanier, clerk pro tem.
Samuel Mitchell coroner and acting sheriff.
Joshua Collet, of Cincinnati, was appointed
prosecuting attorney for the term. Alexander C. Lainier
was appointed permanent clerk.
The following are the
names of the first grand jury empanelled in Preble county:
John Halderman, George Maxfield, William Milner, Simeon Van
Winkle, Smith Charles, Hezekiah Hardesty, William Goodwin,
Hezekiah Phillips, James White, Henry Kisling, John Pottenger,
William Sellers, Isaac Patton, Samuel Holliday, John Ware.
At the time this court was held there
was no attorney resident of the county. In fact, it was
several years thereafter beforeone was located here.
Attorneys from Dayton, Lebanon, Hamilton, and Cincinnati,
usually came here with the courts, attended to the business of
the term, and returned to their respective places of abode.
No records exist from which a catalogue of such attorneys could
be derived. The following, among others, are remembered as
pretty constant attendants at the courts of this county, viz.:
Joseph H. Crane, Henry Stoddard, Peter Odlin, Geo. B. Holt,
Thos. Ross, Jacobus Halleck, John Woods, Nicholas Longworth,
Jacob Burnet, Joshua Collet, Warren Munger, Joseph H. Benham,
John McLain, Charles Hammond, and others. These names
present an array of the legal talent and forensic ability that
will compare favorably with that of any other equal number to be
found in any other state in the Union. Nearly all of these
lawyers acquired national reputation; and it is not to much to
say, that some of them, at least, occupy the very front rank in
public estimation, as to talent and ability as lawyers, orators,
and statesmen.
The first attorney who made a home in Eaton was
_______________
*By Thos. J. Larsh, esq.
Page 66 -
John A. Daley, esq., mentioned in another place, in the
history of the newspaper press of the county. The next
member of the bar claiming our attention is
DAVID F. HEATON,
ESQ.
Page. 67 -
CEPHAS D. MORRIS,
ESQ. - On the thirtieth day of June, A. D., 1821, Cephas
D. Morris was admitted to the bark, as attorney and
counsellor at law, by the supreme court setting for Preble
county. Nothing is known of his history.
JONES A. MENDALL -
Page 68 -
JOHN C. McMANUS,
ESQ.
Page 69 -
HON. JOSEPH H.
CRANE. -
Page 70 -
MAJOR ALEXANDER C.
LANIER. -
Page 71 -
Page 72 -
HON. JOHN M. U.
McNUTT. -
Page 73 -
ELISHA EGBERT, ESQ.,
JOSEPH SEVIER
HAWKINS, ESQ.,
Page 74 -
ANDREW JACKSON
HAWKINS, ESQ.,
ISAAC F. CASAD
and ISRAEL DeWITT
JAMES E. WALDO
was admitted to the bar on the thirtieth day of June, 1828.
He also was from a neighboring county, and his subsequent career
is wholly unknown.
JOHN VAN AUSDAL,
Page 75 -
SOLOMON BANTA, ESQ.,
HON. ABNER HAINES
Page 76 -
Page 77 -
GENERAL FELIX MARSH
WILLIAM C. WOODS,
son of Hon. John Woods, of Hamilton,
was admitted to the bar on the thirtieth day
Page 78 -
of June, in the year 1835, by the supreme court at Eaton.
FRANKLIN GALE
was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court in Eaton, on the
fifteenth day of June, 1836. Nothing is known of his
residence or subsequent career.
JOSEPH H. BERRY
was admitted to the bar, on the fourth day of June, 1839, by the
supreme court in Eaton. Nothing is known of his history.
VINCIT MITCHELL
was admitted to the bar on the sixth day of June, 1842.
Mr. Mitchell was born in the State .............
HAMPTON HALL
BENJAMIN F. GURLEY,
ESQ., was admitted to the bar, May 31, 1844.
JOHN I. PHELPS, ESQ.,
was admitted to the bar, June 24, 1845.
MAJOR FRANCIS ALANSON
CUNNINGHAM was born in Abbeville district, South Carolina,
Nov. 9, 1804. When a small boy, his widowed mother
emigrated with her young family to Kentucky, where she married
her second husband. This lady’s maiden name was
Cunningham, but in no way related in blood to her first husband,
and her second husband’s name was also Cunningham, but
not a relative by blood either to herself or her first husband.
Soon after her second marriage, the family emigrated to Warren
county, Ohio. Judge George Kisling,
of Lebanon, was appointed the guardian of young Cunningham,
and took a great interest in his education and welfare.
After leaving school, his guardian procured him a situation in a
dry goods store, in which business he continued until his
twenty-second year. In the year 1826 he came to Eaton and
commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Jesse
Paramore. While pursuing the study of his profession,
he taught school in several localities in Preble county.
In the year 1829 he was licensed as a physician and surgeon; and
on the seventh day of July of that year he was married to
Miss Maria Campbell, only daughter of Captain William
Campbell, of Lanier township. In a short time after
his marriage, Dr. Cunningham located at Portland,
Fountain county, Indiana, on the Wabash river, where he engaged
in the active practice of his profession. Not being
satisfied with the prospect and condition of things there,
however, he did not remain long, but returned to Preble county
and settled at West Alexandria, where he successfully pursued
the practice of his profession for several years.
In the year 1833 Dr. Cunningham was appointed
clerk pro tem. of the courts of Preble county, afterward
receiving the appointment for the regular term of seven years.
Subsequently he was appointed for a second term of seven years,
but before its expiration he was elected, in the year 1844, to a
seat in Congress as Representative from the Second Congressional
district, for the Twenty-ninth Congress. He was a
candidate for re-election, but in the meantime the district
having been changed, he was defeated by General Robert C.
Schenck.
On the twenty-third day of June, 1847, Major
Cunningham was admitted to the bar by the supreme court for
Preble county. About the same time he enlisted a company
for service in the Mexican war, but before his company was fully
organized and mustered into service, he received a commission
from President Polk as an
Page 79 -
additional paymaster in the regular army, and was assigned for
duty with the army in Mexico, where he remained until the close
of the war. Upon the re-organization of the pay department
of the army, he was retained in the service, and in that
capacity served in New Mexico, Texas, and all along the
frontiers where troops were stationed. In the year 1861 he
had his headquarters at San Antonio, Texas; and when the war of
the Rebellion broke out, he, with the troops at that place, was
taken prisoner by General Van Dorn. Immediately on
his release he reported for duty at Washington, and was
stationed at St. Louis, Missouri. There he served about a
year, when he was relieved on account of disability and put upon
the retired list at half pay. Major Cunningham
died at his home in Eaton on the sixteenth day of August, 1864,
from the effects of paralysis, with which he was attacked whilst
at Wilmington, Delaware, just one year previously. He was
the father of three children, two sons and a daughter, all of
whom are dead. His widow is yet living (1880) in Eaton, at
the age of seventy years, and is reasonably stout for one of her
years. Events immediately following the major’s admission
to the bar prevented him from engaging in the practice of the
law as a profession, and his appointment in the army opening a
new channel for the exercise of his talents, the diversion was
permanent—he never entered the practice.
In person the major was of medium size, compactly
built, with a slight stoop of the shoulders, and capable of
great physical endurance. He was of florid complexion,
with light hair and blue eyes. He was eminently social in
disposition, fond of society, an entertaining conversationalist,
and warmly attached to friends. On the first day of March,
A. D. 1828, he was initiated in the Masonic order, in Bolivar
Lodge, No. 82, at Eaton, and continued his membership in said
lodge during life, and was buried with the honors of the order.
HIRAM JONES, ESQ., was a native of
Butler county, Ohio, and in that county was educated, grew to
man hood, qualified himself for the practice of law, and was
there admitted to the bar. About the year 1835 he came to
Eaton, and established himself in the practice of his
profession. In the year 1840 he was elected to the office
of auditor of Preble county, which office he retained but for a
single term of two years, and was succeeded by John R.
Stephen, esq.
In the year 1844 Mr. Jones was elected to
the office of recorder of Preble county, and served in that
office six years. He never attained any great prominence as an
attorney, but was esteemed a good and sound lawyer, and safe
counsellor. After the expiration of his term as recorder, he
emigrated to the State of Illinois, and located near Brimfield,
Peoria county. After remaining there a few years, he went to
Knox county, in that State, and improved a large tract of
prairie land which he had purchased. He died on his farm in Knox
county, some years ago, honored and respected by all who knew
him.
Lawyer Jones was a man of fair capacity,
a ripe scholar, genial companion, fond of society, and of the
most amiable disposition. Perhaps the most marked trait in
his character, was his uniform candor. Every body that
knew him had full confidence in whatever he might say.
Honesty and integrity in all business transactions and relations
he never lost sight of.
JESSE B. STEPHENS,
ESQ.,
Page 80 -
GEORGE W. THOMPSON
Page 81 -
honest man - three of the most essential requisites for a good
citizen and the highest praise that can be written of the dead.
JOEL W. HARRIS
BENJAMIN HUBBARD,
ESQ.,
HAMPTON HALL, ESQ.,
was born at the village of Milton-
Page 82 -
WILLIAM JAMES
GILMORE, ESQ.,
WILLIAM A.
BLOOMFIELD, esq., was
Page 83 -
WILLIAM ALLEN, ESQ.,
IRVIN E. FREEMAN,
ESQ.,
Page 84 -
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
LARSH
JUDGE GEORGE W. GANS
Page 85 -
JACOB H. FOOS, ESQ.,
EUGENE B. BOLENS,
ESQ.,
Page 86 -
SQUIRE LITTELL
PIERCE, ESQ.,
GEORGE W. SLOAN,
ESQ., was admitted to the bar May 20, 1853. Previous
to his admission to the bar he had been engaged several years
teaching school, and had been elected and served three years as
county recorder. Within a year or two after his admission
to the bar he removed to Olney, Richland county, Illinois, where
he engaged in the practice of his profession. He was
married on the seventeenth day of March, 1839, to Miss Rachel
Banfil, daughter of John Banfil, a pioneer of Preble
county.
JOHN W. WOERNER,
ESQ., was admitted to the bar May 20, 1853, and immediately
thereafter went to the State of Illinois.
JOHN VAN AUSDAL
CAMPBELL, ESQ., son of Captain William Campbell, was
born in Preble county, Dec. 27, 1815. His father was a native of
Virginia, but reared and educated in Kentucky. In the year
1806, two years before Preble county was organized, and while
its territory was yet a part of Montgomory county, he
came to this State and settled in what is now Lanier township,
Preble county. In the year 1809 he was married to Miss
Catharine Van Ausdal. Captain Campbell
commanded a company of infantry in the War of 1812.
In early life the subject of this sketch received what
education was afforded by the schools taught in the round log
school-houses of that early day, and later acquired such
additional training as qualified him to take charge of a school
himself, which he did at the early age of six teen years, near
New Lexington, on Twin creek. His brother-in-law, Major
F. A. Cunningham, being county clerk, he was, whilst yet a
minor, employed as deputy in his office. Whilst there he
improved his spare time by studying law in the office of
Messrs. McNutt 8r Hawkins. In the year 1841, under the
administration of President Tyler, he was
appointed postmaster at Eaton, which position he continued to
hold between nine and ten years.
On the twenty-fifth day of July, 1842, Mr.
Campbell was married to Miss Ann Eliza
Martin, daughter of Judge Robert Martin,
of Eaton. To this union were born three sons and eight
daughters, all of whom, except four of the latter, have
deceased. At the October election in the year 1852 he was
elected to the office of probate judge, the first elected under
the constitution of 1851. He was subsequently re-elected
to the same office, thus serving six years, making for himself
an excellent record as a safe and capable business man. On
the twenty-second day of May, 1856, he was admitted to the bar.
In the year 1858 Judge Campbell formed a
partnership for the practice of law with William J. Gilmore,
esq., but the latter being soon afterward elected to fill a
vacancy in the office of common pleas judge, the partnership was
dissolved, and in the following November (1858), Judge
Campbell formed a partnership with Jacob H. Foos, esq.,
which continued for three years. At the expiration of this time,
his partnership with Judge Gilmore
Page 87 -
was renewed, which continued until February, 1867, when it was
again dissolved by reason of Judge Gilmore’s
election to the common pleas bench. He then entered into
partnership with James A. Gilmore, esq., which continued
until the last named partner was elected to the common pleas
bench. In the year 1873 he was elected to the office of
prosecuting attorney, and served in said office three years.
Judge Campbell has for many years been a
member of the Eaton board of education, and connected with all
the moral and educational interests of the community. He
has been a zealous supporter of all temperance organizations,
and his influence and example have been always exerted upon the
side of religion and morality. Since 1841 he has been the
secretary and treasurer of the Preble county branch of the
American Bible society.
Judge Campbell is regarded as the father
of Odd Fellowship in this county, by his brethren. In the
year 1842 he became a member of the order himself, and in 1844,
assisted by four others, organized the first lodge in Eaton, of
which he was the presiding officer. Subsequently twelve
other lodges of the order have been organized in the county, as
the issue of that one; and for a number of years the order was
represented in the grand lodge of the United States, by Judge
Campbell.
JUDGE JEHU W. KING
JOSEPH T. GANS,
ESQ.,
ROBERT WILSON QUINN,
ESQ.
Page 88 -
JAMES T. MURPHY,
ESQ.,
LEWIS C. SWERER,
ESQ.,
ISAAC E. CRAIG,
ESQ.,
VICTOR WALDO LAKE,
ESQ.,
B. FRANK VAN AUSDAL,
ESQ.,
COLONEL ANDREW
LINTNER HARRIS
Page 89 -
ABSALOM STIVER,
ESQ., was born on the fourteenth day
Page 90 -
CHARLES M. EMERICK,
ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the district court for
Preble county, May 9, 1867. He never practiced at the bar
in this county.
THOMAS J. LARSH,
ESQ.,
Thos. J. Larsh
Page 91 -
WILLIAM WALLACE PARDUE, ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the district court
for Preble county, on the twenty-fifth day of May, 1868.
He was not a citizen of this county, nor ever practiced here.
WILLIAM E. CHAMBERS,
ESQ., was admitted to the bar, by the district court for
Preble county, May 14, 1859. He was the son of JAmes L.
Chambers, esq., formerly of Butler county, and who came to
this place about 1862, and was connected for some years with the
machine-shop and flooring-mill. Soon after his
admission to the bar, young Chambers removed to Ottumwa,
Iowa.
SAMUEL H. QUINN,
son of General John Quinn, and brother of Robert W.
Quinn, esq., was called to the bar May 14, 1869.
Immediately after his admission he went to Cincinnati and
commenced the practice of his profession in that city.
GEORGE W. WILSON,
ESQ., son of Jefferson Wilson, is a native of Somers
townships, this county, and was called to the bar May 14, 1869,
at the same time with the two gentlemen last named. After
his admission he engaged in the practice in this place for a few
monts, but soon after was employed in the internal revenue
service of the Government, in which he has been engaged up to
the present time, residing in Hamilton.
JAMES
C. ELLIOTT, ESQ., son of John Elliott, was born in
Dixon township, this county, read for the bar in the office of
Jacob H. Foos, esq., and was admitted to the practice May
10, 1870. He commenced practicing first in the town of
Bradford, Miami county, but subsequently removed to Greenville,
Darke county, where he is residing at present.
ALEXANDER F. ANDERSON, ESQ., a citizen of Paulding county,
Ohio, was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counsellor at
law, by the district court for Preble county, on the tenth of
May, 1870.
FREDERICK L. WOOD, ESQ., of Montgomery county, was admitted
to the bar by the district court for Preble county, on the
fourth day of May, A. D. 1871. Nothing is known here of
the antecedents or present status of the two gentlemen last
named.
LUTHER C. ABBOTT, ESQ., is a native of Hampshire county,
Massachusetts, born in 1831. In youth he re-
Page 92 -
ceived an academic education, and at an early age
commenced teaching in his native state. In the year 1856
he came to Preble county and taught school for some two years.
He read law in the office of the late Judge Haines, and
was called to the bar in the year 18559, and at once formed a
partnership with his preceptor, which continued some eight
years. In 1861 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and in
1863 was re-elected. He was also three times elected mayor
of Eaton. In 1879 he removed to Richmond, Indiana, where
he now resides and is engaged in the practice of his profession.
WILLIAM W. AKER was born at new
Madison, Darke county, Ohio, Oct. 19, 1833. In addition to
the ordinary district school facilities, he had the benefit of
an academic course, and was subsequently engaged in teaching for
some twelve years in this and adjoining counties. He
attended a course of instruction at Smith's Commercial college,
and graduated from that institution. After reading law for
two years he took a regular course in the law school of
Cincinnati college, and graduated in 1872, and was admitted to
the Bar in the district court for Hamilton county immediately
thereafter. In the year 1862, during the war of the
Rebellion, he enlisted in the Ninety-third regiment, Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned second lieutenant of
Company H.
After his admission to the bar he established an office
for the practice of his profession in West Alexandria, where he
has since resided. In the year 1853 he was married to
Miss Harriet N. Stevens, of Cincinnati.
JAMES
ALEXANDER GILMORE, ESQ.,
WILLIAM A. WEAVER, ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the
district court for Preble county on the fourteenth day of April,
A. D., 1874.
JOHN
M. SHAEFER is a native of this county, and was born April,
1820. He commenced reading law with General Felix Marsh
in 1854, and discontinued it to engage in other
pursuits. About 1860 he resumed his reading, this time
with Robert Miller esq., and was admitted to practice
Apr. 24, 1874. The same fall he opened an office in Camden
where he has since resided. He was elected justice of the
peace in Somers township in 1861, serving until 1870, and was
mayor of Camden from 1858 until about 1868.
FRANK
G. THOMPSON, ESQ.,
LEVIN
T. STEPHEN, ESQ., son of John R. Stephen, esq., is a
native of the village of Eaton, and was admitted to
Page 93 -
MARCUS L. HOLT, ESQ.,
OSCAR
SHEPPARD, ESQ.,
LEWIS
M. DILLMAN, ESQ., son of Joseph Dillman, of the
vicinity of Camden, was admitted to the bar on the ninth day of
May, 1877. We believe Mr. Dillman is now (1880)
travelling in the State of Illinois in the interest of a school
book publishing company.
JOHN
A. MOORE, ESQ., was admitted to the bar, by the district
court for Preble county, Apr. 28, 1879. He is a citizen of
New Paris, this county.
JOSEPH GIDEON McNUTT, ESQ.,
WILLIAM A. NEAL, born Feb. 2,
1853, read law under Winfield Freeman, esq., then of
Eaton. He was admitted to the bar before the supreme court
of Ohio Mar. 5, 1878, and at once commenced practice in Eaton,
where he still resides. He was elected mayor of Eaton
April, 1880.
MARCUS BRUTUS CHADWICK, ESQ.,
JOHN
B. DRAYER, ESQ., a native of Butler county, after being
called to the bar, came to Eaton in the year
Page 94 -
1850, and secured a partnership in the law practice with M.
B. Chadwick, esq. He was here but a few years, and
removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and he has been on the bench as
circuit judge for a number of years.
FELIX
M. MARSH
WILLIAM B. MARSH
ELAM
FISHER
WALTER SAYLER
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