Chardon Township (part 3 of 4)

"Here live some of your former citizens; citizens whom your community could ill afford to lose. Here reside the two brothers, Judges Horace and Eli T. Wilder, both of whom have sat upon the bench of your judicial district as judges, upright and with unsullied ermine. Who, acquainted with the bar of Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula twenty years ago, does not remember them as among the foremost, and in some respects the foremost of its most able members. What lawyer of that day can fail to recall the remarkable, "yes", the provoking accuracy of statement, especially the statement of the testimony which characterized the professional practice of Eli T. Wilder. When his opponent misstated the evidence in a case he was promptly called to order, corrected or Tebukea. He has one of those rare legal minds which goes straight to the point, to the core of the question, oblivious of all collaterals which tend to darken it. Who, too, of that vicinity of twenty years ago, does not know Horace Wilder as the accomplished practitioner and able judge. For over twenty years Eli T. Wilder has been an honest and most respected citizen of Red Wing. Esteemed and beloved by her people for his public and private charities, and is justly prominent in the State as a jurist, and one of the most, if not the most, active and influential lay members of the Episcopal diocese. These brothers live to- gether under the same roof in rare amity and friendship. With what satisfaction have I Witnessed their acts of delicate fraternal, yet respectful feeling for and towards each other. Judge Horace is on the outer verge of a ripe and venerable old age. His health is feeble, but his mind is clear; at times remarkably so. What a pity that such men are so few. His life is full of years and honors, of private, if not of public honors. An honored graduate of honored Yale, for six years an honored judge of the common pleas, and for a time an honored judge of the supreme court of your State, and ever and always the finished and conscientious advocate, the gentleman of noble, engaging and courtly manners, and the man with a heart that never harbored ill against a human being. To think I have looked upon that honest and noble face for the last time is indeed to me most saddening, and when I held his feeble hand in mine I fancied him singing: sheriff, pioneer settler, real estate dealer and manufacturer, Hambden township* Geauga county, Ohio. Born, January i, 1799, at Fall River, Massachusetts; died at Savannah, Illinois, June 16, 1868. He was the youngest of a family of nine children. All of the male members of which were sea-faring men - being connected with the whale fishery, and sailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Hathaways, in this county, are of Welsh descent. Three brothers of that name came from Wales - one settled in Bangor, Maine; one in Fall River, and the third in Cazenovia, New York. To these all may be traced. His brethren having elected the sea, James Hathaway chose the land as the field for his exploits. In the year 1816, when only seventeen years of age, he left Massachusetts and went to Ohio. This journey he made on foot and alone. Ohio then, for the most part, was a wilderness. And the readiest work was found in the woods, clearing up the land for cultivation. The young Hathaway assisted in cutting off part of the timber which covered what is now the public square in Claridon. By means of such laborious work he saved sufficient money to buy a piece of land. The money, the proceeds of a year's labor, was in his possession. His arrangements were all made for the journey, but by a fire he lost the whole of it. And so, likewise, by successive fires he lost property until he was almost discouraged. But eventually the tide turned, and he became as successful as he had hitherto been unsuccessful. Always a farmer, he manufactured potash for exportation, also a primitive cloth, and owned and run a grist-mill. For a short time he carried on a general store, having formed a copartnership with Mr. Morey, of Claridon, under the firm name of Hathaway & Morey. He also served as county commissioner, and was, by the board, appointed a fund commissioner, to receive the surplus revenue of the United States government - a law of congress, proposed by Henry Clay, having been passed, by which the surplus was distributed to the States, and then by them to the various counties. In 1848, he was elected sheriff, and was re-elected in 1850, serving four years. About this time he formed a co-partnership with Lewis Elliott, for the purpose of carrying on a general pension and bounty land agency. This business he prosecuted with great energy for about ten years, during which time he amassed considerable wealth, and visited, in the interests of claimants, various parts of the country - especially the eastern States, hunting up old records and reviving rejected claims, by which means much money was secured for deserving applicants. The pension branch of the business was followed up until it was exhausted, and land warrants becoming cheap, he determined to locate them, so that in 1859, he went west for that purpose, investing in lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and especially in pine lands in the last-named State. He removed, in 1862, to Savannah, Illinois, where he lived until his death.

Mr. Hathaway was most remarkable for his enterprise and energy. Whatever he did, he did earnestly, carrying through with zeal whatever he undertook. As a public officer, he was indefatigable, knowing neither weariness, nor unseasonableness in the performance of his duty. His business enterprises were broad and far-seeing, in advance of the opportunities and plans of a new country. As a man, he was independent and outspoken, with a manner that convinced people of his sincerity. Originally he was a Whig in politics; afterwards a Freesoiler, and again an ardent Republican. He was a member of the Desciple church, into which he carried the same earnestness which characterized him in other directions, and he was zealous for the propagation of its doctrines.

On the sixth of August, 1826, he was married to Miranda Ashley, of Springfield, Massachusetts. The Ashleys were original settlers of Springfield. They were a large, prominent and wealthy family, their descendants forming an important element in the population of that city to-day. They had seven children, two only of whom are living :

Isaac N., attorney, at Chardon. Edwin, who is a farmer, and now resides in Illinois. Louisa M., married Thomas Arbet, and is now a resident of Denver, Colorado. Hattie M. is unmarried and living in Illinois.

Albert Gallatin Riddle

sixth son of Thomas and Minerva Riddle, was born at Munson, Massachusetts, January 28, 1816. The death of his father occurring when he was but seven years old, left the family with fortune much shattered by the withdrawal of their sole dependence. The young boy had the usual fortune falling to the' children of a family partly broken up and dispersed by the death of a father. At different times, sent into the families of friends who would gladly care for him, with strong love Tor home and especial affection for his mother, he would run away, and no matter how long the distance, or wild the road, find his way back to her. The Riddle family was regarded as unusually intelligent. They had books and newspapers, and later the township library was kept at their house, making it a place of resort for the reading people of the locality. Albert was a great reader, devouring books and papers which came into his hands. At twelve years he, and his sister next younger, had completed " Gibbon's Rome," and everyf other book in the small collection before referred to. About this time he was apprenticed to Seth Harmon, a farmer, living in the northeast corner of Mantua. The Harmons were well to do, in high standing and in this family young Riddle was treated, in all respects, as a member. In the winter he attended, school, and in the summer and fall engaged in the varied labors of the farm, interspersed with hunting and colt riding, in which sport he was proud to equal any Portage county boy. The memory of this Mantua life is cherished by him with great warmth, showing his home there to have been a pleasant one.

In the summer of 1831 he returned to Newbury, and for this and the following season, with his two elder brothers, engaged in house carpentry. His tastes were not, however, in this direction, and the following two years his time was divided between his books, under Dr. O. W. Ludlow, a man of considerable cultivation, who camejto Newbury a few years previously, and guns and fishing rods. In 1835 at the request of his brother, Harrison, who had commenced the study of the law, he went to the college at Hudson, carrying a set of bench-tools, with which it was hoped he would work his way through that institution of learning. In a few months after he again showed himself to his friends in Newbury. Up to this time he seems to have failed in pursuing any given course with sufficient steadfastness of purpose to ensure success.

He now entered upon his studies with zeal and determination ; taught school in Auburn during the winter, and entering Painesville academy in the spring; remained there for a year, making great improvement. He found here a popular lyceum, and at once took high rank as a debater among the young lawyers and students who w'ere its members. His first appearance in this role, as recalled by others, was some years before this time at Newfbury center, in reply to the Morman apostles. Asked when he first discovered he had the gift of oratory, his reply wras " I do not know'. I cannot remember when my mother taught me to read, nor the time when I could not speak."

He entered the study of law, in 1838, under the tuition of the late Governor Seabury Ford. After an examination before the supreme court, which did him great credit, w-as admitted to practice, in 1840. In Governor Ford's office, he found and read, for the first time, such works as Scott's, Shakespeare's, and Irving's, and also Smith's "Wealth of Nations." With both taste and tact for public speaking, he took an active part, as a Whig orator, in the campaign of 1840. At the October election of this year he wras chosen prosecuting attorney of the county, having been nominated at the Whig convention, three weeks after his admission to the bar. On appearing, to assume the duties of his office at a term of court, immediately after his election, it was objected that he had not been commissioned by the governor. The statute wras silent upon this point Labored arguments wrere adduced by older counsel of the opposing parties, and the court, made up of the Democratic associates, decided against the young prosecutor. Mr. Riddle, in a brief speech in his owrn behalf, raised the point that the governor only knew of his election by the certificate of the county clerk. This certificate he exhibited in court, and made the point so clear, and by his power of ridicule, showed the absurd position of the court in such a light that the bar and crowded court room burst into a shout of laughter. In this the court was forced to join ; but adhered to its decision.

Between this and the ensuing term of court he devoted himself to the study of criminal law'. When entering upon the duties of his office, the new States attorney, always leading in his owrn cases, met with brilliant success. Receiving several convictions, losing but one verdict, Judge Willey complimented him as the youngest and ablest prosecuting attorney in his circuit. Early in his law studies Mr. Riddle was called to try cases before magistrates, and in a few months this practice became quite extensive. Popular estimate of him was flattering and rapidly extended. The region often rang with stories of his contests with Bruce and Thrasher, two noted "irregulars," who were famous in all the region.

Mr. Riddle came to the bar without lawr books or money, ability and deterifiination to succeed constituting his only capital. He settled at Chardon, forming a partnership w?ith Alfred Phelps, an able, experienced lawyer, finely cultured, but with little confidence in himself as an advocate. At this time Painesville lawyers largely controlled the business of the county. He was twice re-elected prosecuting attorney, serving in that position six years, at w'hich time he was engaged in nearly every case in Geauga, and had quite a practice

Mr. Riddle was a Whig of the Giddings school. Upon, the nomination of General Taylor in 1848, he issued the first call for a mass meeting at Chardon, which inaugurated the Free-soil party of Ohio. Leading men came from surrounding counties, and in their timid hesitancy attempted to control the large assemblage in the interests of conservatism. Alter tedious waiting, Mr. Riddle took the floor, and when he left it the tide which was to overthrow the Whig party in Ohio swept in. The convention declared unanimously against Taylor, and was followed by similar conventions all over the Reserve. The Whig party bolted in a mass. Geauga and Trumbull counties at the time constituted a representative district. The Whig conventions of both counties nominated Mr. Riddle for representative, with Isaac Lee his colleague. That was a memorable year in the history of Ohio. Those familiar with public affairs at the time will recollect the long struggle between the Whig and Democratic parties, each claiming to have an organization of the house, and maintaining this separate organization for some time. Mr. Riddle was recognized as a member of each faction, and it was largely through his influence that difficulties were finally adjusted. The Free-soilers holding the balance of power, submitted through him a basis of settlement, which was finally adopted. Whenever, during the balance of the session, the Whigs and Free-soilers acted together, Mr. Riddle was their acknowledged leader. This struggle resulted in sending Salmon P. Chase to the United States senate, and in the repeal of Ohio's " black laws." At the next election the Free-soilers and Democrats united in the support of Mr. Riddle, and he was elected by a very large majority, the vote of the Whigs being cast for an opposing candidate.

At the meeting of the legislature it was found that the parties were again very nearly equally divided. The Free-soilers nominating Mr. Riddle for speaker, the Whigs withdrew their candidate in his favor, but he was defeated by one vote, through defection of a Free-soiler. During this session he was offered, but declined the secretary of stateship. He also declined being a candidate for a seat in the convention to revise the constitution of the State, a bill for which he had been instrumental in passing. It is safe to say that at this time he was regarded as one of the most promising young men of the State, possessing the talents and address requisite to success. But he seemed to feel that for the present he had enough of public life. Impaired health may have had its influence in bringing him to this conclusion.

In the spring of 1850 he removed to Cleveland, forming a partnership with Samuel Williamson, a lawyer of acknowledged ability, and for a time devoted himself purely to his profession. He also took into the Chardon firm Mr. A. H. Thrasher, making the firm of Phelps, Riddle & Thrasher, and besides extended business relations in Lorain and other adjoining counties. He gave especial attention to criminal business ; the most important case at this date was that in which he defended one Brooks. His client was convicted, but the management of the case placed Mr. Riddle among the best criminal lawyers and advocates in Ohio. A year or two after entering this Cleveland firm, Mr. Williamson was chosen prosecuting attorney, but the preparation of indictments and trial of cases mainly devolved upon his partner, Mr. Riddle. At the close of the term the latter was chosen to succeed Mr. Williamson. His rule was never to prosecute a doubtful case, or a case in which he himself had doubts of a man's guilt, however sure he might be of a conviction. It is said that the public so confided in him that no complaint was ever made of his conduct of State cases under this rule. Conviction was generally looked for when he put % a tnan on trial, unless, as sometimes happened, the evidence induced him to abandon the case. Of the fifty last cases of felony tried by him, there were forty-seven convictions. Reference to some of the more important cases in which he was engaged during these years would be of interest, but want of space forbids. His quick appreciation and ready application of any point in evidence or law which would favorably affect his clients' interests, aided by his fertility of resource, made him an opponent to be dreaded, and frequently brought success where defeat seemed certain.

The celebrated "Oberlin Rescue Case," afforded a fine field for exhibiting this fertility of resource. A slave, fleeing from his master in Kentucky, found refuge in Oberlin. One Jennings, of Kentucky, secured a United States marshal in Ohio, with a warrant for his apprehension. Instead of openly arresting him, they secretly stole John away and fled with him to Wellington. Oberlin rushed to the rescue. John was re-captured and sent to Canada. Some twenty of the Oberlin people were arrested and put on trial at Cleveland, in April, 1859. They were tried separately. They chose Mr. Riddle to defend them, placing their interests entirely in his charge, with authority to take to his aid any counsel he might choose. Distinguished counsel were employed on both sides. The trial produced great excitement in Ohio and the north. Mr. Riddle occupied two days in his argument, portions of which were unusually thrilling, and produced applause, difficult to be controlled by the court. There were none but Democrats on the jury, and, of course, Bushnell, who was first tried, was convicted. His conviction was followed by that of Langston. Both prisoners ^ere sentenced, and the court adjourned. Mr. Riddle took the case to the State supreme court, secured a writ of habeas corpus , and, by the marshal attaching a record of conviction to his returns, the whole case was brought under review.

It was heard by the court, Mr. Riddle again fully argued the questions involved, and was aided and opposed by other able counsel. The court, three to two, upheld the law. Then the grand jury of Lorain county indicted the Kentuckians, marshal and posse, for kidnapping, under the Ohio statute, and they were arrested. This new deal entirely changed the complexion of affairs. Able counsel from Kentucky interviewed Mr. Riddle in Cleveland, to learn his purpose, and were frankly told that it was to "force the United States to abandon further prosecution of the 'rescuers,' and liberate those already convicted." "Don't yon know," demanded Mr. Stanton, of Kentucky, "that John was a slave, and that his pursuers had a right, under the laws of the United States, to take him by any means they chose?" "I know all that," was the reply, "but you know that although John was a slave, you can't identify the man you captured! He is beyond your reach now, and you have not a witness in the world by which you can prove that he was a slave. Your gang, instead of executing their warrant like men, kidnapped the boy - as thieves - and as thieves they shall be tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary, unless these men are liberated."

The Kentuckians went on to Oberlin, and were soon satisfied, from the temper of the people, that the threat would be executed. Slaveocracy humbled herself, the terms were acceded to, and further prosecution of the cases was abandoned. Judge Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, was at the time United States attorney-general, and had the State Supreme Court made an adverse decision, there was great danger of collision between the two governments.

By request of Governor Salmon P. Chase, the attorney-general of the State aided Mr. Riddle. Years after this, Judge Black and Mr. Riddle sat face to face at a dinner-table in Washington. J udge Black referred to the peril of the time, and the means he had prepared to meet it, and spoke of a young lawyer in Ohio, by the name of Riddle, who had been instrumental in creating the disturbance. He would like to meet him, and hear what he could say for himself. A gentleman sitting by his side, pointed out Mr. Riddle, as the lawyer to « whom he referred. The judge looking in amazement at the smiling face before him, asked, "What did you intend to do by your course?" and received the reply, "To secure the acquittal of my clients." "Did you not know that you were imperiling the peace and integrity of the government?" quoth the judge. "If the supreme court had decided your slave law unconstitutional," said Mr. Riddle, "it would not then have been the law in Ohio. Had you sought to enforce it, the responsibility would have rested with you. I confess, Judge, that the idea of precipitating over that act of Congress a collision between Ohio under Chase, and the United States under Buchanan and his attorney-general did occur to me, as a thing not to be shunned. It might have hastened the war when the south was as little prepared as the north." This was the beginning of a warm friendship between these gentlemen, and soon after, the judge proposed a law partnership with Mr. Riddle, and was especially anxious he should train his young son, Chauncev, in jury practice.

The trial of Cole for murder of his wife to make way for a mistress, was one of much notoriety. Mr. Riddle conducted the prosecution, and was opposed by such distinguished counsel as Ranney, Sherman and Thrasher. The closing argument of Mr. Riddle was conceded to be the most brilliant ever delivered in that region. The jury acquitted Cole, but the people condemned him, and he fled the country.

In i860 the congressional district in which Mr. Riddle lived, embraced Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties. He made at this time an active canvass for nomination to Congress, and succeeded over a most formidable opponent, Hon. F. T. Backus.

In July, 1861, he took his seat in congress, at the extra session, called to take measures for suppression of the Rebellion. This was a poor time for a new man to make a reputation in congress. The executive monopolized the government; congress only met to sustain and swell its force and power. Soldiers, not legislators, were crowned with fame. Mr. Riddle was one of the few who early predicted the rebels would fight. He was one of the first to enlist; but delicate health unfitted him for a soldier's life. He spent much time and means in equipping and caring for the soldiers, and, in Washington, was conspicuous in his attention to them and their wants. Of six nephews, old enough to bear arms, all enlisted in the service. One lost his life, and five fought the war through.

He was said to have been largely instrumental in raising the Seventh and Forty-first Ohio regiments, and securing General Hazen to command the latter; also, that he procured the order for a battery, afterwards the Ninth Independent Ohio battery. The first Union flag raised over the capitol, at Nashville, was that presented to the Forty-first by one of his young daughters.

In his congressional career, Mr. Riddle won the respect and confidence of his fellows. He made it a point to be in his place, and confine himself to the business of the house. At the assembling of this congress there was really but one party, and no caucus named candidates for the various offices. Mr. Riddle did not support the successful candidate for speaker, and was paid by a place at the tail end of two important committees; but, on acquaintance, he and the speaker, Galusha A. Grow, became fast friends.

At the extra session, Mr. Crittenden's famous "slavery saving" resolution, declaring the object of the war, which in no event was to subvert slavery, passed, receiving but two negative votes - John F. Potter, of Wisconsin, and A. G. Riddle, of Ohio. Great intimacy between these gentlemen resulted from this circumstance. Afterwards, in 1864, it wa% intimated to Mr. Riddle that he could have the consul generalship to Canada, which he would have liked, but learning Mr. Potter desired the place, he declined, and urged his friend's appointment, which was secured.

Mr. Riddle first attracted attention in a case of contest from Philadelphia. Espousing the cause of a Democrat against the majority report of a committee, he succeeded in retaining the sitting member by one vote. It was a case for an advocate, and in his brilliant argument he gained the ear of the house; showing that the contestant's claim rested on pure, but ingenious fraud. This fraud was so covered up that Democrats had no hope of success, and did little, until the quick eye and clear perception of Mr. Riddle exposed the whole thing.

His first set speech upon the subject of slavery was made in January, 1862. Its chief purport was to urge the arming of the slaves as soldiers, and was said to be the first public utterance upon the subject. Mr. Riddle's argument on the bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia drew out an able article in approval, in the Independent , by Horace Greeley. Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, and Mr. Riddle were the only avowed friends of Mr. Lincoln, at the end of the Thirty-seventh congress, and the speech of the latter, on the last night of the session, reviewing current events, and criticising the conduct of members towards the president, was largely used as a campaign document in the succeeding canvass in Ohio and elsewhere.

It will be remembered that the first, and disastrous battle of Bull Run occurred during the session of congress. Mr. Riddle and other members visited the battle-field and witnessed some of its scenes of disaster and disgrace. In a familiar letter to his wife, describing these scenes, in that vigorous, forcible, and not over careful manner in which he was wont to express himself, he sharply criticised the conduct of some of the officers and men of the Union army. This, through the misjudgment of some of his friends, found its way into the Cleveland Leader. In the then excited state of the public mind, the impression produced was very unfavorable to Mr. Riddle. The rivalry between the Herald and Leader - the bone of contention being the Cleveland post-office, and Mr. Riddle having recommended Cowles of the Leader , for the position, made the Herald his bitter opponent. The columns of that paper teemed with articles fanning the flames of prejudice excited by the ill-judged publication before referred to. He, who but just now was riding on the tidal wave of popularity, had heaped upon him all manner of abuse.

At the nominating convention for the approaching election, he was defeated, although leading in the ballot until his name was withdrawn. During the continuance of this excitement, friends wrote him not to return to Cleveland for fear of personal violence ; but when he did return, appearing in the most frequented places, no disrespect was shown him. That, for the time, there was much unpleasant feeling resulting from this occurrence, extending to a greater or less extent among his friends, there is no doubt. There certainly is just as little doubt of his intense patriotism and love for the soldier. The struggle was one long expected by his mature convictions, and every one heartily engaging in it upon the Union side commanded his support. Every fibre of his nature, every impulse of his heart prompted to, and all his means paid lavish tribute for the support, care and comfort of those who, taking their life in their hands, stood as a wall of fire between the government and those who sought its overthrow. Any representation from whatever source differing from this did injustice to the man.

He was urged by Horace Greely, among others, to run as an independent candidate, with the promise that the Tribune would support him, but yielding to other counsel, he declined to do so. This, and his failure to go to the defense of John Brown, he regarded as* the two patent failures of his life. In the latter case he was absent from Cleveland when the summons came, and on his return, it was supposed too late to reach him in time for the trial, which afterwards proved not true, and Mr. Riddle very much regretted that he did not go.

After the close of his brief congressional career he again devoted himself to the law. He was active in securing John Brough's nomination for governor in

1864, Mr. Riddle accepted a consulate in Cuba, proving a good pretext of making an examination into the plans and workings of blockade runners. In December he took passage to Nassau, and thence to Havana, in a British steamer, on which was a large number of rebels and blockade runners. He was absent -until May, performing his mission to the entire satisfaction of the State department, remaining in its service sometime after his return. He was the means of the capture and detention of two blockade runners, and of breaking up a well arranged and extensive scheme, having its headquarters in New York.

He now determined to establish himself in Washington city in practice of the law, his family following him there late in the fall. Having the confidence of Secretary Stanton, he was retained in many important military cases, gaining him both reputation and fees. Among these was defending General Baker at Washington and Trentbn, and General Schofield, at Richmond. At Trenton was associated with him Mr. Brady, of New York, who was so well pleased that he invited Mr. Riddle to New York to enter into business arrangements, and subsequently renewed the invitation with flattering assurances. Mr. Brady's death soon after closed the negotiations.

On entering the Washington bar Mr. Riddle was, and for some time continued to be, the only Republican lawyer in the district, and his success with juries secured him a large practice. 'For a time he was the sole counsel and advocate for the colored race, seldom receiving any fee for his services. The " Safe Burglary" case was one of the most remarkable cases ever occurring in this country. A full account of this trial, and of Mr. Riddle's connection with it, would be interesting, if space would permit. It must suffice to say that the ultimate confession of the chief executor and a subordinate in this conspiracy, proved the theory evolved by Mr. Riddle, from the evidence which was entirely circumstantial, to the minutest detail. The prosecution of this case was fatal to every man towards which the carefully prepared and justly used evidence directed suspicion. They were marked and ruined. It also proved somewhat unfortunate for the man who conducted the prosecution. Some of the parties were very near to the president, and thus his mind was prejudiced against him. When Postmaster General Jewell desired Mr. Riddle to prosecute certain parties for fraud in the post-office department, he was not permitted to retain him, And in various ways he has been made to feel the persistent influence of secret, and because secret, powerful enemies. As shown by the record, Mr. Riddle is often before the supreme court of the United States, and none are accorded a more attentive hearing. He has tried many cases without a fee, but never voluteered in but one - the case of Minnie Gains. Reared a slave, she was abandoned by her betrayer in a heartless and cruel manner, when two or three months advanced in pregnancy. She killed a white man whose conduct, in the eye of popular opinion at the capital, had honored her. She was colored, without a friend. The nun was well connected. It was in the early days of emancipation, and feeling was intense against her. She had no money, counsel, or witnesses. It was just the case to call for help from such as Riddle. He volunteered his services, sent into interior Virginia and, at much expense, secured testimony. One of his daughters, with other Washinton ladies, visited the woman in prison, and sat with her during her trial for life. It was one of the first cases where colored persons sat on the jury, about equal numbers of each race being upon it. The trial lasted a number of days. Excitement ran high, but the jury returned a verdict of acquital. The girl found a home in a family in Boston, and, at last accounts, was " proving herself worthy of her good fortune." This was one of about forty cases of homicide in which Mr. Riddle was engaged, and in only one did he entirely fail - this was in the case of Barney Wood, a Union soldier, who shot a man in a drunken fray. In spite of all his efforts the man was convicted and hanged. He has never engaged in a homicide trial since, though much in the criminal courts. Mr. Riddle has always had a large civil practice, and stood well as a commercial lawyer. From the commencement he has advocated all the various measures for the advancement of women. Woman's suffrage, he holds, is to this only a means, not an end. Before the judiciary committee of the lower house of congress he supported the proposition that women are entitled to vote, by just construction of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. In the case of Mrs. Spencer, who tried but was not permitted to vote, he more fully discussed this question in an argument, regarded by the friends of the movement as irrefutable.

Mr. Riddle always had a great passion for books, and he is a large buyer of professional and miscellaneous works. Still he rarely reads a book through. Mastering the author and discovering the scope of his work, it is thrown aside to make way for another. He inclines to history and biography, but his library gives evidence of reading in a diversity of channels, including Darwin, Spencer and Mills. His first publication was a series of eight law lectures, delivered before the first class of colored students in Howard university. His first novel was "Bart. Ridgely," published in 1873. It was widely read and favorably noticed as the best American novel of the year. This was followed by the "Portrait," the scene of which, as of the former, was laid in the* vicinity of the author's early life. The next year came "Alice Brand," a story of Washington life at the close of the war. Many claimed it was over-drawn, but intelligent residents of Washington at that day can identify many of the leading characters and incidents, and know the work to be a graphic picture of that strange time. Mr. Riddle has great facility in writing, and his capacity for dispatching professional business, gives time for engaging in other pursuits. In writing, his habit is to work out his idea mentally before committing anything to paper, and he only goes over to correct when the whole is done. It may fairly be said that his literary work has been done in snatches of time, taken in the intervals of professional business, and, more than anything else, in the nature of recreation. He has written much for newspapers, and in 1878 wrote the pioneer history of the townships of Geauga county, as published by the Williams Brothers in that year. The facts for this sketch are drawn from the life of Mr. Riddle published in the work just referred to, and the memory of one who has a vivid recollection of the time and very many of the incidents recorded. It is written of one who, starting in life in the woods of northern Ohio, with no very unusual early advantages, by his own effort established reputation, rising to positions of standing and influence. His reputation is especially that of a lawyer - perhaps it should be said criminal, certainly jury lawyer. His style of oratory, power of invective, ridicule, biting sarcasm and sympathetic appeal, accompanied by his earnest manner and forceful utterance, give him great power with twelve men in the jury box, as they do upon the platform, before assembled multitudes. Brief extracts from reported speeches widely commended show the character of his oratory. In memory of John Brown, he said: "Then up arose John

Brown, soldier and prophet - do not say that he was crazy, do not think it, do not so cloud his glory - and, scanning this slavery, said, 'It was wrong, all wrong, allied to nothing good, or even indifferent, but wholly wrong. No matter how old it is, or how deeply imbedded in institutions; no matter how guarded by State constitutions and laws, or how esteemed, and received as good. No matter, though hedged in by the Union, and walled round by the triple bars of the national compact - though thirty-three crowned sovereigns, with arms in their hands, stand around it, it is wrong, and shalt be dealt with as wrong. I cannot approach it through the law, that forbids me. I cannot strike it through the constitution, that protects it. I cannot move the power of the Union, to crush it, that shields it. Yet all revelation commands me, all the instincts of humanity impel me, all the voices of the free creation call me, and I fall back on the eternal reservation of rights, and obey."

"Shall slavery for all this repo^ one night? Shall it not imagine the soul of John Brown, in form of the red visaged angel of retributive wrath, hovering on the pinions of fright and terror, over all her doomed domain, - distilling ghastly images of blood upon the startling eyeballs of her cowering votaries. And that blow! what a wonder! and what a revelation! That little metallic clink, not so loud as the sullen anvil gives back to the hammer, shook a continent, and its echoes and re-choes, as they repeat, grow louder and louder, and they shall never die away. It shattered the fetters of every slave in the land; and could the Moses have gone on, another exodus might have been possible. It revealed the utter, deathly weakness of slavery. At once and forever, it dissipated the cloud, and mystery, and darkness that enshrouded it; and an awakened world beheld it - empty, and hollow, and naked, and helpless, and hopeless; languishing and dying in its deformity, - and there were no reverent sons walking backward with its garments to cover the unsightly hideousness from a mocking universe.

"What a revelation, too, this act has made of the character and conduct of John Brown himself, showing us that men of the grand old type, - souls of the great heroic mould - are still possible - still have their birth in our land; men who realize the images that have haunted our memories since the tales of our childhood. The world has never seen the paragon of that incident in the last struggle; when every thing had failed but the sacrifice, - and, as if, without the "shedding of blood, there could be no remission," and that the offering might be perfect, while one son lay dead before him, with the lapsing pulse of the other dying boy ebbing from under the fingers of one hand, with the other still grasping his rifle, the voice of the old soldier prophet was heard ringing out over the din of battle, calling the last of his band to death.

"To-day the earth mourns in storm and darkness, the departure of its truest child. To-day the pearly gates opened with light and gladness to the grandest soul that has passed their portals for the last thousand years."

"Of his intimate friend, Judge Pashal: "I stand amid crowds of men. I see fewer and fewer of my contemporaries, and the world though full, becomes a desert. This blow intensifies the solitude of my life. I cast my eyes about t o see how lonely I stand. I turn to this newly made grave; I would lay a fitting offering upon it. The buds will no longer blossom for me. The very leaves, with my tears upon them, wither and perish in my hands. I remit the task to others." "To him was given clear, steady hope of the future. He died with its glow on the opening pinions of his spirit. We may not regret him. His career was completed. He lived and died a man; every inch, fibre, instinct, was pure, manly. Strong, brave, gentle, tender, loving; true to his generation, true to his kind, true to his country, true to his God. True counsellor, true friend, true lover, true husband, true father." our midst, so large that it seems to fill all the land, and the earth that rounds it up is streaked with the red of the great battle-fields of the continent; and I have something to say of him whose remains rest under it. Not eulogy! God forgive the man who attempts that. Anything, the words of hate are more fitting than eulogy. Some strong, forceful, earnest words with meaning - or silence from me. The sun, storm and clouds may eulogize the mountain - not I.

The ordinary functions of the government were in abeyance, and all the primal energies of an aroused people went to inspire the brain and strengthen the arm of the executive. The executive was the government; Lincoln was the prominent figure before men's eyes, towering and growing colossal. Back of Lincoln was Stanton; back of Stanton - nothing. Men say that he was rough. Of course, he was. He was a primal force of nature; used to break up the old crust of the earth, throw up new mountains, a*id change the configuration of a continent. I fancy him in twilight solitude by some sounding sea, quarry ing a mountain and throwing up a giant's causeway in a night. The extinction of rebellion by force was his task, and no fateful destiny ever moved more inexorably than he, to its performance. He would hear and see and know nothing else. Whatever would help, he used; whatever would hinder, was ruthlessly thrust aside. Nothing could deter or divert. To the world he was dark, cold, inscrutable, inexorable: Union soldiers were perishing or becoming idiots in

"How men hated him! Did he know it; did he care? Did men love him? he never asked. Love was not necessary to him then. How was he lied about! Did he hear it? Whether he did or not, no word of his was ever utteied to contradict, deny, explain, or expose. Though the earth wavered like a stormtossed sea, he stood firm ; though it was covered from sight by dead men, he saw them not; though the bosom of the storm discharged fire and blood and gobbets of mangled human flesh, he seemed unconscious of it. How inscrutible that the staunch ship that had so defied and outrode the storm should go so suddenly down, under a sunny sky, in its harbor. After all, what was left for him. The one place proper for him, might never come to him. What other was there that he would not have to step down to. I confess that I think it better for him as it is - that now his nobler part should follow up that golden strand that connects this with the better life. To me it seems well that the great seal of death should certify him and his case up to the high tribunal of impartial history.

"Long hence, when this atmosphere is cleared, and the light becomes white; when the sources of events are laid bare, and the springs of actions disclosed; when all the hiding places of information are revealed ; some broad-browed, deep-eyed, thoughtful student of history, with infinite care, will construct the story of our struggle, and Lincoln and his secretaries will take their final places. Yet, long ere then we shall have passed away. The passing footsteps of thronging generations will have beaten the green roofs of our resting places back to the level plain, and our names and memories will have perished from the earth."

His unpublished speeches upon the death of Chief Justice Chase, and the younger Stanton are said to have equalled any of the foregoing. A man of medium height, slightly built, light complexion, quick, wiry, nervous temperament, and somewhat impulsive; of strong convictions, warm friendships and sharp antagonisms. When young he is remembered as seemingly abstracted, preoccupied with his own thoughts and fancies, occasionally breaking out in droll words and witty sayings. Apparently, he cared little for those about him, and yet, then, as in later life, he was careful of dress and personal appearance, but utterly reckless of consequences to himself, as in his clear, terse and vigorous style, he gave utterance to his conviction of men and things. He has been before the eyes of men for many years; has done much work, and met many of the vicissitudes of human experience. The world will judge of his life and character, and assign him his place among the men of his generation.

In January, 1845, Mr. Riddle married Caroline, eldest daughter of the late Judge Avery, of Chardon, a young lady of rare grace of figure and strong, sweet traits of character. To them have been born a family of interesting children, six of whom are still living, one son and five daughters, the youngest of whom is nineteen years old.

Arthur Henry Thrasher

The Thrashers, father and son, were most decided men. The name Thrasher has a decided sound. They came from New Hampshire, which, from the number of her population, has produced more remarkable men than any other part of the Republic. Men have to be uncommon to live there. Winter rules half the year, and the whole of the years must be given to a ceaseless struggle for life, in which the feeble perish young, if the feeble are ever born there. Dr. Jacob Thrasher, the father of Arthur, was a cousin of the Websters, Daniel and Ezekiel, on the mother's side, through whom the brains must have come. He was a remarkable man, standing six feet, spare, bony, erect, well made, with a magnificent head all forward of and above the# ears - a man of rare dignity of bearing, of classical education, rare intellect, keen, subtle, caustic, endowed with great wit and pitiless sarcasm.

After his arrival in Troy, though bred to medicine, which he had abandoned, he was much employed in the trial of cases before magistrates. Without knowledge of law, his sagacity, knowledge of men, wit and sarcasm, made him formidable as an irregular practitioner.

The Hon. A. G. Riddle, from whose sketch in the Williams' history this has been condensed, writes of him as having a large fund of practical information - tested, distilled, and used until seemed veritable wisdom, and, with readiness, tact, and ability, his conversation, interspersed with anecdotes, and keeness of wit, was rarely equaled.

He was poor, had convivial habits, tried cases, gave Riddle, then a young lawyer, much valuable advice and suggestion, and was always to him an enigma of human character, conduct and fortune.

Arthur's mother was a Branscomb, a respectable New Hampshire family. He was named for her only brother. That Arthur was a lawyer of ability, and was several times a member of the New Hampshire legislature.

Arthur H. was bom at Deerfield, New Hampshire, March 19, 1819. In his infancy the family moved to Crown Point, Essex county, New York, and when he was twelve years old came to Troy. He was at school in Parkman, and later, occupied an otherwise deserted log cabin, subsisting himself, by the aid of his brothers and sisters, in Troy, under the tuition of the late B. F. Abel, esq., an accomplished teacher, and one of the most amiable of men. Here he was deep in the classics.

I also hear of him in school at Delaware, Ohio, of his teaching for short periods. His father seems to have early left him to himself, probably about all he could do for him ; and to one of the nature, character, and aspirations of young Arthur, this could be done with absolute safety. Emulous, pure-hearted, patient, hopeful, docile, but high-spirited and proud, an early death or honorable success invariably attends such youths. Under the difficulties surrounding him he made his way - may have matured slowly. So much the better in the long, arduous struggle of life. At ten, fifteen, or twenty-five, no man can, with any certainty, forecast the five or six great men of forty years hence - perhaps not one of the five hundred extraordinary, or even of the one thousand distinguished of that future. His grasp of a knotty point, a problem, was that of a vice. He held it till he extracted its secret, till it dissolved to simples in his hand.

In 1844 he entered the law office of Hitchcock & Wilder as a student of law. After a few months he went to southern Indiana and taught school. Here, with a brother, he purchased a drove of swine, which they took to New Orleans. It proved a bad speculation. He, however, managed to return to law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. For the ensuing twro years he made Troy his headquarters, attended to cases before magistrates, and appeared in some trial# at Ravenna and Chardon.

In 1850, on the removal of A. G. Riddle to Cleveland, at his request, Mr. Thrasher became a member of the firm of Phelps, Riddle & Thrasher. Subsequently of the firms of Riddle, Thrasher & Williston; Phelps & Thrasher; and Thrasher, Durfee & Hathaway, practicing in Geauga and Lake, with excursions into Ashtabula and Portage. He lived in Chardon until his death, which occurred December 9, 1864, at the early age of forty-five.

Mr. Thrasher never held an office, never sought one. He was a thorough lawyer. It opened a field of labor which enlisted all his powers ; its successes gratified his ambition, its emoluments gave him the means of liberal living, and, with his care, would have produced affluence. The firm of which he first be* come a member had one side, usually the plaintiffs, of quite all the cases in Geauga, and a fair practice in 'Lake.

Mr. Thrasher's ability and industry', with the aid of. Mr, Riddle in trials, kept up and rather increased it, especially in Lake. His application approached the wonderful. He thoroughly mastered the law. That which he once secured he always retained. No hint of fact or law was lost on him. As fast as means permitted he added to the library, and his books were implements of warfare, not embellish mets to attract or please the eye. The practice of law with him was a constant conflict. The declaration was a declaration of war, - instant, relentless, and without quarter or cessation; always pushed to extremity, never abandoned till the end was reached ; ever renewed till the last honorable expedient was exhausted. His client was his friend, brother, himself. His cause, his cause; his feelings, his feelings; his opponents, his advocate's enemy. He supplemented the knowledge and zeal of the lawyer with the interest, zeal, and animosity of the party. While this secures the utmost fidelity, the most untiring, persistent attention and labor, the brain is sometimes too heated, and the mists of passion obscure the vision. The danger is, your opponent becomes your enemy, - never can become your client. There never was a safer man to entrust a case to than Arthur H. Thrasher. No man ever dreamed of corrupting him. "The cause he knew not, he searched out," literally. If law then was in all the books that would help him, his counsel would certainly find and bring it forward. If a man in the world knew a thing which would aid him, his counsel would surely have him at the trial ; and all that could be done in the way of preparation, care, and industry, a high degree of ability in the trial and presentation of the case, without regard to the amount involved or time consumed in the trial, were certain to be well and thoroughly done. The danger was overwork, too great care. He usually knew exactly what the witnesses on his side knew, and all they knew. He was often exacting as to the precise form of the words they should use, and he returned again and again to the point, often when unimportant, until he had it as he wished it; or, as sometimes happened, in the forgetfulness, perversity, or anger of the witness, he was foiled altogether. As a lawyer, Mr. Thrasher ranked high. Time, growth, industry, talents, are all re- ' quisite to produce a lawyer. These would certainly have conducted him to the very foremost rank.

As an advocate, a speaker, he was strong, clear, argumentative, and forcible; was without imagination or fancy ; was always too intensely in earnest to indulge the vein of pleasant humor which would make him a delightful companion. His speeches at times might have been improved in method, and quite as effective if of diminished length. Sometimes after a masterly presentation of his case,, in the fear that he had omitted something, or had not produced it in its strength, he returned to different parts of it, at the hazard of weakening or confusing the effort as a whole. He had many of the advantages of a good speaker, - a fine, well-knit, tall, slender form ; open, frank, manly face (resembling his mother's race, I am told); aquiline features; dark, fine eyes; glossy, wavy Slack hair, carefully arranged; and dressed with a neatness and style of costume unusual in a village, and which sometimes provoked the comment of the rustic. One of the most honorable and high-minded of men, he thought well of himself, though not too well. Modest he was, but he knew he was every inch a man, and always dressed and bore himself as became a man, and the thorough gentleman that he was.

No man at the head of a large practice, which he pursued with the methods and industry of Mr. Thrasher, could long survive. Though with a fine physique, pure, temperate, blameless life, the man who should have gone on to the head of his profession, ruled on the supreme court bench of his State, presided as her chief magistrate, or, wiser still, have remained in private practice, so labored in it as to sap the foundations and conditions of life itself, and die at the immature age of forty-five, distinguished in the small circle of two or three counties, and great only in possibility.

Among the cases of local celebrity which connect themselves with Mr. Thrasher's name are those of Lampson vs. Pool, of Troy, all about a yearling steer which both claimed. It was rutted, had its tail cut in due form in the spring, and turned away with the herd on the rich Cuyahoga bottoms. In autumn it had waxed fat and kicked. Pool secured it ; was sued by Lampson. It was worth seven dollars, cost a thousand, divided a township, illustrated a principle in the supreme court, and the folly of the law as men appeal to it, and added much to Mr. Thrasher's reputation, who finally won it.

Then there was the case of Bosley vs. Spencer, for flowing water back onto his water-wheel, in South Thompson, which his side gained, mainly through his efforts. Tucker and Tucker, all about a puddle of water. 'The Tuckers, of Chardon, brothers, of narrow, strong, unyielding qualities, wrere at feud. There was an intermittent little brook meandering, wrhen it could run, through a field of Hosea Tucker. At one point, on the line between them, a sup of it could at times be had, in an angle of the line fence on Orrin Tucker's side. Orrin had plenty of other water; could use this, wdien there wras any, for stock. Hosea put in a stout fence at that point, which cut Orrin off. Orrin put a suit to him straightway; employed able counsel. Thrasher & Co. defended. Five years the war lasted. Orrin was beaten finally, and ruined, and Dr. Thrasher uttered an epigram on the poor old mother of these sons.

Who in Geauga and Lake does not remember Mrs. Fuller's case against Hezekiah Cole, for breach of marriage promise, and everything else, tried the last of many times at Painesville, in February, 1861? Thrasher made the case, in a way. He resurrected the facts, and witnesses, too, and finally secured a verdict, though others aided in the trial.

I need only mention the case of Ohio vs. Cole, for poisoning his wife. In this case Thrasher literally created the defense. He did very much to educate the medical witnesses, wiiose testimony w*as effectively used. It is true that on the final trial Ranney and Laban Sherman made the speeches, but Thrasher was the life, brain, and spirit of the remarkable and successful defense. Indeed, so intense and long-continued were his labors and anxiety in this case, that I have always attributed the ruin of his own health to it. Cole's wrhole life was not worth the idlest moment of the brave spirit that dimmed its ow n earthly day for him.

Let it not be suspected for a moment that Mr. Thrasher's enemies even ever accused him of sharp practice, or the use of unfair or dishonorable means, in any of those ardently pursued cases. His warfare was open, frank, and most honorable.

On the nineteenth of December, 1850, Mr. Thrasher joined in marriage with Miss Mary A. Merriam, daughter of M. D. Merriam, esq., of Burton, and granddaughter orthe late Johnson F. Welton. Of attractive person, carefully educated, and very pleasing manners, devoted, and womanly, she brought to him the contrasts and counterparts without which even devoted, untiring love may fail to secure rational happiness.

Of earnest and sincere convictions and reverent nature, Mr. Thrasher had always treated the subject of religion with respect. A year or two before his death he felt constrained to openly acknowledge his deepened convictions, and became an active member of an organized body of orthodox Christians. He was of the advanced on the subject of slavery, and behind none in ardent patriotism. In his early years at the bar the intensity of his advocacy made him some enemies. As he advanced in years, he softened somewhat the ardor of his invective. He came finally to understand that his opponents were not all totally depraved, and his clients and witnesses not monopolists of truth and virtue. All the world finally came to see the integrity and purity of his life: that his faults sprang wholly from his zeal for what to him was the cause of justice and truth; and they felt and acknowledged the essential manliness, strength, and force of his character, and regarded him accordingly. Daily was he growing in the esteem, confidence, and respect of his fellows. More and more was it seen and felt that he was a strong, brave, pure man - one to be trusted and confided in, - and he was rapidly reaching his proper place in the regards of all. In his own circle, by his own fireside, with his kin and friends, he was always the truest, tenderest, and most thoughtful of men.

My hand lingers tenderly and lovingly over this sketch. I am loath to finish and leave it. I know it will have the tribute of my tears. He was one of the most cherished of my manhood's friends. When I clasped his hand in mine I knew that its pulse was absolute truth - that his instincts were loyal, and his spirit high and pure.

Of his marriage was born a son, Albert J., May 3, 1858. He has the manly figure and bearing, with the mentality, of his father; the blonde complexion, blue eyes, pleasing face, and sparkling manner of his mother. Thus far he has not developed the bodily vigor and hardihood which permits the devotion to study he would so much desire. That will come in time. He is an object of much interest to the wide circle of his father's friends. With his mother, whose life of pure widowhood is one of devotion to him, he finds his home, with her parents, at their pleasant retreat in Burton.

This gentleman is the senior of the well-known law firm of Durfee & Stephenson, of Chardon. He was born September 15, 1817, in Hopkinton, St. Lawrence county, New York. His father, James Durfee, was a native of Connecticut, and his mother, Charlotte Hopkins, a native of Vermont. They were married at historic Ticonderoga, in 1810. The Durfees were of good Irish extraction, and first planted themselves in Rhode Island. .They were probably refugees in Ireland from France, and the name may have been D'Urfey. At what time Joseph Durfee established himself in Hopkinton, I am not advised.

It was a wild, savage region, covered with forests and infested with wlid beasts, against which the inhabitants had to band themselves for their own protection, and where young Durfee spent his boyhood and early youth, in the absence of many of the more refining pastimes, in the hunting of wolves and other animals, for which it is said he evinced a taste and aptitude. Fishing, hunting, and trapping received his early attention, the pelts of the smaller fur-bearing animals his main source of revenue. These were his pastimes. His seridtis business was work on the farm. He somehow' early made a speaking acquaintance w ith the alphabet, and evinced fondness for books, for which he paid some of the money left him by his father in his hands, proceeds of the fur trade. He found his way to the schools, and became interested in arithmetic, for which he undoubtedly had a natural aptitude. He seems also to readily have acquired the rudiments of such other branches as were put in his way in the common schools of that region. Like other country youths, after ten or twelve years of age his chances for school were limited to the winter seasons. At eighteen he had mastered all the schools could do for him, and his father thought him well educated, and that, on the whole, he had been liberal to him in that matter.

When he was thirteen his father was elected to the important post of supervisor of the township, which brought a mass of books and papers under the eyes of the future counselor, with which he seems to have made himself early familiar, and acquired some notions of affairs and tastes for business matters connected with the statutes and civil service of New York. He troubled the elder Durfee with a great many puzzling questions. The attention he bestowed on the subjects and the frequency of his discussions of the questions involved in them, with his early gravity of demeanor, won for him the title of squire at the early age of sixteen, rendered as his due, as we are informed. At eighteen his father declined re-election, and the books and papers, and the opportunities they afforded, departed from the "squire." He then desired his father to enable him to improve his education and study law, which was declined, and for a time the idea was abandoned.

In 1836 his father visited the west, and resolved to make Geauga county his future residence. Two elder brothers of L. E. were then in Ohio, and they persuaded the father, against the importunity of L. E., the younger, to abahdon the idea of Chicago or the farther west, and fix himself in the State of their adoption; and the subject of this sketch became a citizen of this State, greatly against his youthful predilections. The removal took place that fall. Mr. Durfee purchased land in Troy, a saw-mill and a house in the village of Parkman, where the family took up its residence, which proved not much in accord with the tastes of the young man. He was inducted into the saw-mill, a part of the senior's new purchase, and had to square logs instead of the statutes of New York, and had to deal with "deals" and sawdust. One advantage the change brought - a good select school, of which he was permitted to avail himself during the winter, and in which, from his studious habit and the grave and earnest character of his mind, he made very satisfactory progress. The crash of 1837 came with ruin to the elder Durfee. He escaped with fifty acres of land in Troy, where he now took refuge, and where the rest of his days were spent The young man reached the age of twenty-one, which was in the year 1838, a healthy, robust, ambitious youth, when, with a few needed things tied in a bandanna handkerchief and five dollars in his pocket, he turned from his mother's door, not to attend the supreme court at Columbus, but in search of fortune or fate, west. The fifth morning found him on the banks of the Maumee. Taking the left bank, he visited old Fort Meigs, and saw the Indians in the neighborhood. At the Otsego mills, beyond, he was offered fifteen dollars per month for his labor. He accepted, and engaged for a year. He

At Troy he found B. F. Abel engaged in an excellent high school, and he became a pupil. Here he was a fellow-student with A. H. Thrasher, whom he had seen at Parkman, and they became life friends. Quickened by Thrasher's example, and urged by his advice, Durfee now determined to undertake the law, without nioiley, and health shattered by the malaria of the Maumee. Years were coming on - that is to say, he was a ripe youth, and time for dalliance was past. He pushed through his self-prescribed course, and became a student in the office of Governor Ford. Here he remained with profit for several months, and then changed to Tiffin, the office of Cowdry & Wilson. Here he became a deputy sheriff, finished his law course, and was admitted to the bar. He was then nearly thirty years old.

He now visited the territory of Wisconsin, found that he was still suffering from ill health, returned to Geauga, and spent the winter. Meantime, business came in upon him and settled the question of location. He remained in Troy some three years, and did what came to him.

On the thirty-first of December, 1851, he formed his first and probably wisest copartnership. He was united with Miss Sophia C. Tinckham, a most estimable lady, in marriage, and removed to Chardon in December, 1852. Mr. Durfee had already practiced in several of the counties. He now concentrated his efforts to build up a business with its center at Chardon.

In the case of Lamson vs. Pool, referred to in the sketch of A. H. Thrasher, aided by E. T. Wilder, he was the counsel for plaintiff, and opponent to Messrs. Riddle & Thrasher. There, in the first trial, the jury stood eleven for the plaintiff, but on the second the verdict went for the defendant - a not unusual thing to find a second jury agreeing with the minority of the first. So also in the Bosley and Spencer water case, Mr. Durfee was opposed to Mr. Thrasher. There was no lack of ability and learning on the part of Mr. Durfee in these cases.

The changes of time brought Messrs. Thrasher, Durfee and Hathaway into the same firm, one of the strongest of the later years in Geauga, to which Mr. Durfee contributed his full share. To his efforts mainly was due their success in the important case of Dunlap 7'S. Knapp (14 O. S. Rep., p. 65). The case of Chamberlain 7}s. the Painesville & Hudson Railroad company, was specially in his charge, and in this his labors entitle him to much credit. There he had the not unusual satisfaction for him of having his views finally adopted as the law of the case (15 Id., p. 225). So also the same railroad company vs. King (17 Id., p. 535), carried up from Cuyahoga. Indeed, it is a rare compliment to the accuracy of Durfee's learning and judgment that he is usually sustained by the court of the last resort.

His mind was singularly accurate and clear in its processes; and if his conclusions cost him much care and labor, they are worth the cost. He tries a case well and thoroughly, and because his preparation has been ample. He understands that the best work in the trial of a case is done out of court. As a speaker he is methodical, clear, and can be compact, his argument logical, without a touch of fancy or a ray of humor. His voice and manner are good.

On the whole, considering the many disadvantages under which Mr. Durfee labored in early life, he is entitled to the highest credit for the position which he has won for himself at the bar. Strict integrity, a high purpose, great energy, and patience have secured his enviable place, and will sustain him in it to the end. %

He began at Chardon as a partner with Judge Bissell. This was succeeded by the firm of Forrest, Durfee & Hathaway. Forrest went to Warren and the juniors remained, till the company, with Thrasher, was made up. On the death of Mr. Thrasher, the juniors remained in company for some time, and in 1865 the present firm of Durfee & Stephenson was formed, and still continues.

In politics Mr. Durfee was reared a Jackson Democrat. Born in St. Lawrence county, he could hardly have been otherwise. The issues of slavery enlightened him, as they did many patriotic Democrats.

In 1870 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and served two terms. He seems not to have been ambitioas of place ; and though winning and enjoying largely the esteem and confidence of the people, the less worthy might surpass him in the mere race of popularity.

One of the judges of the court remarked soon after Mr. Durfee commenced practice: "That young Durfee must have some Scotch blood in his veins," which proved to be true on his mother's side. His father was of the Huguenot colony, in France, so famous for civil and religious liberty. The name was then, and for a long time after coming to this country, spelled DeUrfee. The Geauga and Lake history says that his opinions on questions of law have been well sustained by the courts of dernier resort. Santa Anna said, respecting the battle that decided the Mexican campaign, that he fairly whipped General Taylor, but the old man did not know enough to know it, and kept on fighting till we were vanquished ourselves. Perhaps some of Durfee's opponents may have felt somewhat like that when decisions made by the highest judicial tribunals of the State were in his favor. He is the oldest member of the bar in Geauga county. The firm of Durfee & Stephenson have a good share of business in the profession.

Attorney, Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, was born in Hambden township, Geauga county, Ohio, June 8, 1827 ; a son of James Hathaway, a well-known resident of the county, and one of its most enterprising pioneer citizens, and a descendant of that branch of the Hathaways which settled in Fall River, Massachusetts. [For further particulars of ancestry see sketch of James Hathaway, published elsewhere in this work.] Like many of the mature citizens of the State, lawyer Hathaway spent his youth in the woods, helping to clear the way, and to afford opportunity to a less toilsome civilization. In his boyhood he shared the vicissitudes of the family, which were many. He was educated in elementary learning in the common schools, attended the seminaries in the vicinity of his home, and used his accumulated knowledge in the business of instructing others. Impelled by an honorable ambition, he entered the law office of Phelps & Riddle, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1854, and began the practice of law in Chardon. In the fall of 1865 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, and again re-elected in 1867, serving four years. In May, 1868, he went as a delegate from the Nineteenth district of Ohio to the National Republican convention, which met in Chicago. In the fall of 1873 was elected to the Ohio senate for the district composed of Geauga, Lake, and Ashtabula counties. While connected with the senate he served on several important committees, as follows: Committee on judiciary, committee on statistics, committee on temperance, and several minor committees. At the expiration of his senatorial term he declined a re-nomination, preferring to attend to his law practice.

ished an honorable ambition for excellence. He possesses a high estimate of the dignity of his profession, and stands well at the bar of his county. He is zealous in all that pertains to the interests of his client. He has a large practice. In the language of a contemporary, "He has more business than he ought to attend to." But as he possesses an hereditary aptness for the despatch of affairs, he ranks high as a business man. As a lawyer, he is successful. Asa politician, his record has been excellent, without exception. While in the State senate he was emphatically a working member. His constituents still speak of his service there with great praise, for his vote and influence were always on the side of right. As a man, he is quaint and kindly, courteous and affable in social intercourse. He was married* January 9, 1855, t0 Sarah J. Hayden, of Chardon. Her family were early settlers of Ohio, many of whom now occupy useful and honored positions in various parts of the country. They have two children - Charles J., deceased in childhood, and Kate H.

was born in Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, September 21, 1828. His father, Platt Canfield, was the oldest of the four sons of Aaron Canfield, who, with his family, removed from Tyringham, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and settled in Chardon in 1814. Aaron was a grandson of Colonel Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, Connecticut. The mother of D. W. Canfield was a daughter of Nathaniel Read, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch received his education principally in the schools of Professors Alfred Holbrook and T. W. Harvey. He was engaged in teaching three terms, and in 1849 was married to Sophrona E. Allen, daughter of Ira Allen, esq., formerly from Danby, Vermont. He semained for several years after his marriage on the farm originally occupied by his father, in Chardon, during which time he prepared himself for the practice of his profession. In 1858 he graduated at the Union Law college, and was admitted to the bar the same year. During that year he also formed a copartnership with John French, which was terminated by the death of Mr. French in October, 1861. The same fall he was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga count), and held that office four years.

In 1861 he formed a copartnership with Hon. H. K. Smith, which terminated in 1866 by the election of H. K. Smith to the office of probate judge of Geauga county. Upon the retirement of Mr. Smith, another copartnership was formed with Judge M. C. Canfield, which continued for five years, and was dissolved by the election of M. C. Canfield to the office of common pleas judge. During the time he was a partner of Mr. Canfield he served two years as representative of the county in the State legislature. Shortly after this be held the office of mayor of the incorporated village of Chardon.

In 1871 he formed a copartnership with Hon. I. N. Hathaway, which lasted until the fall of 1875, when he was elected common pleas judge, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge M. C. Canfield, and served in that capacity until the expiration of his term, at which time he again resumed the practice of his profession.

The Canfields were among the earliest, as they have always been among the most substantial, respected, and influential families of Chardon. The subject of this sketch may be styled emphatically a self-made man, owing more to his fortunate parentage, especially to a most excellent, intelligent, and devoted mother, and to his own native energy and will, than to any outward advantages for his success in life. He received only a common education. As a lawyer he early took a prominent position at the bar of his county, which he has ever since maintained, the experience acquired in a long and successful practice having in later years added greatly to his professional resources. Possessing very considerable natural force and fluency as a speaker, combined with quick discernment, ready tact, and an earnest, pleasing manner, he has the essentials of a good advocate, and, in the presentation to a jury of a case in which his sympathies are enlisted, is not often excelled. The duties of the several honorable and responsible positions to which he has been called have been discharged with ability and fidelity. In the house he served with credit on the judiciary and other important committees, and was recognized, even by his political opponents, as a most useful member; and it is believed that no judge with so short a term of service ever left the bench with a better record. He has always been active and efficient in the promotion of the interests of his town and county, every enterprise having this end in view meeting with his cordial support. He is also a strong advocate of the temperance and other reform movements. Though by early education and associations a Democrat, he became identified with the Republican party from its organization, and has long been one of its acknowledged leaders in Geauga county. A man of clear intellect, ardent temperament, and strong attachments, few have more decided elements of popularity or success.

Mr. Canfield's life has been blessed with that greatest of benefactions, a wife in whom those qualities that grace and ennoble womanhood are united in a marked degree. To him she has always proved a real helper and a loving companion. Active in the affairs of the church and society, and faithful to the duties of the home-life she so fondly loves, she has ever proven herself to be the true woman, wife, and mother.

He has three children living - one son, Ira W. Canfield, and two daughters - Eva C. Metcalf, wife of Thomas Metcalf, jr., of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Lizzie L Canfield, of Chardon. He has lost one daughter - Della W., who died August 23, 1877, aged eleven years and eleven months, which bereavement was the greatest of all the sorrows of his life. In religion he has been a member of the Christian church for more than thirty years.

Since Mr. Canfield's return to the bar, he is having a good amount of business entrusted to him. The same courteous deportment and persevering application to business that made him popular on the bench, has secured him a good amount of practice in his profession, and public confidence in his ability and close application to business entrusted to him.

is of English descent, his grandfather migrating to this country and settling in Connecticut, opposite Bellows Falls. The father of Orrin was the oldest of the family, and went to Ohio in 1813; served in the United States army in the war of 1812. He returned to Connecticut, and after two years married Betsey, oldest child of Nathaniel Mastick, and with her removed to Ohio, settling first in Lorain county, near the site of the present town of Elyria.

Of Mr. Farr's great-grandfather, on his mother's side, whose name was John Salter, this story may be told. He was the only son of a rich Holland family, and when nine years old he went on board a British man-of-war, was decoyed below, and carried to sea. He remained on ship-board in various capacities, and remained in the English service nine years. Finally, when his ship was in Boston, he deserted, changed clothes with a stone-mason, and pushed inland, under the name of John Mastick, and though pursued, escaped. He settled, married, had children ; afterwards an advertisement appeared in a New York paper for the heirs of the rich Holland house, and one of his sons, with such proofs as he could gather up, went to Europe, and was never heard of after.

Orrin Smith was the seventh of ten children, and born in Shalersville, Portage county, May 24, 1835. In 1840 the family moved to Troy, Geauga county, purchased and lived a little north of Fox's corners. Young Farr early evinced much energy, supporting himself at thirteen, and having the care of the family at eighteen, and from that time for many years. After the father's death the property became the subject of litigation, which lasted thirteen years, and till May of the present year, when it resulted in Mr. Farr's favor. Judge H. K. Smith, of Chardon, then at the bar, and who had charge of Mr. Farr's interest, suggested to hint that he enter upon the study of the law under his care, and loaned him Walker's "American Law" and Blackstone. Acting on this suggestion, Mr. Farr, on his way home, purchased a small law library and took up the study, carrying on his farm at the same time. He pursued the law with commendable diligence, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1868, then at the mature age of thirty-three.

Mr. Farr early had a decided inclination for the bar, but was hampered by so many embarrassments that the chance did not seem to come to him till an age when the experiment is usually deemed hazardous, unless to one with special aptitude, which Mr. Farr undoubtedly possessed. His friends and acquaintances had such confidence in his ability, that when at the bar but a year, he wras brought forward, nominated, and elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, and removed to Chardon, where he has since resided. He was elected mayor of the town in 1876.

Mr. Farr's opportunities for an education wTere limited, but a quick, shrewd mind made up for much of the deficiencies. His father was a life-long Democrat. At nineteen young Farr secured the Boston Liberator, the Newr York Tribune , and Cleveland Plain Dealer. Whoever read the twro former, even in connection with the Plain Dealer , would be certain to have healthful and enlightened political ideas, and as a matter of course he graduated a staunch Republican, and is known as an occasional effective political speaker.

He has all his life been a practical temperance liver and advocate, in support of which he is an able advocate, and recently won the deserved commendation of the Painesville press for a speech delivered in Kirtland.

In person Mr. Farr is medium size, well made, of pleasing person and manners, calculated to wTin his way, and sustains himself at the bar, where, for his length of practice, he has gained a satisfactory position.

His health disqualified him for military service. During the late civil war he was an ardent patriot, and devoted his time and means liberally to the common cause.

There is every reason to expect from Mr. Farr a growth and maturity at the bar which steadiness of application is sure to win for men of less ability.

In i860 he w'as joined in marriage with Cynthia, youngest daughter of Chester and Caroline Nash, and granddaughter of Joseph Nash, esq., of Troy. Her mother, Caroline, was eldest daughter of Benjamin Kingsbury, also of Troy. Joseph Nash and Benjamin Kingsbury both have honorable mention in our

Mr. Farr's election and re-election to the office of mayor of Chardon shows the confidence of the people in his executive ability, which is an acknowledged trait of his character, 'and which gives him his full share of business in his profession, as well as in a public capacity.

Hon. Henry K. Smith

This gentleman was the eldest son, and the third child, of Marsh Smith, and was born at Parkman, Geauga county, August io, 1832. There his childhood and boyhood were passed, under the care of his parents, and he received such opportunities for education as the schools of that neighborhood afforded him. His father and mother were persons of unusual intelligence and refinement, and he grew up in the atmosphere of a home well calculated to develope the finer traits and higher excellencies of nature and character. He became a resident of Chardon at nineteen, and was noted as an intelligent, gentlemanly youth, rather shy, to whom most people at once took a liking and gave him their confidence. The ensuing two years he spent in his father's office, in acquiring general information, ripening, and preparing himself for a life of usefulness.

At the age of twenty-one he entered the law office of Messrs. Riddle & Thrasher, at Chadon, and devoted himself, with docile industry, to the mastery of the law. He soon became known to his instructors for his real worth, and gained their confidence and friendship. After a novitiate of three years he was admitted to the bar, in 1856. Soon after he received the appointment of deputy sheriff, the duties of which he discharged with care and fidelity. He also was intrusted with the responsible duties of the treasurer of the county.

In the spring of 1857, on the decease of the then clerk of the court, A. H. Gotham, esq., he was appointed his successor. In the autumn of the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county by the people.

Thus, in the space of a year or two, he familiarized himself with the duties of several of the most infportant offices of the county, and entered another of much responsibility. Here he acquitted himself so well that he was elected a second term. Soon after his first election, he formed a law partnership with W. O. Forrist, and in 1861, after the termination of the partnership of Canfield & French, by the death of John French, he entered into partnership with D. W. Canfield, which continued until his election to the office of probate judge, in the fall of 1866. He has held that office ever since, having been nominated in 1878 for the fifth time, and each time by acclamation. While in company with D. W. Canfield, he was twice elected justice of the peace of Chardon. February 22, 1854, he married Miss Harmony Stocking, daughter of D. W. Stocking. They have had three children, one dying in infancy. The eldest, Stuart S., aged twenty-one, is book-keeper of the Geauga Savings and Loan association The youngest, Halbert Dennis, is twelve years old.

Judge Smith was among the most active and efficient in rebuilding Chardon. He has largely, invested in real estate and its improvement, and the block in which is the opera house is mainly owing to the enterprise of himself and brother, Theron. The sterling integrity of the Smiths, father and son, doubtless has been the leading cause of their personal popularity in Geauga county. Perhaps no man has ever exercised a wider influence in it than Judge Smith, who is happily found to win and retain the esteem of all classes, and no man was ever so utterly devoid of the arts by which the mere demagogue seeks to make his way.

The confidence which he enjoys is the deserved tribute of worth and excellence. Mrs. Smith, by her fine womanly qualities, contributes much to strengthen the position of her husband, and their home is one of the pleasantest in Chardon.

Of the brothers and sisters of Judge Smith, it may be mentioned that Mrs. Peter Bates resides in Iowa; Mrs. J. G. Durfee, in Troy, Geauga county; Mrs. John Brooks, in Chardon; his brothers, Theron and Marsh H., in Chardon; as also Newell R., and his father, Marsh Smith, mentioned elsewhere.

Henry F. Canfield

son of Aaron B. Canfield and Sally A. Canfield, and great-grandson of Aaron and Lydia Canfield, was born in Chardon, Ohio, May 28, 1843, where he resided with his parents until about fourteen years of age, at which time his parents removed to Painesville, Ohio, and for two years thereafter he attended the high school at that place. At the age of sixteen he was employed in the office of the Painesville Telegraph , where he remained until the year 1862, and on the 8th day of August of that year he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, commanded by Captain Rikier, and remained in active service until the close of the war. He took part in all of the battles in which his company was engaged, and without harm, except a slight wound received at the battle of Chattanooga. At the close of the war in 1865, he was again employed in the office of the Painesville Telegraphy where he remained about one year. In 1866 he commenced the study of law with his uncle, D. W. Canfield, at Chardon, and in 1867 he graduated at the Cleveland law college, and immediately thereafter entered into a co-partnership with N. H. Bostwick, esq., which continued until 1875, at which time his health failed, and he retired from active practice until the year 1878, when he again opened an office in Chardon, and also formed a co-partnership with I. W. Canfield in the insurance business, in which he is at this time engaged. *

In politics he has ever been an earnest advocate of Republican principles, and all great moral reformations. A man of sound judgment, strict honesty and integrity, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He was married in November, 1868, to Lucy S. Strohl, only child of the late John Strohl, deceased, by whom he has become the father of three children - one daughter and two sons, the youngest of whom still lives, his eldest son having died in 1878, which to him and his wife was the greatest affliction of their lives. They have a beautiful farm of one hundred acres near the village of Chardon, which is the abode of peace, happiness and contentment, save and except the fond remembrance of little Johnny, who has been transplanted to the other shore, and there awaits the coming of father and mother, brother and sister.

a son of General Edward Paine, and with his father a pioneer of Painesville, was known through the long life of his father, as Edward Paine, jr. He was a native of New England, and was born at one of the seats of the Paines, so many of whom, with their descendants, became settlers of the old county of

History Of. Geauga County, Ohio

Geauga, in the society of which they were for many years a powerful, almost a controlling element, the influence of which, doubtless, still remains.

He married Mary Phelps, daughter of J udge Seth Phelps, and thus cemented the long-extending alliance of the Paines and Phelpses. He was one of the real pioneers of Chardon, taking up his residence there in 1812, where he continued to reside until his death. He was the first auditor of Geauga county, and held that office until 1822. He was also the first clerk of the court of common pleas, the county-seat being New Market, now Painesville. He issued the first marriage license to Isaac H. Phelps and Penelope Gregory on the nineteenth day of December, 1805, which marriage was solemnized by Noah Cowles, justice of the peace. Edward, jr., was also known as Captain Paine, and was among the most energetic of the younger citizens during the darkness of the war of 1812, and went at once to the most exposed points at the front. His father was then general of a brigade, and he was an active member of his staff. Captain Paine received a good English education; was a man of much general information, approachable, and mingled with all the leading men of his time.

Eleazer Paine

also one of the pioneers of Geauga county, was a successful business man of Chardon. He was elected county auditor in 1822, and held the office one term. He died at the early age of thirty-seven, in the midst of his usefulness. Among his children who survived him, are the Hon. Halbert E. Paine, of Washington, D. C., George E. Paine, esq., of Painesville, James H., and Caroline Paine. Caroline became the wife of Eli Bruce, and died within a few years after her marriage.

Ralph Cowles

was elected auditor in 1824, and held the office sixteen years, retiring in 1844, William Kerr holding the office four years, from 1834 to 1838, when Mr. Cowles was re-elected. He was probably one of the most accomplished business men that ever held that position in the county. His records are still looked upon with admiration; for neatness and accuracy they have never been surpassed. He was the son of Asa Cowles who settled in Claridon in 181 1.

William Kerr

was born in New Jersey, and when quite young, removed to Pennsylvania, from thence to Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, in 1812, and from thence to Painesville in 1813. He was elected auditor in 1834, and held the office two terms. He was also elected county recorder, but resigned after serving one year. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He died in Mentor at the advanced age of eighty-five. Those of his children who survived him, were: Mrs. Margaret Palmer, Mrs. Eunice Palmer, William S. Kerr, residing in Mentor; Mrs. Mary Ann Canfield, of Chardon, and Mrs. Caroline A. Murray, of Tuscola, Illinois.

was bom December 4, 1796, at Simsbury, Connecticut, where he received a good common school education. When a young man he fell into the tide of business seeking for the young men of the north, then moving south with a strong current, he went into mercantile business there, and remained until 1834, when he removed to Claridon, Geauga county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and mercantile business.