Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


Visiting Lawyers


Ralph Osborn, a native of Waterbury, Conn., where he acquired his profession of the law, came to Franklinton in 1806, where he remained a few years; but, upon the organization of Delaware County in 1808, he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of that county. Soon after he removed to Circleville, and, in December, 1810, was elected Clerk of the Ohio Legislature, which position he filled five consecutive sessions. Upon the organization of Madison County, he was appointed at the first term of court Prosecuting Attorney, serving in that capacity from 1810 to 1814, inclusive. In 1812, he married Catharine Renick, daughter of John Renick, then living on Big Darby. In 1815, he was elected Auditor of State, and held that office eighteen years in succession, and, in the fall of 1833, was elected to the Ohio Senate to represent Franklin and Pickaway Counties. After his election as Auditor of State, he did not practice his profession. His wife, Catharine, having died, he was married, in 1831, to Jane, eldest daughter of Col. James Denny, and widow of Dr. Daniel Turney. Upon the location of the seat of government at Columbus, he removed his residence to that point, and there died December 30, 1835, aged fifty-two years. Mr. Osborn was, in manners, courteous, discharging his several trusts with care and integrity. The Hon. J. R. Osborn, of Toledo, Ohio, is one of Mr. Osborn 's sons, and Mrs. Josiah Renick, Mrs. P. C. Smith, and Mrs. S. II. Ruggles are his daughters. Mr. James Osborn, another son, was a leading merchant in Columbus, and died, leaving sons who still carry on his old firm business, and are leading men in the city.

Richard Douglas, the Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County from 1815-17, was also born in Connecticut. He read law with Hon. Henry Brush, of Chillicothe, and settled as an attorney first at Jefferson, Pickaway County, removing to Circleville soon after the county seat had been located there. Thence about 1815, he removed to Chillicothe, where he died in 1852, aged sixty-seven years. Mr. Douglas was Prosecuting Attorney of this and Ross Counties, a member of the Ohio Legislature, and First Lieutenant of the company commanded by Capt. Tryatt in the war of 1812. He was a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and his abounding humor and fund of anecdotes made him the most agreeable company to the lawyers while circuiting. It is said that he possessed considerable poetic talent, and bore the title among his cotemporaries of "the poet of the Scioto." His son and grandson, Messrs. Albert Douglas, Sr., and Jr., are residents of Chillicothe.

Caleb Atwater located in Circleville about the close of the war of 1812, as an attorney at law. For several years he was Postmaster, and a member of the Ohio Legislature for one term. At the June session of the Court of Common Pleas of Madison County, in 1815, he was Prosecuting Attorney, and held the same position from November, 1822, to the same period in 1823. About the year 1827 or 1828, he was appointed, by President Jackson, as one of the Commissioners to treat with the Indians for the purchase of their lands at Prairie du Chien. Mr. Atwater's information was extensive, but he is better known as an antiquarian and historian, upon which subjects he has written several works. He died in Circleville, on the 3d day of March, 1867, nearly ninety years old; he was a native of North Adams, Mass.

John R. Parish was the next Prosecutor of this county. He was a son of Roswell Parish, and born at Canterbury, Windham Co., Conn., in 1786; educated in the common schools and the Plainfield Academy, which was in a town of that name close to Canterbury. He read law in the office of his uncle, John Parish, of Windham, and was there admitted to the bar. In 1816, he came to Columbus, Ohio, and began the practice of his profession. He was a man of vigorous mind, a good lawyer, and soon obtained a fair share of the litigated business. In 1820, he was elected to the Legislature from Franklin County, and re-elected in 1821; was a popular legislator, and upon the expiration of his second term, was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of that county. Prior to this, he served as Prosecutor of Madison, viz., in the September term, 1816, and from December, 1817, up to the close of 1819. Mr. Parish married Mary Phillips, of Columbus. Like many lawyers of that period, he indulged in the convivialities of the times. He died in June, 1829; was a cousin of Judge Orris Parish, and is said to have been much the abler lawyer, and better versed in the legal learning of the profession.

Among the early Prosecuting Attorneys were G. W. Doane, of Circleville, in 1816; David Scott, of Columbus, in 1817; James Cooley, of Urbana, in 1820, and George W. Jewett, of Springfield, in 1822. G. W. Doane was a native of New Milford, Conn.; graduated at Union College, New York, and attended the law school at Litchfield, Conn.; located in Circleville, in the year 1816, as an attorney at law; was one of the editors of the Ohio Branch, a weekly newspaper of Circleville, now continued and published by S. Marfield, Jr., as the Union-Herald. Mr. Doane was a man of liberal education, and a most exemplary citizen. On the 4th day of February, 1862, he died, aged seventy-six years. For many years previous to his death, he had entirely lost his sight, and, consequently, was disqualified for business. He was a brother-in-law of the late Judge William B. Thrall, for a long period publisher of the paper above referred to. A son of his, George W. Doane, is now in practice, as an attorney, in Omaha, Neb. Mr. Doane, for one term, represented the county of Pickaway in the Lower Branch of the Legislature. David Scott was born in Peterboro, N. H., in 1786, came to Franklinton in 1811, engaged in the practice of the law, and was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of that county in 1813, serving until 1819, a portion of which time he was Prosecutor of Madison County. James Cooley was one of the pioneer lawyers of Urbana, and, in 1826, was appointed United States Minister to Peru, where he died April 24, 1828. He was a young man of brilliant parts, of fine appearance and prepossessing manners, and stood in the front rank of his associates. We have been unable to learn anything definite of Mr. Jewett, only that he practiced law in Springfield for some years, during the early history of that town.

Another of the pioneer visiting lawyers of the courts of Madison County, and who was Prosecuting Attorney from November, 1823, until the close of 1824, was Joshua Folsom, born at Henniker, N. H., in the year 1783. His parents were Quakers, and his ancestors came from the north part of England, and settled at Hingham, Mass., in the year 1638. His grandfather was known as "Quaker Joshua," and was extensively known and respected as a man of strong sense and integrity. Joshua Folsom, the subject of this sketch, studied at Dartmouth College, but did not graduate. After leaving college, he read law two years, at Baltimore, in the office of Robert Goodloe Harper, who was a very distinguished lawyer and orator, and member of the United States Senate. Mr. Folsom began the practice of law at Circleville, Ohio, about the year 1810, and practiced, also, in many other counties of the State, as most lawyers of that day did, on account of the paucity of cases at home. About the year 1824, at the time Grustavus Swan was appointed Judge, he went to Columbus to practice, being requested by Judge Swan to come there to take charge of his business. After remaining at Columbus two or three years, he returned to Circleville. In 1830, having accumulated a moderate fortune, for that day, and not being in good health, he retired from practice and settled on a large tract of land which he owned in Logan County, Ohio. Mr. Folsom was a man of very extensive information, having, also, a respectable knowledge of Latin, Greek and French, and being well read in history and general literature. We have, also, the authority of Hooking Hunter, for saying he was "a very good lawyer." Some of his arguments at the bar are yet remembered as very fine. He never held any office, except that of Prosecuting Attorney of Pickaway and Madison Counties.

Besides those attorneys who were Judges and Prosecutors of the courts of Madison County, the following have practiced at this bar, viz.: John S. Wils, James K. Corey, Noah H. Swayne. John W. Anderson, Brush & Gilbert and P. B. Wilcox of Columbus. From Urbana came Moses B. Corwin, Israel Hamilton and John H. Young. Circleville sent Joseph Olds, Sr.; Chillicothe, William Creighton and Henry Brush, the latter of whom subsequently settled in Madison County, and here died. He was not, however, identified with this bar to any extent, but resided on a farm close to London for many years. From Xenia, came John Alexander, and from Springfield, Charles Anthony, William A. Rogers, Samson Mason, James L. Torbert, William White and perhaps a few others from the several towns of the adjoining counties.


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