Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men: Comprising Biographical Sketches of Pioneer Settlers and Prominent Citizens
History
Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men: Comprising Biographical Sketches of Pioneer Settlers and Prominent Citizens
Cleveland (Ohio) -- Biography; Cleveland (Ohio) -- History
In 1810, the county of Cuyahoga was organized and Cleveland made the
county seat. The court-house, of logs, was two years afterwards built on
the Public Square, as narrated in previuos portions of this work. The
county was organized on the 9th May, and on 5th of June a County Court was
held with the following officers:
_Presiding Judge_.--Benjamin Ruggles
_Associate Judges_.--Nathan Perry, Sen., Augustus Gilbert, Timothy Doan.
_Clerk_.--John Walworth.
_Sheriff_.--Smith S. Baldwin.
The first lawyer in Cleveland, under the county organization, arrived here
the same year and put out his shingle with the name of "Alfred Kelley"
inscribed thereon. Previous to this the law business had all been done by
Samuel Huntington, who arrived in 1801. At the time of the organization of
the court, the court-house had not been built, and the first session was
held in Murray's store, which had just been built. The first business was
the finding of a bill by the grand jury for petit larceny, and several for
the offence of selling whisky to Indians, and selling foreign goods
without license.
The first execution was that of the Indian Omic, which took place June
24th, 1812, as previously narrated.
In March, 1836, Cleveland was incorporated as a city, and henceforth to
the ordinary courts of the county was added a city court for cognizance of
offences against the ordinances.
In the year 1848, a Superior Court was organized, with Sherlock J. Andrew
as judge, and G. A. Benedict as clerk. This court existed but a short time,
when it expired by reason of the adoption of the new constitution of the
State, which made no provision for its continuance.
In 1855, Cleveland was selected as the seat of a District and Circuit
Court of the United States.
As a matter of curiosity, the following list of Attorneys and Counsellors
in Cleveland, in 1837, is taken from McCabe's Cleveland and Ohio City
Directory, those not practising at that time being marked with an
asterisk: Joseph Adams, John W. Allen, Sherlock J. Andrews, Oliver P.
Baldwin, John Barr, Phillip Battell, George A. Benedict, Henry W.
Billings, Elijah Bingham,* Flavius Bingham, Thomas Bolton, James A.
Briggs, Varnum J. Card, Leonard Case,* Richard M. Chapman, Alexander L.
Collins, James L. Conger, Samuel Cowles,* Henry H. Dodge, John Erwin,
Simeon Ford, John A. Foot, James K. Hitchcock, George Hoadly, James M.
Hoyt, Seth T. Hurd, Moses Kelley, George T. Kingsley, William B. Lloyd,
George W. Lynde, Samuel Mather, Daniel Parish, Henry B. Payne, Francis
Randal, Harvey Rice, O. S. St. John, Wyllys Silliman, George W. Stanley,
Samuel Starkweather, John M. Sterling,* Charles Stetson, Charles
Whittlesey, Frederick Whittlesey,* John W. Willey,* Samuel Williamson,
Hiram V. Wilson.
[Illustration: Alfred Kelley]
Alfred Kelley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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