Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-10-28
The First Court of Ohio and it's
Distinguished LAWYERS.


The memories of the wise and
brave men who laid broad and deep
the foundations Of our great State
should be revered and cherished by
the fruits of their labor. Senator
Woodbridge said of them, that they
had laid the foundation stone Of the
State, and it may truly be said that
the first settlement at Marietta was
the Plymouth Rock Of the great
West.
The first court ever held north
west Of the Ohio river, under the
forms of civilized Jurisprudence. was
opened at Campus Martius { Mariet-
ta), September 2, 177S. The fol
lowing account of the ceremony is
copied from the Marietta InteUi-
gencer of March 10, 1913:
1t will be remembered that on the
7th of April, 1888, General Rufus
Putnam, with forty seven men, had
landed and commenced the first per-
manent settlement in what is now
the State Of Ohio. General Harm
er, with his regulars, occupied Fort
Harmer. Gov. st. Clair and also
Samuel II. Parsons and James M.
Varnum, Judges Of the Supreme
Court, arrived in July. The Cover
nor and Judges had been employed
from their arrival in examining and
adopting such Of the statues OF the
States, as, in their opinion, would be
appropriate to the situation of the
new colon. The Governor had
made appointments Of civil officers
for the administration of justice,
and to carry into effect the laws
adopted. Some idea may be OBJ
tanned Of the character of the early
settlers of Ohio by describing the
order with which this important
event, the establishment of civil au
thority and the laws, was conducted.
From a manuscript, written by an
eye witness, now in my possession,
l have obtained the substance ofthe
following.
The procession was formed at the
Point (where most Of the settlers
resided in the following order:
l. The High Sheriff with his
drawn sword; 2. The citizens; 3.
! The officers of the garrison at Fort
Harmer; 4. The members of the
bar; 5. The Supreme Judges; g.
The Governor and clergymen; 7
The newly appointed Judges of the
| IF (on,r,or Dlooo l.
Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tap
per.
| They marched up path that had
been cut and cleared through tho
forest to Campus Marirs Hall( stock
ade), when the whole counter.
marched, and Judges Palmer and
Tupper took their seats. The cler
gyman. Reverend Dr. Cutler, ther
invoked the Divine blessing. The
Sheriff, Colonel Ebenezer Sprou
Zone of natures mobiles, } proclaim
ed with solemn 90, yez! o, yez"
t that "a court for the administration
! of everhanded justice, to the pool
and the rich, to the guilty and The
innocent, without respect to per
sons, none to be punished without {
t trial by their peers, and then pursu
: ance Of the law and evidence. of -tht
case" Although the scene was ex
hibited thus early in the settlemen
= of the State, few ever equalled it il
t the dignity and exhalted cAaraete
e of it's principal participators. Many
t of them belong to the historypf ou
country, in the darkest as well as il
the most splendid periods of th'
revolutionary war. To witness thi
e spectacle a large body of indians
!, were collected from the most pow
). erful tribes then occupying th
most entire West. They had as
;, sembled for the purpose of maxim.
Il treaty Whether any of them en-
+ tered the hall of justice, or wha
e were their expressions, we are no
+ told.
- The members of the bar VIII,
t practiced in that court were men o
n great legal attainments, Anon,
# them were the following, with tn