The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-01-07
The First Court OF Chic and its Dis
tin@u;Shpd LAWYERS.

The first court ever held northwest
of the river Ohio, under the forms of
civilized Jurisprudence, was opened al
Campus Martiu~ Marietta, /, Sept. ,,
11ss. The following account of the
ceremony is copied from the Mariet-
ia IRteiijgCsscfr Of March 10, 1913:
1t viii be remembered that on the
7th of April, 17SS, General Rufus Put
nam, with fOrty-seven men, had land
Ell and commenced the first perma-
nent settlement in what is now the
State of Ohio. General Harmer, with
his regulars, occupied Fort Hammer.
Governor st. Clair and also Samuel H.
Parsons and Jas NJ Varnum, Judges
of the Supreme Court, arrived in July.
The Governor and Judges had been
employed from their arrival in exam
ming and adopting such of the stat
utes of the States, as, in their opinion,
would be appropriate to the situation
of the new colony. The Governor
had made appointments of civil Off
GERS for the administration of Justice,
and TO carry into effect the laws
adopted. Some idea may be obtained
of the character Of the early settlers
of Ohio by describing the order with
which this important event, the es-
tablishmentO of civil authority and the
laws, was conducted. From a manu-
script written by an eye witness, now
in my possession, have obtained the
substance of the following:
The procession was formed at the
Point, (where most of the settlers re-
sided) in the following order:
l. The High Sheriff with his drawn
sword; 2. The citizens; 8. The officers
of the garrison of Fort Harmer; 4.
The members of the bar; 5. The Su-
preme Judges; 6. The Governor and
clergymen; Z. The newly appointed
JUICES of the Court of Common Pleas,
General Rufus Putnam and Benjamin
Tupper.
They marched up path that had
been cut and cleared through the for
est to Campus Martius Hall (stOckade),
when the whole cOuntefmarched, and
Judges Putnam and Upper took their
seats. The clergyman, Rev. DR.. Cut
Ter, invoked the Divine blessing. The
Sheriff, Colonel EbeneZer SprOut,
lone of natures nObles) proclaimed
with a solemn 30 yeZ! o yezu' that
IA court for the administration of ev-
en-handed justice to the poor and the
rich, to the guilty and innocent, with
out respect to person or persons, none
to be punished without a trial by their
peers, and then in pursuance of the
the law and the evidence Of the case"
Although the scene was exhibited
thus early in the settlement of the
State, few ever equaled it in dignity and
exalted character of its principal par
fnir hi -
the history of our country in the dark
est as well as the most splendid peri
Ods of the revolutionary war. TOwit-
ness this spectacle large body of In
dians were collected from the most
powerful tribes then occupying the al
most entire west. They had assem-
hled for the purpose of making a treaty.
Whether any of them entered the hall
of justice, or what were their express
siOns, we are not told.
The members of the bar who prac-
ticed in that court were men of great
legal attainments. Among them were
the following, with the dates of ad-
mission: Paul Fearing. September,
17SS; Return ]. Meigs, 17S9; Dudley
Odin, 1871; Matthew Backns, 1898;
William Littel, 1877; Solomon SibIey,
1871; David Putnam. 17SS; Edwin Put |
nam, 1899; Willis Silliman, 1901; Phil
ONION Beecher, 1902; Lewis Cass, 1903;
Charles Hammond, 1904; William
Woodbridge, 1904,
Jacob Barnet was also one of the |
early practitioners of the Washington |
county bar, andsubsequently Thomas
Ewing. They nearly all achieved a |
national reputation and compare fav-
orably with the members of any other
bar in the Union.