The leading points in the history of legal affairs in Cleveland have
already been noticed with sufficient fullness in the sketch of the
history of Cleveland, especially so far as relates more immediately to
the earlier portion of that history. The following biographical sketches
give a good general idea of the progress of affairs in relation to the
Bench and Bar of the city within the active life of the present
generation. It is therefore unnecessary at this place to detail more than
a few incidental facts.
The township of Cleveland, of the county of Trumbull, was organized in
1800. The first justice of the Quorum, for the new township, was James
Kingsbury, and the first Justice, not of the Quorum, was Amos Spafford.
The first constables were Stephen Gilbert and Lorenzo Carter.
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.
Alfred Kelley was born at Middletown, Conn., Nov. 7th, 1789. He was the
second son of Daniel and Jemima Kelley. His mother's maiden name was Stow.
She was a sister of Judge Joshua Stow, and also of Judge Silas Stow of
Lowville, N. Y. The latter was the father of Judge Horatio Stow, of
Buffalo, N. Y., and of Alexander Stow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Wisconsin, both of whom were men of great talents and distinction. In
the winter of 1798, Alfred Kelley removed with his father's family to
Lowville, N. Y. His father was President Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas of Lewis county, N. Y., was one of the founders of Lowville Academy
and President of its Board of Trustees.
Alfred Kelley was educated at Fairfield Academy, N. Y. He read law at
Whitesboro, N. Y., three years, in the office of Jonas Platt, a judge of
the Supreme Court of that State.
In the Spring of 1810, in company with Joshua Stow, Dr. J. P. Kirtland, and
others, he removed to Cleveland,--traveling on horseback. At the November
term 1810, on motion of Peter Hitchcock, Alfred Kelley was admitted as an
attorney of the Court of Common Pleas for Cuyahoga county. On the same
day, being his 21st birth day, he was appointed Public Prosecutor as the
successor of Peter Hitchcock, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Ohio. Mr. Kelley continued Prosecutor till 1821, when he resigned. In
October 1814, he was elected from Cuyahoga county a member of the Ohio
House of Representatives, being barely old enough under the Constitution
when the Legislature met to take his seat in that body and being the
youngest member. Chillicothe was then the temporary State capital.
On the 25th of August, 1817. Alfred Kelley was married to Mary S. Welles,
oldest daughter of Major Melancthon Wolsey Welles, of Lowville, N. Y.
They had eleven children of whom six are now living.
He continued, with intervals, a member of the Ohio Legislature from
Cuyahoga county, from 1814 until 1822, when he was appointed, with
others, State Canal Commissioner, by an act of the General Assembly,
empowering the Commissioners to make examinations, surveys and estimates,
to ascertain the practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio
River, by canal.
The Ohio Canal is a monument to the enterprise, energy, integrity and
sagacity of Alfred Kelley. He was acting Commissioner during its
construction and the onerous and responsible service was performed with
such fidelity and economy that the _actual cost did not exceed the
estimate!_ The dimensions of the Ohio Canal were the same as those of the
Erie Canal of N. Y., but the number of locks was nearly double. The Erie
Canal was 363 miles in length, its total cost was $7,143,789, and cost per
mile $19,679. The Ohio Canal is 307 miles in length, its total cost was
$4,695,824, and cost per mile $15,300, being less than that of any other
canal constructed on this continent. The Ohio Canal was finished about
1830. The labor in the then facilities for conducting important public
enterprises was Herculean, but Mr. Kelley's indomitable will, and iron
constitution and physique triumphed over all difficulties. Mr. Kelley
neither charged nor received any pay for his first year's services in
superintending the preliminary explorations and surveys for the Ohio
Canal. The pay of the Acting Canal Commissioner was $3,00 [sic] per day.
When the work was done he resigned as Canal Commissioner, and retired from
public service to attend to his private affairs, and recuperate his
shattered constitution and health. In the Fall of 1830, he became a
resident of Columbus. In October, 1836, he was elected to the Ohio House
of Representatives from Franklin county, and was re-elected to the same
office in the next two Legislatures. He was Chairman of the Ohio Whig
State Central Committee in 1840, a year distinguished for a great
political revolution and the election of Wm. H. Harrison to the
Presidency, and was one of the most active and influential managers of
that campaign.
Mr. Kelley was appointed State Fund Commissioner in 1840, a period of
great financial embarrassment and distress. In 1841 and '42, a formidable
party arose in the Legislature and in the State, which advocated the
non-payment of the maturing interest upon the State debt, and the
repudiation of the debt itself. This was a time which indeed tried the
souls of men. Mr. Kelley went to New York, and such was the confidence
reposed in his integrity and practical ability--notwithstanding the
underhanded and atrocious means employed by the repudiators, to defeat his
object--that he was enabled to raise in that city (where no one could be
found willing to loan money to the sovereign State of Ohio) nearly a
quarter of a million of dollars on his own personal security, and thus by
his generous efforts, and by his alone, the interest was paid at maturity,
and the State of Ohio was saved from repudiation. At the time that Mr.
Kelley thus volunteered himself as security for the State, (an act which
was done contrary to the advice of his friends,) such was the
unenlightened state of public opinion, such the moral obtuseness of some,
nay, many men in power, that the chances were a hundred to one that no
effective measure would be adopted to save the public credit--none to
indemnify him.
In 1844, he was elected to the State Senate from the Franklin district. It
was during this term that he originated the bill to organize the State
Bank of Ohio, and other banking companies, which by general consent among
bankers and financiers, was the best of American banking laws. His banking
System was successfully in operation during the whole twenty years of its
charter. Many of the most valuable provisions of the present National
banking law were taken from Mr. Kelley's bill to "organize the State Bank
of Ohio." Many of the provisions of this law were original and novel, and
evinced deep thought and a profound knowledge of this department of
political science. For several years, and during some of the most trying
periods in the financial history of Ohio, and of the country, Mr. Kelley
was a member of the Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio; and part
of the time was President of the Board. It was also during this Senatorial
term that Mr. Kelley originated the present Revenue System of the State.
The main principles of this Revenue or Tax law were subsequently
incorporated in the new Constitution of Ohio.
While Mr. Kelley was a member of the Legislature few valuable general laws
can be found in the Statute books which did not originate with him, and
most of the measures requiring laborious investigation and profound
thought were entrusted to him. He was the author, in 1818, of the first
Legislative bill--either in this country or in Europe--to abolish
imprisonment for debt.
It then failed to become a law. In a letter to a friend, dated Jan. 16th,
1819, Mr. Kelley said: "The House has to-day disagreed by a small
majority, to my favorite bill to abolish imprisonment for debt. I was not
disappointed, although at first, a large majority seemed in favor of it.
The time will come when the absurdity as well as inhumanity of adding
oppression to misfortune will be acknowledged; and if I should live to see
that day I shall exult in the consciousness of having early combatted one
of the worst prejudices of the age." In 1831, the Legislature of New York
passed the first law abolishing imprisonment for debt.
At the end of this Senatorial term he was elected President of the
Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company, and was actively engaged upon all
the duties of that enterprise until it was finished; soon after which
he resigned. While this road was in progress, upon the urgent
solicitation of the active promoters of the C., C. & C. R. R., Mr. Kelley
accepted the Presidency of that Company, and began the work with his
usual order and ability.
His zeal and labors upon this enterprise were only surpassed in his work
upon the Ohio Canal. He solicited subscriptions to the capital stock;
located much of the route; procured rights of way; attended in person to
the purchase of materials; the procuring of money, and the details of the
construction of the road, and continued the ever working president of the
road until he resigned, a short time after its completion. With his own
hands he dug the first shovel of earth, and laid the last rail upon this
road. It is but just to say, that the citizens of Cleveland and the people
of Ohio are more indebted to Alfred Kelley than to any other man for the
C., C. & C. R. R. He was still acting president of the C. & X. and the
C., C. & C. Companies, when he was chosen, in 1850, president of the
C., P. & A., or Lake Shore R. R. Company. He was actively engaged upon
this road in the performance of duties similar to those done upon the
C., C. & C. road until its completion in 1853, when he resigned. It was
while he was president of this road that the famous riots occurred at
Erie and Harbor Creek, Pa., in opposition to the construction of the road
through Pennsylvania. The success of the company in this formidable
contest was largely due to the sagacity, forbearance and indomitable will
of Alfred Kelley. When he took charge of these railroads, such enterprises
at the West had but little credit at the East. The roads constructed by
him have paid regular dividends from the time of their completion. He
continued until his death an active director in these companies.
In October, 1857, he was again elected to the State Senate from Columbus,
being then 64 years of age, and the oldest member of the Legislature. This
was his last appearance in public life. During the last year of this
service his health was declining. Although so much debilitated that
prudence required confinement to his house, if not to his bed, yet such
was his fidelity to his trust, that he went daily to the Senate and
carried through the Legislature several important measures to ascertain
the true condition of the State Treasury, and to secure the public funds
from further depredations.
At the end of this term he retired from public life hoping to regain his
health; but his constitution was too much broken to admit of
re-establishment. He did not appear to be affected with any specific
disease, but seemed gradually wasting away from an over-taxed mind and
body. His oft quoted maxim was, "It is better to wear out than to rust
out." He was only confined to his room a few days previous to his death,
and on Friday, the 2d day of December, 1863, his pure spirit left its
earthly tenement so gently that the friends who surrounded him could
scarcely determine when it ascended. Mr. Kelley was twenty-four years in
the service of the people of Ohio, in the Legislature, and as Canal
Commissioner, and Fund Commissioner. His history would be almost a
complete financial and political history of Ohio. He gave a greater
impulse to the physical development of Ohio, and left upon its statute
books higher proofs of wisdom and forecast than any who had preceded him.
Indeed, few persons have ever lived who, merely by personal exertions,
have left behind them more numerous and lasting monuments of patient and
useful labor.
Note.--For much of this sketch we are indebted to an unpublished "Memoir
of Alfred Kelley," by the late Judge Gustavus Swan, of Columbus.