The County of Erie, in the State of Ohio, was erected by an act of the Ohio Legislature, passed January 15th, 1838, and the next succeeding day the same body passed an act entited "An act to organize Erie County."

The first President Judge of the County Courts I saw upon the Bench was Ozias Bowen, of Marion County, at Sandusky, the County seat of Erie County, and was, I think, in the year 1840. It was in those old days when enterprise and art undertook to annihilate time and space with horse flesh, and the jolting, bustling, bouncing conveyance known as the Stage Coach, then considered, as was the great enterprise of London, "The Hot Muffin and Quick Delivery Association," in its day, the ne plus ultra endeavor of the age. What an important institution the whole thing was with its mail pouch, the prancing, foaming horses, its driver with his whip, his winding and mellifluous horn, and his great responsibilities. It was the evening of a bright summer day, the coach driver was sounding the approach, technically and grandly correct. The horses were tautly and artistically reined, and the stage rolled up gloriously with its well shaken and sweltering passengers, followed by great clouds of dust, to the door of the postoffice, at which were gathered a large and expectant crowd of the leading citizens of the town, to enquire if Judge Bowen came therein, for on the morrow the little sharp-toned dangling Court House bell would announce the day and hour had arrived for that old and solemn proclamation of the sheriff-"Hear ye! Hear ye! this Court is now open and ready to proceed to business." Well! Yes, Judge Bowen had come. He was very kindly and respectfully greeted. The Judge always

came by this same route and conveyance, in fact, there was no other way to come, unless on horseback, or on foot. To be a Judge of the County Court gave the occupant of the office great distinction, and he was held as such in high regard, indeed, the common people entertained the idea that the Judge, like the King, could do no wrong.

Judge Bowen was quite tall, dignified and reserved, had very courteous and refined manners, and was treated by all with the utmost consideration. Upon the bench he had a grave but pleasing face. Many of his decisions were lengthy, labored, and evidenced great accumen, and were received by the members of the bar as good law, and eminently satisfactory.

For years

He was a

Judge Myron H. Tilden, late of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the successor upon the bench of Judge Bowen. Judge Tilden continued in this office until about 1847; almost every lawyer in this and very many of the other states of this Union is familiar with the splendid record of Judge Tilden, both as a judge and as a practicing lawyer. he stood in the front rank of jurists at the Cincinnati bar. noble type of manhood. He was always dignified, but social, learned but not pedantic, and naturally kind and true. As a member of the old firm of Tilden & Raridan, he had an immense practice. For years during a portion of each summer he was a visitor at Sandusky and the islands of Erie for rest and recreation.

Next following in succession upon the bench in Erie County came Ebenezer B. Sadler, who continued in this office from 1847 to 1852. Judge Sadler was a gentleman of fine commanding appearance, and of rare social qualities. Judge Sadler commenced the practice of law at Sandusky in 1836 as a partner in the old firm of Parish & Sadler, which firm was composed of himself and Frances Drake Parish, and was continued until the accession of Judge Sadler to the bench in 1847. Judge Sadler's acquaintance with Ohio people was very extensive. He always had a pleasant word and smile for all his acquaintances. He was a very able and just judge. During the years 1844 and 1845 he not only continued his law practice, but was Mayor of Sandusky. He was also appointed during the incumbency of Gen. Grant of the office of President, Postmaster at Sandusky. In 1866 and 1867 he was State Senator. He died at Rochester, N. Y., on the 25th of March, 1888, at the age of 79 years.

Hon. Elutheros Cooke, who was the father of Jay Cooke, the Philadelphia financier, and of Pitt Cooke, an attorney and banker, and of Hon. Henry D. Cooke, at one time Governor of the District of Columbia, was the pioneer lawyer of Erie County; he was a very able man, but more of an orator, politician and man of general business than lawyer. He had wonderful oratorical power, and was a very popular

man; his great general ability and eloquence made him a very necessary

In politics he was an old

He very ably advocated

and useful man to the city of Sandusky. line Whig, and subsequently a Republican. and generously contributed to the advancement of the interests of Sandusky. He was a large dealer in and owner of real estate. His great oratorical power and general great mental ability made him a famous representative of the versatility of genius. As a dealer in real estate he is credited, whether truthfully or not I do not know, with being exceedingly facetious; exempli gratia.

Desiring to sell to a German a corner lot he is reported to have said: "Buy it! Buy it! my dear friend there are thousands in it for you, "and besides, when you purchase real estate in this country you buy "from the center of the earth, even up to the very heavens, no one can "undermine you, and no one overhang you, and this my dear friend, is "one of the peculiar benefits of our free institutions."

At another time he conveyed a lot to a purchaser, bounding it in the deed by the post holes that he had just caused to be dug preparatory to erecting a fence to enclose the same, but when some months later the purchaser desired to further improve the lot, the post holes had been filled up, and he was unable to find his boundary lines.

Mr. Cooke very ably represented the 14th Congressional District of Ohio in the Twenty-second Congress.

Philip B. Hopkins was also one of the early practitioners of the Erie County Bar. He resided at Milan, Ohio. He managed to obtain a very good law practice, he was a good lawyer, a genial companion, overflowing with good humor and wit. Judge Sadler very frequently told the two following anecdotes of Mr. Hopkins. At the dinner table at the hotel in Sandusky, Hon. Joseph M. Root, Judge Sadler and other lawyers of the Erie County Bar being present, Mr. Root spoke of an attorney of another County, not considered a very able one, and asked Major Hopkins if he knew this foreign attorney, and how he came to be a lawyer. "No," replied Hopkins, "I don't.' Root then claimed that "he was a sort of a peddler, who traveled in a "one horse wagon and carried Swan's Treatise with him, and so caught "the law as a person would be liable to catch the itch or measles. "Well," "said the Major, "it never broke out on him, and they say it is worse "when it strikes in."

On another occasion Judge Andrews, who was a member of the old Erie County Bar, and Major Hopkins, were engaged in trying a case, Major Hopkins representing the plaintiff, and Judge Andrews the defendant; Hopkins repeatedly asked leading questions, to which Andrews strenuously objected; when Hopkins rested, Andrews called one of his witnesses and asked a leading question, to direct the mind.