West courtroom re-dedication May 1, 2025
William Stanbery, was born in Essex County, New Jersey, on August 10th in 1788; he died at 84 in Newark, on January 23rd, 1873. Having read for the law in New York City with Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, who was Alexander Hamilton's second in the famous duel with Aaron Burr in 1804, Stanbery came to Ohio in 1809. He served in the state senate in 1824 & 1825 then was elected, in 1827, to the US Congress as a Jacksonian House candidate. He later won reelection as an anti-Jacksonian candidate and served in Congress until 1833.
In 1832 he made accusatory remarks in the House chamber regarding Sam Houston and Jacksonian rations contracts for Native Americans. Houston, a big man himself, both of them something over six feet tall, later met Stanbery on a Washington DC street; shouting turned into a fight and Houston beat our man with his hickory cane. Congressman Stanbery allegedly attempted to shoot Houston but his pistol misfired. In a trial before Congress, Houston was found guilty but thanks to his lawyer, Francis Scott Key, the former Tennessee congressman was lightly reprimanded. For his part in the controversy, the Ohio Congressman was censured by the Speaker of the House for use of "unparliamentary language," effectively ending his electoral career. His half-brother Henry Stanbery was Ohio's first Attorney-General, and after the end of the Civil War became U.S. Attorney General, arguing in the Supreme Court case known today as "Ex parte Milligan" and successfully defending Andrew Johnson in the first presidential impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate.
But William Stanbery focused his skills closer to home. As described in the words of distinguished Licking County jurist & Civil War veteran Judge Charles Kibler, at a 1906 bar association meeting, looking back over half a century earlier:
"When I came here in 1851, the prominent lawyers were [and he lists] William Stanbery, [first, with four other notables of that era] Samuel D. King, George B. Smythe, Henry D. Sprague and Lucius Case.
Wm. Stanbery was a man of large body, large mind, great voice and a very sonorous laugh. He was not a polished man, like his half brother, Henry Stanbery. He was a great admirer of the common law, and particularly opposed to statutory law. He was the finest conversationalist I ever knew. He was argumentative and disputatious. He delighted upon public questions to take the other side. He came to town from Oakwood [his rustic but palatial home on the far east edge of Newark] about twice a week, stopping at the office of Stanbery and Kibler. I recall one morning when he came in, he saw a modest young man, a student in the office. Seeing him, he roared out to him, "Well, sir, what are you doing here?" The young man answered "I am beginning the study of law." The old man in his loudest voice said "Well, sir, why don't you pursue some honest business?" . . . and then came the loud laugh."
He was a lawyer in Newark for sixty-four years.
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Samuel McFadden Hunter, born in 1838 in Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio; died Feb. 20th, 1907 (aged 68–69)
Judge Samuel Hunter we know of in large part because of a book by his son & fellow jurist Robbins Hunter, father in turn of Robbins Hunter, Jr. whose museum graces Broadway in Granville. But the family roots are found in Newark, and they go deep into Courthouse Square, or "The Public Square" as it was often called in Newark's first century. Samuel Hunter's son says in "The Judge Rode a Sorrel Horse" many things about the extended Robbins & Hunter families in the east end of Newark, of his father's circuit riding efforts across this county & beyond to establish the rule of law in early Ohio, and about his ties to both this and the previous courthouse, the third located here before the fourth one in which we sit today:
"The old courthouse stood in the center of the public square. This building, erected in 1832, was of Greek Revival design. It was two stories high and had six stone columns at the east and west fronts, and was in much better taste than the present building, erected after the fire in 1875."
The first time I saw that line, I had to re-read it twice. Wait, is he saying . . . "In much better taste"? Well, hold on until page 62, when he starts describing Judge Samuel Hunter's stern but engaging demeanor, and his formal style of dress, beginning with his Prince Albert coat and silk top hat.
"He was extremely erect, and made a very outstanding appearance. He was prominent in the affairs of the town, and when the new courthouse was built in 1876 he made a speech at the laying of the cornerstone. This building is an outstanding example of the hideous architecture of the Seventies. At that time elevators were unheard of, but apparently would not have been desired anyway. The saving of steps was no part of the scheme of things. People were so fond of stairs in those days that they even went out of their way to work them in, and an elevator would have been considered a useless extravagance."
Given that Robbins Hunter, Sr. was born in 1880, I'm guessing his views here were inherited from his father, a strong aesthetic feeling about this now much beloved building in our county's center!
But for an adequate summary of Judge Samuel Hunter and his son, Judge Robbins Hunter, I look to their gravestones at Cedar Hill Cemetery, close together, and in between them and their spouses that of Robbins Hunter, Jr., our honoree's grandson. This third generation Hunter gave us the Robbins Hunter Museum in Granville, and other bequests to the Licking County Historical Society, not least of which is the row of historic houses we have today on Sixth Street. His marker is identical to his father & grandfather's in being simply a name & two dates, but subtly, on the vertical face of this headstone, close to the ground and easy to miss, are added four words: "I loved Licking County." In that inheritance, he speaks for his ancestors, for it is clear: Judge Samuel Hunter loved Licking County.
William Stanbery, was born in Essex County, New Jersey, on August 10th in 1788; he died at 84 in Newark, on January 23rd, 1873. Having read for the law in New York City with Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, who was Alexander Hamilton's second in the famous duel with Aaron Burr in 1804, Stanbery came to Ohio in 1809. He served in the state senate in 1824 & 1825 then was elected, in 1827, to the US Congress as a Jacksonian House candidate. He later won reelection as an anti-Jacksonian candidate and served in Congress until 1833.
In 1832 he made accusatory remarks in the House chamber regarding Sam Houston and Jacksonian rations contracts for Native Americans. Houston, a big man himself, both of them something over six feet tall, later met Stanbery on a Washington DC street; shouting turned into a fight and Houston beat our man with his hickory cane. Congressman Stanbery allegedly attempted to shoot Houston but his pistol misfired. In a trial before Congress, Houston was found guilty but thanks to his lawyer, Francis Scott Key, the former Tennessee congressman was lightly reprimanded. For his part in the controversy, the Ohio Congressman was censured by the Speaker of the House for use of "unparliamentary language," effectively ending his electoral career. His half-brother Henry Stanbery was Ohio's first Attorney-General, and after the end of the Civil War became U.S. Attorney General, arguing in the Supreme Court case known today as "Ex parte Milligan" and successfully defending Andrew Johnson in the first presidential impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate.
But William Stanbery focused his skills closer to home. As described in the words of distinguished Licking County jurist & Civil War veteran Judge Charles Kibler, at a 1906 bar association meeting, looking back over half a century earlier:
"When I came here in 1851, the prominent lawyers were [and he lists] William Stanbery, [first, with four other notables of that era] Samuel D. King, George B. Smythe, Henry D. Sprague and Lucius Case.
Wm. Stanbery was a man of large body, large mind, great voice and a very sonorous laugh. He was not a polished man, like his half brother, Henry Stanbery. He was a great admirer of the common law, and particularly opposed to statutory law. He was the finest conversationalist I ever knew. He was argumentative and disputatious. He delighted upon public questions to take the other side. He came to town from Oakwood [his rustic but palatial home on the far east edge of Newark] about twice a week, stopping at the office of Stanbery and Kibler. I recall one morning when he came in, he saw a modest young man, a student in the office. Seeing him, he roared out to him, "Well, sir, what are you doing here?" The young man answered "I am beginning the study of law." The old man in his loudest voice said "Well, sir, why don't you pursue some honest business?" . . . and then came the loud laugh."
He was a lawyer in Newark for sixty-four years.
=+=+=+=
Samuel McFadden Hunter, born in 1838 in Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio; died Feb. 20th, 1907 (aged 68–69)
Judge Samuel Hunter we know of in large part because of a book by his son & fellow jurist Robbins Hunter, father in turn of Robbins Hunter, Jr. whose museum graces Broadway in Granville. But the family roots are found in Newark, and they go deep into Courthouse Square, or "The Public Square" as it was often called in Newark's first century. Samuel Hunter's son says in "The Judge Rode a Sorrel Horse" many things about the extended Robbins & Hunter families in the east end of Newark, of his father's circuit riding efforts across this county & beyond to establish the rule of law in early Ohio, and about his ties to both this and the previous courthouse, the third located here before the fourth one in which we sit today:
"The old courthouse stood in the center of the public square. This building, erected in 1832, was of Greek Revival design. It was two stories high and had six stone columns at the east and west fronts, and was in much better taste than the present building, erected after the fire in 1875."
The first time I saw that line, I had to re-read it twice. Wait, is he saying . . . "In much better taste"? Well, hold on until page 62, when he starts describing Judge Samuel Hunter's stern but engaging demeanor, and his formal style of dress, beginning with his Prince Albert coat and silk top hat.
"He was extremely erect, and made a very outstanding appearance. He was prominent in the affairs of the town, and when the new courthouse was built in 1876 he made a speech at the laying of the cornerstone. This building is an outstanding example of the hideous architecture of the Seventies. At that time elevators were unheard of, but apparently would not have been desired anyway. The saving of steps was no part of the scheme of things. People were so fond of stairs in those days that they even went out of their way to work them in, and an elevator would have been considered a useless extravagance."
Given that Robbins Hunter, Sr. was born in 1880, I'm guessing his views here were inherited from his father, a strong aesthetic feeling about this now much beloved building in our county's center!
But for an adequate summary of Judge Samuel Hunter and his son, Judge Robbins Hunter, I look to their gravestones at Cedar Hill Cemetery, close together, and in between them and their spouses that of Robbins Hunter, Jr., our honoree's grandson. This third generation Hunter gave us the Robbins Hunter Museum in Granville, and other bequests to the Licking County Historical Society, not least of which is the row of historic houses we have today on Sixth Street. His marker is identical to his father & grandfather's in being simply a name & two dates, but subtly, on the vertical face of this headstone, close to the ground and easy to miss, are added four words: "I loved Licking County." In that inheritance, he speaks for his ancestors, for it is clear: Judge Samuel Hunter loved Licking County.
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