History of Columbus, (Franklin County) Ohio United States of America

Oliver Monroe Langdon, philanthropist, was born near Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 2, 1817; son of the Rev. Oliver Langdon, M.D. His maternal grandfather, Col. William Brown, a soldier in the Revolutionary army, settled with his family near Cincinnati in 1789. He was educated at home until 1829, when, both parents being dead, he removed to Cincinnati, and attended Woodward high school, 1831-32, and the Athen?um (afterward St. Xavier's college), 1833-34, studied medicine in the office of Dr. Cobb, and was graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1838. He practiced medicine at Madison, Ind., 1838-42, and then returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was city physician, 1842-46. He was surgeon of the 4th Ohio regiment, Colonel Brough, through the Mexican war, 1846-48. He practised medicine in partnership with Dr. Jesse Judkins, 1848-59; was physician to the house of refuge, Cincinnati, and to the lunatic asylum at Lick Run, 1848-56; was one of the founders of the Miami Medical college; and an instigator of the humane movement which transferred the lunatics from Commercial hospital to Lick Run, and resulted in Longview Asylum for the Insane, of which he was the superintendent, 1859-70. He established in 1866, in connection with Longview, the first colored asyluln for the insane, the state having previously kept insane negroes in the common jail. He was a trustee of Miami Medical college, and a member of several important medical societies. He died at Columbus, Ohio, June 15, 1878.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charles Evans Kilbourne, soldier, was born in Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 17, 1844; son of Lincoln and Jane (Evans) Kilbourne; grandson of Col. James and Cythnta (Goodale) Kilbourne, and a descendant of Thomas Kilbourne, who came to America in 1635. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, and appointed 2d lieutenant, 2d artillery, June 18, 1866. He served with the regiment in garrison at the Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., and Yerba Buena island, Cal., 1866-67, and on frontier duty at Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., from February to October, 1867. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, Dec. 3, 1868; was under instruction at the artillery school, Fort Monroe, Va., 1869-70, and was an honor graduate of the school in 1870. He was with his regiment at the Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., and at Fort Stevens, Ore., from May, 1870, to September, 1871; acting signal officer at Fort Whipple, Va., September, 1871, to August, 1876, and instructor of the signal corps, 1872-76. He was appointed assistant to the chief signal officer of the army, in August, 1876, and on duty at the signal office, Washington, D.C., 1876-84. He joined his regiment at Newport Barracks, Ky., in March, 1884; was stationed at St. Augustine, Fla., from June, 1885, to July, 1887, and was professor of military science and tactics at the Ohio State university, 1887-90. He was appointed captain in the signal corps, Dec. 20, 1890; major in the pay department, Nov. 6, 1893; served at Chicago, Ill., Jan. 1 to May 25, 1894; Santa F?, N.H., May 28 to Oct. 31, 1891; Walls Walla, Wash., Nov. 4, 1894, to Nov. 28, 1895; Portland, Ore., Nov. 29, 1895, to May 12, 1898; joined the expedition to the Philippine islands at San Francisco, Cal., May 14, 1898; arrived at Manila bay, July 25, 1898; was auditor of public accounts, Philippine Islands, Oct. 1 to Oct. 10, 1898; treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago and Island of Guam, Oct. 11, 1898, to Nov. 22, 1899, and on Dec. 28, 1899, was returned to duty at San Francisco, Cal.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Lawyer and Judge, was born at Westernville, Oneida county, New York, December 28th, 1802. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry (from Londonderry), the son of Jonathan and Sarah (Rockwell) Swan. His father was a native of Peterborough, New York, and his mother of Groton, Connecticut. He received an academic education at Aurora, New York, and commenced there the study of law, which he completed at Columbus, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar in 1824. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession, beginning a career which has placed him among Ohio's most honored citizens. He was elected Judge of the Supreme Court in 1854. In 1859 there was a strong pressure brought to bear upon the Judges of the Supreme Court by S. P. Chase, then Governor of Ohio, and his ardent followers, to obtain a final judgment of the court that the fugitive slave laws were unconstitutional and void in Ohio, and the enforcement of them might and should be resisted by the State. The court consisted of five judges, two of whom were in favor and three opposed to declaring the law unconstitutional and void. If there had been a majority of the bench in favor of this same nullification, no doubt the subsequent history of Ohio and Governor Chase would have assumed quite a different aspect in the future, and there might have been an abolition rebellion in the State. The closing remarks of Judge Swan (then Chief Justice), in delivering the opinion of the court sustaining the fugitive slave laws (9 Ohio State Reports), indicates how his personal feelings warred with his duties as a judge: "As a citizen I would not deliberately violate the constitution or the law by interference with fugitives from service. But if a weary, frightened slave should appeal to me to protect him from his pursuers, it is possible I might momentarily forget my allegiance to the law and constitution, and give him a covert from those who were upon his track. There are no doubt many slaveholders who would thus follow the impulses of human sympathy; and if I did it, and were prosecuted, condemned, and imprisoned, and brought by my counsel before this tribunal on a habeas corpus, and were there permitted to pronounce judgment in my own case, I trust I should have the moral courage to say, before God and the country, as I am now compelled to say, under the solemn duties of a judge, bound by my official oath to sustain the supremacy of the constitution and the law, THE PRISONER MUST BE REMANDED." In this decision the distinctive characteristic of the man is clearly marked--his great conscientiousness. Neither personal interest nor sympathy could in any manner influence his judgment of right or law. The decision caused his defeat for the renomination to the Supreme Court by the political convention which assembled in Columbus the day after it was delivered; but the party passion and prejudice of the hour passed away, and the judgment of the bar of Ohio sustained his interpretation of the law. In 1862 Governor Brough appointed him to the vacancy on the Supreme Bench occasioned by the death of Judge Gholson, but he declined the appointment. The same position was tendered to him since the war, but he could not be prevailed upon to accept. He was married in June, 1833, to Hannah Ann Andrews, of Rochester, New York, daughter of Samuel J. Andrews, one of the early residents of that city from Derby, Connecticut. Mrs. Swan died March 8th, 1876. She left three sons--two, Frank and Andrew, residing at Joliet, Illinois, manufacturers; Joseph R., residing at Utica, New York, attorney; Maryette, married to A. C. Neave, residing at Clifton, Ohio; and Ann F., married to Major R. S. Smith, residing at Columbus, Ohio. In 1859 Judge Swan resumed the practice of the law, and soon after became connected with the Columbus & Xenia Railroad, and afterwards as the General Solicitor of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Company, in which capacity he is still engaged. In 1835-36 "Swan's Treatise" was published, which has since passed through nine editions, the tenth edition in 1875; 1843, "Guide for Executors and Administrators;" 1841, "Swan's Revised Statutes;" 1854, a revised edition of the statutes; 1860, a revised edition of the statutes, to which L. J. Critchfield annexed notes of the decisions of the Supreme Court; in 1868 a supplement to the edition of 1860 was compiled and published, with notes of decisions of the Supreme Court, by Milton Sayler; 1851, "Swan's Pleading and Practice," two volumes; 1862-63, "Swan's Pleading and Precedents under the Code." The elementary law books of Judge Swan are remarkable for the concise and clear language in which the propositions of law are stated. They have been accepted by the bar of Ohio as the best authority upon the subjects of which they treat. "Swan's Treatise" has become the indispensable companion of every justice of the peace in the State. The lawyer who cannot base his arguments upon the authority of "Swan's Justices" (as the book is familiarly called) does not stand mach chance of success in a justice's court in Ohio. As a jurist Judge Swan stands at the head of his profession. None of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Ohio, rendered by him while Chief-Justice, have ever been overruled. He has never been a politician. His idea, often expressed to his friends, has always been that "office should seek the man, and not man the office." He is very reticent of manner and of a retiring disposition. These qualities have prevented him from forming many intimate friends outside of his own family; but his well-known integrity, and his scrupulous and conscientious regard for truth and honesty, have caused him to be highly esteemed, not only by the people of Columbus, where he resides, but he is greatly honored throughout the State, where his books have made his name so well known.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

Lyne Starling, son of William and Susanna (Lyne) Starling, was born in the vicinity of Boydtown, Virginia, December 27th, 1784. When quite young he emigrated with his father's family to Kentucky, and in the year 1806 to Franklinton, Ohio. While a youth he was appointed Deputy Clerk of court at Frankfort, Kentucky, and he was trained to business and industrious habits by a precise and methodical master. Soon after his arrival in this State he was appointed Clerk of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, and also of the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts of Franklin county. After holding this position for some years, Mr. Sullivant furnished him means and entered into partnership with him in the mercantile business. He became a very successful merchant and enterprising trader, being the first one who ventured cargoes of produce down the Scioto and thence to New Orleans in decked flatboats. He was a commissary and large contractor for supplies to the northwestern army under General Harrison. Falling into bad health he travelled extensively both in this country and abroad. Being a man of quick perceptions and a good observer both of men and things, he gained much practical knowledge and was greatly improved by his travels. He finally made Columbus his permanent place of residence, when he returned to take charge of the valuable estate of Mr. Lucas Sullivant. He was one of the original proprietors of Columbus, the central portion of the city having been laid out on land owned by him. The old State House was built by a company of gentlemen of whom Mr. Starling was one, as one of the conditions upon which the seat of government was located at the "high banks opposite Franklinton"--now Columbus. Not long before his death he endowed a medical college, which bears his name--Starling Medical College. He died November 21st, 1848. He was extensively known among the first men of this country, and his opinions were held in high estimation by the great men of his age. He had a quick, clear perception, a retentive memory, a sound, unerring judgment. He possessed the rare faculty of annihilating in an instant the space between cause and effect. It was this peculiar, intellectual superiority which rendered his efforts in business so uniformly successful, and which enabled him, before reaching the meridian of life, to amass one of the largest fortunes which have been accumulated in the West.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

History of Columbus, (Franklin County) Ohio

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