The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPIEDIA.
inees of the Democratic party for the Legislature. With
all of the other candidates for the ILegislature of the party
on that ticket he was defeated. For the past tenl years he
has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Secolnld
National Bank. His business interests have firom time to
time brought him into relations with the various commercial
organizations of the city. He has been more than usually
successful in his career of varied effort. His personal and
business habits have been unexceptional. His brother,
Arthur E., is still engaged in the flour and grain trade, and e
another, Sandford L., is a merchant at Rising Sun, Indiana.
Dr. Nathaniel S. Armstrong was a practitioner of medicine,
in Cincinnati, and one of its most prominent, honest andar
conscientious; he was the brother-in-law of the late Charles o
Woodward, both of whom the profession were proud of; he
died in Cincinnati in 1854. Leonard L., another brother, is th
in the drug business at Cumminsville, Ohio. John Wesley,
another brother, was attached to the 5th Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, and was mortally wounded at the battle of An- to
tietam. Thomas Milton, his youngest brother, died in I863,
aged thirty-three years; his only sister living is Mrs. Robert.
Evans, of Indianapolis, Indiana. He was married, January
29th, 1840, to Martha, daughter of Caleb Williams, one of
the oldest and most respected citizens of Cincinnati, with
whom he has three children, two daughters and one son.
In 1853 Caleb Williams died, at the age of seventy-two
years; his companion, Martha Williams, died in I846.
b MTTH, W9AT,TER H., Lawyer and ex-Unitecl
States Assistant Attorney-General, was born in
Litchfield county, Connecticut, June 2d, I826.
His parents were both natives of the same State;
his father, the Rev. Walter Smith, a Congregation alist, graduated from Yale College in I8i6; his
mother, nee Orpha Jerome, being of French origin. After
a thorough preparatory course of study, under the able
tuition of his father, Walter H. entered Union College,
Schenectady, New York, and graduated from that institution in I846. Returning to his home in Mount Vernon,
Ohio (where the family had removed in I840), he immediately commenced the study of law, and was admitted to
the bar on the 12th of June, I848. He then engaged in
the practice of his profession at Mount Vernon, and so
continued for a period of fifteen years, being associated
during that interval with the Hon. Columbus Delano, exSecretary of the Interior, and the Hon. W. R. Sapp, exmember of Congress from Ohio (now deceased). In
March, I869, Mr. Smith was- appointed Solicitor of Internal Revenue, the duties of which office he performed
with marked ability and satisfaction for a period of two
years, when he was called to assume the responsibilities of
a more importa nt posi tion o f tr us t and honor, that of As -
sistant Attorney-General of the United States, and was the
incumbent of that office until October, I875, when he resigned, in order to resume the practice of his profession (in
Washington, District of Columbia), in which he had always taken high rank and sustained an honorable reputation. He was married, June 3d, I851, to Frances E.,
daughter of the late Hon. W. R. Sapp, ex-member of
DAMS, JOHN, Common Pleas Judge, was born
haro d on - December I ith, 1824, at Mount Vern on,
lab'/\ Ohio. He wa s a farmer's son, and the experi' /~/ ~ ences of his boyhood and youth were such ex periences as befall almost any farmer's boy
whose fathe r ha s o nly the wealth that comes of
hard t oil, every day in every season. He " learned to
l abor and to wait; " for as soon as he was old enough he
took l p art in the labors of the farm, and for the fulfilment of
such hopesan siat on a o t e ats and aspirations as come to the ambitious and
capable bov he had t o waitauntil the opp ortunity for gratifying them could be made. He attended school first at
Martinsburg, and afterwards at Kenyon College. Subseqeiquently he entered Jefferson College, in Washin,ton-county,
Pennsylvania, and graduated there in the spring of I847.
After leaving college he commenced the study of law,
reading with Hon. J ohn K. Miller, at Mount Vernon. He
was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon in I85 o, and at
aonce comm ence d th e practice of his profession there. At
first he practised alone, but at the end of a year he formed
a professional partnership with Mr. Dunbar. Eventually
this partnership was dissolved, and subsequently he associated himself with his former preceptor, Hon. John K.
Miller. ite prospered well in his profession, and gained a
practice that was large and lucrative. In politics he is a
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Democrat, and has acted steadily and consistently with
that party. In 1871 he was candidate, on the Democratic
ticket, for judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the
District of Mount Vernon, and was elected by a handsome
majority. He took office in i872 for a term of five years.
His course while on the I)elich has fully vindicated the
wisdom of those who elevated'bim to the osition. To bi h
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abilities and.fine attainments be joins the strictest integrity,
a judicial impartiality which nothing can swerve, and a
regard for principle which all recognize and appreciate.
He is honored and esteemed as the ricbt man in the right
place, and tb6 fact that his high and responsible station was
awarded to him because of the sterlin, characteristics belonging to his nature, and the high attainments which be
acquired through his own almost U'naided exertions, is. a
fact that must be gratifying to himself no less than encouraging to all men who are struggling and aspiring
within the circle of his influence. Hewas mari-ied on the
i6.th of May, i86o, to Julia Huxford, of Fort Wayne,Indiana. Four children, three girls and one boy, have
blessed the union.
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