The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICALI, ENCYCLf)I'AI)IA.
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 unconstittutional 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 opinionv
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 delil)erately 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, 1 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 Benlch occasioned by the death of Judge Gholson, but hlie 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 Sanmuel J. Andrews, one of the early residents of that
city from Derby, Connecticut. Mrs. Swan (lied March
8th, i876. 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
eUII,IVANT, WILLIAM STARLING, A. B.,
M. A., I_L. D., eldest son of Lucas and Sarah
(Starling) Sullivant, the leading pioneer in that
territory which afterward became Franklin county,
, ~ Olhio, was born, January I5th, I803, in Franklin tol, a little village literally in the midst of a
wilderness, when the present site of Columbus was covered
with the primitive forest. Frontier life and its sports developed in him remarkable muscular strength and activity,
a fine personal appearance, and graceful carriage. He accompaniied his father on some of. his shorter surveying expeditions, taking thereon the lessons which tended to malke
him an expert, rapid and accurate surveyor, when called
upon, after a college career, to attend to the large landed
estate of the family. When old enough he was sent to a
celebrated private school in Jessamine county, Kentucky.
On the opening of the Ohio University, he became a stud(ent,
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Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St' Louis Rai',A,ay Company, in
which capacity he is still en,aged. I —' 1835-36 11 Swan's
Treatise" was pul:)Iisbed, which has since passed through
nine eclitions, the tenth edition in 1875 1843, 11 Guide for
Executors and Administrators; " I84I, 11 Swan's Revised
Statutes; " I854, a revised edition of the statutes; i86'o, a
revised edition of the statutes, to which L. J. Critchfield
annexed notes of the decisions of the Supreme Court; in
i868 a supplement to the edition of i86o was compiled and
published, with notes of decisions of the Suprme Court, by
Milton Sayler; I851, 11 Swail's. Pleading and Practice," tv'o
volumes; i862-63, 11 S,",an's Plead:lng and Precedents under
the Code." The elementary law books of judge Swan are
remarkable for the concise and clear lan,uage 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. 11 Swan's Treatise " has become the
indispensable companion of every justice of the peace in the
State.'rbe lawyer who cannot base his arguments upoi-i
the authority of 11 Swan's justices " (as the book is familiarly called) does not stand, much chai,-ce 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
Sup.-eme Court of Ohio, rendered by him while Chiefjustice, have ever been overruled. He has never been a
politician. His idea, often. expressed to his friends, has
always been that 11 office should seek the man, and not man
the office." He is very reticent of manner -iiid of a retiriiig
disposition. These qualities have prevented him from
forming many intimate friends outside of his own family;
but his well-known inte,,rity, and his scrupulous and con.scientious regard for truth and honesty, have caused him to
be highly esteemed, not only by the people of C4)lumbu-,,
where he resides, but he is greatly honored tbxotighout the
State, where his books have made his name so well kiioi!ii.