John E. Richie
Hon. John E. Richie, formerly judge of the Court of Common Pleas and now the senior member of the well-known law firm of Richie & Leland, of Lima, was born in Crawford County, Ohio, March 28, 1838, and is a son of Mirabeau F. and Sarah (Eaton) Richie. Mirabeau F. Richie was born in Pennsylvania but came to Ohio when he was but 12 years of age, and settled in Columbiana County, removing in 1839 to Van Wert County. His family consisted of 10 children, seven of whom still survive.
John E. Richie was a babe of one year when his parents settled in Van Wert County. He was a student in the first schoolhouse ever built in Harrison Township and in youth attended school when not engaged in work upon the farm. He completed the school course before he was 18 years old, and thereafter, until he reached manhood, he continued to assist his father on the home farm in the summer season, while in the winter he taught school. Arriving at manhood's estate, he began the study of the law, his reading being done under the supervision of Edward A. Ballard, now of Denver, Colorado, a well-known former attorney of Allen County. He was admitted to the bar in 1867 and prior to coming to Lima practiced law for six months at Bluffton.
Since locating in Lima, the subject of this sketch has become one of the leading practitioners before all the courts and has filled offices of responsibility. For three years he served as justice of the peace, and was elected city solicitor when the village was given its city charter. In the fall of 1888 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas and served in that position from February 1889, to February 1899. Since retiring from the bench, Judge Richie has given his attention to a large and important practice in partnership with F. F. Leland.
In 1861 our subject was marred to Margaret J. McCoy, a native of Van Wert County, Ohio. To this union were born five children, as follows: Idumea, wife of F. F. Leland, his present law partner; Willis A., a prominent architect of Spokane, Washington, who was architect of the State Capitol of Washington and all the court houses around Puget Sound; Walter J., junior member of the firm of Richie & Richie; Bertha, wife of Hugh L. Harrod, a traveling salesman, with a home in Lima; and Frank, deceased at the age of two years.
The second marriage to Judge Richie was contracted with Mrs. S. Louise (Van Arsdale) Wyker, who by her first husband had one daughter Lilian. Judge Richie with his family attends the Presbyterian Church. The beautiful family residence is situated at No. 541 West Wayne Street, while Judge Richie's offices are in the Holland Block.
Politically, Judge Richie is identified with the Democratic party. Fraternally he is associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows. He has long been looked upon as one of the city's most public-spirited men; one proof of this attitude was his gift in 1892 of a tract of 10 acres for the use of Lima College.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Edited by Charles C. Miller. Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906