Isaac Ranney
Isaac Ranney was admitted to the Bar in the year 1842. He studied with the law firm of Sweetser & Barnes. He began to practice in this city and was soon elected prosecuting attorney of the county. He was a man of good legal ability, but he did not apply himself closely to his profession. In the year 1857 he went to California by the Overland Route, where he remained about two years, when he returned and again entered upon the practice of his profession. At the commencement of the Civil War he was appointed collector of this district, which he filled with credit to himself for a short time, when he resigned. He was elected probate judge of this county and was re-elected to succeed himself and served out his two terms, having served from October 20, 1854, to November 1, 1862. He had in various ways accumulated quite a fortune, but the same was greatly reduced by his many changes of his residence in Delaware County, Washington. D. C. and other places. His name appears frequently upon the records at the Court House, which shows that he had at various times quite a business in the county. He finally settled upon a farm he had purchased in the valley of the Potomac, a few miles from Georgetown, where he died.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908