Charles Sweetser
Hon. Charles Svveetser was born about the year 1805 in the State of Vermont. He came to Delaware County with his father in the year 1817, who settled on a farm just north of Delaware. Ohio. He engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few years and began the study of law in the year 1830 in the office of the Hon. Thomas W. Powell. He was admitted to the Bar in the year 1832 and immediately began an active practice, which was distinguished more by his activity than by his sound knowledge of the law or his study of its more abstruse principals. His education was limited to the public schools and his activity never permitted him, by industry and perseverance, to overcome its defects. He disliked discipline, study, and technicality and boasted that genius and original common sense were the vantage ground for him. He was captious and capricious and was often the cause of violent squabbles at the bar. But with all his irregularities he was remarkably successful both in the law and in politics. He was a member of the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congress, having been chosen from the Tenth District, to which Delaware County then belonged. He served during the years 1849-1850 and 1851- 1852. He continued his practice up to a short time before his death, which occurred in the year 1864. He was always noted for his taste in the elegance of his equipment. For many years he kept a very fine carriage and a span of cream-colored horses. This it is said he used during his canvass for member of Congress. Upon one occasion in addressing a large Democratic meeting he said that some of his friends advised that he should, while a Democratic candidate, dispose of his carriage and cream-colored horses. "But," said he, "I will do no such thing, for I think that a good Democrat has as good a right to a fine carriage and horses as anybody else." This sentiment is said to have been vigorously applauded. He left to his family a large estate. He built and occupied at the time of his death what was then known as the "Sweetser Mansion" located on the corner of Sandusky Street and Central Avenue, and which was for many years the most imposing residence in the city. He laid out a large addition to the town (now city) of Delaware, just north of the original site of the town, which is known as Bomford and Sweetser's addition to the town.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens by James R. Lytle, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908