John D. Van Deman
In writing this history, it would be a serious omission if we failed to give due prominence and attention to the name of Van Deman. Since 1824, when the family first came to Delaware County, this name has been mounting constantly higher and higher in public esteem, through the conspicuous and honorable positions held by father and son in the professions of the ministry and the law, and by their right attitude toward all questions affecting the public weal, and their unselfish and untiring efforts in forwarding every movement for the common good.
The family ancestry traces back to Rev. John Van Deman, the great-grandfather of the subject of this notice. He was a Presbyterian clergyman, who. with his family, emigrated from Holland, and settled in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, at an early day. His son John married a lady whose maiden name was Hester. In 1804 the family, including their son Henry, the father of Hon. John D. Van Deman, moved to Ross County, Ohio, and settled on a beautiful farm nine or ten miles from Chillicothe. John Van Deman was a very successful farmer, and a man of strong character, serving for years as an elder in the Presbyterian Church. After his ordination to the ministry, Rev. Henry Van Deman, in 1824, came to Delaware County, and for nearly forty years before his death, which occurred in 1872. he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Delaware. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died on January 26. 1888. aged eighty-six years. She was a native of Kentucky, and her maiden name was Sarah Darlinton. Her father. Gen. Joseph Darlinton, was a member of the territorial legislature of Ohio, and also a member of the convention held in 1801, to frame the first constitution of the State of Ohio. He was also a member of the first Senate of Ohio.
Hon. John D. Van Deman was born in Delaware, Ohio, February 12, 1832. When a child, Mr. Van Deman received his primary lessons from Mrs. Murray, in the basement of the building located on the Court House lot, on the second floor of which he completed his legal studies preparatory to his admission to the bar. President Hayes was also an alumnus of tlie same school. Young Van Deman took the full classical course in the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which he was graduated in 1851. Immediately thereafter he entered the law office of Powell & Buck, where his legal studies were pursued for two years. He was admitted to the Bar in 1853, before the District Court presided over by Hon. Allen G. Thurman, then chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, and began practice in Delaware, soon achieving a success that was very gratifying. His first partnership was with Judge T. W. Powell, which continued until 1862. He then formed a partnership with the late H. M. Carper, which was maintained without interruption until 1889, when Mr. Van Deman retired from general practice. Theirs was the oldest law firm in the State at the time of its dissolution. It is a pleasing commentary on the carefulness and the mutual confidence reposed the one in the other, that when their final settlement was made, covering the whole period of thirty-six years of a partnership business, the final balance showed that one had received only one cent more than the other. There had been no comparison or settling up of personal accounts of either with the firm from the beginning of the partnership until its close. During all this period, their relations were not only friendly and cordial, but of the closest intimacy.
Mr. Van Deman's first case, was one which became famous afterwards, from the principal established in it when it reached the Supreme Court. It was a question affecting the grade of streets, and it became a leading authority everywhere on that subject. Judge Powell was associated with Mr. Van Deman in the case. Colonel Crawford, an old lawyer, had brought suit for damages against the city of Delaware, for cutting down the street in front of his residence. On a hearing in the District Court. Judge Powell was trying to call to mind a Latin maxim, which he thought was applicable to the case, but which eluded his grasp. Finally Judge Finch, a fine Latin scholar, said: "Mr. Powell, you refer to the maxim, 'Damnum absque injuria.' " "Yes, yes," said Judge Powell, "that is it." The Colonel, who was not a Latin scholar, at once spoke up: "I'll show you whether it is a damn tight squeeze before I get through with you." There were very few important cases tried in the courts of Delaware County during the time of Mr. Van Deman's active relations with the Bar in which he was not engaged. One of the most celebrated cases he managed was that of Lou Honk, a manipulator of Three Card Monte, who killed a man on a Hocking Valley train. Of his argument in that trial, the Ohio State Journal said: "His address was admired by all who were present: it was clear and sound in argument, and his rhetoric was unusually fine. The speech was pronounced one of the best ever delivered at the Bar of Delaware County. Another celebrated case was one growing out of the failure of a bank at Logansport, Indiana, which was tried in the Federal courts at Toledo. An attempt was made on the part of the Indiana bank management to hold Mr. Thompson, a non-resident, as a stockholder in the bank. There was a verdict against Mr. Thompson on the first trial. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the judgment reversed. After a delay of eight years, the case was again tried, and a verdict was had in favor of Mr. Thompson's estate, Mr. Thompson having gone long before to his final account.
Mr. Van Deman always prepared his pleadings with exceptional care and tried his cases in court with great skill. He sometimes perplexed a witness by his sharp cross-examination. An amusing incident illustrative of this occurred during the trial of one of his causes. The question related to the genuineness of a signature. The defendant had verified his answer, and on the witness stand, as an expert, had given his opinion against the genuineness of the signature to the note. On cross-examination. Mr. Van Deman required the witness to state with positiveness his conclusions; then wrote something at the trial table on a paper, which he folded up in view of the witness; then folded the paper on which the defendant's answer was written, in such a way as to expose the signature only. He handed this paper to the defendant, asking him to examine the name and see if it was his signature. The witness promptly denied it, at the same time pointing out with particularity the letters which showed it was not genuine. The witness was then requested to unfold the paper and tell the jury what it was. With complete astonishment and some embarrassment, he exclaimed: "Why, my God, it is my answer in the case, and my signature to the verification." His suspicion of a trap had led him into error. The incident also shows the weakness of that kind of expert testimony.
Mr. Van Deman has always been a Republican, but has rarely aspired to political honors. He was satisfied with the emoluments, as well as the fame which a lawyer who attends strictly to the profession, may secure. He was just entering his professional career when the Republican party was born. The condition of affairs and the issues which caused the formation of that party were of deep interest to him. and in 1856 he took the stump in favor of Fremont and the new political platform, which opposed the further extension of slavery. Frequent visits to the South had convinced him that slavery was not such an institution that its wider spread over the virgin territories of the nation was desirable, or for the best prosperity of the country, he hecame acquainted with Abraham Lincoln in 1859, when the latter made his great speech in Columbus against Stephen A. Douglas, from the east side of the State House. He was so charmed with the great simplicity, candor, true nobility, and strong common sense of the Martyr President, that he became one of his most zealous adherents. He continued in campaign work until after the campaign of 1884, when he retired from the political field, leaving the more arduous service to younger men. But in 1896, when the national honor was at stake, and when the question of giving to the people a currency worth its face value, or one that could not be received in the markets of the world, was the burning one in politics, he again entered the field, and made many speeches in Ohio; and under the appointment of the National Committee, spent four weeks on the stump in Kansas, most of the time in "Sockless" Jerry Sipson's Populistic district. Prior to the organization of the Republican party, Mr. Van Deman was a Henry Clay Whig, and served as a delegate to the last Whig convention in Ohio, when Nelson Barrier was nominated for Governor. He was for four years prosecuting attorney of Delaware County; four years mayor of the city of Delaware; once a candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas of his subdivision, and later a candidate for Circuit Judge of the Sixth Circuit of Ohio; but in both cases the Democratic party had an overwhelming majority, and though unsuccessful, he made a satisfactory race, cutting down the majority of his Democratic opponents over one thousand votes. He was for several terms a member of the City Council and its presiding officer. The following resolution presented by the late Gen. J. S. Jones, upon his retirement, and passed unanimously, shows the opinion of his fellow-councilmen: "We desire to express our thanks and appreciation of our president. Under his administration the business of the Council has been transacted with accuracy and dispatch. The expenses of the city government have been largely curtailed, and stimulated by his example, other city officers have been imbued with his commendable spirit of economy and reform. Our Council meetings have been exceptionally free from discord. No ruling of the Chair has been questioned, because all have been fair and impartial. We regret exceedingly that with the close of this term, the city loses his experience and ability in the direction of its government."
Mr. Van Deman's disposition is to be conservative, believing that permanent success for the country will be found in guarding carefully the public expenditures and discountenancing appropriation of the people's money for questionable objects, rather than in hunting up new forms of taxation, whereby the people become oppressed and all kinds of modern official graft flourishes, lie would reduce the taxes to a minimum, and exact of all officials a faithful performance ol duty and an honest execution of their several trusts.
Mr. Van Deman was a lieutenant of Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment U. S. I., in the Civil War. and a charter member of George B. Torrence Post, G. A. R., of which he is past commander. He served as aide on the staff of General Alger, when the latter was grand commander of the G. A. R. for the United States.
Mr. Van Deman has a talent for business affairs which has been employed in various corporations and private companies. He assisted in organizing the Columbus & Toledo Railroad Company, and served as a director until the sale of the road to the Cleveland syndicate. For thirty-five years he was its counsel, and he served the "Big Four" in the same capacity for a period of nearly equal length. For about thirty years he has been a director of the First National Bank of Delaware, and is now its president.
He has been a member of the Episcopal Church for forty-two years, and is now its senior warden. He has served for many years as president of the Board of Trustees for the Diocese of Southern Ohio, a board having the management of the church property of the diocese, and the investment of its benevolent and charitable funds. He organized and was president of the first building association established in Delaware, and has been connected as director with one or more such associations ever since.
In 1861 Mr. Van Deman married Lydia, daughter of Judge R. E. Runkle, of Logan County, Ohio, and they have three children—Ralph H,. a captain of the general staff of the United States Army, now detailed in the Military Information Bureau, at Washington, D. C.; and two daughters, Ennalla. and Mildred, living at home with their parents.
In 1903 Mr. Van Deman, having rounded out fifty years of work at the Bar, retired from the profession. Success came to him as the result of the determined application of his abilities and powers along the rigidly defined lines or labor, and the respect of the community was given him in a free acknowledgment of his sterling worth, for he is a man of strong individuality, great mental force, and utmost rectitude in thought, word and deed.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens by James R. Lytle
Hon. John D. Van Deman is the Nestor of the Delaware County Bar. He was born in Delaware County, Ohio, on the twelfth day of February, 1832. His father,. Rev. Henry Van Deman, was a native of Pennsylvania. He was a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and was pastor of the church in Delaware for nearly forty years. His mother, Sarah Darlinton, was a daughter of General Joseph Darlinton, who was one of .the pioneers in the settlement of the Northwest Territory, and was a member of the Territorial Legislature of Ohio and a member of the convention held to frame the first constitution of the State.
When a child Mr. Van Deman received his primary lessons from Mrs. Murray, in the basement of the building located on the Court House lot, being the same building where he afterwards completed his legal studies, preparatory to his admission to the Bar. (President R. B. Hayes had been a student at this same school.) Mr. Van Deman completed the classical course in Ohio Wesleyan University, and received his degree in the year 1851, and is now one of the oldest graduates of that institution. Immediately upon his graduation he entered the law office of Messrs. Powell and Buck, where he completed his course in law in the year 1853, and was admitted to the Bar before the District Court of Delaware County, which was presided over by Allen G. Thurman, then chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He began the practice in Delaware, soon achieving a success which was very gratifying. His first partnership was with Judge Thomas W. Powell, which continued until the year 1862, the success of which may be seen by reference to the court records, where the names of Powell and Van Deman, attorneys, appear subscribed to numerous pleadings. He then entered into a partnership with the late Homer M. Carper, which was maintained without interruption until the year 1887. when Mr. Van Deman retired from a general practice. At the time of this dissolution, it was the oldest law firm in the State, having been in existence for nearly thirty years. During all this time the relations of Mr. Carper and Mr. Van Deman were not only friendly and cordial but were of the closest intimacy. The firm name was known as Carper & Van Deman, and this firm was for many years employed in most of the important cases tried in the county, as will appear by reference to the Court Journal and other records of the court.
Mr. Van Deman's first case was one which afterwards became famous by reason of the principle established. in it when it reached the Supreme Court of Ohio. It was a question affecting the grade of streets and it became a leading authority throughout the states on that subject. The title of the case was James W. Crawford vs. the Village of Delaware, and the same is reported in the Seventh O. S. R., Page 459. Judge Thomas \V. Powell was associated with Mr. Van Deman in the trial of the case. Mr. Crawford had brought suit against the village of Delaware for damages for cutting down the grade in front of his residence. On a hearing in the court, Judge Powell was trying to call to mind a Latin maxim which he thought was applicable to the case but which for the time being he could not recall. Finally, Judge Finch, who was a fine Latin scholar, said to Mr. Powell. 'You refer to the Maxim, 'Damnum absqui injuria,' ' "Yes, yes," said Judge Powell, "that is it." Mr. Crawford, who was pleading his own case and was not a Latin scholar, at once replied, "I will show you, Mr. Powell, before I get through with you, whether it is a damn tight squeeze."
There were very few important cases tried in the courts of Delaware County, during the time of Mr. Van Deman's active relations with the Bar, in which he was not engaged. One of the most celebrated cases which he managed was that of the prosecution of L. Houck, who was a manipulator of three card monte. Houck had killed a man on a Hocking Valley train just before the train stopped at the Delaware station. He was indicted for murder and Mr. Van Deman was employed to prosecute the case. Of his argument to the jury in the trial of the case, the Ohio State Journal said, "His address was admired by all who heard it. It was clear and sound in argument and his rhetoric was unusually fine, his speech was pronounced one of the best ever delivered at the Bar of Delaware County." Houck was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to the Ohio Penitentiary tor many years.
Another celebrated case was one growing out of the failure of a bank at Logansport in the State of Indiana. The case was tried in the Federal Court at Toledo, Ohio. An attempt was made on the part of the Indiana bank management to hold Mr. E. R. Thompson, a non-resident, as a stockholder in the bank. There was a verdict on the first trial against Mr. Thompson. The case was taken to the United States Supreme Court, and the judgment was reversed, after a delay of many years. The case was again tried and a verdict was had in favor of Mr. Thompson's estate, he having been called long years before to his final account.
Mr. Van Deman always prepared his pleadings with great care and tried his cases in court with great skill. Politically Mr. Van Deman has always been a Republican, but rarely aspires to political honors. He was satisfied with the emoluments as well as the fame which a lawyer who attends strictly to the profession may secure. He was just entering his professional career when the Republican party was organized. He took a great interest in it and in 1856 he took the stump in support of Fremont and the new political platform which opposed the further extension of slavery into the territories.
He became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln in the year 1859, when Mr. Lincoln made his great speech from the east side of the State House in the city of Columbus, against Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. Van Deman was so charmed with the great simplicity and true nobility of the martyr president that he became one of his most zealous adherents. He continued in his work as a campaign orator until after the close of the campaign of 1884, when he retired from the political field, leaving the more arduous service to younger men. But in the campaign of 1896, he again entered the political arena and under the appointment of the national committee made many speeches in Ohio and spent about four weeks in Kansas, most of the time in the district of "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.
Mr. Van Deman was four years prosecuting attorney of Delaware County. He was mayor of the city of Delaware for two terms and in the year 1876 was a candidate for judge of the Common Pleas Court, on the Republican ticket, in the First Subdivision of the Sixth Judicial district and later was a candidate for circuit judge of the Fifth Judicial District on the Republican ticket, but in both cases the Democratic majority was so great that even though he ran more than one thousand votes ahead of his ticket, he was unsuccessful. Mr. Van Deman has been for several terms a member of the City Council and was its presiding officer most of the time and was recognized as one of its most useful members. Mr. Van Deman's disposition is to be conservative, believing that permanent success for the county will be found in guarding carefully the public expenses and public treasury. He is in favor of reducing the taxes to a minimum and he would exact of public officials, performance of their duty and an honest execution of the public trust.
Mr. Van Deman was a lieutenant in Company E. One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War, and is a charter member of George B. Torrence Post, G. A. R., and was its post commander. He served as aid on the staff of General Alger, grand commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of Hiram Lodge. No. 18. F. & A. M. : Delaware Chapter. No. 54. R. A. M. and a member of Delaware Council. No. 84. R. & S. M.
Mr. Van Deman has displayed great talent for business and is one of Delaware's most prosperous citizens. He assisted in organizing the Columbus and Toledo Railway Company and was one of its directors for many years. He was its counsel for thirty-five years and was counsel for the Big Four Railway for about the same length of time. He has been a director in the First National Bank of Delaware for many years and is now its president. He helped to organize the first building association in Delaware and was its president and he is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Fidelity Building Association and Loan Company.
Mr. Van Deman is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Delaware and is now its senior warden. He has served for many years as president of the Board of Trustees for the Diocese of Southern Ohio, which board has the management of the church property of the diocese and the investment of its charitable and benevolent funds.
In the year 1903. Mr. Van Deman having completed fifty years of active work at the bar. retired from the profession, having accumulated a sufficiency for himself and family. He spends his winters in his southern home and his summers at his home in Delaware, where he enjoys the utmost confidence and respect of his neighbors and fellow citizens.
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