Edmund Harris Munger
Judge E. H. Munger is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Ohio, whose representatives have for a century been connected with the development and progress of this state, but further back can he trace his ancestry, for in an early epoch in the colonization of America his ancestors came to the new world. The Munger family is of English lineage and from the county of Kent in the year 1639 came one of the name, establishing his home in New England, where his descendants became active factors in the substantial upbuilding and improvement of that section of the country.
Edmund Hunger, tlie grandfather of our subject, was a general in the war of 1812 and for a time was in charge of the Ohio army, but after was superseded by General Hull, who took the troops to Detroit where he afterward surrendered them, General Munger was a farmer by occupation and was a man of marked ability along many lines. He had considerable mechanical talent, could shoe his own horse and repair his farm machinery and at the same time his mental talents and broad knowledge made him a leader of public thought and opinion. On coming to Ohio, he spent one summer on wild land near Belpre, in Washington county, where he cleared some of his land and planted a crop. Afterward he purchased an entire section—six hundred and forty acres—of what was known as the Simms purchase, south of Dayton in Montgomery county, in 1798. His new tract of land General Munger cleared and for many years made his home thereon. At first he lived in true pioneer style, his home being a log cabin, but as the years passed and he won prosperity, he added to his place all modern equipments and conveniences and erected a large brick residence. He was a man deeply interested in all that pertains to the promotion of the general welfare, was a leader in public thought and action, and was called to represent his district in the state legislature. In fact, he was one of the most prominent and influential citizens of his portion of the state. He would hold church meetings, singing societies and meetings of a similar character which tended to promote sociability as well as culture and morality among the people of the community. He donated the ground upon which a school was built and was an active factor in advancing general progress. He died at his home on the old Simms purchase at the age of eighty-six years, while his wife reached the very advance age of one hundred years and four months.
Reuben Munger, the father of our subject, was reared to manhood on the old family homestead in Ohio, although he was bom in New England. He was the fifth in order of birth in a family of twelve children, ten of whom reached years of maturity and reared families of their own. He received the ordinary common school advantages offered at that time and became a well informed man. His father established a circulating library and the children therefore had the opportunity of acquiring much knowledge in that way. He learned the trade of a builder and for many years was extensively and successfully engaged in contracting and carpentering. Like his father he possessed much mechanical ability and ingenuity, and could not only engage in carpentering, but could make carriages and wagons and even constructed threshing machines in that early day. He married Laura Harris, also a native of Montgomery county, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bingham) Harris, who were New England people, and removed to Ohio at an early period in the settlement of this state. Unto Reuben and Laura Munger were born three children, the eldest being the Judge, while the second son was John, who died at the age of nineteen years. The third child was Amanda, who died at the age of four years. John passed away in New Orleans, to which city he had been taken on account of his health, but he died the evening after his arrival. Although he always resided upon a farm, Reuben Munger never actively engaged in agricultural pursuits. He lived to a very ripe old age, passing away in his ninety-sixth year, while his wife died at the age of seventy-four, at the old home on Montgomery county. Following her death, the father came to Greene county and spent his last days in the home of the Judge in Xenia.
Like most boys of the period, Judge Munger began his education in the common schools such as existed during his boyhood and was also instructed by a neighbor, the Rev. Mr. Hall, who taught him to read Latin. He took up the study of algebra and surveying independently and made for himself a set of surveying instruments. He also made a set of blocks to illustrate the law of cube root. After he had mastered the branches of learning taught in the neighborhood schools, he began teaching in the common schools and followed that profession for a number of years, alternating his educational work, however, by attendance at the Xenia Academy and the academy conducted by Mr. Barney in Dayton. Subsequently he pursued a collegiate course in Miami University at Oxford, and when in the senior year, together with sixteen of his classmates, he left that institution and went to Danville, Kentucky, completing his course of study there by his graduation in the class of 1848. The degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon him and he was chosen to deliver the graduating address, taking as his subject The Ideal. Judge Munger earned the sum necessary to defray his expenses throughout the period in which he was obtaining his education, with the exception of the sum necessary for the last term of three months.
After his graduation Judge Munger returned to his home and established a school for young men and women at Bellbrook, Greene county, conducting the same for nine months. He then began reading law with Josepli G. Gest. of Xenia, with whom he read for two years, after which he was admitted to the bar before the supreme court at Columbus, in 1851. He then went into partnership with his preceptor, a connection that was maintained for two or three years, when Mr. Gest retired from practice and Judge Munger purchased his library and admitted R. F. Howard to a partnership in the business. On the expiration of two years, this relation was discontinued and since that time Judge Munger has been alone in practice. For years he maintained a very prominent position at the bar of Ohio. His standing at the bar was a merited tribute to his ability. He threw hiinself easily and naturally into the argument with a self-possession and a deliberation in which there was no straining after effect, but with a precision and clearness in his statements and an accuracy and strength in his arguments which speak a mind trained in the severest school of investigation and in which the closest reasoning was habitual and easy. He has now largely retired from practice, for the years have brought him success and he is today the possessor of a handsome competence.
On the 3d of October, 1861, the Judge was united in marriage to Aliss Emily A. Mather, of Suffield, Connecticut. The ancestry can be traced back to Richard Mather, the distinguished minister who was one of the first to proclaim the Gospel in the new world. Charles and Mary Mather, the parents of Mrs. Munger, were natives of Connecticut and never came to Ohio. Her mother is still living at the age of ninety-two years. Unto the Jndge and his wife were born six children: Clara, the wife of Joseph Littell, of Indianapolis, who is a minister of the United Presbyterian church, by whom she has four sons: John C, who married Flora Barnes and is now a practitioner of law in Toledo; Laura, the wife of H. W. Ninde, a lawyer of Fort Wayne, Indiana, by whom she has four children; Edmund, who is a graduate of Brown University and is a musician of note, now studying music in the city of Vienna, Austria: Mary, who completed her musical education in Berlin; and Charles, at home.
Judge Munger served for three and one-half years upon the bench of the common pleas court. He was first appointed by Governor Hayes to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Winans, and later was elected to the same ofifice. He never held other official positions save that of prosecuting attorney, in which capacity he served for seven years prior to the time when he went upon the bench. In politics he was originally a Whig, but joined the Republican party upon its organization. As the years have passed he has made judicious investments and is today the owner of four hundred and fifty acres of valuable land in Greene county. He is also a stockholder in the Xenia National, the Citizens' National, and the Dayton National Banks. His scholarly attainments, his statesmanship and reliable judgment,and his charming powers of conversation have enabled him to ably fill and grace any position however exalted, but he did not seek preferment in that direction, desiring rather, to give his undivided attention to the practice of law during the many years of his active connection therewith, and as has been truly said, "No political preferment, no mere place can add to the power or increase the honor which belongs to the pure and educated lawyer."
From History of Greene County, Ohio, by George F. Robinson (S. J. Clarke Publishing Co, 1902)
The late Edmund Harris Munger, former judge of the court of common pleas and for years dean of the Greene county bar, was a native son of Ohio and lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm south of Dayton, in Montgomery county, a son of Reuben and Laura (Harris) Munger, the latter of whom was born in that same county, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bingham) Harris, who had come to this state from New England and who were among the pioneer settlers of Montgomery county.
Reuben Munger was a son of Gen. Edmund Munger. a New Englander and a member of an old Colonial family, the first of the Mungers to settle in this country having been one of the Kent Mungers who came over and settled in New England in 1639, where he established his family, his descendants in the present generation forming a numerous connection widely scattered throughout the United States. General Munger, whose title was earned by right of his command of Ohio troops during the War of 1812 and to which command he was succeeded by General Hull, who led his troops to disaster at Detroit, spent one summer after coming to Ohio in the wilds near Belpre, in Washington county, where he cleared some land and planted a crop. Afterward he purchased a section of land in what was known as the Symmes purchase in what later came to be organized as Montgomery county, and established his home there, south of Dayton, in 1798, one of the earliest settlers in the Miami valley, and in time came to be commander of militia in his district. It is narrated of General Munger that though a farmer by vocation he was "a man of marked ability along many lines. He had considerable mechanical talents, could shoe his own horses and repair his farm machinery, and at the same time his mental talents and broad knowledge made him a leader of public thought and opinion." Among the acts by which he contributed largely to the common good of the pioneers and to the advancement of learning in the community was the establishment of a circulating library which exerted a wide influence in the formative days of the new settlement. General Munger died at his home on the old Symmes purchase at the age of eighty-six years and his widow survived him for some years, she living to the extraordinary age of one hundred years and four months. They were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom lived to maturity and reared families of their own.
Of the children mentioned above Reuben Munger was the fifth in order of birth. To the common-school advantages he received he added home study under the direction of his father, General Munger. From his father he apparently inherited mechanical ability and in time became a building contractor and a carriage manufacturer, as well as a constructor of threshing-machines and other forms of agricultural implements. Though ever a resident of the old home farm place. Reuben Munger never engaged actively in agricultural pursuits, his building and manufacturing activities occupying his time. Reuben Munger married Laura Harris, who was born in Montgomery county, as noted above, and to that union were born three children, of whom Judge Munger was the first born, the others having been John, who died at the age of nineteen years, and Amanda, who died at the age of four years. The mother of these children died at the age of seventy-four years, and the father lived to be ninety-six years of age, his last days being spent at the home of his son. Judge Munger, at Xenia. Judge Edmund H. Munger was admirably trained and schooled for the exacting profession in which he was destined to achieve so distinctive a measure of success. In addition to the early schooling he received in the schools of his home neighborhood in Montgomery county he also had the advantage of a comprehensive course in classics under the tutelage of the Rev. Mr. Hall, a neighboring clergyman, who taught him to read Latin. He also acquired a comprehensive knowledge of higher mathematics and as a young man was for several yeails engaged in teaching school, meanwhile extending his schooling by attendance at the Xenia Academy and at Barney's Academy at Dayton, thus preparing for college. In due time he entered Miami University at Oxford, from which institution he presently transferred his attendance to the college at Danville, Kentucky, from which latter institution he was graduated with the highest honors of his class in 1848, his address, as valedictorian, being on the subject of "The Ideal." During Judge Munger's attendance at Miami he was one of the founders of the now widely established college fraternity Beta Theta Pi. Upon receiving his degree the young collegian returned home and established a school for young men and young women at Bellbrook, in this county, conducting the same for nine months, at the end of which time he entered seriously upon the pursuit of his law studies, to which he had meanwhile been giving such attention as he could, and for two years continued these studies under the preceptorship of Joseph G. Gest at Xenia. Thus prepared for examination he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state, sitting at Columbus, in 1851, and straightway afterward formed a partnership with Mr. Gest, his former preceptor, and entered upon the practice of his profession at Xenia, continuing his partnership with Mr. Gest until the latter's retirement two or three years later, when he bought the office library and equipment and admitted to partnership R. F. Howard, a relation which continued but two years, after which he became engaged in practice alone and so ever afterward continued. Prior to ascending the common pleas bench Judge Munger served as prosecutor for Greene county, 1860-66. Reared a Whig, he became a Republican upon the organization of that party and during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes as governor of Ohio he was appointed judge of the common pleas court for this district to fill the unexpired term of Judge Winans and served for three and one-half years, 1868-72. Upon the expiration of his judicial office Judge Munger resumed his practice and so continued until his retirement. He became a large landowner and had banking and other financial interests. The Judge spent his last year at his home on North King street, where he lived for many years, his household being presided over by his widowed daughter, Mrs. Mary Meredith.
Judge Munger was united in marriage on October 3, 1861, to Emily A. Mather, of Suffield, Connecticut, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Hathaway) Mather and a direct descendant of Richard Mather, a distinguished theologian of early Colonial days in New England. To that union were born six children, of whom Mrs. Meredith was the fifth in order of birth, the others being: Clara, wife of the Rev. Joseph Little, a clergyman of the United Presbyterian church at Indianapolis; John C. Munger, who married Flora Barnes and is now city attorney of Pasadena, California; Laura, wife of H. W. Ninde. a lawyer, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Edmund, who completed his musical education at Vienna and is now living at Jacksonville, Illinois, and Charles, who is engaged in the automobile business at Dayton. Judge Munger died in Xenia on March 21, 1918.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918