Geo. W. Geddes
Hon. Geo. W. Geddes, whose likeness we present above, is at present member of Congress from the 14th. Congressional District of Ohio, residing at Mansfield, Ohio, and was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, July 16, 1824. He is on his father's side of Scotch descent, his paternal grandfather having emigrated to this country from Scotland in the last century. His father being in humble circumstances, his early education was limited to commons schools. He read law in the office of Hon. Columbus Delano, and was admitted to the bar at the age of 21, and immediately commenced the practice at Mansfield, Ohio. In 1856, he was elected Common Pleas Judge, and at the expiration of the term of five years was re-nominated for a second term and elected without opposition, and again re-nominated and elected for a third term, which he filled, making fifteen years on the Bench. In the meantime, without solicitation on his part, in 1871, he was by the Democratic State Convention nominated for Supreme Judge, but with the other candidates on the ticket defeated. Judge Geddes was in June, 1878, nominated for Congress, by one of the most venerable conventions ever held in Ohio. After a struggle of five days between the several candidates before the convention on the twelve hundred and fifty-seventh ballot the nomination was conferred upon him by unanimous vote of the convention. He was not a candidate before the convention, and was only voted for on the last ballot. The nomination was followed by his election by a majority of nearly five thousand. He was re-elected to the 47th. Congress, and again re-elected to the present Congress under circumstances that attracted the attention of the whole country. The Republicans by an unjust and indeed infamous Redistricting Bill placed Judge Geddes in a district with 3,000 Republican majority, but he canvassed the district for two months and was elected by over 1,700 majority. His friends in Ohio have twice presented him to the State Convention for Governor, and this year, although defeated for the nomination, he entered the campaign and for over two months filled appointments every day until the election. In the late context for speakership, Judge Geddes was agreed upon by the candidates to preside over the legislative caucus, and discharged the duties thus imposed to the satisfaction of all concerned. Of Judge Geddes we find the following in the American Register of the 8th. inst., evidently from the pen of Judge Bartley, formerly Governor and late Chief Justice of Ohio, whose sound judgment, trenchant pen and sterling democracy entitles his commendation to great weight, especially in Ohio, the home of his boyhood and the scene of his manhood's proud achievements. Judge Geddes was a prominent member of the last Congress, and he now takes his seat in the Congress with more than renewed honors. A radical Republican legislature changed the Congressional districts in Ohio and gave Geddes a district having three thousand Republican majority with the manifest intention of excluding him from Congress. But he not only overcame this large majority against him, but was re-elected by over seventeen hundred majority in that district. This being at his home, where he is best known, is a testimonial in his favor never to be forgotten. And we can say, without the slightest reflection upon Judge Hoadly, for whom we entertain a high opinion, that, had Judge Geddes been the Democratic nominee for Governor last fall, we have good reason to believe that he would have been elected by over fifty-thousand majority. Although defeated for the nomination, he went into the campaign as ardently as if he had been the nominee. He filled Judge Hoadly's appointments after his health failed, and continued his labors in the campaign up until the very day of the election. Although not robust in health and physical development he is a man of great endurance and power before a popular assembly. While by a vein of humor and on occasional anecdote he keeps his audience in good temper, he enforces his arguments by a cogency and eloquence which is convincing and overpowering. Judge Geddes is a jurist as well as a statesman of high order. For fifteen years he administered justice on the bench with an ability and efficiency which gave him a high position in public estimation. While he is an astute politician, he is a profound Democrat in principle and a fair minded man, wholly devoid of artifice or political chicanery. In the legislative caucus for the preliminaries in the organization of the House, notwithstanding the sharp conflict of interests and rivalry, Judge Geddes, was by common consent selected as the presiding officer, and discharged the duties of the position in the organization of the House with marked dignity and propriety. Higher honors doubtless await him in the future.
From Mansfield Herald, January 10, 1884, Vol. 34, No. 8