James C. Tobias

JUDGE JAMES C. TOBIAS.

Judge James C. Tobias was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the nth of November, 1856, a son of William B. and Catherine (Mills) Tobias. The father was born near Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, October 1, 181 5, and was a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Clause) Tobias. William B. Tobias resided on a farm until he was fifteen years of age, receiving but three months' schooling, and that at a night school. He then went to Carlisle, where he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker to learn the trade, serving four and a half years. Then, after working about six months as a journeyman, he went to Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1836, there opening a shop, and worked at his trade for about three years. His health failing, he closed his shop and took up farmingin Franklin county, Pennsylvania, farming and residing in that county until 1864, when he came to Crawford county and settled in Liberty township, removing to Holmes township some four years later. In the latter township he continued his residence until 1877. when he sold his farm and removed to Bucyrus, where he spent the remainder of his life in retirement from active business affairs. He died in Bucyrus. in 1882. at the age of sixty-seven years. In 1841 he married Catherine Mills, a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. She is now. in 1 901, residing in Bucyrus, and is eighty-four years of age. She bore her husband the following children who reached mature years: William F.. Jane (' Elizabeth. John L., James C. and Daniel M.

William B. Tobias was dependent upon his own resources from an early age, but by energy and industry he prospered and gained a good estate. When the Civil war broke out he was residing four miles from the Maryland state line, and the army of General Robert E. Lee marched through his farm. destroying much of his property, while the state militia destroyed his stock without scruples, taking all but six of his horses. At that time his son. James C, the subject of this biography, was a mere lad, and when the Union army encamped on the Tobias and adjoining farms to that of his father, the lad visited the soldiers' camp, where he was permitted to go in and out with freedom, as he was also permitted to do when a part of General Lee's army camped in the same vicinity. But the boy was soon to be taken from the scenes of his birthplace and that of warfare, for in 1864, when James was eight years of age, his father resolved to remove with his family to Crawford county. His youth was spent upon the farm and his preliminary education was acquired in the common schools. He was afterward sent to Cold Run Academy, and in the spring of 1872 entered Oberlin College, where he studied until the following September, when he entered Mount Union College, remaining there three years. He thus acquired a broad literary education to serve as a foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional knowledge. During the period of his college days he taught school during" the winters, and all his vacations he labored upon the farm earning money to assist in paying collegiate expenses.

Predilection led him to prepare for the profession of law, and in the fall of 1876 he became a student of law in the office of Finley & Swigart, well known attorneys of Bucyrus. He was admitted to the bar at Delaware, Ohio, July 2, 1878, at the age of twenty-one, and immediately afterward began the practice of law in Bucyrus, soon winning a fair share of the public patronage. Important litigated interests were entrusted to him and he soon demonstrated his ability to successfully handle the intricate problems of jurisprudence. In 1 88 1 he entered into partnership with F. S. Monnett, ex-attorney general of Ohio, under the firm name of Tobias & Monnett, their relationship being maintained until 1888, when Mr. Tobias was elected probate judge of Crawford county, a position he continuously filled until 1894. In 1896 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the district comprising Crawford, Marion and Wyandot counties, and is the present incumbent, his term continuing over a period of five years and re-elected in 1901, without opposition, for a second term. His decisions have been conspicuously fair and impartial and based upon a thorough understanding of the law.

In 1879 the Judge was united in marriage to Miss Amina J. Monnett, a daughter of Abraham Monnett, elsewhere mentioned in this volume, and they now have two children, Deane A., who is now a student in the Ohio State University, at Columbus, and Helen, who is pursuing her education in the Bucyrus high school. The Judge has always given his political support to the Democratic party and is unswerving in his advocacy of its principles. The cause of education has ever found in him a warm friend, and for fifteen years he efficiently served as a member of the school board, acting as its president during the last ten years of his incumbency. He did much to promote the interests of the schools, his labor proving of great benefit along the lines of intellectual advancement. The Judge has been identified with the financial interests of the city as well as with the practice of law, and was one of the organizers of the City Bank of Bucyrus, in which he served as vice-president for ten years and director for eighteen years. Socially he is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Knights of Pythias fraternities, serving as past chancellor in the lodge of the latter organization. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which have been added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession and with a deep knowledge of human nature and of the springs of human conduct, he is in the courts an advocate of great power and influence and on the bench is a judge who ever commands the respect of the lawyers and of the public by reason of his dignity in office and extreme fairness in decision.

As printed in A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.