Charles B. Stickney

     Charles B. Stickney was born at Moria, Franklin Col., N.Y., January 20, 1810, the eldest of twelve children--six sons and six daughters--of Charles and Betsey Stickney.  

    Capt. Charles Stickney, father of subject, was born at Cornwall, Addison Co., Vt., May 17 1785, and his mother, whose maiden name was Pierce, at New Salem, Franklin Co., Mass., April 11 1790.  They were married in the town of Dickinson, Franklin Co., N.y., April 11, 1809.  Both are now dead.  they were of English descent.  His father's earliest ancestor in America was William Stickney, who came to this country in 1637 from Hull, Yorkshire, England, and settled with his family at Rowley, Mass.  From him it is believed that all bearing the name of Stickney in America are descended.

    Mr. Stickney's early years were required by his father on his farm,  where he remained until his twenty-first year, engaged in hard work, and receiving only a district-school education, when he was given his time, five dollars and fifty cents in money, and the blessing of his kind parents with which he started forth to seek his fortune.  He entered the academy at Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N.Y., then in charge of Rev. Asa Brainard, and here he remained nearly four years, supporting himself in the meantime by teaching school winters.  

    His health having become impaired from close application, he reluctantly left the academy and came to Ohio.  He reached Ashtabula county, where he was taken sick at the house of his maternal uncle, Jesse Pierce, in the town of Saybrook, his sickness continuing for nearly six months.  Recovering his health somewhat, he adopted the teaching of penmanship as a means of livelihood, and taught in different places in western Pennsylvania, Virginia, and southern Ohio.  On his arriving at Wheeling, V. Va., in 1835, Judge Stickney was by its directors elected principal of an academy there, conducted on the Pestolozian system of education, which he managed with credit to himself, and to the approval of its patrons for about two years.

    In 1841 he visited his brother, Hon. E. T. Stickney, at Scipio, Seneca Co., Ohio, and meeting with a former fellow-student of Potsdam Academy, the late Jarius Kennan, Esq., who was then practicing law at Norwalk, he was induced to enter his office, and commence the study of law.  He arrived at Norwalk November 13, 1841, and pursued his studies with Mr. Kennan; was admitted to the bar August 1, 1844, and subsequently to practice in the Federal courts, at Cleveland, April 12, 1860.  During his term of study he was associated with the late Ezra M. Stone in the preparation of a large number of cases in Bankruptcy, under the then existing bankrupt law of the United State.  After he commenced practice he was several times a candidate for prosecuting attorney, always running ahead of his ticket, but not being able to overcome the party odds against him.  The new constitution of Ohio created the Court of Probate, and upon its going into operation in 1851, Mr. Stickney was nominated on the Democratic ticket for the new office of judge of said court, and was elected over his competitor, Hon. F. Wickham, by thirty-one majority, having run ahead of his ticket about five hundred votes.  He performed the duties of his office faithfully and satisfactorily to all for the term of three years, and was again nominated in 1854.  The newly-formed Republican and Know-Nothing parties swept the field, the general majority of the party in Huron county being about sixteen hundred, but the majority for his competitor Hon. F. Sears, was cut down to about eight hundred.  Mr. Stickney has served several terms as a member of the common council, and in April, 1874, was elected mayor of Norwalk, in which office he served two years, being an acceptable and popular officer.  He was for several years school examiner for Huron county, and a member of the board of education of the Union school for four years, serving which time he was clerk of the board.  He has at all time taken a deep interest in educational matters.  He is also a member of the Whittlesey Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he has been president.  

    On April 30, 1845, he became a member, by initiation, of Huron Lodge No. 37, I.O.O.F., and has been a prominent and respected member of the Order, holding many of its important offices.  On February 20, 1856, he was elected most worthy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, servign one term with distinguished ability.  For his faithful and efficient services in this office he received from the Grand Lodge its beautiful and costly medal.

    In 1858 Judge Stickney was appointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel, on the staff of Maj. Gen. James A. Jones, Seventeenth Division Ohio Volunteer Militia, and was commissioned by Gov. Chase.  He also acted as Inspector-general of Division.  On coming to Norwalk he became a boarder at the "Mansion House," then kept by Obadiah Jenney, Esq., and, to the surprise of all, has remained unmarried, and a constant boarder at public hotels there now over fifty-two years.  Though not a communicant, the Judge has been an attendant at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Norwalk, and has served several years as vestryman and clerk of the vestry, yet charitable and liberal in his religious views toward all church organizations.

   Judge Stickney has always had an extensive law practice and been especially successful as a collection lawyer, and, in the settlement of estates and matters of guardianship, he has been, through his professional life, regarded as an upright man.  He is a gentleman of taste and culture, kind and benevolent, esteemed by all who know him, and is a eminently popular member of society.  He is now on of the oldest residents of Norwalk.  His name is a household oracle here.  He is perhaps the only living man in northern Ohio who has shaken hands with Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson.  He is as already stated still a bachelor, and in spite of his age feels young.  Of him the Norwalk Reflector of March 2, 1892, said:  "What an interesting tale could be written of Judge Stickney's social life in this city.  His name and face are indelibly and pleasantly connected with all our homes where sociability and good cheer abound.  The genial Judge is a necessary part of all the social gatherings in our city, and he is as young and frisky as ever.  Long live the Judge!"

Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of Huron and Lorain, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, illustrated. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1894  Pg. 21.

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