Ohio History Journal

Emilius Oviatt Randall.              87

 

But a recognition, wider and even more highly prized, was

that written in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.

During his college days at Ithaca, Mr. Randall met Miss

Mary A. Coy, the lady who later became his wife. To her and

their two sons and daughter, we of the Kit-Kat Club offer our

sympathy. We, too, have suffered a grievous loss. We knew

his genial companionship, his ready helpfulness and his contin-

uing friendship. His sterling scholarship, his vivacious eloquence

and his industrious pen won for him a wide admiration, while

his historical research offers to this and succeeding generations a

legacy of inestimable value.

We are proud to have known him and to have walked with

him through the years; and here, in this solemn hour, we write

down among our most treasured memories his qualities as man

and citizen, companion and friend.

Mr. Williams then said:

Mr. Randall was Reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio

from 1895 until his death. Since the adoption of our present

Constitution in 1851, until the present time, ninety-nine volumes

of reports have been issued, with one in preparation. Of these

one hundred volumes, forty-eight, almost one-half, will bear the

name of "Randall" as the compiler. This gives us something

of the measure of his service as an official of our highest court.

But it is only a superficial gauge. None of us, outside of the

court, can know fully how much he contributed to the preparation

of the reports, but we can rest confident that his breadth of

knowledge, his gift of expression, and his wide reading, both in

law and in literature, were freely at the command of the judges,

with all of whom his relations were of the most intimate and

cordial character. Mr. Chief Justice Nichols will speak:

 

RANDALL AND THE OHIO SUPREME COURT.

 

BY HON. HUGH L. NICHOLS,

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

That fascinating orator, Senator Conkling, in his classic

nominating speech, at the Republican National Convention, in

1880, presenting the name of General Grant as a candidate for

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88       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

President, said, in one of those wonderful sentences that he

alone could compose, speaking of his great chieftain: "His fame

was born not alone in things written and said, but of the arduous

greatness of things done."

In somewhat similar vein, one can well speak of Mr. E. O.

Randall, late the Reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio. His

field of activity was so wide, his accomplishments so great, and

his achievements so marked, that one is perplexed to determine

whether he was most excellent in his literary labors, in his splen-

did speeches, or in the things he has done.

If our State had an Institute, patterned after the fashion of

the Academy of France, where by selection the intellectuals of

the state were gathered into one body, as a mark of the very

highest distinction, I would, had I the right to select, have cast

my vote for Mr. Randall; and I am of the firm conviction that

by common consent his name would head the list.

Mr. Randall was the efficient and well-beloved Reporter of

our highest Court for nearly a quarter of a century, and, since

the Constitutional Judicial Amendment in 1912, he was also the

Official Reporter of the Courts of Appeals. In this capacity he

was the repository of the private and confidential matters apper-

taining to the administration of justice. Prior to 1913, it was

his laborious duty to prepare the law points argued in each re-

ported case, and to collate the authorities relied upon by counsel.

This particular function of reporting was abandoned in 1913, as

it has been in all but fourteen of the States of the Union. His

work of reporting, covering but one-fourth of the Court's life,

embraced, however, five-twelfths of its actual output.

In my chambers in the Judiciary Building I have spent many

happy hours in social intercourse with Mr. Randall, and I want

to bear testimony to the fact that I do not recall that I ever had

converse with him without adding to my store of knowledge.

We found much edification in joint perusal of the letters of

Mrs. James G. Blaine, published about ten years ago by her

daughter. These letters were written by Mrs. Blaine principally

to her several children. We felt that in these letters the picture

she unconsciously drew of herself as a wife and mother is one

of the most beautiful in all the pages of literature.

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Emilius Oviatt Randall.             89

Mr. Randall was a roommate, at Andover, of the eldest son,

Walker Blaine, and he well remembered the circumstances of the

son reading to him the mother's letters written to Walker while

he was his fellow-student.

The Supreme Court of Ohio feels that some signal honor

should be paid to this great man, and to that end the Court itself

has prepared a Memorial to be published with and made a part

of Volume 101 of the Reports of that Court. It is thought that

Mr. Randall, had he the privilege of selecting the forum where

his memory might be most enduringly and lovingly preserved,

would have chosen this instrumentality.

No other Reporter has been so signally honored; indeed,

none of the distinguished members of the Supreme Court have

been remembered in this wise by the Court itself, it being the

established custom of the Court to memorialize its deceased mem-

bers through the means of a committee of the Ohio Bar, ap-

pointed by the Court for that purpose.

And so it is, that for many generations yet to come, indeed

so long as our very Government shall endure, the memory of

Mr. Randall will be perpetuated, for every published volume of

the 1O1St Ohio State Reports must contain the Supreme Court's

estimate of its beloved Reporter.

The Memorial is as follows:

"The Supreme Court learned with deep regret of the death

of Hon. Emilius O. Randall, for almost a generation the Reporter

of the Court. He was an unusual man, and, as such, an unusual

Reporter. Unusual as both, he sustained exceptional relations

with the Supreme Court of Ohio, officially, and with its members,

personally, for a long period of years. Those relations justify

the unusual, special proceeding which this Court unanimously

and sincerely approves.

"In recognition of his long and valuable service in that place

and of his distinguished position as a leader of wholesome public

thought in the state, the Court has ordered that the following

Memorial be spread upon its Minutes and published in Volume

1O1 of the Ohio State Reports:

"Emilius Oviatt Randall was born in Summit county, Ohio,

October 28, 1850, and died at Columbus, December 18, 191₉. His

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90       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

parents were natives of Connecticut and were of strong Puritanic

stock. Three of his great-grandfathers fought in the Revolution-

ary War. They were John Randall, Patrick Grant Pemberton

and Benjamin Oviatt. Another direct lineal ancestor was Eben-

ezer Pemberton, one of the founders and for many years pastor

of the famous Old South Church of Boston.

"Endowed by nature with fine literary capacity, and with the

instinct for historical and archaeological research, Mr. Randall

received the education which was best suited to the exercise of

those talents. As a scholar at the Columbus High School, and

at the famous Phillips Academy of Andover, Massachusetts,

where he attained high rank, he found opportunity for the display

of his natural ability. In the former he was editor of the High

School News, and, at Andover, of the Philo Mirror, the school

magazine. He graduated from Cornell University in 1874, with

the degree of Ph. B. He then took a special postgraduate course

in history at Cornell and in Europe. He was the Commencement

Day orator at Cornell and the historian of his class. Of fine

social tendencies, his gentle impulses were quickened and made

firm by membership in two Greek-letter fraternities.

"For a short time after his return from Europe he was an

editorial writer on a Cleveland paper, but at the solicitation of

his parents he returned to Columbus in 1878, and from that time

until 1890 devoted himself to mercantile pursuits. During this

time he read law and was admitted to the practice by the Su-

preme Court of Ohio June 5, 1890. He graduated from the law

school of the Ohio State University in 1892.

"Having early developed a capacity for imparting knowledge,

and possessing a warm and sympathetic intimacy with young

men, he was made one of the Professors of Law of the Ohio

State University in 1893, which position he occupied with great

benefit to the institution and credit to himself until 1911.

"On May 14, 1895, he was appointed Reporter of the Su-

preme Court of Ohio, and occupied that position until his death.

He published forty-eight volumes of the Ohio State Reports.

They constitute an outward exhibition of his service in that posi-

tion, but they do not adequately testify to the great assistance

he rendered in presenting to the bench and bar of the state the

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Emilius Oviatt Randall.             91

 

contributions made by the Court to the body of the law and to

our system of jurisprudence.

"For more than thirty years Mr. Randall led a semi-public

life. His activities in the spread of intelligence and in the instruc-

tion of the people were manifold and far-reaching. It is doubt-

ful if any other citizen of Ohio has mastered with such breadth

and detail the history of the great Northwest Territory, which

he always presented with attractive diction and vast learning.

He had extensive knowledge of the mounds and Mound Builders.

He knew the history of the tribes of Indians who have lived in

the Northwest Territory, their chiefs and their achievements, and

he eloquently described with sympathetic voice and pen the de-

cline of the Indian influence in America.

"He was in great demand as a speaker on art, literature,

history, economics, politics and religion. In great public crises,

like the recent world war, his services were much sought, and

willingly and laboriously contributed for the public good.

"His vast fund of knowledge on affairs relating to the gov-

ernment of the state and its institutions led to his being consulted

on important matters by every Governor of Ohio for the last

quarter of a century, and by many state officials and members

of the General Assembly.

"In 1893 he was appointed by Governor McKinley trustee

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. He

became Secretary of the Society in 1894, and has been reap-

pointed trustee by Governors Bushnell, Nash, Herrick, Harris,

Harmon and Cox. He was editor of the Society's QUARTERLY,

and in 1903 was the protagonist and director of the Ohio Cen-

tennial celebration held at Chillicothe. Mr. Randall edited the

account of the proceedings of that celebration, a work of over

700 pages.

"A Republican in politics, he was a delegate to the National

Convention of that party in 1904. He occupied many state and

municipal positions of trust.

"He actively engaged in the procuring of funds by private

benefaction and public appropriation for the carrying on of many

works for the historical and literary instruction of the people.

"In addition to many lectures which he wrote and delivered

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92       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

in different parts of the country and which disclosed his wide

learning and versatile literary talents, he was the author of a

number of works. Among these are Negotiable Acts Bills of

Ohio, Cases in Ohio Agency, The Separatist Society of Zoar,

The Mound Builders of Ohio, and Blennerhassett. He was an

associate editor of Bench and Bar of Ohio, two volumes, and

contributor to Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure and Encyclo-

pedia Americana. He was joint author with the Hon. Daniel J.

Ryan of Randall and Ryan's History of Ohio, in five volumes.

If the distinguished authors of this work had rendered no other

services to their state, this great work of itself would entitle them

to the lasting gratitude of the people of Ohio.

"Mr. Randall wrote well and with conspicuous beauty and

strength of statement. His enthusiastic and optimistic nature

and superb humor made a fit setting for the gospel of good cheer,

of which he was the apostle. One of the finest things about him

was his splendid love for children, and this always showed itself

in the frequent lectures that he delivered in the public schools

and institutions, particularly to the afflicted children at the School

for the Blind.

"He was a member of the American Historical Association,

the American Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association, the

American Literary Association, English Speaking Union, honor-

ary life member of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and

Trustee of the Sessions Academy of Art. At his death he was

President of the Kit-Kat Club of Columbus, a literary organ-

ization, whose meetings were a constant delight to him, and which

he enriched with his learning and wit.

"On October 28, 1874, Mr. Randall was married to Mary,

the daughter of John H. and Catherine Coy, Ithaca, N. Y., who,

with two sons and a daughter, survive him. His private life was

delightful and serene. He had a firm and beautiful belief in his

religion and was loyal to the Congregational Church, to which he

belonged. Of incorruptible integrity and purity of character,

he had the gentle spirit and the love for mankind which adorns

and never fails to benefit the community in which it is found.

"It is ordered that a copy of this Memorial be sent to the

family of Mr. Randall."

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Emilius Oviatt Randall.               93

Mr. Williams, in presenting Gov. James E. Campbell, said:

Conspicuous as Mr. Randall was in many different and va-

ried activities, there is one field in particular, where he stood

pre-eminent, and that was the field of archaeology. Fine as he

was in literary ability, he there had his rivals; happy as he was

as an after-dinner speaker and toastmaster, others there ventured

to challenge his superiority, but in knowledge of the early history

of Ohio, and of its earliest inhabitants, he was universally recog-

nized as having no equal. His writings on the Mound Builders

and their works, concerning Indians and Indian life and charac-

ter, are and will continue to be accepted as authority.

Mr. Randall was a trustee for many years of The Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society. For the last twenty-five

years, he has been its Secretary.

During much of Mr. Randall's connection with the Society,

Governor Campbell has been a conspicuous and helpful member,

and is now its President. He knows much of Mr. Randall's con-

tributions to its literature and its records, and will speak.

 

RANDALL, ARCHAEOLOGIST AND HISTORIAN.

 

BY HON. JAMES E. CAMPBELL.

It is especially fitting that these impressive services in mem-

ory of Emilius Oviatt Randall should be feelingly participated

in by The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society; for,

of the many eminent and useful citizens associated with that

organization in its long career, his name leads all the rest.

In February, 1893, the society was in an unsatisfactory con-

dition generally, and three thousand dollars behind financially.

Governor McKinley, having a full appreciation of the work for

which the society had been founded, repeatedly urged Mr. Ran-

dall to accept a trusteeship and, although a very busy man, he

finally consented. Having assumed the responsibility, however,

he took hold of his duties with his customary intelligence and

vigor, and a few months later, became Secretary of the Society

which position he held continuously until his death - having been

successively appointed as trustee by Governors Bushnell, Nash,

Herrick, Harris, Harmon and Cox. In addition to his work as

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