Justin Harlan b. 6 Dec 1800 Warren County, Ohio, United States d. 12 Mar 1879 Kuttawa, Lyon County, Kentucky, United States: Tangled Roots

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Justin Harlan

1800 - 1879 (78 years)

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Name	Justin Harlan
Born	6 Dec 1800	Warren County, Ohio, United States [1]
Gender	Male
Buried	Mar 1879	Marshall, Clark County, Illinois, United States [2]
	Address: Marshall Cemetery
Died	12 Mar 1879	Kuttawa, Lyon County, Kentucky, United States [3]
	OBITUARY A fitting Tribute to the Memory of Judge Justin Harlan Justin Harlan, one of our oldest, most highly esteemed and most prominent citizens, died at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. W. A. Wright, at Kuttawa, Kentucky, on Thursday morning the 13th inst. He left his home here, to make his daughter and son-in-law a visitor, but a few days since, with no symptoms of ill-health save a slight cold; and , after his arrival at Kuttawa, no alarming symptoms in regard to his health were discovered until within two or three days of his death. Even then, he protested that there was nothing the matter with him, and it was with great difficulty that his daughter could prevail upon him to go to bed. From the time he took to his bed, he gradually became weaker and weaker, until life ceased. He died, apparently without a pain. Death came to him as peacefully and sweetly as the sleep of an infant. It was a fitting close—such as, doubtless, he desired—to an honorable and well-spent life. Although absent from home, he was surrounded by friends, and everything was done for him that affection could desire or skill suggest. Mr. Harlan was born on his father’s farm, near Ridgeville, in Warren County, Ohio, on the 6th of December, 1800. having received a good common school education, on arriving at the age of manhood, he commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. John McLean, who was shortly thereafter made Post-master General, and still later one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States; but, in consequence of official engagements requiring McLean’s presence in Washington, Mr. Harlan’s preliminary legal studies were completed in the office of Judge Collett, an eminent jurist then residing in Warren County. In May 1825, Mr. Harlan settled at Darwin, then the county seat of this county, and, at once, engaged in the practice of his profession-traveling, as was the custom, with the Judge, from county to county, throughout the circuit. He was soon recognized as one of the ablest lawyers in the circuit, and obtained a practice which that reputation merited. But, even such a practice, at that day, monopolized only a small portion of time and brought but a small income; for there was little litigation in the country, and what there was, was not such as commanded large attorneys’ fees. There were but two terms of court in the year, and in but a single county in the circuit did the term last a week—in all the others it terminated at the end of from one to four days. Accordingly, in the intervals between terms of courts, Mr. Harlan had an abundance of leisure time—and this, for some time, he divided between assisting an elder brother, Jacob, (who held all the important county offices and that of village postmaster,) in the discharge of his official duties, and fishing and hunting, of which amusements he was always passionately fond. Within a few years after settling at Darwin, Mr. Harlan was elected a justice of the peace, and this office he held until he was elected a Circuit Judge. In 1832 he was married to an estimable lady, Miss Lucinda Hogue, the daughter of an old pioneer and highly respected citizen, and she still survives to mourn his death. During the sessions of the General Assembly, between 1828 and 1834, Mr. Harlan was several times elected to Clerk-ships connected with the current sessions. In the summer of 1832, he served a three months campaign in the “Blackhawk War,” as second lieutenant, in a company from this county of which John F. Richardson, long since deceased, was captain and the late Woodford Dulaney was First Lieutenant. The session of the General Assembly of 1884-‘5, re-organized the Judiciary, relieving the Supreme Judges from holding circuit courts as they had before that time been required, and elected five Circuit Judges. These were Richard M. Young, Stephen T. Logan, Sidney Breese, Justin Harland, Henry Eddy, and Thomas Ford. Harlan’s circuit was the 4th Chief Justice Wilson’s old circuit. He was commissioned January 9, 1835, and at once entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office. Eddy resigned his office in February 1835, and Alex F. Grant was immediately elected and commissioned in his place. His circuit was the third and included all of Southern Illinois, proper; Harlan’s circuit included Vermillion and White counties and all the intermediate territory. In the fall of 1835, Harland and Grant exchanged circuits, in order to afford opportunity for the trial of causes without change of venue, in which they had been concerned as lawyers—and thus Harlan, during his term, held Circuit Court in every county then organized, in full one-third of the entire Territory of the State. Of all the judges elected with him, the venerable Stephen T. Logan alone survives him. In 1837, Mr. Harlan removed to a farm which he had purchased, at the long since extinct town of Aurora, located at a point two and a half to three miles above Darwin, where the Wabash River making a curve to the westward touches the Illinois bluff. Here his family resided until in 1839, when he removed to this place were his home has ever since continued. The General Assembly, by the act of February 11, 1841, re-organizing the Judiciary, legislated the Circuit Judges out of office—Mr. Harlan included with the rest, and required the Circuit court to be held by the Judges of the Supreme Court. From this date until his election as Circuit Judge by the people, Mr. Harlan engaged actively in the practice of his profession, and is all cases not depending upon the efforts of advocacy alone, he was universally conceded to be without a superior among those who practiced at the bar of the circuit. In 1843, he was the nominee of the Whig party, in this district, for Congress-but his party being largely in the minority; the Democratic nominee, Mr. Ficklin, was elected. In 1847, Mr. Harlan was elected, conjointly with Dr. Tutt, delegate from this county—(the late Hon. Uri Manley being at the same time delegate from this senatorial district,) to the convention called to frame a new constitution for the State. In that body of able and distinguished men, he occupied a prominent position and he bore a conspicuous part and wielded a controlling influence throughout all its deliberations. In September 1848, Mr. Harlan was elected by the people Judge of the fourth Judicial Circuit—his competitors for that office being the late William Wilson, for near thirty years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the late Hon. Charles II. Constable, afterwards his successor upon the circuit bench. In 1855, he was re-elected Circuit Judge. In 1862, he, for a brief time, resumed the practice of the law;--but, in 1862, upon receiving an appointment from his personal friend, President Lincoln, to an Indian agency, he abandoned his profession—and, since then, he was never attempted to engage actively in its practice. He performed the duties of Indian Agent until in 1865, when he returned to his home, and devoted his time chiefly to straightening up and setting in order his private affairs; until in 1873, when he was elected Judge of the County Court of this county. He held this office for one term. Since then, his time has been occupied in looking after his domestic affairs, in reading, and in the enjoyment of the society of his friends. Lawyers, competent to know, say that Mr. Harlan was, by, nature, a great lawyer. He had, in the maturity of his manhood, a memory that was almost marvelous. His mind was acutely analytical, and his sense of justice was almost unerring in discriminating the right from the wrong. He had a large heart, throbbing with charity and mercy for those who, by reason of weakness rather than from inherent wickedness, transgressed the law; but for those who boldly defied the law, and willfully preferred the wrong to the right, he was stern and inflexible in meting out the punishment demanded by the law. He was plain and simple in his dress, habits and tastes. He had but few wants, and they were of the simplest character and easily satisfied. He was without vanity, and associated on terms of intimacy with the humblest and the lowest, with as much apparent satisfaction as with those whom the accidents of fortune had more favored. He was imminently social, and always cheerful; and his presence frequently brought sunshine and cheerfulness, where that of others would have brought clouds and discontent. In his domestic relations, he was all that a good man should be. He was fond of little children, and as is always the case, they, in turn, were equally fond of him. Many a bright little eye will be blinded with tears, when it is known that is no more. He was truly a great and good man—an honor to the community and the State in which he lived—and his name should ever be held in grateful remembrance. (Clark county Herald, Wednesday, March 18, 1879, page 5)
Person ID	I8505	TangledRoots
Last Modified	4 Feb 2018

Father	George Harlan, b. 1 Sep 1767, Chatham County, North Carolina, British Colonial America , d. 21 Dec 1846, Warren County, Ohio, United States (Age 79 years)
Mother	Esther Eulass, b. 15 Oct 1777, Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States , d. 29 Dec 1858, Warren County, Ohio, United States (Age 81 years)
Married	10 Nov 1796	Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, United States
Family ID	F3190	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family	Lucinda Hogue, b. 4 Oct 1812, Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, United States , d. 30 Oct 1892, Marshall, Clark County, Illinois, United States (Age 80 years)
Married	4 Mar 1832	Clark County, Illinois, United States [4]
Last Modified	16 Jan 2022
Family ID	F3439	Group Sheet \| Family Chart