John Marshall VAN METER

                   Names of wives and children from G&BS, p. 60B.

Henry Holcomb Bennett, "The County of Ross" p. 181 (Madison, WI 1902): held office of circuit judge from January to October, 1876, by appointment of the governor. "Judge Vanmeter has since the given his attention largely to agriculture."

1900 U. S. Census for 2d Ward, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio:John M. VanMeter, W, M, age 63, born Sept. 1836, married 27 years, born in Ohio, father born VA, mother born OH; occupation: judge at law;  also included in household: wife Sallie C., age 62, born Nov. 1837, married 27 years, mother of three children, two then living, born VA, both parents born VA, daughters, Mary H., age 24, born Oct. 1876, and daughter, Sallie C., age 21, born May 1879.

1920 U. S. Census, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio:     John M. VanMeter, W, M, age 83, born OH, father born VA, mother born OH; occupation President, Bank; living in household:  J. Madeira Brown, son-in-law, M W age 45, occupation: director, bank; Sally V. Brown, daughter, F W age 40; J. Madeira Brown, Jr., grandson, M W age 4; Majorie Brown, granddaughter, age 14, F W age 14.

Obituary, The Scioto Gazette, pp. 1, 12, Tuesday, September 1, 1925:     "     Death beckoned and Judge John Marshall , the nestor of the local bar answered early this morning at the ripe age of 88 years, 11 months and 17 days, and thus was taken from the ranks of Chillicothe's citizenry, one of the most prominent of her men of the old school, a jurist, banker, statesman and agriculturalist, and one of the leading men in southern Ohio, a power in the counsels of his party and church and a leader in the advancement of farming.

"Judge VanMeter died at his home, 178 Church Street, at 12:10 a.m. today.  He was born on Woodlawn farm in Pike County, September 13th, 1836, the son of John I. VanMeter of Hardy County, Virginia and Mary Harness of Highbank, this county.

"He is survived by two daughters, Miss Eliza Irwin VanMeter and Mrs. Sally VanMeter Brown and J. Madeira Brown and Joseph V. VanMeter, son of the late John I. VanMeter [, II (who died in 1924)].

"Judge VanMeter came to Chillicothe in 1855 when his father, John I. VanMeter, former legislator and ex-congressman came from his Pike County farm to this city.  He studied at Jefferson College and graduated from there at 18 years of age in 1857.  He immediately entered the practice of law here and built up a large and lucrative practice, rapidly forging to the front of what at that time was one of the strongest bars in the state of Ohio.  Gov. William Allen appointed Judge VanMeter to the common pleas bench to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Mitchell Gary.

"Judge VanMeter retired from the active practice of law in 1881 and devoted his time almost entirely to his farming interests.  He was, however, interested in banking and when the Central National Savings bank was formed and later the Savings Bank, he became a member of the personnel forming those institutions and was made president of The Savings Bank in 1887, a post he retained up to the time of his death, probably being a bank president for a longer term of years than any other one man in southern Ohio, a period of 38 years.

"Judge VanMeter was prominently mentioned for political office at various times in his career and was a prominent figure in democratic state politics as a candidate for governor some 15 or 20 years ago in a tentative rather than in an open and decided manner.

"He was a pillar of the First Presbyterian Church and a staunch adherent to its principles.  A wide reader, a deep thinker, he took a prime interest in his city, his county, state and nation.  While he was a rock ribbed democrat from inherited tendency and principle, yet he would not permit himself to be stampeded under cover of a name into fields which were foreign to democracy, preferring rather to withhold his franchise when such occasion arose.

"Personally he was the pink of courtesy and highly considerate of others.  He was a man of unquestioned integrity and one whose word was never questioned so firmly was his reputation for sincerity and veracity in the minds of the community.

"In him indeed one found a truly, well rounded Christian gentleman of a highly cultivated mentality, ever responsive to the demands and responsibilities which came to him as a citizen.  His passing calls for regret and real sorrow among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances both in this and adjoining counties.

"The funeral services will be held from the VanMeter home on Church street at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of September 2nd.  Burial will be in the family lot on Grandview."