CYRUS HULING. In the early years that he was practicing law at Columbus, Cyrus Huling earned distinction as a famous prosecuting attorney and showed a skill in conducting complicated causes that brought him all the practice he could attend to. In his later years, however, he has busied himself with enterprises of a business rather than a professional nature.

He represents one of the oldest families in America. The Huling ancestry goes back to the French Huguenots, who as a result of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572 were scattered abroad to different countries. The Hulings found refuge in England, and from there about 1650 James Huling came to America, locating at Newport, Rhode Island, where he died in 1686. A later descendant and a direct ancestor of Cyrus Huling was Walton Huling who located in Dutchess County, New York, in 1750. He and his brother John were signers of the whig pledge adopted ten days after the battle of Lexington. This pledge originated in New York, and the Huling Brothers were among the first signers. This bound the signers "under ties of religion, honor and love to country to adopt and to endeavor to carry into execution whatsoever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our Provisional Convention for the purpose of preserving our Constitution and of opposing the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament." Walton Huling was a soldier of the Revolution with the Fifth Regiment of Dutchess County. He died in 1823. His son, Alexander, became a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a founder of the family in Ohio in 1820. He died near North Prairie, this state, in 1828.

Nathan Huling, son of Alexander, was born in 1803, and married Eliza Wickoff. The youngest of their eight children was Cyrus Huling, who was born on a farm in Seneca County, Ohio, August 10, 1851. A few days after his birth his mother died, and he was only four years old when his father passed away. Until he was seventeen he lived with his guardian, Peter Brayton. Going out to Illinois he expected to follow the career of farming, but was strongly attracted to the law. He graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware with the class of 1878. In the meantime he had taught school several winters, being principal of the Marysville, Ohio School two years. In recognition of his scholarship at Ohio Wesleyan University he was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity when it was established there. Mr. Huling was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1879. He formed a partnership with John R. Bowdle, a classmate. In 1885 he was elected prosecuting attorney on the republican ticket in a county that was democratic by 3,000. The election that year involving the choice of a United States senator from Ohio was hotly contested in the campaign and at the polls, and it was found that ballots were tampered with at the election, some three hundred being cast out. There followed a large amount of litigation and general scandal and much bitterness. Mr. Huling handled much of this investigation and trial work as prosecuting attorney. One tally sheet case with a jury trial which he conducted in December of 1887 occupied over three months in trial. Associated with him on that case were such distinguished public men and lawyers as Allen G. Thurman, then Untied states senator, Judge George K. Nash, Col. J.T. Holmes, and the well known Chicago lawyer, Luther Laflin Mills. Another extended and bitterly fought case was that of the Elliotts on account of the murder of Osborne, a case in which editors of rival Sunday papers figured. Mr. Huling was elected prosecuting attorney in 1888. The fearlessness and ability with which he had discharged his duties during his first term again enabled him to overcome a democratic majority of about 2,500.

Mr. Huling in 1892 formed a partnership with Col. J.T. Holmes,and three years later succeeded Mr. Holmes in his position in the firm. This firm was the first to occupy the Wyandotte Building on West Broad Street in Columbus. During the next fifteen years Mr. Huling was constantly engaged in a large and important practice until other matters gradually absorbed his energies. Hei s a director of the Columbus McKinnon Chair Company, is president of the Broadway Company, owner of the Seneca Hotel, is president of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Telephone Company and a director in several other important companies.

He has served as chairman of the State Central Republcian Committee, and has been a delegate to a number of the national conventions. He is affiliated with Magnolia Lodge of Masons, Mount Vernon Knight Templar Commandery, Scioto Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Alladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and Elks, and is a member of the Columbus Club, the Scioto Country Club. He also belongs to the Ohio State Historical and Archaeological Society.

In 1875 he married miss Rose Marguerite Hack. She is also a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. Three children were born to their marriage, Mary Wyckoff, wife of William B. Woodbury; Helen, Mrs. Dr. Arthur W. Newell, and Frank C. Mr. Huling, while not a communicant has been actively associated with the work of the First Baptist Church and has served on a number of its committees.


File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Gina Reasoner
GReasoner@prodigy.net
December 23, 1999

History of Ohio
The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925
Volume III, page 203-204