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428 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of a groAving disease of the throat, though it did not prove to be as
serious as Avas at first apprehended. After that date he passed most of
his time upon a farm near the city and upon which he resided from
1866 to 1875. In the fall of that year, having rented his farm, he removed
to Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio. Though the throat complaint was not
entirely healed, it Avas greatly relieved and benefited by his exercise in the
open air, and doubtless he prolonged his life for many years by leaving
the profession and by his outdoor exercise.
Mr. Parish Avas the leader and pioneer in the first temperance movement
in Sandusky, Avhere temperance societies and prohibition laAvs have
never been popular, OAving to the fact that a large proportion of the population
are or have been directly interested in catering to the liquor
trade. The first temperance meeting Avas held on the evening of January
1, 1831. A constitution and pledge of abstinence from ardent spirits
AA'ere adopted and signed by Isaac Darling, Rev. William Runnells,
Samuel Pennewell, R. J. Jennings, John Beatty, Isaac Booram, Moors
FarAA'ell, F. D. Parish, John M. Sloane, John Davis and James Forinan.
The officers elected AA'ere V. D. Parish, president; Fanvell, Sloane and
Darling, vice presidents; Samuel PenneAvell, secretary. Other names
Avere soon added. Other societies Avere aftenvard formed that excluded
all liquors that produce intoxication.
He early became a member of the liberty party, Avhich he helped to
organize in Erie County and Avas one of the three men Avho voted the
abolition ticket at an early election. His house Avas a depot for the
underground railroad Avhere the fugitive slave never looked in vain for
aid. After the abolition fight AA'as ended he again turned his attention
to the liquor question, and Avith the logic of the true reformer became a
member of the prohibition party. It is giA'en to very 1'CAV men to select
the right side on great questions as AVCII as Judge Parish did. He rests
from his labors and his works folloAV him.
The third volume of the Western LaAV Journal on page 83 reports
the case of Cohlan vs. Coblan, a divorce case filed at the April term,
1845, of the Erie Common Pleas Court, the report being made by Judge
E. B. Sadler:
".Messrs. Editors. I send you a report of this case, not because I
suppose it will be very beneficial to the professional generally, but because
I think it may amuse many of the readers of your Journal. And
should there be any anxious to make a display of rhetorical grandiloquence,
the bill in this case will furnish a precedent AA'orthy of imitation;
Avhile the ansAA'cr will sufficiently ridicule the folly of sacrificing sense
a'nd substance to the vain desire of making a display. The parties to
this case Avere among the most illiterate of the Irish. The bill Avas draAvn
up by a hnvyer in AATIOSC family the petitioner had been residing as a
servant, and the ansAver by some Avag-incognite."
The petition. "The said Catherine Cohlan, of said Erie County,
represents unto your Honors: that about nine years ago, she Avas married
to the said Thomas, in Ireland, that for about tAvo years after her
said marriage, the said Thomas well behaved himself toAvard her, and