Judge E.B. King

Edmund Burritt King was born on a farm in July 4, 1850 in Medina County, Ohio to Cyrus and Harriet (Bennett) King. After attending the Oberlin Academy and Baldwin-Wallace University, Edmund studied law. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1873, and in 1875 he moved to Sandusky, where he practiced law for twenty years. He was associated with several attorneys at various times in Sandusky, including W.W. Bowen, S.F. Taylor, E.M. Culver, and Lynn Hull. From 1894 to 1899, Mr. King was Judge of the circuit court for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Ohio. Judge King is pictured below with fellow circuit judges Robert S. Parker and George S. Haynes.

In 1899 Judge King returned to private practice with W.E. Guerin, and later, in a law partnership with Russell K. Ramsey. From 1880 to 1898, he was a member of the Ohio National Guard, attaining the rank of major. Judge King was a presidential elector in 1888 and was a delegate to the fourth constitutional convention of the state of Ohio in 1912. In 1916 Judge King served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association. An article in volume 62 of the Ohio Law Bulletin stated that at the thirty-eighth annual meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association, which met at Cedar Point, “Hon. E.B. King further distinguished himself as the presiding genius of the several sessions of the meeting, gracefully controlling and firmly pressing the business in hand to prompt conclusions.” 

Late in 1933, Judge King began suffering from heart problems. He passed away from heart disease on December 30, 1934. Judge King was survived by his wife, the former Edith E. Hackett, daughter Cora King Graves, and son Clifford King. Funeral services for Judge E.B. King were held at the Masonic Temple under the auspices of the Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Masons, as well as at the Presbyterian Church with the Rev. A.J. Funnell officiating. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery. Shortly after Judge King’s death, Judge Roy Williams stated that “it will be a long time before Erie County again has a citizen of the outstanding principles of Judge King. His predominating character was his unselfishness. There was not a movement in the community that he was not to the fore in. Sandusky has lost one of its finest friends.” You can read Judge King’s history of the early years of the Erie County Bar Association in chapter 25 of Hewson Peeke’s book  A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (1916).