By:Â J. Michael Finn, State Historian
Timothy Sylvester Hogan was born June 11, 1864, on his parent’s farm in Jackson County, Ohio. He was one of eight children born to Patrick Hogan and Margaret Courtney, who were natives of County Kerry, Ireland.
Hogan was educated in the public schools in Wellston, Ohio. At the age of 17, he began teaching in the Jackson County public schools, where he taught for four years. He then returned to nearby Wellston, Ohio, where he taught in that city’s grade and high schools. In 1887, at the age of 23, he was elected Superintendent of Schools in Wellston, a position he held for eight years.
He pursued higher education by attending Ohio Normal School in Ada, Ohio (now known as Ohio Northern University), as well as, Ohio State University and Ohio University. He graduated from Ohio Normal School in 1888, where he received a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Arts degree from Ohio University in 1891.
In 1895, he was forced to resign his position as Superintendent in Wellston due to false anti-Catholic bigotry on the school board. In his resignation speech, he said, “I was born a Catholic, I have been raised a Catholic, and by the grace of God I expect to die in that faith. No paltry position involving a few hundred dollars in salary will change my conviction.”
Sometime during Hogan’s teaching career, he acquired a copy of Blackstone’s, Commentaries on the Laws of England. As a result, Hogan became fascinated with the study of law.
He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1894 and went into private practice in Wellston. Hogan soon became popular throughout Ohio as a successful attorney.
Hogan was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians division in Wellston, where he served as County President. At the 1900 State Convention in Toledo, Ohio, Hogan was elected State President, presiding over 78 divisions in 36 counties in Ohio. He was reelected at the 1902 State Convention in Springfield, serving until 1904.
In 1908, Hogan was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Ohio Attorney General. He lost that election but ran again in 1910 and was elected as Ohio’s 25th Attorney General. He served in the job until 1914.
Ohio’s Crusading Attorney General
Hogan became known as “Ohio’s Crusading Attorney General,” and took on many legal fights against government corruption, convicting many public officials from both the Democrat and Republican parties. Win or lose, Hogan always managed to rise above his political enemies by utilizing his personal qualities of honesty, wit, courtesy and hard work.
He soon became a popular figure in Columbus. One news story reported that on March 17, 1911, Hogan mysteriously disappeared from his office. Mrs. Hogan attempted to contact him, and she became concerned that foul play might be involved in his disappearance.
His office staff was dispatched to locate the missing Attorney General, and soon found him. It seems that on his way to the courthouse, Hogan had joined the St. Patrick’s Day parade at the invitation of his fellow Hibernians.
Hogan was found, marching down the street, singing, leading a band of the Hibernian Rifles. Mrs. Hogan was relieved that her lost husband had been found.
Hogan argued twelve cases before the US Supreme Court and obtained eleven favorable dispositions; four were in the field of labor legislation. Seven of the twelve cases were argued as Ohio Attorney General, representing the state of Ohio. Five were argued after he left the Attorney General’s Office as a private practice attorney representing clients.
Personal Tragedy
With Hogan’s public success came personal tragedy. Hogan’s wife, Mary Collins, died unexpectedly in 1905. Through the Hibernians, Hogan met John Deasy, who was president of one of the Cincinnati Hibernian divisions.
Deasy introduced Hogan to his daughter Mary L. Deasy. A romance developed and Timothy Hogan and Mary Deasy were married on June 20, 1908. Hogan’s daughter Nellie also died unexpectedly at the age of ten in a scarlet fever epidemic.
From his marriage to Mary Collins, Hogan had two sons and two daughters. From his marriage to Mary Deasy in 1908, he had two sons and a daughter.
Hogan was reelected to the office of Ohio Attorney General for a second term in 1912. In 1914, he ran for the U.S. Senate against Warren G. Harding. The Senate campaign was marked by overt anti-Catholicism against Hogan.
Anti-Catholic
When the votes were counted, Hogan had lost. Harding had received 526,115 votes; Hogan received 423,742 votes. After his loss to Harding, Hogan took up private law practice in Columbus. He continued to take on legal cases involving social and political progressivism.
On September 4, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson visited Columbus, Ohio as the first stop on his nationwide tour to promote the League of Nations. Hogan, always a staunch supporter of Wilson, was conspicuous by his absence from the welcoming committee and related events.
They had parted company due to Wilson’s support for the League of Nations. Hogan took the Irish view of the League and the treaty as a benefit to England and a detriment to hopes for eventual Irish independence.
Hogan appeared in the news one month later, on October 8, 1919, when Irish provisional President Eamon De Valera arrived in Columbus. De Valera, newly escaped from a British jail and president of the outlawed Irish Republic, was touring the U.S. to campaign against the Versailles Treaty and to seek U.S. recognition for the Irish Republic.
Chairman of the organizing committee, Hogan welcomed De Valera to Columbus. He was the local president of the Friends of Irish Freedom, a national organization that supported recognition of the Irish Republic.
Timothy Sylvester Hogan died on Wednesday, December 8, 1926, from the effects of pernicious anemia in Columbus. His funeral was held at St. Joseph’s Cathedral on Friday, December 10, 1926. Rev. John W. Cavanaugh, CSC, former president of Notre Dame University, conducted the ceremony and eulogized Hogan as an outstanding Irish Catholic.
He was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Columbus. In one of the many tributes, Ohio Governor Victor Donahey said, “As a citizen and public servant he won and merited the universal love of the people of our state. His fine personality and deeds will live long after him.”
