Judge Coffinberry is a native of Mansfield, Ohio, having been born in that town in 1818. He studied law with his father, Andrew Coffinberry, Esq., then located at Perrysburg, in the western part of the State, and upon his admission to the Bar in 1841, opened a law office in connection with his father in Maumee City. He very early obtained the public confidence, being appreciated for his high personal and professional integrity, and giving evidence of fine abilities as a lawyer and advocate, he was elected and served as prosecuting attorney for Lucas county for several years. About the year 1845, he removed to Hancock county, and purchased and edited the Findlay Herald, a Whig paper of that day, and for about ten years practiced his profession with credit and success in the large circuit of Hancock, Allen, Putnam, Van Wert, and Wood counties.

In 1855, he removed to Cleveland, where he entered very readily into a good practice, and for six years confirmed the good reputation which he brought with him, and took high rank at a Bar which numbers among its members sortie of the best lawyers in the State.

In 1861, he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and performed the duties of the office for his full term of five years, with credit to himself and to the eminent satisfaction of the public, and an appreciative Bar. The kind and genial traits are characteristics of Judge Coffinberry's mind, and his quiet manners upon the Bench made it always agreeable for both lawyers and suitors doing business in his court. His charges to the jury were always plain, clear, and forcible, and in the course of his judicial service, he delivered some very able opinions, verbal and written, which elicited the favorable consideration of the profession, and it is understood that no judicial opinion pronounced by him has ever been reversed on review of a higher court. The charge to the jury on the trial of Dr. John W. Hughes, for the murder of Tamzen Parsons, of Bedford, which took place in December, 1865, was acknowledged by the Cleveland Bar to be one of the ablest ever delivered from the Cuyahoga Bench.

[Illustration: Yours Truly, J. M. Coffinberry]

Judge Coffinberry is remarkable for an apparently intuitive perception of legal truth, which gives to his argument at the Bar, and as a lawyer and judge, to his opinions, a tone of originality. He has a fine appreciation of the learning of the profession, but though not, strictly speaking, technical in his administration of the law, he is never unmindful of its nicest distinctions, but makes them subservient to his broad and liberal views of the case. He has now returned to the practice of his profession, and is regarded as among the best advocates of the Cleveland Bar.

While Mr. Coffinberry has won distinction as a lawyer, the following record will show that he is amongst our most enterprising and energetic business men, outside of his profession: He is president of the Midas Insurance Company; a director in the Willow Bank Coal Company; a director of the Tuscarawas Iron and Coal Company; was one of the projectors of the People's Gas and Coke Company, of the West Side; has been a director of the Mahoning Railroad Company; director and attorney for the Fremont and Indiana Railroad Company; took an active interest in the construction of the West Side street railroad, and also the Rocky River Railroad; he was a member of the City Council for two years, and president of that body.

In politics, he was formerly a Whig, but now acts with the Democrats. He was principal Secretary of the Great Union Convention that nominated the late David Tod for Governor.

Judge Coffinberry has been successful in almost every undertaking, and has richly deserved it.