Philip Curry Gatch was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 7, 1751. Against the strong opposition of his father, Philip left the Church of England to become a Methodist. Shortly afterwards he was ordained a minister, the third native-born American to do so. During the Revolutionary War, Methodists were suspected of being Loyalists because its founder, John Wesley, was British.
Rev. Gatch was assigned to Frederick, Virginia. He was very successful in his efforts to convert people to his new faith. A husband of one of Gatch's new converts was very upset by what he considered to be an inappropriate influence that the young, single pastor held over his wife. The husband and several of his friends accosted Rev. Gatch one evening. After tying Gatch's hands behind him, the husband began to tar and feather the reverend. Boiling hot tar was laid upon his left cheek. He recalled the ordeal years later, "My mind was at peace, I told them I could beare it for Christ's sake. My soul was joyful in the God of my salvation". Another brush of the searing tar touched his eye, severely damaging it.The husband later repented of his act and became, much to Gatch's pleasure, a Methodist.
After recovering from his injuries, Gatch was sent to a calmer district in Virginia. And there he prospered. He built a large congregation, got married and began a family. Gatch became a farmer, using several slaves owned by his father-in-law. Rev. Gatch was uncomfortable with slavery. He felt that it had a "pernicious" effect upon both the owner and slave. He stated the institution was the "bane of true godliness". Gatch freed his nine slaves.
But that wasn't enough. He felt he had to leave slavery and the South behind because he did not want to "lay his bones there" nor did he want his children growing up under slavery "not knowing what evils" would come later. He made the difficult decision to move to the Northwest Territory where slavery was illegal.
Gatch, his family, some of his former slaves and twenty-eight others began their journey in October of 1798 in three wagons. After reaching the Kanawha River, the party purchased two flatboats. Upon joining the Ohio River, the party divided. Some of the men went to Chillicothe, the territorial capital, to conduct business. They reunited at Columbia, a settlement on the Ohio River upstream from Cincinnati. With the encouragement of a new friend, Reverend Francis McCormick, Gatch bought about 900 acres of fertile farmland in the "land between the forks" of the Little Miami River, now known as Milford.
He began his new pastorship. Gatch rode his circuit and held revivals on the grounds of his home, located where Greenlawn Cemetery is today. People walked twenty-five miles to hear his sermons. He became known as "Father Gatch", a man of sound character and common sense.
In December 1801 Gatch was appointed a justice of the peace for Miami Township. His duties included dealing with stray stock, certifying the payment for wolf pelts and mediating minor disputes. The appointment puzzled him. What qualified him for the post, he wondered? Upon further reflection, he concluded he was just as qualified as anyone else. "I set sail and did the best I could".
Less than a year later, Clermont County voters chose him and James Sargent of Franklin Township to represent them at Ohio's first Constitutional Convention. Both men were Methodist ministers who had freed their slaves, and moved to the Northwest Territory to escape the baleful influences of slavery. Both of the men voted against legalizing slavery in Ohio.
Gatch was remembered as a strong advocate for Black equality: full voting rights and the ability to hold public office and to testify in court. Fellow delegate and future Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas Scott wrote that Rev. Gatch was "constantly treated with respect and deference".
In 1803 Reverend Gatch was appointed by the Ohio General Assembly to serve as one of three associate judges for the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas. He was hesitant about accepting the position-concerned about what some may say about a clergyman holding public office. He reasoned "there was no man too good enough to serve the public". Gatch accepted the appointment, holding the position for twenty years . (Neither Gatch nor his two colleagues were attorneys. It wasn't until 1968 that Ohio required judges to be attorneys.)
The state ordered each county to establish a courtroom, a jail and public whipping posts. Like many frontier communities, a large number of the offenders were horse-thieves, leading one county historian to write: "the terror of the early settlers, and on whom law had no mercy and like all new countries, was visited on them sternly and promptly".
The whipping posts stood in front of the jail. They were described as consisting of "Two sticks of oak about six inches square were planted about five feet apart, and projected the same distance apart, and projected the same distance from the earth. To the top of these the culprit was tied by the extended hands, while the cat-of-nine tails was applied on the back with cruel vigor".
John McClean was a young attorney from Warren County who frequently practiced in Batavia. The future U.S. Supreme Court Justice (author of the dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott case) had a lot of contact with Judge Gatch. McClean came to consider Gatch a mentor.
McClean wrote a biography of Gatch. He described him as "venerable". "He was not tall, but his form was stout, capable of great physical effort". McClean was impressed with the Judge's practical wisdom, character and understanding of the human condition. He wrote that Father Gatch, "Did not profess to be learned in the law, but had great practical knowledge of human affairs, and he aimed at the justice of every case brought to him...Gatch's opinions were always distinguished by good sense".
McClean shared the stories of two men that can be seen as examples of Judge Gatch's approach to justice. Mordecai Ford and John Clark were convicted horse thieves. The judge followed the standard punishment for the crime: "You John Clark {will receive} twenty-five stripes upon your naked back this afternoon at three of the Clock". He was further ordered to pay restitution of $50.00 to the horse's owner, a $10.00 fine and court costs and to serve three days in jail. And then the judge became the pastor. Reverend Gatch went to the jail to visit Ford and Clark. He counseled and prayed with both men as he rubbed salve into their wounds.
Judge Gatch, having become "old and infirm" withdrew from the bench after twenty years. He did so "by the Grace of God...left it with a clear conscience". He died on December 28, 1834, at age 83. He is buried in the grounds of his home at Milford's Greenlawn Cemetery.
