1889 - 1902: Samuel P. Axline

Samuel P. Axline served as Dean of the Ohio Northern University College of Law from 1889-1902, then again from 1903-14.

Samuel P. Axline was born in Coshocton County, Ohio on March 31, 1849. His early occupations were varied and included being a school teacher and being a potter.

He came to Ada in 1882 after having lived in Missouri and Illinois. He began reading law while in Missouri and Illinois and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1889.

Axline’s first teaching duties were in Ohio Northern’s Commercial College as an instructor of stenography and typewriting. He subsequently became Principle of the Law Department; later dean of the College of Law.

In 1914, Axline resigned and moved to Toledo where he was a practicing attorney and dean of the University of Toledo School of Law. He died in Toledo in 1916 and was interred in Ada’s Woodlawn Cemetery.