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ONTEIPORARY
BIOGRAPHY
OF
ENSYLVANIA
Ge 974.8 Kn19c 1 v.2 1324580
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02231 3826
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
IPROPERTY OF AUSTIN BOYER WEISSPORT, CARBON CO. PA.
.
,
PROPERTY OF
WE.SOI
PROPERTY OF AUSTIN BOYER WEISSPORT, CARBON CO. PA.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
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ENCYCLOPÆDIA
OF
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY
OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
VOL. II.
ILLUSTRATED
WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL.
-
NEW YORK : ATLANTIC PUBLISHING & ENGRAVING COMPANY. 1890.
This brok belongs to k ATTR ININ SOYER. WALCLIO:1, PA. Please Return =
1324580 CONTENTS.
PAGE
BARDSLEY, JOHN. 152
BATOHELOR, CHARLES W 124
BENT, LUTHER S 215
BLAOK, JEREMIAH S. 5
BOWMAN, AMOS
.236
BRONSON, WILLIAM W
169
BROWN, RASSELAS
81
BROWN, S. L ..
184
BUOKWALTER, JOSEPH A
144
CALLERY, JAMES 203
CASEY, JAMES. .141
CLYDE, THOMAS 223
COLEMAN, GEORGE DAWSON
34
CRAMP, WILLIAM.
274
CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER L.
200
CULBERTSON, WILLIAM C.
.127
CUMMIN, HUGH H.
.170
DALZELL, JOHN. .243
DARLING, EDWARD P. .196
DAVIS, JOHN.
136
DELAMATER, GEORGE W
14
DICKSON, GEORGE L.
89
DISSTON, HENRY
29
DRAVO, JOHN F
.122
DUFFY, JAMES.
234
EGBERT, ALBERT G 82
ELLIOT, WILLIAM G. 163
EMERSON, EDWARD O 108
EMERSON, JAMES E.
.182
EUDEY, JOHN.
137
EVERHART, JOHN T.
148
FELTON, SAMUEL M., JR. .179
FLEMING, DAVID.
219
FONDA, HENRY A.
.107
Fox, DANIEL M.
43
FRALEY, FREDERIOK
155
GARTSIDE, AMOS .233
GARTSIDE, BENJAMIN 231
GIBBS, WILLIAM W
210
HALL, AUGUSTUS R .117
HALL, JOHN G. .229
HALLSTEAD, WILLIAM F 225
HANOOOK, WINFIELD S
99
HARDING, WILLIAM W
153
HARTMAN, HENRY W .252
HASTINGS, DANIEL H. 20
HERRON, WILLIAM A.
258
HEVERIN, JAMES H.
112
HIOE, HENRY.
.261
HILDRUP, WILLIAM T. 142
HOOVEN, JAMES. 191
HORTON, WALTER
146
HOUSTON, LEVI.
105
HYDE, JOSEPH S
205
JAOKSON, OSOAR L. 201
JOHNSTON, ROBERT L 42
JONES, WILLIAM R.
.128
KANE, THOMAS L.
.186
KIRKPATRIOK, WILLIAM S.
19
LAMBING, ANDREW A
139
LENTZ, GEORGE W 97
LEWIS, S. .165
LILLY, WILLIAM.
133
LUOAS, JOHN C.
39
LYON, THOMAS.
95
MAOKEY, CHARLES W.
70
MAGEE, CHRISTOPHER L.
.279
MANN, WILLIAM B
51
This book belongs to * AUSTIN SOYER, WEISSDOAT, PA. Please Return
PAGE
iv.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PAGE
MATHESON, GEORGE.
251
SHARPLESS, CHARLES L. 271
MOCALMONT, ALFRED B.
84
SHEPPARD, ISSAC A. 36
MOCANDLESS, CHARLES. .221
SHERWOOD, HENRY. 164
MOCOLLUM, J. BREWSTER
238
SHOEMAKER, JOHN V. 264
MOCORMIOK, HENRY C.
241
SIMON, HERMAN
98
MOGOVERN, TIIOMAS
150
SMEDLEY, SAMUEL L. 262
MEADE, GEORGE G
114
SMITHI, WILLIAM T.
267
MESSLER, THOMAS, D.
176
SNOWDEN, JAMES ROSS
61
METOALF, ORLANDO.
131
SPEER, ROBERT M ..
277
MILLER, CHARLES.
166
STOKLEY, WILLIAM S
64
MOFFAT, EDWARD S.
91
STONE, CHARLES W
17
MUHLENBERG, HENRY A
87
STOWE, EDWIN H .. 119
STRUTHERS, THOMAS 76
SUTTON, RHODES S. 132
NESBITT, ABRAM .233
154
TASKER, THOMAS T., SR. 27
NORTH, HUGH M.
254
TAYLOR, ANTHONY .. 112
TAYLOR, BAYARD 281
110
PARSONS, HENRY C. 173
23
WAMPLER, WILLIAM P .217
PATTERSON, WILLIAM.
227
WARNER, WILLIAM R. .207
WATSON, LEWIS F 126
PEIROE, C. N.
96
WELSH, HENRY D 224
PERKINS, JAMES H.
92
WELSH, JOHN.
55
PHILLIPS, THOMAS W
.268
WILLARD, E. N.
86
POTTER, THOMAS.
25
WILLCOX, JAMES M.
40
PUGH, CHARLES E. .226
WILLCOX, MARK
273
WILSON, ELWOOD
32
REED, CHARLES M. 256
WILSON, JOHN
46
RICHMOND, HIRAM L. 195
WILSON, JOHN S.
180
ROAOH, JOHN B 158
WILSON, JOSEPH M.
50
ROBINSON, JOHN B
.248
WILSON, THEOPHILUS S 72
ROBINSON, JOHN L.
94
WILSON, WILLIAM H. 48
RORKE, ALLEN B.
.212
WINSOR, HENRY. 157
RYAN, PATRIOK J. 68
WRIGHT, HENDRIOK B. 244
WRIGHT, MYRON B. 247
SANDERSON, GEORGE. 83
SAYRE, ROBERT H.
11
YOUNG, JAMES
192
PARKE, NATHAN G 174
TAYLOR, CALEB N.
PATTERSON, ROBERT.
PAXSON, EDWARD M.
.236
MUTCHLER, WILLIAM.
90
NISBET, MIOHAEL.
PROPERTY OF JUSTIN BOYER SPORT, CARBON CO. FR
TE Tan 20
2. S. Bank ISBlack 0803800 6 of Left hand vouky 'wright hand, in 1863
ENCYCLOPÆDIA
OF
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY
OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
-
VOL. II.
JEREMIAH S. BLACK.
JUDGE JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK, Attor- ney-General in the Presidential administration of James Buchanan, a distinguished lawyer and jurist, was born in the Glades, Somerset County, Pennsyl- vania, January 10, 1810, and died at his home, Brockie, near York, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1883. He came of a sturdy Scotch-Irish family, a repre- sentative of which came to this country in the seventeenth century and settled in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, James Black, settled in Somerset County at a period when it was wild, and. sparsely inhabited, and in the house which he there built for himself, was born Henry Black, the father of the subject of this sketch, in February, 1778. Henry Black became a prominent man in southern Penn- sylvania. He served in the Legislature from 1814 to 1818; was an Associate Judge, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives when he died. Jeremiah's early education was obtained at a school near his father's farm. The need of uni- versity culture, however, does not seem to have af- fected him, his inclination to study having driven him to his best effort during his youth, and at seven- teen he is said to have been a good scholar, with a rare knowledge of the classics. At this time the family life seems to have been a continued struggle against the frequent reverses which occur to the vocation of farming; but through a liberal provi- sion of books and personal supervision, Jeremiah's father did the most that was possible towards train-
ing his son's mind in the right direction. The boy seemed to have been born a Democrat. Before he was sixteen he mastered Jefferson's Letters, accept- ing every article of that statesman's creed. His father, however, although a Democrat in early life, seceded from that party on the nomination of Gen- eral Jackson in 1824. After leaving school, young Black worked on his father's farm for a while, and then took up the study of law in the office of Chaun- cey Forward, a lawyer, in Somerset County, whose brother, Walter Forward, was Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler. In 1831 Mr. Black was admitted to the bar, and soon after married Mary, the daughter of Chauncey Forward. At the time when Mr. Black began practice, his father was sitting as Associate Judge of Somerset County, and some of his first causes were argued before Judge Henry Black. Young Black was Prosecuting At- torney for Somerset County before he attained his majority ; and, exhibiting the greatest industry and zeal, he soon began to make a reputation. In 1841 the Whigs prevented his nomination for Con- gress by nominating his father, who was elected, and died the following year, a member of the House. Meanwhile, Jeremiah S. Black had risen to eminence as a lawyer, and in 1842 the Governor of the State appointed him Presiding Judge of the Franklin, Bedford and Somerset District, an office which he held for nine years, filling it to the satisfaction of all concerned. The address which he delivered at Bedford on the death of General Jackson, in 1845, was conceded to be the most notable tribute to the
6
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
memory of that hero. In 1851 Mr. Black was elected to the Supreme Court bench of Pennsyl- vania, of which he was made Chief-Justice. Here his decisions soon began to obtain a reputation as models of judicial eloquence, solidity and clearness. On the expiration of his term in 1854, he was re- elected by a large majority for the full term of fif- teen years. In 1856 James Buchanan was elected President. In the formation of his Cabinet, Isaac Toucey was at first designated for the position of Attorney-General ; but on the Cabinet being recast, he was named Secretary of the Navy, and the At- torney-Generalship was offered to Judge Black, who accordingly resigned his Supreme Court Judgeship, and entered the Cabinet as the President's legal ad- viser. He continued to fill this position until December of 1860, when he became Secretary of State, and remained in that position until the end of Mr. Buchanan's term. As Attorney-General, Judge Black became noted during the beginning of his term for his efforts to protect the settlers in Cali- fornia under Government patents, against fraudulent land grants alleged to have been of Mexican origin. He succeeded in exposing an extensive conspiracy organized for the purpose of fabricating these ficti- tious grants. San Francisco, in particular, was af- flicted by these bogus grants, and it has been claimed in Mr. Black's honor that through his able exposure of the fraud he saved that city from confiscation. It was owing to Judge Black's influence with the Presi- dent that Edwin M. Stanton was appointed Attorney- General, when Mr. Black became Secretary of State. The two lawyers had long been firm and fast friends, Mr. Stanton having come specially under Judge Black's noticc through the ability which he exhibited in defending an important cause before the Supreme Court while the latter was Chief-Justice. When Lewis Cass resigned the post of Secretary of State, Judge Black accepted it on the sole condition that the President would appoint Stanton Attorney-Gen- eral, which appointment was accordingly made. At the time of the assumption by Judge Black of the Secretaryship of State the secession movement was already uuder considerable headway. At the first outbreaking of this movement President Buchanan held that there was no authority for coerc- ing a State if it chose to secede and set up as an in- dependent Government. Judge Black, however, (who was at this time Attorney-General) was of the opinion that it was the duty of the Government to put down insurrection, and that the Constitution contained no provision for the disintegration of the Union or a dissolution of the compact existing be- tween the States, in any manner whatever. In the early part of December, President Buchanan, who
was then preparing his annual message to Congress, addressed to the Attorney-General the following questions, to which he desired an official answer :
" 1. In case of a conflict between the authorities of any State and those of the United States, can there be any doubt that the laws of the Federal Govern- ment, if constitutionally passed, are supreme ?
"2. What is the extent of my official power to col- lect the duties on imports at a port where the revenue laws are resisted by a force which drives the collec- tor from the custom house ?
"3. What right have I to defend the public pro- perty (for instance, a fort, arsenal or navy yard) in case it should be assaulted ?
" 4. What are the legal means at my disposal for executing those laws of the United States which are usually administered through the courts and their officers ?
" 5. Can a military force be used for any purpose whatever under the Acts of 1795 and 1807 within the limits of a State where there are no judges, mar- shal or other civil officers?"
The profound and able opinion rendered by Attor- ney-General Black in response to these questions, so grave in their bearing upon the then-existing condi- tion of the Republic, and in relation to the ques- tions of Federal and State sovereignty in a Demo- cratic federated Republic at any time, is in all re- spects so important as to deserve special preser- vation in a biography of its author. Following is the opinion :
"ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ) November 20, 1860.5
" Sir :- I have had the honor to receive your note of the 17th, and I now reply to the grave questions therein propounded as fully as the time allowed me will permit.
"Within their respective spheres of action the Fed- eral Government and the Government of a State are both of them independent and supreme, but each is utterly powerless beyond the limits assigned to it by the Constitution. If Congress should attempt to change the law of descents, to make a new rule of personal succession or to dissolve the family rela- tions existing in any State, the act would be simply void; but not more void than would be a State law to prevent the recapture of fugitives from labor, to forbid the carrying of the mails, or to stop the col- lection of duties on imports. The will of a State, whether expressed in its constitution or laws, can- not, while it remains in the Confederacy, absolve her people from the duty of obeying the just and constitutional requirements of the central Govern- ment; nor can any act of the central Government displace the jurisdiction of a State; because the laws of the United States are supreme and binding only so far as they are passed in pursuance of the Consti- tution. I do not say what might be effected by mere revolutionary force. I am speaking of legal and constitutional right.
"This is the view always taken by the judiciary, and so universally adopted, that the statement of it may seem common-place. The Supreme Court of the United States has declared it in many cases. I need only refer you to the United States vs. Booth,
1
7
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
where the present Chief Justice, expressing the unanimous opinion of himself and all his brethren, enunciated the doctrine in terms so clear and full that any further demonstration of it can scarcely be required.
"The duty which these principles devolve, not on- ly upon every officer but every citizen, is that which Mr. Jefferson expressed so compendionsly in his first inaugural, namely-' to support the State Gov- ernments in all their rights as the most competent administrations for their domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-Republican tenden- cies,' combined with 'the preservation of the gen- eral Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad.'
"To the Chief Executive Magistrate of the Union is confided the solemn duty of seeing the laws faith- fully executed. That he may be able to meet this duty with a power equal to its performance, he nominates his own subordinates and removes them at his pleasure. For the same reason the land and naval forces are under his orders as their comman- der-in-chief. But his power is to be used only in the manner prescribed by the Legislative depart- ment. He cannot accomplish a legal purpose by illegal means, or break the laws himself to prevent them from being violated by others.
" The acts of Congress sometimes give the Presi- dent a broad discretion in the use of the means by which they are to be executed, and sometimes limit his power so that he can exercise it only in a certain prescribed manner. Where the law directs a thing to be done, without saying how, that implies the power to use such means as may be necessary and proper to accomplish the ends of the Legislature. But where the mode of performing a duty is pointed out by statute, that is the exclusive mode, and no other can be followed. The United States have no common law to fall back upon when the written law is defective. If, therefore, an act of Congress declares that a certain thing shall be done by a particular officer, it cannot be done by a different officer. The agency which the law furn- ishes for its own execution must be used to the ex- clusion of all others. For instance, the revenues of the United States are to be collected in a certain way, at certain established ports, and by a certain class of officers; the President has no authority un- der any circumstances to collect the same revenues at other places or in ways not provided for. Even if the machinery furnished by Congress for the col- lection of the duties should by any cause become so deranged or broken up that it could not be used, that would not be a legal reason for substituting a different kind of machinery in its place.
,
"The law requires that all goods imported into the United States within certain collection districts shall be entered at the proper port, and the duty thereon shall be received by the collector appointed for and residing at that port. But the functions of the collector may be exercised anywhere at or within the port. There is no law which confines him to the Custom House or to any particular spot. If the Custom House were burnt down he might re- move to another building ; if he were driven from the shore, he might go on board a vessel in the har- bor. If he keeps within the port he is within the law.
"A port is a place to which merchandise is im- ported, and from whence it is exported. It is created by law. It is not merely a harbor or haven, for it may be established where there is nothing but an open roadstead or on the shore of a navigable river, or at any other place where vessels may ar- rive and discharge or take in their cargoes. It com- prehends the city or town which is occupied by the mariners, merchants and others who are engaged in the business of importing and exporting goods, navigating the ships and furnishing them with pro- visions. It includes also so much of the water adjacent to the city as is usually occupied by vessels discharging or receiving their cargoes or lying at anchor and waiting for that purpose.
"The first section of the Act of March 2, 1833, authorized the President in a certain contingency to direct that the Custom House for any collection dis- trict be established and kept in any secure place within some port or harbor of said district, either upon land or on board any vessel. But this pro- vision was temporary and expired at the session of Congress next afterwards. It conferred upon the Executive the right to remove the site of the Cus- tom Honse, not only to any secure place within the legally established port of entry for the district- that right he had before-but it widened his author- ity so as to allow the removal of it to any port or harbor within the whole district. The enactment of that law and the limitation of it to a certain period of time now passed is not, therefore, an argument against the opinion above expressed that you can now, if necessary, order the duties to be collected on board a vessel inside of any established port of entry. Whether the first and fifth sections of the Act of 1833, both of which were made temporary by the eighth section, should be re-enacted, is a ques- tion for the legislative department.
"Your right to take such measures as may seem to be necessary for the protection of the public pro- perty, is very clear. It results from the proprietary rights of the Government, as owner of the forts, arsenals, magazines, dock-yards, navy yards, cns- tom houses, public ships and other property which the United States have bought, built and paid for. Besides, the Government of the United States is authorized by the Constitution (Art. I., Sec. 8) to 'exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatso-
ever * * * over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings.' It is believed that no important public building has been bought or erected on ground where the Legis- lature of the State in which it is has not passed a law consenting to the purchase of it and ceding the ex- clusive jurisdiction. This Government, then, is not only the owner of these buildings and grounds, but by virtue of the supreme and paramount law it regulates the actions and punishes the offenses of those who are within them. If anyone of an owner's rights is plainer than another it is that of keeping exclusive possession and repelling intrusion. The right of defending the public property includes the right to recapture after it has been unlawfully taken by another. President Jefferson held the opinion and anchored upon it that he could order a military force to take possession of any land to which the United States had title though they had never occu-
8
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
pied it before, though a private party claimed and held it, and though it was not then needed nor pro- posed to be used for any purpose connected with the operating of the Government. This may have a stretch of executive power; but the right of re- taking public property in which the Government has been carrying on its lawful business and from which its officers have been unlawfully thrust out, cannot well be doubted, and when it was exercised at Harper's Ferry in October, everyone acknowl- edged the legal justice of it.
" I come now to the point in your letter, which is probably of the greatest practical importance. By the act of 1807, you may employ such part of the land and naval forces as you may judge necessary for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly ex- ecuted, in all cases where it is lawful to use the militia for the same purpose. By the act of 1795, the militia may be called forth " whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execu- tion thereof obstructed in any State by combina- tions too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals.' This imposes upon the President the sole responsibility of deciding whether the exigency "has arisen which requires the use of military force; and in proportion to the magnitude of that responsibility will be his care not to overstep the limit of his legal and just authority.
"The laws referred to in the act of 1795 are mani- festly those which are administered by the judges and executed by the ministerial officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the United States, for the protection of rights claimed under the Federal Constitution and laws, and for the enforcement of such obligations as come within the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. To com- pel obedience to these laws the courts have author- ity to punish all who obstruct their regular admin- istration; and the marshals and their deputies have the same power as sheriffs and their deputies in the several States in executing the laws of the States. These are the ordinary means provided for the ex- ecution of the law; and the whole spirit of our system is opposed to the employment of any other, except in cases of extreme necessity arising out of great and unusual combinations against them. Their agency must continue to be used until their incapacity to cope with the power opposed to them shall be plainly demonstrated. It is only upon . clear evidence to that effect that a military force could be called into the field. Even then its opera- tions must be purely defensive. It can suppress only such combinations as are found directly oppos- ing the laws and obstructing the execution thereof. It can do no more than what might and ought to be done by a civil posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough to meet the same opposition. On such occasions especially the military power must be kept in strict subordination to the civil authority, since it is only in aid of the latter that the former can act at all.
"But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves (including judges, district-attorneys and marshals) would be reached by the same influences and resign their places ? Of course, the first step would be to appoint others in
their stead if others could be got to serve. But in such an event it is more than probable that great difficulty would be found in filling the offices. We can easily see how it might become altogether im- possible. We are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we have no court to issue judicial process and no ministerial officers to exe- cute it. In that event troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the courts and marshals there must be courts and marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of these functions, which belong exclu- sively to the civil service, the laws cannot be exe- cuted in any event, no matter what may be the political strength which the Government has at its command. Under such circumstances to send a military force into any State with orders to aet against the people would be simply making war upon them.
"The existing laws put and keep the Federal Gov- ernment strictly on the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the courts in the performance of their duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute the other laws be insufficient for that pur- pose, Congress may extend and make them more effectual to those ends.
" If one of the States should declare her indepen- dence your action cannot depend upon the rightful- ness of the cause upon which such declaration is based. Whether the retirement of the State from the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in either case to recognize. her independence or to absolve her from her Fed- eral obligations. Congress or the other States in convention assembled must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such an event I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the path yon have hitherto trodden-that is, to exe- cute the laws to the extent of the defensive means placed in your hands, and act generally upon the assumption that the present Constitutional relations between the States and the Federal Government continue to exist until a new code of things shall be established, either by law or force.
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