USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 14
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GEORGE SHARSWOOD.
Common Law of Pennsylvania," delivered before the Philadelphia Law Academy in 1855, while not included in this volume, is a valuable supplement to it for Pennsylvania students.
His industry and intellectual fecundity at this period of his life approached to the marvellous. In addition to the labors of the important and exacting judicial position which he occupied, and of the University professorship, which he filled so well, he continued his work as author and annotator without interruption. In 1852 he published his first edition of " Byles on Bills," which in the four years following ran through four editions. The preface and notes of the American editor were republished by Mr. Byles in the eighth English edition of his work, and acknowledged by him in high terms of commendation. In 1853, Judge Sharswood undertook the work of editing the successive volumes of the English Common Law Reports republished in Philadelphia for the use of the American bar. His labors in this field may be seen in the notes and references which ap- pear in these reports from volume 66 to volume 90 inclusive. In the Prince- ton Review for October, 1853, there is an article on "Religious Endowments" from his pen. In 1854, he published his little work on " Professional Ethics." This is a little gem of a book of such fascinating interest that lawyer or layman who once begins it will read it to the end, and be the wiser and better for the reading. It is now in its fourth edition.
The same year in which his " Professional Ethics " appeared he was elected Provost of the Philadelphia Law Academy. His fame had by this time far out- grown the limits of his State, and in IS56 Columbia College and the University of the City of New York honored themselves and honored Judge Sharswood by conferring on this learned Pennsylvania jurist the degree of Doctor of Laws. In this year he published his " Popular Lectures on Commercial Law." These were originally prepared for the students of Crittenden's Philadelphia Com- mercial College, and are for the use of merchants and business men. In 1859 he gave to the public the work by which he is most widely known, his edition of " Blackstone's Commentaries." This work met with instant and universal ac- ceptance in this country. It was made the text-book in all the law schools of the United States, and was pronounced by our most eminent instructors in the law as the best edition of Blackstone ever published.
After the publication of his " Blackstone's Commentaries " Judge Sharswood's extra judicial labors show considerable abatement. He still continued to dis- charge the duties incident to Professor of Law at the University. Ile repub- lished from time to time new editions of his works, and delivered an occasional public address. The war, in stimulating business, increased the work of the courts, and was not in its influence favorable to the calm pursuits of authorship. Judge Sharswood saw the inevitable struggle in advance, and being first of all a patriot, he took his position accordingly.
HIe was a consistent Democrat in his views of the relations of the States to the General Government, though seemingly adopting the Jacksonian view of the riglit of secession and the primal duty of maintaining the Union. When the
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question of the constitutionality of the legal tender act came before him in cases involving the sufficiency of a legal tender in greenbacks as payment in contraets made before the passage of the act, he decided against the validity of the act, holding that contracts between citizens should be held inviolate.
In 1867 Judge Sharswood was selected by the State Convention of the Demo- cratie party as its candidate for the prospective vacancy on the Supreme Bench, on the retirement of Chief Justice Woodward. The Republican nominee was the late Judge Williams, of Pittsburgh. It was a year of Republican successes, all the other October States-Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and even West Virginia- gave large Republican majorities. Pennsylvania would undoubtedly have done the same except for the large Republican vote cast for Judge Sharswood in Philadelphia, which made his total vote in the State exceed that of his Republi- can competitor by just 922 votes. Two years later, Judge Williams was again a candidate, and this time receiving the usual party vote, was elected by nearly nine thousand majority. On the occasion of Judge Sharswood taking a farewell leave of the District Court, over which he had so long and worthily presided, Mr. David Paul Brown, speaking on behalf of the Philadelphia bar, said that in the recent contest Judge Sharswood had been the candidate of both political parties, and that there was not a single member of the Philadelphia bar but had stood by him. A judge could not ask for a higher commendation or for a stronger proof of appreciation than the unanimous and enthusiastic support of his bar irrespective of party distinction.
In January, 1868, Judge Sharswood began his fifteen years of faithful and efficient service on the Supreme Bench of his native State, carrying there the same habits of industry and thoroughness which have been his life-long traits, the fruit of which may be seen in his published opinions scattered through some fifty volumes of State Reports. In these opinions may be found examples of clear judicial reasoning that will delight the logician, even though himself un- learned in the law. The law student will find them full of valuable information and suggestions, and the future historian of Pennsylvania in searching for the origin and reason of our laws and customs, will find his labors abridged, and to a large extent anticipated in the instructive opinions by which Judge Shars- wood was wont to support liis judicial decisions.
The labors of a Supreme Judge are so engrossing that during the last fifteen years of his life Judge Sharswood did little outside work. From time to time he had issued new editions of his earlier works, and has delivered an occasional public address before the alumni or literary society of the University of Penn- sylvania. He, however, found some time for his favorite work of annotating, and in 1873 he published his edition of "Tudor's Leading Cases in Mercantile and Maritime Law," and his "Starkie on Evidence " appeared in 1876.
On January 6th, 1879, the Supreme Court opened its session with the Hon. George Sharswood as its Chief Justice. The occasion was one which the Phila- delphia bar could not allow to pass unnoticed, and Mr. George W. Biddle, in be-
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half of that bar, addressed the new Chief Justice in just and fitting terms, con- cluding as follows :
" To-day the whole bar of Philadelphia, by a spontaneous outflow of feeling, welcomes one of her own sons to the highest judicial place in the commonwealth, and rejoices to witness the fulfilment of its own cherished hopes, and of your honors. Many of your old companions at the bar-would, alas! that they were more-have been permitted to behold this complete rounding to your legal and judicial life, and to see in this, the last step of your professional career, the proper consummation of a life of study, of duty, and of virtue. That you may continue to exhibit during the full term of your Chief Justiceship all the qualities which have made your judicial name conspicuous, is the ardent desire of all here present, who, through my lips, now offer to you their words of gratulation, and ask God to speed and prosper to the end the good and faithful servant."
Of Judge Sharswood's labors as Chief Justice his associate, Judge Paxson, thus testifies :
"During the first two years after he became Chief Justice he wrote but few opinions beyond the Per Curiams. These, however, were remarkable. They always touched the real point in the case, and for crisp, clear models of judicial writing have never been excelled in our court. During his last year, however, he wrote a considerable number of important opinions, and I think the profession will agree with me, when they come to be reported, that they are at least among the best in our books. They were the last flame of his great intellect, burning up clearer and brighter ere it was to be extinguished in death."
His fifteen years term on the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania closed January Ist, 1883, and with it George Sharswood ended nearly forty years of continuous judicial service. Shortly after his retirement from the Supreme Bench it became necessary to appoint a Commission to codify the Acts of Assembly, and Judge Sharswood with one consent was named as the person most fitted to preside over this important undertaking; but it was not to be. His work was finished. Though of stalwart frame and an unintermitting laborer in his profession, Judge Sharswood was for many years a great physical sufferer from a chronic and pain- ful disease. He went upon the Supreme Bench a confirmed invalid. During the last fifteen years of his life he has himself said that he never had a working hour that was free from suffering. His later years were clouded and saddened by the death of his only son, whom he loved with all the power of his strong nature, for whom he had anticipated a brilliant and honorable future, and to whom he looked for solace and comfort in his declining years. On May 28th, 1883, after a brief illness, death came to release him from his long term of suffering.
At a meeting of the members of the bar of Philadelphia, called to pay a tribute to the memory of the distinguished and honored brother, whom they had just seen, a letter was read from Mr. George W. Biddle, which contains such an admirable analysis and just estimate of his life-long friend, the late Chief Justice, that the greater portion of it is given here :
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"Judge Sharswood was formed for an active career, and, with full knowledge of the bent of his mental and moral faculties, he had early traced the plan which, fortunately for himself and his fellow-citizens, he was given time to fill up and to complete. For many years before he began to give the fruits of his work to the public, he had read widely and thought deeply, not only upon professional subjects, but about ethics and politics. Although quite young when he first served as a member of the Legislature, and in the councils of his native city, he brought to his duties a thorough knowledge of precedents, as well as a mastery of the principles by which his official conduct was to be guided. For, while eminently practical, he was to the last degree the opposite of empirical. His in- ductions were from the widest generalizations, his information minute in its accuracy, and drawn from every source within his reach.
"While at the bar, a dozen years or so before he was called to the Bench, his position was rather that of the counsellor and adviser than of the active Nisi Prius lawyer. His mind was really too true for him to be a complete advocate, his temperament too calm and judicial to take delight in the conflicts and triumphs of the forum. An excellent debater, quick to detect the fallacy of his opponent's argument, strong to enforce his own views, he was yet wanting in the ability to shift his ground readily and quickly, in the alacrity to advance and support a position of doubtful value, and in the thorough sympathy with a client whose cause he felt or suspected to be weak in any of its essential elements. He was formed by nature and by training to be a judge. And when Governor Shunk appointed him, before he had completed his thirty-fifth year, to the Bench of the principal civil court of this county, the chief magistrate of the State conferred a boon of almost priceless value upon our community. There he sat for nearly a quarter of a century, dispatching the judicial business of Philadelphia with an ease and satisfaction to the suitor and to the bar, which a profound conviction of the value of justice, aided by a thorough knowledge of the law, and a perfect familiarity with the methods and forms of business, enabled him to do.
" The rest of his career is known to the whole State. Equally at home in the decision of a cause requiring a complete acquaintance with technical law, as of one demanding the knowledge of the broad rules of commercial usage, or the principles of constitutional law and scientific politics, he gave to the bar of Pennsylvania, in simple, clear, nervous language, the exposition of the legal doc- trine upon which the subject which was brought before him for judicial solution depended.
" He has left us, too soon, indeed, for his friends to whom his place can never be supplied, but not too soon for himself, for his profession, for the community to whom he always gave good measure, heaped up, pressed down, and running over. To the younger members of the profession-and to them his feelings always went out in warmest expression-he has given an example of moderation, of integrity, of devotion to duty, of rich acquirements, and exalted exercise of talents, which has never been surpassed by any of the great men in judicial station who have gone before him."
HON. HENRY M. HOYT.
HENRY MARTYN HOYT.
H ENRY MARTVN HOYT, ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa., June 8th, 1830. He is a descendant of Simon floyt, who was the first member of the Hoyt family who immigrated to New England. In Drake's "History of Boston," we find " Simon Hoyte " on the " List of the names of such as are known to have been in Salem and about the north side of the Massachusetts Bay before and in the year 1629." The name of " Simon Hoytt" appears on the first list of " such as took the oath of freemen " in Massachusetts, May 18th, 1631. We find "Symon Hoite" men- tioned in the Dorchester records in 1633. On the 8th of October, in the same year, "Symon Hoyte " was chosen one of that town's committee to " see to " fences " for the east fielde."
Walter Hoyt, son of Simon, born about 1618, was in Windsor in 1640. From there he went to Fairfield county, Conn., and was one of the early settlers of Norwalk, where the name was frequently spelt Haite or Hyatt. He was a fence viewer there in 1655, and a deputy to the October sessions of the General Court in 1658, 1659 and 1661. He was confirmed as sergeant of a company at Norwalk by the "General Court of Election, Hartford, May 19th, 1659." He was a deputy in May and October, 1667, and one of the proprietors named of the town of Norwalk confirmed by the General Court in 1685. He died about 1698.
John Hoyt, son of Walter, was born July 13th, 1644, at Windsor, Conn. He was a freeman in Norwalk in 1669. He removed to " Paquiack," or Dan- bury, before June, 1685. Rev. Thomas Robbins, in a century sermon, delivered in Danbury, January Ist, 1801, says John Hoyt was one of the eight original settlers of Danbury in 1685. The births of five of his children are recorded at Norwalk from 1669 to '79 with the spelling Haite.
Thomas Hoyte, son of John, was born at Norwalk, January 5th, 1674, and died before 1749, but was living in 1727.
Comfort Hoyt, son of Thomas, was born February 20th, 1724. He lived in Danbury, and died May 19th, 1812. Ilis tombstone states that he and his wife "lived together in the married state 62 y."
Daniel Hoyt, son of Comfort, was born May 2d, 1756. He was a farmer; lived in Danbury, Conn., and Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa. He died in 1824. He was a freeman in Danbury in 1778. He removed to Pennsylvania about 1795.
Ziba Hoyt, son of Daniel, was born September 8th, 1788, in Danbury, Conn. He afterwards removed to Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa., where he died, December 23d, 1853. Ile was First Lieutenant of the " Wyoming Matross," an artillery organization connected with Col. Hill's Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia.
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Ile left for the western frontier in 1813, and his bravery and coolness in the campaign about Lake Erie has become a matter of history. Col. Hill, in his report to Gen. Tarryhill of one of the engagements, says :
" I cannot close this report without bearing testimony of the good conduct of this company. This being the first time the company was ever under fire, it was hardly to be expected that their conduct would come up to the standard of tried and practical veterans. Great praise is due to Capt. Thomas and Lieut. Hoyt for their cool bravery and soldier-like bearing."
Lieut. Hoyt afterwards accompanied Gen. Harrison to the river Thames, where he participated in that battle. The British were under Gen. Proctor, and the Indians under Tecumseh.
These were the ancestors of Henry M. Hoyt. At a family reunion, held at Stamford, Conn., in 1866, at which there were six hundred persons of the name of Hoyt present, Gen. Hoyt said :
" I come from Pennsylvania, strong and great, the keystone of the federal arch ; I come as one of her delegates, as a 'Pennsylvania Dutchman,' if you please, and, if necessary, to vindicate her thrift, her steadfastness, and her insti- tutions, not in competition or contrast with Connecticut, but as a co-equal and a co-worker in the field of ideas, of which New England is not the exclusive proprietor. We are all 'Yankees,' and the Yankee should, will, and must dominate the country and the age. These hills have borne great crops of great men which at last is the best product-men attuned to the keynote of our social structure : the importance, the inviolability, the integrity of the manhood of the individual. I am in entire accord with all I have heard said here of Connecti- cut and Massachusetts; but, within the proper limits of 'State rights,' I am for my own Commonwealth. I revere and love the solidity of the mountains, the men and the civilization of the State of my birth. I hold that my grandfather did a smart thing, if he never did a great thing, to wit, when he left Dan- bury, Fairfield county, Conn., and went to the Wyoming Valley, in Penn- sylvania."
Bishop Peck, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Gen. W. T. Sherman and Senator John Sherman are relatives of Governor Hoyt, their mothers being Hoyts, as are also HIon. Joseph G. Hoyt, of Maine ; Dr. Enos Hoyt, of Fram- ingham, Mass. ; Dr. William H. Hoyt, of Syracuse, N. Y .; Rev. James Hoyt, of Orange, N. J .; Rev. Cornelius A. Hoyt, of Oberlin, Ohio; Rev. James W. Hoyt, of Nashville, Tenn .; Rev. O. P. Hoyt, D. D., of Kalamazoo, Mich., and other distinguished Hoyts.
General Hoyt remained at home working on his father's farm until the age of fourteen, when he entered the old Wilkes-Barre Academy, and subsequently Wyoming Seminary, where he prepared for college. He entered Lafayette Col- lege, at Easton, Pa., where he remained for two years. At the end of that period, through the retirement of Dr. Junkin, the college was for a while closed, and Mr. Hoyt then entered Williams College, at Williamstown, Mass., and graduated in 1849. In 1850 hic was a teacher in the Academy at Towanda, and
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in the subsequent year he returned to Kingston, having been elected Professor of Mathematics in the Wyoming Seminary, which position he held for another year. He also taught the Graded School in Memphis, Tenn., for one year. Subsequently he became a student at law in the office of the late George W. Woodward, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. After the appointment of Judge Woodward to the bench, Mr. Hoyt continued his studies in the office of the late Hon. Warren J. Woodward, and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar, April 4th, 1853. In 1855 he was a candidate for District- Attorney on the Whig ticket, but was defeated by Gen. Winchester by a small majority, and in 1856 he took part in the Fremont campaign.
In 1861 Gen. Hoyt was active in raising the 52d Regiment of the Pennsyl- vania Volunteers. The national cause found no more ready supporter than Mr. Iloyt, and he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 52d Regiment in August, 1861. In 1863 he was appointed Colonel. On the Peninsula he was of Naglee's Brigade, and participated in the reconnaissance from Bottom's Bridge to Seven Pines in advance of the whole army, and commanded the party which constructed the bridges across the Chickahominy. When the battle of Fair Oaks opened, he rendered signal service by communicating to Gen. Sumner the exact position of the Union troops, joining Sumner's column as it moved to the support of Heintzelman in that battle, and fighting under him to the end. This brigade had the honor of being selected to hold the enemy in check at the pas- sages of the Chickahominy, and when recalled joined Franklin at White Oak Swamp, in both situations exhibiting the most undaunted courage. At the close of this campaign, Col. Hoyt was ordered first to North Carolina, and thence to South Carolina, where he was engaged in the siege of Fort Wagner, the first serious obstacle to the reduction of Charleston. The operations were laborious, and conducted under the terrible fire of the enemy, and the more wasting effect of the summer's heat. For forty days the work was pushed. When all was ready a hundred heavy guns opened upon devoted Wagner, and the troops were held in readiness to assault, Col. Hoyt having been assigned the task of charging Fort Gregg ; but before the time for the movement had come, the enemy evacu- ated and the stronghold fell without a blow. In June, 1864, a plan was devised to capture Charleston by surprising the garrison guarding its approaches. The attempt was made on the night of July 3d, 1864. The following extract from the Charleston Mercury, of July 6th, 1864, says :
" The second column, under the immediate command of Col. Hoyt, of the 52d Pennsylvania Regiment, attacked the Brooke gun and landing in overwhelming numbers. Lieut. Roworth, of the 2d South Carolina Artillery, was compelled to fall back, after himself and men fighting bravely. The enemy, cheered by this success, with their commander at their head waving his sword, advanced in heavy force upon Fort Johnson, but there they were received with a terrific fire by the light and heavy batteries on the line."
The " overwhelming numbers " therein referred to were Hoyt's one hundred and twenty men against the four hundred Confederate garrison. Col. Hoyt was
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highly complimented for his deportment in this action by a general order issued by Gen. Foster, commanding. In this encounter Col. Hoyt and nearly the whole of his command were captured. Gen. Foster says :
"Col. Hoyt bestows unqualified praise on the officers and men who landed with him; of these seven were killed and sixteen wounded. He himself de- serves great credit for his energy in urging the boats forward and bringing them through the narrow channel, and the feeling which led him to land at the head of his men was the promptings of a gallant spirit, which deserves to find more imitators."
Gen. Schemmelfinnig said of Col. Hoyt, after recounting the preliminaries :
"After this you placed yourself at the head of the column, and led them most gallantly, faithfully carrying out, as far as possible with the small number of men who landed with you, the orders given you by me. Had you been supported, as your brave conduct deserved, it would have ensured the success of the impor- tant operations then being carried on in front of Charleston."
Col. Hoyt, with other Union officers, was sent to Macon, Georgia, and subse- quently to Charleston. While en route from Macon to Charleston Col. Hoyt, with four other officers, escaped from the cars. After several days and nights of wearisome but fruitless efforts for liberty, they were recaptured by the rebels with the aid of bloodhounds. He was one of the fifty officers, including brigadier- generals, colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors (Gen. Dana and Lieutenant- Col. Conyngham being among the number), who were placed under the fire of our own guns in retaliation for some supposed violation of the usages of war by the Federal Government in the siege of that city. After his exchange he re- turned to his regiment, and at the close of hostilities, which occurred not long afterwards, resumed the practice of his profession. Col. Hoyt was breveted Brigadier-General for meritorious conduct, and his old comrades join heartily in declaring that it was well-earned.
In 1866 Col. Hoyt was elected a member of the School-Board of Wilkesbarre in connection with Hon. Henry W. Palmer, and during his incumbency the present Franklin street school building was erected. Hon. D. L. Rhone and George B. Kulp were also members of the same board, and principally through their efforts the present Washington street school building was erected. This was before the election of Messrs. Hoyt and Palmer to the School-Board.
In 1867 he was appointed Additional Law Judge of the county of Luzerne. His record on the bench was of the first order. Ile was able, fearless, faithful, and dignified. In the fall of the same year he received the nomination of the Republican party for the same position, and, although running largely ahead of his ticket, was defeated by Gen. Dana, the Democratic candidate. The county at that time was strongly Democratic.
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