USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II > Part 26
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It is related of him that during a term as treasurer of Huntingdon county, 1843 to 1845, he gave up his idea of the law, retired from the firm of Miles & Taylor and began preparing himself for the ministry of the Presbyterian church. During these two years as county treasurer he made such progress in the study of Greek as to read the New Testa- ment in the original. But he returned to the law and therein made a lasting name. In the preparation of his papers he was most scrupu- lously exact, orthography, punctuation and penmanship faultless, and every word carefully selected. All his writings were executed with the same care as if they were for the public eye. While a law student he edited a newspaper for a time and there acquired a careful style of writing. but the mainspring of all he did was the good old maxim,
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which in youth he adopted as his own, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well." During his thirteen years at the bar as a practi- tioner he was but a new comer in a bar of great ability-men of char- acter and experience; some in the prime of life; some in the zenith of their fame, so the young man had a hard struggle and barely was able to support his family. But when a judge was to be selected from among their number, they unanimously selected the young man whose talents they had learned to respect. Judge Taylor was an ideal judge. He could not be influenced by fear, love or the hope of gain. He had an intense love of justice and the nerve to fearlessly administer it in the face of all opposition-yet with conscience as his prompter, truth and the law as guides, he tempered justice with mercy, and, while a just, was never a hard judge. In his course of twenty-two years on the bench it is of record that never from sickness or other cause did he ever fail to hold the regular term of court in the district.
Judge Taylor married (first) Adaline, daughter of John Miller, who bore a daughter Martha Adaline, who died aged twenty-five years. He married (second) Priscilla Moore and had issue: Robert Moore, now living in Warren, retired; Matthew Henry, now president of the Pittsburgh Coal Company, residing in Erie, Pennsylvania; George, died in infancy. Judge Taylor married (third) Margaret Stilt, who yet survives him, a resident of Huntingdon, a member of the Presby- terian church, as was her husband. Children: William Stilt (of whom further) ; Annie Miller, residing in Huntingdon with her mother; Elizabeth Anderson, twin of Annie M., died June 2, 1910, unmarried. Margaret Stilt Taylor is a daughter of Robert and Susan (Miller) Stilt and a maternal granddaughter of John Miller, one of the early settlers of Huntingdon county, a wealthy miller and tannery owner, prominent in the Masonic order in Huntingdon. Robert Stilt, of Huguenot descent, was born in Alexandria, Huntingdon county ; his wife, Susan Miller, born in the town of Huntingdon. After their marriage they settled there and Robert operated a tannery. During the war between the states he was in charge of supply trains for the government, with an office in Washington, D. C. He died during the war, his wife surviving him a few years. Their only child is Margaret, widow of Judge George Taylor.
(VI) William Stilt, only son of Judge George Taylor and his third
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wife, Margaret Stilt, was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1853. He was educated in Huntingdon Academy and Mantua Academy, West Philadelphia, and spent several years in the employ of the Pennsylvania road as clerk. He then studied law under Judge James R. Ludlow, of Philadelphia; attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania; later went west and in 1880 was admitted to the bar at Marion, Lynn county, Iowa. He practiced there two years, then returned to Huntingdon, where he was admitted in 1883 and has since been in continuous practice, specializing in the law of real estate, in which he has acquired a high reputation. Mr. Taylor is well known beyond the confines of his profession and is the author of a volume of allegorical poems, published in 1891, under the title of "Man Immor- tal." This volume was well received and widely read, as have been other of Mr. Taylor's literary productions. He is a Republican in politics and an attendant of the Presbyterian church.
He married, in December, 1895, Margaret Elizabeth Maclay, of Spruce Creek township, Huntingdon county, daughter of John Palmer and Mary (Highlands) Maclay. Children : Mary Highlands, born February 16, 1897, now a student at Juniata College: George, born September 6, 1904.
ORLADY During the years when the colonies of America were striving to throw off England's enslaving claims and to raise themselves free and unfettered in the pure light of liberty, the American cause had no truer friend, supporter and ally than the French government. Then it was, under the leadership of Marquis de Lafayette, that many of the bravest sons of France left their homeland for a life of war in the western world, and then it was that Pennsylvania received from France the seed of the Orlady family, whose members have made themselves prominent in the medical, educa- tional and legal life of the state by the exercise of the same sterling qualities of character which brought the American progenitor of the line three thousand miles to fight for the right in the defense of the weaker. This was Henri Orlady, born in France, November 2, 1758. After the War of Independence, he did not return to France, but settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, later moving to Lancaster county and then to Roxbury, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where he
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was the proprietor of a tannery until his death, January 8, 1840. His brother, Paul, who had come to America at the same time, also died in Roxbury, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. This generation of the family were adherents to the Lutheran faith. Henri Orlady married and had issue.
(II) Martin, son of Henri Orlady, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1787, died September 22, 1868, in Hunting- don county, Pennsylvania. As a young man he had learned both the tanner's and shoemaker's trades, and leaving home in 1810, he went to Warrior's Mark, where he engaged in the pursuit of both trades. In church affiliation he followed the convictions of his father, belonging to the Lutheran church. Politically he was a Whig, later a Repub- lican. He married Ellen Gable and had issue.
(III) Henry, son of Martin and Ellen (Gable) Orlady, was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1818, died in Durand, Wisconsin, December 8, 1893. He obtained his preliminary educa- tion in Boalsburg Academy, Juniata Valley, and then entered Jeffer- son Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, later entering Belle- vue College, New York, from which he was graduated Doctor of Medi- cine in 1845. He just began to practice in McConnellstown, Penn- sylvania, remaining there about three years, when he moved to Peters- burg. Here he practiced until 1883, gaining a reputation as one of the county's most reliable physicians, his name becoming a by-word throughout the locality for gentleness, kindness and embracing sym- pathy more than professional. Although absorbed in his practice, he still maintained the interest owed by every good citizen to his town and was active in church work and civic affairs. In politics he sup- ported the Republican platform and in religion was a Presbyterian. His fraternal relations were confined to the Masonic order. He mar- ried, May 1, 1848, Martha Boal, born in Center county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1824, died October 26, 1904, daughter of George and Mary (Caldwell) Boal, natives of the North of Ireland, who immigrated to the United States at an early date. They were both members of the Presbyterian church.
Children of Henry and Martha (Boal) Orlady: 1. George Boal (of whom further mention). 2. Mary, born August 15, 1853, married Homer Crawford and lives in Franklin, Pennsylvania. 3. Sara, born
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December 5, 1855, died 1885. 4. Henry, born June 28, 1858, moved to Durand, Wisconsin, where he is a prosperous and influential business man. 5. Martha C., born November 25, 1864, married Rev. Josiah C. Wood and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
(IV) George Boal, eldest son of Henry and Martha (Boal) Orlady. was born in Petersburg, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1850. He was educated in the Bellwood Academy, from which he was graduated, and later attended Pennsylvania State College. graduating, then going to Washington and Jefferson, graduating in 1870 with the degree of S. B., the same institution honoring him with the LL.D. in 1898. He then took a course at Jefferson Medi- cal College, of Philadelphia, graduating as Doctor of Medicine in 1871. Being prepared to follow the medical profession, he began to practice with his father in Pittsburgh, but his health being too poor to with- stand the rigors and cares of the physician's life, he abandoned his original intention and began to read law in the office of Samuel Steele Blair, Esq., and in February of 1875 was admitted to the Blair county bar. He did not, however, confine his practice to Blair county, but settled in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, where he was three times elected district attorney in 1878, 1881 and 1884, his majority increas- ing with each election. When the Superior Court of Pennsylvania was created, Mr. Orlady was appointed to its bench by Governor Hastings, afterward receiving the unanimous nomination of the Re- publican state convention, and was elected November 5, 1895. He is a member of the State Bar Association, holding the office of president during 1913, and also holds membership in the American Bar Asso- ciation. He has taken an active part in the affairs of the Republican party both in state and county, and by the exercise of his public speak- ing abilities has rendered his party valuable service in many campaigns. He has several times been a delegate to county conventions and three times to state conventions. In the convention of 1890 he presented General Hastings as candidate for governor, and in 1894 nominated Hon. Galusha A. Grow for congressinan at large. As district attorney he prosecuted the pleas of the county ably and well. In him the ora- torical ability is strongly developed : he is keen in debate, withering in sarcasm, and possesses to a degree the mannerism which lends weight and influence to an argument simply because he uses it. He is a mem-
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ber of the Masonic order, belonging to Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 300, Free and Accepted Masons, Standing Stone Chapter, No. 201, Royal Arch Masons, Huntingdon Commandery, No. 65, and Syria Temple of Pittsburgh, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1908 and 1909 he served as Grand Master of the Masonic fraternity of Pennsylvania, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
Judge Orlady married, February 21, 1877, Mary Irwin Thompson, daughter of Dr. Hardman Phillips Thompson; children: 1. Edith Thompson, born December 29, 1877, was graduated in 1903 from Bryn Mawr College and is now secretary of that institution. 2. Fred- erick L., born February 27, 1880, was graduated from Yale Univer- sity, read law with his father and with the firm of Dalzell, Scott & Gordon, Esqrs., of Pittsburgh; was admitted to the bar and has been practicing in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. 3. George Phillips, born February 2, 1892, attending University of Virginia.
The paternal ancestors of Judge William N. Seibert,
SEIBERT president judge of the Forty-first Judicial District of Pennsylvania, came to this country from England, settling first in Virginia. Their coming antedated the revolutionary war, in which members of the family served on the colonial side. The family, originally from Wurtemberg, Germany, settled in England, from whence they came to America.
(I) Jacob Seibert, a soldier of the revolution, serving eight years, married Jeretah White Lawrence, of Scotchi-Irish descent; children : John; William; Lawrence W. (of further mention) ; Margaret and Sarah.
(II) Lawrence W., son of Jacob Seibert, was born near Strasburg, Virginia, April 15, 1797, died in the autumn of 1866. He studied law, but became a large owner of landed property ; he never practiced his profession. His estate was at Woodstock, Virginia, where he lived the life of a wealthy Southern planter until the war came. He was a noted public speaker and was much in demand during political campaigns as a "stump" speaker.
He married (first) Mary Ann Miller, born in Virginia, March, 1801, died February, 1834. She was very young when married, her first child being born when she was but sixteen years of age; children :
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Eli, born 1817, died in Woburn, Illinois, in 1905; Jacob A., born 1819, died in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1907; Samuel W. (of whom further) : James L. W., born 1826, died at Somerset, Pennsylvania ; Lorenzo M., born 1828, now living in Selma, Iowa; Sarah Ann, born 1830, died at Mount Jackson, Virginia; John H., born 1832, served in the Seven- teenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, during the war between the states and died in a soldiers' hospital in Marion, Indiana; Mary Ann, married Thomas Skinner, and died at Maplewood, Ohio, De- cember 3, 1907. Lawrence W. Seibert married (second) Amelia Marshall; they had issue: Six children, the eldest of whom, George, was a soldier in the Confederate army at the time his half-brother. John H., was serving in the Union army; was shot through the breast at the battle of Bull Run and died in the hospital.
(III) Samuel W., third child of Lawrence W. Seibert and his first wife, Mary Ann Miller, was born at Woodstock, Virginia, April 1, 1824, and died at his residence in Newport, Perry county, Pennsyl- vania, on May 27, 1913, in his ninetieth year. He was educated in the subscription schools, Fairview Academy and Cambridge College, Indiana. He prepared for and became an ordained minister of the Evangelical Association, living a long life of Christian usefulness. He served many churches in different localities with great acceptability. He built over a score of churches, many parsonages, and received into communion of his church over two thousand new members. For six- teen years lie was a presiding elder and was held in high esteem by church officials, the clergy and laity. For a year or two he managed the Neilson farm for his father-in-law, who was in poor health, then returned to the ministry, where he has always been a prominent figure. After the failure of his health he retired to a comfortable home in Newport, from which he superintended his farin of one hundred and ninety-six acres. He was a director of the First National Bank of New- port and its president for many years, and in politics a Democrat. He married. April 1, 1846, Eleanor K. Neilson, born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, December 26, 1826, died June 16, 1905. Rev. Seibert came to Perry county shortly after his entering the ministry, there met and married Miss Neilson, Rev. Emanuel Kohr performing the ceremony ; children : Judge William N. (of whom further) ; Dr. James L., a practicing physician of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, married Eliza
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Bolig, no issue; Virginia, died 1897, aged forty-two years; Charles, died 1875, aged nine years. ,
Mrs. Eleanor K. (Neilson) Seibert was a daughter of William (2) and Rebecca Darlington (Bull) Neilson, granddaughter of John Neil- son and great-granddaughter of William (1) Neilson, who is first found in Chester county, Pennsylvania, from whence he came to Perry county, where he became the owner of a thousand-acre tract. There he built a log house, cleared a farm and in 1767 built the stone house that is yet used as a residence. After a life of prosperity and useful- ness, he died, leaving a widow and two children: John (of whom further) and Polly, who married William Power-a runaway match- he a saddler, engaging later and for many years in business at the Neilson homestead.
John, only son of William Neilson, was born at the Perry county homestead. He lived there all his life, owning the home farm, also lands in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was killed by a run- away team while yet in his prime. He married and left five children : William (of further mention) ; Mary (Polly), married Judge Samuel Black, lived and died in Perry county; Sarah, died unmarried, in extreme old age; John, died in infancy; John (2) lived and died in Perry county ; Robert, lived and died in Perry county. At his death, John Neilson divided his landed estate among his three sons, providing for his daughters otherwise. It was the wish of the daughters, Polly and Sarah, to have lands instead of cash, but law and custom awarded that part of the estate in equal parts to the three sons, priority of choice being in accordance with seniority.
William (2) Neilson retained the old homestead, to which he brought his bride, and there lived a quiet, contented, prosperous life. He was of quiet, retiring nature, but nevertheless firm and decided in his likes, dislikes, beliefs and opinions. It is related of him that he was the first in his community to attempt to abolish rum from the harvest field. This he accomplished in the sensible manner of adding to the wages of his men the cost of the liquor that would have been consumed during the harvest. In this quiet, forceful way he exerted a strong influence for good, preaching by deeds, rather than by words.
His wife, Rebecca D. Bull, was the descendant of the early Bull family, who in the persons of Jolm, Richard and William Bull came to
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Pennsylvania in the days of William Penn and located in Chester county, founding a prominent, influential family. The only child of William (2) Neilson, Eleanor K., married Rev. Samuel W. Seibert. (IV) Judge William N., eldest son of Rev. Samuel W. and Eleanor K. (Neilson) Seibert, was born in Center township, Perry county, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1848. He was educated in the private schools, academies and under private tutors, and during his early years lived at the farm with his grandfather. He first intended to become a printer, but after two years at that trade abandoned it and began the study of law under the preceptorship of the late William A. Sponsler. Com- pleting his studies and passing the required examination, he was ad- mitted to the Perry county bar in August, 1869. He at once began the practice of law in New Bloomfield, and continued in honor and success until January 1, 1912, when he took his seat upon the bench as president judge of the Forty-first Judicial District of Pennsylvania, comprised of the counties of Juniata and Perry. Judge Seibert practiced alone until the admission to the bar of his son, William S. Seibert, then admitted him to a partnership, which continued until the father was elevated to the bench. Judge Seibert is eminently qualified to fill the high judicial position to which he has been chosen. He has devoted his entire mature life-forty-two years-to the practice of law: is learned in all its phases ; has a fair, impartial, steadfast mind that will not be swerved from an upright, honorable course, and, above all, has lived a life of such integrity and uprightness that he commands the unbounded respect of every member of the bar. His learning, wisdom and fair- ness bespeak for him a career of great usefulness and honor as a jurist, rivaling that of the lawyer. Judge Seibert is a member of the Presby- terian church and since August 5, 1883, has served as elder of the New Bloomfield Church. He belongs to the Masonic craft, being affiliated with Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery of Knights Tem- plar. For thirty-two years, by right of official position, he has repre- sented his lodge in the annual meetings of the Grand Lodge of Penti- sylvania, holding, with four others, supervision of Grand Lodge cor- respondence. He is highly esteemed in the craft and has been one of those eminent Masons who have made the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge one of the leading Grand Lodges of the United States.
Judge Seibert married, June, 1870, Elizabeth A. Ileiges, born in
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York county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth ( Mum- per) Heiges; children: 1. William S., born December 21, 1872, edu- cated in New Bloomfield Academy; read law under the direction of his honored father; was admitted to the Perry county bar in 1894, then was admitted to a partnership that continued until Judge Seibert was raised to a president judgeship, now practicing alone. He mar- ried Allie E. Fastnacht; children : William Warren and Helen Eliza- beth, the latter dying in infancy. 2. John H., born October 2, 1875, now proprietor of a livery stable in New Bloomfield; unmarried.
MAGEE This name, prominent in Pennsylvania annals for several generations, is an especially honored one in the Juniata Valley. Here three generations founded and edited news- papers that ranked among the best in the state; were prominent in public life and bulwarks of strength to the Democratic party. The family became identified with the city of Philadelphia, in the decade following the American revolution, and are of (Scotch-Irish lineage, belonging to that vast army of Scotch Covenanters, the founders of the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland, who, in the latter part of the sev- enteenth century, sought refuge from persecution in the northern counties of Ireland, from whence came many emigrants to America, principally to Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, during the period 1720- 1800. The Magees were among those who remained in Ireland for several generations. In the middle of the eighteenth century they are found, settled at Rathmullen, in the extreme northern part of county Donegal, just southwest of Scotland, from whence came their fore- bears a century earlier.
(I) Alexander Magee was born in Philadelphia, September 20, 1791, died in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, July 8, 1845. He was educated in the city schools and learned the trade of printer and book- binder in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During the war of 1812-1814, he enlisted in the American army, serving in Captain Alexander's company of volunteers. In 1820 he moved to Landisburg, Perry county, and there established the pioneer newspaper of the county, "The Perry For- ester," continuing its publication in Landisburg until April 1, 1829, when the paper was moved to New Bloomfield, then the county seat. In 1822 Mr. Magee sold the paper to David A. Reed, and engaged in
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mercantile life until 1841. In that year he was elected sheriff of Perry county, serving his term most acceptably. He then lived a retired life in New Bloomfield until his death, at the age of fifty-four years. He was a man of high character, with a conscientious regard for his duties as a citizen, commanding the respect and esteem of his contemporaries in public life, going in and out among the people of Perry county for a quarter of a century, leading their thought for half of these years through the columns of his paper, and demonstrating in his daily life the purity of his purpose. He was the friend of education and of every enterprise tending to promote the public good. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1837-1838, which framed the constitution for the state of Pennsylvania, which existed until 1874.
Mr. Magee married, about 1815, Sarah, born August 4, 1795, died January 24, 1855, daughter of John and Eve Crever, of Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, of German descent; children: Anna Catherine, married Ed- ward S. Swartz, of Berks county; Eleanor, married James G. Sample, of Crawford county; Mary A., married Matthew McBride, of Perry county ; Eliza, married Samuel G. Morrison, of Lycoming county ; Margaret, married Joseph M. Shatto, of Perry county ; John A. (of whom further) : Sarah J., unmarried, of New Bloomfield ; Emma J., married Addis McVeagh, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania ; James Black, died in infancy.
(II) John Alexander, son of Alexander and Sarah (Crever) Magee, was born at Landisburg, then the county seat of Perry county, October 14, 1827, died at his home in New Bloomfield, November 18, 1903, one of the oldest newspaper men of the state of Pennsylvania, both in actual years and in years of service. He was educated in the public schools and at New Bloomfield Academy ; his parents moving to New Bloom- field when he was two years of age. In August, 1845. he began an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, entering the office of the "Perry County Democrat," then edited and published by George Stroop. In 1850 he left the "Democrat" and located in Harrisburg, working on the "Keystone" and the "Daily American." In 1851 he taught school. In 1853 he is found as a typesetter in the printing offices of the "Na- tional Era," Washington, D. C. In January. 1854, he became editor of the "Perry County Democrat," a vacancy having been created by the death of George Stroop, under whom Mr. Magee served his years
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