USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 43
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When it came to be known that Erie county was organized and in- vested with the right of self-government, and courts were to be held a number of lawyers were attracted, who, though mostly non-residents yet by their constant attendance became identified with the Erie bar and at an early day helped to give that character for ability and courtesy that it has so long maintained. They could none of them of the early years be strictly regarded as residents of Erie, for whatever may have been their purposes or expectations in coming, or their plans or achievements after
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they came, for full ten years after the first court was held in the county there was no lawyer who, coming with the thought or intention of engag- ing in general practice, really permanently drove his stakes to make Erie his home.
The first resident attorney, as distinguished from those who followed the court in its peregrinations and served as called upon at the time, was William Wallace. He came in 1800, representing the Pennsylvania Popu- lation Company. He was from Harrisburg, and took up his residence here, interested in the business of the corporation that was his client. He was a man of education, and was the father of Dr. William M. Wal- lace and of Irvin M. Wallace. He returned to Harrisburg in 1810. Among those present at or about the time of the opening of the first court in 1803 was Henry Baldwin, a man of great ability and eminence. He came from Connecticut, and was the son-in-law of Andrew Ellicott. who laid out Erie. He was also the uncle of Col. John H. Bliss. Mr. Baldwin afterwards became a judge of the United States Supreme Court. Patrick Farrelley, an educated Irish lawyer regularly attended the Erie courts during the first years. He was three times elected to Congress, and died in 1826. The presence of the learned and accomplished John P. Wallace at the early terms of court helped to raise the standard of this bar, as did also the presence of William N. Irvine, a son of the noted Revolutionary general, afterwards judge of the Adams district. There were also the talented Fosters, then so conspicuous in Western Pennsyl- vania, one of whom was the father of the eloquent Henry D. Foster of Greensburg. The distinguished General Dudley Marvin was in at- tendance and admitted to practice at one of the early courts of Erie. He afterwards attained his great distinction as a statesman and lawyer in New York. Col. Ralph Marlin was one of the earliest practitioners of the Erie bar, and became noted as a lawyer and military officer. These, the real founders of the Erie bar, were, however, only transients, few of them were residents though always found in Erie when the court was being held, and the little hamlet of those days owed much to them, even though they were not enrolled among its citizen taxpayers.
The first resident attorney of Erie, to become permanently identified with the place and be a factor in its development was Thomas H. Sill, who came here in June, 1813. He was a young man from Connecticut, who, having graduated from Brown University and studied law at Cin- cinati was returning from a visit to his New England home to settle in the west. While at Pittsburg he learned that at Erie there was no resident attorney, and Erie at the time being a naval station and seeming- ly a place of promise, he determined to try his fortunes here. Immediate- ly he opened an office on East Sixth street in the house that had been occupied by William Wallace until 1810. His life was a busy one; his professional, political and civil service was long and his experience quite varied ; his practice extended through five northwestern counties ; he died
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in February, 1856. From 1816 to 1818 he was deputy United States marshal, and in 1819 was appointed deputy attorney general (equivalent to district attorney of the present time). The confusion that resulted from the burning of the court house with all the records in 1823, led to a movement to send him to Harrisburg as a representative in the legis- lature, and there he procured the passage of an act that remedied the losses and inconveniences resulting from the destruction of the county records, and also secured an appropriation from the state to aid in re- building the court house. He was elected to Congress in 1826 and re- eiected in 1828 ; was chosen president of the United States bank in 1837; at various times was elected burgess of the borough of Erie, and for nearly thirty years filled the office of trustee of the Erie Academy. He was elected in 1836 to the convention to amend the constitution of the state- a body that included such men as Forward, Sergeant, Meredith, Chaun- cey, Chandler and Reigert, and in which he acquired and maintained a position of commanding influence. He was a presidential elector in 1848, voting for Taylor and Fillmore and was postmaster of Erie from 1849 to 1853. Few citizens of Erie were held in as high esteem as Erie's first permanently residental lawyer, Thomas H. Sill.
The next permanent accession of the Erie bar was George A. Elliott, who came from Connecticut in 1816. He was a gentleman of fine scholar- ship and imposing presence, a graduate of Yale University, and he quickly took position as an able lawyer. His residence and office were on Peach street fronting the park, and for many years the Elliott home was one of the most imposing in the city. Until about 1822 Mr. Elliott and Mr. Sill constituted the bar of Erie. In the year 1822 the bar was recruited by William Kelley, who came from New Hampshire. He was a scholarly man, of fine tastes and notable public spirit. He acquired a quarter of the square upon which the Academy stood, and at the corner of State and Ninth built a picturesque cottage house, laying out the grounds in attractive fashion and embellishing them with trees and shrubbery. Until after the close of the Civil war the "Cottage House," as it was known to nearly everyone in Erie, continued to be admired and held in pride by the citizens. To his tastes as a landscape gardener was due in large measure the general plan adopted for the Erie Cemetery. Later he be- came prominently connected with public works.
The burning of the courthouse in 1823, with its appalling destruction of the county records, seems, somehow to have attracted to Erie a num- ber of notable men. Early in 1824 John Riddle came from southern Pennsylvania. He was a man of great fervor as an advocate and a very able lawyer, but he died in the meridian of life, July 4, 1837. One of the brightest legal lights that Erie ever knew was John H. Walker, who came here in 1824. He was a native of Cumberland, Pa., and was edu- cated at Washington College. He studied law with his cousin, Robert J. Walker, afterwards Secretary of the United States Treasury. His
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career at the Erie bar extending through half a century, was remark- able for the energy, ability and continuous activity which characterized it. His power before a jury seemed almost irresistible, for he seldom took up a case in which he was not convinced he was in the right. Thus fortified his chain of reasoning was powerful and his appeals overwhelming. His presence was imposing, his manner was simple yet dignified, and his whole nature seemed enlisted in his masterly efforts. His practice was large, successful and lucrative. His political career, reaching from 1832 to 1874, left several conspicuous monuments of his farsighted public spirit and statesmanship. He entered the State Legislature in 1832, and while a member secured from the state the splendid Almshouse farm, and the proceeds from the residue of the Third section west of Erie for the im- provement of Erie harbor, required upon the completion of the canal. He secured the establishment at Erie of a branch of the United States Bank, for which the classic marble building on State street near Fourth was erected. While a member of the Senate he was elected speaker of that body. The closing honor of his life was his election as president of the Constitutional Convention of 1873, as a successor of William M. Meredith, the leader of the Pennsylvania bar and secretary of the United States Treasury. Mr. Walker's busy and useful life closed in December, 1874.
Elijah Babbitt, who came to Erie from Providence, R. I., in 1826, was another brilliant light in the legal profession of Erie, and continued his activities for a much more extended term than any other lawyer who ever practiced in the courts of Erie. He was possessed of extra- ordinary energy and indefatiguable perseverance, was highly learned in the law and peculiarly keen of wit. He attracted to himself a host of friends and, becoming trusted by the citizens was frequently honored by political preferment, serving with distinction in both branches of the State Legislature and in the national Congress. At his death he had outlived all his compeers and successive groups of court officers, and moved among a new generation. yet, like Lord Brougham, his mental powers survived his ninetieth birthday. One of the most notable of his cases he conducted with signal success, proving himself, when opposed by the brightest intellects of the younger generation, so alert and re- sourceful as to win from bench and bar the most sincere congratulations upon the ability with which he conducted the case and won the verdict. He was then past ninety years of age-it was in fact his last trial in the Erie court.
One of the most notable figures in old Erie; a man who was of those who builded the town; who was chiefly distinguished by his long and successful business career, Gen. Charles M. Reed, was also a mem- ber of the Erie bar. He graduated at Washington college, studied law with Horace Birney of Philadelphia and was admitted at Erie. He died in 1871. Contemporaneous was James Carson Marshall, who for
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more than half a century practiced with remarkable success in Erie, the last half of his notable career, having as a partner his equally talented son, Frank F. Marshall. James C. Marshall was a native of Franklin county, Pa., and a student under the famous Elisha Whittelsey of Ohio, and came to Erie in 1829. His laboriousness in practice, his care in pre- paration, his tirelessness in prosecuting what he undertook, were as proverbial as his tenacity of purpose was pronounced. To him was due the adoption of the printing of paper books by our Supreme Court. Be- ing of the minority party, his services at the bar were not interrupted by political office so that his length of legal practice has few parallels in Erie county.
Two members of the Erie bar of the first half century who were to be honored with seats on the judicial bench were John Galbraith and James Thompson. The former came to Erie in 1837. He was a native of Huntingdon county. While a resident of Butler, where he published a newspaper, he studied law, and afterwards removed to Franklin, remain- ing there many years and being there elected to Congress. Some time after making Erie his home he was again sent to Congress, and, continui- ing his legal practice was, in 1851, elected president judge of the Sixth district. His fine attainments as a lawyer were supplemented by his studies in literature, and the traditions of the Erie bench and bar, give him a high position among the distinguished men who have filled the important position of judge in Erie. It will not, perhaps, be improper in this place to mention the fact that his son, William A. Galbraith, was in 1876, called to fill the same position. Hon. James Thompson came to Erie and was admitted to the Erie bar in 1845. He was born in Glades Mills, Butler county in 1805, studied law in Venango county and was admitted there in 1826. He was elected to the Legislature in 1832, and in: 1834 was elected speaker of the House. In 1836 he was appointed judge of the District Court established for Crawford, Warren and Ven- ango counties and served until 1845, the year in which he came to Erie. In 1844 he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1846 and 1848. In 1854 he was elected in Erie county to the State Legislature on the "Railroad War" issue. In 1857 he was elected judge of the supreme Court for fifteen years, the latter part of the term being Chief Justice. After retiring from the bench he practiced law at Philadelphia, and died in 1874.
A group of lawyers who became identified with the Erie bar during the decade of the thirties, serving honorably until their deaths, were Chas. W. Kelso, admitted in 1835; James D. Dunlap, 1837 and W. C. Kelso, 1839. C. W. Kelso became a favorite in Erie by reason of his eloquence of speech and not less by his charming manners and gracious presence. He was the nephew, by marriage, of both Chief Justice Gib- son (in whose family he was raised) and President Buchanan. William C. Kelso was for more than fifty years a member of the bar and partner
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of the distinguished Elijah Babbitt. Mr. Kelso was of a retiring disposi- tion, a genial kindly gentleman and the most devoted adherent to his chosen church, St. Paul's, that that religious establishment ever knew. James D. Dunlap is still remembered by his Book of Forms one of the most useful and valuable legal works ever given to the public. His pro- fessional career was interrupted by service in both branches of the State Legislature, and it was by his work that the first Erie county railroad charter was secured, that of the Erie & North East Railroad, now a part of the L. S. & M. S. Railroad.
At about this period there were, connected with the Erie bar a number of men who, soon leaving Erie, became notable elsewhere. George W. Smith, admitted in 1831, went to Kansas, and there became promi- nently identified with the struggles that preceded the admission of that state. Albert C. Ramsey, admitted in 1833, removed to York, Pa., and there was appointed colonel of a regiment that served in the Mexican War. William Miles Watts, a nephew of the noted William Miles, whose family was one of the first to settle in Erie county, was prosecuting at- torney in 1837, at the time Henry Francisco was convicted of murder. Subsequently he became a contractor on public works in this country and Brazil. Colonel C. S. Gzowski, admitted in 1839, afterwards gained fame and fortune in Canada as an engineer in the development of Sir John MacDonald's grand scheme for the unification of the Dominion. He received from the hand of Queen Victoria the honor of knighthood and was appointed one of the aides-de-camp of Her Majesty. William M. Heister, admitted in 1841, a representative of the Heisters and Muh- lenbergs of the State, went to Berks county, where he was elected to the Senate and became speaker, later serving as Secretary of the Common- wealth. Samuel A. Law, admitted in 1841, removed to Delaware county, N. Y., when he served in the legislature of that state and was appointed a paymaster in the army during the Civil war. Hon. John F. Duncombe, admitted in 1854, removed to Iowa, and will be remembered for his great speech nominating Boies for President in the Democratic national convention of 1892. Most notable of any who came here and went away was Horace M. Hawes, admitted in 1840, who removed to Cal- ifornia, became very wealthy, and by reason of a remarkable will was known as the eccentric millionaire. It is said he was the first American Alcalde of San Francisco, but this is disputed.
Of the attorneys that were prominent a generation or more ago and who have now passed off the stage, nearly all of them to answer the last summons, there are not a few who in their day filled prominent positions in the community, as well as notable places in the ranks of their honored profession. James C. Reid, Richard Sill, George W. Gunnison, Wilson Laird, A. McD. Lyon and George A. Lyon, were all natives of Erie and college graduates. The terms of practice of each at the bar were short, but their careers were long enough to show their loyalty to
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Erie. Mr. Reid was twice a member of the Legislature, Mr. Laird thrice mayor of Erie and a member of the Legislature. Each died in his native city. Jonas Gunnison spent the whole of his years of manhood at the Erie bar until his useful and exemplary life was cut short while seem- ingly in the meridian of his career. He was the father of Judge Frank Gunnison. G. Nelson Johnston's admission to the bar was soon followed by his election as district attorney, but death closed his career just after he had entered upon the duties of his office. John W. Douglas, ad- mitted in 1850, has filled very prominent positions. As commissioner of internal revenue of the United States and commissioner of the Dis- trict of Columbia he has been honored and distinguished.
Erie's roll of attorneys embraces the names of Edwin C. Wilson, adjutant general under Gov. Packer; Henry Souther, surveyor general oi Pennsylvania and judge of Schuylkill county; John W. Walk- er, United States marshal for the western district of Pennsylvania; Samuel L. Gilson, Indian Agent during President Cleveland's first administration ; Colonel Charles M. Lynch, district attorney, United States collector of internal revenue for the Nineteenth district of Penn- sylvania, and an honored and brave officer in one of Erie's war reg- iments; David B. McCreary, member of the Legislature, twice elected to the Senate, where he ably served eight years, brevetted as brigadier general in the Civil war and adjutant general under Gov. Geary: Edward Camphausen for five years consul at Naples, appointed by President Cleveland during his first term; Samuel M. Brainerd, a representative in Congress from the Erie district ; George P. Griffith, so long identified with the cause of education as a school director and officer of the board during the period when the schools of Erie were being placed upon a modern footing.
Distinguished among the names upon the roll of Erie lawyers is that of Vincent, the older that of Judge John P. Vincent; the younger General Strong Vincent. Judge Vincent's was one of the longest terms recorded for a member of the Erie bar, beginning in 1841 and closing in 1909, the term of service almost coextensive with the Psalmist's span of life. And it was a busy and honorable career, covering a term as judge, and including periods, when as legal adviser his opinions were of great importance to the community. General Vincent, his nephew, achieved a military fame that will ever endure. As colonel of the Eighty- third regiment, his selection, upon his own volition of Little Round Top as a position to fortify at Gettysburg, the possession of which proved to be the turning point in the decisive battle of the Civil war, has been quoted at West Point as a proof of first class military strategy, while his noble defense of this key to the position has thrown a halo round his name which gives to liis chivalrous deed a place in history whenever the great battle which his genius helped to gain is mentioned, a triumph for which he yielded his life. Nor was Strong Vincent the only member Vol. I-25
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of the Erie bar who as an officer in that war distinguished himself. In the list of heroes are enrolled the names of McCreary, Walker, the Lyonses, Lynch, Whittelsey, Judson, Gould, Wilson, Brigden and Chapman.
A quartette of lawyers of a generation gone who long were con- spicuous figures of the Erie bar were William Benson, admitted in 1846; James Sill, admitted in 1852; Benjamin Grant, admitted in 1845; and George A. Allen, admitted in 1868. Few of the Erie bar were more noted or will longer be remembered than William Benson, born in 1819, and educated at the Waterford and Erie Academies. He was a rough diamond. His manner was eccentric and independent, with an indiffer- ence to some of the conventionalities of life, which, while revealing his independence, gained a degree of admiration because, joined with a brusque honesty in keeping with his bold utterances, he seemed to come from the plain people and sought to be one of the plain people, and to do nothing to separate him from the plain people. He hated ostentation and sham, and he had the tenderest of hearts. He was always a student, and was profoundly learned in the law. His practice was large and successful. He died in 1891, aged 72 years. Col. Benjamin Grant acquired a large and prosperous practice, and he was distinguished by his aptitude for business. He obtained a wide celebrity for his finely pre- pared reports, and his especial skill was his equity practice. James Sill, born 1829, died 1903, was the son of Hon. T. H. Sill, Erie's first perma- nent resident attorney. He was a graduate of the New York State and National Law School, and was admitted to practice at the Erie bar when twenty-one years of age. He immediately assumed a prominent position among Erie lawyers. He was elected district attorney in 1857 and a Presidential elector in 1860. Upon his father's death he succeeded to his extensive business, and became as well an important figure in political affairs as his father had been, without himself being advanced in public office until 1880 when he was elected Senator for four years. He was a man of wonderfully retentive memory, a ready speaker and a grace- ful writer, and was in almost constant request as a historian, especially by the editors of the city. George A. Allen was born near Pulaski, Pa., in 1839, attended the common schools at Polk, and afterwards the Clin- tonville Academy and the State Normal School at Edinboro. Later he had a course of classical studies under private tutelage at Franklin, became a law student in the office of W. R. Bole, at Meadville, and was admitted to the Erie bar in 1868. Mr. Allen elected to practice in Erie and was soon well established, quickly winning a place. His practice became ex- tensive throughout northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. He was known as a discrete and safe counselor and a skillful and success- ful trial lawyer and advocate and was respected as a high-minded member of the legal fraternity. Being an uncompromising Democrat in a strong Republican district, offices of election did not come his way but he was
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frequently honored by his party. In 1886 he was appointed by President Cleveland United States district attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. For a year soon after being admitted he had for a part- ner Theodore A. Lamb, but for several years practiced alone, even- tually forming a partnership with Louis Rosenzweig, which, enduring for years, continued until his death in 1905.
The death of Hon. John P. Vincent in March, 1909, left of the Erie bar just a handful who had been admitted to practice "before the war," that is to say during the decade of the fifties, and these may be regarded as the remnant of the lawyers of the old school. They are: Andrew H. Caughey, admitted in 1851; S. S. Spencer, admitted in 1853; Samuel A. Davenport, admitted in 1854; J. Ross Thompson, admitted in 1856, and J. F. Downing, admitted in 1859. But three of these are now practicing the legal profession. Dr. A. H. Caughey is a native of the county, and one of the most highly educated men ever enrolled as attorney in Erie. He early abandoned the practice of law to become an educator, having been principal of the Erie Academy, and an instructor at La Fayette College. He took a course in theology and was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry. He became a writer, and as a poet won a fair measure of success. His works won recognition that took the form of degrees conferred by institutions of learning and he is entitled to use more alphabetical affixes to his name than any other member of the legal profession in Erie ever was. S. S. Spencer came to Erie read in the law. Like many another attorney of this bar, his early years were devoted to teaching, but since he became a citizen of Erie he has con- fined himself to the legal profession. For many years he had as a partner Judge Selden Marvin and for a long time the firm was among the best known of the lawyers of Erie. His son, Selden P. Spencer, who began his legal career under the guidance of Samuel S., became judge of the Circuit Court of St. Louis.
Samuel A. Davenport has long been one of the most active and prom- inent attorneys of Erie. Few of the practitioners of law in Erie achieved as brilliant a success and none, perhaps were favored with a greater volume of business. He was a studious and painstaking lawyer, and never went into court without having carefully prepared his case, and this fact, perhaps even more than his inherited talents, was the secret of his success. Mr. Davenport always, until recently, took a prominent part in politics, and became a leader in his, the dominant party, not only in the county of Erie, but in the State. In 1894 he was nominated as Congressman-at-large for Pennsylvania, and elected, and was returned in 1896. His long career at the Erie bar has been a luminous one and he continues still to be a useful and influential member of the profession.
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