USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. X > Part 32
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newspaper work, bcoming a reporter for the "Commercial Gazette" and the "Pitts- burgh Press." While thus busily en- gaged he did not lose sight of his ultimate object which was the profession of the law. His spare hours were devoted to legal studies in the office of Major A. M. Brown, and on June 13, 1891, on motion of Judge Charles S. Fetterman, he was ad- mitted to the Allegheny county bar. Al- most on the threshold of his career the young lawyer rose into prominence. In 1893 he was appointed deputy district at- torney under District Attorney Clarence Burleigh, retaining the position until his resignation at the expiration of the first year of the incumbency of John C. Hay- maker. Thereafter for a number of years Mr. Blakeley devoted himself to private practice, making a record which brought him conspicuously and favorably into public notice. He was connected with many of the most important of the civil and criminal cases which were tried in the courts of Allegheny county, meeting with unusual success in conducting them to a satisfactory conclusion. Among those which added greatly to his prestige were the J. McD. Scott cases. In the matter of obtaining favorable verdicts Mr. Blake- ley could scarcely be said to have a supe- rior. One of the best known instances of his ability in this direction is the case of J. C. Robinson, secretary of The Cash Industrial and The Globe Building and Loan associations, who was charged with having embezzled sixty-three thousand dollars of the funds of these corporations. Another instance is the case of Joseph L. and Susan L. Miller, for whom Mr. Blake- ley obtained a verdict of ninety-seven thousand dollars, this sum being within one thousand dollars of the highest ver- dict ever obtained in Allegheny county, and creating considerable comment throughout the entire State. In 1901 the
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course of his private practice was inter- rupted by his appointment as assistant city solicitor under City Solicitor Thomas Carnahan, serving until the election of Mayor William B. Hays. He then re- sumed private practice, and in March, 1905, formed a partnership with ex-Judge Eliot Rodgers and George H. Calvert, the firm name being Rodgers, Blakeley & Cal- vert. On January 1 ,1908, Judge Rodgers withdrew from the partnership and Mr. Blakeley became senior member in the firm of Blakeley & Calvert.
On December 14, 1908, Mr. Blakeley was appointed by the unanimous consent of all the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, district attorney of Allegheny county, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry L. Goehring. In 1909 he was elected to the office by an overwhelm- ing majority. The period of his adminis- tration forms the climax of his career. for in it he stood before the public not only as the eminent lawyer but also as the fearless champion of the people's rights, the uncompromising foe of treachery and fraud. He labored diligently in untang- ling the conspiracy in the City Council and in prosecuting the offenders. Coun- cilmen and bankers were convicted and sent to the penitentiary or jail. It was while he served as district attorney by appointment that this episode, which has been graphically called "the clean-up of Pittsburgh," occurred, and it was his ag- gressiveness in behalf of right and justice which won for him the unanimous Repub- lican nomination for the full term and victory at the subsequent election. In 1913 Mr. Blakeley received the tribute of the offer of a renomination, but expressed his refusal of the honor in the following words :
Upon the expiration of my present term, Jan- uary, 1914, I shall have occupied the office of dis- trict attorney for a period of five years. The first four were exceedingly busy ones and called
forth the best efforts and attention of everyone connected with the office. What things were done and how they were done are matters entirely within the knowledge of the public, and I need not make further comment. I hope that we may be able to close the eleven remaining months of service with as much satisfaction to ourselves and the public generally as rewarded our work of the previous years of our administration.
Mr. Blakeley's conduct of the office of public prosecutor has been a refreshing exhibition of what a man with a con- science and a good stiff backbone can do. His disregard of his own future at the hands of the dominant political machine has won him, the admiration of every right thinking man and woman in the community. He deserves the greatest credit for the manner in which he has handled the entire situation. He has un- doubtedly had to resist tremendous in- fluences which would have put an end to all further prosecutions. He has even had to institute proceedings against some of his old friends and associates. Yet through it all he has stood true to his duties as state's attorney. There are many things in his present attitude that point to real greatness of character, a thing too seldom found in a public official these days.
Among the professional organizations in which Mr. Blakeley was enrolled were the Pennsylvania Bar Association, of which he was at one time vice-president, and the Allegheny County Bar Associa- tion, in which he served on the committee of offenses. He also belonged to the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminol- ogy, and was at one time a member of the faculty of the Pittsburgh Law School. His clubs were the Duquesne Club, Pitts- burgh Club, Pittsburgh Athletic Associa- tion, Allegheny Country, Pittsburgh Country, Union, University, and last but not least, the Automobile Club of Pitts- burgh, for he was a most enthusiastic
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motorist. He also belonged to the Art Society of Pittsburgh, the Church Club of Pittsburgh, and the Civic Club of Alle- gheny County.
There was, as has been well said, noth- ing narrow nor petty in the character of Mr. Blakeley. No one, however, who had once met him, would need to be assured of this fact, for a glance at his counten- ance, which bore the stamp of a large nature and a candid disposition, would have inspired the strongest conviction. His expression, keen and searching as it was, was tempered by a kindliness which gave evidence of a warm and sympathetic heart. He was a man of profound beliefs and his exceptional power in impressing his beliefs upon others was due in great measure to his tenacity and capacity for concentration.
On his retirement from the office of dis- trict attorney Mr. Blakeley resumed priv- ate practice. He was in the prime of life and it seemed not improbable that he might again be unanimously summoned by his fellow-citizens to serve them in a place of honor and responsibility. But it was not to be. On May 26, 1917, he passed away, his death depriving the bar of Allegheny county of one of its bright- est ornaments and the metropolis of Pennsylvania of an ideal citizen. It is thus that William Augustus Blakeley will be remembered. His name will live in the annals of his profession and his city as that of an able and high-minded lawyer whose powers were consecrated to the righting of wrongs, the vindication of the innocent, and the incorruptible and invin- cible maintenance and defense of good government and civic virtue.
BLAKELEY, William J., Lawyer.
Among those Pittsburgh lawyers who have, within the last five years, taken
their places as members of the Allegheny county bar, William J. Blakeley has al- ready won merited recognition. Mr. Blakeley was until recently a member of the well-known firm of Blakeley & Blake- ley, but has practiced alone since the death of his uncle, William A. Blakeley, senior partner, and one of the most dis- tinguished members of the Pittsburgh bar.
William J. Blakeley was born October 25, 1883, at Toledo, Ohio, and is a son of Frederick J. and Ada (Jones) Blakeley, and a grandson of Colonel Archibald and Susan Drum. (Mechling) Blakeley. The Blakeley family has been resident in Western Pennsylvania since the latter part of the eighteenth century, and for sixty years and upwards has been repre- sented in Pittsburgh. Biographies and portraits of Colonel Archibald Blakeley and his son, William A. Blakeley, both deceased, precede this.
The preparatory education of William J. Blakeley was received in the public schools of Toledo, and the Toledo Central High School, from which he graduated. He then spent two years at Cornell Univ- ersity, Ithaca, New York, and at the end of that time entered the law school of the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1912 with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He then became a law student in the office of Blakeley & Calvert, Mr. William A. Blakeley, of this firm, being his uncle and acting as his preceptor. In 1913 he was admitted to the Allegheny county bar. Immediately thereafter Mr. Blakeley be- gan practice in association with the firm of Blakeley & Calvert, giving, as the years went on, increasing evidence that he had made no mistake in the choice of a pro- fession. In January, 1916, his uncle, Wil- liam A. Blakeley, withdrew from the firm of Blakeley & Calvert, forming the part- nership of Blakeley & Blakeley. This as- sociation of uncle and nephew was main-
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tained until the death of the former, which occurred May 26, 1917. Since that time he has practiced alone. Mr. Blake- ley is a member of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church. He is the descendant of men who have made the family name synonymous in Pittsburgh with military distinction and professional eminence.
PRICHARD, Frank Perley, Lawyer.
For more than a quarter of a century the Philadelphia bar numbered among its leaders the late Frank P. Prichard, for many years the legal associate of the late John G. Johnson, and afterwards head of the well-known firm of Prichard, Saul, Bayard & Evans, until the time of his death. With eminence in his profession Mr. Prichard combined noteworthy ac- tivity as a citizen, taking a foremost part in all that concerned municipal reform and the cause of public progress.
Frank Perley Prichard was born May 30, 1853, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was a son of Abraham P. and Frances A. (Sawyer) Prichard. Frank P. Prich- ard attended the public schools of Phil- adelphia, and in 1870 graduated from the Central High School. After reading law for a time with the late Arthur M. Burton, Mr. Prichard entered the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, graduat- ing with the class of 1874. On June I, of that year, he was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia. Entering without delay upon the active practice of his profession, Mr. Prichard won speedy recognition both for native ability and devotion to duty. These qualities, combined with comprehensive equipment, soon built up for him a very high and firmly assured reputation. For over thirty-five years he was associated with the late John G. Johnson. In 1878 Mr. Prichard was elec-
ted president of the Law Academy, be- coming one of the best-known lawyers in Philadelphia. He was editor of the "Weekly Notes of Cases" and of the "American Law Register." During the years 1915, 1916 and 1917 he served as chancellor of the Law Association of Phil- adelphia.
In all that made for civic betterment Mr. Prichard was an enthusiastic worker. In November, 1904, in pursuance of a res- olution passed at a meeting of citizens, he was appointed chairman of a committee of seven citizens to recommend some plan for the improvement of existing municipal conditions, and as a result of the report of this committee the Committee of Seventy was formed, Mr. Prichard acting as a member of its executive committee. Sug- gestions and plans for placing in the field a full list of independent candidates for magistrates and councilmen were dis- cussed and it was, eventually, through the work of this committee that the project was carried out. In addition to the liter- ary work already mentioned, Mr. Prich- ard wrote and published a number of addresses on political and legal subjects. In 1910 he was appointed by the Governor of the State chairman of the Committee to Codify and Revise Pennsylvania Elec- tion Laws and on this committee he served until 1913. He was a director of the Land Title and Trust Company and of the Philadelphia Company for Guar- anteeing Mortgages. Politically Mr. Prichard was a Republican. He was one of the trustees of the Thomas W. Evans Museum and Institute Society, and his clubs were the Rittenhouse and Univer- sity.
The personality of Mr. Prichard was complex and at the same time singularly attractive. Profoundly learned in his pro- fession, and possessing broad general cul -. ture, he was also endowed with the qual-
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ities which win and hold friends. His bearing was dignified, and while his hab- itual expression was that of gravity he manifested, in the company of his inti- mates, a geniality and a sense of humor, the charm of which will be long remem- bered by those privileged to enjoy it.
Mr. Prichard married, April 14, 1898, Florence Newell, daughter of Henry N. and Annie M. Tilton, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they became the par- ents of three daughters: Margaret T., Elizabeth P., and Anne Perley.
At the zenith of his career and in the full maturity of his powers this able and gifted man was suddenly summoned from the scenes of his labors and successes, passing away on August 29, 1918, at Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park. In Philadelphia the announcement of the sad event was received by the bar and judiciary with the deepest regret. and carried to the hearts of Mr. Prich- ard's personal friends a sense of inexpres- sible bereavement. Among the many tributes offered to the character and work of this eminent lawyer and public-spirited citizen the following extracts from an editorial which appeared in a Philadelphia paper express with peculiar felicity the universal sentiment :
The Philadelphia bar and a representative sec- tion of the public will to-day pay the last tribute of respect and esteem to the late Frank P. Prich- ard. News of his death in Wyoming, while seek- ing a rest abundantly earned by the labors devolv- ing on him after the demise of John G. Johnson with whom he has been associated for thirty-five years, brought a shock to the profession and the wide public to whom he was known as a dis- tinguished lawyer.
Mr. Prichard owed his advancement to sterling manhood. He stood for the same lofty ideals of professional service as his chief. He never prac- tised the arts of personal advertisements, but ac- quired authority by devotion to public and private duty. * * * Above all he was a high-minded man, with winning personal qualities and earnest-
ness of purpose in discharging his duties both as a lawyer with a highly responsible practice and as a private citizen.
When a man is thus portrayed by those of his own community nothing remains to be added. The last word of apprecia- tion has been spoken.
CHAMBERS, Alexander,
Glass Manufacturer.
Among the men who have given Pitts- burgh a high repute as a glass manufac- turing center, and especially among those who have aided in developing the indus- try and making it what it is, Alexander Chambers must be awarded a high and honorable place. He has departed from the scene of labors, but his memory is held in grateful affection in many hearts, and perpetuated in the great establish- ment he founded. He was naturally equipped for a successful contest with circumstances, having in his Scotch-Irish ancestry a foundation of pluck, energy, and courage of the most substantial kind.
James Chambers, father of Alexander Chambers, came from the North of Ire- land, and settled in what was then Bay- ardstown, but is now a part of Pittsburgh. He was a useful citizen in his day and generation, filling for over twenty years the position of alderman from the Fifth Ward.
Alexander Chambers was given a fair education for the day in the common schools of Pittsburgh, and at the proper time, and in accordance with the almost universal custom of the time, was set to learn a trade. That chosen for him was the glass blowing. He faithfully served his apprenticeship, working with his head as well as his hands, and making himself master of the business in all its branches, with a fair idea as to its possibilities. Therefore he was prepared, when starting
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for himself, to take such steps and only such as were to the best advantage. His first venture was made in company with a brother, David H. Chambers, in 1843. They located in the old Fifth Ward, and were engaged in the manufacture of vials and green and black bottles. They re- mained in this locality, gradually extend- ing their business and building up a trade until 1853, when they removed their works to what was then called South Pittsburgh, but is now a part of the city and known as the South Side. Here they continued in the manufacture of vials and bottles and added window glass thereto. The site occupied was where the estab- lishment of A. and D. H. Chambers was located and remained for over thirty years. When the two brothers com- menced on the South Side they employed less than fifty men, but so greatly had the business grown that now five hundred are required. David H. Chambers died in 1862, but the business was continued by his brother without the addition of any new partners or change in management.
Alexander Chambers was one of the best known glassmen the country over, and was one of the leading spirits there- in. His mind was active and always seek- ing out new avenues of development and improvement in the manufacture of glass. He was one of the first in the country to increase the size of window glass, and he was very successful in his ventures in that direction. He was recognized for many years as the leader in his line of manufacture. He gave his chief thought and attention to the glass business, and allowed no other interests to divert him therefrom ; that was while he was actively engaged in it, although in the later years of his life he gave it only a general over- sight, and left it in charge of those who have so worthily conducted it since his death. He was financially and personally
interested in a number of outside enter- prises for the development and upbuild- ing of Pittsburgh, among them being the Exchange National Bank, of which he was director, while he held stock in many of the other banks and insurance com- panies of Pittsburgh. He represented his home ward in the City Council for a num- ber of terms, and while there was noted for his good common sense and business prudence. He was one of the pioneers of the South Side, and always took an ac- tive interest in anything relating to its material or moral improvement. He was a member of its borough government for a time, and one of the influential men thereto. His heart was moved by any worthy or humane cause. During the Civil War for the Union cause, he was an earnest and practical friend to his coun- try, generously equipping several com- panies, and aiding in all possible ways in his power.
The business and personal character of Mr. Chambers are somewhat outlined in the above, but much more can be truth- fully said concerning him. He was one of the most generous-hearted men that could anywhere be found, and with him the instinct to give was followed by the act itself. He made no large donation, but his alms were continuous and did daily good in many directions. He could hear of no cause of want or trouble with- out wishing to become one of the means of relief. A day did not pass that did not see some chance for generosity laid at his door, and to his honor let it be said that no worthy applicant was ever sent away empty-handed. He gave liberally to the church and to the organized forms of charity of Pittsburgh. He was noted for his steady industry and indomitable pluck, while his uprightness of character was recognized and acknowledged by all. His word was all that any man required,
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and when that was once given it was sacred. He had, in a wonderful degree, the faculty of being fair and just to all men, and could fairly arbitrate on a case in which he had an interest, giving to all sides a hearing, and deciding against him- self if the facts led to such conclusion. His mind was acute and active, suggest- ing methods in the manufacture of glass calculated to lessen the cost and improve the quality.
Alexander Chambers married Martha Jane, daughter of Henderson Wightman, of Pittsburgh. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers were the parents of the following child- ren: I. James A., the only son, a biog- raphy and portrait of whom follows. 2. Olivia, who married Hartley Howard, of Pittsburgh, becoming the mother of three children : Alexander Chambers Howard, Hartly Howard, Jr., who married Mary Painter, daughter of the late Park Paint- er, of Pittsburgh, and Martha. Mr. How- ard died and Mrs. Olivia Howard married (second) - - Warren, who is now de- ceased, leaving one child, Innis Warren. 3. Maria H., who married Calbraith Rodgers, captain of the Fifth Artillery, United States army ; Captain Rodgers was killed in the Indian War ; they had three children : i. Calbraith Rodgers, Jr., who became an aviator and was the first and only one to fly from New York City to Los Angeles, California ; he met his death a few years ago while flying in Los Angeles. ii. Perry Rodgers. iii. Martha Rodgers, who mar- ried Albert Pease, of New York City. 4. Elizabeth B., who married Admiral John A. Rodgers, of the United States Navy, a brother of Captain Calbraith Rodgers, who married her sister ; Admiral Rodgers is now a retired Admiral of the United States Navy, and is living in his old fam- ily homestead near Havre de Grace, Maryland; they are the parents of three children: John A. Rodgers, Jr., a com- mander in the United States Navy ; Alex-
ander, deceased ; and Robert, who is also in the United States Navy. Admiral Rodgers' mother was Miss Perry, of the family of the late Commodore Perry, United States Navy. Mrs. Chambers was a descendant of the Carroll family of Car- rollton, forever famous in our history and a scion of a very ancient and illustrious Irish family transplanted to Maryland by Sir Macilroona O'Carroll, who received a grant of sixty thousand acres of land in the colony. The other Carrolls of Mary- land came from Spain by way of the West Indies. Both branches use the following arms, crest and motto:
Arms-Argent, two lions combatant gules, sup- porting a sword proper, hilted and pommelled or. Crest-On the stump of an oak sprouting new branches proper, a hawk of the last, belled or. Motto-In fide et in bello fortis.
Mr. Chambers made several visits to Europe, and in other ways used the leis- ure of his later years in recreation and travel that were not possible to him when in the cares of an active business life. He was a man in the possession of good health almost up to the close of his life, and the end came after only a few days of sickness. When his death, which oc- curred on March 28, 1875 was announced, the feeling of grief throughout Pitts- burgh was universal, and he was lamented as one who had accomplished a large share of good in the world, and who had faithfully served his day and generation. His impress on the glass business of Pittsburgh was of lasting character, and the great manufacturing house he created serves as the most fitting monument to his memory.
CHAMBERS, James A., Leader in Glass Industry.
Glass making, one of the most ancient of arts, is but little more than a century
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old in Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, today, whatever it may be in the glass line that the prospective buyer is seeking, it is to Pittsburgh that he resorts for its pur- chase. The men who first developed the industry were the originators of a phen- c menal work and those who maintain it at the present time have upon their hands é task of still greater magnitude. Prom- inent in this latter class is James A. Chambers, former president of the Cham- bers & McKee Glass Company; also the Chambers Window Glass Company and the American Window Glass Company. Mr. Chambers is distinguished not only as a manufacturer and one of the recognized leaders of the glass industry, but also as a man of initiative and origination, whose pioneer work in the introduction of the tank melting furnace for window glass, together with his development of ma- chines for the manufacture of cylinder window glass, has given him an interna- tional reputation.
James A. Chambers, son of Alexander and Martha Jane (Wightman) Chambers, was born February 28, 1849, in Pitts- burgh, and received an education adapted to fit him for the part he was to play in life. After attending the public schools of his native city he entered the Pennsyl- vania Military Academy at West Chester, Pennsylvania, and on leaving this institu- tion entered the service of the old firm of the A. and D. H. Chambers Window Glass Manufacturing Company, which firm was a partnership, the members be- ing Alexander Chambers and his brother. James A. Chambers was at this time only a lad and so may be said to have grown up in the glass business. For this busi- ness he showed himself, at the very be- ginning of his career, so well fitted that after being in the office only a short time he was made general manager, which po- sition he retained until 1877, when he
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