USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 25
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EDWIN H. STOWE.
HON. EDWIN HENRY STOWE, President- Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, upon the bench of which he has served with honor and distinction for nearly a generation, was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, within the limits of the present borough of Bridgewater, Janu- ary 2, 1826. His ancestors came from England and were among the early settlers of the Colonies, and at the time of the Revolution were people of posi- tion and influence. In that struggle his maternal
great-grandfather, John Hart, of New Jersey, was a fearless and outspoken opponent of Great Britain, and as one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, proved that he had the courage of his convictions. Another ancestor of Judge Stowe, his grandfather, was a soldier in the army under Wash- ington. Judge Stowe's father, Hiram Stowe, was one of the oldest residents of the town of Bridge- water, the principal merchant of the place, and in the latter days of his life a banker. He had charge of the local branch of the Bank of Pittsburgh, until it was abolished, and was variously connected with a number of other monetary concerns in the city of Pittsburgh. He was an enterprising and sagacious business man and accumulated a large estate. His widow is still living at the old homestead in Beaver County, and although quite advanced in years, re- tains a fair degree of health and the possession of all her faculties. Her father was the late Major Dar- ragh, a prominent politician and at one time a mem- ber of the State Senate of Pennsylvania. Judge Stowe was educated at Washington College, Penn- sylvania, which he entered at the age of fifteen. A classmate, referring to him at this period of his life, says : " He was a good student and stood high in his class. He did not slight anything that came to him in course, but was inclined less to the languages than to logic, rhetoric and mathematics. He read widely, and was, I think, at that time the best in- formed man in college upon topics outside of his studies. He was very fond of reading Webster's speeches and often talked to me of their great logi- cal power and purity of style. He was not much of an orator himself. He always distrusted his own powers and was nervous and diffident, although lively enough when he was among his fellows. He had already selected the law as his profession and frequently told me his ambition was to be a judge." In 1845 he was graduated and at once began the study of law under Moses Hampton, Esq., of Pitts- burgh-then a lawyer of great repute and large practice and afterwards on the bench of Allegheny County. The circumstances which led him to settle at Pittsburgh illustrate the powerful iufluence often exerted unconsciously but irresistably by an acci- dental acquaintance. It had been his intention to go from Washington College to Transylvania Uni- versity at Lexington, Kentucky, there study law, get admitted to the bar and settle down to practice in the " blue grass region." This carefully thought out plan would undoubtedly have been put into execution but for the fact that on one evening dur- ing his junior year he met at the rooms of a class- mate a young man named John H. Hampton, also a fellow-student. This young gentleman (at present
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the senior member of the leading law firm of Hamnp- ton and Dalzell, of Pittsburgh) came from Pitts- burgh to the college in 1844, and entered the sopho- more class. He was a fine singer and had a choice collection of ballads and patriotic songs at his tongue's end. The first exhibition of his rare vocal powers captivated young Stowe and the two soon became room-mates and fast friends. Moses Hamp- ton was the father of Mr Stowe's friend and he took a warm interest in his son's associate and offered to give him a place in his office. Under the circum- stances it was not difficult for young Stowe to make up his mind to abandon his Kentucky plans, and thus it came to pass that his lines fell in Pittsburgh instead of at Lexington. He began his legal studies in 1846, prosecuted them leisurely and thoroughly, and in 1849 passed the usual examination and was admitted to practice as an attorney. His business sign was first displayed on a building which stood on Fourth Avenue, below Smithfield Street. To the newly fledged lawyer rent was an important item, and with a view to the practice of economy in this respect, Mr. Stowe joined himself in partnership with S. J. R. McMillen, subsequently Chief Justice and late United States Senator for Minnesota. This ar- rangement terminated within a twelvemonth, when Mr. McMillen left Pittsburgh for the West and after- wards Mr. Stowe was associated at different times with Alexander M. Watson and E. P. Jones, and in 1854 entered into partnership with his old college friend, John H. Hampton, Esq. A close and carc- ful student by nature, Mr. Stowe devoted himself from the first to the mastery of his profession. His thirst for legal knowledge amounted almost to a passion, and as he had a strong constitution and abundant capacity for hard work, he gratified it to the utmost. He soon acquired the reputation of be- ing the best informed man of his years at the bar, upon the fundamental principles of jurisprudence. He made a special study of constitutional law and his attainments in this department also early brought him great repute. But while excelling as a coun- sellor he had no special aptitude as a pleader. It was remarked of him by a friend that he preferred working for ten hours in his office over a knotty question of law to making a ten minutes speech to a jury. It may be noted here that after he became associated in practice with Mr. Hampton, he rarely appeared as a pleader. The judicial bent of his mind was clearly shown on many occasions during the first years of his practice. There was a gravity and dignity in his character which impressed all who came in contact with him. At the moot courts organized for practice by his young professional as- sociates, at the time he was studying law, he was not
infrequently chosen to act as Judge, and always dis- charged his duties as such with dignity and earnest- ness, giving careful attention to each case and writ- ing out lengthy opinions with as much care and vigor as though great interests were involved. After practicing at the bar with honor and success for thirteen years, Mr. Stowe was nominated, in 1862, by the Republicans, for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. Ilis Democratic opponent in this campaign was Judge Shaler of Pittsburgh, whom he defeated by a large majority. In 1872, at the conclusion of his term of 'office, he was re-nominated by the Republicans. During the ten years he had sat upon the bench he kept his judicial ermine unspotted and won so ex- cellent a reputation as a just and upright judge that even his harshest political opponents found nothing to criticise. The consequence was that the Demo- crats made no nomination and he was re-elected without opposition. In 1882, at the expiration of his second term of ten years, he was re-nominated by the Republicans, and, as before, re-elected with- out Democratic opposition. In this campaign the bar of Allegheny County, without distinction of party, and openly proclaiming that it had no other end in view than the promotion of the pure and im- partial administration of the law, unanimously recommended him to the suffrages of the people. The committee making the report said:
" Among the distinguished gentlemen with whom he has been associated on the bench, and who have made the record of the judiciary a credit to our whole community, he has been conspicuous for his courage, integrity and impartiality in the duties of his high and responsible office. For nearly twenty years we have been associated with him personally and professionally, and we desire to say and do say without any dictation or the assumption of any special right to advise, except what grows out of our professional relations, that into no hands would we more confidently and gladly commit the life, liberty and property of this community, and largely they are in the power of the Court. A wise, learned and just judge is the safeguard of them all, and once secured should be retained."
At the Democratic County Convention held at Pittsburgh, in 1882, the following preamble and resolutions presented by the Committee on Judi- ciary were adopted :
" Whereas, since the organization of the Demo- cratic party it has been a part of its creed to keep the judiciary out of and above politics; and
Whereas, the term of E. H. Stowe, President-Judge of the Common Pleas Court, No. 1, will expire this year, and
Whereas, Judge Stowe possesses a fitness for this position that is universally acknowledged and en- titles him to a unanimous election, and further, in view of the fact that the Democratic County Con-
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
vention ten years ago placed his name on the ticket then formed and voted for by Democrats, there- fore,
Resolved, that this committee recommend to the Democratic County Convention, to be held this year, the propriety of making no nomination in opposition to Judge Stowe for President-Judge."
It seldom happens that any man in public life, in any capacity whatever, receives such an unqualified endorsement from the opposite party; and that Judge Stowe has received it is evidence of the strongest kind that he has conferred dignity upon his office as well as derived dignity from it. Since his elevation to the bench he has ranked as one of the ablest Common Pleas Judges in the State. His opinions are carefully framed and have the inerit of being brief and to the point. It is rare that they are reversed in the Supreme Court. Conscientiousness marks every one of his judicial acts, and so willing is he to do absolute justice in every case, that he does not hesitate to listen to arguments against his own rulings and judgments. The manhood and in- tegrity of the man are always uppermost, and if he finds that he is wrong, he immediately reverses his previous decision, having no other pride in the mat- ter thau that of uprightness and justice. It is uot necessary in a biographical sketch intended for the general reader to do more than refer to Judge Stowe's cases. During his long experience on the bench he has presided at a number of the most im- portant cases tried in the courts of Pittsburgh. In the majority of these, of course, the legal points argued and decided were of a character to be appre- ciated only by those learned in the law. But there were many cases of much more than ordinary inter- est to the lay mind. Of these may be mentioned the famous Clark-McCully " bond of friendship" case, in which his ruling that Mr. Clark was a com- petent witness, afterwards affirmed by the Supreme Court, won the case for him. Another case of far- reaching importance is known as'" the Rising Main case" and is a leading one on the power of city Councils to discriminate between bidders for public works and award the contract to a bidder other than the lowest. In the Ortwein murder case, which al- so was tried before him, the doctrine was laid down for the first time in Pennsylvania that where the de- fense of insanity is set up against a charge of mur- der, the insanity must be proved to the satisfaction of the jury. It is not sufficient to merely create a reasonable doubt in their minds. His decision in this case was upheld by the Supreme bench. In 1881 there was a very decided public sentiment in favor of elevating Judge Stowe to the Supreme bench, and he was strongly urged for the position. In 1888 this sentiment was again shown through the
action of the bar of Allegheny County which, at a meeting held on February 8, unanimously resolved to recommend Hon. Edwin H. Stowe for nomination by the coming Republican State Convention as a candidate for the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In the address to the peo- ple throughout the Commonwealth, soliciting their co-operation, the committee, composed of thirty-one distinguished members of the bar and representing all shades of political opinion, said :
"Judge Stowe's judicial experience has extended over a period of twenty-five years, and he possesses every quality, mental, physical, personal and politi- cal, which ought to co-exist in a judge to such a de- gree as to make him eminently fit for this nomina- tion."
After referring to his truly remarkable success at the polls the committec allude to his character as a judge and a man, and as their testimony to his abili- ties and worth is that of individuals personally and iutimately acquainted with him, it is here given in full as a fitting conclusion to this imperfect sketch of one of the most learned and upright judges in the State :
"Edwin H. Stowe was fitted by nature to be a judge Education and experience have developed his natural qualifications to the highest degree. There is nothing artificial or strained in his treat- ment of a legal question; his mental processes are systematic, and his method of reasoning logical and undeviating. His mind is a stranger to anything uarrow or distorted. Few inen can bear comparison with him in the readiness and thoroughness with which he discerns the legal principles applicable to a given state of facts; and few can command a greater wealth of varied and sound legal learning. Well schooled in the technical learning of his profes- sion, he always may be safely trusted in the practi- cal application of settled principles to uew and unsettled questions ; and it may be confidently asserted that no Commou Pleas Judge iu the Com- monwealth excels him in his knowledge of equity practice and in the judicious application of equita- ble principles. His Court has always been au im- portant one. The wonderful developments of re- cent ycars in Western Pennsylvania have brought before him legal questions of the utmost magnitude, novelty aud importance, and he has always proved himself abundantly able to meet and master them. He is a resolute, independent, fearless and impartial judge, ever anxious for a just determination of the causes tried before him. He is an industrious man and always prompt in the performance of his work. He is a genial man and in the full vigor of his phy- sical manhood."
In 1864 Judge Stowe married Miss Emma Vick, youngest daughter of Charles Vick, Esq., an English gentleman of culture and means who came to this country and settled in Allegheny. By this marriage there were three sons-Charles Herman Stowe, a very promising youth who died in 1881, aged fifteen years; Edwin Walford Stowe and Percy Van Deusen Stowe.
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
JOHN F. DRAVO.
HON. JOHN FLEMING DRAVO, of Beaver, prominent for many years in the coal and coke in- terests of Pittsburgh, and at various times President of the Coal Exchange, member of the State Legis- lature, and Collector and Surveyor of the Port of Pittsburgh, was born in the village of West New- ton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1819. He is a grandson of Anthony Dravo, one of the early settlers of Pittsburgh, who came from France about a century ago under the following in- teresting circumstances : "In 1789, the year the Bastile fell, the Marquis de Lussiere was the owner of a beautiful estate in one of the suburbs of Paris. There lived with him a young florist who had so gained his confidence that he had come to be a friend and confidential companion, when that terri- ble chapter of history, called the French Revolution, opened. The name of the young florist was Antho- ny Dreveau. In the Monongahela valley, opposite the mouth of the Turtle Creek, and in full view of the scenes where Washington had first won his fame as a soldier, DeLussiere, with the aid of his faithful young friend, made for himself a home and sur- rounded it with things of beauty, a faint reminder of the loved estate from which a cruel fate had driven them. The home built by the French mar- quis, and which has been the property of the Von Bonnhorsts, Swartzwelders, Riddles and others, is known as Hamilton Hall. The young friend who stood by him in the great crisis of his life, and fol- lowed him over the seas in 1794, * * * located himself in the village of Pittsburgh, and stands as the pioneer florist. The garden of Anthony Dravo, (whose name was thus Anglicized from Dreveau) just outside of Fort Pitt, purchased from General O'Hara, quartermaster of the Fort, occupied one- half of a square in what is now the central business part of the city. There for many years he pursued the calling for which training and taste had fitted him. When this century was in its teens, there was no spot in Pittsburgh as pretty as Dravo's flower and fruit garden on Hay Street, running from Penn to Liberty Streets. He was in those days the au_ thority for all things pertaining to flowers and fruits. The French florist was never so happy as when en- tertaining visitors from his native France. Many a noted Frenchman was entertained at the Dravo home, bringing letters from the Marquis de Lussiere to his Pittsburgh friend. When Lafayette visited this city, he went to greet the friend of his friend and talk over the scenes both had witnessed in Paris a generation before." When the growth of Pitts- burgh's industries called for the grounds he occu-
pied in Liberty Street, Anthony Dravo acquired larger grounds at East Liberty, and there he flour- ished until his death, nearly half a century ago. Michael Dravo, the eldest son of Anthony Dravo, was a native of Pittsburgh. He married Mary, daughter of John Fleming, Sr., and after marriage resided first in Westmoreland County, where the subject of this sketch was born, and afterwards in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. He is still living with his daughter Maggie, now Mrs. J. D. Long, on Forbes Avenue, Oakland. John Fleming Dravo, the subject of this sketch, was brought up in Alle- gheny County, receiving his early education in the local public schools, and finishing it at Allegheny College, where he studied during two years, and un- til compelled by failing health to abandon the course. He was about seventeen years of age when he first made Pittsburgh his residence, and was just entering manhood when he removed to Mckeesport, Allegheny County, to engage in the business of min- ing and shipping coal, in which he acquired promi- nence and fortune. Becoming a large owner of real estate, he planned and founded the town of Dravosburg on the Monongahela, less than a dozen miles above Pittsburgh. Disposing of his extensive coal interests in 1868 he engaged in the manufacture of coke, establishing large plants at Connellsville, and organizing the Pittsburgh Gas, Coal and Coke Company, of which he became General Manager and Treasurer, and afterwards executive head. This corporation began with forty ovens, but when Mr. Dravo resigned its Presidency, in 1883, its plant comprised three hundred ovens, and its monthly output of coke was almost half a million bushels. A man of strict integrity and high character, with a gentle and considerate regard for the interests of the large force kept constantly employed under him, he made many friends and was extremely pop- ular. In 1860 he was elected to the Presidency of the Pittsburgh Coal Exchange, and held this con- spicuous position until his resignation in 1870. In 1884 he was chosen President of the Chamber of Com- merce, succeeding the Hon. Gen. J. K. Moorhead, whose lamented death created the vacancy, and in this position he labored with a single eye to the ad- vancement of the commercial interests of the city. With a solicitude born of a thorough knowledge of the subject, he labored assiduously for years to se- cure needed improvements in the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, and wrote and spoke in favor of the work on all occasions. His letters and speeches on this subject alone, if published together, would fill a good sized volume. No small share of his efforts were put forth at the National Capital, whither he was repeatedly sent to represent and defend the
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John F. Bravo
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interests of his fellow citizens. Master of the mat- ter in hand, and arguing in its favor with great ear- nestness and eloquence, he made a profound im- pression on the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and secured substantial recognition of his claims and demands, and many advantages which a less enthusiastic advocate might have failed to ob- tain. Mr. Dravo's earlier political efforts were in opposition to slavery. This institution he opposed on principle, and he roundly denounced it " in sea- son and out of season," as was the fashion among anti-slavery advocates in those days. He polled his first vote as a " Henry Clay Whig," and an avowed enemy of slavery ; and in 1848 he was nominated in Allegheny County for the State Legislature, by the supporters of the "Buffalo Platform " adopted at Utica, New York, June 22, of that year, who had for their motto: "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men." Prominent and active among the clear seeing and resolute men who radi- cally severed their connection with the old parties for the sake of principle, he worked in harmony with the movement which culminated in his State in the virtual organization of the Republican party at the Lafayette Hall Convention in Pittsburgh, February 22, 1854. When this party sprang full fledged into the field, in 1856, Mr. Dravo took his place in its ranks as a leader, and has never since forsaken its banner. In this and all subsequent po- litical campaigns, his splendid oratorical powers have been utilized to the utmost in support of its principles ; and the vigor with which he has carried on the work and his unflinching advocacy of the men and measures of the party, have earned for him the title of " stalwart." Few political orators equal him in discussions bearing upon finance or the tariff; but although these are of late his chief themes, he is abundantly equal to any occasion or demand. A beautiful illustration of this was afforded in his address on the death of General Grant, pronounced July 25, 1885, at the memorial services held at Bea- ver Falls, Pennsylvania, and also as President of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce at a special meeting called July 23, for the purpose of taking suitable action in view of the Nation's great loss. At the latter, President Dravo, on calling the meet- ing to order said :
"The sad intelligence of Gen. Grant's death has made it necessary that the Chamber should be con- vened, that appropriate action may be had touching an event of such National import. I do not use ex- travagant language when I say the most eminent citizen of the Republic has passed away, and the people are moved to the expression of sorrow at the death of him who, while living, they delighted so much to honor. Gen. Grant's record is emblazoned
on every page of our country's history for the past quarter of a century. In health, on the battle field he proved himself the greatest commander of the age; in civil life he was crowned by a grateful peo- ple with the highest honors, and as President of the United States he displayed the sterling virtues of integrity and unswerving devotion to the best inter- ests of a Nation he did so much to save. In sick- ness long continued and marked by extreme suffer- ings, he evinced a patience and a charity befitting the closing scenes of an illustrious life. It is for the Chamber to take such action as you in your wisdom may deem most appropriate."
One of the secrets of his oratorical power is its evident sincerity. Believing what he advocates or asserts, he speaks from the heart, and his words always sway the emotions and seldom fail to carry conviction. Absorbed so wholly by his great busi- ness interests, Mr. Dravo, while always fully and effectively giving attention to political duties, de- clined to appear as a candidate for office. Never- theless, in 1886 he was made the Republican nomi- nee for the State Legislature to represent Beaver County-in which he resided-and . having almost universal endorsement, was elected. His talents and abilities found immediate recognition at Harris- burg, by his appointment on the Committees of Ways and Means, and Constitutional Reform-the two most important in the Legislature. He served as Secretary of both these committees, and as the warm friend of temperance reform introduced the Constitutional Prohibitory Amendment, which he was successful in having passed. He likewise made the speech nominating Col. Matthew Stanley Quay for United States Senator. Once in the arena of active political life, he had no option but to remain in it, and in 1881 his name was brought forward by his party friends as that of a candidate for the office of Collector of Customs and Surveyor of the Port of Pittsburgh, and was appointed to the office by President Garfield. The Senate was at this time not a unit in the matters of appointments, and there was some delay in confirming the nomination. At this juncture the political strength and great popu- larity of Mr. Dravo was emphatically demonstrated. By. unanimous voice the business men of Pittsburgh, without regard to party views, demanded his con- firmation. The entire press of Beaver County sup- ported the demand, and was loud in its praise of his fitness and qualifications for the position. On all sides, and frequently from the most unexpected sources, came warm advocacy of his claims. The appeals were sufficiently powerful to overcome all opposition, and on the 20th of May, 1881, he was duly confirmed and commissioned. His service as Collector extended over a period of four years, and was marked by a most efficient and capable admin-
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