USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 49
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Judge Paxson at once took a leading position among his colleagues, and by his industry and ability has maintained it ever since. A master of the law, he gives opinions which are remarkable for their elear- ness, terseness of dietion and convincing logic. Al- though these opinions are promptly rendered, they invariably bear evidence of careful preparation and deep thought. It has been asserted that the records of the Supreme Court will show that "no member of the beneli has contributed minore opinions than Judge Paxson." Many most important cases brought before that tribunal, involving in the ag- gregate millions of dollars, have been committed to his hands by his associates, who thus evidence . their implicit confidence in him. Among the cele- brated cases which have been pronounced upon by him are the Williamsport Bond Case, the Pittsburgh Bond Case, the famous case of Packer vs. Noble, and the Pittsburgh Riot Case. In the last named it was by his decision that the city of Pittsburgh was held responsible for the losses occa- sioned by the riot. Judge Paxson's industry is un- tiring. He is conscientious to the last degree and makes a scrupulously systematic and thorough ex- amination of every matter that properly comes be- fore him for adjudication. He supplements his learning by a hearty interest in his work which is probably one of the secrets of his brilliant success as a jurist. Without being over-precise, or a stick- ler for legal etiquette, he is yet dignified and formal on proper occasion, but shining through his official reserve may be detected the sympathy which al- ways radiates from a warm heart, although it is well known that he never allows his personal sym- pathies to influence his judgment on official matters. No Judge upon the bench throughout the State of Pennsylvania stands higher in the estimation and respect of the people than Judge Paxson, and when, on the first Monday in January, 1879, he, by seni- ority, became Chief Justice of the State, his acces- sion to this dignity gave universal satisfaction. Great as are the demands made upon his time by the duties of his judicial office, he has managed to find leisure to edit Brown's Collection of Laws and also to prepare a volume entitled "Memoirs of the Johnson Family," an edition of which was printed for private circulation. This last named work treats of his maternal ancestry, "comprising a family of very eminent, talented and cultivated peo- ple." One of the most brilliant members of this family was Thomas P. Johnson, a great uncle of Judge Paxson, who rose to the highest eminence at the bar of New Jersey, and has been thought the greatest lawyer produced by that State. Hon. Stan- ley Matthews, late Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, was descended from the same aneestry, his grandmother and Judge Paxson's grandfather being sister and brother. Reasoning by analogy it would appear not improbable that the legal talent possessed by both these distinguished jurists has been derived by inheritance from the Johnson ancestry. Judge Paxson's elegant and substantial home at Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is named "Bycot House," after the old ancestral family scat in Buckingham, Bucks County, England, and here the Judge has for many years dispensed a graceful hospitality. Judge Paxson has been twice marricd. His first wife, to whom he was married on April 30, 1846, was Mary C. Newlin, of Philadelphia, daughter of the late Nathaniel Newlin, of Delaware County, Pennsyl- vania. This lady died at Bycot House, Bucking- ham, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1885. On December 1, 1886, Judge Paxson married Mary-Martha S. Bridges, widow of the late Congressman Samuel A. Bridges, of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
J. BREWSTER MCCOLLUM.
HON. JOSEPH BREWSTER MCCOLLUM, Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was born in Bridgewater township, Susquehanna Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1832. His parents were farmers, and, until he was seventeen years of age, he led the ordinary life of a country lad, alter- nating between the performance of farm labor and attendance upon the district school. It is interest- ing to note in connection with Justice McCollum's district school life, that one of his instructors was one of his present associates upon the Supreme Bench, Mr. Justice Williams, also a native of Sus- quehanna County. Being ambitious to obtain an ed- ucation, and his parents being financially well cir- cumstanced, young McCollum was, when he was seventeen, sent to the Harford Academy, an educa- tional institution of high rank in those days, num- bering among its students Charles R. Buckalew, Galusha A. Grow, Cyrus C. Carpenter, Henry W. Williams and many others who have achieved dis- tinetion as publie men. Here he remained for the greater part of three years, assiduously prosecuting his studies. Subsequently, having decided to adopt the profession of the law, he pursued a course at the State and National Law School at Poughkeep- sie, New York, graduating therefrom with the de- gree of LL. B. The Law School course was supple- mented with a term of service in the law office of Ralph B. Little, Esq., of Montrose, one of the ablest
Eng by A H Rutcha
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and most successful lawyers in northern Pennsylva- nia, where he was thoroughly schooled in the intri- cacies of pleading and practice, and was called to the bar at the August term of court, 1855. Almost immediately after his admission to the bar, Mr. Mc- Collum accepted a clerkship in the office of William B. Plato, a leading practitioner of Geneva, Kane County, Illinois, where he remained about a ycar, when he returned to Montrose, where he has ever since resided. In August, 1856, in conjunction with Andrew J. Gerittson, be engaged in the publi- cation of the Montrose Democrat, in which pursuit he remained until January, 1858, when, having dis- posed of his interest in the newspaper to his part- ner, he began the practice of the law, with Nahum Newton as a partner. From the beginning of the year 1858, to the close of the year 1878, he devoted his energies exclusively to caring for the interests of his clients, the number of which steadily increased until he was concededly the foremost practitioner at the bar of Susquehanna County. He had as part- ners during his career at the bar, at different times, beside Mr. Newton, Hon. Daniel W. Searle, his brother-in-law, now President-Judge of Susquehan- na County, Albert Chamberlain and A. H. McCol- lum, his younger brother. Each upward rnng of the ladder to professional fame was gained by the subject of this sketch purely upon his own merits, unaided by family influence or adventitious circum- stances. The bar of his county, during the years of his struggle for recognition and advancement, was at its best, and numbered among its legal giants such men as Ralph B. Little, William Jessup, Wil- liam J. Turrell, William M. Post, Benjamin S. Bent- ley, Lafayette Fitch, William H. Jessup and Farris B. Streeter. One of the traits of character of the future Judge, which gained for him the confidence of the people of his county, was his untiring devo- tion to the interests confided to his keeping. His cases were always thoroughly prepared, every pre- cedent marshaled, cvery point of attack doubly guarded, and even a weak case in his hands was well calculated to command success, because of the strength with which it was presented. A litigant who once became his client ever afterward turned to his office when counsel was needed. To his cli- entele he was not merely their wise legal counsellor and formidable advocate but as well a friend, ever solicitous for their personal welfare. Thus it came that " Bruce " McCollum's office was not merely a dispensary of law, but a trysting-place for all the county folk who made pilgrimages to the county seat on missions not connected with legal matters. Although a Democrat in a Republican stronghold, his staunchest friends and most ardent admirers
were found among his political opponents. As a jury advocate, Justice McCollum was eminently successful. While he was not given to word paint- ing or ornate oratory, he was ever forceful, logical, candid and convincing. He never appealed to the baser passions of men, nor stooped to subterfuge to whecdle jurors, but on occasion, when the emer- gency required and opposing counsel invited it, he was capable of the most biting sarcasm and wither- ing invective. When thoroughly aroused the Scotch blood in his veins asserted itself, and the usually quiet-mannered and soft-spoken jurist would pounce upon his antagonists with a pug- nacity which boded ill to the cause he riddled with his vehement forensic shafts. In politics the Judge has always been a consistent, out-spoken and active adherent of the Democratic party. Almost from the time of attaining his majority, he was promi- nently identified with the management of the local affairs of his party. For many years prior to his clevation to the bench, he was the favorite spokes- man of the democracy in Susquehanna County, and frequently was heard in adjoining counties. In his political speeches he was argumentative, not vitu- perative, but he was never mealy-mouthed in de- nouncing what he considered wrong in the position of his adversaries. For several years he was Chair- man of the Democratic County Committee, and was the candidate of his party in 1859 for District Attor- ney, in 1861 for Representative, and in 1870 for Con- gress in the Luzerne-Snsquehanna District. In all these contests he shared the fate of his political as- sociates in that Gibraltar of Republicanism, defeat, but each time his vote demonstrated that there were many Republicans who took pleasure in compli- menting him with their support. During all the years of his professional and political activities he had been constantly growing stronger in the public esteem and confidence, until in the year 1878 he stood in the front rank as a lawyer, and with his popularity as a man having its ramifications in every hamlet in his native county. In that year a President-Judge of Susquehanna County, which constitutes the Thirty-fourth Judicial District of the State, was to be chosen to succeed Hon. William H. Jessup, who was serving by Executive appointment to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Farris B. Streeter. The Republican Convention named Judge Jessup to succeed himself, and it was the natural expectation of the Judge and his friends that his election by a handsome majority would fol- low. . It was in that year that the Greenback Party movement became rampant throughout Pennsylva- nia, and in Susquehanna County was well organized and numerically strong. It was made up about
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
equally of those who had been previously Demo- crats and Republicans. Although Mr. McCollum in no way gave in his adhesion to the Greenback platform, but was on the contrary understood to strenuously oppose it, the Greenback Convention, without asking from him a pledge of any kind, named him as its candidate for President-Judge. The Democratie Committee, of course, did likewise, and the result was that MeCollum was elected by over twelve hundred majority. This was a re- markable demonstration of his personal popularity, for the Republican candidate for Sheriff at the same election was successful by about eight hundred ma- jority, and all the other Republican candidates were also elected, with the exception of Representative, in which case the fusion candidate was elected by less than one hundred majority. On the first Mon- day in January, 1879, Judge McCollum ascended the Common Pleas Bench at the age of forty-six years, thoroughly equipped for the performance of the arduous and responsible duties of the judicial office. The contest which had resulted in his eleva- tion had been an acrimonious onc, and he resolutely set himself to the task of allaying the animosities engendered by a bitter political strife, and to dissi- pate the fears entertained by many of his opponents that as a Judge he might make those feel his power who had been most conspicuous in the assaults made upon him. Before he had been upon the bench a year his freedom from personal prejudice and his perfect fairness were conceded by all. That he possessed a profound knowledge of the law no one doubted, but the ease with which he adapted himself to his new position not only delighted his friends, but commanded the admiration of those who had opposed his election thereto. Through his industry the trial list, which had long been loaded heavily with causes, the trial of which had been too long deferred, was reduced until instead of being obliged to wait two years to bring an action to trial, litigation was adjudicated with all requisite celerity. As a Judge, he knew no friends or ene- mies. Every suitor stood upon an equal footing in his court. His charges were models of impartiality and cogent statements of law and evidence, and his rulings, upon intricate legal questions arising in the trial of cases, were singularly free from errors. During his incumbency of the President-Judgeship, appeals from his court were so infrequent that Sus- quehanna County lawyers became strangers in the Supreme Court. In ten years the higher court over- ruled him but three times. His fame as a learned and just Judge spread throughout the northeastern section of the State and he was frequently called to preside in other districts. Wherever outside of his
own district he held court once, when, thercafter, the local Judge was unable to preside, the bar would signify their desire that Judge MeCollum be secured if possible. With the young members of the bar was he especially popular, for to them he was al- ways extending a helping hand and dropping words of encouragement. His Chamber at the Court House was the favorite place of rendezvous for all the members of the bar, with whom the Judge al- ways maintained most cordial relations. In his in- tercourse with the bar he possessed that happy faculty of unbending most graciously, so that in his presence there was no oppressive feeling of awe, but rather the existence of the most perfect entente cordiale. At the same time he preserved unostenta- tiously a judicial dignity which forbade the most intimate of his companions from trenching upon that ground which, in the interest of justice, must separate the upright judge from influences calcu- lated to warp his judgment in matters of which he must take judicial cognizance. For a decade he underwent the close scrutiny of an exacting eon- stituency, as to his ability as a lawyer, fairness as a judge, exemplary life as a citizen and kindness as a neighbor, and at the end of that time there was not one to criticise, but there existed a universal desire among those whom he had so faithfully and bril- liantly served, that some higher honor might be conferred upon him. It needed, therefore, but the suggestion by the Montrose Democrat of his name as a proper person to be nominated for Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, by the Democratic State Convention, to immediately so- lidify in his support the delegates thereto from all the northeastern counties and other counties where- in he had held court. At the State Convention held in May, 1888, at Harrisburg, as the result of earnest work in his behalf, without his consent or solicitation, the nomination was accorded him with substantial unanimity. At that time it was looked upon as more of a high professional endorsement than a substantial political honor, because, under ordinary circumstances, the Republican majority in the State was very heavy. The Judge accepted the nomination, however, thereby denying himself the opportunity which was considered at least good to continue upon the Common Pleas Bench, because of his disinclination to contest the honor with his brother-in-law, Daniel W. Searle, the Republican nominee, between whom and himself there had existed for many years the most ardent friendship, eemented by marriage ties and closest intimacy. But the State was not destined to lose his services in a judicial capacity. In July following his nomi- nation, the Hon. John Trunkey, a Judge of the Su-
Henry C. Hi Comiche
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preme Court, died in London, England, whither he had gone seeking medical treatment. Thus was brought about the necessity of the clection of two Justices of the Supreme Court at the ensuing elec- tion. By the Constitutional provision, that when in any year two Justices of that Court are to be chosen, no voter is permitted to vote for more than one, thereby providing for minority representation, Judge McCollum's election was assured, no matter how many more votes than he Judge James T. Mitchell, the Republican candidate, might receive. Of course when what was considered an empty honor materialized into an assured election as a Su- preme Court Justice for the full term of twenty-one years, there was immediately set on foot all through the State the most eager and searching inquiry re- garding the standing and personality of Judge McCollum. But the Judge came through the or- deal with flying colors, and the people of the Com- monwealth congratulated themselves that, in the successor of Justice Trunkey, they were to have so eminent and worthy a jurist. His career on the Supreme Bench thus far has fully demonstrated that when Joseph Brewster McCollum became a member of the highest court in the State, it was in- deed a stroke of good fortune to the public. His written opinions are notable for their terseness of expression and comprehensive grasp of the legal principles at issue. His style of composition is sim- ple, direct, and with an utter absence of ornamental flourish. He is happily free from that penchant so common among judges of injecting dicta into opin- ions not necessary to the adjudication of the case in point. In private life Justice McCollum is a delight- ful companion, an angler of a great degree of skill, and capable of telling as well as enjoying a good anecdote. In 1862 he married Mary Jane Searle, whose active participation in all charitable work, devotion to her distinguished husband and family, and the gracious manner in which she presides over the comfortable family mansion in Montrose, have endeared her to her wide circle of friends. Two sons, Searle and Charles, are the fruit of this mar- riage, the former a young attorney, and the latter a lad, just entering his teens, at school.
HENRY C. McCORMICK.
HON. HENRY C. MoCORMICK, Member of Congress from the Sixteenth District, comprising the counties of Tioga, Potter, Lycoming and Clin- ton, was born June 30, 1844, in Washington town- ship, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, about twelve
miles from the city of Williamsport. His ancestors, maternal and paternal, emigrated from the north of Ireland to the State of Pennsylvania, about the mid- dle of the last century. One branch of the family settled in the Cumberland Valley, and it is from it that the subject of this sketch is descended. Seth McCormick, the great-grandfather of Henry C., came to Lycoming County prior to the Revolution- ary War, and settled in what is now Washington township, where many of his descendants still live. Seth T. McCormick, his father, was a farmer until he reached middle life, except only for a brief period during which he engaged in the lumber business. In 1861 he removed to Williamsport, and although then forty-four years of age, studied law, began the practice in 1862, and became an able and successful lawyer. He died December 1, 1878. Henry C. McCormick was educated in the public schools, and at Dickinson Seminary in Williamsport. In Octo- ber, 1864, he entered his father's law office to pur- sue his legal studies, being engaged in teaching school at the same time. In August, 1866, he was admitted to practice at the Lycoming County bar, and went to Iowa to locate, but, returning after a few months' stay, entered into partnership with his father, under the firm name of S. T. & H. C. McCormick. From February, 1867, until the death of his respected father, the business was so contin -. ued and conducted, since which time his younger brother, Seth T. McCormick, has been, and is yet, associated with him in the practice of the law in the courts of Pennsylvania and the United States. Dur- ing the past twenty-three years Mr. McCormick has practiced his profession with great assiduity and marked success. Of him it was said several years ago :
" His abilities as an attorney have become so fully recognized that no lawyer at the bar to-day, young or old, enjoys a more lucrative practice, including cases of the most important character that come be- fore our courts for adjudication. The industry, re- search, method and skill with which he prepares his cases for court, have not only been favorably commented upon for years, but they have afforded the explanation of the uniform success which he has enjoyed. As a speaker, both in court and on the platform, he has shown himself well equipped, for- cible and effective."
Mr. McCormick was one of the originators of the Lycoming Law Association and its Secretary for many years. In 1879 he was strongly urged for the appointment of United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and was indorsed generally by the bench and bar for the position. In 1869, when he was barely twenty-five years of age, he was elected Solicitor of the already growing city of Williamsport, and in 1879 was re-
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clected for his second term. Although Mr. McCor- mick had never been a candidate for any office before the people, at the Congressional contest of 1882, he was asked, without solicitation, by ninc of the cighteen conferrees of the Sixteenth District, composed of the counties of Tioga, Potter, Mckean, Cameron, Sullivan and Lycoming, to stand as a can- didate. For three long weeks he steadily received the votes of the nine, and finally, at the request of Mr. McCormick, his supporters voted for W. W.
Brown, of Mckean, and nominated him.
On
August 18, 1886, on the two hundred and fifty-third ballot, and after a protracted dead-lock of many weeks' duration, he was nominated for Congress by the Republican conferrees, at Wellsboro, to repre-
sent the Sixteenth Congressional District.
That
was only ten days prior to the election, but the vote lie polled was unprecedented in the political history of central Pennsylvania. No candidate in the dis- trict ever received so handsome a majority, which was four thousand eight hundred and twenty-six. He carried the Democratic county of Lycoming, which had, but recently, given over two thousand five hundred majority for the Democratic District Attorney-elect, by a majority of eight hundred and forty-seven, the only time in the history of the county that it ever gave a majority for a Republi- can candidate for Congress. Mr. McCormick took his seat in the Fiftieth Congress, December 5, 1887. He was placed on the Committees on Railroads and Canals, and Militia. On May 5, 1888, he made his maiden speech in Congressional halls, in opposi- tion to the free importation of lumber. After the House voted to put lumber on the "free list," by passing the Mills Bill, Mr. McCormick appeared be- fore Senators Hiscock, Allison and Aldrich, the sub-committee on Finance in the Senate, and it was largely through his instrumentality that the com- mittee reported in favor of retaining the duty, thus protecting the lumbermen of his own and other States against destructive competition with Canada, where the wages of labor are much less than those paid in the United States in like employment. In the Fiftieth Congress Mr. McCormick's party was in the minority and much of the work done by him in Washington did not appear on the surface. He gained prestige, however, second to none, as a first term member, bý his worth and work, and at a sub- sequent meeting of the Congressional conference of his district, his course was thus strongly indorsed : " That the unqualified thanks of the people of this
district, particularly the men engaged in the lumber industry, employers as well as workingmen, are due Mr. McCormick for his manly and entirely proper efforts in opposition to the free trade Mills Bill."
His speech denouncing that measure was declared to be " one of the strongest, clearest and most con- vincing expositions of the weaknesses and fallacies of the bill named, delivered in cither house of Con- gress since the fiftieth session began." On January 5th Mr. McCormick introduced a bill in Congress, prepared by him, to give cvery soldier who served four months or over, a pension of eight dollars a month, making service instead of disability the criterion, in place of simple disability now in vogue, but not disturbing the disability pension laws. This bill of his never saw the light after it was smothered and killed by a Democratic committee. At the dedication of Reno Post's monument, in Wildwood, on Memorial Day, 1887, Congressman McCormick referred to his stand on this ground, as follows, in the oration of the day delivered by him: "Common justice requires that this great Government should care for its defenders and those dependent upon them, by a speedy acknowledg- ment of its indebtedness to them, followed by as speedy payment of the debt." In a letter, answer- ing a query as to his position on pensions, he wrote to the Commander of Grand Army Post 141, at Bradford, Pennsylvania, on October 23, 1886, as fol- lows : "Permit me to say that in my belief the time has arrived when every honorably discharged soldier and sailor should receive substantial recog- nition by the Government, without being obliged to prove that he was physically or mentally disabled in the service. The granting of pensions to all sol- diers of the late war is, in my judgment, only a question of time, and I think the time should not be delayed. These are my views and they have not been acquired simply since I have been a candidate for Congress, but have been expressed publicly and privately many times." As a business man Mr. McCormick is not lacking in the same successful traits and qualifications that have made him one of the leading lawyers of the land. For the past dc- cade and more he has been closely allied with the material advancement and prosperity of Williams- port in many large and laudable enterprises. In 1873 he helped organize the Lycoming National Bank, of Williamsport, one of the strongest finan- cial institutions in the West Branch Valley, of which he was a Director for fourteen years. In 1887 he severed his connection with that bank to help found the banking house known as that of Cochran, Payne & McCormick, a concern of great financial strength and popularity. Mr. McCormick has been for years and is now a member and Director of the Williamsport Board of Trade, an organization in which he takes a deep interest and which has been successful in adding a number of new industries and
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