USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. I > Part 24
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George Butler, "minister of the gospel" at Carlisle, officiating. She died September 1, 1812, aged fifty-six years.
Alexander McKeehen was a north of Ireland immigrant. It is not known when he came to the Kitochtinny or Cumberland valley, but he was probably one of the earliest settlers who im- migrated between 1730, 1740 and 1750, after which time for a whole generation there were no settlers of any other nationality. The majority of the settlers were men of means, intelligent and self-asserting. About 1784-85 we find Alexander McKeehen with General John Armstrong, sen., who had emigrated before 1748, and others of the well known names of Alexander, Blair, Craig- head, Creigh, Duncan, McClure, Grier, Denny, Lyon, Wray, Stuart, and many more familiar names of the early settlers, who were members of Rev. George Duffield's congregation, subscrib- ing £414 to finish the Presbyterian church at Carlisle, which had been commenced in 1757. Mr. Duffield had been pastor of the church for twelve or thirteen years before 1772, when he received a call to Philadelphia, and afterwards became chaplain of the Continental Congress. Alexander McKeehen died sometime after December, 1804.
In 1792 the French National Convention met and established the republic, abolished the Bourbons, and declared their fraternity with all people who desired to be free. Early in the following year war with England was declared. The sympathy of the democratic-republican party, led by Mr. Jefferson, then secre- tary of state, was strongly with the French people, who had been our powerful allies. The federal party, led by Mr. Hamil- ton, was denounced as "the British party." This feeling, coupled with an obnoxious scheme of internal taxation devised by Mr. Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, led to unequaled bit- terness between the political parties at that time formed and led by these two statesmen. It divided them everywhere and in everything. In Cumberland county Mr. Lamberton was a con- spicuous leader of the democratic-republican party.
A new militia law was enacted in the year 1793 for the re-or- ganization of the militia of the state. Under its provisions an election for field officers was being held at the court house in Carlisle on June 20, 1793. James Lamberton had been commis-
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sioned on February 19, 1793, as major of the First battalion of Cumberland county militia, to rank as such from July 28, 1792. At this election an altercation took place relative to the quali- fication of some of the voters between Major James Lamberton and Mr. John Duncan, merchant and a member of the fed- eral party. He was a brother of Thomas Duncan, a prominent lawyer and afterwards one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Late on the evening of the 21st, Mr. Duncan, by his friend and brother-in-law, Joseph R. Postlethwait, sent Major Lamberton a hostile message, giving ten minutes for an answer. Major Lamberton shortly after, by his friend, Mr. John Wray, delivered a message of acceptance. They met the next morning on the commons in the suburbs. Mr. Duncan, with James Blaine as his second and accompanied by Mr. Postle- thwait; Major Lamberton with Robert Huston as his second. Colonel Wray was also present. They fought with pistols. At the request of Major Lamberton, before the firing, they shook hands. At the first fire Mr. Duncan was killed.
James Blaine was the son of Colonel Ephriam Blaine, and the grandfather of Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine. A singular inci- dent of the sad affair is that Colonel Blaine married for his second wife the widow of John Duncan, deceased.
In 1795 James Lamberton was elected by the people of Cumberland county to the sixth house of representatives of Pennsylvania, which met on December I of that year. He was re-elected the following year to the seventh house of repre- sentatives which met on December 6, 1796. This was during the administration of Governor Mifflin, the first governor of the state under the constitution of 1790.
The legislature which assembled at Philadelphia in December, 1795, was a reform legislature, seeking to carry out the pro- visions of the constitution of 1790. Among the subjects before it for consideration were : Laws mitigating imprisonment for debt ; for the establishment of " free schools ;" for improving roads and inland navigation ; giving to the courts further equitable powers ; the revival of the laws relating to bankruptcy ; concerning com- mercial paper and marine insurance; for regulating the general elections, and to prevent frauds therein ; providing for election of
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electors for president and vice-president of the United States ; laws regulating the militia of the commonwealth, and for giving aid to the Pennsylvania hospital ; all of which measures received the support of Mr. Lamberton. He also voted in favor of the amendment to the constitution of the United States, proposed by the state of Virginia, "that no person holding the office of a judge under the United States should be capable of holding, at the same time, any other office or appointment whatever ;" alsc, that a tribunal other than the senate be instituted for the trial of impeachment. He voted for the appropriation to Dickinson col- lege. He supported the removal of the seat of government to Lancaster from Philadelphia, until a permanent capital be there- after designated, and thus avoid the strong local influence of the proprietary interests at Philadelphia.
The legislature which assembled in 1796, of which James Lamberton was also a member from Cumberland county, had before them the general revision of the election laws; incorpo- rating the laws relating to the state and federal elections into one system, and to make further provision to prevent frauds ; laws for regulating the militia; for the establishment of public schools ; for preserving records of the land office; laws concerning the territorial controversy at Wyoming; abolishing imprisonment for debt, and laws for the employment, relief, and support of the poor. In all of which legislation Mr. Lamberton took a con- spicuous part. The returns of the re-election of Governor Mifflin were presented to this legislature. The entire vote of the state was, in round numbers, thirty-one thousand, of which Governor Mifflin received about thirty thousand, F. A. Muhlenburg and Anthony Wayne the remainder.
In January, 1804, Major James Lamberton was appointed and commissioned justice of the peace by Thomas McKean, governor of Pennsylvania. On October 28, 1811, he was commissioned bri- gade inspector, and as such mustered into the service of the United States the soldiers of the Cumberland valley, and accom- panied some of them to the northern frontier at the time of the late war with Great Britain. On July 4, 1814, James Lamberton was appointed and commissioned brigade inspector of the First brigade of the Eleventh division, being for the county of Cum-
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berland, for the term of seven years. On the first Monday of July, 1821, James Lamberton was elected and afterwards commissioned major-general of the Eleventh division, composed of the counties of Cumberland, Perry, and Franklin, for the term of seven years, being the first major-general elected under the act of 1821.
He had issue, Robert, Alexander, James, Christopher, Jane, and Esther. Alexander, James, and Esther died at Carlisle un- married. Christopher married, and died near Baltimore without issue. Jane, intermarried with John Noble, died at Carlisle, leav- ing issue; and from Robert, Charles Lytle Lamberton is descended.
-General Lamberton had brothers. Christopher, who had been educated in Scotland for the ministry, emigrated to America, read law with Judge Hamilton, at Carlisle, removed afterwards to the state of Ohio, where his descendents now are to be found. John emigrated to Venango county, Pa., where he died, leaving children. Huston and William never emigrated. Three sons of the latter, Robert, James, and William, emigrated to this country and settled in Venango county, Pa., where they became well 'known among the first citizens. Robert, as associate judge, merchant, and banker, has attained much prominence and great wealth, and has reared a large family, who are among the leading business men of the counties in which they live.
General Lamberton, on March 27, 1789, had deeded to him by Alexander McKeehen and wife, the house and lot on High street, Carlisle, No. 117, and formerly within the stockade of 1753. Here he lived during his life, carrying on a large and lucrative business, and here he died. For many years he had retired from active business pursuits, devoting his time to the cultivation . of his farm lands in the vicinity of the town. He was tall in stature, straight as an arrow, active and alert in movement, care- ful in attire, and to the last retained the old fashion of wearing his hair in a cue. He had been well educated, was intelligent, quick and decided, brave and determined, and a born leader among men. He died July 28, 1846, at the ripe age of ninety- one years, without physical infirmity and his mental faculties unimpaired. A contemporary writing of him says : "Descended from an old Scotch family who removed from their own country to the sister kingdom of Ireland, he inherited the same fearless-
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ness and determination so eminently characteristic of the Cove- nanters. He emigrated to this country before the close of the struggle which resulted in the freedom of the colonies, and from the time he became an American citizen he was ever found amongst those who firmly maintained the rights of the people. His upright character soon secured the respect of his fellow citizens, and he was placed in positions in which he was always true to his trust. Fearless in the expression of his sentiments, and as courageous in the defense of them, he was awed by no petty considerations of policy into silence, and though so long outliving the allotment of 'three score and ten,' he left a repu- tation unsullied by a dishonorable act."
Major Robert Lamberton, son of James, was born March 17, 1787, at Carlisle, was educated at Dickinson college, at that time under the charge of Rev. Dr. Davidson, and amongst others had for college mate James Buchanan, later president of the United States, between whom ever after were the strongest ties of friend- ship. He was a student at law preparing for admission to the Cumberland county bar when the late war with Great Britain was declared, at which time Major Robert Lamberton was ap- pointed paymaster in the service of the United States for the Pennsylvania forces on the northern frontier. He accompanied . the troops to the frontier and into Canada. The exposure incident to his service there brought on chronic rheumatism, which afflicted him through life and ultimately caused his death. On the cessation of hostilities Major Lamberton returned to Car- lisle and engaged in mercantile pursuits, and later was appointed postmaster of Carlisle, which position he retained for many years.
April 20, 1815, by the Rev. H. R. Wilson, Robert Lamberton was married to Miss Mary Harkness, daughter of William Hark- ness, of Allen township, Cumberland county.
William Harkness was born October 1, 1739, in the north of Ireland, and when quite a boy immigrated with his father, Wil- liam Harkness, sen., and settled among the Presbyterians of Done- gal, in the county of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married, in 1771, Priscilla Lytle, of the same Scotch-Irish stock and living in the same settlement, a woman of great ability and energy of character. She was born in 1751.
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CHARLES LYTLE LAMBERTON.
After the close of the harrassing Indian wars (by the treaty of Colonel Boquet) which ravaged the Cumberland valley until 1764, William Harkness, jun., bought of the proprietaries on August 1, 1766, land now in Allen township, in Cumberland county. The Indian titles having been extinguished and the boundary difficulties with the state of Maryland adjusted, the proprietary advertised that the office for the sale of lands west of the Susquehanna would be opened on August 1, 1766, the set- tlers prior to that holding their lands under license certificates. Judge Huston says the number of applications issued on that day was six hundred and sixty-nine. The application of William Harkness was number thirty-eight. The survey was on January 24, 1767, and patent issued subsequently.
He and his neighboring settlers were often engaged in defend- ing their homes from the savage enemy, and in the work of the harvest fields there and in the Sherman's valley, carried their rifles with them for the common defense. They were armed agriculturists. The name of William Harkness is found on the list of taxables of Cumberland county as early as 1753.
The Presbyterian settlers of the Cumberland valley were among the first to actively assert the rights of the colonists in the struggle with Great Britain. As early as July, 1774, the "free- holders and freemen from the several townships met in the First Presbyterian church, at Carlisle," passed resolutions of sympathy with Boston ; declared for non-importation from Britain ; recom- mended a colonial congress; appointed deputies to it, and a committee of correspondence. In May, 1775, a county com- mittee was organized. Three thousand men were associated, and five hundred were taken into pay to be armed, disciplined, and marched on the first emergency, and for this purpose they voluntarily taxed themselves for £27,000. And by August of the next year they had nine hundred men in the field and more ready to march. Some of the companies marched under the command of their pastors, and some of them were already with Washington before Boston, and one company of riflemen under Captain William Hendricks marched with Arnold to Quebec.
As early as May 28, 1776, the petition of the inhabitants of Cumberland valley was presented to the general assembly of
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the province in favor of separation and looking to independence.
William Harkness entered the colonial service as an ensign, and together with Mr. Lytle, his brother-in-law, was, amongst other conflicts, at Brandywine and Germantown. At the latter place Mr. Lytle was killed by his side.
After the war Mr. Harkness, by purchase, added to his property until he possessed a large estate of some seven hundred or eight hundred acres of the rich lands of the Cumberland valley. On it he erected a large stone dwelling house, among the first of that kind in the valley, and other buildings, and gave his time to agri- cultural and other business pursuits. Generous and open handed, his house was famous for its large hospitality. He cultivated his lands and welcomed his many guests with the help of his own servants.
In the registry of the last two hundred and ninety-seven slaves registered under the requirements of " An act to explain and amend an act entitled 'An act for the gradual abolition of slavery, &c., in Pennsylvania,'" passed the Ist day of March, 1780, among the records of Cumberland -county, we find the well-known names of Armstrong, Buchanan, Butler, Caroth- ers, Crawford, Clarke, Craighead, Bryson, Duncan, Blain, Dunlap, Irvine, Galbraith, Gibson and others, that William Harkness re- turns those born on his estate. Some who desired it he after- wards manumitted at the age of twenty-one, seven years before the time fixed by law, having previously sent them to school and in other ways given them preparation for self-dependence. For others he built on his estate, houses, where they and their chil- dren resided until the death of his son, William Harkness, Feb- ruary 20, 1851. At all times they were treated with the greatest kindness, and between them the utmost sympathy and affection existed.
William Harkness died May 4, 1822. Priscilla Harkness, his wife, died October 31, 1831, and both lie buried in the old grave yard at Silver's Spring, alongside the church of the pio- neers of the "lower settlement" beyond the Susquehanna, and of the founding of which the descendants of the early settlers, in the year 1883, celebrated its sesqui-centennial.
Major Lamberton died at Carlisle, August 9, 1852, aged sixty-
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five years. Mary Harkness Lamberton survived him many years. She was born in April, 1791, and died at Carlisle, December 28, 1780, in the ninetieth year of her age. In many respects she was a remarkable woman. For sixty-three years she had been a regu- lar attendant and communicant of the First Presbyterian church of Carlisle. Tall and comely-of clear, prompt, and decided judgment, of great ability and energy-she permitted nothing to swerve her from the path of duty and the right. She devoted herself to the care and education of her children and to her life of Christian duty and example. No infirmity of age came upon her. Her physical activity and the humor and clearness of her bright mind remained with her until the last, when the beating pulse ceased in death.
She left surviving four sons and two daughters : Robert Alex- ander Lamberton, late a member of the Dauphin bar, now presi- dent of Lehigh university ; Alfred John Lamberton, a prominent merchant of western Minnesota ; Charles Lytle Lamberton ; and Henry Wilson Lamberton, a banker and a leading business man of southern Minnesota and the present mayor of the city of Wi- nona; and two daughters, Mrs. Mary Lamberton Paulding and Annie Graham Lamberton, who occupy the homestead at Carlisle. James Finley Lamberton, former prothonotary of Cumberland county and the father of Lieut. Commander B. P. Lamberton of the United States navy, and Colonel William Harkness Lamberton, late of the Venango county, Pa., bar, died before her, the latter leaving a son surviving him, W. R. Lamberton, a member of the bar of the city of New York. Two daughters, Priscilla and Jane, and a young son, Robert C., died many years before.
Charles Lytle Lamberton was born on the 4th day of January, A. D. 1829. He was born, bred, and educated at Carlisle, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania. At the age of nineteen he com- menced the study of the law under the tuition of his brother, Hon. Robert A. Lamberton, of Harrisburg, and during a portion of this time taught school in Cumberland county. He was admit- ted to the Dauphin county bar in August, 1850, but the death of an uncle, William Harkness, with whom Mr. Lamberton had been living, occurring, leaving a large estate to be settled, at the instance of the administrator, his kinsman Robert Bryson, he was induced
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to spend the greater part of one year assisting in the settlement of the estate. It was not until the summer of 1851 that he turned his thoughts toward the active duties and pursuits of his profession. In the fall of that year, accepting inducements held out to him, he removed to Brookville, Jefferson county, Pa., and associated himself in the practice of law with the late Hon. Sam- uel A. Purviance, of Butler, Pa., a member of the constitutional convention of 1838, afterwards member of congress, attorney general of Pennsylvania, and later member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention of 1874. To the wise counsels and good influences and professional training of this distinguished man, Mr. Lamberton believes himself indebted for much of his success at the bar and prosperity in life. In a remarkable degree he always manifested kindness and consideration for the younger members of the profession. He practiced in a wide circuit, was a learned lawyer, genial gentleman, and competed and stood abreast with the foremost lawyers of his time and state. Among the younger members who practiced at the Jefferson county bar at this time were Silas M. Clark and Isaac G. Gordon, at present two of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Indeed the first jury case Mr. Lamberton tried was Cuddy v. Eldred township, a case of negligence against the supervisors for non-repair of roads, in which he had the present Judge Gordon for his legal opponent, and in which Mr. Lamberton was fortunate in getting a verdict for his client.
In the winter of 1851 and 1852, without any solicitation or even previous knowledge on his part, Governor Bigler appointed and commissioned him a member of his staff with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In his profession he succeeded from the first. In the summer of 1853 Mr. Lamberton was offered a legal part- nership by Hon. James Campbell, of Clarion, afterwards the pre- sident judge of the district (Clarion, Jefferson, Forest, Venango, and Mercer). Believing that the county of Clarion offered a bet- ter field for professional success, he accepted the offer and in the summer of that year removed to Clarion, where their firm took a leading and commanding position, with an extensive and lucrative business extending over the counties of Clarion, Jefferson, Arm- strong, Venango, and Forest.
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For seven years Mr. Lamberton was a close student of his pro- fession, a diligent reader of history and English literature, and a vigorous and earnest practitioner. Belonging to the democratic party he took periodically an interest in his party politics, but with- out neglecting his profession. In 1856 he was elected a delegate to the democratic state convention, which for the first time sent a united delegation from Pennsylvania to a national convention, in the interests of James Buchanan for president. Subsequently he became a member of the democratic state committee, of which the late John W. Forney was chairman, who then made his famous campaign, carrying Pennsylvania for Mr. Buchanan.
Mr. Lamberton sympathized with the friends of Stephen A. Douglass in his effort to prevent the introduction of slavery into the territories, and when the Charleston convention which gave Judge Douglass a majority had adjourned in 1860, he called meet- ings and took the stump in behalf of instructing the delegates from his district to the national convention at its adjourned meet- ing at Baltimore, to vote for Stephen A. Douglass.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln the cotton states had determined to secede from the union. South Carolina, on De- cember 20, 1860, passed an ordinance of secession, and by Feb- ruary 1, 1861, she had been followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The drum-beat was heard all through the south, and early in February Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate states, at Montgomery.
In this exigency ex-Chief Justice Lewis and other leading citi- · zens united in a letter to the chairman of the democratic state committee of Pennsylvania, asking him and his committee to call a state democratic convention, to be held in the interest of a peaceable adjustment of the momentous questions dividing the country. The call was accordingly issued for a convention to meet at Harrisburg, on February 21, 1861, and to be composed of twice the number of delegates as there were senators and members of the house of representatives. This convention was intended to voice the unanimous sentiment of the democratic party of Pennsylvania in favor of the preservation of the union under the constitution by peaceable measures of compromise be- fore the final resort to arms. Mr. Lamberton was sent as a dele-
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gate by the county of Clarion to this convention. Three hundred and ninety-nine members responded to the call, embracing in their numbers the ablest and most thoughtful men of the party through- out the state. General Henry D. Foster, of Westmoreland, later the democratic candidate for governor, was unanimously called to preside, assisted by a large number of vice-presidents and sec- retaries. A committee of forty-one, with General Henry D. Fos- ter as chairman, was appointed to proceed to Washington and deliver a copy of the resolutions and proceedings to the president of the United States, the vice-president, the senators and mem- bers of congress from Pennsylvania, and to the several members of the peace conference then in session. On that committee were the learned ex-Chief Justice Ellis Lewis; the venerable Josiah Ran- dall, father of ex-Speaker Randall ; ex-Mayor Vaux, of Philadel- phia ; General George W. Cass, of Allegheny ; General Ephraim Banks, late auditor-general of the state; Judge John W. Maynard, of Lycoming; General A. L. Roumfort, of Dauphin; and Hon. Asa Packer, famous then for his business enterprise and more famous since as the founder of a great university for free education. The other members of the committee were, Hon. F. W. Hughes, of Schuylkill ; James G. Campbell, of Butler ; Judge P. C. Shannon, of Allegheny ; W. H. Case, of Northumberland ; C. W. Carrigan, John N. Hutchison, George Williams, and Thomas J. Roberts, of Philadelphia ; Henry M. Miller, of Montgomery ; Victor E. Pio- lett, of Bradford ; Hon. John Creswell, of Blair ; A. J. Dull, of Armstrong ; Hon. Hugh M. North, of Lancaster ; Hon. Robert E. Monaghan, of Chester ; Ira C. Mitchell, of Centre; Hon. R. Bruce Petriken, of Huntingdon; General J. Y. James, of Warren ; Charles L. Lamberton, of Clarion ; Hon. Daniel Kaine, of Fay- ette ; Hon. M. C. Trout, of Mercer ; Hon. George H. Bucher, of Cumberland; Hon. J. L. Getz, of Berks; General William Patten, of Erie; Samuel Wetherell, of Northampton ; R. A. McConnell, of Greene; John D. Roddy, of Somerset ; Adam Ebaugh, of York ; George W. Brewer, of Franklin ; L. S. Coryell, of Bucks ; Hon. Thomas Chalfant, of Montour; Hon. George Sanderson, of Lan- caster ; and Hon. Steuben Jenkins, of Luzerne.
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