USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. III > Part 5
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SIR: I this day received yours of the 11th inst., inclosing a commission from the Governor of President Judge of the Court
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SETH CHAPMAN.
of Common Pleas of the Eighth district of Pennsylvania, and in answer beg you will please to inform his Excellency, the Gover- nor, that I sincerely thank him for the good opinion he has been pleased to entertain of me, and that I accept the commission with great diffidence, fearing that my abilities are not competent for the performance of the duties of so delicate and important an office upon my part. Integrity, industry and impartiality shall not be wanting, but that I shall sometimes err in the decision of law questions must be expected, as it has been the lot of all human Judges.
I am respectfully your obedient servant,
James Trimble, Esq. S. CHAPMAN.
His district embraced the counties of Luzerne, Lycoming and Northumberland, and subsequently Union county. He was the son of John Chapman, M. D., and was born in Wrightstown, Bucks county, Pa., January 23, 1771. He was a lineal descend- ant of the "first settler," John Chapman, who came from the town of Stannah, in Yorkshire, England, and took up his residence in the woods of Wrightstown, Pa. Being a staunch Friend, and having suffered numerous persecutions for opinion's sake, includ- ing loss of property, he resolved to find a new home in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Leaving home June 21, 1684, he sailed from Aberdeen, Scotland, and reached Wrightstown sometime toward the close of December. Until he was able to build a log house, he and his family lived in a cave, where twin sons were born February 12, 1685. Game from the woods supplied them with food until crops were grown, and often the Indians, between whom and the Chapmans there was the most cordial friendship, were the only reliance. A stone erected at his grave bore the follow- ing inscription :
Behold John Chapman, that Christian man, who first began To settle in this town; From worldly cares and doubtful fears, and Satan's snares, Is here laid down; His soul doth rise above the skies in Paradise, There to wear a lasting crown.
Judge Chapman received his early education at a school in Up- per Makefield township, in his native county. At an early age he removed to Norristown, Pa., and was there admitted to the bar at September term, 1791. After his appointment as judge by
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GARRICK MALLERY.
Governor Snyder, he removed to the town of Northumberland, where he continued to reside until 1833, when he resigned his seat on the bench. An effort was made to impeach him for mis- demeanor in office in 1826, but he was acquitted by the senate, twenty-six senators voting not guilty, five voting guilty. At the time Judge Chapman took his seat Judge Cooper caused to be served on him a notice that if he should presume to exercise the duties of president judge he (Cooper) would make application to the Supreme Court for a writ of quo warranto. Accompanying this notice was an elaborate argument contending that the whole proceedings of the legislature and governor in removing him were unconstitutional, and as a consequence the commission of Judge Chapman was absolutely void and of no validity. There is little in the term of service of Judge Chapman worth noting. The members of the bar, as well as suitors and the public, soon made the discovery that Judge Cooper was not on the bench. He could not be reckoned a talented man, and was a judge of inferior abilities, lacking courage and firmness, besides being in- dolent. The people of Luzerne soon found that they had made a losing bargain by the exchange of Cooper for Chapman. Judge Chapman presided in this county until 1813, and was succeeded by John Bannister Gibson.
GARRICK MALLERY.
Garrick Mallery, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 8, 1811, was born in Middlebury, Conn., April 17, 1784, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., July 6, 1866. He was of unmixed descent from the early English settlers of New England, being in direct line from Peter Mallery, who arrived in Boston in 1638 and went to New Haven settlements with Rev. Theophilus Eaton's company in 1644. Through his mother, Hannah Minor, he was in direct descent from Thomas Minor, who was a member of John Winthrop's company in 1630. Several of his ancestors were military officers in the colonial service and
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GARRICK MALLERY.
in the revolutionary war. He graduated at Yale College in 1808, and after a term at Litchfield Law School read law in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., with Judge Welles. He was elected from Luzerne county to the legislature of Pennsylvania in the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829, being distinguished for promoting the internal improvement and establishing the prison discipline systems of this state. From ISHI to 1832 he was one of the trustees of the Wilkes-Barre Academy. In 1831 he was appointed by Governor Wolf president judge of the third judicial district, composed of the counties of Berks, Northampton, and Lehigh, but resigned in 1836 and removed to Philadelphia, where he prac- ticed law and for several years immediately before his death held the office of master in chancery of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania. In 1840 Judge Mallery received the degree of LL. D. from Lafayette College. He was thrice married; first, in June 18II, at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Sylvina Pierce, daughter of Colonel Lord Butler, born March 5, 1874, died - 1824, by whom he had five children, born in Wilkes-Barre, viz: Pierce Butler, born 1812, died 1838; Amelia, died in childhood ; Priscilla Lee, born October 6, 1816, died April 8, 1844; Charles Bronson, born 1820, died May 6, 1848 ; Edward Garrick, born 1824, died May 27, 1852 ; all of whom died without issue except Priscilla, who at Reading, Pa., November 28, 1836, married William Strong, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and left two daughters, Emily Elizabeth, born February 5, 1838, who, October 14, 1874, married James M. Flanagan, of Philadelphia; and Amelia Mallery, born July 31, 1840, who in 1880 married Frank Slade, of New York city. Second, he was married June 30, 1830, at Harrisburg, Pa., to Catherine Julia, daughter of Dr. Henry Hall, born August 14, 1804, died July 17, 1832, at Reading, Pa., by whom he had one son, Garrick, born April 23, 1831, in Wilkes-Barre, now captain and brevet lieutenant colonel United States army, and ethnol- ogist in the bureau of ethnology, living at Washington, D. C., who, April 14, 1870, at Richmond, Va., was married to Helen Marian, daughter of Rev. A. V. Wyckoff, of New Brunswick, N. J., born February 12, 1849, at Prattsville, N. Y. Third, he was married June 27, 1838, at Philadelphia, to Jeannette, daughter of Dr. John C. Otto, by whom he had four children, born in
GARRICK MALLERY.
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Philadelphia, viz : Eliza, born September 23, 1839, died July 18, 1872; John Conrad, born October 21, 1843 ; James Dundas, born September 1, 1845, died November 24, 1869 ; and Isabel Augusta, born December 6, 1847, died August 7, 1855, who have all died unmarried except John C., now captain of the corps of engineers United States army, who was married at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 27, 1873, to Anna L., daughter of A. S. Winslow.
Garrick, son of Garrick, soldier and ethnologist, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., April 23, 1831. Through his mother, Catharine J. Hall, he was descended from John Harris, founder of Harrisburg, Pa., and William Maclay, first United States senator from Penn- sylvania. He was graduated at Yale College in 1850, in 1853 received the degree of LL. B. from the University of Pennsyl- vania, and the same year was admitted to the bar of Philadel- phia, where he practiced law and engaged in editorial work until the first call for troops in the civil war, when he entered the vol- unteer service, his first commission, that of first lieutenant, dating from April 15, 1861. By subsequent promotions he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and brevet colonel, and at the reorgan- ization of the regular army in 1870 was appointed captain of the First United States infantry. He was twice severely wounded and received three promotions by brevet for gallantry in action. In the reconstruction period in 1869 and 1870, being on military duty in Virginia as judge advocate on the staff of the successive generals commanding, he was appointed to both the offices of secretary of state and adjutant general of the state of Virginia, with the rank of brigadier general. In August, 1870, he was the first officer detailed by the secretary of war for duty with the chief signal officer of the army at Washington to carry into effect the then recent legislation initiating the meteorological duties of the signal service. His rank being next to that of General Myer, he was for long periods in charge of the bureau, and was its executive officer during the remainder of the time, until August, 1876, when he was ordered to the command of Fort Rice in Dakota Territory, and there made investigations into the picto- graphs and mythologies of the North American Indians, which led to his order on June 13, 1877, by the secretary of war, at the request of the secretary of the interior, to report to Major J. W.
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ALPHONSO C. STEWART.
Powell, then in charge of the geological survey of the Rocky Mountain region, for duty in connection with the ethnology of the North American Indians. In this work he has continued, being on July 1, 1879, retired from active service on account of wounds received in action, and thus left at liberty to accept the appointment of ethnologist of the bureau of ethnology on its organization at Washington in that year, which office he still holds. General Mallery is an honorary or active member of several scientific and literary societies in Europe, as well as in the United States, and was a founder and president of the anthropological society and of the Cosmos club, both of Washington. He has contributed largely to periodical literature, but his most import- ant works, some of which have been translated, are the following : "A Calendar of the Dakota Nation" (Washington, 1877) ; "The Former and Present Number of our Indians" (Salem, 1878) ; "Introduction to the Study of Sign Language Among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture Speech of Mankind" (Washington, 1880); "A Collection of Gesture-Signs and Signals of the North American Indians, with some Comparisons" (1880); "Sign Language among North American Indians, Compared with that Among Other Peoples and Deaf Mutes" (1881); "Picto- graphs of the North American Indians" (1886).
ALPHONSO C. STEWART.
Alphonso C. Stewart, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 8, 1812, was previously admitted to the bar of Berks county, Pa. After his admission here he removed to that part of Luzerne now embraced in the county of Bradford, and at the opening of the courts of the last named county, in January, 1813, he was present. The end of Stewart was a tragic one. About 1817 he removed to Belleville, Ill., where for some reason one Bennett proposed to him to fight a sham duel. The guns were loaded by individuals who put no balls in either weapon, but before reaching the ground selected for the duel to
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GEORGE DENISON.
take place Bennett stepped to one side and put a ball into his rifle and Stewart fell mortally wounded. Bennett made his escape but was apprehended about a year after, tried, convicted, and executed.
GEORGE DENISON.
George Denison, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., April 7, 1813, was a descendant of William Deni- son, who was born in England about 1586, came to America in 1631 and settled in Roxbury, Mass., having with him his wife, Margaret, his three sons, Daniel, Edward and George, and John Eliot, who seems to have been a tutor in his family. Mr. Eliot became pastor of the church in Roxbury and did missionary work among the Indians. Mr. Denison was a deacon of the Roxbury church. He had been liberally educated and his sons were also carefully educated. He died in Roxbury January 25, 1653. George Denison, son of William Denison, was born in 1618, was married first in 1640 to Bridget Thompson, daughter of John Thompson, gent, of Preston, Northamptonshire, Eng- land, whose widow, Alice, had come to America and settled in Roxbury. The wife, Bridget, died in 1643. George Denison then went to England, served under Cromwell in the army of the Parliament, won distinction, was wounded at Naseby, was nursed at the house of John Borodell, Cork, Ireland, by his daughter Ann, was married to Ann, returned to Roxbury, and finally settled at Stonington, Conn. George Denison died in Hartford October 23, 1694, while there on some special business. His wife, Ann Borodell, died September 26, 1712, aged ninety-seven years. They were both remarkable for magnificent personal appearance and for force of mind and character. They held a foremost place in Stonington. At the time of their marriage, in 1645, she was thirty years old and he twenty-seven. He has been described as "the Myles Standish of the settlement," but he was a greater and more brilliant soldier than Standish. He had no equal in any of the colonies for conducting a war against the Indians except-
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GEORGE DENISON.
ing, perhaps, Captian John Mason. Miss Calkins, in her history of New London, says of him: "Our early history presents no character of bolder and more active spirit than Captain George Denison ; he reminds us of the bordermen of Scotland." In emergencies he was always in demand, and he was almost con- stantly placed in important public positions. George Denison, son of George Denison and Ann, his wife, was born in 1653. He married Mercy Gorham, daughter of Captain John Gorham, whose wife was Desire Howland, daughter of John Howland, of the May Flower. They lived in Westerly, R. I. Joseph Deni- son, son of George Denison, was baptized November 14, 1683, was married February 17, 1707, to Prudence Minor, daughter of Dr. Joseph Minor. He lived and died in Stonington, Conn. Nathan Denison, son of Joseph Denison, was born February 20, 1716, was married to Ann Carey, daughter of Eleazer Carey, of Windham, Conn., where he settled. He married second, March 15, 1778, Hannah Fuller, and about the year 1800 he went to Kingston, Pa., where he died March 10, 1803. His chil- dren were all by his first wife. Colonel Nathan Denison, son of Nathan Denison, was born January 25, 1741. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1769, and April I of that year, was married to Elizabeth Sill, eldest daughter of Jabez Sill. The knot was tied in a log cabin which stood on the corner of River and South streets in this city, where the residence of Reuben J. Flick now stands, and was the first white marriage in Wyoming. Colonel Denison commanded the left wing of the patriot forces in the battle and massacre of Wyo.ning, July 3, 1778. The terms of capitu- lation were signed by him and the articles are in the following language :
WESTMORELAND, July 4th, 1778. -
Capitulation made and completed between Major John Butler, on behalf of his Majesty, King George the Third, and Colonel Nathan Denniston, of the United States of America.
ART. I. That the inhabitants of the settlement lay down their arms, and the garrisons be demolished.
2d. That the inhabitants are to occupy their farms peaceably, and the lives of the inhabitants preserved intire and unhurt.
3d. That the continental stores be delivered up.
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GEORGE DENISON.
4th. That Major Butler will use his utmost influence that the private property of the inhabitants shall be preserved intire to them.
5th. That the prisoners in Forty Fort be delivered up, and that Samuel Finch, now in Major Butler's possession, be delivered up also.
6th. That the property taken from the people called Tories, up the river, be made good, and they to remain in peaceable pos- session of their farms, unmolested, in a free trade in and through- out this state as far as lies in my power.
7th. That the inhabitants that Colonel Denniston now capitul- ates for, together with himself, do not take up arms during the pres- ent contest.
NATHAN DENISON, JOHN BUTLER.
1
ZURAH BEECH, SAMUEL GUSTIN, JOHN JOHNSON, WILLIAM CALDWELL.
Colonel Denison was a man of strong ability and character, and stood among the foremost in the region where he lived. In 1774 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the township of Westmoreland, in the colony of Connecticut, and on June I, 1778, he was appointed one of the judges for the county of West- moreland, in the state of Connecticut. In 1776, 1778, 1779and 1780 he was one of the members from Westmoreland to the Connecticut assembly. He was also a member of the council or member of the Pennsylvania assembly from Luzerne county for the years 1787, 1788 and 1789; and was also appointed, August 17, 1791, one of the associate judges of Luzerne county. He died at Kings- ton January 25, 1809. Lazarus Denison Shoemaker, of this city, is a grandson of Colonel Nathan Denison, through hiseldest daugh- ter Elizabeth S., who married Elijah Shoemaker, jr. Judge Den- ison was one of the most prominent men of his day. Doctor Peck in his " History of Early Methodism," says: "Colonel Denison and his lady and three daughters became members of the Methodist church. He was a man of great influence in the county, of which sufficient proof was given by the responsible
GEORGE DENISON.
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positions which he was called by his fellow citizens to fill. He was a kind hearted and ardently pious man. His house was open to the weary itinerants, and too much could scarcely be done by the family for their comfort. All the preachers made it a place of rest and refreshment, while several at different times were quartered there as a regular boarding place. The colonel died in great peace. His excellent lady survived him several years, and then followed him to the abodes of the blessed. The venerable Asbury was there several times entertained, as we learn from his journal." George Denison, third son of Colonel Nathan Deni- son, was born in Kingston, Pa., February 22, 1790. He was educated at the Wilkes-Barre Academy, then under the charge of Garrick Mallery. In his minority he served as the deputy of his brother, Colonel Lazarus Denison, the register and re- corder of Luzerne county, and on April 30, 1812, he was himself appointed to these offices for a term of three years. From 1811 to 1814 he was clerk of the Wilkes-Barre borough council, and was for many years a member of the council, serving as its presi- dent in 1823 and 1824. In ISI8 he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and served until his death. In 1815 he was elected to the legislature of Pennsylvania and reelected in IS16, 1827, 1828, 1829 and IS30. He was a member of congress from 1818 to 1822. In 1824 he was appointed deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania. In 1828 he was one of the presidential electors on the Adams ticket. From May, 1829, to May, 1830, he was burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. On May 30, 1816, he married Caroline Bow- man, daughter of Ebenezer Bowman. (See page 1050) They had three children. His youngest son, Rev. Henry Mande- vile Bowman, married Alice, daughter of President John Tyler. Mr. Denison died August 20, 1832. His wife died July 1, 1833. It is believed that all their children are now deceased.
By the act of March 24, 1812, the eleventh judicial district was formed and originally included the counties of Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wayne. The governor was directed to appoint a president of the district and two judges for each
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JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
county, their jurisdiction and authority to begin after the second Tuesday in the following October. By the act of March 12, 1813, Luzerne was attached to and made part of the eleventh district ; the president of said district and the associate judges of the county to hold the several courts. Under this change the first term of court was held in July 1813 and was presided over by Judge Bannister Gibson. He continued to be president judge until June, 1816, when he was commissioned one of the justices of the Supreme Court. The last term of court held by him in Luzerne as president was April term 1816.
JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
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John Bannister Gibson, the fourth president judge of Luzerne county, Pa., was the son of Lieutenant Colonel George Gibson, a native of Lancaster, Pa., where he was born October 10, 1747. He received an academic education, entered a mercantile house in Philadelphia, and made several voyages as supercargo to the West Indies. When the revolution began he raised a company and was appointed captain in a state regiment. His soldiers were distinguished for good conduct and bravery, and were known in the army as "Gibson's Lambs." In order to obtain a supply of gunpowder he descended the Mississippi with twenty-five picked men, and after a hazardous journey succeeded in accomplishing his mission. On his return he was appointed to a command in a Virginia regiment, joined General Washington before the evacu- ation of New York, and was engaged in all the principal battles of the campaign of 1778. He retired to his farm in Cumberland county, Pa., after the war, and was county lieutenant until 1791, when he took command of a regiment in the St. Clair expedition against the Ohio Indians. At the battle of Miami, November 4, 1791, he received a mortal wound, and died in Fort Jefferson, Ohio, December 14, 1791.
John Bannister Gibson, who held his first court here at July term, 1813, was commissioned as president judge of the eleventh
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JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
judicial district October 16, 1812. He was a native of Shear- man's Valley, now in Perry county, Pa., where he was born No- vember 8, 1780. He was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., read law under Thomas Duncan, afterwards judge of the Supreme Court of this state, was admitted to the bar of Cumber- land county in 1803, practiced successively in Carlisle and Bea- ver, Pa., and in Hagerstown, Maryland; returning to Carlisle, was elected by the then republican party in 1810and again in ISII to the state legislature, in which he filled a prominent station, giving a zealous support to the administrations of Governor Snyder and President Madison. He was appointed president judge by Gov- ernor Snyder, and resided here until June, 1816, when he was made an associate judge of the Supreme Court of this state. On the death of Chief Justice Tilghman, in 1827, he became chief justice, and held that position until 1851. So distinguished was his ability, learning and impartiality, that, after the adoption of the amended constitution of 1838, in times of the highest and bitterest party excitement, Governor Ritner, forgetting his per- sonal and party feelings, and looking only to the qualifications necessary for that high office, reappointed him chief justice of this commonwealth. He sat on the supreme bench with twenty- six different associates, of whom eighteen preceded him to the grave. During the long period of his judicial labors he dis- cussed and decided innumerable questions. His opinions are found in no less than seventy volumes of reports, from 2 Sergeant & Rawle to 7 Harris. At the time of his death he had been longer in office than any contemporary judge in the world, and in some points of character he had not his equal on the earth. Such vigor, clearness and precision of thought were never before united with the same felicity of diction. Brougham has sketched Lord Stowell justly enough as the greatest judicial writer that England could boast of for force and beauty of style. He selects a sentence and calls on the reader to admire the remarkable ele- gance of its structure. We believe that Judge Gibson never wrote an opinion in his life from which a passage might not be taken stronger, as well as more graceful in its tone of expression, than this which is selected with so much care by a most zealous friend from all of Lord Stowell's. His written language was a
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JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
transcript of his mind. It gave the world the very form and presence of his thoughts. It was accurate because he knew the . exact boundaries of the principles he discussed. His style was rich, but he never turned out of his way for figures of speech. He never sacrificed sense to sound, or preferred ornament to substance. His words were always precisely adapted to the sub- ject. He said neither more nor less than just the thing he ought. When a legal principle passed through his hands he sent it forth clothed in a dress which fitted it so exactly that nobody ever presumed to give it any other. Almost universally the syllabus of his opinion is a sentence from itself; and the most heedless student, in looking over Wharton's Digest, can select the cases in which Gibson delivered the judgment as readily as he could pick out gold coins from among coppers. For this reason it is that, though he was the least voluminous writer of the court, the citations from him at the bar are more numerous than from all the rest put together. An opinion of his was an unbroken chain of logic from beginning to end. His argumentation was always characterized by great power, and sometimes it rose into irresistible energy, dashing opposition to pieces with force like that of a bat- tering ram. He was inflexibly honest. The judicial ermine was as unspotted when he laid it aside for the habiliments of the grave as it was when he first assumed it. Next after his wonder- ful intellectual endowments, the benevolence of his heart was the most marked feature of his character. His was a most genial spirit; affectionate and kind to his friends, and magnanimous to his enemies. Benefits received by him were engraved on his mem- ory as on a tablet of brass; injuries were written in sand. He never let the sun go down upon his wrath. He lacked the quality which Dr. Johnson admired. He was not a good hater. His accomplishments were very extraordinary. He was a born musician, and the natural talent was highly cultivated. He was a connoisseur in painting and sculpture. The whole round of English literature was familiar to him. He was at home among the ancient classics. He had a perfectly clear perception of all the great truths of natural science. He had studied medicine carefully in his youth, and understood it well. His mind ab- sorbed all kinds of knowledge with scarcely an effort.
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