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 6
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1094
JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Judge Gibson was well appreciated by his fellow citizens; not . so highly as he deserved, for that was scarcely possible. But admiration of his talents and respect for his honesty were uni- versal sentiments. This was strikingly manifested when he was elected, in 185!, with no emphatic political standing, and without manners, habits or associations calculated to make him popular beyond the circle that knew him intimately. With all these dis- advantages, it is said, he narrowly escaped what might have been a dangerous distinction-a nomination on both of the opposing tickets-and was the only one of the former incumbents who was nominated by the democratic party, remaining on the bench as an associate justice until his death.
His residence in Wilkes-Barre was on Northampton street, between Franklin and Main, now occupied by Mrs. Hugh Mur- ray, and next door to the residence of Agib Ricketts, Esq. In the hours of relaxation from the exercise of official duties and his law and literary reading, he seemed to take especial pleasure, in company with his scientific friend, the late Jacob Cist, Esq., to visit different portions of the valley, note its geological structure, particularly the extent and position of the anthracite coal de- posits, then, from the praiseworthy experiments of Judge Fell and their fortunate results, just beginning to merge into importance, and also with more than common curiosity and delight to visit the remains of the ancient Indian fortifications. In one of their excursions to examine the large fortification on the farm late of James Hancock, in Plains township, they found a medal bearing on one side the impress of King George I., dated 1714, the year in which he began his reign, and on the other side the likeness of an Indian chief. He was one of the trustees of the Wilkes- Barre Academy from 1814 to 1817, two years of which time he was president.
When called to the supreme bench his departure from Wilkes- Barre was regarded with emotions of mingled pleasure and regret. All were glad at the occurrence of an event so propitious to him personally, and promising increased utility to that elevated tri- bunal, yet all were sorry to part with him either as a judge or citizen.
He married, in 1810, Sarah W. Galbraith, of East Pennsboro
1095
THOMAS BLEASDALE OVERTON.
township, Cumberland county, Pa. She was the great-grand- daughter of James Galbraith (son of Jolin Galbraith), of Scotch parentage, who was born in 1666, in the north of Ireland, from whence he emigrated in 1718, settling in Conestoga (afterwards Donegal) township, then Chester county, province of Pennsyl- vania. He was one of the founders of old Derry church, a man of prominence, and the head of a remarkable family. His wife was Rebecca Chambers. He died August 23, 1744. James Galbraith, son of James Galbraith, was born in 1703, in the north of Ireland. He took up a tract of land in now Derry township, Dauphin county, Pa., on Spring creek, in 1737. He became a man of note on the frontiers, and the early provincial records of Pennsylvania contain frequent reference to him; was elected sheriff of the county in 1742; for many years was one of the justices for the county of Lancaster, and served as an officer during the Indian wars, 1755-1763; towards the revolutionary period removed to Cumberland county. He married, April 6, 1734, Elizabeth Bertram, daughter of Rev. William Bertram. He died June II, 1786, in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county, Pa. Andrew Galbraith, son of James Galbraith, was born about 1750, in Derry township, and died about 1806, in East Pennsboro township. His wife was Barbara Kyle, daugh- ter of John Kyle, of Donegal township, Lancaster county, Pa. These were the parents of Mrs. Gibson. Mr. and Mrs. Judge Gibson left a family of five children, two sons and three daugh- ters. Judge Gibson died in Philadelphia May 3, 1853.
THOMAS BLEASDALE OVERTON.
Thomas Bleasdale Overton, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., December 31, 1813, was a native of Man- chester, England, where he was born May 21, 1791. He prac- ticed law in this city and died at Mobile, Alabama, about 1819. He was a brother of Edward Overton, of the Luzerne bar. He
1096
HENRY KING.
married, in 1813, in this city, Anna Maria Hodkinson, a native of Honduras, who came to this country in 1791 at the age of eight years to be educated, but never returned home. Mr. and Mrs. Overton had two daughters, both of whom are now deceased. The eldest, a maiden lady, died at Towanda April 21, 1886, and the youngest, Ann Heartly, became the wife of Matthias Hollen- back Laning. She died in Towanda, October 30, 1877.
CHARLES CATLIN.
Charles Catlin, the eldest son of Putman Catlin, was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., March 28, 1814. He was born in this city March 15, 1790. In 1819 he removed to Mont- rose, Pa., and resided there until his death. (See page 105 1.)
HENRY KING.
Henry King, whose ancestor, John King, came from Suffolk county, England, to this country about 1718, was admitted to the Luzerne county bar April 3, 1815. He was a native of Palmer, Hampden county, Massachusetts, where he was born July 6, 1790. In 1812 he moved to this city and prepared for the bar in the office of Garrick Mallery. Shortly after his admission he removed to Allentown, Pa., where he was for some time the only lawyer. In 1825 he was elected to the state senate for the term of four years, upon the expiration of which he was again elected. In 1830, before his second term expired, he was chosen a repre- sentative in congress, which position he filled from 1831 to 1835. He died at Allentown July 13, 1861. Hon. Thomas Butler King, of Georgia, was a brother of Henry King.
1097
THOMAS MEREDITH.
THOMAS MEREDITH.
Thomas Meredith, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 3, 1816, was born in Philadelphia Sep- tember 4, 1779. He was a descendent of Reese Meredith, of Philadelphia, whose wife, Martha, was a daughter of John Car- penter, of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Samuel Carpenter, provincial treasurer and an early councillor. Samuel Meredith, son of Reese Meredith, was born in Philadelphia in 1741, and was educated at Dr. Allison's academy. He married Margaret Cadwalader, a daughter of Thomas Cadwalader, the councillor. He was a partner in business with his father and his brother-in-law, George Clymer. He enlisted as major in the third battalion of Associators in 1775. In December, 1776, he was made lieutenant colonel and afterwards participated in the battle of Princeton. As brigadier general of the Pennsylvania militia he served at Brandywine and Germantown. He resigned in 1778 and was subsequently a member of the assembly for several years, and a member of the continental congress from 1786 to 1788. At the organization of the federal government Washington appointed him treasurer of the United States. He held the office more than twelve years. The first money ever paid into the treasury was twenty thousand dollars loaned by him to the government. He subsequently loaned one hundred and forty thousand dollars. He retired after 1801 to his seat called "Belmont," near Mount Pleasant, Wayne county, Pa. He owned seventy-five thousand acres of land in Wayne county, and sixty-seven thousand acres in Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, and George Clymer and himself owned altogether nearly a million of acres in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Kentucky. He died at Belmont in 1817. Thomas Meredith was the only son of Samuel and Margaret Meredith. He studied law with John Read and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1803, but in 1805 removed to his father's residence, Belmont. He was a major of Pennsylvania militia in the war of 1812. He also filled the offices of prothonotary, register of wills, and recorder of
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1098
THOMAS BURNSIDE.
deeds for Wayne county from 1821 to 1823. He afterwards lived at Meredith cottage, in Carbondale township, in Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county. He died at Trenton, New Jersey, April 22, 1855. He married September 19, 1823, Sarah, daughter of William Gibson.
THOMAS BURNSIDE.
Thomas Burnside, the fourth president judge of Luzerne county, Pa., succeeded Judge Gibson as president of the eleventh judicial district. At a court held July 29, 1816, his commission dated June 28, 1816, was read and he took the oath. He continued to preside at the regular terms of court from August term, 1816, until April term, 1818. He resigned July 6, 1818. Thomas Burnside was born at Newton Stewart, Ireland, July 28, 1782. M. Auge in his "Lives of the Eminent Dead and Biographical Notices of Prominent Citizens of Montgomery county, Pa.," states that "Some years ago the author interviewed several of our older inhabitants to learn what might linger in their mem- ory as to the olden time. One of them stated that before the commencement of the present century, there resided a short time on Main street, near Stony Creek (Norristown), a Scotsman named William Burnside, who adhered to the old continental · costume of looped-up hat, straight coat, buckskin breeches, with long stockings and large silver shoe buckles. He had recently arrived from the old country and stayed here a short time only, before locating, as he afterwards did, near Fairview, in Lower Providence township. Here he had several sons born to him. When quite a young man Thomas Burnside, son of William Burnside, was thrown from a horse and had a limb broken. The tedious hours of his confinement were therefore spent in reading, and shortly after he entered upon the study of the law, which was soon mastered, and he was admitted to the bar February 13, 1804. He did not long remain here, but went to Centre county." His parents emigrated to the United States in 1792, and set- tled in the county of Montgomery, in this state. Thomas
1099
THOMAS BURNSIDE.
was apprenticed to a trade, but this not suiting his inclination or ambition, he managed to lay by money sufficient to pay for one year's schooling in the city of Philadelphia, and immediately after commenced reading law with Hon. Robert Porter, from whose office he was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in 1804. In March of that year he went west and settled permanently at Bellefonte, Centre county, Pa., then on the frontier, and which he always regarded as his home, though his occupation in after life on the bench in different parts of the state called him away. He at once commenced a lucrative practice, and in this laid the foundation of that eminent position to which he attained in sub- sequent years as a land lawyer. No man in Pennsylvania better understood the land laws of his state than he. It is doubtful if he had his equal. His name is intimately blended in the settle- ment of titles to real estate in Pennsylvania. Warrants and sur- veys, Indian purchases, tax titles and Yankee claims were fami- liar matters with Thomas Burnside, and he was always regarded as authority on these questions. `Possessing that peculiar fervid temperament which seems to belong eminently to the Scotch char- acter be entered into the profession with great zeal, and at the same time took an active part in the politics of the country, which was then running at fever heat. He was of the Jefferson, Mckean and Snyder school in politics, and a leader. He repre- sented his district in the state senate in 1811, his first public honor. Three years later he was sent to congress. At the close of the session of 1816 he returned home, and in the summer of that year he was appointed judge, as before stated. Hon. David Scott succeeded him as president judge of this judicial district. During his residence in Wilkes-Barre he was a great favorite with the citizens from his social, genial habits. His duties on the bench were discharged with signal ability, and he was as popular with the bar as he was with the people of the town. It was here that he formed that life-long intimacy with the late George M. Hollenback, Esq. No two men were ever more closely united in personal intimacy. It was, indeed, re- markable, the friendship that existed between them. In 1817 he was elected a member of the borough council of Wilkes-Barre, and was president of the council. Garrick Mallery, Samuel Maf-
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WYOMING WILKES-BARRE Oc. -
11OO
THOMAS BURNSIDE.
fit and Andrew Beaumont were also members of the council that year.
Judge Burnside returned to Bellefonte in IS18 and resumed his profession at the bar. In 1823, or thereabouts, he was again elected to the senate of the state. During this term he was speaker of that body. In IS26, while a member of the senate, he was appointed president judge of the fourth district, which in- cluded Centre county. Here he remained continuously on the bench for fifteen years, discharging with great tact and signal ability the delicate duties of his place. In 1841 he was appointed, on the death of Judge Fox, president judge of the Bucks and Montgomery district. In 1845 he was commissioned by Gover- nor Shunk as one of the justices of the supreme bench of the state, where he remained till his death, which occurred on March 25, 1851, at the ripe age of three score and ten years. As an advocate, Judge Burnside ranked in the profession more as a substantial lawyer and profound jurist than what we understand as an orator. He was strong before the jury. No man had a better knowledge of human nature. In his intercourse in the dif- ferent positions of life he had acquired that important element of success in all occupations, of knowing the character, and weighing them too, of the masses. That crowning feature of the human intellect, which Pope has defined as the greatest acquisi- tion, the knowledge of man, was the predominating element in the well balanced mind of Thomas Burnside. As a judge, he ever aimed at the all important point of administering fair and impartial justice. He had a contempt for legal technicalities when they crossed the beaten track of equity. His whole mind seemed occupied with the noble desire of rendering equal and exact jus- tice, and in carrying it out, to disregard the cobweb meshes which sometimes intervene between right and wrong. His opinions were short and terse, always to the point, and not clouded by a multiplicity of verbiage. He was a man of strong impulses, and maintained his opinions most strenuously. This one can afford to do when in the right. Judge Burnside was a most agreeable man in his social relations. He enjoyed a joke, and in turn he could give one. Some of his anecdotes are still fresh in the minds of those who survive him in this city, though over half a
1101
DAVID SCOTT.
century has intervened since he left the bench of this county. This biographical notice may be summed up in saying: That Judge Burnside was a genuine and acknowledged example of the men who in the early history of the country gave the stamp and impression upon their age, as one marked by stern necessity, simple manners, generous in hospitality, and whose professional labors far exceeded the compensation awarded to them ; the type of a race of men, if not extinct, at least adulterated by the cus- toms and manners and practices of the age succeeding them ; a character, resulting from the close economy and limited means of their day and generation ; their descendants have acquired lessons of ease and prodigality unknown to their ancestors. A judge now receives four times the salary of one in the days of Burnside, and very probably does not do half the labor.of a judge of that time. Of the lawyers and judges of the forepart of the nineteenth century, Thomas Burnside may be justly compared with the best of them in ability, learning and honesty of purpose. In these particulars he was an ornament to the legal profession, and his ermine as a judge maintained its purity to the close of his eventful life. He left to survive him ten children. His wife_ was Miss Mary Fleming, of Bellefonte.
JOSIAH H. MINER.
Josiah H. Miner was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., October 31. 1816. He was principal of the Wilkes-Barre Academy for a short period, and in 1816 served as one of the trustees of the same. He died of consumption March 14, 1818.
DAVID SCOTT.
By the act of February 25, 1818, the counties of Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga were taken from the eleventh judicial district and formed into a separate district-the thirteenth. By
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IIO2
EDWARD OVERTON.
the act of March 26, 1814, the county of Pike had been erected out of a part of Wayne and was attached to the eleventh district. Hence, after the creation of the thirteenth district the eleventh consisted of the counties of Luzerne, Pike, and Wayne. The county of Monroe was erected in 1836 and attached to the eleventh district. David Scott, commissioned July 7, 1818, suc- ceeded Judge Burnside as president of the eleventh district as constituted in 1818. As such he presided in the courts of Luzerne from August term, 1818, to January term, 1838. He resigned March 17, 1838, on account of deafness: Judge Scott was succeeded by William Jessup, who was commissioned April 7, 1838. (For a sketch of Judge Scott's life see page 392).
EDWARD OVERTON.
Edward Overton, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., August 5, 1818, was a native of Clithers, Lanca- shire, England, where he was born December 30, 1795. His father was Thomas Overton, from Wales, and his mother Mary Bleasdale, of Lancashire, England. Mr. Overton was educated at Kirkby, Lonsdale, Westmoreland, England, and read law with his uncle, Giles Bleasdale, barrister, London, England. He practiced law in this city, at Athens and Towanda, in Bradford county, Pa. He married in this city, May 13, 1818, Eliza Cly- . mer, a daughter of Henry Clymer, son of George Clymer, who was born in Philadelphia in 1739-a signer of the declaration of independence, one of the framers of the constitution of the United States, first president of the bank of Philadelphia, and first presi- dent of the academy of fine arts, first continental treasurer ; served four years in congress. He also filled other responsible positions in connection with the government. He died at Mor- risville, Pa., January 23, 1813. The mother of Mrs. Overton was Mary Willing, a daughter of Thomas Willing, a partner of Rob- ert Morris, mayor of Philadelphia, president of the first chartered bank of America, and president of the first bank of the United States. Edward Overton died at Towanda October 17, 1878.
1103
GEORGE CATLIN.
GEORGE CATLIN.
George Catlin was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., January 4, 1819. He was the fifth child of Putnam Catlin. (See page 1051). He was born in this city July 26, 1796. During the first fifteen years of his boyhood he lived much with nature, and became an accomplished hunter and sportsman. He says : "In my early youth I was influenced by two predominant and invet- erate propensities, viz., for hunting and fishing. My father and mother had great difficulty in turning my attention from these to books." His only education was that usual for the sons of per- sons of means in the colonies, but it was supervised by the counsel of his judicious father, and added to by the constant care of his mother, from whom, unquestionably, he received his artis- tic taste and love of nature. Of the story of his boyhood days nothing is preserved save a few notes in his own publications, but in the surroundings of his youth we see the beginning of the germ that developed into the future Indian enthusiast. His early life in New York and in the valley of Wyoming was filled with legends and traditions of the red men. Long winter nights were spent by the fireside with sturdy pioneers, whose conversation was of midnight raids and assaults by day. Hospitality was the watchword of his father, and the traveling stranger was welcomed with open hands to the family table. Revolutionary soldiers, Indian fighters, trappers, hunters and explorers were constant guests, and young George, with hungering mind, eagerly caught up the stories and preserved traditions. Coupled with this were days spent in the harvest fields, where the noonday rest was the time for stories of the early settlement, which will account for the sturdy desire for Indian adventure which later years satisfied. His description of his boyhood home from his tenth to his twentieth year best expresses one reason for the acquirement of his desire for romantic life and research amongst the Indians : "My father's plantation (farm), in the picturesque little valley of the Ouaquaga, on the banks of the Susquehanna river, hemmed in with huge mountains on either side, though not
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II04
GEORGE CATLIN.
the place of my nativity, was the tapis on which my boyish days were spent, and rife with legends of Indian lore." Here he received additional impressions from his surroundings and the incidents he heard related, which gave him his love for the Indians. Though the Indians had long since disappeared, legends and stories of them were constantly told and kept before his boyish mind the heroism and life of the red man, even then being pushed toward the far west. His youthful fancy was thus fed by tradi- tions, and his sight by objects which constantly fed his increasing love of Indians and Indian romance. His father sold the New York farm in ISOS and removed to one at Hopbottom. He taught school for a while at Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, Pa. In 1817 he went to the law school of Reeves & Gould, at Litch- field, Conn., where he remained until 1818. While there he became noted as an amateur artist. While at law school in 18IS Mr. Catlin painted a portrait of Judge Tapping Reeves. In 1819 he returned to Pennsylvania, where he entered upon the study and then the practice of the law in the courts of Luzerne and adjoining counties. All the time, however, his taste for art was growing, and his dislike for the irksome exactions of the law increasing. Of this in 1861 he writes : "During this time (while practicing law from 1820 to 1823) another and stronger passion was getting the advantage of me, that for painting, to which all my love of pleading soon gave way ; and after having covered nearly every inch of the lawyers' tables (and even encroached upon the judge's bench), with penknife, pen and ink and pencil sketches of judges, jurors and culprits, I very deliberately resolved to convert my law library into paint pots and brushes, and to pursue painting as my future and apparently more agreeable profession." In 1871 Mr. Catlin related an incident to Prof. Jo- seph Henry in connection with his attempt to practice law at Wilkes-Barre : "My first case was the defense of an Irishman who was arraigned for stealing a hand saw and broad axe. The prisoner acknowledged to me that he stole the articles, but not- withstanding this, by making the worse appear the better cause, I succeeded in convincing the jury that he was not guilty. The man afterwards asked me whether or not I had informed the jury that he had stolen the articles. 'No,' was the answer; to which
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1105
GEORGE CATLIN.
the client replied : 'How then did they acquit me ? Did you not say that to get me clear I must tell you the truth ?' " His sen- sible father and mother did not interfere, and he went to Phila- delphia to reside and practice the calling of an artist. He settled in that city in 1823, and was at once admitted to the fellowship of the fraternity of artists in that city. Thomas Sully, John Na- gle, Charles Wilson and Rembrandt Peale became his friends. He was entirely self taught as an artist. In the pursuit of his calling he visited Washington, IS24 to 1829, painting some pub- lic men and many of the first people of that city, notably Mrs. Dolly Madison, in a turban, a picture which has been reproduced many times. At Richmond in IS29-30 he painted the famous constitutional convention of IS29 (one hundred and fifteen figures) in session, with a key, a most comprehensive and exact work, and invaluable, as it contains portraits of the distinguished gentlemen who composed the convention. The portraits in it are good, and the persons easily recognized. In Philadelphia he was very popular as a miniature and portrait painter. He visited Albany in IS28, and painted many of the members of the legis- lature and other prominent men. He painted at that time a por- trait of Governor DeWitt Clinton, which now hangs in the governors' room in the city hall, New York. In the practice of his art he was in New York, Buffalo, Norfolk, and other cities, and for a long time before and after these duties was in the path of all Indian delegations on the way to and returning from Wash- ington. In the early days, when the Indian tribes were recog- nized as separate nations, a frequent pilgrimage to the seat of government under national auspices was an almost indispensable' element of control of the Indians. When the congress of the confederation was in Philadelphia, and often while Washington was president, delegations of Indians were constantly coming and going. Red Jacket, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other famous Indians were familiar faces to its citizens. Mr. Catlin, in his earlier years, was very ambitious in his art. He was constantly searching for a special field in which he could become distin- guished. In 1861, writing of this, he says: "I there (at Phila- delphia) closely applied my hand to the labors of the art (painting) for several years, during which time my mind was continually
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