USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
Abner Lacock was born on Cub Run, near Alexandria, Virginia, July 9, 1770. His father was a native of England, and his mother a native of France. The father emigrated to Wash- ington County, Pa., while Abner was still young. In 1796 Abner came to Beaver, then in Allegheny County. On the 19th of September the same year he was commissioned by Governor Thomas Mifflin, a justice of the peace for Pitt township, Allegheny County. This appointment made him the first justice of the peace in Beaver County, which was later formed in part out of Allegheny County. In 1801 he was elected the first Representative to the State Legislature from Beaver County. In 1803 he was appointed the first associate judge of the Beaver County bench, and accepted, but at the end of the year resigned to enter again the Legislature. He ably represented the county in the lower branch of the Legislature for four successive ses- sions, and in 1808 was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania from Allegheny, Beaver, and Butler counties. The War of 1812 with the agitation which preceded it brought him into the larger field of national politics. In 1810 he was elected by the people of his district as a "war candidate" to Congress, where
Henry Hice. President Judge, 1874-1885.
323
History of Beaver County
he showed such qualities of leadership that in 1813 the Legisla- ture of his State with great unanimity elected him a Senator of the United States. He served in the House during the Twelfth Congress and in the Senate in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Congresses.
In public life Gen. Lacock was no mere figurehead, but a man of much influence. His hand helped to shape many im- portant measures. On December 18, 1818, a select committee of five members was appointed in the Senate of the United States, to investigate the conduct of General Andrew Jackson in the Seminole campaign. Of this committee Hon. Abner Lacock was chairman. February 24, 1819, Mr. Lacock pre- sented his report to the Senate, severely arraigning Jackson with the violation of the Constitution and international laws. The action of the committee made Jackson and his friends furious, he threatening the members of the committee with personal violence. Lacock was unalarmed, and as illustrating his feeling and spirit, we quote the following extract from a letter of his to John Binns, Esq., of Philadelphia, published in that gentleman's autobiography, page 258:
General Jackson is still here, and by times raves like a madman. He has sworn most bitterly he would cut off the ears of every member of the committee who reported against his conduct. This bullying is done in public, and yet I have passed his lodgings every day, and still retain my ears; how long I shall be spared without mutilation I know not, but one thing I can promise you, that I shall never avoid him a single inch; and as the civil authority here seems to be put down by the military, I shall be ready and willing to defend myself, and not die soft. I will remain here as long as he does, and take the consequences.
The clash of arms did not come. They left the Capitol on the same day, and in the same public conveyance. After-years and their revelations somewhat mollified the feeling of Jack- son towards Lacock.
General Lacock was one of the most active promoters of internal improvements in the State of Pennsylvania. On the IIth of April, 1825, he was appointed one of five commissioners to survey the route of the State line of canals and railroads for uniting the waters of the Delaware and Ohio rivers. He was chosen by the Board of Commissioners to supervise the con- struction of the western division of the canal from Pittsburg to
324
History of Beaver County
Johnstown. The first canal boat built or run west of the Alle- gheny Mountains was named the General Abner Lacock. Later General Lacock repeatedly served Beaver County in the State Legislature, and in 1836 he was appointed to survey and con- struct the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, known as the "cross- cut canal," connecting the Erie Division of the Pennsylvania Canal with the Portsmouth and Ohio Canal. Besides those named, General Lacock held, or was offered, many other positions of high public trust, and did much to secure the establishment of the common-school system of Pennsylvania. General Lacock died at his residence, near Freedom, Pa., on Wednesday, April 12, 1837, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. The portrait of him opposite this page is from an oil painting made when he was about thirty-five years of age.I
John H. Reddick came to Beaver County in 1790, and settled where Keifer's mill now stands. Eight years later he sold his farm there to Samuel Harper, and removed to a farm close to the Virginia line in the same township, now owned by John Deemer. Here the rest of his life was spent. Judge Reddick discharged the duties of his office for twenty-six years. On one occasion during the absence of the president judge he charged the grand jury, and at their request his charge was printed in the Argus of August 31, 1819. He was a strong advocate of arbitration, and did much to discourage litigation among his neighbors. He also became early convinced of the evils of slavery, and fearlessly advocated its abolition. In his religious opinions he was liberal, and he is reported to have been somewhat eccentric. A popular tradition credits him with having requested his relatives to bury him on the State line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, with his face towards the east, his head in Virginia, and his feet in Pennsylvania. He was at any rate so buried, his grave being enclosed by a massive wall of cut sandstone. The re-establishment of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 1882 has, however, left the grave wholly within the territory of the former State. His grave is on top of a high hill overlooking King's Creek.
Of Joseph Caldwell we have been unable to obtain any in- formation.
1 See further references to Lacock in the chapter on Beaver borough.
John J. Wickham. President Judge, 1885-1895.
325
History of Beaver County
David Drennan, who succeeded Judge Lacock, was a highly respected citizen of Ohio township, in which he held a con- siderable body of land. That he enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens is apparent from the fact that he was so frequently their choice for positions of trust. He died at his home in Ohio township, August 12, 1831, at about seventy years of age.
Thomas Henry succeeded Judge Reddick by appointment of Governor Wolf. His ancestry has been spoken of in the note on William Henry, his brother, who was the first sheriff of Beaver County (page 196). He came to Beaver in 1798, to work with his elder brother at the carpenter's trade. It was not long until his natural abilities asserted themselves, and he rapidly came into public life. On the 24th of December, 1808, he was ap- pointed by Governor Snyder a justice of the peace; in 1810 he was elected one of the county commissioners, and in 1814 he was captain of one of the companies that went from Beaver County to help defend the northern frontier from a threatened British invasion. In 1815 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and in 1816 appointed prothonotary and clerk of the several courts of the county, in which position he remained until the fall of 1821, when he was elected sheriff. In the year 1825 he became proprietor and editor of the Western Argus, first started by James Logan, and ably conducted this newspaper until 1831, when his son, William Henry, took charge of it and began the career which classed him among the best journalists in the State. Thomas Henry was treasurer of the county in 1828 and 1829, and was elected by handsome majorities in 1836, 1838, and I 840 to represent his district in Congress. In his public and private life, Mr. Henry was a man of great influence, with hosts of friends and not without enemies gained by the very sterling traits of hon- esty and fearlessness which he possessed. He became early in life a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he was also for many years a ruling elder. ' He died in Beaver, July 20, 1849.
Judge Hemphill .- Of the three commissioners, Joseph Hemp- hill, Denny McClure, and Jonathan Coulter, named in the Act for the erection of the county of Beaver, in 1800, Joseph Hemp- hill is the best remembered. His youngest child, Mrs. Margaret Cunningham, widow of Judge Thomas Cunningham, in his day
326
History of Beaver County
an eminent member of the Beaver County bar, died November 23, 1903, at her residence on the corner of Elk and Third streets, Beaver. There are those who personally remember Judge Hemphill as a strong, practical man of much business capacity. He died May 20th, 1834, in his sixty-fourth year. The Beaver Argus on this occasion had the following:
Judge Hemphill was the oldest inhabitant of the town of Beaver, having commenced with its first settlement, and no panegyric or encomium is necessary to set forth his character. His acquaintance was an extensive one, and he was esteemed and admired by all who knew him, for being a plain, intelligent, substantial and practical man, devoid of all ostentation, pomp or external show; yet few possessed a mind better stored with general reading and a knowledge of the world.
All the liberal, benevolent and religious institutions of the county received from Judge Hemphill a helping hand, always ready to contribute to relieve the distresses and wants of his fellowmen. In his death society has met with a great loss; a wide chasm is made in the immediate circle in which he moved; his widow has lost the best of husbands, and his children and family have sustained a loss which cannot be repaired.
And it also contained the following report of a meeting at the court-house :
At a meeting of the Judges, Members of the Bar and Officers of the Courts of Beaver County, on Tuesday, the 20th of May, Thomas Henry, Esq., having been called to the Chair, and Daniel Agnew appointed secretary, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, viz .:
Whereas, it is with feelings of the deepest sorrow we have heard of the recent death of our much respected friend and fellow citizen, Joseph Hemphill, Esq., one of the Judges of the Courts of this County, whose warm and friendly feelings, benevolent, upright and virtuous conduct, learning and intelligence have rendered him esteemed and respected by all who knew him, and whose loss will be much and sincerely felt by his near relations and friends, and by the society in which he lived:
Therefore, Resolved, Thatin testimony of our regard for his memory, the members composing this meeting will walk in procession at his funeral to- morrow, and will wear crape on their left arms for the space of thirty days.
He was of Scotch-Irish ancestors, who were among the earliest settlers in Northampton County, Pa. His father and mother, Moses and Agnes Hemphill, were born there, the former on No- vember II, 1746, and the latter on January 16, 1750. The son, Joseph Hemphill, was a surveyor, and emigrated to Beaver, then in Allegheny County, sometime prior to 1798. A com- mission appointing him Major of Militia-now in the possession of his grandson the Hon. W. B. Dunlap-was issued to him
F
Millard F. Mecklem. President Judge, 1895-1896.
327
History of Beaver County
by Governor Thomas Mifflin, dated December 26, 1798.1 From this it would appear that he was a fixed and well-known citizen at that date. His residence at Beaver five years before that is certain, as it is known that his cousin James Fullerton visited him there in 1793. He soon added to his occupation of surveyor the business of tavern keeping and general merchandizing; and at his death he was the possessor of one of the largest estates in the county. His surveys of farms throughout the county fre- quently turn up even at this late day, and the attorneys of to-day are continually tracing titles to property back to his ownership. The title to much of the property in Beaver, Bridge- water, and Rochester was vested in him at the period of his death.
On March 8, 1803, he was commissioned by Gideon Granger, Postmaster-General, postmaster of Beavertown; and he filled in succession the offices of trustee of the Academy, county treasurer, and associate judge. He was serving in the latter position at the time of his death in 1834.
John Nesbit was the son of Francis Nesbit. His father came to Beaver County in 1802 and located on Hickory Creek, south of Mount Jackson, in North Beaver township, where John resided. The family of Francis Nesbit was highly esteemed in the com- munity, consisting of five sons, of which John was the oldest, and two daughters. The North Beaver settlement and the early organizers of the Westfield Presbyterian Church came mostly from the Scotch-Irish communities that had located at or near to Harrisburg. Among these were the Clarkes, the Sheerers, and the Nesbits.
John Nesbit was married to a daughter of Walter Clarke. He was appointed in 1834 to fill the place on the judicial bench made vacant by the death of Judge Hemphill. Capt. J. H. Cooper, of New Castle, who commanded the famous Battery B, in the Civil War, is married to a grand-daughter of Judge Nesbit.
Benjamin Adams came from Allegheny County to Beaver at an early day. He was elected a county commissioner in 1829, and became treasurer of the county in 1832. Later he was appointed one of the associate judges. He spent the last years of his life as a merchant in an unpretentious way, keeping a
1 His son, James W. Hemphill, was elected and commissioned colonel of the 83d Regi- ment of Penna. Militia, August 3, 1828.
328
History of Beaver County
general store where Donaldson's hardware store on Third Street, Beaver, now stands.
No one ever questioned his unbending integrity. He was a man of many individual peculiarities, which often amused his friends, and his language was always pointed and direct, but never unfeeling. He was an ardent and consistent Methodist, and was a great friend of Beaver College in its early days. He died in Beaver, June 4, 1867, at eighty-one years of age.
John Carothers was born at what is now Frankfort Springs, March 11, 1793. He grew up and received his education in that neighborhood. He married Nancy, daughter of Thomas White, of White's mill, now Murdocksville, and by her had eight chil- dren. Soon after his marriage he moved to a point in Brighton township, on the Darlington road, about three miles back of Beaver, where he spent the remainder of his life, engaging in farming. He served fifteen years as associate judge of Beaver County, being twice appointed by the Governor of the State and once elected by the people of the county. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious faith a Presbyterian, serving many years as ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of Bridgewater. He died at his home in Brighton township December 18, 1860.
Joseph Irvin was born in County Antrim, Ireland, October 31, 1797, and was brought by his parents to this country when he was two years old. The family settled first, at Stone's Point and soon afterward in what is now Rochester township, on a farm where Joseph lived his entire life. He was always devoted to the pursuits of agriculture, and followed this occupation successfully, acquiring by industry and thrift large real estate holdings. He acquired the best education that the times and community around about afforded, and his reputation for wisdom and integrity led in time to his selection to serve as one of the associate judges of the county. For ten years he filled this position with dignity and credit. Judge Irvin was the father of nine children, all well known in the history of Beaver County. Judge Irvin died October 30, 1884, in his eighty-seventh year.
William Cairns was born October 1, 1793, in Westmoreland County, P.a. In the early part of the following century he came to Beaver where he remained until 1837, when he removed to Industry, Pa. His education was obtained in his native county,
James Sharp Wilson. President Judge, 1896-
329
History of Beaver County
and he followed the lumber business and boat building for many years. He was a commissioner from 1810 to 1811 and sheriff of Beaver County from 1815 to 1818 and again from 1833 to 1836. In 1861 he was elected an associate judge of the county. Judge Cairns was a Republican and a member of the United Presbyterian Church. He was a man highly respected in the community. He died in Industry, Beaver County, Pa., May 2, 1876, and is buried in the new cemetery in Beaver.
John Scott was born January 31, 1804, at New Scottsville, Beaver County, Pa. He was the fourth son and seventh child of David and Jane (Walker) Scott. His grandfather, James Scott with his wife, Margaret (Tully) Scott, came to this country from Roxburyshire, Scotland, in 1775, arriving at Philadelphia when that city was in possession of the British. Their ship was the last one permitted to land emigrants until the war was over. They subsequently came to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and settled upon land which is now in the heart of the city, an interest in which his descendants retain to this day. In 1792 the family leased their land in Pittsburg, and removing into the wilderness settled on what was called Zion Hill tract, on the Brodhead Road. On this farm John Scott was born and reared. He re- ceived his education under the difficulties incident to a frontier life, walking from New Scottsville to the old log schoolhouse at Service in the winter. January 6, 1836, he was married to Mary Walker, daughter of Major Isaac Walker (of Walker's Mills), an early settler of Allegheny County, Pa. He began house-keeping on the farm on Raccoon Creek, near New Sheffield, this county. In the spring of 1852, he left the farm, and moved into the village of New Sheffield, where he started a general store, which was the principal trading-place on the south side at that time. The following year he was elected justice of the peace on the Whig ticket. He became interested in politics, and was one of the leaders of his section in helping to form the Republican party. In 1856 Mr. Scott was elected an associate judge of Beaver County. He served one term, and was re-elected in 1861, receiving his commission a short time before his death, which took place February 4, 1862, when he was in the fifty- eighth year of his age. Judge Scott was a member of the United Presbyterian church, and a ruling elder for many years. He
330
History of Beaver County
was one of the promoters of the Beaver County Agricultural Society, and was active in all good things. On March 10, 1862, fitting respect was paid to his memory at a meeting of the judges, bar, and officers of the several courts of the county, and resolu- tions prepared by a committee consisting of Hon. B. B. Chamber- lin, and Esqs. Richard P. Roberts, and Thomas Cunningham, were read and adopted.
Milton Lawrence is mentioned in our next chapter, to which the reader is referred for the facts of his life.
Agnew Duff was born in Darlington township, April 16, 1817, where he was raised on a farm, and for many years engaged in the business of farming, spending a part of the time in his youth teaching school. In the spring of 1854 he sold his farm and came to Fallston, where he engaged in the lumber business with Messrs. M. T. Kennedy and Andrew Stewart under the firm name of Kennedy, Stewart & Duff. In 1866 he sold his interest in the lumber business and connected himself with Mr. Emmet B. Thompson in merchandizing in New Brighton, under the firm name of Duff & Thompson. They remained in this line until the panic of 1873, when they were compelled to close out the business.
In 1860 Mr. Duff was elected one of the associate judges of Beaver County, and was re-elected to the office, holding it two terms. Mr. Duff held, besides, many positions of trust, in all of which he was faithful. In 1882 he was appointed by the com- missioners of the county to the office of mercantile appraiser, filling the post for one year. He was appointed notary public by Governor Hoyt in 1882, and re-appointed just before his death by Governor Pattison. At the time of his death he was serving as justice of the peace, to which office he had been elected by the citizens of the North Ward of New Brighton. Mr. Duff was long an honored member of the United Presby- terian Church. In politics he was a Republican. Judge Duff died suddenly February 26, 1885.
Joseph C. Wilson was born in 1814 in Burgettstown, Wash- ington County, Pa., where he was reared and obtained his early education. He learned the harness- and saddle-makers' trade, and pursued it for some years in Burgettstown, Fairview, and Beaver. Afterwards he became a merchant in partnership with
Macouto
331
History of Beaver County
William K. Boden and William McGaffick at Beaver, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to his farm in Ohio town- ship, this county. He was largely engaged for many years in settling estates throughout the Beaver valley. He became one of the associate judges of Beaver County, he and Milton Law- rence, M.D., being the last to occupy that position.
Judge Wilson married Miss Eliza Jane Moore, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Cunningham) Moore of Ohio township, and had nine children, all of whom died in infancy except Mrs. Wil- liam P. Littell, now deceased; William C:, now of Beaver; Lillie, wife of Fred. N. Bixby of Beaver, and David Walker Scott, who died at twenty-four years of age on the farm.
In politics Judge Wilson was a Republican and in religious association a United Presbyterian.
He remained on the farm in Ohio township until his death, which occurred January 28, 1896. He was buried in the old cemetery in Beaver.
In the early days of our legal history, when several counties belonged to one district, the members of the bench and the bar traveled from one county-seat to another in the practice of their profession, following the woodland trails or the primitive roads on horseback, with saddlebags and whip or spurs. There was an element of romance in this mode of living, with adventures upon the road, and the gatherings of the legal fraternity in the country taverns, that has entirely vanished. At the first court held in Beaver, February 6, 1804, there was, as we have seen, a large representation of the attorneys of other counties present, a number of whom applied for admission to practise at this court. There is on file at Beaver the original of the following paper, bearing date, February 6, 1804:
The subscribers, practicing attorneys in the Fifth Circuit, desire that they may be admitted attorneys of the Court of Beaver County:
Alexander Addison David Redick
Thos. Collins
Parker Campbell
Steele Semple
David Hayes
A. W. Foster
C. S. Sample
John B. Gibson
Thos G. Johnston
Sampson S. King
Henry Baldwin
Obh. Jennings Wm. Wilkins H. Haslet
Isaac Kerr
James Mountain
R. Moore
James Allison, Jr. John Simonson
Wm. Ayres.
332
History of Beaver County
These gentlemen were all admitted. From the Attorneys' Register it would appear as stated in a former chapter, that two others, William Larwill and William C. Larwell, who presented certificates of his being a practising attorney in the courts in the States of Maryland and Ohio, were both admitted at the same time. The similarity of names is so singular that we might suppose them to belong to one and the same person, were it not for the fact that the Appearance Docket shows that they were separately sworn. On this roll of attorneys are several stars of the first magnitude in the legal firmament of the State. Hon. Daniel Agnew has written of it:
Among these names will be recognized some of the most eminent men in Western Pennsylvania, at a time when the bar of the Fifth Circuit was unsurpassed by any bar in the State. The only name I miss from this roll is that of James Ross, the leader of the bar at that early day, unrivalled for learning, polish and legal erudition; also John Woods.
Having given some account of the men who composed the bench of Beaver County, we shall now give so much of the history of its bar as we have been able to learn and as our space will allow.
Hon. Alexander Addison was the first president judge ap- pointed for the Fifth District under the Constitution of 1790, and it is to be remembered that at that time his jurisdiction extended over the territory of both counties, Allegheny and Washington, from which, later, Beaver County was formed. Interesting illustration of this will be seen in the letter from Judge Addison to Governor Thomas Mifflin printed in a note to the chapter on Beaver borough.
Alexander Addison was a native of Morayshire, Scotland, born in 1759, educated at Aberdeen University, and licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Aberlour [Aberdour?]. Emigrating to America in 1785, he came directly to Washington County, and was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Redstone "with some imitation," on December 20, 1785, permission being given him to preach within its bounds.1 On April 18, 1786, Mr. Addison's
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.