History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 86

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 86
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 86
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 86

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).

During the troublesome times of Buchanan's administration Judge Black was always a con- spicuous figure. He was known to be the president's closest friend, and believed to be his chief adviser. He was sought in counsel for his learning and his integrity, and in social circles for his brilliant wit and inexhaustible fund of anecdote and information. His most important service was rendered in the last year of Mr. Buchanan's administration. At this time the schemes for the disruption of the union were being concocted, and secessionists openly avowed their intentions and purposes, in congress and in every department of government. The president was constantly surrounded with every possible influence that could sway his judgment or con- trol his action in the interests of the secessionists,

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and at this time he and Judge Black first seriously differed. The president lost his judg- ment in his great alarm, and by concession and temporization sought to purchase peace and quiet for the remainder of his'term without con- templating the burdens he would cast upon his successors. Judge Black, to whom fear was always a stranger, demanded prompt and vigor- ous enforcement of the laws, believing this to be the only remedy for threatening disaster. In November of 1860 Mr. Buchanan asked Judge Black for his legal opinion as to the right of states, under the constitution, to secede, and the power of the executive to prevent it and to sup- press rebellion. That opinion may be sum- marized as follows : "The union is necessarily perpetual. No state can lawfully withdraw or be expelled from it. The federal constitution is as much a part of the constitution of every state as if it had been textually inserted therein. The federal government is sovereign within its own sphere, and acts directly upon the indivi- dual citizen of every state. Within these limits its coercive power is ample to defend itself, its laws and its property. It can suppress insur- rection, fight battles, conquer armies, disperse hostile combinations, and punish any or all of its enemies. It can meet, repel and subdue all those who rise against it ; but it cannot obliterate a single commonwealth from the map of the union or declare indiscriminate war against the inhabitants of a section, confounding the inno- cent with the guilty."

The president, himself a lawyer, could not dispute the soundness of Judge Black's views, but was dissatisfied with them, as they breathed no spirit of conciliation. In his message to congress in December of 1860 the president said : " No power has been delegated to congress to coerce into submission a state that is attempt- ing to withdraw or has entirely withdrawn from the confederacy," and notwithstanding that Judge Black strongly protested against this doo- trine and the use of these words, he was for many years charged with being their author. He allowed the current of calumny to run on.' If others chose to misrepresent him, he was con- tent. Conscious that his course was patriotic, and within the lines of the constitution, he was proudly and stubbornly indifferent to public opinion. In the last years of his life only was justice done him. Then the conclusive proof of his antagonism to secession was made public by

others, and not at his solicitation. Then it was shown that by threatening to withdraw from that cabinet he forced President Buchanan into a refusal of the impudent demands of the South Carolina commission ; that when Secretary of War Floyd proposed to surrender the southern ports he firmly denounced the suggestion, saying among other things : "There was never a period in the history of the English nation when any minister could propose to give up to an enemy of his government a military post which was capable of being defended, without being brought to the block." That it was he who wrote the order empowering Maj. Anderson to remove his command from Fort Moultrie to the stronger Fort Sumpter, and that, during all these stormy times, he, Secretary Stanton and Judge Holt were in perfect accord "upon the duty of the government toward secessionists, and in perfect harmony as to the rights of the states under the constitution."

Ex-Chief Justice Agnew, in an eulogy deliv- ered at a meeting of the Pittsburgh bar, August 27, 1888, said of the "painful silence" Judge Black observed, and the " misconstruction which he bore with a virtue," "few men could have suffered so long under the severity of adverse opinion to protect the reputation of an early but severed friend. Happily vindication came before the end, to brighten the closing hours of an illustrious career."

Before the close of Buchanan's administra- tion Judge Black was appointed his secretary of state, and later, because of his eminent fitness, he was nominated by the president for judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, but his confirmation was defeated by the withdrawal of the southern senators. At the termination of his cabinet services, he was appointed reporter for the supreme court, which position he held but a short time, - long enough, however, for the publication of two volumes of reports,- when, by reason of his great practice in the court, he was compelled to relinquish the report- er's place and devote his time exclusively to his practice. He then removed to York, and sev- eral years afterward to his beautiful farm " Brockie," near by.

. His fame as a lawyer had long been national, and clients from all parts of the Union followed him into the seclusion of his country home. Perhaps no other attorney in the nation has argued so many important cases of public

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interest as he in the last twenty years. To the end, his life was a busy one. Besides his labor as a lawyer he served as a member of the con- stitutional convention of 1873, and frequently published essays on public questions of such rare power and beauty of finish that his reputa- tion as a writer is as great as his fame as a law- yer, jurist and statesman. With the fees from his practice he was enabled to make for himself a magnificent home at " Brockie "; and there, surrounded by everything that could make life happy, in the fullest vigor of his intellect, he died on the 19th day of August, 1883. There survive him Mrs. Black and four children : Re- bekah, now Mrs. Hornsby ; Chauncy Forward Black, the present lieutenant-governor of this commonwealth ; Henry Black, and Mary, now Mrs. Clayton. One daughter, Nannie, had " crossed to the other side of the great river" in young womanhood, twelve years before her father.

In early life Judge Black accepted the faith of the Disciples of Christ, under the minis- trations of Alexander Campbell, and throughout his long life preserved and defended it.

Judge Black, in his eulogy on Judge Gibson, said : "But he was of all men the most devoted and earnest lover of truth for its own sake. When subsequent reflection convinced him he had been wrong, he took the first opportunity to acknowledge it. He was often the earliest to discover his own mistakes, as well as the fore- most to correct them. He was inflexibly honest. The judicial ermine was as unspotted when he laid it aside for the habiliments of the grave as when he first assumed it. I do not mean to award him merely that commonplace integrity which it is no honor to have, but simply a dis- grace to want. He was not only incorruptible, but scrupulously, delicately, conscientiously free from all willful wrong, either in thought, word or deed."

These words, spoken thirty years ago (and to be found in 19th Pennsylvania State Reports), have come to be regarded as a perfect portrait of Judge Black himself, and have been so recog- nized and quoted by judges and lawyers all over this country.

He was no less known for his learning and ability than for his christian character, and one service for which he will always be remembered by christian people, is his destructive answer to a noted infidel, published in the North American

Review. This county may be justly proud that she has furnished one of the grandest columns that has ever been erected in this country.

Henry Black was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1783, and was the father of Judge Jeremiah S. Black. In 1815 he was elected to the state legislature, and for three successive years afterward ; and in 1820 he was appointed an associate judge of his county, and held the office for twenty years. In 1841, at a special election, he was chosen to fill the seat in congress, made vacant by the death of Charles Ogle, serving through the extra session of that year ; and when, on the point of his departure for Washington, at the com- mencement of the regular session, he died sud- denly November 28, 1841.

Hon. Chauncey Forward. This gentleman was a native of Connecticut. He was born at Old Granby, in that state, and was a brother of Hon. Walter Forward, a leading lawyer of Pittsburgh, and secretary of the treasury under President Tyler. About the year 1800 his father removed to Ohio, taking young Chauncey and the rest of his family with him. Mr. For- ward was educated at Jefferson College, Can- nonsburg, Washington county, Pennsylvania ; studied law with his eldest brother, Walter, at Pittsburgh, and was admitted to the bar in that city. In 1817 he located in Somerset town, the county seat of the county bearing that name. Mr. Forward was frequently chosen to serve in both branches of the state legislature. In 1825 he was elected a representative in congress to fill a vacancy ; was twice re-elected, serving till 1831, when his congressional duties terminated. In March, 1831, he was appointed by Gov. Wolf to hold all the offices pertaining to the several courts : prothonotary, register, recorder, clerk of the orphans' court, quarter sessions, oyer and terminer, etc., in which positions he acted till removed by Gov. Ritner, in 1836, when he returned to the bar and resumed the practice of the law.

Mr. Forward was a gentleman of superior abilities, eminent as a practicing attorney ; in- deed, those of his friends who knew him best claimed that he had no superior as a member of the legal profession in the Keystone State. In the year 1839 he determined to remove to Pitts- burgh, with the intention of devoting himself to the pursuit of his calling in that larger field ; but when all arrangements had been completed,

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and he was ready to leave his home in Somerset, he was attacked by typhoid fever, of which disease he died in October of that year.

It should be added that the subject of this brief memoir was a devout member of the Dis- ciples or Christian church, and for years the congregation of his brethren located here was served by him in the pulpit without salary.

Gen. Alexander Ogle was born in Maryland about the year 1765. He came to Somerset in an early day. In 1806 he was elected to the state legislature and was frequently re-elected. He was a member of the representative branch of the national legislature from 1817 to 1819. He subsequently served several terms in both houses of the state legislature, was a general of militia, and for nine years prothonotary of the county. In a speech in congress he alluded to his constituency as the " Frosty Sons of Thunder," an appellation which they still retain. He died in Somerset in 1882.

Hon. Charles Ogle, the second son of Gen. Alexander Ogle, was born in Somerset, Penn- sylvania, in 1798. He was educated for the bar and became an eminent and successful lawyer. His superior mental endowments were recog- nized and cheerfully admitted by all who knew him. As an advocate he had no superiors, and on the stump he had no equal in his day and generation within the limits of his native state. Mr. Ogle represented his district, Cambria, Bedford and Somerset, in the congress of the United States from 1887 to 1841, and died May 10, 1841, having been elected to the congress to commence the first Monday of December in that year.

He distinguished himself throughout the entire nation by the delivery of a speech in con- gress previous to the campaign of 1840 against an appropriation for furnishing the executive mansion. This speech was used as a political text-book over the entire country by the friends of Gen. Harrison, and is believed to have been the most effective weapon used in securing the defeat of Mr. Van Buren. It is thought that the exposures to the weather and the toils of the political fight of 1840 caused the disease of which Mr. Ogle died. His loss was deeply regretted by his numerous and ardent friends, of whom no man had a greater number. He was generous as a prince and had perhaps fewer enemies than any prominent citizen of his time.

Andrew J. Ogle, son of Alex. Ogle, Jr., was

born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, in 1822. He was educated at Jefferson College, Washington county, Pennsylvania. Studied law with Judge Black, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. Was elected prothonotary of the common pleas in 1845, and to congress in 1848. Served one term and was then appointed charge d'affaires to Denmark by President Fillmore, but died in 1852, after having engaged passage to take him to his mission. He gave promise of great eminence, was gifted as a speaker, and if he had devoted himself to the law instead of entering the paths of political life, he would doubtless have achieved great reputation as an advocate. His popularity among the people of the county was unbounded, a genial companion of exhaust- less anecdote, ready wit and humor, he could not be otherwise than loved by all who were for- tunate enough to know him.

Abraham Morrison was one of the first to locate in the then new town of Somerset. He was one of its most prominent representative men and an able lawyer. He continued to re- side here until about the year 1840, when he removed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he died.

Joseph Vickroy was a surveyor as well as an attorney, and resided in that part of Somerset now known as Cambria county.

Joseph Weigley removed from Somerset prior to the year 1825. He was an excellent attorney and a good citizen.

Otho Shrader was a Welshman by birth, and became a naturalized citizen while a resident of Somerset. He continued here a number of years, meanwhile holding various official positions.

Josiah Espy was a member of the family of that name, so prominent in the early history of Bedford, and, as will be seen by reference to the civil lists, the first prothonotary of this (Somer- set) county. He also surveyed the plot of the town of Somerset in 1795.

James Carson also came from Bedford where he was admitted to practice in 1786. He was a resident of Somerset for many years.

George Ross came here from Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, during the first decade of this century. He soon after engaged in the mercantile business with George Parker as & partner, and for a period of more than forty years thereafter, the firm of Ross & Parker was a prominent one in the town of Somerset. He died about ten years ago, leaving a large estate.

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Alexander B. Fleming was a gentleman pos- sessed of much legal ability. He removed to Wooster, Ohio, about the year 1840, where he remained until his death.

Horatio N. Weigley was a son of Joseph Weigley. He finally discarded law and adopted the medical profession.

Samuel G. Bailey was a native of New Hamp- shire, and an early friend and neighbor of Presi- dent Pierce. After residing here for many years and serving as deputy attorney-general, he re- moved to the city of Alton, Illinois, where he died.

William H. Postlethwaite, who died a resident of Somerset, came here from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He married a daughter of James Carson, Esq., who still survives. He was a gentleman highly esteemed. He served two terms as prothonotary.

John Myers, after residing in Somerset for a number of years, removed to Johnstown, Penn- sylvania, where he died.

Hon. Moses Hampton came here from Union- town, Pennsylvania. He finally removed to Pittsburgh, where he became a president judge. He died in Pittsburgh.

Hon. Joseph Williams also came from Union- town. He was a popular advocate and an able lawyer. He was a man of great versatility. "A wonderful man," says an old friend ; "one who could do almost anything ; an accomplished musician, and withal something of a poet." It is related of him, that on one occasion being in New York, and learning that his old friend and cotemporary Judge Black was in the city, started out to find him. After a protracted search he learned that the judge was at the St. Nicholas. Mr. Black was out at the time, and Williams left his card on which he inscribed the following extempore verse :

"Oh, Jerry, dear Jerry, I've found you at last, And memory, burdened with scenes of the past, Returns to old Somerset's mountains and snow When you was but Jerry and I was but Joe."

He removed to Iowa, where he became chief justice. He also prepared a code for that state.

Hon. Joshua F. Cox came to this county from Ohio. He first engaged in merchandising in the town of Salisbury, but soon afterward removed to Somerset, where he was admitted to the bar and became a prominent lawyer. He repre- sented this district in the state legislature one or two terms. He died in Bedford, but was buried in Somerset.

Samuel W. Pearson was first an actor, after- ward a teacher, a clerk at Harrisburg and Wash- ington. An erratic, genial fellow, and also a musician. He died at Buckstown but a year or so ago.

Samuel Gaither, the earliest admitted member of the present Somerset bar, was born in Wash- ington county, Maryland, in 1806. Having obtained a good common school education, he read law with Hon. Moses Hampton, and was admitted to the bar January 31, 1838. Soon after he was appointed deputy attorney-general for the county, and served in that capacity for two terms. He edited the Western Star, pub- lished at Beaver, Pennsylvania, from March, 1852, to October, 1853. He also practiced law in the State of Illinois for a brief period, but has resided in Somerset principally since 1838.

Hon. Francis M. Kimmel was born in the town of Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1816. His education was acquired in the common schools. After studying law in the office of that great jurist, Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, of Somerset, he was admitted to practice March 19, 1839. From that time until 1851 he was known as one of the most able and active members of the Somerset bar. During the year last mentioned he ran as an independent Whig candidate for president judge of the sixteenth judicial district, then composed of Franklin, Fulton, Bedford and Somerset counties, and was elected by a large majority. He served the full term of ten years and won an enviable reputa- tion. Possessed of a fine intellect and sound judgment, his decisions were clearly and forcibly rendered, and were sustained almost invariably by the supreme court. Soon after the expira- tion of his term, 1862, he removed to Chambers- burg, Pennsylvania, where he still resides.

Simon Gebhart removed to Dayton, Ohio, a number of years ago, where he still resides.

Col. John R. Edie* was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1814. He was educated at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. During the year 1836, he served with a state (Pennsylvania) engineer party, under the direction of Benjamin Aycrigg. He soon after commenced the study of law at

* Lieut. John Edie, of Col. William Irvine's sixth battalion of the Pennsylvania line, was a gallant officer during the revolu- tionary struggle. He was captured by the British, June 8, 1776, and held as a prisoner until April 10, 1778. Known as Gen. John Edie, he resided in Adams county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1825.

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Gettysburg, in the office of Hon. James Cooper, but a removal to Somerset, Pennsylvania, in 1838, necessitated the completion of his law studies in the office of Samuel W. Pearson, Esq., of the latter place. On April 28, 1840, he was admitted a member of the Somerset county bar. In 1845 he was elected to represent this county in the state legislature for one year, and was re-elected to the same position in 1846. The following year he was appointed deputy attorney-general, and in 1850 he became the first district attorney of the county by election. At the expiration of that term, or in 1854, he was chosen to represent this congressional dis- trict in the house of representatives, a position to which he was re-elected in 1856. Soon after the outbreak of the war of the rebellion, he tendered his services to the general government, and on May 14, 1861, was commissioned major of the 15th U. S. Inf. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1868, and per- formed service with the 15th and 8th U. S. Inf. until January, 1871, when he was honorably discharged. He then resumed the practice of law in Somerset, where he still resides.

Hon. Isaac Hugus was born within a mile of the town of Somerset, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1814. Educated in the common schools, he read law with Samuel Gaither, Esq., and with Col. Edie, was admitted to practice in the courts of Somerset county, April 28, 1840. In 1843 he was appointed deputy attorney general, and held that office for five and one-half years. In October, 1848, he was elected to represent the district composed of Westmoreland and Somerset counties in the state senate, and served one term. He has also served as chief burgess of the borough of Somerset, two or three terms. In October, 1862, he was appointed by Gov. Curtin, commissioner of draft for Somerset county, and through his efforts nearly five hundred men were reported and turned over to the state authorities at Camp Curtin. Early in life he learned the tailor's trade. Except the time from the spring of 1885 to the spring of 1887, which was passed in the State of Ohio, and from the date last mentioned until Novem- ber, 1837, passed in Texas and other southern states, his whole lifetime has been passed in the town of Somerset.

Hon. Daniel Weyand was also a native of the town of Somerset. He represented this county in the state legislature more than fifty years

ago. About the year 1833, he purchased the Somerset Whig, a democratic paper, from John Y. and Jacob M. Glessner, which he pub- lished until 1840. He then studied law, and was admitted to practice in the several courts of Somerset county on July 19, 1841. He died four or five years ago, leaving a family of daughters.

Charles H. Heyer removed to Cambria county. Soon after he enlisted as a volunteer during the Mexican war. In Mexico he con- tracted a disease, of which he died after return- ing.

JUDGE WILLIAM J. BAER."

Hon. William J. Baer, the president judge of the sixteenth judicial district, was born at Berlin, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of January, 1826. At the early age of twelve years he removed with his parents from the town to the country, and there spent his boyhood years upon a farm. He did not, however, like Webster, when told to hang his soythe, hang it upon a tree, but swung it as other laborers did when called upon to cut a fair swath in an open field. His father, Sol- omon Baer, Esq., was a prominent citizen of Somerset county, and died recently at an ad- vanced age, highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him. Judge Baer received his early education in the common schools of the county. He was a regular attendant at these in the locality where he lived ; but they afforded comparatively limited opportunities for study as neither the classics nor even the higher branches of an English education were prescribed in the course of instruction. Before coming of age he taught school for two terms, and again engaged in teaching for one year after he had attained his majority. During these periods he diligent- ly availed himself of all the means of improve- ment within his reach and thus added contin- ually to his scanty stock of knowledge. His habits of study in those days were methodically and accurately formed and in a large degree aided in the development of his naturally vigor- ous mind. The motto of a once celebrated painter, Nulla dies sine linea, was the one adopted by him for his daily practice. For two years he served as clerk in a country store at a meager salary. Subsequently he began his academic studies as a student at Marshall Col-

. By Hon. G. H. Spang.

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lege, then located at Mercersburg. His stay at this institution was comparatively brief. Home duties and life's immediate demands called him to the conflict before he was graduated and had received a diploma. In a letter to a friend speaking of his early home, and of Marshall College, he says, "Nevertheless the foundation was laid there." The writer of this remembers him well as a student at that institution. Others of that day still speak of him as a proficient in mathematics, and by all of his fellow students he was looked up to then as an

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 86

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967