History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 98

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > History of Berks county in Pennsylvania > Part 98

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).

J. BRIGHT SMITH was born at Reading in 1827; educated in the schools of his native town and at the University of Georgetown, D. C .; studied law in the office of his uncle, Henry W. Smith, Esq., and was admitted to the bar April 5, 1848 ; prac- ticed at Reading for a few years and then moved

571

BENCH AND BAR.

to Freeport, Ill., where he continued in his profes- sion until his removal to Denver. He there was elected one of the judges of the Supreme Court, under the territorial government of Colorado, and afterward practiced his profession in Denver for a number of years. He is now a resident of Reading.

WILLIAM F. FILBERT, was a son of Peter Filbert, Esq., with whom he read law, and was admitted August 9, 1848. After practicing his profession for about ten years he died, unmarried.

A. JORDAN SWARTZ was born in 1825. He was admitted to the bar of Berks County September 12, 1848. After practicing law nine years, he was elected mayor of Reading by the Democratic party and held the office for one term. In 1859 he received the appointment of a clerkship in the Treasury Department at Washington and shortly thereafter was promoted to the position of Second Auditor of the Treasury, which position he held until his death, in July, 1865.

JOEL B. WANNER was born in Maxatawny township, Berks County, March 5, 1821. He worked on his father's farm and taught school' until twenty-one years of age, after which he en- tered Marshall College and was graduated from that institution in 1846; read law under the direction of Hon. William Strong and was admitted to prac- tice in Berks County in 1849. He was elected mayor of Reading in 1856, and in 1858 was the Democratic candidate for Congress, to fill the un- expired term of Hon. J. Glancy Jones. In 1861 he was again elected mayor, and in 1862, while holding that position, he entered the army as major of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and partici- pated in the battles of South Mountain and Antie- tam. During the same year he was again a can- didate for Congress. He had an extensive legal practice; was at one time largely interested in real estate matters. He was an estimable gentleman, congenial companion and a warm friend to all who knew him. In 1851 he married Miss Anna L. Zieber, daughter of Philip Zieber, Esq., of this city. His wife and four children survive him.

JACOB M. SALLADE, a native of Reading, read law with his brother, Andrew M. Sallade, Esq., and was admitted April 6, 1849. He practiced his profession and was for many years a notary public. He died while yet a young man.

CHARLES B. WEAVER was born in Berks Couu- ty, near Weavertown. He became a member of the bar November 9, 1850, practiced law for a few years and then engaged with his father, near his home, in the iron business, and died while thus employed.

WILLIAM EDMUND BANKS, son of Judge Banks, read law with his father, practiced here for a time and then moved to Mercer County, Pa., where he continued in his profession until his death.

ALBERT G. GREEN, son of John Green, a mer- chant of Reading, was born in 1828. He ob- tained a preparatory education in the schools of his native city and then entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1849. He studied law in the office of Hon. David F. Gor- don, and was admitted to the bar November 11, 1851, since which time he has been actively aud successfully engaged in practice at Reading. He served as city auditor during the years 1856-57, and as city solicitor for one term, from 1857 to 1859. For a period of eight years he was a mem- ber of the Board of School Controllers, officiating as president of that body for two years.

EDMOND L. SMITH was born October 23, 1829, and is a son of the late George Smith and grand- son of Hon. Frederick Smith, judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He obtained his elemen- tary education at the Reading Academy and afterward entered the University of Georgetown, D. C, where he was graduated at the age of nineteen, taking the second honor of his class. He studied law in the office of his uncle, Henry W. Smith, and Edward P. Pearson, Esqs., and was admitted to the bar in November 11, 1851. In 1858 he was a member of the Legislature from Berks County. When the Civil War opened he joined the army with Ringgold's Battery as a private. Owing to the large number of men desiring to enlist in this company, another company was formed and Mr. Smith was chosen its captain, but was transferred to the regular army by a captain's commission dated May 14, 1861, and, excepting a year of captivity, was in the military service to the end of the war. In the East he served under General Mcclellan in the battles of the Peninsula, South Mountain and Antietam, and under General Burnside at Fredericksburg. In these engagements he commanded a battalion of

572

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

his regiment. In the following spring he was ordered with his regiment to join General Rose- crans in the West, and was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863. During the second day of this battle, the command of the regiment devolved upon him, and whilst leading it to repel the enemy's assault, his horse was shot from under him. He received a major's brevet for bravery and meritorious conduct on this occa- sion. For nearly thirteen months he was in Libby and other Southern prisons. Whilst in Libby he was engaged with others for sixty days in the construction of a tunnel, through which, on a dark night in February, one hundred and ten prisoners passed into freedom, but only for a time ; for within three weeks one-half of the fugitives, of which he was one, were recaptured and for two weeks placed in a dungeon, on an allowance of bread and water. Subsequently, in May, whilst en route to Anderson- ville, he jumped from the car with three of his companions, at night, and remained out upwards of six weeks, lurking in the swamps of Georgia and subsisting upon berries and raw rice. He was recaptured with his comrades on an island in the Savannah River, where they had taken refuge from a close pursuit made with dogs. This was follow- ed by another dungeon sojourn on meagre diet in the Charleston jail. It was whilst confined here that he was visited by Major Edmund Deslonde, of the Confederate army an old school-mate and fellow-graduate, through whose good offices he was finally paroled and subsequently exchanged in October, 1864.

In 1867 he resigned his commission in the army, and associated . himself with his brother, Hon. J. Bright Smith, in the practice of the law at Denver, Col., where he now resides. During his residence in Denver he has several times repre- sented the strong Republican county of Arapahoe in the Legislature, though himself a Democrat.

On his brother's retirement from the practice he united with Judge Wells, formerly of the Colorado Supreme Court, and Hon. Thomas Mason, in the well-known legal firm of Wells, Smith & Mason, with which he is now connected.

CHARLES K. ROBESON was born in Berks County ; admitted to the Reading bar April 8, 1852, and soon became prominent as a lawyer be- fore a jury, in which practice he had few equals.

CHARLES OSCAR WAGNER was born in Leip- sic, Germany, in 1824. He came to Reading when a young man and was dependent upon his own energies for support. He first engaged in teaching the German language for several years, and, after the necessary preparations, was admitted to the bar on November 5, 1852. During the Confederate invasion, in 1863, he enlisted as an officer in the Ringgold Artillery, and, while in the service, contracted typhoid fever, from the ef- fect of which he died September 6, 1863, aged thirty-nine years.

MICHAEL P. BOYER was born September 13, 1831, at Gibraltar Forge ; acquired a preparatory education in Bernville ; came to Reading in 1849 and served as an assistant in the prothonotary's office for three years. He pursued the study of the law under the direction of H. W. Smith and J. Pringle, Esqs., and was admitted to the bar August 8, 1853; was a member of the Legisla- ture in 1860. He died August 29, 1867, at the early age of thirty-five years.

WHARTON MORRIS, son of Thomas Morris, Esq., is a native of Reading. After acquiring a preliminary education, he pursued the study of the law under the instruction of William B. Heiskill, Esq., of Philadelphia, and in the office of his father. Having completed the required course, he was admitted to the bar November 15, 1854, and has since practiced in Reading. During the years 1860-61-62 he was solicitor for the di- rectors of the poor of Berks County, and after- wards served as District Attorney from 1865 to 1868

F. LEAF SMITH, son of the late Henry W. Smith and grandson of Judge Frederick Smith, was born in Reading, attended the schools of his native place, and was graduated from Georgetown College, D. C., in 1854, taking all the leading honors of his class. He read law in the office of his father and was admitted to the bar November 10, 1855. He has lately retired from practice, devoting his time to his private affairs.

AMOS B. WANNER was born in 1831 in Maxa- tawny township, Berks County. His preliminary education was acquired in a private academy near his native place, and at Port Royal Seminary, in Philadelphia. He then pursued the study of the law, under the instruction of his brother, J. B.

573

BENCH AND BAR.

Wanner, Esq., and Hon. J. Glancy Jones, and was admitted to the bar January 12, 1857. He has since practiced at Reading. Mr. Wanner represented Berks County in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1875 and 1876, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Con- vention which met at St. Louis in 1876.

DAVID P. GREEN, son of John and Catharine Green, and brother of Albert G. Green, Esq., was born in Reading December 22, 1831. He ac. quired a preliminary education in the schools of his native place and was graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1852. He read law under the direction of John S. Richards, Esq. ; was admitted to the bar in 1855, and soon afterward began the practice of his profession at Pottsville. From 1862 to 1865 he served in the Union army. In 1867 a sepa- rate Criminal Court was established in Schuylkill County, of which Governor Geary appointed him judge. The same year he was elected for a term of ten years, during which time the court, origi- nated for a special purpose, was abolished, and he became additional law judge for the balance of the term.

B. FRANK BOYER was born September 13, 1835, at Bernville, Berks County. In 1843 he came, with his parents, to Reading, and attended the public schools until 1853, when the family re- moved to Jefferson County, Pa. In 1856 he returned to Reading and became a clerk in the prothonotary's office, and, in the mean time, read law and was admitted to the bar March 15, 1857, and practiced his profession until his death, No- vember 28, 1873.

JAMES B. BECHTEL is a native of Northum- berland County, Pa., and was born May 10, 1832. 'At the age of fifteen years he removed to Kutz- town, and was apprenticed there to learn the trade of a saddler. In the meantime he attended night-school, afterwards taught school for a few terms, and then, attended Franklin and Marshall College. In 1855 he was chosen principal of Lee Seminary, on South Fifth Street, Reading, and, while occupying that position, read law under the instruction of Samuel L. Young, Esq., and was admitted to the bar April 14, 1857. He served as district attorney of Berks County from 1859 to 1862.

CHARLES PHILIP MUHLENBERG was born at

Lancaster, Pa., November 24, 1838, and was the fifth son of Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg. He was in- structed for some years at home and then obtained a common-school education in his native city. In 1853 entered the sophomore class in Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, and was graduated from that institution in 1856 ; began the study of law with Na- thaniel Ellmaker, Esq., of Lancaster, but concluded his legal studies in the office of Hon. J. Pringle Jones, and was admitted to the Berks County bar in 1859. He practiced his profession in Reading April, until the opening of the Civil War, when, in 1861, he became a member of the Ringgold Light Artillery. The following month he was commis- sioned as first lieutenant in the Fifth United States Artillery Regiment. He served as an officer of artillery during the whole of the war. He received the brevet of captain for services in the Peninsula campaign ; he received the brevet of major for gallant conduct at the battle of Antietam; he was in the campaign of the Wilderness and of Peters- burg under General Grant, and resigned from the army at the close of 1867 to resume the practice of his profession in Reading. He died January, 1872, at the early age of thirty.four years.

WILLIAM H. LIVINGOOD, a son of Dr. John Livingood, was born at Womelsdorf April 5, 1837. He was educated at the Union Academy, in Wo- melsdorf, and at the Phillips Academy, in Andover, Mass., was graduated from the former in 1851 and from the latter in 1855. Before entering the Phillips Academy he taught school for several years in Heidelberg township. Afterward he at- tended law lectures at Harvard College and was admitted to practice law at Lowell, Middlesex County, Mass., on motion of General B. F. Butler. Upon r turning home he was admitted to the Berks County bar January 19, 1860. He has practiced his profession since at Reading, excepting an interval of six years, from 1873 to 1879, when he resided at Philadelphia, and where he was ad- initted for that purpose. In 1874 he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, D. C., on motion of Hon. Jeremiah S. Black. In September, 1862, Mr. Livingood was a private in the Independent Cavalry Com- pany from Berks County, commanded by Major S. L. Young.

J. GEORGE SELTZER was born at Womelsdorf;

574

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

attended the Harvard Law School, was admit- ted to the bar at Boston, and returning to Berks County, he became a member of the Reading bar February 5, 1861. After practicing here about twenty years he removed to Boston, where he con- tinues in his profession.

ABNER K. STAUFFER was born October 11, 1836, at Boyertown, Berks County ; acquired a preliminary education at Mount Pleasant Semi- nary, in his native town, which institution his father, Judge Stauffer, instituted in 1850. He was graduated from Franklin and Marshall Col- lege, at Lancaster, in the class of 1858; removed to Reading in 1860 ; read law in the office of John S. Richards, Esq., and was admitted to the bar April 15, 1861 ; was a member of City Council from 1869 to 1871, from 1873 to 1877, and from 1881 to 1884; and was president of Common Council for the year 1873.

EDWARD H. SHEARER was born in Berks County January 10, 1836. He obtained a good common-school and academical education ; read law in the officeof Charles Davis, Esq., and was ad- mitted to the Berks County bar August 15 1861; was district attorney of the courts of Berks County from 1868 to 1871, and was a member of the Sen- ate of Pennsylvania from 1880 to 1884.

JOHN RALSTON was born in 1834, in Lancas- ter County, Pa .; acquired his education in the schools of his native place, in Hunsicker Academy, at Trappe, Pa., and at Strasburg Academy, at Strasburg, Pa .; read law in the office of Amos B. Wanner, Esq., and was admitted to the har August 14, 1862.

WILLIAM P. BARD, sou of Adam Bard, a retired hardware merchant, was born at Ephrata, Lan- caster County, March 20, 1839, and removed, with his father, to Reading in 1854. He entered the Reading High School and was graduated in 1858. After spending two years at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., he entered the office of Hon. John Banks, studied law and was admitted to the bar February 9, 1863, since which time he has been engaged in active practice at Reading.

CHARLES HENRY JONES, son of Hon. J. Glancy Joues, of Reading, Pa., was born Septem- ber 13, 1837. He was educated as a civil engi- neer in the Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., and served in the engineer corps in

the location and construction of the East Pennsyl- vania Railroad. In 1869 he accompanied his father, who had been appointed United States minister to Austria, and served as attaché to the legation in 1861. Having returned to America, he studied law under his father's instruction and was admitted to the Reading bar in April, 1863. In the same year he removed to Philadelphia, where he has since actively practiced his profes- sion. He was solicitor to the Park commission- ers during the laying out of Fairmount Park, from 1869 to 1874; was the candidate of the Democratic party for city solicitor of Philadelphia in 1874; counsel for the Department of Protection, Centen- nial Exposition of 1876 ; and is at present (1886) special deputy-collector of the port of Philadel- phia. He was prominent as counsel in many of the notable contested election cases in the Phila- delphia courts during the past ten years. He is the author of a number of works of history and fiction, among them the " History of the Campaign for the Conquest of Canada in 1776," in which several companies from Berks County figured con- spicuously, under the command of his great grand- father, Colonel Jonathan Jones.

RICHMOND LEGH JONES was born February 17, 1840, in the fifth generation of his family, in Berks County. He was prepared to euter Yale College in 1858, but the disturbance between the United States and Paraguay having culminated in that year, he accepted the invitation of Captain Ridgely to accompany the United States naval expedition against Lopez, as captain's clerk of the gunboat " Atalanta," visiting the West Indies, Cen- tral America and Brazil, and ascending the Par- ana River one thousand miles into the interior of South America. Upon the organization of the sailors of the fleet into a military force for opera- tions on land, he was appointed second lieutenant of one of the companies formed of the crew of the " Atalanta."

Peace having been concluded with Paraguay, the expedition returned the following year, and he then joined his father, the Hon. J. Glancy Jones, United States minister to Austria, at Vienna, and soon thereafter entered the University of Hiedel- berg, Germany, where he was graduated in 1861. Returning to America, he studied law under the instruction of his father, and was admitted to the

575

BENCH AND BAR.

Reading bar April 23, 1863. In 1862 he joined Captain Hunter's company of Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, which was of the force that held Hagers- town during the battle of Antietam. In 1863 he was captain of Company A, Fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. In 1866 he was elected to the Legislature from Berks County, and was re- elected in 1867 and 1868. In 1868 he received the unanimous nomination of the Democratic party for Speaker of the House of Representatives, and, although his party was in the minority, he was given, in a triangular contest, the highest number of votes for forty-five ballots. Mr. Jones, retiring from politics, resumed and continues the practice of his profession at the Reading bar.

DANIEL E. SHROEDER, son of John S. Shroe- der, Esq., sheriff of Berks County from 1847 to 1850, was born at Reading, attended the public schools and was graduated from the Reading High School in 1859; read law in the office of J. Hagenman (now president judge) and was admitted to the bar April 23, 1863, since which time he has been in active practice at Reading.

CHARLES LEOPOLD, son of Augustus Leopold, a prominent farmer, was born in Union township ; studied law in the office of Hon. John Banks, and was admitted to the bar April 23, 1863. He en- listed in the Civil War, and, while in the army contracted a disease from which he died at Reading.

J. WARREN TRYON, son of Dr. John Tryon, was born at Rehrersburg, Berks County ; entered upon the study of law in the office of John S. Rich- ards, Esq ..; attended the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar June 14, 1863. He took an active interest in county politics and served, for a time, as chairman of the Republican County Committee ; he filled the office of solicitor for the county commissioner for the year 1875, having been the first and only Republican who occupied that position.

J. HOWARD JACOBS, son of Samuel Jacobs, a prominent farmer and a descendant of one of the earliest families of the Conestoga Valley, was born in Caernarvon township, Berks County ; was edu- cated in the schools of his native township and at the Millersville State Normal School, of which he was one of the first pupils. He then re-

moved to Reading, studied law under the direc- tion of Hon. John Banks, and was admitted to the bar November 14, 1863. He served as city solicitor for the years 1873-74, and took a prom- inent part in the educational affairs of the city, having represented the Seventh Ward in the Board of School Controllers for many years. He is now a member of the board of trustees of the Key- stone State Normal School. He has been promi- nently identified with the Republican party for upwards of twenty years, in 1880 was its nominee for Congress, and in 1882 was favorably mentioned as a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of Penn- sylvania.

Mr. Jacobs purchased a tract of land at Mor- gantown, laid it out as a cemetery and erected in the centre of it a fine large monument.

ISRAEL C. BECKER was born in Alsace township, February 22, 1842; attended the West Chester Military Academy, and was graduated from Dick- inson College in 1859, and from the Albany Law University in 1861; joined the Fourth Pennsyl- vania Volunteers on May 7, 1861; was promoted to first lieutenant of Company F, in the Third Pennsylvania Reserves ; was mustered out of service with the rank of major and assistant adjutant-general in 1864; commenced to practice law in Reading after his return from the war.

HORACE A. YUNDT, a son of Henry Yundt, was born in East Earl township, Lancaster County, June 5, 1839 ; obtained a preparatory education in the public schools and then entered Franklin and Marshall College from which institution he was graduated in 1859. He engaged in teaching at the Mount Joy Academy and Paradise Academy, in Lancaster County, for two years, when he enlisted in the army and commanded Company B, of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers of nine months' men ; at the termination of this time he read law in the office of Hon. John Banks and was admitted to the bar at Reading August 9, 1864, since which time he has been actively engaged in the duties of his profession. In 1879 he was the nominee for judge on the Republican ticket.

CHARLES H. SCHAEFFER was born at Columbus, Ohio, on August 4, 1840. He was the son of the late Rev. C. F. Schaeffer, D.D., president of the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Philadelphia,

576

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and was educated at Pennsylvania College, Gettys- burg, where he was graduated in 1860, when he came to Reading and for two years conducted a classical academy, and during the two following years was principal of one of the city grammar schools.

He served in the Forty-second Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers ; he read law with Hon. Daniel Ermentrout, and was admitted to the Berks County bar on August 9, 1864. Since his admis- sion he has resided in Reading in continuous practice. He has always been identified with the Democratic party ; has been a representative in National, State and County Conventions, but has never been a candidate for public office, with the exception of having served as a member of City Councils and the Board of Health.

FRANKLIN B. LAUCKS, son of Benjamin Laucks, was born in Oley township, and there attended the public schools ; read law in the office of B. Frank Boyer, Esq., of Reading, and was admitted August 13, 1864 ; practiced at Reading with success nntil the time of his death.

WILLIAM M. GOODMAN was born December 10, 1836, in Cumru township, Berks County ; was educated in the public schools and the Philoma- thean Institute at Birdsboro'; taught school for five years in the county and came to Reading in 1862. He read law in the offices of Jacob S. and William H. Livingood, Esqs., and was admitted to the bar August 13, 1864. In 1866 he was elected city auditor for the term of three years, and in 1877 was elected district attorney.

EDWIN SHALTER, a son of Jonas Shalter, was born near Tuckerton, Berks County; graduated from Franklin and Marshall College; read law under the direction of Jacob S. Livingood, Esq., and was admitted to the bar August 13, 1864; practiced his profession at Reading with success until his death, a few years since.

LOUIS RICHARDS, son of John Richards (a native of Amity township, Berks County, of Welsh descent, who became a prominent iron manufacturer), was born at Gloucester Furnace, in Atlantic County, N. J., on May 6, 1842. He re- ceived an academical education, and then removing to Reading, began the study of law in the office of John S. Richards, Esq. (a cousin). He was ad- mitted to the bar January 16, 1865. In 1869 he

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.

History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 98

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418