History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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Benjamin Brannon was appointed by Governor Mifflin, June 5, 1794, one of the judges of the courts of Delaware County. I have gathered very little in- formation respecting Judge Brannon. He resided in Upper Darby, was an earnest Whig, and during the year 1776 was appointed to instruct the people of Chester County in the mode of making saltpetre for the State powder-mills. In 1777 he was one of the sub-lieutenants of the county, and on June 11th of that year applied for cannon to arm several artillery companies formed in his jurisdiction, and on July 29th five hundred pounds was given him to pay bounty to substitutes. He was county commissioner in 1779, and in 1782 he was a representative in the Assembly from Chester County. Other than the facts stated I have no record of Judge Brannon.

John Crosby, of Ridley, was appointed by Governor Mifflin, April 26, 1799, one of the associate judges of Delaware County. He, like his fellow-associate, Hugh Lloyd, was a descendant of the early English settlers who emigrated to Pennsylvania when Penn acquired title to the province. He was born at the family homestead, on Ridley Creek, March 11, 1747/8. In 1776, in his twenty-ninth year, he entered the service as first lieutenant in a company of the First Battalion of Pennsylvania militia, attached to the Flying Camp, which had been recruited by his brother-in-law, Capt. Culin. It is related that on the day the organization was mustered in at the White Horse Tavern, one of the privates, enraged at some- thing said by Capt. Culin, shot that officer, inflicting a wound of which he died. Crosby thereupon suc- ceeded to the command, and as such marched the company to the encampment at Perth Amboy. After the capture of Philadelphia by the British, in the fall of 1777, Crosby (a militia officer and not in the Penn- sylvania troops enlisted for the war) was with Gov- ernor Porter, intercepting the foraging parties of the enemy.

One night in the winter of 1777-78 he was at his home in Ridley when a boat's crew from a British man-of-war, lying off Chester, ascended the creek and took him prisoner. Crosby was in the act of washing his face at the pump, near the house, when he was captured. He was taken to New York and confined on the British ship " Falmouth." During his im- prisonment, which lasted six months, his hair turned

white, consequent on the harsh treatment received and insufficient food then furnished to the American prisoners of war. He was finally released on parole, his wife going to New York, at great personal risk, to intercede with the English authorities in his be- half. John Crosby, as stated, was commissioned, in 1799, associate judge of Delaware County, and con- tinued on the bench until 1826. He died about the date given as the conclusion of his judicial career.

On Jan. 5, 1823, John Peirce was appointed asso- ciate judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in Nether Providence in December, 1833, aged sev- enty-nine years, but beyond his appointment and death I have no further information respecting Judge Pierce. Henry Myers was appointed to the place on the bench made vacant by his death.

William Anderson was born in Virginia2 in 1762, and although only fifteen years of age, joined the Continental army, serving therein five years, and was present at the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. After the war he settled in Ches- ter, and became the landlord of the Columbia House, which hostelry he purchased in 1796. In 1803 he erected the Anderson mansion, at Fifth and Welsh Streets, Chester. He was a member of the Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses of the United States, and served for a third term in the Fifteenth. In 1824 he was chairman of the committee of Delaware County 3 on the reception of Lafayette. When the commit- tees from Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Coun- ties, together with a committee from the immediate vicinity of Valley Forge, met the marquis at the State-House, in Philadelphia, September 29th of that year, Maj. Anderson, being a Revolutionary soldier, was selected to make the address, on behalf of all the committees, to the "Nation's Guest," and when the latter came to the borough of Chester he accepted the major's hospitality. On Jan. 5, 1826, Governor Shulze appointed Maj. Anderson one of the judges of the county courts, which position he resigned to accept an office in the custom-house in Philadelphia. His daughter, Evelina, became the wife of Commodore David Porter. Maj. Anderson died Dec. 16, 1829, aged sixty-seven years.

Joseph Engle, of Nether Providence, was born Jan. 10, 1770. He was thirty-six years of age before he attained any office of prominence in the county, being elected in 1806 one of the commissioners, and on May 24, 1809, was commissioned prothonotary, recorder, register, and clerk of the courts, to which office he was recommissioned on Jan. 14, 1812, and again on Dec. 20, 1814. In 1824 he was one of the committee

1 Martin's " History of Chester," p. 195.

2 Lanman's " Dictionary of Congress" asserts that Maj. Anderson was hora in Chester County, a statement which conflicts with family tradi- tions, and, besides, his name does not appear among the Revolutionary officers from Pennsylvania.

3 The committee from Delaware County consisted of the following gentlemen : William Anderson, Dr. Samuel Anderson, Joseph Engle, George G. Leiper, Samuel Edwards, Esq., Archibald T. Dick, Esq., Wil- liam Martin, and Henry Myers.

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of five appointed by Delaware County to receive La- fayette, and in the fall of that year he was again elected one of the commissioners. In 1826-27 he was a member of the Legislature, and in the latter year was appointed by Governor Shulze to the associate judgeship made vacant by the resignation of Maj. An- derson. His long association with the courts as clerk gave him considerable knowledge of the manner in which legal matters were therein conducted, and fre- quently during Judge Darlington's term as president judge-the latter was subject to severe attacks of gout -Associate Judge Engle was compelled to preside, charging the grand jury and trying the cases. Jan. 26, 1842, he was recommissioned, although on that occasion his nomination had been sent to the Senate over a year before the date given, and was not con- firmed, owing to the fact that at the December court, 1840, Judge Engle had been presented by the grand inquest for an alleged disturbance at the preceding Presidential election at Chester, the complaint being made by William Eves, Sr., Isaac Lloyd, and James McClarum. The proceedings failed in court at the February sessions, but the quarrel was carried to Harrisburg, and prevented for a time the confirma- tion by the Senate of the appointment of Judge Engle. In 1851, his term having expired, and being advanced in years, he retired from public life. Judge Engle died Oct. 18, 1857, aged eighty-seven years and nine months.

Henry Myers was prothonotary, recorder, register of wills, and clerk of the courts of Delaware County for three terms, being commissioned Jan. 17, 1824, Dec. 21, 1826, and Jan. 18, 1830. In 1824 he was one of the committee from Delaware County appointed to receive Gen. Lafayette. On Dec. 27, 1833, he was commissioned one of the associate judges, and while discharging the duties of that office was elected, in 1836, senator from this district, then comprising Dela- ware, Chester, and Lancaster Counties, serving in that capacity for four years. At the expiration of the term he retired from public life. On Feb. 23, 1855, Judge Myers died. He left his home, in Upper Darby, on the morning of that day, and when night came, not having returned, his family immediately instituted a search for him, but without success until the following day, when his body was discovered near Cobb's Creek. The intense cold had benumbed him so that he sank to the earth and perished.

Dr. George Smith was appointed by Governor Ritner, Dec. 8, 1836, one of the associate judges, and subsequently elected by the people to the same position in 1861. I present a sketch of the useful life-work of this eminent native of Delaware County in the article on physicians, and it is unnecessary to repeat it here.

On Feb. 25, 1843, George Gray Leiper was ap- pointed by Governor Porter an associate judge of the courts of Delaware County. He was a son of Col. Thomas Leiper, of Ridley, and was born in Philadel-

phia, Feb. 3, 1786. He graduated from the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania in 1803, when in his seventeenth year, and after his marriage made his home perma- nent on the Leiper estates, in Ridley township. Here in 1811 he established the first Sunday-school in the annals of the county. During the war of 1812 he was first lieutenant in Capt. James Serrill's company, the Delaware County Fencibles, which organization was mustered into service Sept. 21, 1814, and December 6th, of the same year, was discharged. In 1818 he built, at his own cost, the Ridley (Leiper) Presby- terian Church. In 1822-23 he was a Representative in the Legislature, and while there he so strongly and successfully urged State appropriation for the mainte- nance of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, in Philadel- phia, that in recognition of his services he was chosen a director of that institution, and continued until his death. In the fall of 1824 he was one of the commit- tee from Delaware County appointed to receive Gen. Lafayette. In 1828 he was elected a member of the Twenty-first Congress, and although strongly pressed to be a candidate for re-election, refused, even when President Jackson, a warm personal friend of Mr. Leiper, personally requested him to allow his name to go before the people for a second term. In 1843, as above stated, Governor Porter appointed Mr. Leiper one of the associate judges, to which position he was reappointed by Governor Shunk, Feb. 16, 1848, and continued on the bench until the office was made elective. Judge Leiper retired from active public life, devoting his attention to the care of his large es- tate. He died at Lapidea, his residence on Crum Creek, Nov. 18, 1868, in his eighty-third year.

At the October election of 1851, James Andrew, of Darby, was chosen to the office of associate judge, and was commissioned Nov. 10, 1851. He and Sketchley Morton were the first associate judges elected by the votes of the people. James Andrew held no other county office than that of judge, but so acceptably did he discharge the duties of the position that he was re- elected in 1856, his commission being dated Novem- ber 12th of that year, and in 1861 he was again called to a seat on the bench. At the expiration of his term, having attained threescore and ten, he re- tired from public service.

Sketchley Morton was born in Springfield, Oct. 12, 1810, his father's (John S. Morton) farm constituting much of the present village of Morton, on the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad. From his early manhood he devoted himself mainly to merchandising and other business enterprises in which he was en- gaged, declining to take any very active part in po- litical movements. He was, however, elected a mem- ber of the Legislature, serving during the session of 1847-48, at a time when the question of removing the seat of justice had divided the people of the county into removalists and anti-removalists, and although he was adverse to the change, his action in the House in pressing a bill to carry out that pur-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

pose, after the question had been submitted to a popular vote, was highly commendatory. In the fall of 1851 he was elected one of the associate judges of the courts, his commission dating Nov. 10, 1851, and he served one term on the bench. In 1852 he was chosen president of the Delaware County Mutual In- surance Company, and was continued in that position until October, 1878, when he resigned. Sketchley Morton died Feb. 9, 1878, aged sixty-seven years.

Frederick J. Hinkson, Sr., was elected one of the associate judges of Delaware County courts in 1856. . An account of Judge Hinkson will be found else- where in this volume.

Only two of all the persons who have been asso- ciate judges of the county of Delaware are living. The oldest, in point of commission, is Charles R. Williamson, he having been commissioned by Gov- ernor Packer, Jan. 10, 1860, to fill the position on the bench made vacant by Judge Hinkson's resiguation. The other is Judge Thomas Reese. In the succeed- ing October, Dr. George Smith was elected to the office. Mr. Williamson had also been county treas- urer. He resides in the borough of Media.

Bartine Smith was chosen one of the associate judges of the courts of Delaware County at the Oc- tober election in 1866, his commission bearing date November 8th of that year. He was born in 1803, and was for many years a merchant in Haverford. On April 14, 1840, he was appointed a justice of the peace, was reappointed April 15, 1845, and elected to the same position in the spring of 1862. In 1861 he was clerk to the county commissioners, continuing as such until he was elected to the bench. In 1871 he was re-elected to the judicial office, and continued therein until the expiration of his term, when the provisions of the Constitution abolishing the office became operative. Judge Smith died Dec. 12, 1877, aged seventy-four years.

Judge Thomas Reece was born in Middletown township, Delaware County. He was elected asso- ciate judge in 1866, and served a continuous period of ten years. A further sketch of Judge Reece will be found in the history of Media.

On Nov. 23, 1876, just previous to the termination of the official career of Associate Judges Smith and Reece by the limitation of the Constitution of 1874, a banquet was given at Media to the retiring judges by the members of the bar and county officers. Highly complimentary resolutions were adopted, handsomely engrossed, and presented to Judges Smith and Reece, and speeches appropriate to the occasion were made. On Dec. 1, 1876, the associate judges retired from the bench and the time-honored office ceased to be, and henceforth became simply a part of the annals of the county.

As a rule it may be accepted that from the estab- lishment of the colonial government until 1790, crim- inal cases, excepting those of trivial character, were prosecuted on the part of the government by the

attorney-general in person. This statement, how- ever, is not without exception, for at the court held at Chester on the 3d day of 1st week Tenth month, 1684, on the trial of Edward Hulbert Taylor, who was indicted for larceny, the records state that Charles Pickering "pleads as attorney to ye King," which is the first case in which it is directly asserted that counsel appeared on behalf of the government, although it is evident that Attorney-General John White was present in that capacity at the trial of Magaret Mattson, at Philadelphia, before Penn and the Council, 27th of the Twelfth month, 1683. In Taylor's case, as in that of Mattson, the appearance of an attor- ney for the prosecution was of slight effect, for the prisoner was acquitted by the jury. At the Court of Quarter Sessions at Chester, May 25, 1708, Thomas Clark, who was commissioned attorney-general on the 8th of that month, "appeared in open court and was qualified attorney-general for the county of Ches- ter, according to law." The county records on the subject furnish us with but meagre information, and that not of much general interest. By the act of Feb. 28, 1710, the justices of the county courts, and the mayor and recorder of Philadelphia, respectively were empowered to admit attorneys to plead in these courts, and on misbehavior could suspend or prohibit attorneys from practicing before their tribunal. The act of May 31, 1748, provided that "in trials of all capital crimes, learned counsel shall be assigned the prisoner." On May 22, 1722, the Assembly passed a law providing for the admission of attorneys in any of the county courts, "which said attornies so ad- mitted may practice in all the courts of this province without any further or other license or admittance." A note in 1st Dallas' "Laws of Pennsylvania," on this section of the act of 1722,1 conveys the impression there were no other statutory enactments respecting attorneys until that of Sept. 25, 1786, but such im- pression is erroneous ; the act of Aug. 26, 1727, pro- vided "that there may be a competent number of persons, of an honest disposition and learned in the law, admitted by the justices of the said respective courts to practice as attornies there, who shall behave themselves justly and faithfully in their practice." That this act was generally observed is evident from the fact that the oath administered to attorneys at the present day is almost identical with that set forth in the enactment. It was: "And before they are so ad- mitted shall take the following qualification, viz., 'Thou shalt behave thyself in the office of Attorney within the Court according to the best of thy learn- ing and ability, and with all good Fidelity as well to the Court as to the Client; thou shalt use no False- hood, nor Delay any Persons Caused for Lucre or Malice."2 The admission in any of the county courts was as before an admission to all in this province, and attorneys in all civil cases were compelled to file

1 1st Dallas, p. 185.

2 Duke of York's Book of Laws, p. 403.

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THE COURT, BENCH, AND BAR OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

their warrant of attorney, or failing to do so no statn- tory fee conld be taxed in the bill of costs to the party so in defanlt. The act of Sept. 25, 1786, gave to the courts in the several counties power to make rules governing their own practice, after which date the admission of attorneys appear constantly on the min- utes of our courts, although previous to that time on the record a number of lawyers were required to be regularly qualified before they were permitted to practice.

The following is a complete list of deputy attorneys- general and district attorneys from the erection of the county to the present time :

February session, 1790 .- William Bradford, Jr., attorney-general in person.

July session, 1790 .- Thomas Ross, under Willian Bradford, Jr. August session, 1790 .- Joseph Thomas, under William Bradford, Jr. October session, 1791 .- Joseph Thomas, under Jared Ingersoll. October session, 1795 .- William Sergeant, under Jared Ingersoll. January session, 1796 .- Thomas Ross, under Jared Ingersoll. October session, 1797 .- William Sergeant, under Jared Iogersoll. January session, 1799 .- Thomas Ross, under Jared Ingersoll. April session, 1800 .- Richard Bache, Jr., under Walter Franklin. January session, 1811-John Edwards, ander Joseph Reed. January session, 1812 .- Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll. January session, 1813 .- Benjamin Tilghman, under Jared Ingersoll. April session, 1813 .- Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll. January session, 1814 .- John Edwards, under Jared Ingersoll. April session, 1814 -Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll. January session, 1815 .- Robert H. Smith, under Jared Ingersoll. April eeesion, 1815 .- William H. Dillingham, under Jared Ingersoll. Jaouary session, 1817 .- Henry G. Freeman, under Amos Ellmaker. October sessioo, 1818 .- Samuel Rush, under Thomas Sergeant. January session, 1821 .- Archibald T. Dick, under Thomas Elder. April seesion, 1824 .- Edward Darliogtoo, uoder Frederick Smith. April session, 1830 .- John Zeilin, under Samuel Douglass. August session, 1833 .- Robert E. Haonum, under Ellis Lewis. March session, 1836 .- John P. Griffith, under William B. Reed. February session, 1839,-P. Frezer Smith, under Ovid F. Johnston. February session, 1845 .- Robert Frazer, under John K. Kane. November session, 1845 .- Joseph J. Lewis, under John K. Kane. November session, 1848 .- John M. Broomall,1 under James Cooper. February session, 1850 .- Charles D. Manley, by appointment of court. May session, 1850 .- Thomas H. Speakmen, under Cornelius Darragh.

By act of Assembly May 1, 1850, the office of depnty attorney-general in the several counties was abolished, and district attorneys were directed to be elected, of persons learned in the law, at the ensuing election in October, to serve for a period of three years.

At the October election in 1850, Thomas H. Speak- man was chosen by the popular vote, and at the No- vember court he presented his certificate asking to be qualified. A petition was also presented to the court, signed by a number of citizens (sworn to by Charles D. Manley and Joseph Weaver, Jr.), stating that Speakman was not a resident of Delaware County, and not eligible for that reason to the office. It also set forth that Robert McCay, Jr., was elected, inas- much as the votes cast for Speakman were illegal. The matter was continued under advisement, and at the May court, 1851, it was decided that "in con- sequence of the inability of Thomas H. Speakman, Esq., to serve the office of District Attorney, Robert

McCay, Jr., Esq., be appointed to discharge the duties of the office for the remainder of the year."

1851 .- Robert McCay.

Nov. 24, 1861 .- Edward Darlington.

1854 .- Jesse Bishop.2

1857 .- Edward A. Price.

1860 .- John Hibbard.

1863 .- Francis M. Brooke.3

1866 .- Charles D. M. Broomhall.

1869 .- George E. Darlington.

1872 .- David M. Johnson.

1876 .- Vincent Gilpin Robinson.

1879,-Vincent Gilpin Robinson.

1882 .- Jesse M. Baker.

The early records are confused respecting attorneys, for in many cases where that word is used it refers to attorneys-in-fact and not attorneys-at-law, while in many of the cases persons not learned in the law appeared on behalf of the parties litigant. As early as 1683, Jolın White and Abraham Mann, known to be attorneys at-law, appeared on the court records. At the conrt held first Third day of first week, Seventh month, 1690, in the case of Thomas Holmes vs. Charles Aston, Charles Pickering and Patrick Robinson ap -. peared as attorneys for plaintiff, and John White and Caleb Pusey for the defendant. The jury finding in favor of the defendant, the attorneys for the plaintiff " craved an appeal to ye next Provinciall Court in law," and his attorneys, Charles Pickering and Robert Longshore, became snrety in one hundred pounds that the plaintiff would prosecute "ye appeal now Granted to ye next provinciall Court in Law against a judg- ment now obtained & to pay all costs and damage if ye appellant be again cast." All the persons herein mentioned as attorneys were laymen, excepting John White.

In 1698, John Moore and David Lloyd were prac- ticing attorneys.

That there were but four lawyers in the province as late as 1709 we learn from two petitions presented to the Provincial Council. The first was that of James Heaton, read April 2, 1708, in which he set forth that he had been sued in an action of trover and conver- sion, in Bucks County, by Joseph Growden, and that he had obtained a writ of error to the Supreme Pro- vincial Conrt, that in the mean while the plaintiff had arrested him on the same canse of action by process of the court in Philadelphia; that the cases were likely to be heard nearly at the same time, and that the plaintiff was a judge of the Provincial Court, " and further, that he has retained all the lawyers in the county (that have leave to plead) against him." The petitioner then asked that an impartial judge should be appointed to hear the case, assign him counsel, or "set the day for trial," so that, "if he be at

2 Jesse Bishop resigned, and on Nov. 24, 1856, Edward A. Price was appointed by the court in his place. Mr. Price was the youngest man ever holding the office, having been admitted the preceding March of that year.

3 Francis M. Brooke resigoed, and the court appointed C. D. M. Broom- hall to fill the unexpired term, and the latter was elected at the ensuing electinn.

1 John M. Broomall resigned.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the charge of procuring some from New York he may not he disappointed." Growden was present, and verbally replied that the actions were not for the like cause, and that he had only employed one attorney, John Moore, but that he was not able to attend, and therefore had a brother lawyer to appear for him, "by which means, without any design of his (Growden's), two became Concerned in it." Counsel decided that the petitioner "himself be left to procure his own Connsel," and directed Jasper Yeates, the second judge of the province, "without fail to attend the Provincial Court at Bucks to prevent any Disappoint- ment."1 On March 1, 1708/9, Francis Daniel Pas- torius presented his petition to Council in respect to a suit in ejectment, brought by one Sprogel, against the Frankford Company, in the courts of Philadel- phia, in which he stated that the plaintiff had "fee'd or retained the four known Lawyers of the Province," to prevent the defendant from obtaining any advice in law, " web sufficiently argues his cause to be none of the best." 2

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150